Dave Hoekstra: The world's first rock 'n' roll theme park could have been built in Los Angeles, whose musical legacy rides from Johnny Otis to the Doors. Or Memphis -- my choice for the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame. (I'm sure we will see an Elvis World amusement park in our lifetime.) And London -- where the Hard Rock Cafe debuted in 1971 -- could have been considered.
Dave Hoekstra: This is not the summer of love. High gas prices and road construction have made this the summer of when push comes to shove. This is why I am sitting in the back of a Megabus headed for Milwaukee. Two college girls behind me are talking loudly about how difficult it is to remove their nail polish. One of them has cramps and says that 3,000 mg of ibuprofen have not relieved her pain. I should have packed my iPod.
Milwaukee's Summerfest annually launches a season's worth of ethnic events at Henry Maier Festival Park along Lake Michigan. But the hidden gem for locals is Bastille Days, the city's only major downtown festival. The 27th Annual Bastille Days will be held July 10-13 in a four-block area surrounding Cathedral Square Park in the heart of downtown.
Dave Hoekstra: Milwaukee's annual Summerfest is what our Taste of Chicago should be like. Summerfest lines are shorter, the lake breeze is cooler and the music bookings are more adventurous.
Five things Milwaukee's Summerfest does better than Taste of Chicago:
Don't drive. Typical summer rush hours and Edens Expy. construction make it impossible to drive north for an evening event this summer unless you are on serious tranquilizers. It took me 90 minutes from my downtown home the other night just to get to the Ravinia Festival in Highland Park. According to Summerfest, nearly 20 percent of its audience comes from the Chicago area.
When an African-American can win a presidential nomination over a bourbon-drinking woman, there's certainly a shot for Willie Nelson working with jazz great Wynton Marsalis, right? Or country redneck Toby Keith singing Barry White's "Never, Never Gonna Give Ya' Up" with jazz bassist Wayman Tisdale?
Like good airline service, Father's Day only comes around once a year.
There's been some long-awaited solo debuts, but Bobbie Nelson takes the cake with "Audiobiography," released last fall on Justice Records. Nelson, 77, is Willie Nelson's older sister and has been the piano player in the Red Headed Stranger's road band since the mid-1970s.
