To: roger@rocemabra.antelope.ca.us
Being from Mn. The first show that we Experienced on this tour was the
Apple Valley Zoo,a great venue and at first a little rainy and cold but a
hardy lot we are , after all It's TODD!! things warmed up quickly as soon
as Todd played the first chord of I Hate My Fricken I.S.P. Even with the
technical difficulties;strings, pedals, a moving floor The show ROCKED
and I new emmediately that I must see more. After the show all of us Hard
core Todd fans originally from The Luverne area including the Greimslo
contingent from Slayton, hung out and raved about the show , old times
and past Todd shows. A road trip was a must , how and when were small
incidentals . Eventually the dust cleared and four particularilly brave
and talented individuals were able to steer clear of any and all
obsticals in their way for a much needed and long over due (20 some years
to be exact) ROAD TRIPP TO TODD !! Tim called Jeff in Arizona ,who
arrived in Minneapolis on wed. ,to pick up Pete in Rochester on thursday
and go directly to Oshkosh ,unfortunately Randy from ST.Louis offered up
some laim excuse like he couldn't make the Oshkosh show because of
meeting with some astronauts about maps of the world? go figure, so Randy
would have to find us at summerfest. The two
lane road proved to be no obstical for this trio of fans as we found
ourselves there in plenty of time and after some great directions from a
wonderfull Oshkosh citizen as there were no signs directing us at all ,
we found the spot and those darn accordians wailing away. A beer and a
brat and we secured our spot up front . This show was awsome & they were
tight ,Todd and Kasims guitars were Hot and Trey was right on the money
all night ,Kas didn't sing trapped ,probably due to that silly curfue
that cut the show shorter than all of us would have prefered. But for the
most part the same song list as the rest of the shows ,#1lowest, Love of
the common man , cliche', the Ikon etc. were absolutely superb as was
,Yer fast &buffalow grass. I must say , the combination of the old and
new is Very good This show ROCKS.Jeff T. all though not as fast as he
used to be, was right there with the few that got something signed.So
with one long year autograghed and in Jeffs hand we hung around for a
wile to see if Todd would sign some more, But to no avail, we were off to
Milwaukee.With the energy of the show and the fact that we were on a
mission was the only way that we found our way through the winding
detured country roads from Oshkosh to Milwaukee. A nights sleep and a
leasurly morning and off we go to summerfest. Sometimes things just work
,we drove to a parking lot right outside the gate,went in to check things
out and pretty much kill time till it was time to start menuvering for
our seats, we figured that we would get in place and watch the Bobby
Friss show as there were a lot of people. So here we are four huge TODD
fans on a road tripp to Cheese land for the sake of Todd for the first
time in 20 yrs right in the center in the second row,Although Bobby was
entertaining ,too long, lets get Todd out here. After they got the sound
levels where they needed to be( todd was using his middle finger to let
the sound man know it needed to go up at one point ) but that is the way
that it has to work at these venues . Todd changed the order around a
little and I dont think that he had his lips warmed up enough to sing yer
fast quite that early in the set . Another great show that ended way to
early.The only thing we would have prefered was cliche' instead of the
beatles tune. With three of us having cameras I hope that we see some
good pictures, as we came to regret, we spent all the film on the show .
after the show we headed for a spot by the stage door in hope for an
autogragh, Todd came through fast heading some where as Pete went on the
chase , coming back with a big grin we all knew he was successful in his
quest for an autogragh.Here he comes again, whisking by us right to the
back stage saing something like my hands are full of grease.Todd came
back out and spent a half an hour signing and talking and Taking pictures
(not with us as we had no FILM)But we all got autograghs and Todd was his
usual witty self saying ,that this a little like prison sex trying to
sign over a barracade & one fan was telling Todd of his long time love of
his music & influence etc. and Todd say's "musically that would be
equivalent to me sitting on your face" that about sums it up!! Great
shows, great trip , great friends ,superb Todd we wont wait 20 yrs. to do
it again!! Thanks, Tim Ahrendt, Jeff Twito, Jeff Peterson & Randy Spease
