Big Gig I

Well the ‘fest is here again. This year we took our Big Gig cards and headed down to the grounds on the opening Thursday. J and I went down there fairly early so we could get in for free. We thought that we were going to have four hours of boredom while we waited for the Big Wu to start things off at eleven but we ran into some of my old college buddies, Steven Herman and Kyle Barton. I guess they always meet at the same spot at the Miller Oasis and I was just lucky enough to stumble across them. We had a couple beers and caught up with each other. It was good to see them again. Then around nine we decided to take a lap around the fest. Once we made it around the huge line of people waiting to get into Prince we were able to double back to our stage and see the ekoostik hookah. ek was, eh, and they played up until the fireworks. After the big bang we did the hippie bounce to the Wu and felt old until midnight and went home.

Friday the acts at ‘fest weren’t that good but more importantly I wasn’t able to get my wristband so I couldn’t get in for free. Instead of spending tons of cash at Summerfest I decided to meet J after work at the Wicked Hop and spend tons of cash there. We had a slew of different beers and some food. We sample beers there until eleven and then swayed home to get some sleep for Kondofest on Sat.

Saturday was the annual Kondofest party. I have to admit that overall you can see that the ol’ wreckin’ crew is getting older and a little more docile. Don’t get me wrong here, the day still had the usual yard nomads wandering around playing boce ball, 3 hours of volleyball, and some quarters. It also lacked the beer bong and casual chug off that in the past made barrels, plural, evaporate. It could be that in their old age people just prefer the mixers and that’s why only one barrel was enough for the crew. Either way, I still had a good time and got to head butt a girl in the face while putting my Swisher Sweet out on her cheek. That’s what she get for trying to D up the big dog on the blacktop. Once Kondofest was finished everyone headed downtown as usual. This year I split from the group because everyone and their mother were going to see O.A.R. and I wasn’t going to deal with the massive crowd. After stopping for some unneeded liquor at the store Marti, Graham and I went back to my place. While there we proceeded to drink Captain and Captains as well as Gin and Gin drinks. We played some Euchre listened to some tunes and got ready to go to the Metro. This unnecessary trip turned out to be a haze so I have to stop my story here. I know we met up with Delahunt and some other people from the party but that’s all I can tell you. I know there was a heated political discussion and a hefty charge on my credit card so it must’ve been fun.

Sunday, rest and relaxation. Monday since J had to work I went to ‘fest solo to see Dark Star Orchestra. They jammed as usual and nothing beats free! Part II soon!

Two Saturdays!

Ahhh, my fist day of actual vacation from ASQ came this week and I took advantage of the long weekend. On Friday it started with a Brewers game. Babcock hooked up Todd, Steph, Luedke and I with some tickets to one of the luxury boxes at Miller Park. Not only were the seats great but the thing was stacked to the hilt with free booze and food for everyone. The group took full advantage of the amenities and I have to admit I didn’t watch much of the game because I was in deep conversation with those around me. In the end the Crew lost but who goes to watch the games anyway. Once the game was over we all went to Mo’s for a couple pints of Guinness. There was a two person band there that had a drum machine do all the backing music but they did some awesome covers. After that we headed to the Metro and finished up the night with some martinis.

On Saturday Jocelyn and I had our traditional Memorial Day weekend grill out. We invited Todd and Steph over and we relaxed the day away. We had marinated kabobs, German potato salad, chopped salad, and most important of all, fresh fruit daiquiris. The weather was cool and rainy but the men braved the cold and grilled the manly food to perfection. The next couple hours were spent relaxing and sucking on daiquiris. At about nine Tasha and her new/old boyfriend came over and joined the fiesta. After the Chappelle show and Insomniac marathons we headed to the High Hat on Brady to meet Luedke. The way to the High Hat was quite the adventure. Tasha’s male friend’s Mustang got stuck in reverse and we couldn’t parallel park the thing. After some torque on the shifter we cracked the thing out of reverse and into first. After destroying is transmission and driving around in first looking for a parking space (he couldn’t shift out of it) we managed to find a spot. One problem still existed though, we had to parallel park the car. So we pulled up to the spot and I got out and pushed the car backwards into the spot. Once that thing was parked it was no longer my worry and it was time to have some fun. All the craziness caught up with me the second I stepped foot inside the High Hat. As soon as I entered the bar I hit the proverbial wall. I had one beer, talked to some college buddies, and headed home.

Sunday, or Saturday #2 as I like to call it, consisted of a second Brewers game. The weather was absolutely horrible. Torrential rain and thunder were the weather of the day. After confirming with Todd that we were going to go to the Crew game, bad weather or not, we headed off. I thought for sure it would be us and the players at this game but I couldn’t have been more wrong. Upon arriving at the stadium we discovered that there were quite a lot of diehard people already in the parking lot. We were on the east side of the stadium so we took our three beers and headed to Gantner’s Gardens shelters. Every shelter was packed elbow to elbow with crazy people tailgating before the game. Our shelter was no less crazy than the others. One guy accidentally started the rubberized bench on fire with his grill so we got a nice whiff of toxic smoke. Another observation I didn’t understand was seeing all the people taking their umbrellas to go pee in the bushes. Don’t you think you’d get plenty wet from walking through the foot high grass and standing in a bush? Well after I pondered this questions for what seemed like minutes we finished our beers and headed in to the stadium and the safety of the roof. We spent almost the entire game in TGIFs drinking yards and talking to Delahunt’s parents and one of my other buddies that we happened to run into. Another loss for the Brewers but the game was a great was to spend a Sunday. After the game we headed back downtown and got Edwardo’s with Todd and Steph. I then finished the weekend the way all weekends should be finished, with a three hour nap. Monday was spent doing nothing, the way all days off should be spent. A great weekend, I wish they were all three days.

