Let me tell you about Milwaukee. Having lived down the street in the windy city, I should''ve known sooner. First of all: Miller beer is brewed there. Second: they stop selling alcohol in the stores at 9:00p. Third: Miller beer is brewed there.WTF! No worries...You can get all of the booze you need until 2:00a.m. at Vnuk’s Lounge. By the way Milwaukee, why didn''t you tell me about this place earlier? At first glance Vnuk’s comes across as your friendly neighborhood water howl. Take a few steps behind the heavily stocked bar and you overlook a beautifully renovated stage and dance floor (yes, you''re supposed to dance at a rock show). Don''t worry though, if you need a drink there are tvs with live stage footage for you near the bar. We started off our second elimination weekend with four bands on Friday night. It was a unique night in Wisconsin with three bands competing from the previous year and one rookie Emergenza band. First up were a group of six year veterans in the Milwaukee scene: BlackIce. The four piece took the stage and kicked off the night with authority as they ripped through a 40 min set of face melting rock. You want to talk about guitar tone? Talk to their guitar player and he may teach you something. Next up was Two Room Honeymoon. With an intro that included a mini accordion, complete with an epic little tykes xylophone solo to start the set, these guys definitely grabbed your attention right away. No games after that though. Their lead singer dropped the xylophone, picked up his guitar and commenced with his aggressive lead vocals and owned their set. Sunshine Harrison took over the stage next. The returning champs of Milwaukee returned again with their stop go, what the hell is going on rock ‘n’ roll. These guys change their meter very often in their long songs. At times their drummer would get up and play a mandolin then jump back on the drums. Definitely a unique band that knows how to entertain their fans. Last of the night was Soul Alive. I got to sit down with Chris'' mom from the band. Apparently she met Ditka and a few hours later went into labor for Chris in 1985...No Lie. Anyway, Soul Alive brought the show to a close with some blues flavored funk rock. These guys were super tight and had a groove you couldn''t deny. At the end of their set their guitar player threw his guitar down and started making some gnarly noises by turning a bunch of knobs on his guitar pedals. Definitely a cool way to end the evening. Normally we take the top four out of eight or nine. Tonight we took all the bands to the next round. It seems on Saturday night we picked up right where we left off on Friday here in Milwaukee. This time though 7 bands took the stage. The first of which was Strike Zone, a four piece hard-rock band out of Racine. Their guitar style and tone reminded me of some old school metal but don''t mistake that for dated. Up next was the youngest band of the night, The Ides of October, a solid power trio led by their guitar player. With their bass player playing simply but tastefully, these guys wrote great songs that complemented their lead vocalists semi-deep vocal style very well. Third for the night was No Star Apathy. Now these guys were young for a 21 and over venue, but they played the hell out of their set to score second place for the evening. Great guitar work with a little add on from piano every once in a while is what stood out with these guys. At the end of their last song the kick drum head exploded ending their set. After putting on a spare drum head The Red Letter Diaries took the stage. These guys promised to “come off like a prom dress” and I''ve got to tell you I think they did. Great guitar work and a solid rhythm section combined with their front man on piano is what this band is all about. I heard they also have a song on the Milwaukee''s rock station 102.1 so be