June is here at least according to the calendar and we have some great shows lined up for you. Kicking off on June 6th with a great milwaukee rock band "The Delta Routine making their Ballyhoos debut. June 13th marks the return of hard rockers "Mr Hyde. On the 19th the funky jams of "Groovitational pull" will fill the air. Classic rock band L.A. Will perform on the 20th.June 26th MAMA award winning Lucas Cates makes the first of two shows this season he returns on Sept 4th. Then comes July and August which will feature much less live music than normal but more parties, brat frys, and general crazy summer nights. However plan on spending July 31st and Aug 1st in Merrill right now. The 31st Ballyhoos will be jumping to the sounds of "The Gas House Gorillas from Brooklyn NY. That's right New York City to Merrill WI. Aug 1st is the return of my friends "Steepwater from Chicago, their current Cd produced by Black Crowes guitarist Marc Ford, rarely leaves my player. Oh yeah and get here early Sept 26th "The 357 String Band returns for another nuts2butts packed house party.

Hurry hurry hurry and get to Ballyhoos in Merrill for the Rochelle Anderson Memorial Benifit for Baby Izabelle at Ballyhoos. Element 13 will be taking the stage at 7pm! Bring your hearts and your Wallets.



Auction for two Skybox Tix for Aug 28th PACKERS GAME!!

Plus many Concert tix, Nascar items and way too much to list.

Ok the myspace calendar is making me restart my browser after every entry so goto www.ballyhoosbrewandchew.com for all info

20th: Juan

21st: My Family Reunion no band this night

26th: Shannon Curfman See's Back!
you may remember her as the 14 year old young woman who could play the blues. her 1999 debut was called " the most impressive blues debut since Stevie Ray Vaughn's" Now after a six year recording drought due to "Issues" with the record companies She is BACK! Check out: Myspace.com/shannoncurfman
We are So excited to bring this unbelievable STAR to Ballyhoos

27th: Irene Keenan Jr. - as Capt Jack Yaargh
Amanda's b-day party & Pirate costume Party.
Irene will be performing as Capt. Jack (you gotta see this) dress as your favorite pirate. our top photos will be submitted to the Capt. Morgan Pose Off contest and entered to win a trip to Vegas Capt Morgan Party, give aways specials etc etc etc.

28th: Radio Ghost
Ballyhoos Debut, Rock

Aug 8th: Crazy Daze with Hidden River outside!!!

Aug. 19th: Jagermiester Presents
from Pheonix Az. Evolocity
from San Diego CA Kicking K8
from Wi Time to Kill
myspace.com/evolocity

Wow what a show, June 29th's "Blind Date" with Brian Lee turned out to
be.  Brian Lee and The Blues Power band put on a great high energy rockin'
blues show to a full house crowd, what an incredible way to bounce back. I
had people come up and tell me this show single handedly had made them blues
music fans. Brian himself is a wonderful personality, a true joy to talk
with and his Passion for live music is an inspiration. We are already
working on bringing him back, maybe even this fall.  It's shows and Support
like this that restores my faith in what we do at Ballyhoos.

   You see the past week had been a roller coaster ride for us. The 2007
Bally Blues Bash Bombed, All the great performers who played at Bally Blues
Bash put on kick ass shows and deserved a crowd like Brian Lee had that
night. From Michael Murphy & The MOB's upbeat opening set to Deep Water
Reunion making that "big" blues band sound. I Told Howard Luedtke I wanted
to change his middle name from "Guitar" to "The Man" thats all that needs to
be said to anyone who has ever seen The Blue Max Band play. Pete Cornelius
was everything advertised and more, way more. This young man from Tasmania
Australia can flat out play. He commanded the stage from the moment he was
met with a boisterous Ga day! from the die hard crowd. My Good friend Steve
Arvey from Chicago laid down a mean bass groove for Pete. Those in
attendance walked away knowing that everyone absent missed out on a great
show.

