25 Years Ago - The Collapse of Big Blue

25 years ago today, I received a call at our apartment on 23rd St.  My friend Tre was on the line,  and told me Big Blue - the crane then in use to build the new Brewers stadium - had collapsed.  

At the time I didn't think much of it.  A construction delay,  sure,  but otherwise, yawn.  In reality it was far worse. Not only did the crane collapse knock out a portion of the stadium, setting the opening back a year,  three ironworkers were struck by the crane and killed. 

The worst part? As with most disasters,  human error and hubris were to blame. 

On this,  the 25th anniversary of their deaths,  RIP Jeffrey Wischer, William DeGrave, and Jerome Starr.

30 Years Ago

30 years ago today, on New Year's Day 1994, I watched my Wisconsin Badgers defeat the UCLA Bruins 21-16 in the Rose Bowl. 

I watched the game from the living room in my friend Tre's family home. By my recollection we followed it up with a two VHS Metallica concert that was part of a box set Tre bought. 

That Rose Bowl was the culmination of Madison's resurgence under Barry Alvarez. All my life the Badgers had been a joke, relegated to having their pre-taped games broadcast on public TV later on Saturday nights. As of that day though, they were a team to reckon with in the Big Ten. 

Their rise coincided roughly with the Packers returning to contention too, and both franchises suspended 30 years in the spotlight, with only a rebuilding year every now and then. Quite the change from my youth. 

Halloween 2023

Yesterday was our annual Trick or Treat party, diminished in scope and enjoyment by the fact that Lisa was required to work and could not attend, which was a ridiculous development. 

None-the-less, we put on a decent face and went forward. We bought a ton of candy (not featured: the two $20 bags of KitKats and Reece's that someone (born in 1976) ate, depriving the youth of their spoils)

 

Our food included a revolting eye cake, a Frankenstein themed tray of brownies that Sawyer ate before the party, deviled eggs and a cheese and sausage tray Smiley prepared, a fruit and a veggie tray, chips and salsa, and a much smaller pot of chil than our norm. 

Lisa and I paid good money (well, she did) for matching baseball costumes, and I wasn't going to wear mine out of solidarity, but she texted and asked me to put it on: 

At 5, with zero guests on hand, I set out the candy and started giving it out to trick or treaters. 

 

We continued our traditions, which included giving away pencils and other non-candy items as a voluntary option for the kids (one that was chosen far more frequently than you'd think); I gave away WE Energies cookie cookbooks to those who wanted them and had legit interest (again, very popular); we kept a stock of Halloween buckets on hand to give away to young kids who came up with only a grocery bag to trick or treat; and later in the evening we gave away shots of alcohol to parents that stopped by with their kids. 

Then my friend Tre and his family showed up, and I handed over the reigns to Smiley while I went out with them while my Godson trick or treated. 

It's impossible to adequately capture the volume of trick or treaters or the atmosphere of our neighborhood, so all I present to you are a few scant pictures to get a taste of it: 

As for costumes, Smiley was a 70's hipster: 

Junie was a twisted Cupid 

LuLu was a grim reaper 

And YaYa and her boyfriend were characters from Everything Everywhere, All at Once  minus, to their detriment, the sausage fingers, but including the scowls. 

This is Junie's friend Bella

Tre and his wife

My colleague Steven

My grandsloth 

The doggos

    

Back to this guy: at one point, at the height o f the party, with the house full of joy, he calmly says to the room: "Hey. Matthew Perry is dead."

The party ground to a halt. Sorrow and shock settled in, and we spent half an hour commiserating and checking our phones - even Sawyer sensed the mood change and calmly tried to comfort us - while Mr. Buzzkill happily enjoyed his moment in the driver's seat. He did this once before - I have blocked out the memory of the celebrity - by matter of fact-ly telling me a beloved icon had passed. 

Some people's children. SMH. 

(creepy coincidence: only minutes before someone had found and asked me about a Friends statuette I have)

Anyway, aside from Mr. I Ruin Fun, it was as good a party as you can have when the hostess and driving force is absent and many RSVP's were declined. 

Next year, we aim to do it right!

Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience

As Led Zeppelin disbanded after John Bonham's death in 1980, when I was six, I've never had a chance to see the band in concert. My closest brush with Zeppelin? Meeting Jimmy Page in 2003. But I'd long remained aware of Bonham's son Jason, who not only went on to forge his own name in rock but filled in expertly at the sole LZ reunion show in 2007. When I saw his LZ tribute band was coming to Milwaukee, I had to get tickets. 

As my friend Tre has a leg problem we were "upgraded" to handicapped seating in the balcony. The venue quickly began to fill with a crowd my age and slightly older, with maybe a fifth of the seats by 20 and 30 something year olds. 

My view was great but as normal here in 2023 camera phone zoom sucks. But here's some pics I took: 

The pics that follow were taken by the Rave's official event photographer. 

You may note that the guitarist, while Asian, bears more than a passing resemblance to Jimmy Page. His name is Akio Sakurai, a man so famous for his dedication to Page's work that there's an entire movie about him (Mr. Jimmy). I must say his playing is *phenomenal*, far, far about whatever I had anticipated. 

That goes for the band as a whole too. I didn't doubt Bonham's ability, but I had expected him to be surrounded by a collection of B list musicians. Not so. Song after song, the band nailed it, not merely copying Led Zeppelin but playing tight, wonderfully adept versions of their catalog. I think, having heard it with my own ears, that they were A BAND of their own that just happen to be devoted to the music of another. 

My heart bled for Jason Bonham too, as he told the audience of losing his Dad at 14, and how he was ashamed that he had been so embarrassed by him during his lifetime. "Why?," he said, "because he was they guy on the news who threw a telly out hotel windows? How foolish of me. He was John Bonham, the best drummer in the world, playing in the best band in the world, and he was my Dad."

Yo, I'm the guy in the white and orange shirt circled below!

A great time, and a great show! I'd love to see them again!