It turned into a hot show. One hundred and twenty winners of a national contest sponsored by Molson beer, warm under their winter parkas, watched the Femmes and the Chili Peppers perform in a Quonset hut on an island within the Arctic Circle. Rubbing shoulders with them were crew members of the Russian icebreaker-turned-cruise ship that brought them to this remote spot and the local Inuits (Eskimos).

“It was pushing the envelope. Making the impossible happen for our customers,” Brunclik said. “We get a kick out of challenges. Our reputation is based on the idea that we do the projects unmanageable for other vendors.”

Clearwing has been test-driven around the block for more than a few years. It has had time to grow into its niche. A self-confessed “frustrated musician,” Brunclik co-founded the company in 1978 with PA equipment left over from the bands he and partner Chris Crystal had played with. Clearwing’s first big break was its house gig at the Palms, a fondly recalled, theater-sized Milwaukee club that booked local, regional and national acts. In 1983, Brunclik bought out Crystal.

During the ‘80s and ‘90s, Clearwing tested itself in a number of situations. It hooked up with national tours for such performers as Eddie Rabbit, Blackfoot, Def Leppard, the Violent Femmes, the Gufs and the BoDeans. It got into doing audio setups for auto shows, corporate events and the Vince Lombardi Golf Classic at North Hills Country Club. One of the biggest moneymakers Clearwing got into was Wisconsin’s burgeoning summer festival circuit. The company does the Wisconsin State Fair in West Allis, Maritime Days, Festa Italiana, German Fest and Polish Fest on the Milwaukee lakefront, Stevens Point River Rendezvous, Sheboygan Brat Fest, the Waukesha and Dane County Fairs and many others. Clearwing is also responsible for all but two stages at Summerfest.

In the past few years, Clearwing’s road work for national acts has become increasingly focused on adult entertainers, such as Natalie Cole and the Righteous Brothers, more so than rock and roll. “The money’s better and more guaranteed,” Brunclik explained. “And we like dealing with seasoned veterans who are beyond the whole ego thing.” The Righteous Brothers are not the kind of people who’d trash a hotel room. They have their heads screwed on.”

Since receiving a cold call years ago from George Bush’s people, Presidents and Presidential candidates have been part of Clearwing’s repeating business. Both President Clinton and Senator Bob Dole used the company’s services while campaigning in Wisconsin last year, and Clearwing was there when German Chancellor Helmut Kohl met with Clinton at Milwaukee’s Pere Marquette Park last summer.

“It’s heavy,” Brunclik said of his political clients. “One of the odd things is that you never know it’s going to happen until the day before the event -- for security reasons. It’s always a scramble to get the trucks loaded. Also, candidates usually speak in places like parks, so we need to bring generators and long runs of cable. It’s not as easy as setting up in an auditorium. There’s a lot of thinking that goes into it.” And then, it’s back off when the bomb-sniffing dogs arrive.

Clearwing’s 18 full-time employees (they take on additional help in the busy summer season) operate out of a 12,000 square foot warehouse in West Allis, Wis. “We have job about everything,” Brunclik said when asked to describe his gear inventory. “We have little speakers on tripods for kiddie shows to full-blown PAs that hang from the roof of the Marcus Amphitheater. We hang the sound and lights at the Bradley Center -- they drop within seven minutes after the end of Admirals hockey games for the post-game concerts. The aluminum roof over the big stage at Maritime Days is ours. We can do anything from the sod up.”