Aporia CD release party!

It's almost time! Provided my journey to and from Indiana tomorrow to retrieve my poor minivan goes well, I'll be saddling up to play for two bands come Sunday night at the Aporia CD release party. You should come!

Here's the lowdown:

After a long hiatus, Aporia (the band I've been singing and playing drums in for the past number of years) is officially dusting off the cobwebs, releasing a new album, and gearing up to ROCK YOUR SOCKS OFF! Oh yes, don't doubt us for a second. We mean business, yo - ROCK business.

Ahem, anyway...we'll be playing a spectacular, be-costumed show to celebrate the release of said album - all with the help of some fabulous guests!

WHO ARE THESE MYSTERY BANDS OF AWESOME?

First up! THE SHABELLES - www.myspace.com/theshabelles (who I just so happen to play drums for as well)
Second up! FERMATA - www.myspace.com/fermata (who are fantabulous)

The whole thing will kick off at 7:00pm at the Frequency (121 W. Main St., where the Slipper Club used to be), and fill your soul with so much rad that you'll probably pop. Don't sue us if you do, though, because our lawyers are made entirely of crystal, and can shoot lasers out of their eyeballs. Seriously.

$5 cover, 21+.

(madisonfrequency.com)

COSTUME CONTEST!

The band will choose their favorite costume in the audience and the winner will get a free copy of the new album! How rad is that? So come dressed as your best zombie, witch, Frankenstein's monster, or Sarah Palin and try for your shot at glory!

SPECIAL GUESTS!

The ever delightful and surly Irma & DeeDee will be hassling and entertaining the audience between sets, and probably harassing you about buying our new CD, because they're good like that. Bribe them with a bottle of 'tussin, and you might even get a little sugar outta the deal.

See you there?!

P.S. Isthmus Daily Page was kind enough to profile one of the "singles" off our new album, and you can read about it and download a copy of it here.

Jam-packed weekend

So much to do, so little weekend in which to do it!

I don't know about you, but I'm super psyched about the first-ever Forward Music Fest, starting tonight and running through late tomorrow evening/early Sunday morning. I'm somewhat biased because I'm friends with the organizers, but I have to say, in all honesty, this thing is going to rock so hard.

And how impressive is it that a group of volunteers, without major corporate sponsors, have managed to put together a massively huge line-up of both big name headliners (like Neko Case, Bob Mould, Killdozer) and a slew of more regional and local acts that's garnering buzz and attention all over the place? I think it's pretty cool.

I'll be "covering" some of the concerts for dane101/FMF as an official press-type photographer person, so be sure to say hi if you happen to catch me at it (no wedgies, please). I'll be at the Majestic Theatre tonight for the Screamin' Cyn Cyn & the Pons / Leslie & the Lys / Dan Deacon show, and then tomorrow I'm going to hit up the Momo for the A Catapult Western show, followed by a trip to the Frequency for the hip-hop showcase featuring my favorite Madison ex-pat, el guante (and Rob Dz, and dumate).

In the midst of all this--as if all that wasn't enough to keep me busy--I'll also be hitting up the Willy St. Fair, which runs Saturday and Sunday and features a whole bunch of other really great acts, including some in conjunction with the Madison World Music Festival, which is also in progress at the moment.

Whew!

How one weekend can contain so much awesome, I do not know, but there it is. The weather looks to be lovely, too, so be sure to get out and enjoy some of what our fair city has on offer! I'll see you on the other side.

Hypocrisy as violence, plus escapism

Griper Blade has an excellent post today about the hypocrisy of some of the people who are the most vocal about "supporting the troops." Apparently Bill O'Reilly has been up to his usual windbaggery, pulling statistics out of his loofah-loving arse and refusing to take responsibility for any of his lies. Even worse, the head of a major national charity that purports to serve veterans has been shown as quite the fraud, with only 25% of the money they raised actually going to help veterans and kick-backs paid to top military brass for promoting said charities. I can't sum it all up better than GB did, so I urge you to check out the post for the illuminating and disgusting low-down. In my opinion, this kind of hypocrisy is nearly if not just as bad as committing real violence against the very people who've sworn to protect us.

Meanwhile, in balmy Wisconsin, everyone and their uncle seems to be gearing up for the big game on Sunday, understandably ready for some pleasant distraction from the sub-zero temperatures and bleak national news. If your whole weekend won't be filled with Packers (or Giants) related mania, there are a few other fabulous events going on around town that you could check out:

TONIGHT - Mercury Players Theatre presents the opening night of "The Pillowman" by Martin McDonagh. I happen to have the inside line on the quality of the acting ensemble, and the play itself sounds like a good one. "A writer of ghoulish fables gets dragged in for questioning when a series of murders seem to be echoing his stories."

Immediately following the performance there will be an after party next door at the Mercury Lounge, featuring the mad rock stylings of the 'tain't (full disclosure: this is my current side project), and 2-for-1 drinks at the bar with a ticket stub from the play.

SUNDAY - Two totally awesome events, one of which you can go to and still catch the game later that night! Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art School will be taking over the High Noon Saloon from 2-5PM with their regular slate of drinking, drawing and debauchery.

That night, starting at 7:00PM, Wis-Kino hosts its regular monthly screening of short films at Escape Java Joint. Optional theme is "Cool/Uncool Presence" (whatever that means).

