Catching up with my Summer

I realize I haven't written much lately, so I thought I'd catch you up on other events from my summer so far. Since I attended Rock USA 2011 in Oshkosh, WI, I have attended two beer festivals and another concert. Back on July 23, I went to the 2011 Milwaukee Firkin Craft Beer Festival, which was held at Cathedral Square Park in Milwaukee, WI. It should be no secret that I am a huge fan of craft beer, a beer aficionado if you will. I love trying new beer from all of the macrobreweries, microbreweries, and brewpubs from all of the U.S. Wisconsin has many great breweries other than the one it is most famous for, Miller. I personally have sampled well over 200 different beers from all over. Some are outstanding and others are not good at all, but each offers a different style and taste. I'm learning about beer all the time. Yes, I do have favorites. Much like the many different styles and flavors of wine, the craft beer industry has taken to brewing beer of all kinds. The Milwaukee Firkin Craft Beer Festival is a celebration of these specialty craft beers. There were over 90 beers available to taste, some brewed especially for the event. It was a great time with lots of great tastes! Here are some pictures from the event.

The following week, on July 30th, I attended the 2nd Annual Milwaukee Brewfest. This event was similar to the Firkin only much, much larger with over 120 beers to sample. No, I didn't sample them all, but I had my share. Thankfully I did not drive. I had purchased VIP tickets which got me in an hour earlier and allowed me to sample special 'VIP-only' brew. Because I have already sampled over 200 beers, I didn't need to taste all of them at this event. I concentrated on the special VIP beer and the one's I haven't sampled. There were many great beers. A couple breweries stood out - Howe Sound Brewing and Lowlands Brewing Company. There were three beers that I thought were fantastic: The Grand Saison from Grand Teton Brewing Company (Victor, ID), Peanut Butter Ale from Blue Moon, and Mango Sunset Lager from Delafield Brewhaus (Delafield, WI). Check out pictures from Brewfest.

Fast forward to August 14th and that is when I took in my next concert. We traveled an hour to Kenosha, WI for a show at The Brat Stop. The Brat Stop is basically a truck stop sort of restaurant that happens to have a stage. On this night, I was particularly excited about seeing Evans Blue, a great rock band that I have been wanting to see for a few years now. The opening act was a regional band called Soul Shaker. They were kind of a throwback southern style rock band. The lead singer looked like a cross between Axl Rose and Bret Michaels. They were decent, but not who I was there to see. Up next was Evans Blue. They just killed it! I was very impressed with the quality of the sound from such a small venue. I've mentioned in other posts how much I enjoy watching the drummers. Evans Blue's drummer, Howard Davis, is absolutely amazing! He is now my favorite drummer to watch play. Such energy! Such passion! Evans Blue played all of my favorites, well most of them anyways as I like all of their music. Pop Evil was the headliner. I saw them open for Chevelle and Buckcherry in 2009 and didn't think much of them then. I guess a couple years has done them well. They were really good. Unfortunately I wasn't familiar with most of their songs. I did, however, get to meet the lead singer and the drummer from Evans Blue while Pop Evil was playing. Check out the pics.

This has certainly been the year for me to meet bands. There was John Falls (singer) from Egypt Central; Dan Jordan (singer) from Kopek; Julia (singer) from Me Talk Pretty; Mandi (singer) from Of Verona; Tim King (bass), A.J. (guitar), and Jordan (singer) from SOiL; Sick Puppies; and Dan Chandler (singer) and Howard Davis (drummer) from Evans Blue. Still a few months left in the year too.

So what's next?

My birthday is this Friday (August 26th). I'll be competing in the Warrior Dash (a 3-mile race with obstacles) on September 17. I'll be seeing Bush, Chevelle, and Filter on October 8. I have tickets for the Southern Gentlemen Tour featuring Ed Roland of Collective Soul and Kevin Griffin of Better Than Ezra on November 2. Still have to purchase tickets for Five Finger Death Punch on November 8.  Lots of fun events over the next few months. Stay tuned!  Hope you are enjoying your Summer too!!

