JOURNAL

Previous Journal Page
(June 26, 1999 - August 28, 1999)
THIS PAGE:
September 18, 1999 - Oconomowoc, WI
September 24, 1999 - Madison, WI
September 25, 1999 - Sheboygan, WI
October 8, 1999 - Watertown, WI w/pix
October 9, 1999 - Ridgeway, WI
October 16, 1999 - Sheboygan, WI w/pix

Next Journal Page
(October 30, 1999 - Present)
Journal Master Index

Saturday, September 18, 1999 "Main Attraction" Oconomowoc, WI

Sound: Mighty Decent Sound - operated by Jerry St. John Lights: Josh Becker - operated by Pete Sandoval

SET 1: Looks That Kill - Motley Crue New Girl Now - Honeymoon Suite Runaway - Bon Jovi Perfect Strangers - Deep Purple Monkey Business - Skid Row Photograph - Def Leppard Seventeen - Winger Rock Me - Great White Still Loving You - Scorpions All She Wrote - Firehouse Still of the Night - Whitesnake

SET 2: High Wire - Badlands Here I Go Again - Whitesnake Turn Me Loose - Loverboy My Sharona - The Knack Smokin' - Boston Turn Up the Radio* - Autograph Jamie's Crying - Van Halen Rebel Yell - Billy Idol Sweet Emotion - Areosmith Faithfully - Journey Everybody Wants You - B. Squire Right Now - Van Halen Bulls on Parade - RAtM

SET 3: Uncle Tom's Cabin - Warrant In the Flesh - Pink Floyd Carry On Wayward Son - Kansas Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin' - Journey Beth - Kiss Calling Dr. Love - Kiss Down Boys* - Warrant Round & Round - Ratt Pour Some Sugar On Me - Def Leppard ------- Come Sail Away** - Styx (Lead vocal by Steve Wagner, Chuck Mueller & others) Tie Your Mother Down - Queen/Lynch Mob Getting Better - Tesla

* - Debut ** - impromptu

The evening's schedule was somewhat disrupted by the boxing match between Oscar De La Hoya and Felix Trinidad which was shown on the bar's TVs during an extended break following the first set. The normally exuberant bar manager Karen McNitt was home recuperating from ankle surgery leaving Guy Burdick in charge. Guy did his share to rekindle the rockin' atmosphere following the fight by cheerleading from the stage and serving up free shots to people on the dance floor. The responsive crowd included Kelly Bitzan & her friends Tim & Debbie, Greg Hintz from the band Space Heater and Chris Athas. We played pretty well considering a three week layoff. In fact, the show seemed pretty typical until the end when things got really weird. When we finished our third set the crowd hooted and hollered for an encore (nothing too unusual there). I made it back to the stage first and, in a lame attempt to be a wise-ass, starting noodling on the piano a rendition of the intro to "Come Sail Away" by Styx. All of a sudden a couple of guys came out of the crowd and on to the stage and started to sing the song's first verse. They actually sounded pretty good so I humored them and kept playing. A couple more people came up and joined in. By this time several couples had begun dancing leading John to offer his endorsement that the song continue - through the first verse... and then the second... and then Shane and Nick joined in and I switched to guitar as we jammed into the chorus which was sung with something resembling vocal harmonies. Keep in mind that we had no idea who these people were! Our show had turned into Karaoke night!! Anyway, it was pretty fun and two of the more well-dressed participants were later identified as Steve Wagner and Chuck Mueller. -JB

Friday, September 24, 1999 "Badger Bowl" Madison, WI

Sound: Mighty Decent Sound - operated by Jerry St. John Lights: Josh Becker - operated by Pete Sandoval & Tom "Hog" Hilber

SET 1: High Wire - Badlands Everybody Wants You - B. Squire Perfect Strangers - Deep Purple Uncle Tom's Cabin - Warrant Round & Round - Ratt Photograph - Def Leppard Seventeen - Winger Beth - Kiss Fantasy - Aldo Nova Jamie's Crying - Van Halen Rebel Yell - Billy Idol Still of the Night - Whitesnake

SET 2: Runaway - Bon Jovi New Girl Now - Honeymoon Suite All She Wrote - Firehouse My Sharona - The Knack Looks That Kill - Motley Crue Everything About You - Ugly Kid Joe Faithfully - Journey In the Flesh - Pink Floyd Carry On Wayward Son - Kansas Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin' - Journey Down Boys - Warrant

