Saved by the Dropkick Murphys

Does Boys and Toys refer to the men and their instruments,
or the special talent they brought out to polish off their set?

We heard Piles of Rhythm at this year's Summerfest, but my normally steady sidekick Jessi suffered Vanity Theft when she was Caught Looking at Dan Rodriguez's tattoos during his set at the Tiki Hut. It was Bad City after that, as a lot of the music we heard sounded like Stray Voltage (although one guitarist in particular on the Big Backyard stage seemed to have an Electric Touch with his Gibson Les Paul).

Throughout the day we swilled beers and probably injested too many Fatty Acids. We also found time to call our Unwed Sailor son/brother Zach to see what was happenin' in Hawaii. But then we heard a Siren, which caused an Early Ending to our afternoon at the Big Gig. Picture Me Broken. It was Something To Do on a warm summer afternoon in Milwaukee. At least we weren't sitting at home considering our Stock Options.

When you start your new band -- and you WILL have a band -- we're hoping you can come up with a better name than some of the monikers we saw on this year's Summerfest lineup. When you have in the neighborhood of 700 bands playing on 11 stages over 11 days there are going to be some stinkers, but hey, at least most of the music we heard was enjoyable.   

Once we decided to forego the headliners who appeared at Marcus Amphitheater and just go with the flow from stage to stage we were OK. We saw Rodriguez, a Minneapolis-based artist who sounds like a cross between Jack Johnson and Paul Thorn, and we can tell you he's not just another Junk Male. Rodriguez was on the same bill with Love Out Loud and Funktion. From there we headed to the Classic Rock Stage to hear The Sociables -- what in Lynyrd Skynyrd's name is a band that plays "That Smell" doing with a name like that?  But they really did play some smokin' southern rock.

And we had great fun with the crowd that gathered for Boys and Toys, a hard-rocking trio from Kenosha that can jam with the best of them -- and could really use a nameover.  But I realize if this Revision Text doesn't stop now I Am History with you kind readers.