A Time to Reflect

From time to time throughout our lives, events occur that make us stop and think. Occurrences that make us take a deep breath, put life on pause, and reflect. These events that I write about are often sad and unfortunate. It is easy to let the pain and sorrow take control of you, if you let it. I choose to take a moment or two and think about my life and the many people in my life that I care about and those that have touched me in an emotional or spiritual way. I look at my life as a book and the many people I have met and the many relationships I have built all have their pages in my book. Some have only lasted a paragraph and others have lasted a couple of chapters. No matter how much space these people take up in my book, each and every one of them had a significant part in my life. I appreciate every one of them. I choose to accept people for who they are, whether they make it into my book of life or not. I understand that I may not agree with or get along with everyone and I accept that. I choose to be giving of myself to those that could use my help. I am important, but I choose to make the people in my life just as important. This probably is starting to not make any sense...

What I really want to say is...Cherish the people and the relationships in your life for however long you have them, for you never know how long you will have them. Reflect on the moments you share with the people in your book of life. I am and I appreciate every one in my book. I love and respect you all!

Shout It Out Loud

Here we go again. Less than a week after Summerfest ended, I went to yet another music festival. This time, I went to the inaugural Rock USA 2011 in Oshkosh, WI, at the site where they hold Country USA every year. Apparently they decided to try their hands at a rock show. It was a three-day festival with a decent musical lineup including Daughtry, Puddle of Mudd, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Journey, Korn, and KISS. My friend and I decided that we would be going on the last day, which was yesterday. We felt it had the best lineup of the three days - Dokken, Hollywood Undead, Korn, and KISS.

The site is located in a huge field. They had campgrounds so people could camp out for three days, amusement park rides, several vendors, food, and beer. They apparently modeled it after Country USA by selling VIP tickets and having this very large section in front of the stage with plastic chairs. The size of this section forced general admission attendees to be one or two hundred yards away. The sad part about this VIP section was that it was never full. Each and every band that came to the stage, including KISS, made comments about wanting everyone to be closer. Hollywood Undead's comment was funniest as they said they never performed for so many white chairs before. The festival people need to realize that the fans that attend country shows are different from fans that attend rock shows. I can only imagine the size of the swirling mosh pit that would have ensued had that section not been blocked off. As it was, concerts are much more enjoyable when you can be up close. Since I wasn't that close, I also didn't take a lot of pictures, thought I did get a few. Check them out here.

Now on to the music...

Arrived about 4pm. First band I saw was Dokken. I saw them open for Aerosmith (I believe) back in the late 80's. George Lynch (original lead guitarist) hasn't been with the band for many years. Don Dokken can't quite hit those high notes anymore, so they sung and played some songs at a lower octave. I've always liked Dokken and they still jammed. Up next was Hollywood Undead. I had just seen them at Summerfest the previous Sunday. The show was better at Summerfest, which may have been attributed to being closer then than we were yesterday. The interesting thing to watch was the crowd. You go from an 80's hair metal band like Dokken to a new wave rap/metal band like Hollywood Undead and you certainly see changes in the crowd. Before HU took the stage you could see all of the younger kids moving up into the crowd. Then when they were over, they left. There were some older rock fans who were confused and surprised that so many people were singing along with HU. Good show!

The final two bands for the evening I had not seen before - Korn and KISS. Korn is an awesome band. KISS was more of a bucket-list band. I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed that the first time I was seeing Korn, or KISS for that matter, I was so far away from the stage. The first time I see a band, I like to be up close and really experience the performance and the sound. Korn came out and rocked me. No talking. No bullshitting in between songs. They were flowing seamlessly from one song to the next...UNTIL the sound system went out on the back speakers. By the mere fact that Korn kept going told me that they were unaware of the technical difficulties. The sound cut in and out a few more times and really soured my experience. At one point, my friends and I were preparing for things to get ugly in the crowd, but it never happened. From some things I've read today, it sounds as though it just may have been Korn's sound crew that messed this one up. Either way, it was disappointing. While I can say that I saw Korn, I'm not so sure I can positively say I heard them...at least not the entire set. Hopefully they will come around again soon.

