I used to love Running With the Devil.. and now, I shall love it forever *squees*

[zhie]

My day started with.. laundry. Exciting, I know. Also, with picking a rug up from my parents’ house. -_- my happy fluffy red rug that now smells terrible, but enough on that.

Then, Mark and I decided not to rush down to Summerfest, so we stuck around here, and I wrote a little bit on the sunset piece.. left around noon and got gas and ice and headed on over to the fairgrounds

Summerfest, for those who aren’t familiar, is a nine day (or eleven, can’t recall) music festival that runs over a week straight from noon to midnight each day. It’s apparently the biggest music festival in the country (500 different bands at it) – next year is the 40th year it will have been held. It’s right on the lakefront, so the scenery is beautiful, and the music this year was pretty damn good.

For a few years, the music was all going to gansta rap and stuff like that. Which was kinda sad, ‘cause there was no reason to go. Now it’s more country and rock and blues again, yay! (I played at Summerfest three years in a row in the 90s, back when I was still playing jazz in a band.. we’d play the bingo tent early in the morning, and we’d also get to play for the Milwaukee wake up news broadcasts.. getting up at 3 or 4 in the morning to get there for the 5am news kinda sucked, but it was a sweet gig).

Anyhow, Mark and I last went in 2001, when Prince played the main stage. Oh, something I should add – there is only one act per day that needs to be paid for. The 7pm Ampetheater show. Everything else is free with gate admission – which is 8 bucks weekdays from noon to 4 and 15 bucks all other times.

I scouted out a parking place ahead of time this year, opposed to paying for a lot far away that was crappy as we did for Prince. When we got to the parking structure... I found out that not many people had gone for that one, so we were able to score the space one away from the entrance/exit. Whee! Then we headed in and walked around. We went to the stage that David Lee Roth was going to be playing at and found it was expanded – seats 10 thou instead of 5 thou. I got uber excited suddenly.. this was the same stage I played when the jazz combo played Festa Italiana back in ’94. Squeeing began.

There were only two small groups who were staking out territory, so Mark and I decided to walk the entire grounds and then we came back around and stopped at the Mader’s stand for lunch. Mader’s is the premier German restaurant in Milwaukee – must remember, Milwaukee was once a very much German and Polish town, Wisconsin is still the ‘most German’ state in the union, so to speak. And, Ich spreche Deutsch, so it must be true. Anyhow, we had bratwurst, knackwurst, sauerkraut, potato salad (German of course.. and I hate German potato salad, but this stuff I love) and sauerbraten. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm And a big ass pepsi (wish it was coke) for me, and two beers for the Mark.

So, as we are sitting there discussing what to do and whether we want to go on the sky ride, I mention, hey, we are across the street from the Art Museum – do you want to go and see the comic exhibit? I should mention, even with the lake and the breeze, someone said it was 93 out today. Blah. Mark said yes – just after I reminded him, if we go there, we can use the nice posh bathrooms instead of the communal chaos which is the fairgrounds.

We got our bracelets that let us get back in before 7pm and headed to the Art Museum. Purposely walked next to the outside fountains to cool off. The comic exhibit is a showing of original art from fifteen different comic book/strip artists. Charles Schultz, Harvey Kurtzman, Will Eisner, Jack Kirby, Robert Crumb, and others I cannot recall at this time. It was awesome. Then.. because we also had regular museum admission with the special admission, I went to see the painting of St. George with a white stallion that so much reminds me of Glorfindel and Asfaloth. Got to the room I was certain it was in and … not there. Had ten minutes to close and found a museum worker. I described the painting. He laughed and said, “That’s in Poland”. Apparently, that is not part of their collection, but of a collection they were borrowing for a time. I was crushed. I could even still see where the painting had been hanging and the nameplate had been removed.

So now, I have to try to track this thing down. It was so beautiful, I stared at it for so long, I wish at the time I had written down the artist’s name.

Luckily, I found out that the painting that reminds me of Erestor IS in their regular collection, so that one will not go wandering off to Poland on me.. bad painting..

We went back to the car and had some snackies and water (I always pack stuff and put it into the car instead of buying expensive snacks at the event, whatever it may be). Walked back to the festival around 5:30ish, which was our plan. David Lee was scheduled to go on at 10pm. At the same time, on other stages in the park, you would have your choice of Roth, or the GoGos, or Hank Williams Jr, or the Temptations, or you might still be at the Paul Simon concert (lawn seating is free; all other seats are pay for Paul Simon’s).

We found that a massive crowd had gathered in the 2 and a half hours that we were gone. After seeing what looked like a packed area, I convinced Mark to come around with me to the left side of the stage. We found that there was still seating available (bleacher type seats, but without them being on risers). We got in around the fifteenth row and sat down. Seemed pretty good to us at the time.

