Summerfest and Beyond

By Josh Kingsley

The Zach Wilson saga was nearly as funny as bizarre — so, this was another largely dull week for the NFL — but that’s the extent of my analysis on that. I do have some comments on Orlando Brown, but they are at the end. Feel free to skip now because this one is chalk full of music and concert type stuff. I moved to Milwaukee in late 2008, but my life did not truly change until 2009. Two major events define 2009 for me. The first is engagement to Misty, and the second is discovery of Summerfest. I love LIVE music and go to concerts as often as possible. The greatest shock of my life remains the discovery of my new hometown being home to the largest festival in the world.

My apologies for referencing Wikipedia, but the description here is accurate. The main points to take are the 75-acre spot and 11 days of music. Summerfest has changed format due to Covid, but for this column I am running with 11 days crossing July 4th. This event became my summer home in 2009, and remains my planning guide. I’ve done all 11 days twice, 9 a couple, and even with kids aim for 5+. The festival is a total conglomeration of genres and eras, which is perfect for an eclectic person like me. In 2009 I formed a tradition that lives with me today.

My Ode to Summerfest

I consistently call Thanksgiving my Super Bowl holiday. Well, Summerfest is my Christmas. Every day is a series of gifts in the form of concerts, and I walk in the festival’s gates like a kid on Christmas morning. I cannot produce a better setup that does not include me personally setting the entire lineup. There are stages on top of stages, but here is how I lay the land:

• A single entry, $25 tickets get you into the 75-acre festival grounds. This gives access to all but one stage. 
• The American Family Amphitheatre is the home of the biggest of big headliners. Backstreet Boys, Jason Aldean and Rod Stewart took this stage. These shows are individual tickets that include a Summerfest entry. I consider this part of the festival but not at the same time. There is a significant difference between a $25 park ticket and a $100 lawn seat.
• The amphitheater and six of the ground stages feature national recording artist tours. The amphitheater headliners hit the stage at 7:30 and the ground at 10:00. In an ideal world one can see the main show and then hit the ground stages after.
• I can always find a headliner at 10, but normally I split between a few. My expectation is at least one night where I want to see all 6. Those are the best nights.

This festival is the music lover’s dream. Anyone who loves live music owes it to themselves to experience Summerfest at least once. I have been to hundreds of shows and will highlight some of my favorites of all time at Summerfest.

My Musical Taste Overview

I describe myself as a truly eclectic connoisseur. My parents brought me up to like and appreciate music, but I cannot call it necessarily broad in terms of genre. Country and light classic rock were the mainstays. Around my high school age, I got pretty into metal and fell into a firm anti-pop sentiment. By the end of high school, I found myself gravitating toward more of a pop-punk and EMO preference but kept to country. Hip hop, on the whole, was a music that never really stuck with me.

December of 2002 changed everything for me when I became a wedding DJ. I quickly recognized a couple of things about which I still hold firm. The first is the recognition of the gravity a wedding day carries. This is a huge day for couples, so love and focus are necessary. The second thing is more music related. A good DJ is a scholar of all-things music and crowd pleasing. Translation: check your personal music preferences at the door and play what the crowd wants.

I immediately immersed myself in the world of wedding and pop classics, current top-40, and all the necessary group dances. Knowledge became understanding, and that eventually morphed into my appreciation. I went into the job as a music snob and hater of certain styles but emerged a true-blue fan of it all. A key thought entered my head: if this song or genre makes a huge group of people happy how can it be bad or wrong? That has been my governing philosophy ever since with a brief hiatus. I did fall away from the DJ world for a few years and found my irrational criticism coming back, but I have been out as a DJ solidly since 2015 and love everything.

Great Injustices in Music

The world is not fair, but we all know that. Our goal, as people in society, is the establishment of a fair amount of space so we can all survive. Here are two gravely unfair, unjustifiable things in the music world:

1. Credence Clearwater Revival does not have a #1 single. They hold the records for #2 songs with 5, and also top 10 with 9, but never a #1. This is more dumb luck and wrong place than anything, but it sucks for CCR.
2. Devo is not in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. This one is malicious stupidity. The 2022 class is final, and Devo is still missing. Inexcusable.