Headlining this last night of Rock USA 2011 was none other than the "greatest show in the world", show being the operative word.  I've never been a big fan of KISS as a band. Sure they have been around for 40 years and have lots of commercial success with many songs that everyone can sing to, but I just feel that they are not a great band musically. Individually, they are all mediocre musicians. Seriously, Paul Stanley is a terrible singer. Eric Singer, the drummer, is actually a better singer. Ace Frehly may have been the one standout. Collectively, they do put on one impressive show. For KISS, it's always about the show, the spectacle of KISS. From the fire, the explosions, the makeup, the costumes, and all of the theatrics they are a great rock 'show'. I can now check them off my bucket-list.

Rock USA 2011 was a good time. I can only hope that the folks that put this show on make some necessary changes to make it better. They can begin with removing the front fenced-in VIP section and finding alternative methods for VIP sales. They say they are wanting to spend $2.5M on bands for next year's Rock USA. Time will only tell if they are successful and if I will attend.

Summerfest 2011 Superlatives

It's been a few days since Summerfest has ended. I figured I'd write up my final review of the World's Largest Music Festival, as I saw it, and award the Summerfest 2011 Superlatives. I'm continuing the superlatives trend from last year's Big Gig. I was told it was an entertaining read. My friend Mark said he was going to resurrect his blog and issue his rankings, which he has yet to do. Not sure I'll hear from anyone else that attended with me. Just like previous years, I always have a difficult time ranking all of the bands that I see. Each band offers something different. If you've been following along, you have read my recap from each day that I attended. If you haven't, feel free to go back and read them.

Let me first begin by giving another hearty Thank You to all of my friends, old and new, that enjoyed the Summerfest experience with me: Mark and Pam, Joe and Jaime, Chad and Anne, Dusty, Rick, Marissa, Zach, Nicki, Annie, and the Hansons - Hillary, Julie, and Rick. I apologize if I forgot to mention someone.

General Observations and Notes

• After running the gauntlet last year (attending all 11 days), I only went 10 days this year. Thus ending my consecutive streak of days attending Summerfest at 20.  Still, 10 days is still respectable. I partly blame the lackluster lineup as there really wasn't a band I wanted to see on the day I did not go. Either way, I'm okay with missing the one day. 
• I saw 37 bands this year.
• First time I have seen a show at the Briggs & Stratton Big Backyard stage.
• The renovated South end of the Summerfest grounds, including the Briggs & Stratton stage, looks great.
• For years, when the Rock Stage finished, they would play Todd Rundgren's 'Bang the Drum'. This year, Todd Rundgren was there to sing it live, though not at the Rock Stage.
• 2011 was the year of the 'walk about'.
• Also the year for meeting bands (4).
• Only golfed once and it was way too hot.
• I really enjoyed the two new beers brewed especially for Summerfest - Let's Fest Ale (an amber ale) and Big Gig IPA.
• I got a new camera so pictures were much better this year.

If you want to read the 2010 Summerfest Superlatives, click here.

Without further ado, here are the 2011 Summerfest Superlatives:

BIGGEST DISASTER and BAND THAT PISSED ME OFF THE MOST

Red Jumpsuit Apparatus - In early 2009 at The Rave, they were downstairs where the acoustics are terrible. I gave them a pass. At Summerfest 2009, the lead singer had serious voice issues and barely completed six songs. I wanted to chalk that up to voice problems. This year, after two disappointments, they had a chance to redeem themselves. They had two years of touring and had finished recording a their 3rd album. Within the first six words of the first song, it was obviously apparent that these guys do not know how to perform. The singer cannot even sing in tune. It's almost as if the singer on stage is someone completely different than the person who sung on the cd. Not only could he not sing, but he spent way too much time talking in between songs, talking about himself like he had this huge ego. Bands that have been around less time put them to shame. I'll go out on a limb here and say that these guys were the worst live band I have seen out of all that I have seen as Summerfest. Terrible! 

BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT(S)

Sevendust - This was the 5th or 6th time I've seen Sevendust over the last five years and this, in my opinion, was the worst performance of them all. While they usually always put on a great show, I felt they left something on the table. Their encore was only one song and they were done nearly 30 minutes before many of the other headliners had finished. I may have to pass on seeing them again.

SOiL - With three or four different singers in five years, this band lacked continuity and cohesiveness. They have some great songs and, at one time, had the potential to make a name for themselves. As it is, they were a 6pm band. Find a good singer and stick with him and maybe they'll be better in the future.

UTTERLY FORGETTABLE

Ocean Grove

Shinobi Ninja

Me Talk Pretty

Fools For Rowan

BUCKETLIST BANDS (SAW AND NEVER NEED TO SEE AGAIN)

BoDeans (Not sure they were even on my bucketlist)

Kansas

REO Speedwagon

Styx

BANDS THAT EVERYONE SHOULD SEE

Here Come the Mummies (2 years in a row!)

Flatfoot 56 - Irish punk band that opened for Rise Against

BANDS WITH MOST POTENTIAL

A Heroes Lie - Local Milwaukee band

BIGGEST SURPRISE

Middle Class Rut - Great sound from a two-man band

Hollywood Undead - Wasn't sure what to expect. Awesome!

BEST PERFORMANCE

Rise Against - They always bring it!

TOP 5

5. Saving Abel

4. Sick Puppies

3. Better Than Ezra

2. Hollywood Undead

1. Rise Against

BEST OF THE REST

10 Years

Flatfoot 56

Middle Class Rut

Crash Kings

Take another look at the pictures.

PARTING SHOTS

I'm already looking forward to next year. My brother may make an appearance. There will, however, be concerts between now and then. Stay tuned! Rock on!!

Summerfest 2011 - Another Year Over, Another One Just Begun

Yesterday was the last day of Summerfest 2011 and it was a great way to end it. I've been to the last day of Summerfest the last three years and this may have been the best final day of them all! Performing on this night were two of the three bands I most wanted to see going into this year's Fest, 10 Years and Hollywood Undead. Would they deliver? Hell yeah they did!

Upon arrival at the grounds, I was surprised to see that the Rock Stage was already more than half full and with a much younger crowd. I certainly wasn't sure what to expect. Hollywood Undead, if you aren't familiar with them, mix heavy metal and rap with strong lyrics into a fairly unique sound. Would they attract a more metal crowd? Or would they attract a more rap crowd? No to both questions. This band is obviously very popular with they late teens to twenties crowd. Not a lot of people drinking beer next to me that was for sure.

Caught the last few songs from Dirge Within, a growler band. A lot of heavy guitars and growling from these guys. Then 10 Years took the stage. I like this band a lot and I like them even more after seeing them live. Great sound! Great band! I recommend seeing them. After 10 Years, things got a little interesting at the Rock Stage. As a matter of fact, things got really interesting. When you have a crowd of young people waiting for a band, they sometimes get a little antsy, even a little rambunctious. One kid throws a water bottle from the front to the back of the bleachers. Another kid throws one back. Next thing you know, it all out chaos and I'm right in the middle of it. Awesome! Water bottles flying...plastic cups being tossed...soda...playing cards...crazy! The melee must have lasted about 40 minutes and ended just before Hollywood Undead took the stage. Like I explained previously, they have a unique blend of metal and rap and they came out and blew it up. Non stop action. They definitely knew how to get the crowd involved. I'm not sure how musically talented they are, but they certainly are awesome performers. Great end to another great Summerfest!

So another year over and another one just begun. 351 days until next year's Summerfest!  But there will certainly be concerts between now and then. In fact, I'm heading to Oshkosh, WI this weekend for Rock USA 2011. There I will see Kindred Soul, Road Trip, Dokken, Hollywood Undead, Korn, and KISS. Also planning on seeing Evans Blue in August.

Summerfest postings aren't quite done though. I'll write up one final review and award the 2011 Summerfest Superlatives.  Stay tuned...

