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Free Beer Thanksgiving Eve at Northville Eagles Cancelled
With the current spike in COVID-19 and the tight space indoors at the Eagles, Free Beer and the Eagles decided it would be best to postpone this one until next year when everyone is healthier. Sorry about the changing plans, but in these uncertain times...
With the current spike in COVID-19 and the tight space indoors at the Eagles, Free Beer and the Eagles decided it would be best to postpone this one until next year when everyone is healthier. Sorry about the changing plans, but in these uncertain times...
Free Beer says Goodbye to Janel
Hundreds celebrate Janel Edelman at Cowley's
We knew everyone would be there because they had all saved this date for the annual Chili Cookoff, an annual event Janel may have liked more than Free Beer. Jim did a great eulogy during the service and we all made our way over to Cowley's. The place was packed during dinner and by 7:30PM Free Beer eased their way on to the stage. Taking the lead from the spirit of Janel, everyone ran to the dance floor and took her place. Each song seemed to remind us of Janel. Tears flowed. Beers flowed. But one thing for certain, the spirit of Janel Edelman flowed through Cowley's all night long. It was an evening that she would have really enjoyed. While we were all pushing back tears, it was one of the most joyful evenings we have experienced in a while. By just getting together with friends and having as great of a time as Janel always had ... it was the perfect sendoff to one of the greatest people we will ever know. She will be missed. All the photos are here!
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We knew this day was going to be difficult but we were all surrounded by friends and music, which certainly eased the pain of the passing of the band's sister, Janel Edelman.
She was a big part of the Free Beer family. As we collected pictures from this website for the memorial, you begin to realize how often she was there, how she would stride on to the dance floor, drop her coat and purse and with a big Janel smile point directly at you and demand your presence on the dance floor. Her smile, her laugh, her hair, her chutzpa were like no one elses and will sorely missed and never replicated. The day started early as all the members of Free Beer pitched in to set up our gear at Cowley's before 11AM as not to disturb other memorials taking place there that afternoon. Janel's viewing and service were at the funeral home directly behind Cowley's. There were many many people inside but soon a gathering began outside in the parking lot. Yes, they were tailgating at Janel's funeral with her prerequisite Pudding Shots and Wild Turkey. |
The Last Waltz
THe Final Free Beer show after 23 years
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Free Beer shares the stage with ex band members
for one last jam There was lots of anticipation for the Final Free Beer show on Friday January 27, 2017 at John Cowley and Sons Pub. Ever since we annouced our retirement way back on Friday, September 18th, we have looking toward the date on the calendar. We picked Cowley's since it has been our home bar for the last 10 years. We've played more gigs there than anywhere. We picked the LAST Friday of the month because we have played the FIRST Friday of almost every month at Cowley's. Chatter about the show continued to get louder and louder as the show got closer. We knew it was going to be a pretty big crowd. Every single person we knew was either going, or wished they could be there. We went and set the PA system up the night before because we knew everyone would get their early to get a seat. And we were right. We were there early. Fans started showing up right away, and they kept coming and coming and coming until Cowley's was jam packed. |
Want to see all the pictures? Click Here
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Sadly, we were without our diligent Drummer Tom Daldin who blew out his hearing at the BeerMas show and was told by doctors that he could no longer be in places where there are loud noises. It was really sad that Tom couldn't be there. He's was the one ingredient that made Free Beer sound different than everyone else, and his "Crazy Ivan" stops can be replicated by no one. But we are a lucky band to have someone as talented as Steve Tocco sitting in the wings ready to man the kit who knows our entire set list without practice. Thank You STEVE!!
We even employed some new technology to make sure any out of town fans got to see the last show, we broadcasted the show on Facebook Live! Believe it or not, by the end of the night, 1331 people tuned into the feed including people in Ohio, St. Louis, California ... Even TOKYO!!
We even employed some new technology to make sure any out of town fans got to see the last show, we broadcasted the show on Facebook Live! Believe it or not, by the end of the night, 1331 people tuned into the feed including people in Ohio, St. Louis, California ... Even TOKYO!!