I will expand a bit on my feelings of the RnR HOF. Dolly Parton and Eminem absolutely belong. Their influence on music is undeniable, so their inclusion in the pantheon is justified. That is the problem with Devo missing the cut again.

My appreciation for Devo began during my first training dance as a DJ with Mark, who owned the company. I started my DJ journey on CDs, and Mark added his personal collection to his system. At one point I noticed a large section of Devo and made a comment about Whip It. Mark quickly educated me, and I have not made that mistake since. Bottom line: Devo are cultural influencers, and lead singer and founder, Mark Mothersbaugh’s finger prints are everywhere. Devo keeps the personal praise light, which is cool, but even they know they (and Dolly) belong.

My Top Shows Criteria

My whole point of all of this is to give a list of my favorite shows, and I am doing that in my typical long-winded fashion. Again, feel free to skip to the end for CHIEFS stuff. The overall experience makes a live show great, which means time and place are extremely relevant. The Company you are with plays a vital role as well. Keep that in mind as I give my list.

The Best of Quasi Summerfest

I mentioned earlier that I only partially consider the amphitheater part of Summerfest. By definition, these shows are on the website, but they require an extra purchase. None of these shows are part of my top 5 Summerfest shows for this exercise, but I have seen some awesome ones. Here is that top list in order:

1. Sir Paul McCartney is the top, and I cannot see him losing this spot. Paul is a Beatle and the musical GOAT. I was hanging out with my college friend, Lindsay, several years back at her place and we were listening to Wings. She made a comment that music should sound that way. Another thing she believes is that it is always worth it to be in the room with legends. McCartney “is” music, and he brings that presence to all his shows.
2. Green Day, Fallout Boy and Weezer toured together last year. This is that pop punk stuff I absolutely adore, and that show was incredible.
3. Outkast  is the perfect fusion of indie art rock and hip hop. They were on my must-see list until we finally made it happen.
4. No Doubt tickets in summer of 2009 were the engagement gift I gave Misty. That show was awesome and the context even better.
5. Usher worked harder than any other artist I have ever seen perform live. His show was on the hottest night of that summer, and he soaked himself to the bone entertaining the crowd.

The Best of The Fest

I narrowed this down to a top 5, but I have to give a quick list of honorable mentions. These shows stick with me in a meaningful way, but a top 5 should be hard. This means leaving good stuff out. My honorable list in no order:

• Lonely Island is Andy Samburg of SNL and Brooklyn 99 fame’s band. They are talented rappers and pop composers with a focus on satire. I love these guys. They have done exactly one tour and Summerfest was on the list.
• Umphrey’s McGee is a Chicago jam band that fills the same type of space as Grateful Dead, Phish and Widespread Panic. I was not prepared for their energy, which made for a great show.
• BNelly is the greatest Midwest rapper, and his shows are a blast. My favorite was after we went on a 10-stop Bloody Mary bar, stampede. (It was a stampede, not a bar crawl)
• Ke$ha lost years of her career in a bloody court battle with her producer, Dr. Luke. Her first tour back was a force, and her MKE date featured a massive, supportive crowd.
• Willie Nelson is an awesome live show. Like my friend Lindsay says: be there when the legends play.
• John Fogerty was last week and makes the list. I expected an old guy hunched over a mic stand, but that was far from the case. John was high-nergy and his band members are now his sons. Excellent show and why I mentioned CCR earlier.

The above list is impeccably fulfilling, but for me it only gets better. Without further ado!!

5. Chaka Khan

I love Chaka Khan. Most point to Whitney Houston’s version of “I’m Every Woman,” but that is a Chaka Khan song. She was the surprise of the festival for most, but this show hits me for a different reason. I went to this show with my daughter, Vivian, and I consider this her first concert. She got all dressed up in sequenced dress and we went on a date. The whole walk to the park and stage featured her proudly telling every passerby that she was seeing the best show of the night. The show was at 10pm and Viv was 6th so we only saw 5-10 songs, but that was a cool night.

