Profile of an Iron Ranger: Erwin "Boogiecat" Laitala

When the music begins, Erwin Laitala pops to his feet and stands out among acres of music fans. He cannot be mistaken decked out in colorful tie-dyed clothing from head to toe, prompting some to refer to him as “the crazy tie-dyed dancer.” His unique dance style has morphed somewhat over time in response to years of wear on his knee joints.

“Boogiecat” is a handle that has stuck with Laitala of Ely for more than twenty years. “I was the original Boogiecat,” said Laitala. “You would only find me if you searched for ‘Boogiecat’ on the internet in the late 80s.” He held that ranking for two years until a man from Australia used the same name. Today you will find “Boogiecat Laitala” on page 33 of Google.

Laitala has not always been called “Boogiecat”n by music fans. He was know to many as “The Flying Finn From Ely, MN” during the 70s, later to become “Boogieman.” He likes “Boogiecat” best and will not change the name. “It fits with my dance.” he said.

“I have danced all over the world, including the squares of Vienna and the bars of Barcelona,” says Laitala. He also dances at 10 to 15 music festivals annually throughout the United States. He recalls a time when he saw a Dixieland Jazz Band playing in the main square of Vienna. “I started dancing and before long I was surrounded by crowds of people cheering me on. That was a very special time,” he said.

The passion for dancing began when Laitala was a high school senior playing alto saxophone for a band called Tydes. The band played in Highlands, North Carolina, where customers demanded the band play clogging songs. “While playing up on stage and watching this, I really became enamored by it,” he said. That is where he started thinking about being a dancer instead of a musician. It began with clogging, a step dance originating as a social dance in the Appalachian Mountains in the early 1700s.

Laitala never really conformed to the moves of southern Appalachian style cloggers. He developed his own unusual style of clogging, changing moves from time to time, eventually getting around to where he would dance on one leg like a flamingo for five to 10 seconds. He danced on boogie boards he made from Formica counter top sink cut-outs. “I would buy them at Floor to Ceiling for a buck a piece,” said Laitala. “I welded 3/8-inch nuts to screws that bolted into my shoes and they would sound like fire crackers going off when I danced on the boogie boards,” he said.

Alex Haitala, a Finn from the Pike Sandy area, observed Laitala dancing in the late 1970s and asked him to join his band. The Alexander Old Time Ragtime Band consisted of Alex Haitala on fiddle, Len Carich on guitar, Emily Huppert on stand-up bass, and Laitala as dancer. He danced on box structures made out of chest drawers with hinged plywood over both ends. A microphone was placed in each box, providing a stereo effect to separate speakers as he danced on the structures. “The sound was awesome,” said Laitala.

Laitala’s public exposure was about to expand. Alex Haitala arranged for the group to be on television with the Chmielewski Fun Time Band. Four shows were recorded in one evening and played during the next couple of years. The Chmielewskis later put all the shows together to make a documentary called “The Flying Finn Special.”

Dancing on boogie boards for 30 years does have its consequences. Laitala stopped clogging about five years ago due to knee problems. He uses his arms more these days. “I derive a lot more power from my arms, making it easier on my legs.” He seems to defy gravity as he balances on one leg and jerks his arms wildly to the music. It is truly an unforgettable experience to watch him dance in his own unique style.

Laitala’s other passion, traveling all over the world, was a result of his desire to quit his job after working for 15 years as a millwright for US Steel Minntac Mine in Mt. Iron, Minnesota. “I was going to quit, but my father convinced me to continue working towards retirement,” he said. He began occupying his time thinking about places he wanted to see. “I was always planning my next vacation trip.” His extensive travels took him to remote places, such as China, New Zealand, Thailand, Australia, Eastern and Western Europe, South America, and Jamaica. He even flew to London on occasion for a long weekend.

A walk through Laitala’s home is like taking a trip around the world. He has gathered souvenirs and artifacts from all of his travels. Sitting prominently on a shelf is a row of photo albums that document every trip. He loves to talk about his travels. “I went through 32 castles in Scotland and loved it. I did a lot of backpacking in Argentina and Chile and it was beautiful. I also did three backpack trips to New Zealand.”

Backpacking is an important element of Laitala’s travels. His favorite place to backpack is the John Muir Trail in Yosemite. He also enjoys the Trinity Alps Wilderness in Oregon and Northern California. He most enjoys getting away from people and being alone. “I have always backpacked by myself except as an eagle scout. I had a good scoutmaster that taught us backpacking is good exercise,” says Laitala.

Laitala enjoys being by himself, which seems contrary to all the attention he gets while dancing. “That is the balance necessary for me - to have the times alone and the times in the limelight,” he said. That balance is very important, as he was diagnosed as bipolar during his college years. He has learned to live with that obstacle. There are good days and bad days that go with this illness. “All the festivals, dancing, and backpacking tend to keep my spirits up,” he said.