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Videos from the Final Show
PA System Set Up Fireworks
Facebook Feed Set One
Facebook Feed Set Two
Crazy Little Thing Called Love --
Sally O'Malley
Little Less Conversation -- Dee Dee Judy
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We started early at 9PM and kicked off the set with an introduction from Scott Vertical Sitarek, just like our first show in Kevin Yonker's Garage back in 1993. We kicked it off with Cheap Trick's Hello There and cruised through set number one. Packed dance floor, people dancing in the front, back and all along the bar. We did our "Most important 4 letter word in our English Language ... BEER!" cheer. Everyone joined in. It was an awesome feeling seeing everyone you know watch you do the thing you love to do the most.
Set two started and we brought up some of our past bandmates from the crowd. We kicked off set two with Kevin Yonker, Drummer #1 at the kit, playing the first 3 songs we ever played ... Rock & Roll Radio by the Ramones, Dream All Day by The Posies and Should I Stay from the Clash. Next up was Bass Player #5, Dewey Larkin. He'd been with the band for 10 years, replacing Jeff Brookmyer when he started his own band, then in turn getting replaced by Jeff Brookmyer when his Travel Schedule was too tenuous to continue last year. He sat in on a very special version of Little Less Conversation featuring Marcel Lim with his tap shoes adding to the rhythm section with some Irish Dance Steps. Next up was Jim's new daughter to be Julia. She gave another rousing rendition of "Suffragette City" with Dewey on Bass. Dewey finished off his set with Hash Pipe. Next up was Drummer #4 TJ Collica. We haven't seen much of him in the last few years. He surprised us with a visit to the final gig and played Pump It Up. Drummer #5 Stefan Raraigh popped up on stage next for Blur's Song #2. Last but not least was Bass Player #2, Marty Beem. He only played two gigs during his tenure after filling in for our original bass player Paul Sevigny a number of times. We rocked out Steppin' Stone. Then we got the five of us back up on stage to blow through the rest of our final set together. We did the dance songs, the show tunes, the Violent Femmes set, Brittney Spears for Laura C and ended it as we always have over the years ... The Doors "Love Me Two Times" into Cora's answering machine followed by a "We're Free Beer ... THANK YOU VERY MUCH GOODNIGHT!". And that was it. Were we sad? Naw. For 23 years, we've been able to do what we love to do in front of our best friends ... be they someone who was there at the beginning like Keith Tyler, our families who have known us for our entire life, or someone who just happened to stumble upon us at the bar and kept coming because they had as much fun as we were having that night. The best part about the evening is that almost everyone was there ... our old friends, our family and our new friends. It was perfect. Without you it would not have been. THANK YOU for 23 great years!
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Our Retirement Letter
AN OPEN LETTER TO FREE BEER FANS
If you're wondering how fast 23 years can fly by...let us tell you... It's seems faster than a minute waltz, quicker than the fade out on the career of Justin Bieber, and speedier than bananas to turn from green to squishy black. Free Beer has been Free Beer for a long time. We started our 23rd year in June and we just made the decision that there won't be a 24th. This has been a journey that has lasted far longer than any of us expected. We've had friends of the band pass away and others have just faded away. Leaving a memory of those times and us wondering: "...hey, remember that one girl who used to come to a lot of shows - - what happened to her?" |
Free Beer is Retiring after 23 years!
On stage at Cowley's during the Harvest Moon Concert on Friday September 16th, we broke it to the fans. Free Beer's last show will be on January 27th, 2017, the LAST Friday of January. Kinda symbolic that the band that plays on the First Friday each month at Cowley's is going to end it on the Last Friday. For those of you that are counting, that means there are only 2 public shows left. If you have been procrastinating for the last 20 or so years, it's GO TIME! Start making plans to see us before your that person who missed all 465 shows and has to fib about seeing "Detroit's Most Persistant Band".
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The same thing happened to her that is happening to us - - Life happened. We're all busier and stretched thin. We have commitments upon commitments and things to do and people to see.
