The fireworks were pretty good. They lasted 15 minutes. I had my MP3 player with me, and I found a spot just south of Discovery World to watch the proceedings. I am assuming that tonight more people will be out and about to watch.The tricky thing about taking night or firework pictures is that exposure time is longer than a normal picture with a flash. And because you can't keep your hands steady that long, you need to set the camera up and then take the picture with the timer. I have some running around to do after work, so I might stop and pick up a mini tripod.
On to the weekend to come. Tonight I am actually closing on the refinance of my house. Basically I am paying off my truck tonight and adding what I owe on my truck to my home mortgage. Plus I am adding in a couple large to get new windows for the murder house. As of tonight, my truck will be paid off. And it only took me 3 and a 1/2 months to do so. Not too bad. Also tonight, I am going to bike downtown again for the fireworks.
Saturday is a pretty big day for me. This weekend is actually one of the weekends that I look forward to all year. The Dave Matthews Band is coming to Alpine Valley. But before I can get to Alpine Valley, I have the 3rd Annual Legends Classic Wiffleball Game. What is that you are asking? One of my best friends from high school, Mike "Muffy" Braun, holds a Wiffleball game at his parent's house. The first game that Mike held a 3 years ago, it was really weird driving to his parent's house. In high school, I drove there hundreds of times. But 15 years later I made a couple wrong turns. I know that tomorrow will seem weird too, just because for one day it feels like you are back in high school. So that is my morning / early afternoon. Then I am to meet up with The General and head to Alpine. After the show, I am stopping by Chris and Rebecca's. They are hosting a bachelor / bachelorette party for Al and Vanessa. Sunday, I have a family reunion that I will show up late for. And then it is back to Alpine for show #2. Last year Sunday's show was much better than Saturday's. I am just happy to be going to both. Plus as an added bonus, I am in the reserved seats. Have a good weekend and I should have some blog worthy stories and pictures for you on Monday.
On to my weekend. Friday was action packed and then the rest of the weekend was very mellow. Friday night biked down to Miller Park and tailgated with Tom Brady, Pocahontas and the Lakey boys. It was around the 2nd inning when they went into the game. I talked with the scalpers. I wasn't planning on buying a ticket unless I got a great deal. I had them down to $20 for a club level seat. But I had been planning on going down to the Discovery World to see the outdoor showing of the Big Lewbowski. So I didn't buy the ticket, and took my bike downtown. Here are Tom Brady, Pocahontas and the Lakey boys before going into the game.
Now one of the other things on my radar for Friday night was Tom Jones at the Riverside. Tom Jones has been to Milwaukee a couple times and I have never seen him in concert. On my way down to Discovery World, I went past the Riverside to see if there were any tickets to be scalped. I talked to one scalper, he said he had a 5th row seat. I said let me see the ticket. I look at it and say "This is 5th row second level." He said he would give it to me for face value, $55. I laughed at him. He said, "Well how much do you have?" I didn't even know how much money I had on me. I opened up my wallet and I only had $27. He said "I will give it to you for $47, there is a tyme machine right over there." I said, I will wait to see if I can get one cheaper. I have been to a number of these shows where the performer is older, Neil Diamond, Gordon Lightfoot, and they like to get on stage right on time. It was only a couple minutes after 8:00 and the sidewalk was deserted of people. That same scalper came back to me and said, "O.K. $35." I just laughed at him. I explained that I am his best bet at getting rid of that ticket. He walked away. 5 minutes later he came back and said "Alright $27." I paid the man, locked up my bike and I was in the show. It was actually a pretty good seat. I learned from the guy 2 seats over from me, that he sold the ticket, that I now had, for $50 to the scalper. It is niced to know that I was able to rip the scalper off. Tom came on stage right after I sat down. He looked pretty good other than his white hair. And he sounded great. His voice was still very rich and booming. Not at all what I expected. I thought the keyboards and guitar were a little too loud, but other than that, the sound was great. I had always heard that women throw their underwear up on stage at a Tom Jones concert. And I am sure that happened in the 70's but in 2009? Well as you can see from the picture below, they still do.
I was able to get some illegal video of the concert, here are segments of "What's New Pussycat?"
Borky and my aunt, Marilyn.
Justin in his boat getting ready to spray us with the prop.
Some how I missed out on King of the Raft. Maybe next year. Also, next year I will make sure I bring ice just specifically for the Foot In The Cooler Game.
I suck at corn hole. I didn't come close to winning one game. Then again, maybe it was my partner. Nice job Borky.
Jared and Borky.
The honeymoon is over for Pocahontas and Tom Brady. I don't recall any harsh words while they were trying to set up their new tent, but there were a couple of cold glares.
All of my nieces and nephews.
Mike out on Rope Island.
Later in the evening once many of the kids were gone the beer bong came out. We easily went through 40 cans of beer. At one point there was a line that formed to take your turn.
Pocahonatas.
Sarah and check out Tom Brady behind.
Here we are at around midnight. The party really picked up a notch.
There are two traditions on the fourth that I started. The first happened a good 5 or 6 years ago. My uncle Dave's birthday is July 5th. So we always stay until at least midnight to celebrate with him. The first year of Ina Gooda Da Vida was started by me. Some one was getting ready to leave and I don't remember who it was, and I convinced they to stay for one more song. So I put in the longest song I knew, Ina Gooda Da Vida. Each year we play the song, Dave plays the "air drums" during the drum solo, which is actually pretty long. This year, Dave switched over to just playing the air organ at the end of the drum solo.
