Waterfest - Oshkosh, WI

Photos

Day 2, and we're headed to Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

After pulling ourselves up off Kristin's floor and hitting the shower, we headed out on the road again. This time for me in the back seat, so Kristin could ride shotgun. There has been talk about whether to hire a car, given the size of the bug, but I'm confident we can make this work. With that said, I have absolutely no idea why VW even bothered putting backseats in this car.

We hit the Iowa / Wisconsin border at Dubuque, crossing the Mississippi River, which isn't something I'd been expecting to do on this trip, so that was pretty cool. It was kinda funny passing signs for Melbourne (Iowa) yesterday, and the Wisconsin bridge today looking like a smaller version of the Sydney Harbor bridge.

Katie had said that she really liked Wisconsin, and I completely have to agree, it's quite a nice place to drive through, and again, different to Iowa.

Overall it's been a good drive to Oshkosh. We pulled into town about 5pm, and came in right by Riverside Park, which worked out nicely since entry before 6pm was $5.

The first band was Common Time, a high school jazz band. Notably, the bass player looked like a 18 year old Bill Leen. Cool. I noticed it, and about 30 seconds Katie leaned over and said the same thing!

Up next was Three Beers 'Til Dubuque. While they were setting up there were some major concerns when a horn section, including saxamaphone was brought out. However, it turned out that they were a cover band, and were actually quite good at what they did, and turned out to be not a bad opener to stand through. A particular highlight of mine, and seemingly a lot of the crowd was their version of Call Me Al.

A continually comedic factor of the night was an anglo Jesse Valenzuela look alike standing off from the side to us. Much like with the kid from Common Time, moments after I noticed him, Katie leaned over and said "did you see Jesse's dad over there!". I am remiss that I didn't take a photo of him. At some stage throughout the night I think we all almost got taken out by him, as he stumbled around. Good times. Speaking off being taken out, I almost did by some other old dude as I caught a Waterfest t-shirt after one of the sets.

The Blossoms took the stage at 9. By this time, the front of stage area had filled up, and we assumed our positions Bill / Scott side. As soon as the band started, it was obvious how busy I've been and how little I'd thought about the reality that I was about to see the Blossoms again - because there was an immediate "holy shit, I'm seeing the Blossoms!!" moment. It was also obvious how out of the loop I feel, just with not being that up on what's going on because of everything that has been going on in our lives over the past year, and hence had no idea of what to expect from the setlist. I guess the other thing that was obvious immediately was why I love this stoopid band. I haven't necessarily thought about it that much over the past year, and have been so immersed in other Tempe bands for the last few years. But right from the get go, I immediately remembered.

The setlist was vastly different than any I remember, but of course, I've been out of the loop for quite a while. As best as I can piece together from memory...

1. Follow You Down
2. Until I Fall Away
3. Fool For The Taking
4. Long Time Gone
5. As Long As It Matters
6. Found Out About You
7. Miss Disarray
8. Supergirl
9. Lost Horizons
10. Allison Road
11. Til I Hear It From You
12. Hands Are Tied
13. Folsome Prison Blues
14. Hey Jealousy
Encore

15. Rocket Man
16. Now

Robin mentioned working on a new album before Miss Disarray. I've been vaguely familiar with the song (probably listened to it three or so times), it definitely sounds really good. There was also mention the Jesse wrote it - Katie and I, until now had figured it was a Robin song.

At some point throughout the show, Bill noticed us. And later on while at the front of the stage Scotty saw us, clearly with some disbelief, and through me a pick.

The show rocked. It was great that they've still got Lost Horizons is awesome. Folsom Prison Blues was an unexpected surprise. Of particular note was how rockin' Hey Jealousy is sounding live.

After the show we hung around for a bit, went up and said hi to Robin, who was greeting people from the stage, and then wandered over to the merch booth, although it was really too dark to see what they had.

Without much of a plan of what we were doing next, we headed for the exit, and were greeted by the Appleton's, who Krissy and Katie had figured would be at the show. Who are the Appleton's A family they both know from here, who are affectionately known as the Appleton's purely since they live in Appleton, WI. There was much fan fare about us being back and the fact that we are now married. After much milling around at the entrance of the venue, seemingly to the chagrin of security , they offered lodging, and also suggested that we should head to Oblio's bar for drinks before hand. Given the reason behind it, I was more than up for it...

Oblio's Lounge, Oshkosh, WI

Oblio's Lounge was a small, quite noisy redneck bar in downtown Oshkosh. We milled around for a while, trying to chat over all the noise. Before long, a black van pulled up, and out piled Daryl, John, Bill, Jesse - ie: the whole band sans Robin. To finally have the post show bar Blossoms experience (that I've heard so much about over the years, but never experienced) so soon after moving here was the start of the Major Lodge Victories of the trip. We got to have a cool chat with Bill, who was quite interested in the fact that we were back, and congratulatory at the news of our marriage. Of course with, Katie, Kristin and myself being the stunning conversationalists that we are, he was no doubt bored to tears. Admittedly, the noise of the bar didn't help anything. I'm very keen to have a proper conversation with Bill, but not having the repore with him (yet hopefully) that the girls do, I was more than happy just being in the presence of the Leen, and occasionally helping him out with a light for his cigarette. Given the very brief meeting I got in 2005, just sitting across from him in the bar and listening to his nuggets of wisdom was too cool for school. Is there any question as to why the girls (meaning Katie and Krissy) love him? No, no there is not.

After a while Johnson showed up, which I was pretty happy about, since I can easy chat with Scotty, without having to rely on the girls for an introduction. Immediately he came over to hug and say 'hi', asked what the fuck we were doing in Wisconsin and too congratulated us getting married. Congrats from Bill and Scotty, pretty damn cool. He had to run to fraternize, but said he'd be back soon.

On his return he complained that none of us were drinking, and proceeded to take orders for all of us and supply us with liquior. we had a good chat about Katie's trip to Australia, getting back, whether we were living in Iowa and the fact that we'll be heading out to Phoenix soon.

Once we all decided that we were leaving, Scotty walked us out - clearly drunk, telling me that I was "an attractive man..." (no doubt implying that Katie has done well) "...if I were single..." to which I replied "Don't let that stop you!", which left Scotty in stitches. Major Lodge Victory 2!

The quote of the night was "I've made a mockery of my life." Gold. It's quickly becoming the catch phrase of the trip.

From the bar we drove to the Appleton's and were greeted with fresh home made hash browns, which was too nice, especially at 2am in the morning, and a lot more than I expected - I was grateful for just a floor to crash on!