Greetings and Salutations,
It’s time to stretch your hands and make sure you have plenty of extra lives, because this week the Welcome to Thursdays crew is traveling to the new, popular, video game/retro-nostalgic bar: Up-Down Milwaukee. Boasting a massive amount of gaming cabinets ranging everywhere from NBA Jam to my childhood favorite, The Simpsons, Up-Down makes sure that there is something for everyone when you step through the doors.
Feeling like a pinball wizard or a little skee-ball action? They got you covered. Oh, did I also mention the huge bar they stuck in the middle of it all, serving up a fantastic beer selection with over 50 beers on tap and some fantastic cocktails? Feeling a little hungry? Up-Down serves up an assortment of pizzas either by the slice or as a whole pie! All in all, it is set up to be a fantastic night and as we enter the dark, gloomy months of winter; let’s light up our night this Thursday at Up/Down!
Secretly though, I need your help this Thursday to save WTT member Ben Vincent (Member # 64).
We start our story as if it were the end of another: Ben had just graduated from UW-Madison with the entire world in front of him. His prestigious degree in Canadian studies had him ready to get to work when he realized that there were not many employers looking for specialists of Canada. Struggling to find work, he took to the wanted ads in the paper and found one looking for an elevator operator. Thinking that this would be the easiest job in the world, Ben applied. He immediately got a phone call stating that he had gotten the job and that he would start the very next day.
Ben showed up full of energy and ready to take on the day. His manager, a short, odd-looking fellow showed him to the elevator and gave out a very off-putting laugh. The door shut, and Ben looked at the wall of buttons: 90 floors, 90 different destinations. Suddenly the door opened, and a massive amount of people entered, each yelling a different floor. As the elevator started to move Ben tried to make conversation but the people on the elevator were almost like zombies, staring down on their phones paying no mind to Ben. It went on like this every day, every week, for an entire year. No conversation, no emotion, just button pushing. Floor after floor, Ben soon embodied the zombie-like state of his passengers. He grew into a routine that never changed, like a chess game that fell into a stalemate but never ended.
People from Welcome to Thursdays took notice of this and became concerned when Ben stopped showing up to Thursdays, so they decided to do the only thing that could get him out of this perpetual cycle of gloom: buy some Hamm’s and figure it out. Ben soon realized he was in a downward spiral and vowed from that day on to never ever push another button and always take the stairs.
This is where I need your help: this Thursday we are going to Up-Down, an arcade bar full of buttons. I need all of you to show up and help me show Ben that not all buttons are bad, and that there are in fact some good buttons out there.
Cheers my friends!
Your Co-founder and Friend,
Jeremy Blandin
*Keeping your glass filled and spirits high one Thursday at a time, this is Welcome to Thursdays: a local social group determined to make your Thursdays more fun. Each week, The Squeaky Curd features a Milwaukee County bar that we gather at on Thursday evening. Join us Thursday, January 10, 2019 at Up-Down Milwaukee, 615 E Brady St (Lower East Side), at 7:30pm.*