Friday, August 11, 2006

It was a Fair time

I was cussing my way through the afternoon yesterday. Not only were the Brewers holding onto a lead and trying to give it away, but I had late meetings I had to stay for.

I hate late meetings.

I usually skip one of them. But in this case I had two, back to back. If it wasn't for a pile of work that showed up at my desk at 3:25, I would have had to sit through both. Instead I called into one and got out of here at a somewhat respectable time.

Just in time to run into shitty traffic. With those damn Cub/Fibs in town, traffic would be a bitch. But it does lead to one of my most worthless hobbies: Watching Fibs get lost. If any car with an Illinois plate is heading over the Hoan bridge by the lake, it is a 99% chance that they are totally lost. If they had a brain, they would follow the poorly placed detour signs and get to I43. But most of the time they exit at Oklahoma Ave and go right back in the direction they came from. Right back into construction. Right back to the stadium from where they started. I can't help but laugh each time. Some times I even point at them when I am chuckling.

I finally made my way down to the State Fair last night. Parked on the race track. Each time I do so, I am tempted to break away and start racing down the back stretch. It would be a trick with all the cars parked, but I could weave my way through.

The mission was to catch Bobby Friss. Bobby was great as usual. Seeing Bobby Friss is more than watching a good band. Each time I have seen him perform at the Fair, there is one guy- a groupie- that is always there. I call him the Freak. He may be slightly retarded, but I am not sure. This dude will get out front and dance like, well, a Freak. He will sometimes by the side until some chicks come out and then like a barracuda, move in for the kill. He tried that move last night and the look on the girls faces was priceless. They couldn't move away from him fast enough. I do not know what is funnier, watching the women react without hurling in his face or him doing his Mick Jagger strut when the band plays the Rolling Stones.

Watching the Freak do his thing is funny enough. But it gets better when Milwaukee's best worst dancers hit the floor. I have seen these people around town before. They try so hard. They must have spent hundreds of dollars on dance lessons. Money that was poorly spent mind you. I need to bring a camera to catch this act. With the way the guy picks her up and twirls her around, it looks more like a wrestling match than a dance routine. There is one spot where he picks her up and looks like he is going to deliver the Razor's Edge. Or when he has her straddling his face and she leans back and they spin. Funny as hell. People were watching and laughing. Even Tom the bartender was cracking up.

And believe it or not, I finally saw some Pie! Caught a couple songs by Cherry Pie last night. Twas good. I may go back tonight for the full show. It is either that or picking on drunk guys as I Drink for Jesus. Not too keen on the church festival as I believe it is the Toys that are playing. That band just annoys me. Too much jumping around and prancing on stage. Not my kind of thing.

Have a great weekend and Rock on with your Bad Selfs!

5 comments:

AWE said...

There is a Harley rally at the race track near my house this weekend. They said that there should be somewhere between 4 and 6 thousand attendees. Everyone of these guys will get lost and drive up the road by my house and I will be laughing the whole time unless it is at 3 in the morning.

Tumbleweed said...

You are a pretty damn entertaining guy, I might have to stop back by here.

Anonymous said...

We call that dude that you saw at Bobby Friss the Fork guy, since he showed up at a Bobby Fest/Miller show about 4 years ago with sunglasses made out of two forks.... weird.

FWIW he was at Bobby the Tuesday of SF also, I was there for the full 4 hours of show (well, minus the occasional pee/get good beer runs) and he was working his magic on... well... noone. It sure is fun to watch though...

Oh and I think Bobby is even more fun at some little 50 person gig, than a 10,000 person Fest show. Totally different. On that night, he handed his guitar to some audience lady, then commenced to trying to smash a folding chair, then used the folding chair to play the guitar still sitting on the lady's lap. Oh and stump the band was amazing also. Some guy said to play Montrose he played Montrose.

I was there on Thursday also, but the guitarist was missing, so my kid and I kept moving (we watched some Havana Ducks or something).

StB said...

I agree. Bobby puts on a good show no matter where he is at. I am disappointed he isn't playing the last church festival of the year like he usually does.

Anonymous said...

I think he usually did the 60th and Oklahoma gig but I did not go there this year, so don't know if he was at it.