All the Bar Gigs, backyard parties, Weddings, Edelfests, Ford Corporate Gigs, and the shows we can't remember and the ones we'll never forget. We played the Royal Oak Music theater on back to back new years eve shows. And that second year, we looked out at 1500 people who were looking back at us like WE were the ones who wrote that Foo Fighters song. Believe me, when that happens, you never forget that feeling. Oh, and we played a company holiday party that was scattered among 3 floors of a massive office building. At one point the last 5 people who were watching us, got on the elevator and left in mid-song leaving us all alone on our floor. You don't forget that feeling either. Our knees hurt, wrapping up cords at 130 in the morning gets old and it's time to sing Goodnight Irene. We still have a few more shows to play this year and we're going out with a bang on January 27 at John Cowley & Sons They've been our home bar for 10 years and we will miss them like Dorothy misses the Scarecrow. It's a poetic end that for all those years we played First Fridays, that the last Free Beer show there should be on the Last Friday of January. If you're reading this, you're part of the Free Beer legacy and friendship circle. Remember us as a band who played other people's music with vim and vigor, did our best when some days we were painfully aware that a few lessons would have really made a difference in our skills, but at the end of the song, we all stopped together - - and that's all that really matters. We love you more than you'll ever know, Kurt, Scott, Tom, Jeff and Jim |
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THE FREE BEER BLOG
COWLEY'S SATURDAY DECEMBER 7, 2019
Not BeerMas
We took a break from BeerMas this year but still wanted a holiday get together with our Free Beer friends. So Mike and Greg Cowley were kind enough to let us come play, fill their bar and sell a bunch of drinks! Everything went just as planned. We played our Christmas Songs. We totally rocked our two sets (because we practiced once!!) and all of our friends showed up. It was great hanging out with everyone just like old times. It really looks like we will just keep playing progressively more gigs each year. Let's see what 2020 brings. All the photos are here!!
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Free BEER -- Happy "HALL" o ween
We returned to Northville Eagles for their Halloween party
Friday October 25, 8:30P to 1A
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This was an unseasonably warm night to have a Halloween party. And maybe that affected the crowd size as we started playing at 8:30PM. Who knows. All weknow is that by 9PM the place was full and a bunch of people missed our first 4 songs!! We always get comments from folks that "you start playing to late". We get not, eh?
Enough whining! It was a stellar night of rock where we danced around our setlist and played a bunch of songs that we had not played in years. Yes, we probably should have told Bobby White that we were going to play a bunch of songs he had never practiced or played before, but that is what makes Bobby a pro. He ended up doing just fine, and possibly improved on the original songs. We'll clue him in next time. We chose the winners of the Costume Contest. We drank a few beers and had a good time. As always, Lynn was a gracious host and rumour has is that we will be back for a 2020 visit or two. Want to see the photos frrom the evening? They are all right here. |
End of Summer Free Beer Luau
Free Beer takes over the MaiTiki Resort in Oscoda
Friday September 20, Saturday September 21, Sunday September 22
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Free Beer spent the entire weekend at the MaiTiki resort in Oscoda MI, and invited our fans and family up to enjoy a great weekend on Lake Huron. The MaiTiki had a full slate of Free Beer activity planned. Friday night there was going to be a big pot of Chili to warm you up when you arrived. But a power line fell across I-75 near Bay City, stopping traffic in both directions, so if you didn't leave by 3PM you were running a few hours late. Everyone got up later that evening and the Brisket went on for the Saturday night BBQ with Brisket and Pork Butts! Free Beer set up in a tent on the beach and we did two long sets. It got a bit nutty. The cops came and provided a wide variety of beers confiscated from underage drinkers. We did find (again) that dancing and playing in the sand is a ton of work!! Everyone from the resort, Free Beer Fans or just folks, came out and filled the tent. No one was driving anywhere so we just hung out until 3 in the morning. Sunday night there was a corn roast and Mai Tiki projected JAWS on the big screen, right on the beach. There was beer, slushy boozy drinks provided by Keith and Mary Kay. The Luau rocked and it is now officially and annual event!! Some of the photos are here!