4. Wiz Khalifa

This show happened in July of 2011 and carries the most time and place implication. The lineup announced during the spring timeframe with Wiz on the Harley ground stage. Craziness ensued as “Black and Yellow” became the song of the summer and dominated the charts. Ideally artists of this stature end up in the controlled amphitheater setting, but it was too late for this one. Khalifa played to the largest crowd I have ever seen that night. Misty, a friend, and I ended up on the VIP deck, so we were less crowded and isolated from the people packed to the lake and on roofs of concession stands. That area was open enough that it became the watch spot for the Chief of Milwaukee police, so I kind of met him. The show was a circus resulting from lightning in a bottle.

3. “Weird Al” Yankovic

I have seen him a few times, but 2015 is my favorite. He played on the one ground stage that has actual seating. At the time, the best seats were available as a first come when the gates opened. My sister, brother-in-law, and I got in line at 11am, stood there until noon, and walked in to get a comp pair each for the 6th row dead center. Excellent show.

2. Devo

I brought up Devo earlier as a precursor for this story. The 2010 schedule featured Devo on the biggest stage at 10pm on the last night of the show. That hit my radar immediately. I quickly found out that my coworker-buddy, Adam, has Devo connections in that he is related to Bob and Jerry Casale. Say what?!?!? The was an unforgettable night that featured back-stage passes and a spot to watch on a balcony over stage right, a meet and greet with Bob and Jerry, and an incredible show. I even stepped away after the show to call my old boss Mark to tell him all about it. It was midnight and I woke his kids up (sorry!!), but I made it up to him with a signed poster. This night still carries a surreal quality. What could possibly top that?

1. Katzenjammer

Their afternoon show in 2010 will forever be my first thought when considering Summerfest. Misty and I were walking around festival grounds early afternoon on the 4th of July. We were hanging out with Adam (another one), his future wife and his mom. Conversation was more of the focus than the music on the stages. At one point we all noticed instruments placed on stage. A giant guitar-looking thing with a cat face painted on it, was the center of attention. Sheer curiosity stopped us from walking on. That afternoon 4 women from Norway absolutely blew my mind as they rocked out on multiple instruments. The song that truly roped me in is called “A Bar in Amsterdam.” It is rare that I stay around for a meet and greet, but it happened that day.

Some CHIEFS Stuff

Some CHIEFS news happened this week. My favorite piece is Patrick Mahomes pitching the product I had no idea I needed. I fully understand why the NFL prevents payers from pushing alcohol, but I applaud Mahomes and Coors for digging up this loophole. Raising money for charity is a great added bonus. Now I just need to get my hands on one. I need another flashlight like I need a hole in my head, but I must have this one.

Mitchell Schwartz announced his retirement from the NFL this week as well. He was the right-side anchor for the Super Bowl LIV winning team, which cements him in CHIEFS lore. My favorite memories including Schwartz are his Mitch in the Kitch blog and videos. I love seeing personality sides like this. His brat video showed me the microwave corn trick, which I still use.

The other piece of CHIEFS news became official just before I finished this writing. Orlando Brown turned down the final formal offer from the CHIEFS for a long-term deal. This one has some things to unpack.

The Contract Demands

The main consideration of this entire saga is the LT market. Orlando Brown and his agent set out to reset the market. This requires Brown to receive the largest ever contract. The details and semantics become the focus. Notable factors include total amount, total guaranteed amount and number of years. A safe assumption says the Brown camp expected 4+ years, and also to top the current of the other two figures. The top current contract is recent as it is what the 49ers beat the CHIEFS with last season to sign Trent Williams:

• 6 years
• $138M
• $55M guaranteed (2 seasons)
• $30M signing bonus

The askin amount was clear from the Brown camp to the CHIEFS. A final offer had these leaked details:

• 6 years
• $139M
• $45-50M guaranteed (2 seasons and my personal assumption)
• $30M signing bonus

An objective look at the numbers shows the CHIEFS attempted to beat the Williams deal by essentially pennies (yes, I am calling $100Ks pennies in this context). I view this as negotiation in good faith, but it does objectively fail to reset the market as requested. Brown and company gave their number, the CHIEFS countered, and Brown balked. That is the extent of the tactical situation.