SET 3: Turn Up the Radio - Autograph Tie Your Mother Down - Queen/Lynch Mob Here I Go Again - Whitesnake Right Now - Van Halen Turn Me Loose - Loverboy Helter Skelter - Beatles/Motley Crue Smokin' - Boston Still Loving You - The Scorpions Calling Dr. Love - Kiss Sweet Emotion - Aerosmith Pour Some Sugar On Me - Def Leppard Bulls on Parade - Rage Against the Machine ------- Getting Better - Tesla Monkey Business - Skid Row

Right out of the gate John was out to atone for our last Badger Bowl appearence when he was battling a bad cold. This time he kicked major ass turning in what may have been his best vocal performance ever. Early in the night a large birthday party taking place in the back bar joined our party and filled the dance floor to the gills. Once again, Diane Spray made the trip down from Wausau (with some tasty home-made banana bread for the band) to join her friend Lori Helvey at the show. Sandy Schroeder was there with much of her gang and so were Conswello Crawford, Jo Anne Lindsberg, Jeanine Kezar, Jennifer Rozanas, Katherine Rozanas, Tracy Blair, Susan Hanson, Teresa Andrews, Debbie Mallard, Dave & DeEtte Shanklin, Dave Dill, Ingrid Erikson, John Benson, Annette Hetherington and Walter & Sandy Cullen. Fellow musicians in the crowd included Scott and Lisa from Rock Bottom. Kurt and Dan from Livewire were also there with some of their friends including Dinyell, Becky, April & Dawn as well as former Livewire bassist Joe Oldenberg, currently of Demento. -JB

Saturday, September 25, 1999 "Dave's Who's Inn" Sheboygan, WI

Sound: Trax 52 - operated by "Hurricane" Floyd Sutton Lights: Trax 52 - operated by Steve Sadler

SET 1: High Wire - Badlands Everybody Wants You - B. Squire Perfect Strangers - Deep Purple Uncle Tom's Cabin - Warrant Round & Round - Ratt Photograph - Def Leppard Helter Skelter - Beatles/Motley Crue Beth - Kiss Fantasy - Aldo Nova Jamie's Crying - Van Halen Rebel Yell - Billy Idol All She Wrote - Firehouse

SET 2: Runaway - Bon Jovi New Girl Now - Honeymoon Suite Still of the Night - Whitesnake My Sharona - The Knack Looks That Kill - Motley Crue Everything About You - Ugly Kid Joe Faithfully - Journey In the Flesh - Pink Floyd Carry On Wayward Son - Kansas Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin' - Journey Bulls on Parade - RAtM

SET 3: Turn Up the Radio - Autograph Tie Your Mother Down - Queen/Lynch Mob Here I Go Again - Whitesnake Right Now - Van Halen Turn Me Loose - Loverboy Down Boys - Warrant Smokin' - Boston Still Loving You - The Scorpions Calling Dr. Love - Kiss Sweet Emotion - Aerosmith Pour Some Sugar On Me - Def Leppard ------- Getting Better - Tesla

This marked Hit Squad's first venture into northwestern Wisconsin, and while the turnout wasn't huge, the evening gave us much to be optimistic about. I renewed aquaintences with some folks who used to come out to see LP-The Band years ago including Lori, Jenny & Debbie Denk; Joellyn Lacko; Karen Fleck; Shelby Korlesky and Annette Petrie. Debbie & Joellyn did a great job singing "Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin'" with John as did Christine Baumert. Things got a little intense late in the second set. After we played a lovely rendition of "Faithfully" a contingency of metal fans started screaming for some Slayer, Mettalica or Pantera. Well, we don't do any of those groups, but they were quite persuasive so we decided to break from the set list and play "Bulls on Parade" earlier than planned for them. Right from the first note a group of rather large, healthy young men including Kurt Wilmont, Shawn & Chad Blake, Shannon Theil and Mike "Moon Dog" Gregory took to the dance floor and began moshing more violently than had ever been seen at a Hit Squad show. Seriously, they were knocking the crap out of each other. John got some easy applause by dedicating "(I Hate) Everything About You" to the Minnesota Vikings. Near the end of the third set bartenders Lisa Cook and Karen Young joined the crowd on the dance floor. Karen was so taken by the music that she came up on stage and did a sensual dance during a couple of songs. When the set was over John announced that we wouldn't do an encore until Karen came back up to dance some more. I'm glad to say that she happily obliged :-) - We'll be back at Dave's Who's Inn in just three weeks (10/16) and, after this night, we're really looking forward to it. -JB