   So I beat myself up all week, maybe even leaned on the bottle a night or
two while I was getting over losing that much money in one day. Trying to
figure out what went wrong was easy. All the other events in the area that
were not on this weekend last year kicked my ass, but not our line-ups
talent I'll match that against any body's. Then I looked at the upcoming
schedule... Blues Thurs, Blues Friday, Solo act Irene Keenan Jr  Saturday...
I needed something to turn this around, and fast. Thursday brought the
return of Steve Arvey for a solo engagement and a funny thing happened,
people who normally show up Thursday to sing karaoke actually stayed for an
acoustic blues/rock show... whats this? a glimmer of light? I woke up Friday
feeling optimistic about Fridays Blind Date with Brian Lee, Ok optimistic
might be a stretch I was praying for just one good night for a great blues
band at Ballyhoos. Nine PM rolled around and to my surprise we had a full
bar, but wait more people were still coming!
  
   I guess what I'm saying is thanks to all of you who make Ballyhoos apart of
your night out and for supporting live music of all genres.
See you @ Ballyhoos....

Governor Jim Doyle,
    
    I view this Bill as a direct threat to thousands of Restaurants, Taverns & Bars and their ability to operate, due directly to the loss of business this Bill would cause.
    In a recent stop smoking TV commercial a former smoker is looking at photographs of times and places he used to enjoy a cigarette. One of the photographs was a bar and he states I couldn't go there without wanting a smoke, so now I don't go. This was a very logical solution to the individuals problem. I don't want to smoke so I won't go to the smoking bars. Simple decisions made by individual people, not mandated business policies made by the government. If someone does not want to smoke, don't go to smoking places such as Taverns Restaurants & Bars. Or only go to ones that do not allow smoking.
    Taverns & Bars have always been a place you can go and do the things you don't do in front of your children, like drink and smoke and maybe tell a dirty joke, they are not places for children. Thats part of the reason people frequent these places. Why is it necessary to ban smoking and protect the children in places children shouldn't be.
    The failure rate for taverns is already very high, I believe a ban on smoking would eliminate almost all of the small corner bars. Many of which have been in business far longer than most businesses in their communities. Their the mom and pop shops that have had some of the same people coming in everyday for years to drink and smoke and cuss partly because their children are not there. These are the businesses that will be hurt the most. The larger clubs that have more activities to offer will survive with good management. Still I can't imagine going to see a blues or jazz band without a fine cigar.
    Protect the children in places for children, but leave the adult population a choice of how to spend their free time. Taverns. Bars & Restaurants don't need any help failing, almost 70% do it on their own.
    If Non-smoking bars were such a good idea, wouldn't there be more of them. And surely more of them would succeed in a high failure rate business like taverns & Bars. I'll leave you with this thought, If non- smoking bars were such a good idea, there would be one on every corner already.
    Please revise your smoking bill to protect the children only in places that children frequent. 

