O, brother, where art thou? In this case, he's working for a competitor

It may take more than an appointment at a spa or salon to assuage the family-business-related heartache of Shelly Engelsma.

The owner-board chair of Spalon Montage once ran the business with sons Mitchell Wherley and Robbin Julien as co-owners.

About 18 months ago there was a breakup, and Julien's ties with Spalon were cut. Now Julien is senior director of Life Spa, and, as such, the national director of spas and salons for Life Time Fitness.

The buzz is that Engelsma is absolutely heartbroken by Julien becoming a direct competitor who's playing hardball, including allegedly stealing Spalon staffers.

"Oh my god," Julien said Friday. "That is very dramatic, very dramatic. My mother adores me; are you kidding? I'm her Number One son. Oh, my brother will love that. My mother, my brother and I are all doing great. This opportunity was discussed between the three of us and it was a tremendous opportunity for me and they are very supportive."

Engelsma could not be reached for comment.

Wherley, Spalon's owner-CEO, chose his words carefully when he wasn't being uncomfortably reticent. "He went over to [Life Time]. I guess what Bahram [Akradi, Life Time CEO] wanted to do is increase the visibility of their spa and salon business and they hired Robbin, my brother, to develop that and make that a bigger part of their business from what I understand," said Wherley. "It's family. He's been over there maybe eight months or a year. It took awhile for him to dig in and start making actual changes."

"That is where it becomes really difficult for me. It's family and I love my brother, but it's hard to be in a small town where you're all trying do the same things, I guess. What I am very proud of is my business and it's been around a long time and it seems like the people who are here are really happy to be here. But it was a little awkward for a while."

When told that it's not a secret among Spalon staffers that Engelsma is very hurt by what Julien is doing, Wherley said: "I think she is doing so great. When that kind of stuff happens, it's painful up front and then [you] just figure out how to have your peace in there. I don't want to cause any other rifts."

Asked if they were having many family get-togethers with Julien, Wherley said, "No. My family still gets together and we don't ... this is so awkward. The invitation is always there. It's just when it's family and you mix business sometimes ... ."

Julien said there's a family birthday party next week and he'll be there.

A star is reborn "Dark's coming back," WCCO-AM GM Mary Niemeyer said Friday.

Some listeners have been freaking out because when you click on his name at wccoradio.com, a message pops up: "Sorry, the page you requested was not found." Of course, maybe that's normal.

Tim's timely trim Gov. Tim Pawlenty has never acknowledged receipt of the hairstyle sketches I mailed to him a few months ago.

A July 3 post on Salon.com indicates that John McCain's possible veepstakes winner has nevertheless gotten the picture: "But the real sign Pawlenty might be interested in being McCain's running mate came in a slightly subtler form late this spring: He cut his hair. Gone was the mullet he'd worn for years, even though Minnesota media outlets and political blogs mocked him for it. As Pawlenty hit the Sunday talk shows in May and June, he sported a trim new look. You might even call it vice-presidential."

Not to pat myself on the back with both hands or anything, but with the help of stylists Shauna Raisch, Tom Schmidt, Christopher Hopkins and Jon English, I believe I was to first rag on Pawlenty about his hair on March 13.

Now, Pawlenty is veep-a-licious, which is probably exactly how McCain would describe the look. No need to thank me.