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Free BEER GOES TO CHURCH
Appearing in the Wednesday Night Concert Series at Royal Oak St. Mary's
Wednesday July 24 7:00P to 8:30P
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There are some bands that Free Beer admires, and the Reefermen are certainly one of them. James Wallin, the lead singer, also books the bands for the St. Mary's Wednesday Night concert series. He asked us if we could play the and we said yes right away!! We love playing in Royal Oak and since our Arts Beats and Eats days are done, this is a great way to get in front of people at a reasonable hour. It's right on the steps of the church, no stage, no lights ... just the band on some steps. No wristbands. No shuttle bus. Just us.
Things went exactly like you think they would. We start at 7P. At 6:50P, Church people start showing up with lawn chairs. 7PM we start playing. 7:15P the Free Beer fans begin to arrive. We played what is usually known as our "second set". Not being a very good judge of the situation, songs at the end of the set included "Add It Up" from the Violent Femmes (Why can't I eat just one duck?) and "Sweet Transexual Transvestite from Transylvania" (Hey, who wants to hear a song about a transexual transvestite?). We were not sure if the church people were amused, but the minister (pastor? preacher?) sure noticed ... and didn't shut us down! Once we were all done, James Wallin let us know that it took balls to play those songs and the steps of a Catholic Church and since we didn't get struck buy lightning, the big guy must be a fan of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. |
Free BEER. EAGLES. FRIDAY JUNE 7th
What could these three things possibly have in common?
This could be the easiest word quiz ever.
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Ever since we retired, Lynn from the Northville Eagles gives us grief every time we do one of those "Reunion Gigs". "Why don't you come back and play Northville Eagles? They love you here!". She's right. We love playing there too. But when you only play 3 gigs a year and two of them are spoken for already, there's not much room on the calendar. Since our constant fill in drummer Bobby White is from Northville, and he goes to the Eagles all the time, he has been acting as a liaison from Lynn to the band. So we gave in and decided it would be fun to play one more gig this year, and do it Friday June 7th at The Northville Eagles Hall. Nothing special to celebrate. Just Free Beer being Free Beer at the Eagles. Which of course features super cold, super inexpensive beers, free entry and Northville. So get buzzed in and have a great time drinking, dancing and causing general Mayhem as we do. See you at 8:30PM on the 7th.
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Free BEER AT Cowley's Friday March 15th 2019
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Kickin' off St. Patty's Day Weekend
with a Pre Pre Pre Kurtmas Party!! This qualified as "one of those times when we thought it would be fun to play", so we did. Not only were we able to scam off the upcoming St. Patrick's Day crowd at an Irish Bar like Cowley's, it seems that the Supply and Demand curve we learnt in College really does work. If there are fewer Free Beer shows (lack of supply) everyone shows up whenever we play (high demand). This was the case as EVERYONE we ever knew showed up to see us play with Bobby White on drums. Tom Daldin showed up too but due to his hearing issue, he was not able to stick around for the gig or sit in on drums. Also, it was the night before the night before the night before Kurtmas to technically, it was Kurt's birthday and Audrey floated a cake out there. We ate it. This "only playing once in a while" think is starting to grow on us! All the photos are here!