    Blues Music lovers were out in force on St. Patty's day at East gate hall inside Marathon park Wausau, WI at the Eight annual Spring Great Northern Blues Society Blues Cafe. The Blues Cafe was started in 2000 with multiple shows in past years. Doors opened at noon with board members and volunteers greeting an enthusiastic early bird crowd looking to get the best perch in the house.
    This year the selection of food vendors was up to three very busy stands including The Arrow sports bar serving wings & Ribs, George's Smokehouse dishing up pulled pork sandwiches and Papa John's slinging pizza by the slice. Merchandise was also increased with the recently added "Just play the blues Dammit" shirts as well as the much anticipated Bake sale 4 CD. A big GNBS thank you goes out to Ron Hoerter, Todd Campfield, Rick Wolfe and Chris O'keefe for
putting this outstanding compilation CD together so fast!  Also for sale were CD's donated by multiple performers not in attendance at this years show.  As always the GNBS helped each of the performing artist sell their CD's without any commission.
    A good number of members renewed their memberships on Saturday and if you have not I encourage you do to so. Your donations are vital to the growth of the GNBS. We also received some great completed survey forms, these views and opinions are a new tool to help the board members make the decisions our members want us to make, I thank you all for taking the time to help us.
    The audience was still filing in when Deep Water Reunion took the stage to kick-off this years Cafe. Deep Water is made up of a list of great musicians led by front man David "Big Pipes G, whose energetic performance caught more than one audience member by surprise especially visiting Madison Blues Society President Catherine who David caught up with then led on stage for a Chicago blues style serenade. Deep Water reunion put on one impressive opening set and When they finished they were greeted to a nearly full house standing ovation and encore.
    Next up was one of the founders of the Great Northern Blues Society and long time Wisconsin favorite Otis McClennon and his current version of The Alligators. Otis' timeless mix of harmonica and guitar fueled blues had the place on it's feet and dancing the afternoon away. They closed with a roaring encore performance for the full house crowd. Looks like this Cafe had the makings of a great show.
    Howard "Guitar" Luedtke & The Blue Max Band stormed the stage next. This hard
pounding trio is lead by a man who's playing refuses to take a back seat to any guitar slinger in the land. Backed by his wife "Magic Deb" on bass and thunderous Tom Ouimette on drums this trio rocked the house. Near the end of their set they were joined on stage by Otis McClennon which produced a very memorable and rare Howard & Otis jam! Backstage the recently arrived headliner's Janiva Magness & Debbie Davies were spotted enjoying the show as their band was loading in.
    Debbie Davies strapped on her guitar and proceeded to demonstrate why she has had the opportunity to perform and record with so many great blues artist in her illustrious career. Debbie put on what was described by an audience member as "one of her best performances in recent memory" and had the packed house crowd grooving from start to finish. Miss Davies is truly a great performer. After a brief intermission Debbie stepped into a supporting role and was joined on stage by fellow award winning Contemporary female blues artist Janiva Magness.  Janiva brings her own brand of "Italian Hotstuff" to the stage. her confidence and sex appeal
captivated the audience while her strong vocal performance held the crowd until the very end. No one in attendance will soon forget her amazing voice or her "custom" Madonna style rub board. Debbie Davies and the rest of Janiva's band were flawless.
    Overall my first Blues Cafe as President went very well. The Early numbers indicate it was a record setting event! I am truly greatful to all of the volunteers and board members who stepped up and did an amazing job without who this event would not be possible.The Sponsors who invested their money in the show and entrusted us to manage it wisely. The bands who all put on outstanding performances from top-to-bottom. The bands all seemed pleased with the show and were all a pleasure to do business with. Ryan Cass and crew did an excellent job with sound, All the radio DJ's who went above and beyond the call of duty to promote this show you are all awesome! This years attendance was great especially when you take into account all the night clubs & Bars that held St. patty's day parties through-out the area.
    Through-out the evening many of the board members reported very positive comments and compliments from various members of the audience. I personally received a number of
comments from former volunteers as well as members who want to get involved for the first time.         The GNBS meets the 2nd tuesday of each month 7pm at loppnows bar. Come to a
meeting share your thoughts, bring your voice and help us continue to grow this Blues society into the best it can be. I believe there is a new positive energy in the society and it showed to all at this years Blues Cafe. This energy is essential to the continued survival of the GNBS. Help the Great Northern Blues Society keep "America's Music", The Blues Alive and Kicking for years to come.

Dennis J. Fick
President - GNBS    

Rising Star
By: Dennis J. Fick

 Alex Wilson is a Future star on the rise. Whether pouring his heart out on
the stage, Jammin in the crowd or laying down a scorching solo while atop
the bar, This young man has it all; Incredible guitar skills, wide ranging
vocals, good looks and a stage presence that captures a crowd.

 Alex Wilson grew up in a talented family of musicians. His Grandmother,
Rosa Saviano was a renowned jazz singer in Chicago in the 1940's and 50's.
Tom Wilson, Alex's father, has accompanyed almost every Milwaukee Chicago
blues player for the past 30 years. Marc Wilson, Alex's uncle has played
drums with the likes of Stevie Ray Vaughn, Anson Funderburg, Marcia Ball and
Ronnie Earl to name but a few.

 They say Alex picked up the guitar at five years old and never put it down.
Alex formed his own garage band at 13 and began to dig deep into the songs
and styles of the blues master at 17. At 18 he began playing professionally
and by 21 was performing up to 25 gigs a month. He's been honing and
sharping his skills as a singer/songwriter, guitar player and overall
entertainer ever since.

 A versatile musician, Alex effortlessly plays everything from sweet Beale
Street blues to west coast swing and from hard texas grinders to stone cold
Chicago grooves.

 Alex's current Line-up includes  Madison Slim, Harmonica/vocals, playing
with a renewed vigor and desire that is evident to everyone in the house.
Andre Maritato, bass and various skilled drummers

 To Say that Alex Wilson is one to look out for is an understatement. Taking
the mid-west by storm, this sought-after young musician is a force to be
reckoned with.