HISTORIAN, FOLK MUSICIAN DIES TWO YEARS TO THE DAY HE ATTENDED PHILA. LEIF ERICSON EVENT

Normally when you see a headline like that, you would expect a “Rot in Hell” from us, and given the fact that we only know him as the guy who seemed to dismiss the fact that he was hanging with a bunch of neo-Nazis as he honored Leif Ericson, it is almost surprising that he isn’t getting that. But we’re not so sure it’s warranted. For the past two years we have been calling Daniel R. Riegel “Richie Cunningham” simply because we didn’t know his name, but we damn sure wanted to find out. And today we did – almost two months after he died at the age of 25. The thing is, we looked at what people have said about him online and looked at videos of Norsewind, the folk band he played fiddle for, and while we think it was incredibly stupid to think that standing with Nazis is a way to pay tribute to your cultural heroes, it seems paying tribute is all he cared about. We never saw this guy again. We don’t see anything that says he was ever otherwise associated with white supremacists. He might have been a little conservative perhaps, and frankly he didn’t help himself on that day in 2009 defending the event and the organizers, but to quote him, so what? For now, we think that we might be able to clear his name a bit. It’s unfortunate that it is only after he passed on that we are doing this (even worse that he passed on at the age of 25), but it wouldn’t be right if we never did. We have the video here from the 2009 Leif Ericson Day Celebration (DLJ raps to him at 4:51), but we also include a video from a Norsewind performance to show what is lost. By the way, this guy was one hell of a fiddler.

One People’s Project

On Oct. 10, 2009 Daniel R. Riegel attended the “Leif Ericson Day Celebration” sponsored by Keystone State “Skinheads” (KSS) and became a highlight of a video produced from the event when after he was told that Leif Ericson would not associate with the likes of him, he replied, “So what?”

In truth, as a 23-year-old recent graduate of Kutztown University who very much so into history and culture that he was making a career out of it, one would be hard-pressed to prove that he didn’t care. He was the fiddler in the Berks County, PA-based Nordic/Irish folk band Norsewind, as well as for the 18th Century Amity Colonial Dancers. He also involved himself into historical reenactments and working in historical construction. Most importantly, with the exception of the day he went to the Leif Ericson event, there hasn’t been much to suggest that he was supportive of the ideals that KSS or any of the other neo-Nazis were about. It was all about culture and heritage to him, and in the short time that he had on Earth, that was what defined him. Sadly however, there’s another connection to that event, for it was exactly two years to the day he attended the “Leif Ericson Day Celebration” that Riegel died of undisclosed causes, just four days short of his 26^th birthday.

Under his alias “Felix Bauriedl”, KSS associate A.J. Olsen posted his condolences on the Norsewind Facebook page, noting that he only met him once. Olsen was one of the neo-Nazis assembled in 2009. It is not known how Riegel learned of the event, and he had not been seen again at any hate event since.

In addition to Norsewind and his other endeavors, Riegel was also an Eagle Scout with Boy Scout Troop #127 and a member of St. Peter’s Lutheran Church both in Riegelsville, PA, the town where he formerly lived.

According to the Norsewind Facebook Page, they hope to release their second full-length album next year with six of the tracks featuring Riegel.

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