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BEERMAS--Saturday December 8 at the new way bar
17th Annual BeerMas -- Saturday December 8th 9PM
It has sort of been a given when we "retired" that we would at least come back and play BeerMas every year until we were too old not to. We are still young enough! And this year we have a great line up for you. We kick it off at 9PM with Domino Effect, featuring Free Beer fill in bass player Mike Wielgat. Every year they get more awesome and every year we wonder why they don't play out more often! Next at 10:30P is Free Beer. Our lineup features Scott, Jim, Kurt and Jeff along with Bobby White on the Drums. We'll roll through the holiday tunes and blow out our best stuff in a 70 minute set. Plus, we have at least one surprise in plan for you (yes, even we at this advanced age can still learn!). Finally, if you have not been following Free Beer news during the last year, Scott and Dewey have been sitting in with a group of Dads that got together to rock in a basement and somehow got good enough to take the show on the road (sound familiar?!?). They (we?) are called Grooving Violation and featuring Charlie Sunne, Mike Conrad and Rob Bowles and they have earned the "Special Headliner" slot on the bill for the evening, kicking off at Midnight. You should stick around and see what they have in store for you. The New Way Bar is located on Woodward 4 blocks north of 9 Mile Road, on the east side of the street. Parking is where you find it. Admission is 5 Bucks after 9PM. Domino Effect goes on promptly at 9PM. Free Beer at 10:30P. Grooving Violation at Midnight. |
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Free BEER AT Cowley's Saturday December 1
Free Beer has always loved playing Cowley's. We played there more than any other venue over our career. And it seems that Cowley's loves us too! They put together a "Wall Of Fame" on their stage and when it was unveiled there was a circle of the other bands who have frequented Cowley's over the year... sure enough, there is Free Beer right in the middle of it.
So we were not as surprised as we should have been that after a long break, all of our friends from First Fridays at Cowley's were jam packed into the seats at Cowley's. Add to that the Farmington Holiday Parade, plus a snowstorm that turned into a rainstorm that turned into a thunderstorm ... people were running for cover right into Cowley's. Emily is now a blonde. Kimmy is now a mom. The whole Cowley's crew was glad to see us and our holiday show went just like you thought it would, with Kurt begrudgingly singing Jessie's Girl to close out the night due to some serious audience demand!!
It was fun enough that we think we won't wait so long to do it again.
So we were not as surprised as we should have been that after a long break, all of our friends from First Fridays at Cowley's were jam packed into the seats at Cowley's. Add to that the Farmington Holiday Parade, plus a snowstorm that turned into a rainstorm that turned into a thunderstorm ... people were running for cover right into Cowley's. Emily is now a blonde. Kimmy is now a mom. The whole Cowley's crew was glad to see us and our holiday show went just like you thought it would, with Kurt begrudgingly singing Jessie's Girl to close out the night due to some serious audience demand!!
It was fun enough that we think we won't wait so long to do it again.
FREE BEER IN THE WALL OF FAME AT COWLEY'S
The “We’re Still Retired, but it’s Teresa’s Birthday” show
Saturday January 6th 2017 at Cowley’s!
Saturday January 6th 2017 at Cowley’s!
FREE BEER KICKS OFF THE HOLIDAY SEASON WITH A RETURN TO COWLEY'S ON SATURDAY DECEMBER 1
There's been a lot of "Hey I thought you retired man!" talk after our Facebook posts announcing the Holiday shows. Yes, we retired from doing 50 shows a year to doing 3 or 4 shows a year. We retired, we didn't die!! We wanted to make sure that we came back and did a solid for Cowley's since they were always good about supporting Free Beer over the years. They even inserted us in the middle of their "Wall of Fame" right on the stage this year. And it is always great to play on the legendary stage in a great sounding room with our favorite owners, bartenders and waitstaff. It's always a happy reunion. We will try to go on stage as early as possible and play as late as possible. If you have a holiday party you need to be at, don't worry. By the time you leave, we will just be starting the second set and you can join us for the fun. John Cowley and Sons is located on the northeast corner of Farmington and Grand River in downtown Farmington MI. Parking in the back. We will be upstairs. Saturday, December 1 at 9PM (or so). Admission is free. |
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FREE BEER IS Theresa's Birthday Present AT COWLEY'S
So Jim got married to Teresa in September last year. And his new Teresa Landino Edelman said she wanted just one thing for her first birthday party as a married couple. A PERFORMANCE BY FREE BEER! So how can we say NO to that. We couldn't, we just couldn't. Plus, it gave us another chance to reunite with our favorite waitstaff, bartenders and bar owners in all of the Detroit area, the crew at Cowley’s in Farmington.
