A Place For Your Stories.
Write a Story.
So you’ve got all these rock n roll radio stories in your head. They’re “from the day.” They’re good stories. They tell of a time and place that no longer exists. They tell of a person you once were. They feel good to remember. No, the kids aren’t yet interested. But maybe someday they will be. Maybe someday somebody will be. So you’ve got to get them down. They must be captured, recorded…saved! They’re good stories and they SHOULD NOT be lost!
This is the place to put them. To write them. To speak them. To share them. To store them. As they come to mind, in whatever manner is best for you to get them down, put them here. You are welcome.
Hi,
I worked at QFM in the early 90s and got fired like everyone else. My name is Dobie Maxwell and I did mornings with Mike Baxendale. ‘Bax and Dobie’ was our name, how clever. I am and always have been a standup comic and the only reason I wanted to get on the radio was to have people know me so they’d come out to see me as a comedian. Unfortunately I kept getting fired and never did make that a reality. I did have fun at QFM and there were a lot of great people there. I still talk to quite a few of them, like Mark Krueger and David Lee and Sandy Maxx and John Perry. All those people have done quite well and I am proud to call them friends. I hear Bax is out on the east coast in his hometown of Springfield, MA and is doing well also and I am very happy for him and I wish him well.
I have a daily diary of what it’s like to be a comedian and it’s on several websites but the main one is http://www.chicagostylestandups.com. Radio or comedy or whatever kind of entertainment business has great stories and I have had more than my share in all my years in both fields.
This is a great site and I thank Scott The Kid for doing it. I get around quite a bit and if I am ever on a show near you and you want to come out please let me know and I’ll leave tickets for you. Also, if you’d like a comedy CD send me an email and I will send you one as a special bonus for finding me on this website. I appreciate it. I still have my Q Card.
I guess there are not a lot of posts on this site. To bad, those were great days, and Milwaukee was really underrated as a place to be. Since leaving Milwaukee’s East Side I have lived in the big apple, Wash. D.C and California. Milwaukee was the best in so many ways. The music and art and street scene was amazing.
A couple of stories stick in my mind.
In the early 70′s I was one of many great volunteers at the Underground Switchboard while working as an organizer on the East Side. What times those were. At the same time that the city of Berkeley, CA was having public demonstrations to open “Peoples park” a few of us in Milwaukee worked to get a section of Lake Park set aside for concerts. I remember the Chief of Police saying that no park land should be used for a specific group, like youth for concerts. We countered that the parks have specific groups using golf courses, and senior centers. He felt that all of the crazy concert goers would be using drugs and getting in to much trouble. (maybe he was right about a lot of that, but we prevailed.) I remember many great concerts and days in the park.
I also recall a time at the Switchboard when Country Joe McDonald was in town with his all girl band, called the Underground Switchboard late at night saying that his drummer needed a massage and wondering if we knew anyone who could do a good job. Of course the Switchboard was able to help out. In return, he recorded a commercial for us.
for many years Country Joe had this available on his web site, I just checked and i guess it has been removed. To bad. Do you all remember that commercial? If your lady has left you or you are bummed out on LSD, just call 371-3123 The underground Switchboard will make it fine.
I would put in a link to the Country Joe Juke Box, but hey they don’t show the song any more. So sad…
Neat. Thanks!
I was born and raised in Milwaukee and never appreciated how great a city it was until I left after college at UWM and UW-Madison and made my way across the US:(DC, Detroit, Atlanta, Dallas, Austin, and now Chicago). I was in high school when Tim the RocknRoll Animal climbed out onto the ledge and the music fans began petitioning the Who to play in Milwaukee. It was bad enough not to have Keith Moon on the “Farewell Tour” but it was a slap in the face for us to see the Who pass us over for Chicago as if we in Milwaukee weren’t a rock-n-roll city (hello…anyone ever hear of Summerfest?). So after waiting on pins & needles I remember hearing Pete Townshend state unequivocally on 93QFM that the Who were definitely going to play in Milwaukee. Quite unprecedented this was, and “wholly flippin cow”!! I was unbelievably excited as were my friends for what Milwaukee music fans just pulled off. Now came the next step.
There were a limited number of seats available at the arena (I recall 10,000~12,000 seats available) and I’ll bet more than twenty times that many Milwaukee-area Who lovers wanted to go not to mention people in Chicago who felt they could sneak on up and then get to see them twice. That Chicago-factor was already accounted for; the only way to get tickets (and only two per request was allowed) was to pay for them in advance and wait to see if your request was selected in some kind of random lottery drawing of the mailed envelopes (requests) that were appropriately prepared. If your request got selected and your payment was good, then you got that wonderful envelope in the mail with tickets instead of a refund. What an agonizing wait!
I finally got mine and still remember the seats: Section QQ, Row 1, Seats 1 and 2. ROW ONE!! SEATS ONE AND TWO!! NO WAY!! I nearly fell over and died until I realized that Section QQ was in actually the back, not in front of the stage. They were in the upper level in back but dead-center to the band. It didn’t matter…I was going to see “my” band, the Who! I had tickets and had my pick of female company for that concert needless to say! Unreal! So the big day comes and the concert itself was terrific. Pete did many of has trademark guitar leaps, Roger swung the mic, and John’s fingers were in an endless blur belting out that awesome bass. Kenny wasn’t Keith, but he was great; it was still the Who. If I remember correctly, they did two encores for us.
That was a magical time in my life; just getting a driver’s license, going to the first Who concert IN MILWAUKEE after a worldwide-recognized petition by the fans and a radio station with brass ones and a DJ with heart; and it was a totally sincere effort by all involved. Reading through WHOopla brought back so many great memories of a simpler yet exciting time of my life. I hope my children will read this and “get it” when I explain that sometimes in life you must take extraordinary efforts to accomplish something that others think impossible or a waste of time. That’s what Tim the Rock-n-roll Animal and 93QFM did in the eyes of the fans. It will always be 93″Who”FM in my mind. Thanks for writing WHOopla.
Thanks! I like to think the more time that passes the gra=eater the legend grows. I’ll forwrad to Tim too. Nicely written memory.
Does anyone know how to get in contact with Tim? I would like a quote for a story I am writing.