Monday, July 2, 2007

Summerfest with a Bachelor [Party]

This is my friend David:

He will be marrying his girlfriend of eight years this August. I met Dave the summer before my freshman year in high school.

For his bachelor party, he wanted to spend the day in one of his favorite cities: Milwaukee. Don't ask my why he holds Milwaukee in such high regard - he went to college in suburban Elmhurst, IL and has no allegiance to any sports team from the town... but he does like Summerfest.

Summerfest is the largest musical festival in the world. Of the nine other people in this bachelor party (bringing it's total up to 11) about half of them asked if this claim was true. Now, I'm not an authority, but for a festival to run two weeks solid with more than 50 bands a day, but I'm confident in supporting Milwaukee's claim.

I had a great time on Saturday with this crew at Summerfest. It had been a solid five years since I was there last. One of the best places to get a cross section of humanity and a surefire surprise musical talent. The best part was that we didn't care who the "headliners" of that day were. The Fray and Goo Goo Dolls were inconsequential to our efforts. Instead we hung out mainly talking to bachelorette parties (we met five) and hanging out on the "lesser" stages.

Find of the night, this band: Filthy Children on MySpace

These guys were a funk band - with three horn players front and center (who all got bonus points for using the underrated COWBELL at different times) - and a groovealicious chick that liked to move.

During one song, that I thought was an instrumental (but just long lead-in) she coyly slipped backstage and reappeared in the crowd dancing with all of us before hopping back up in time for the first verse. Then they brought the house down with a cover of Dee Lite's "Groove is in the Heart" (Complete with slide whistle!)

When you see a band that effectively utilizes the cowbell and slide whistle you know you're in for a good time.

Special thanks to Dave - looking forward to the wedding... And thanks to the Chipotle sponsored "Rhythm Kitchen" at Summerfest 2007.
---
So now its Sunday night, I'm back in the condo preparing for the next Bachelor Party. But this one won't involve taking an Amtrak to Milwaukee, but a flight to Las Vegas. I'll be back in town late night Thursday, probably use Friday and Saturday to recover - hopefully able to share any postable stories on Sunday.

Have a good week everybody,
TQ