Cameron Connors
Members of Mad Rollin' Dolls helped mark the way to Wurst Times on Saturday. For more photos, click the Gallery tab.
If nothing else, the great brat fest schism of 2011 has brought variety to the way Madisonians ingest their nitrates. The Wurst Times bratwurst and music festival focused on the sonic aspects of eating fatty foods in large groups.
Volunteers from the Mad Rollin' Dolls enticed those leaving the farmers' market to turn in at the High Noon Saloon/Brink Lounge/Brass Ring complex for four stages of music, Sheboygan Brats and, of course, beer.
While the brats ran out around 3 p.m., the different styles of music ran through the day, with funk from Uncle Tom's Minstrel Show opposite the better-than-competent covers of Janelle Monae and Janis Joplin by the Hot Money Band.
In keeping with the "radical" union agenda that spurred the alt-brat events, Optometri sang "Everybody Take Some Drugs" and dedicated it to "all the young people," while a stand with anti-Walker bumper stickers and shirts raised money for the Second Harvest Food Bank.
The number of competing stages seemed a bit much at times but a good turnout and mild spring weather favored this new brat bash returning next year.