Intention of Sports Contracts and Merits of Market Reset

Let’s start with this often overlooked and entirely avoided principle: sports contracts are for what you will do, and not what you have done. Teams must negotiate from this philosophy. The smartest of smart teams do it diligently and well. The best example is the Patriot’s recent dynasty. The two factors that ensure success are being accurate and being proactive with the salary cap. Full effectiveness for either requires a crystal ball, which is why this is hard. Let’s look at the salary cap first.

This first thing I will point out is that I consider this entire thing philosophical more than math based. It involves people and emotions, and the NFL is full of cap ninjas that make stuff work every year. I live in the intent and nuance. The salary cap (less weird years like Covid 2020) is going up. It will continue to go up as long as the sport stays popular and media companies have money, which we can currently define as indefinite. The quarterback has effectively claimed the spot as the top cap percentage consumer. Edge rushers is the anti-QB and has taken the second spot at the table. Left tackle, AKA QB insurance and anti-edge, traditionally held the 3-spot. However, a shack up happened a few months ago. The WR position effectively usurped the 3-spot aiming for the 2-spot by demanding and getting $25M/yr. contracts.

Devante Adams and Tyreek Hill hit the hard reset, but the real move was Christian Kirk.

How to Reset

Kirk, the first domino, got $18M/yr from Jacksonville. He effectively teed the ball up for the top 2 WR in the game. Adams’ pitch was simple: I am 1.5-2X better so pay me as such. Hill simply followed. The new rate for a top 5 WR is now $25-30M/yr. and we will not go back. Any team wanting a top tier WR at less money needed to offer 4-5 years prior to Kirk’s contract. Brown and his agent are working to skip the Kirk portion and go straight for the Adams/Hill money. I spoke earlier of the concert list including time and place implications. The NFL contract negotiation situation is no different. The Ideal time for the CHIEFS to sign both Hill and Brown were prior to Kirk’s contract starting this domino effect. The wild thing is agents and players know this.

The most consistent and justified criticism of Veach in these situations revolves around deals not finalizing earlier. This is a fair critique, but remember a contract requires 2 signatures. Veach can offer whatever he wants, and the players can decline to sign. I firmly believe that is the simple explanation for Hill and now Brown. Their agents told them to wait until the offseason and they listened.

Back to Merit and Intent

Players will always work to reset and teams to prevent it. This is a business a principle and the NFL is a big business. The process is all speculation from both sides. Brown gambled on himself staying healthy all season to get to the end of his contract. Any kind of season ending injury this past season destroys this moment. Well, he did stay healthy and hit FA as the top LT. The CHIEFS did not have the option to Christian Kirk him as the top available LT. Add in the layers of what KC gave up making the trade to get him, the Patrick Mahomes protection assignment, and here we are. This is all about a market relatively similar to the Wiz Khalifa concert. KC did not put him in the amphitheater and now we are dealing with ground stage riots.

One of my favorite sayings: the best time to plant a tree is 30 years ago, but the second-best time is now. Veach and the CHIEFS had to have made a decision based on what they believe Brown will become. A mighty oak philosophically gets the desired deal. My assumption is they did not see a mighty oak in the future.

My Take

I am having a tough time picking sides in this one. Brown fell into a sport where he could ask for the world. I cannot fault him for playing the hand dealt. Veach is also playing the hand dealt making two assumptions. The first assumption is that Brown will not L. Bell a season to prove a point. He is also assuming things himself — that he will be able to rectify this a year from now for more monies than the estimated $25M/yr. The only real options of the Chiefs are Kinnard, Wylie, Wanogho, or Niang making a god like step up, or being able to draft one. I personally only see Kinnard as a logical option, so this is a major risk.

My hope is that Veach sees something we all do not, but my fear is that he avoided planting a tree because he did not have any acorns to plant oaks. Pines are nice trees too, and the LT of the 2021 #2 seed certainly qualifies as that. I believe that Brown skips all offseason stuff, plays the regular season, and leaves for $25M+ a year from a bad team next offseason. His replacement will not cost less.

Josh Kingsley – ArrowheadOne