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IN THIS ISSUE:
A Pat on the Back / DVD & Live CD Travis Speaks - The Bootlog What You Did & Didn't See At the Show BTE Trivia
Contest Winners TTOY Hall of Fame BTE Impressions
Volume 2
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BTE LIGHTS UP THE
There’s nothing quite like the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the summer. We are known as the "City of Festivals" because, quite literally, there are festivals EVERY weekend in the summer. The biggest festival of the season is the music conglomerate known as Summerfest. Summerfest is one of the largest music festivals in the country. It draws everyone from Tim McGraw to Dashboard Confessional, Jessica Simpson to Trapt, Switchfoot to Ben Folds. It is the Midwest’s opportunity to see the bands we love, and to fall in love with even more fantastic talent. It is truly a music fan’s paradise... Luckily enough for the people of Milwaukee (and, of course, the surrounding metropolitan areas), we were scheduled to be ROCKED by Better Than Ezra. My dear huband, bless his heart, showed up early to save us a spot right at the front…and he ran directly into Mr. Hardcore himself, Jon! (M.N. Ezralite). Jon had been there since noon, and was as stoked as I think I’ve ever seen him. Also, shoutouts to Karevin, Sue, and Jedica for their hardcore behavior and superior picture-taking abilities! I missed the first opening band, apparently they were called The Now. I heard that they were basically cover band, and that they had a particular love for Bon Jovi. My husband says that they were good, but that their banter was extremely cheesy. I was just bummed that I missed the Bon Jovi!
The second opening band was The Toys. I have a love/hate relationship with The Toys, as does most of the population of Milwaukee. They are arguably the most prolific cover band in the city. In days past, The Toys were this amazing retro cover band, covering only the really GOOD, semi-obscure 80’s songs. Then, for some unknown reason, they decided to become a bad wedding band, covering the "hits of the 80’s thru today"…and they sound like that lame middle-of-the-road radio station you try to avoid. Add to that the fact that the lead singer asked the crowd if they were ready to party, oh, about a BAZILLION times… I found that I was ready to party at about the time they left the stage. MAN, that was annoying! But hey, at least the fiddle player was awesome! |
At last, the time we had been waiting for was at hand. I found myself sitting there and literally hoping against hope that no disasters would befall BTE at this Summerfest. I had visions of them NEVER coming back! We sat in eager anticipation of, "I Believe In a Thing Called Love", signaling the start of the show and we were blown away when Queen’s "Fat Bottomed Girls" came over the loudspeakers. The crowd went CRAZY, that song just whipped everyone into a frenzy! Finally, BTE took the stage. It was absolutely fantastic to see them, and they were in great spirits! Kevin announced that it was Tom’s birthday at midnight, and that they were going to celebrate in Milwaukee HARDCORE. Throughout the night, Kevin was comparing Milwaukee and New Orleans, and saying that Milwaukee was edging out NOLA for the kick-ass crowd title. Go Milwaukee!
BTE played a "Greatest Hits" kind of set. No new music, no surprises. They played with impressive enthusiasm and energy, and they definitely won the crowd over. A friend of Jon’s got to play "This Time of Year", and he was great. Much props to Jason, he did a great job! After the show, we were handed 8 X 10 glossies as we stood around by the backstage area. It’s definitely a picture from the Closer photo shoot, it was nice to have something to sign again! Kevin came out first, and was very talkative and exuberant. The next to join us was Tom, the Birthday Boy. We actually got to wish him a Happy Birthday right at midnight, which was a good time -- hey, we got to be the first ones! I had a conversation with Tom about my name. He said, "I always spell your name wrong, don’t I?" I said, "Well, now that you mention it, you do spell it ‘Toby’ sometimes…" He said, "Ok, I am going to make the "I" on your name SPECIAL this time!" He drew a little heart over it, and wrote, "You know I * heart * you!" Tom also gave us a killer crawfish boil recipe, which we used that weekend. What a guy! Travis came out last, and was his usual entertaining self. He listened to us talk about the crawfish boil we had planned, and Tom said, "You’re gonna suck the heads of the crawfish, right? That’s where all the flavor is!" Travis said, "Hell, I’m FROM Louisiana, and * I * don’t even do that!" The guys said that they were going to Blue (a very swank bar in Milwaukee) for Tom’s birthday, and we decided not to go. I believe that officially makes us OLD, right? All in all, everyone had a great time. We got to see some of our favorite Ezralites, my friends took AMAZING pictures (which are festooning my cubicle at work), and we got to see Ezra without driving umpteen miles. As always, I was blown away by the talent and showmanship of our favorite band. Tobi, Milwaukee Ezralite. P.S. I am such a fangirl, I have that damned glossy up at my work!
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