Laitala was born on June 13, 1951 to Everett and Grace Laitala in Champaign, Illinois. He has three older brothers: Evron, who works in a hospital in Crystal, Minnesota; Ellis, a retired United Airlines pilot residing in Estes Park, Colorado, and Emmett, who is deceased. His grandfather immigrated from Finland, settling on the north side of Shagawa Lake. His father, born and raised in Ely, worked at Pioneer Mine until he earned enough money to go away to college.

The family moved from Champaign, Illinois, to Cleveland, Ohio, shortly after Laitala was born. Everett was an industrial engineering professor at Case Institute of Technology for six years before moving to Newark, Delaware, on a sabbatical working for the DuPont Corporation. “Then dad got the job of his life in 1959, being head of the department of industrial engineering at Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina,” said Laitala.

The family lived in a housing development on a hill in Clemson. The Army Corps of Engineers decided they were going to build a hydroelectric dam 45 miles away on the Savannah River, requiring all houses below a certain level on the hill to move. “We did not move and a lake formed in our front yard,” says Laitala. The waterway that formed, Lake Hartwell, is larger than Lake Vermilion. “I am sure Dad’s taxes went up after we acquired the lakeshore.”

Laitala truly admired his father and continues to emulate him. “He was a very unusual man. He lived in the South and would do odd jobs for African Americans like fixing their door or hanging a window for no pay.” Laitala proudly relates an example of how his father believed in civil rights. “His church burnt down and my father became the head of the committee for rebuilding the church. The church had many kitchens. Recognizing that there was no childcare service for African American children in Clemson, he demanded the church open the kitchens to develop a day care center for poor children. It did not go over at all, so he left the church and built the Clemson Child Development Center. He worked on it constantly. Then the day came where he saw 150 children at the Center and all their mothers working. He then built the Clemson Library block by block with help from the University. He saw a need to get books to the children.”

The humanitarian efforts of his father had a positive impact on Laitala and influenced how he would deal with African American students in high school. He was asked by a six-member African American band called The Ebonies to join their group as an alto saxophone player. “I was the only white person in most of the places we played at and I was accepted,” said Laitala. “The band played soul music and soul music ruled in 1969.”

Fat Chicken Besides playing with The Ebonies, Laitala kept busy in high school being active on the track team, wrestling team, and the marching band. He graduated in 1969 and went on to achieve a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Georgia in Athens. Shortly after graduation, he worked as a manager in the irons finishing and assembly department for a golf club manufacturer in Albany, Georgia.

His life would change about a year later when the humidity of Georgia made it diffi cult for him to breathe and his doctor suggested he consider relocating to a more arid climate. He knew he never had trouble breathing in Ely, having spent every summer there with his family. “I loved Ely and it was just a matter of time before I was going to move here, and given the circumstances, I decided to go ahead and make the move,” said Laitala.

The move to Ely was in the bitter cold of January, 1975. Laitala quickly installed a barrel stove and cut firewood to keep the Laitala family cabin warm. He loved it and knew he wanted a log cabin of his own. He found his dream home that summer in a large field in Cook, offered a farmer $75 for it, and the deal was made. It wasn’t long before the logs were moved and he was living in his new home on the Laitala property on the north side of Shagawa Lake. He acquired another log cabin in 1980 for free at Pike Sandy. “I got a keg of beer and a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken and had ten guys over and we put it up in about five hours,” said Laitala. He acquired and disassembled 12 more buildings while he was laid off from Minntac in 1981. He sold a couple of them, although about eight of them lay neatly in his yard covered with tarps.

Laitala worked for MN DNR stripping walleyes the first year he moved to Ely and in 1976 as a manager at the Thomas/Frazier Lakes area fire for the US Forest Service. He went to work in December 1976 for US Steel Minntac and stayed as a millwright until he retired in April 2007.

His life has always been filled with adventure. He went on a motorcycle trip when he was 18 years old from South Carolina to Ely and on to Seattle, San Diego, and Jacksonville, before returning to South Carolina. “I traveled 9,000 miles and it cost me $90,” he said. He has acquired more than 600,000 frequent flyer air miles, always thinking about where the next adventure might be.

Laitala is most proud of his dancing and his backpacking. “I don’t know how much longer I will be able to backpack and dance. That is what I live for now,” he said. “I have had a good life and am lucky to live in such a wonderful area. I only wish I wasn’t bipolar,” he concluded.

Author's Note

Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass, it’s about learning to dance in the rain. - Author unknown

I do not remember who said those words, but it comes to mind when I think about Erwin Laitala. He found a way to deal with the ‘storm’ of mental illness and chose to meet it head on. He understands how precious life is. We all have obstacles in our life and we can learn by his example. I look forward to the next festival when I can sit back in my recliner with a cold beer and smile as I watch Boogiecat truly enjoying what he likes to do best. Rock on, Boogiecat!

Terry Jackson of Ely is the former General Manager of the City of Ely Public Utilities. He is a busy and happy retiree now who writes profiles of interesting Iron Rangers in his free time.