Volume One said “it’s unlikely there’s ever been [a local] entertainment story bigger than the story of Bon Iver.” Is it the biggest ever?

Well, “ever” is a long time. But of all our native sons and daughters, Bon Iver (Justin Vernon’s nom de chansonnier) might rank first on the “rocket to fame” scale, certainly one definition of a big entertainment story. Loved the concert (although I did tell Judge Barland it wouldn’t be loud; sorry, your Honor.) And I know Vernon is genuinely grateful and mystified about the year he’s had.

That said, native Eau Clairian Geoff Keezer has more albums (a dozen). Recorded with Diana Krall and Chick Corea. Played the Hollywood Bowl. Was offered a job by Miles Davis — and turned it down. Then there’s Grammy nominee, blues guitarist, and former Stones Throw owner James Solberg: raised in Eau Claire, collaborated for decades with Luther Allison, often played alongside John Lee Hooker and Jimmy Reed.

Waldemar Ager, surely our most famous writer, was an immigrant, not a native son. But at that time, a lot of Eau Claire folks were immigrants. His books have been in print longer than anyone reading this column has been alive, he shared a speaker’s platform with William Jennings Bryan, and he was knighted by the King of Norway.

Laila Robbins lived here several years and got a theater degree at UWEC. She’s been on Broadway 20 years and been in some 30 films and television shows, playing opposite Steve Martin, Tom Selleck, Robert De Niro. In the early ’90s, she starred on a primetime ABC drama, Gabriel’s Fire along with James Earl Jones.

But if I named a champ, I might name Ole Bull: friends with Edvard Grieg and Franz Liszt, stands as one of the great violinists in history. Statues of Bull grace Bergen, Norway, and Loring Park, Minneapolis. Concert halls and a U.S. State Park bear his name. Fifteen ocean liners and perhaps a thousand other vessels guided his seafaring funeral procession. The movie about his life is called The Titan, if that’s any indication.

To be fair, Bull’s Eau Claire connection is much more slender than Vernon’s. He married an Eau Claire native, Sara Thorp, they owned property for years within our fair city limits, and I’m sure he spent some uncomfortable Thanksgivings with the in-laws. He played here at least once, in October 1870. Humongous entertainment story. Huge.

But, while you’ll find the Bull name on Eau Claire land deeds, he was really a citizen of the world. He made one of his American homes the Knapp House (a future Governor’s mansion) in Madison; owned 11,000 acres in Pennsylvania — including four modest but entire towns; and owned a whole island off Norway, where he had his own castle. Let me repeat: His own castle on his own island. That’s like Johnny Depp or Elton John or John Lennon big.
    So, then, what’s the matrix between biggest and most local? Or between writer, actor, and musician? Or between David Letterman and the King of Norway? Who knows? These kinds of phrases are what historians call “marketing.”