Will DNA Save Penny Brummer?

Posted on April 5, 2012 by TheEastSider

Just Knowing Sarah May Confirm Conviction

Sarah Gonstead

My former classmate Sarah Gonstead was last seen in the early morning hours of March 15, 1994. An acquaintance, Penny Brummer, who had dated one of Sarah’s close friends, told police she dropped Sarah off behind the Club 3054 on East Washington Avenue in Madison after an evening of bar-hopping. Brummer also said that before she left she saw Sarah talking to some people in a Taco Bell parking lot nearby. Sarah’s body was found three weeks later alongside a road on the far West Side .

Brummer was convicted in Gonstead’s murder based on circumstantial evidence and a jealousy motive involving Brummer’s ex-girlfriend Bea (not her real name) who Sarah knew since childhood. Bea had been thinking of dating men again, and Sarah may have been involved in helping her through that process. One of Sarah’s friends says she was likely trying to be helpful to Bea, but she was not a forceful person. Continue reading →

Subgate: Sandwiches For Votes

Posted on April 4, 2012 by TheEastSider

By now you have probably heard of “Subgate”, where a sandwich threatens to put an ugly mayonnaise stain on the tie of the Romney campaign. Yesterday, as the Wisconsin GOP Primary got underway the Romney campaign held what it called an “Election Day Lunch” at a Waukesha, Wisconsin Cousin’s Subs restaurant to encourage people to vote. In attendance was Romney and his new political lover, pretty boy U.S. Representative Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) handing out sandwiches. Continue reading →

The Ed Show Taps Badger State Enthusiasm

Posted on April 3, 2012 by TheEastSider

Wisconsin State Senators Lena Taylor and Chris Larson appear on The Ed Show in Madison on April 2, 2012.

There is no doubt that Ed Schultz is in the corner of Wisconsinites that oppose FitzWalker and their GOP robot army; bringing his show to town several times last year during the Madison Spring. He returned Monday night (April 2), this time to the cozy confines of the Great Dane Pub where the voices of the movement such as Senators Lena Taylor and Chris Larson shared the discussion with witty Monty Python references and something about Mitt Romney’s zipper. Continue reading →

The Legend of Cooley Moon [Official Trailer]

Posted on April 2, 2012 by TheEastSider

It’s pretty cool to know film celebrities. I don’t really know many, or any…until now. I didn’t know I knew a movie star when I met Chad Eggen in a bland residence hall at St. Cloud State University (SCSU) in September 1991. We would be roommates for a year, but have been good friends ever since. Now he is a leading man in the soon to be released indie sci-fi horror film The Legend of Cooley Moon. Continue reading →

One if by Land, Two if by iPad

Posted on April 1, 2012 by TheEastSider

Non-commercial pilots have historically been the early adopters of technology for use in the cockpit; however the iPad has been a game changer. You see your iPad is not only a cool thing to watch movies on; for the last few years pilots have been using it as a portable moving map display. Before the iPad and other tablets, having a moving map in a light aircraft has been prohibitively expensive.

Now companies are making technology to enhance the performance of the iPad in the airplane as demonstrated by the unveiling of Stratus, a wireless GPS receiver for use with iOS devices . Sporty’s, the largest pilot shop in the United States made the announcement at Sun ‘n Fun 2012 last week. The receiver connects to the iOS device via WiFi for use by an app called Foreflight. The iPad has changed the way pilots manage their navigation information, as the paper charts that visual and instrument pilots use to navigate have mostly been reduced or eliminated. That has saved weight and time flipping through books to find the right chart while flying the airplane. I can hear the trees cheering. Continue reading →

Hump Day at SNF…The Lost Post

Posted on April 1, 2012 by TheEastSider

Father and daughter sit atop the family’s Waco UPF-7 and watch aerobatic pilot Sean D. Tucker defy physics and physiology in his highly modified Pitts Special biplane.

I started this post last Wednesday (March 27) but got too busy to finish it so here are some cool things I found mid-week at Sun ‘n Fun 2012. Hump day meant literally humping around the grounds looking at lots of airplanes. I also talked to two women who certainly epitomize the aviation spirit, a man with eight airplanes and a bus, and a guy named Herb who had all the answers, just not the ones you expected. Continue reading →

History Takes Flight

Posted on March 29, 2012 by TheEastSider

Former B-29 Pilot Dora Dougherty (left) and Lt. Col. George Hardy ret. a Tuskegee Airman flew the B-29 in Korea. Photo by: Steve Schapiro

On Tuesday I posted a photo of the only Boeing B-29 Bomber that still flies. The aircraft served in World War II and Korea, as well as in various other military applications. “FIFI” as it’s named, is at Sun ‘n Fun this week to give rides to paying passengers as well as a few historical figures many people, even aviation nerds didn’t know about.

