I was always a little envious of the bands that Minnesota could claim as their own. At the college radio station, we always tried to take great pride in Wisconsin bands, figuring that supporting our home state was one of the moral obligations of celebrating the under-celebrated at the left end of the dial. Problem was, we didn’t have that many bands to get excited about. Sure, Milwaukee had someone as iconic as Violent Femmes, but their self-titled debut was six-years-old when I started college, ancient history to us then. Madison’s Fire Town released their sophomore album during my freshman year, but this was before band member Butch Vig was the producer that helped a certain band make history so no one was paying attention. Meanwhile, our cohorts to the immediate west could claim The Replacements, Husker Du (who had just broken up, but still), Soul Asylum. This doesn’t even mention The Purple One, who even my grandfather knew was from Minneapolis.

One of the bands that never quite broke through like those other 10,000 Lakers but became one of our station’s staples was the Gear Daddies. It probably helped that we fervently dedicated to broadcasting Pointer Hockey games at the very time the band released a song that was a paean to the splendor of the Zamboni. The song posted here today wasn’t in our possession at the station, but I can only imagine how overplayed it would have been were it included in our library. The dream vacation in question is to the tourist trap town in the heart of America’s Dairyland: Wisconsin Dells. Sure, it’s gently mocking the Dells, but it was still our Dells.

Gear Daddies, “Dream Vacation”

(Disclaimer: To the best of my knowledge, this song only appeared on a seven-inch single and the Gear Daddies rarities compilation Can’t Have Nothin’ Nice, both of which, I’m sure, are well out of print. However, if somebody who has due authority to do so asks me to remove it, I will gladly comply. I’m pretty sure Martin Zellar of Gear Daddies knows how to get a hold of my friend Slomack. He can just tell you and she’ll tell me.)