Since we aren't playing as much anymore, it seems that we get a higher per gig attendance and this was the case for our appearance at Cowley's. The place was pretty well packed by 9PM and there were no available seats so the dance floor went SRO (Standing Room Only). Best part was we got to see a lot of folks we have not seen since January 2017 and others that just happened to be in the wrong place at the right time (there were 3 "birthday parties" besides Teresa's and 2 of them stayed until the bitter end!) We took lots of pictures and videos so check out the page to see if you are in there. If luck has it, we will return to Cowley's someday. Or not. |
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BeerMas 2017!
So Free Beer stayed retired for almost 11 months, but as the BeerMas season approached, we all started to get itchy. We can't miss BeerMas? Can we? We decided NO, we could not and put the wheels into motion. For the 16th year in a row, Free Beer played our Christmas show at the New Way Bar in Ferndale. The Candy Band has also retired so they were missing from the bill but Domino Effect featuring Free Beer fill in bass player Mike Weilgat was ready for their annual show and kicked it off again. Every year they get better and better. Then it was our turn. Bobby White, on loan from the Love Junkies filled Tom's spot on Drums, but the rest of the band was intact. We dusted off our set list and played for almost 2 hours. We did the Grinch and Most Wonderful Time to Drink Beer. We did the Violent Femmes set. We played the Rocky Horror Show Tunes. We played Brittany Spears. We closed with Love Me Two Times. We were forced to do an encore and pulled out some Iggy. It was a perfect way to have some fun for the holiday with lots of friends. Let's see what happens around the second Saturday of December 2018! |
However at that point the bar got so packed there was nowhere to stand. At 10:45P Free Beer stepped off the stage and The Candy Bandits ... Paula's new band with Maggie and Rob did a set of kids tunes, caroles and surf rock while Free Beer got to wander the crowd and converse after our set. By 11:30, they were done and we hopped back on stage to finish with 2 hours featuring our Christmas songs and every request the audience could come up with. Another really cool thing? We did a Facebook Live feed of Blister in the Sun and Add It Up. People actually watched. Funniest part was when Tom Daldin's son Anthony responded to his shout out in the feed from California!! Plus, It didn't snow (until 2AM) and everyone had a great time. Jamie, the new proprietor of the New Way said it was the largest crowd they have had in 4 years. Great way to ring out our last full year.
When we arrived, it seems that the Farmington High School Class of 2006 had booked Cowley's for their 10 year reunion from 6P to 9P. The place was jam packed with 28 year olds, so we set up around them. Our fans filled the back of the room waiting for space to open up. We solved that when we turned the amps on at 9:30 and kicked into our first set. Some of the 28 year olds stuck around but by the time the second set began, we had replaced all the 28 year olds with Free Beer fans. John LaVoie from Maximum Impact joined us on stage for two songs in the second set. We gave this tradition a proper sendoff. In the chaos, we managed to snap off a few photos
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RETIREMENT HAPPENED HERE |
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THE FREE BEER BLOG
So much stuff started piling up on this page it was getting hard to load. So every six months, we will push it back to the blog ... which technically our home page is ... since it tells the story of Free Beer in pictures, text and links in a chronological order ... that's kinda what a Blog is. So we're owning up to it. If you have read this far, why not go for the long haul? Click here to head down memory lane!!
Random Free Beer Related Stuff
Free Beer on Under The Radar MichiganWhat a great episode of Under The Radar Michigan featuring Free Beer recording our video at Groove Box studios.
Here's a link to the episode on UTR Michigan that ran this morning Here's a link to the video we recorded of "Love Me Two Times". |
Nice Article By Gary Graff In the Oakland Press
We know good journalism when we read it ... Thanks to Gary Graff for digging up the dirt on Free Beer and putting it in the Oakland Press. Appreciate it!!
Finally, Someone Sets The Numbers Straight!!
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Free Beer?Some people will go through anything to get some Free Beer!!
How to Catch A Canadian
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Kurt does a Girly Shot!See what happens when Emily sticks something hard in Kurt's mouth, and then the end of it gets all creamy and white, so Kurt rears his head back and swallows all of it, wipes the residue off his chin, just to lean forward all satisfied.
Watch the video and see if we here at www.freebeernet.com have any part of this incorrect. Enjoy! 
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