Summerfest Makes Rolling Stone's List

Summerfest -- former summer home of Those Darn Accordions -- makes Rolling Stone's list of best "Spring/Summer 2007 Music Festivals." The grading methods of the grizzled chronicle of rock 'n' roll fall under heavy suspicion, however, if only because of the magazine's description of Big Gig eats: "Lots of options: Fish and chips ($6), Gyros $5.50, salads ($5), chicken wings ($3), etc. Bottled water is $2.50. Grade: B."

That's "news you can use" from the magazine that used to publish Hunter S. Thompson.

Apparently Rolling Stone's entrepid reporters couldn't find the fantastic grub that makes Summerfest so deliciously rockin' ... special stuff like Mader's grilled brats and kraut balls, Sprecher's Black Bavarian, Culver's ButterBurgers and, yes, even the bloomin' onions from that barbecue joint with the name I can't recall. For that matter, the Cousins Subs stand is better than the overpriced garbage peddled at most festivals.

This little waddle down memory lane is making me hungry. Too bad the mid-gate Piggly-Wiggly stage -- where we played the entire Summerfest run during the good old days, when TDA was treated almost like some sort of wheezing artist in residence at the festival -- is gone, and no suitable venue has popped up to harbor our whimsical accordion music.

Maybe it's time for a write-in campaign -- seems like Those Darn Accordions should play Summerfest's 40th anniversary. (But then I'm clearly biased.) Would anybody brave the Summerfest throngs to hear a little squeezebox rock? Or am I flogging a dead horse here? Hmmm ... Black Bavarian ... brats ... kraut balls ... and more people having a better time than at any beer-fueled event I've ever seen.