Everybody Wants to Live, How They Wanna Live

One of the great things about Summerfest is that you can walk from stage to stage to stage and listen to a different band from a different genre. With 11 stages to choose from, there is always a live band to listen to. Last night was one of those nights that I went from stage to stage. I started with a walk around the grounds to get food and do some people watching, which is always awesome. I stopped at the M&I Classic Rock stage and listened to Bad Medicine, a Bon Jovi tribute band. A few songs from them and then off to the U.S. Cellular Connection stage to check out the Meat Puppets. I am only familiar with probably their most popular song, Backwater. A very eclectic band that has been around a while. Their songs range from country to folk to punk. Well, after Backwater, I headed over to the Rock Stage to see The Last Vegas. They were at Summerfest last year and I thought they were better on cd than live. They might have been a little more tolerable this time around. They are still a band that is stuck in the 80's though. They did a cover of Alice Cooper's School's Out.

While my friends settled in for Buckcherry, I went 'walk about'. I've seen Buckcherry twice before and I'm just not a fan. They guy's voice is annoying to me and their music is nothing special. I ended up stopping at The Briggs & Stratton Big Backyard stage and listened to the BoDeans, from Waukesha, WI. Obviously very popular as the stage was packed. They opened with Closer to Free, the theme song to Friends. After a few more songs, I moved over to the Harley Davidson Roadhouse stage to attempt to listen to The Flaming Lips. Whatever song they were playing was a bit too trippy. I didn't stick around to see if they would play She Don't Use Jelly. I walked over to the Miller Lite stage and listened to Dashboard Confessional. I'm not a big fan of this band either, but the few songs I heard were pretty good. When I walked up to the stage, they started playing Bryan Adams' Summer of 69. At least two more decent songs from them before they started playing their more melodramatic material. Time to move on. I ended up back over at the Briggs & Stratton stage to catch the BoDeans' last song, Good Things.

Six stages and six different bands. Another great night of music and fun. Today is the last day of Summerfest. It has been a fantastic week so far. Tonight I'm seeing 10 Years and Hollywood Undead. Should be a good night!

Another Night of Great Music at Summerfest

Last night made Day 8 for me at Summerfest and a great night of music it was! As soon as I arrived, I went over to the Rock Stage to catch The Heroes Lie. They are a Milwaukee, WI band that I had first seen at one of the Summerfest Headliner Release parties back in April. I thought they were good at a small bar and wanted to see how they performed on a larger stage. Larger venue usually means more amps and speakers and louder music. They were good and should be a band to watch in the future.

After a little walk to get some food and a couple Big Gig IPAs, I stopped at the U.S. Cellular Connection stage to check out Middle Class Rut. They have one album and their most popular song, New Low, has been playing on the radio. The music video for this song shows two guys walking down a lonely highway. What I hadn't realized was that there were only two guys in the band, a guitarist and a drummer. Wow! I was very impressed with the sound they generated. The drummer, who resembled a young Dennis Quaid, was really good. He was very energetic and played with passion. The only drawback to this band was the long intros to each song. But, I suppose if you only have one album, you need to fill up the time somehow. Certainly better than talking.  After they played New Low, I headed back over to the Rock Stage to see Sevendust.

Sevendust always puts on a great show. They kill it every time. This show, however, was a bit different than previous shows I've seen. They seemed to have left something on the table. When they came our for an encore, they only played one song and were done pretty early. Morgan, the drummer, is always great to watch. I think he is one of the absolute best metal drummers out there, hands down. The guy is amazing!

Well, since Sevendust finished early, I headed over to the Miller Lite stage where the Goo Goo Dolls were playing. Stage was packed and from way back I listened to them play Iris before heading back. Then as I was walking past the U.S. Cellular Connection stage, the Crash Kings started jamming a cover of Black Sabbath's War Pigs.  Awesome!!  War Pigs was the theme song or war song for my high school football team my senior year. Great song! Great performance!

There are two days left of Summerfest 2011 and I'm going to both. Tonight may end up being another walkabout night. Whatever I decide to do and whichever band I see, Summerfest is always a great time!