This is the bio-hazard of Don Nelson, and it gets pretty thick.
Don Nelson....no....not the multimillion dollar basketball coach....but
a very distant shirt-tale relative (dare we say jersey) with a not
so distant desire to make a buck.
Actually I never worked in Milwaukee, or if I did, I don't remember.
I have worked in Wisconsin's other exotic hotspots like Baraboo and
Kenosha. Hell, there's a lot of things I don't remember. But forget
about that. On with the story.
Don left small town suburbia and went off to college. That only lasted
a few short years when he got a job at a radio station a couple of
nights a week.
What the heck, it seemed better than working as a stock clerk at Jewel.
It wasn't too much longer that he found himself working the famed
night rock shift. Within a short time span, he fell into radio and
dropped out of school.
I actually thought I could rock all night and attend classes during
the day. Man, waking up in a darkened empty lecture hall can be a
mind altering experience! Friends don't let friends sleep that soundly.
Or maybe it was the professor.
Having a great time, it was easy to get spoiled going to practically
every concert coming thru town and also meeting many of the guitar
gawds and rock stars from ZZ Top, Triumph, Rush (Geddy Lee likes to
be the spokesman, but Neal Peart was really down to earth), Journey,
Cheap Trick (Rick Neilsen's a trip) and even BB King. This was also
a time of catered partys before the show and wild times after.
Don probably should have stayed in school. His radio 'career' was
akin to playing Triple A ball, and being traded far too many times.
Soon enough he was lucky to land back in Chicago, but his first home
was short lived, he was traded!
Chicago is a great place, even if you do have to live on lower Wacker
Drive in the winter, and I've been lucky to be able to survive, exist
rather, even here during stations swapping formats and yes more trades.
Don has learned a lot from people on the streets....cops, cabbies,
carpenters, contractors, TV cameramen, CTA drivers, etc. He has even
appeared (or his voice has) in several movies. Look Mom, even a few
that weren't X rated.
Nelson also learned how to fly, legally, and has logged some incredible
flights, including one with a Chicago TV personality (whom I won't
name) that was quite bizarre.
I had to go to Iowa to attend a funeral, so we hopped in a small plane
and flew there into the face of an unbelievable growing snowstorm!
By the time we landed at the small town airport it was very late and
very dark. Worse yet everything was closed and locked up, even the
restrooms! My friend found the airport mascot. A cat kept on the premises
to keep the mouse population low. He then searched around a dark corner
and came back with a sigh of relief. It is totally amazing how kitty
litter actually works! Its also amazing how those TV weather guys
think!
OK so Don has a BS degree in Street Smarts and he still knows how
to ROCK!
SONGS
WE JUST PLAYED