Friday, October 8, 1999 "Heritage Inn" Watertown, WI

Sound: Mighty Decent Sound - operated by Jerry St. John Lights: Josh Becker - operated by Pete Sandoval

SET 1: High Wire - Badlands Everybody Wants You - B. Squire Perfect Strangers - Deep Purple Looks That Kill - Motley Crue New Girl Now - Honeymoon Suite Photograph - Def Leppard Seventeen - Winger Faithfully - Journey Rock Me - Great White Uncle Tom's Cabin - Warrant Rebel Yell - Billy Idol Down Boys - Warrant

SET 2: Final Countdown - Europe Tie Your Mother Down - Queen/LM Jamie's Crying - Van Halen Runaway - Bon Jovi In the Flesh - Pink Floyd Carry On Wayward Son - Kansas Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin' - Journey Beth - Kiss Round & Round - Ratt Smokin' - Boston Helter Skelter - Beatles/Motley Crue Monkey Business - Skid Row

SET 3: Still of the Night - Whitesnake Here I Go Again - Whitesnake Everything About You - Ugly Kid Joe Right Now - Van Halen Calling Dr. Love - Kiss My Sharona - The Knack Turn Me Loose - Loverboy Still Loving You - The Scorpions Turn Up the Radio - Autograph Pour Some Sugar On Me - Def Leppard (Lead Vocal by Patti Heath) All She Wrote - Firehouse Bulls on Parade - Rage Against the Machine ------- Sweet Emotion - Aerosmith

PHOTOS: Shane Josh

Dave Nick Photos by Patti Heath

Our debut at this cozy basement bar proved quite successful as we were well received by a boisterous crowd of mostly new faces. Russ & Tammy Zastrow were the brave pair who first ventured onto the dance floor, paving the way for dozens more to follow. Also enjoying the show were Kathy Lueck; Pat Dixon; Steve, Robin, Scott & Holly Jones, Tim Braatz, Jenny Dallmann, Jeff, Shannon & Jennie Gray; Gene Klopstein and a guy who went by the name of "Slick". One highlight of the night was when Patti Heath, who was there with her friends Bill Hass & Mark Nauman of The Array, came on stage and sang the lead on "Pour Some Sugar On Me". Another fun point in the show was during "Turn Me Loose" when about eight people including Pete Braatz and his friends Keri & Mary came onto the dance floor and launched into a series of disco-type dance steps. They started with a uniform side-step pattern in a row (a la Saturday Night Fever). Once that fell apart they went into other moves including a robot dance and an all out impression of SNL's Roxbury Boys. Their activities led Shane to improvise a more "Disco-esque" bassline for the song. Then, to top it off, this group started imitating our own Hit Squad promo photo by crouching and pointing their fingers as if they were guns (our "Charlies Angels" pose). It was great to see. No one had ever done that before, and now we're wondering if we've started a new dance craze :-) -JB

Saturday, October 9, 1999 "Uncle Milt's" Ridgeway, WI

Sound: Mighty Decent Sound - operated by Jerry St. John Lights: Josh Becker - operated by Pete Sandoval

SET 1: Final Countdown - Europe Everybody Wants You - B. Squire Perfect Strangers - Deep Purple Looks That Kill - Motley Crue New Girl Now - Honeymoon Suite Photograph - Def Leppard Seventeen - Winger Faithfully - Journey Rock Me - Great White Uncle Tom's Cabin - Warrant Rebel Yell - Billy Idol Down Boys - Warrant

SET 2: High Wire - Badlands Tie Your Mother Down - Queen/LM Jamie's Crying - Van Halen Runaway - Bon Jovi In the Flesh - Pink Floyd Carry On Wayward Son - Kansas Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin' - Journey Beth - Kiss Round & Round - Ratt Smokin' - Boston Helter Skelter - Beatles/Motley Crue Monkey Business - Skid Row

SET 3: Still of the Night - Whitesnake Here I Go Again - Whitesnake Right Now - Van Halen Calling Dr. Love - Kiss Fantasy - Aldo Nova My Sharona - The Knack Turn Me Loose - Loverboy Still Loving You - The Scorpions Turn Up the Radio - Autograph Pour Some Sugar On Me - Def Leppard Bulls on Parade - Rage Against the Machine ------- Getting Better - Tesla Sweet Emotion - Aerosmith