A band called The Chadwicks (??? Don’t know them; from Arizona apparently) was playing – and they were quite the potty mouths. Sang one song in particular that was a chorus of something like ‘You Can’t Control Me, Fuck You’ over and over again. Anyhow, a lot of ‘younger folk’ were around (er.. probably my age, but since I don’t exactly act as my peers do...) standing on the bleachers, drinking beer, dancing, singing, etc. Very soon, Mark and I were able to move up slowly but surely in one or two row increments until we found ourselves on the sixth row right around 6pm. There we stayed through two more sets of the Chadwicks, a show by a group called Exhibit A (who sang really well and played great, too, classic rock songs, from Blondie to ACDC, they were great), and then.. David Lee Roth!!!!!!!!!

I should mention quickly that during part of the Chadwicks first set, I made myself comfortable and.. reread the Vallaquenta. There is something very.. interesting about reading about the creation of Arda through music when you are so close to music it is literally pulsing through your entire being. I also doodled a bit for a time and was fallen upon nearly by a guy with not so great balance dancing on the bleacher in front of me.

David Lee Roth was.. heeeee. Ah, he was hot for a guy my dad’s age. How come the famous guys I think are hot are all either dead or could be my father? Anyhow.. he really rocked the stage. His band was awesome. My throat is a bit sore :D

He really played to the audience, and specifically to members in particular; he would, y’know, point at people, talk to them while he was on stage, stuff like that. And, a squeeful moment for me.. when he was singing Running with the Devil, and came over to our side of the stage, (remember, we’re in the sixth row – this is the closest I have ever been to the stage for a concert) he looked right over at me. Me, I thought, there’s gotta be someone next to me or something, so I glanced to my right (Mark was at the left), but, no. When I look back up at the stage, he’s.. still looking at me. And, y’know, when you’re that close, you know if someone’s looking at you or looking at.. whatever. Then, he did this sort of eyebrow cock/waggle thing like ‘yes, you, silly girl’ and then was back on his way across the stage again. So.. *squees again*

Ahhh. I had a wonderful time. Even despite the storm – it rained (yay, cooled us off a little) and lots of lightning (made for awesome effects). He did mostly Van Halen songs; and ended with a great version of Jump where he did a whole staff twirling/fighting type thing.. no swords tonight, but the staff was great!! And he did the high kicks and some martial arts stuff.. whheeeee! I’m just so bouncy right now. I mean, I should be asleep in bed, but I’m so wound up and everything.

*sigh* So. I have, finally, come within ‘glancing distance’ lol of one of my ‘muses’. I’ll never get to come that close to ‘Ecthelion/Erestor’ (Jim Morrison – physically, I think of Ecthelion; voice, of Erestor), ‘Thranduil’ (Yul Brynner.. c’mon, if he had long blond hair, he’d make a great king of Mirkwood), but at least I got to see ‘Glorfindel’.

And before we left, we had a couple of brats quick from the Mader’s stand, and picked up some cannoli from the Sciortino stand before leaving (stayed eight minutes past close and got to see the fireworks). Drove home, here I am.

Well.. I think I am going to finish my cannoli and hit the sack – my throat is more sore now, I have a feeling my voice may not function tomorrow *grins*

Oh, and by the time the concert was at the encore, we had managed to move form the left side of row six to the center of row six right in front of the main spot he was singing from, so for the last three songs, we were right there.

AND.. drunks are fun to watch. Really a lot of fun. Additionally, it would not be a festival without getting beer spilt on me, and that was courtesy of the drunken man who was confused and dazed until he realized his was one row back, and then tried to climb through me to get there. Thanks, stupid drunk man. My shoe now smells of beer.

Also funny – when we were on the left side, before DLR got out on stage (oh, and he drank from a big bottle of Jack Daniels throughout the concert, love it) we were behind these two couples who were quite tipsy, all four members. Anyhow, as they drank more and more, the two wives got more and more leaning on each other, and before anyone was warned, the two of them are kissing. The guys in the row behind us start with the shouting and hooting of ‘we love lesbians’ and such, while the one husband is looking at the pair of chicks like ‘that is so hot’ and the other husband is looking at the pair like ‘wtf? That is so NOT hot!’ So then he had to turn away and be pissy, so his wife did the ‘I’ll just climb on your lap and smoochle you and everything will be fine’ except.. while she was trying to calm down her husband, the guys behind kept making comments like ‘kiss her again!’

Well, I could write about the drunks all night. Or, I could go to sleep, dream about David Lee Roth’s sexiness and then get up tomorrow and write more of the sunset fluffy fic.


Yeah, I thought that’s what y’all wanted me to do..

Comments

[otherpervert.livejournal.com]

*pouts* You don't love me anymore. You hate me. You never think about me. Ever. Never mention my pending visits.


*cries*




...see you soon, homie.

[zhie.livejournal.com]

totally TOTALLY not true

I talked about you all week

Including this morning to Nenni

TJ is here already but I have not seen him yet

I have been bouncy about seeing you.. so very very bouncy

I took off much time next week. I was (secretly) making plans to smuggle you, the Nenni and the TJ if I could pull it off to see Pirates of the Carribbean II while everyone is in town

I MISS YOU ORO! *huggles you and clings*

Love, Halli

[kaffeine-kitty.livejournal.com]

David Lee Roth and drunk, horny, lesbian housewives. I dare say, it couldn't get better than that.

Did you get any pics? Of Mr. Roth, I mean.