Crawling through the tunnel in the B-29 while in flight. This passageway connected the two pressurized crew spaces of this WW II Bomber.

The Women Air Force Service Pilots (WASPs) were civilian pilots who flight tested and ferried military aircraft to combat theaters during World War II. The B-29 was the last American bomber to enter service during that war, and Paul Tibbets (he would drop the first atomic bomb on Japan) requested that some WASPs be qualified on the aircraft. This was done in part to show the men, who had heard mostly scuttlebutt that the bomber was difficult to fly, that it wasn’t.

Two women were qualified to fly on the B-29 and one is still living today. Dora Dougherty was contacted by the Commemorative Air Force (it operates the B-29) and invited to see “FIFI” at Sun ‘n Fun and were ecstatic when she showed up Tuesday to see the aircraft and make a date for today’s flight. My friend Steve had profiled today’s commander of the B-29 when it visited EAA AirVenture last summer. David Oliver incidently is 29 years old himself and he found us two spots on what turned out to be an historic flight.

Fly along with Dora George on “FIFI”

Needless to say, not only did we get to ride on one of the rarest airworthy aircraft in the world but we got to fly with the rarest of WASPs and a Tuskegee Airman who flew the aircraft in the Korean War. I will have much more on this including plenty of photos and video later. Now I have to run to the Seaplane Splash-in!

On the B-29 flight deck. The gentleman in the red behind me (bombardier seat) is a Tuskegee Airman who flew the B-29 in Korea. Dora Dougherty, the last surviving WASP to fly a B-29 is to my right, and 29 year-old David Oliver is flying left seat, he is a Colonel in the Commemorative Air Force, which operates the aircraft.

Related: So Easy A Woman Could Fly It

Related: I’m a Sun ‘n Fun Virgin

Related: Its Always Sunny in Florida

Related: Hump Day at SNF…The Lost Post

Related: One if by Land, Two if by iPad

It’s Always Sunny in Florida

Posted on March 28, 2012 by TheEastSider

Sun ‘n Fun sunrise over our campsite on Tuesday March 27, 2012, the first day of the fly-in. This tableau was repeated meteologically verbatim Wednesday morning. Photo by: Adam Smith

At least this week we can say ‘welcome to sunny Florida’ as the week-long forecast of sunny and 88 degrees seems to be holding. But in Florida you can always count on the thunderstorm wild card. At Sun ‘n Fun this year they are not taking any chances after a tornado wrecked havoc on lots of pretty airplanes last year. Continue reading →

I’m a Sun ‘n Fun Virgin

Posted on March 27, 2012 by TheEastSider

The last airworthy B-29 “FIFI”, is currently touring the U.S.

I’m down in Lakeland, Florida this week at the second-largest fly-in in the United States. Sun ‘n Fun is kind of the kickoff to the flying season and like golf and the “southern swing” the weather is reliably good in this region for an outdoor event, and so the geographical location makes sense. As usual, when I travel to Florida for relaxation during the cold months, a heat wave hits the upper Midwest, mostly negating the benefit. Here we go again…

Continue reading →

Megafaun Glides Through Madison

Posted on March 24, 2012 by TheEastSider

Megafaun’s Phil Cook (right) and brother Brad Cook play at the High Noon Saloon Friday March 23, 2012. Photo courtesy: Eric Baillies

I had never heard Megafaun before, but was drawn by its description on the High Noon Saloon’s show calendar, “…grafting delicate banjos and stoned digressions of their previous records onto sturdy, catchy pop song structures”. Friday night (March 23) the North Carolina-based band visited Madison on the first leg of a U.S. tour after February dates in Spain and Portugal.

I went to the show expecting lively banjo but was delighted in its alternate application as part of a restrained mix of guitar, keyboard, and sometimes accordion along with plodding vocal melodies that only occasionally rose to a dull yell. Add in their opening act Field Report, featuring a similar musical style, and it was and wonderful evening of folk-rock music with some unexpected flourishes, best displayed during Megafaun’s extended jam “Real Slow”…more photos after the jump.