Several years ago, I came across a handful of old 45s of homemade Brewers songs from 1982. Folksy, cheesy but enthusiastic ditties about Harvey's Wallbangers, I somehow figured out how to burn them to CD, and the tunes provided background music for my road trip to Cooperstown to see Robin Yount inducted into the Hall of Fame.
Those were the days, when fans recorded anthems devoted to the splendor of the True Blue Brew Crew. Fans loved their team so much, they literally sang about it. And that's why I was pleasantly surprised when Rick Hagopian mailed me a CD recently.
Hagopian is the drummer of Boo the Band, the house band that plays at Friday's Front Row beer garden at Miller Park. His song, "Are You a Brewers Fan Too?" isn't a complex musical opus, but it will certainly warm the cockles of any Brewers fan's heart.
Hagopian tells me that fans of all ages are connecting with the song, which reminds me a little of the BoDeans or The Refreshments.
Just check out the first verse:
"The roof at Miller Park's wide open tonight, all the tailgaters dressed in their blue and white. The pre-game show's on the radio. The boys of summer take their practice swing, and in the beer garden, a band starts to sing. Milwaukee's getting ready, for a win today."
You get the point. Kudos to Boo The Band for a nice Brewers song -- a perfect addition to the tailgate mix tape.
Listen to the song through the link below.
Andy is the president, publisher and founder of OnMilwaukee. He returned to Milwaukee in 1996 after living on the East Coast for nine years, where he wrote for The Dallas Morning News Washington Bureau and worked in the White House Office of Communications. He was also Associate Editor of The GW Hatchet, his college newspaper at The George Washington University.
Before launching OnMilwaukee.com in 1998 at age 23, he worked in public relations for two Milwaukee firms, most of the time daydreaming about starting his own publication.
Hobbies include running when he finds the time, fixing the rust on his '75 MGB, mowing the lawn at his cottage in the Northwoods, and making an annual pilgrimage to Phoenix for Brewers Spring Training.