Birthday Wheels

This was fun weekend. On Friday we went out for a nice dinner for Jocelyn’s birthday since we were up in Sheboygan last weekend. I reserved a dinner cruise on the Edelweiss. The dinner was a lot nicer than I expected. For $60 a person we got a 2 hour cruise and a nice dinner. We started off at the Third Street Pier. From there we went down the Milwaukee River and then circled the harbor a couple times. Dinner was delicious and consisted of a fillet with a whitefish. The whole thing was excellent and Jocelyn and I both had a great time. Yet another thing I have to recommend to others.

On Saturday we had to get up early and go to Chicago to get Jocelyn’s new/used car. She bought a Mitsubishi Montero from a dealer in the Chicago area. We left MKE at about eight and got back at three just in time for our next event of the day.

Twelve of us decided to go on the Lakefront Brewery tour. I met the whole clan at the brewery. Since the tour was packed and since most of us had already gone on the tour we just drank our free beers at the bar. After relaxing on the banks of the lovely Milwaukee River we went to Wolski’s by UWM to get our free that we get with our tour ticket. After a couple beers there the clan broke up. Todd, Steph, J and I went to the Milwaukee Ale House for a burger. KB from WKLH was playing there and the place was packed so we had a good time there. From there we cruised to the ol’ Metro. We met up with some of the wounded soldiers from the other clan there and spent the rest of the night there. Thanks to Todd and Steph for dinner.

Wedding Season

This weekend wasn’t too crazy. Friday night we stayed in because we had a wedding in Sheboygan to go to. It was couple beers and a movie night.

Saturday was the best woman on the face of the earth’s birthday, Jocelyn! There is no better way to spend a birthday than to spend it in Sheboredom at a relatives wedding. We went to my cousin Dirk’s wedding and it was actually a nice, small wedding. We left Milwaukee early and headed to Sheboygan around 8. We had some errands to do and that took us until around noon. The wedding was at one so we went to that and then headed to Dave’s Who’s Inn for a couple good Sheboygan hamburgers and some beers. The reception started at seven and was a fun time. We had some cocktails with my relatives and listened to their fish stories, you gotta love my uncle Tommy the man who things he Frank Sinatra. The wedding got so crazy EVEN MY MOM was taking shots, a definite rarity. When the wedding wound down we headed to Falls to finish the night in style. We started at the “O” and spent a good amount of our night there. Then in one of those “split second sounds good at the moment” ideas we got wrangled into going to Plymouth and seeing a band.  With no birthday being complete without going to Big Jimmy’s and getting a root beer shot we went down the block and pounded two root beer shots with Jimmy himself. He was disappointed to see us go but we were off to Plymouth. Cruising in style in the ’88 Towncar we made it to P-town with about an hour until bar time. The band was a jam band and they were pretty good. We hung out with my buddies Popper and Richie and grooved the night away. Nothing is ever dull in Plymouth and bar closing is no exception. On our way out we got to see a huge fight and some chick sprawled out in the middle of the road with her dress over her head after getting pushed down. Don’t know what that was all about but I chalk it up to Plymouth. That’s enough Plymouth for at least two years. Happy birthday to J. Sorry for the boring week, I’ll make up for it.

Hot Dog!

Last weekend was pretty tame. I FINALLY got some of the much needed rest that I needed. Friday J and I went to the Brewers game after work. We were going to tailgate but of course Mother Nature had her way and it was cold and rainy so we just had a couple beers in the car and listened to the tunes. The game was fun mostly in part to us sitting in the Beer Pen area. If anyone wants a good deal hit up the Beer Pen on Brewers Friday night home games. It’s $10 for a ticket and sweet throwback Brewers t-shirt. You have to request the Beer Pen when you buy the tickets. They rope off the right field loge level and make it into a private bar area, it’s pretty sweet. There was the roaming inflatable Miller bottle that J got her picture with. Besides that the only other thing that is worth mentioning was that I ate 6 hot dogs because they were only a $1 for spring madness. The Crew won and we headed home. I was beat so I called it a Friday night.

Saturday was equally uneventful. J and I met up with Todd and Stephanie and we hit Joey Buona’s. We got the family style sit down dinner and we ate until we were comatose. I did run in to an old acquaintance from my Primate Center days. If you’re reading this, hi Monique. Since I could barely walk after dinner, going out was out of the question. We headed home and I got a good 10 hours of sleep.

Sunday we decided to hit the Crew game again. Since it was spring madness tickets were only $2.50 so why not hit up the game. This one we met Erica, Ostrenga, Delahunt, Stephanie, and Stephanie’s cousin in the parking lot for a little tailgate action. Erica had some leftover wop from her Mifflin St. party so we had a warm Sunday morning (Erica was a little warmer than the rest.) The game was a lot of fun. We snuck behind home plate about 25 rows back. Todd and I had a hot dog eating contest. I was only able to down 10 (disappointing by personal standards) but Todd only ate 8 so I was the victor. I actually ran into my Aunt and Uncle who were up from Florida watching Craig so I talked to them a bit. The Crew ended up losing but we were really there for the dogs and cheap tickets. It was the most fun I’ve had on Sunday for a while. Overall a very satisfying weekend. I managed to intertwine sobriety, fun and 20+ hours of sleep.