This room was new to the band, but not to John, who grew up in this part of the state. Early in the first set he commented to the crowd, "I've gotten drunk in this bar many times, but never played here (till now)." In addition to several old friends of John's the crowd also consisted of many people participating in a "quadruple" birthday celebration. Sarah, Jamie, Sunny & Kim all had birthdays this week and were honoring the occasion by partying with Hit Squad. I suspect that the open keg tapped for the party may have led to a few attendees ending up a bit more inebriated than they otherwise might have been on a more normal night. As you might imagine this all contributed to a great night of rock'n'roll. Some of the folks along for the ride included Bobo Weier, Liz Michelsen, Sid Crook, Jill Jorgenson, Tami & Paul Syse, Shawn & Heidi Euren, Rachel Scheider, Teri & Cheri Norton, "Budsi", Nichoel Slack, Jamie Coogan, Nichole Roshon and Sheri McNeil. Near the end of this very fun and successful night something quite unexpected occurred. A man approached the stage between songs and wanted to ask the entire crowd where "Gabby's vise-grips" were. He was soon followed by "Gabby" herself who took John's microphone and hollered "Where are my vise-grips?" to the entire room. Indeed, this seemed odd, but what really threw us for a loop is what Gabby did with those vise-grips when she found them. During "Pour Some Sugar On Me" she demonstrated her special skill to the band by... well, let's just say that she clamped them to a certain part of her anatomy and let them hang. We were impressed, we were surprised, we were in complete shock - and laughing our asses off. -JB

Saturday, October 16, 1999 "Dave's Who's Inn" Sheboygan, WI

Sound: Trax 52 - operated by Johnny Gee, Assisted by Tom Klug Lights: Trax 52 - operated by Paul Edwards

SET 1: High Wire - Badlands Everybody Wants You - B. Squire Still of the Night - Whitesnake New Girl Now - Honeymoon Suite Right Now - Van Halen Jamie's Crying - Van Halen Rock Me - Great White Faithfully - Journey Tie Your Mother Down - Queen/LM Rebel Yell - Billy Idol Photograph - Def Leppard Seventeen - Winger

SET 2: Fantasy - Aldo Nova Looks That Kill - Motley Crue Perfect Strangers - Deep Purple All She Wrote - Firehouse Down Boys - Warrant Helter Skelter - Beatles/Motley Crue Beth - Kiss Calling Dr. Love - Kiss Smokin'- Boston Turn Me Loose - Loverboy Uncle Tom's Cabin - Warrant Bulls on Parade - RAtM Pour Some Sugar... - Def Leppard

SET 3: In the Flesh - Pink Floyd Carry On Wayward Son - Kansas Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen Lovin', Touchin', Squeezin' - Journey Runaway - Bon Jovi Turn Up the Radio - Autograph Round & Round - Ratt Everything About You - Ugly Kid Joe Still Loving You - Scorpions Here I Go Again - Whitesnake My Sharona - The Knack Sweet Emotion - Aerosmith Monkey Business - Skid Row

PHOTOS: John Dave

Dave & John Everybody Photos by Lisa Heberlein

We returned to Sheboygan only three weeks after debuting there hopeful that word of mouth would help provide a good crowd. To a large extent this was indeed the case. Karen Fleck was back, celebrating her birthday along with several friends including Shelly Korlesky, Don Marusich and Karen Stream. Others in attendance included Lori Denk, Joellyn Lacko, Barb Engler, Lisa Heberlein, Laurie Abraham, Eric Grittinger, Kim Stevens, Lisa Lutzke, Diane Goetsch, Marvin Goetsch, Kevin Zil and a highly inebriated but enthusiastic barfly named Jorge (or at least that's what I think he said as he affectionately pummeled me on the head). Although the ample crowd was quite vocal through most of the night, they pooped out at the end. As we came off the stage following our third set we were accosted by several folks making requests for what song we should play as an encore - But they forgot one important thing... they weren't making enough noise to warrant and encore (Doh!). To be fair, Shelly had an excuse, having literally blown her voice out, and a few ladies did start up a chant, but it proved too little too late to prevent the sound engineer from running a CD signaling the end of the show. Boy, did we hear it from a bunch of people who were pissed about us not doing an encore, but hey, the ball was in their court and hopefully they learned a valuable lesson :-) -JB

Previous Journal Page
(June 26, 1999 - August 28, 1999)
Next Journal Page
(October 30, 1999 - December 31, 1999)
Journal Master Index

UPCOMING DATES


[Home] [Members] [Journal] [Schedule]

©1999 Hit Squad