Burlap and Blues, The Blues Blog

The summer of 1990, is a summer that I will never forget. I had just received my license to be an EMT and I was working 2 jobs starting to put my self through school. During the summer, there were a lot of hours open to work on the ambulance, and an opportunity to work first aid at Alpine Valley, in East Troy Wisconsin. During concerts the concert promoters hired groups of firemen and EMT’s from local fire departments to man the first aid tents. Each of the EMT’s and firemen would be able to get in for free, and possibly have an opportunity to see some of the band. Well, the second part never happened, usually because there were too many people partying a little to hard.

Follow up:

In August, I was asked if I wanted to work at Alpine Valley with a few other EMT’s. I decided I didn’t want to, and stayed back on August 26. I will never forget how foggy it was that evening. We lived 30 miles from East Troy and to this day, I have never experienced a more foggy day. It was the kind of day that you drove slow because you really couldn’t see, and you knew you were off the road when you heard your tires in the side of the road.

That night, late at night, there was a terrible car accident. I will never forget the body that was pulled from the burning car, and the glow from the fire and the fog that could only be seen from a few hundred yards. The young man who had been pulled from the car had been drinking with a friend, who was driving and hit a car that had pulled off the road. Three people were seriously hurt, and one died.

I remember getting back home about 4 in the morning with the heavy smell of smoke on my clothes wishing that I would have went to the show, it would have been more memorable even if everyone was puking on everyone else. It would have been, but it would have been sadder, as that was the night the SRV’s helicopter crashed in the dense fog.