Elgin Brewfest - Friday, June 17th

So our weekend was chocked full of things to do.....yes, amazingly more so than normal. I'm posting these in 3 separate blogs so that everyone can get the full effect and we can cover all the shenaigans.

On Friday after work, Nancy made the long trek from the city to the burbs. When she goes to the 'burbs she really goes!!! The farthest Northwest Burb for the Elgin Brewfest.

We walked to the festival grounds which is about 1 mile from my house. Paid our donation and ticket fees to get our cups of beer. They actually had some good choices to choose from. We both stuck with Shock Top though and had to ask for orange slices. The servers weren't the greatest, but what do you expect from people who aren't getting tips. We also had some festival food...can't go to a fest & not have some type of BBQ.

When we first got to the fest, whatever band was playing was bad. We couldn't wait for them to get off stage. The crowd seemed OK, with whatever was playing since most weren't paying attention anyways.

The mix of Elginites was interesting to say the least. You had families, singles that obviously thinking they were at a club & tweens & teens. The outfits were bad!!! One woman who was on the large size (to be polite) figured a red glitter tank top was the perfect top to wear to this show. As she made her way up to the stage the band even noticed her top to the point of interrupting the show and pointing it out. I would have to say though, the worst thing we saw there was towards the end of the night when several teens decided it would be a great idea at a family event to strip down to their underwear & dance in a line right up close to the stage. It was BAD naked!!

The main band though Infinity http://www.infinity2k.com/ was really good. They did a set which included Bon Jovi, Styx, Van Halen & a Led Zep montage as there finale. They were great with the covers and all the songs were fun to sing along too. We got some video that Nancy will be posting.

After getting some free drink tickets from a guy walking through the Brewfest, we headed over to Medusa's for our free drinks. We ended up meeting the owner who is the original owner of Medusa's that used to be downtown Chicago (think 80's/90's - Industrial & Goth Club). Apparently on Thursday nights in the upstairs bar they do a Flashback to what Medusa's used to be like!! Awesome!!! Even though he was great fun and awesome to talk too, we couldn't stand the music with 1 beat which the DJ apparently loved since he was the only one dancing. I kept thinking "Night at the Roxbury".

We then ventured over to the Gasthaus (I call it the Harry Potter Bar) where if you don't want to see the bands you can go through a bookshelf into a sports bar. This has to be one of the best bars in Elgin. I'm a fan of dive bars and this one has cheap but great drinks, a hidden bar & a stage that usually gets some pretty good bands. It was renovated about a year ago and is no longer the German Bar that was small and cramped. They have a small selection of food which is also pretty tasty.

We stumbled back to my house to continue the adventures.....

June 17-19 Preview

So this weekend includes a suburban fest(http://www.elginbrewfest.com/), a party at a motorcycle club, and Taste of Randolph. And no this is not the beginning of a joke...

So tonight we'll be drinking to the likes of Cover band  Infinity  http://www.infinity2k.com/.
I can see beer drinking and lots of singing along in tonight's future.

Going to see Mr Russia and Rev Horton Heat at Taste of Randolph.  http://www.tasterandolph.com/

The Gravetones / Black Cat Rebellion / Heeby Jeebies - Memories (June 11th, 2011)

This past Saturday, June 11th we went to Memories to wish Alex Cash off on his new adventure being all he can be in.....THE ARMY! He's going to risk his life and limb protecting our country, the least we could do was buy him a couple rounds of drinks.

This time we also brought along a Stand-up Comedian which made normally hilarious antics even funnier.

We were on the guest list to go see Orange Goblin at the Double Door courtesy of Do312, however we never made it there since we were having too much fun at Memories.

We actually got there amazingly early after stopping off at Paddy Mack's for some chicken fingers & Blue Moon's. The Blue Moon's were good, the service there sucked and the chicken fingers...not the best.

The Heeby Jeebies went on first and for an itty bitty little girl she can BELT out the tunes! Did some great covers and a couple of originals. Very good, rockabilly beat and you can dance to it!

Next up were Black Cat Rebellion who have some GREAT outfits & a great sound. A mixture of punk, Horror Rock & with some Rockabilly roots. Pounding drums, Echo-y guitars and melodic vocals make them exciting to listen to and even better seeing live. Don't miss them if you get a chance to see them as they are well worth it. Personally, I'm hoping they come back soon as I missed out on getting a CD and would like to see them again.

Headlining the night were The Gravetones. Their mixture of Gothabilly, Horror Rock and plain old Rock make them exciting to see live. Scary Larry certainly brought his A game to his performance (he was under the weather last time we saw them) and he's always entertaining to watch onstage! The Bass guitar was pumping & sadly we didn't get to see Brad take off his shirt. I'm getting disappointed as I've been talking up the "Gun Show & The Chest of Steel" to Nancy and both times..shirt on! The drums were pumping and the music was great!! They are a fun band to see live and have some great original tunes. Though the crowd was pretty light, they gave 110% anyways.

It was great celebrating with Alex before his new venture and we wish him the best of luck. Take care of yourself and come back safe.

After the bands we of course hit up our favorite hangout - THE EXIT!

As always, the Exit was a great time & Corporal got a giant purple kiss on the cheek. Towards the early morning, pictures were taken which only 2 are safe to post, the rest...way too racey! Nancy ended up driving to the breakfast of champions....The Golden Nugget!

Once again I was driving back out to the 'burbs while the sun was coming up!! Another great time was had by all!

This weekend (June 17-19) we are hitting up Elgin's Brewfest, The Rebel Knights MC Spring Fling & possibly Cobra Lounge, and finally Taste of Randolph to see Mr. Russia & Rev Horton Heat!! It's another looooonnngg weekend.

Memories and Exit...

 opps we missed the show at the Double Door.. Having too much Fun!

MayFest 2011

Polkaholics played at Mayfest this year..  If you haven't seen them you should really check them out.  They are extremely energetic and always have the crowd dancing. Who doesn't love Polka with a punk swing to it. I have included some short video from the show.  

Nothing beats German Beer, Brats and the Polkaholics....