Weekenders

It's Friday night, and you feel a'right, but what to do?

Do yourself a favor and check out the CD release party/concert for A Catapult Western at Cafe Montmartre tonight, 10:00PM. My bias here is pretty minimal, as I only played drums for them over the course of about four rehearsals before we mutually decided that I was in too many bands and I went on my way. Still, they make excellent music, and are definitely one local band to watch.

Here's what the masses have to say about their debut, self-titled record:

Considering the novel draw of spaghetti-western scores, alt country, and free form indie rock, musicians were bound to start combining all three. Not all will prove as graceful as recently formed Madison band A Catapult Western. Sharing members with another ambitiously odd local act, Strange Talking Animals, ACW diffuses its vocal layers, viola, guitar, piano, and assorted other keyboard sounds through a slowcore haze. Even when it pushes into more straight-up, rocking country sounds, skewed guitars, and synths fend off genre clichés. - The Onion AV Club

If you're looking for something to do come Saturday night, you're in luck! I have one fine recommendation for you, and this one comes with a big ol' heapin' helpin' of bias.

Madison's favorite indie-pop duo return, now with drums (that'd be me) and electric guitar! It's the Buffali, sharing a fabulous bill with the Shabelles and the Treats, this Saturday night at the Crystal Corner Bar (1302 Williamson St.) starting at 9:00PM. Seriously, you should come. We're going to rock you right out of your underpants. I mean, look at me in that photo up there. Can't you just sense the cool? Or maybe that's just the reflection from my pasty leg...I can't be sure....

The demise of the King Club

There's been a lot of chatter recently about a perceived lack of live music venues in Madison. As a musician, I don't necessarily agree--we've actually got quite a few options for a city of our size. Yes, it would be nice to have a few more mid-to-small sized venues that actually had decent sound systems, but overall, we're not super hard up.

I read today that the King Club is closing its doors, only to reopen sans live music (except for Clyde Stubblefield's weekly "Funky Drummer" gig, thankfully). Part of me is sad to hear it, especially since it means that a number of great live acts and organizations will now have to find new homes (IndieQueer and MadCabaret, for instance). The other part of me, however, isn't all that surprised.

See, every single time I've played at the King Club, something has been wonky. On one occasion, they double-booked the evening, forcing the touring act we were playing with to find a different venue at the last second and thus losing a good chunk of audience. I'm told that this wasn't an uncommon occurrence, either. A number of other local musicians have told me similar stories of double bookings.

Every gig I've played or gone to see has started an hour or more later than was advertised. In at least one instance, this made it so that I couldn't actually stay to watch the show.

It seems that better management might have helped keep things alive and well at the King Club. Their dedication to local acts was great, but showing a little more respect toward those local acts would have been even better.

I'll be curious to see what new format the King Club reopens in. And I do hope that another similar capacity venue, friendly to local music and with better booking operations, opens its doors soon.

Change does not equal death for local music

I read with some interest the recent article in the Badger Herald that pondered whether the Madison music scene was dying or not. I've been in one Madison band or another since 2001. I'm currently in three, but that's a whole other story. What I'm saying, though, is that I feel like I have a decent perspective on this whole thing, and I'm not entirely sure I agree with the article's overall slant toward suggesting that things are getting worse for the local scene.

The author does come around in the end to give voice to those who suggest that the scene goes through cyclical changes, that things are just shifting and not dying, which is the theory I personally subscribe to. Things change. Madison, because of its many schools, is a town of coming and going, so the fan base and the musicians are transitory. Changes in scene are natural, and I doubt very much that we'll ever see a complete (or even near complete) "death." To even suggest such a thing in the title is a bit dubious, if you ask me.

The author cites the recent closings of a number of smaller venues: the Slipper Club, Bru's Anchor Inn, and the Corral Room to name a few. But the location where the Slipper Club was seems to change hands every other year, the Anchor Inn had been having troubles for a long while (and frankly, wasn't that great of a venue--the site lines and nearly non-existent dance floor sucked), and the Corral Room...well, don't get me started on that place.

We do suffer from a dearth of smaller venues, especially all-ages venues. But for every place that closes down, we do seem to get new ones springing up in their wake. We have another very decent mid-sized venue (all-ages, no less) in the Majestic. Places like the Mercury Lounge, Cafe Montmartre, Mr. Roberts, the Annex, Harmony Bar, Crystal Corner, the King Club, The Journey, The Klinic, Brink Lounge, Escape Java Joint, the Dry Bean Saloon, and various coffee shops around town all cater to smaller acts. The problem isn't so much a lack of places to play so much as a band's lack of willingness to put themselves out there and get the gigs.

Of course, the article gets one issue right: lack of attendance at shows. It takes a lot of variables to draw in a large crowd: quality and popularity of a band, competition on any given night, and the high turnover rate of show goers (as in, when students are your primary fan base, good luck filling a show during the summer months). I suspect that a large part of the problem comes from just how many good bands there are in Madison, and how many are playing on any given night. Happily, we've got a lot of options here, but that does make it difficult for any one act to pull in a full house.

I'm glad the article at least gave a small tip of the hat to the ever-growing hip-hop scene in Madison. It's taken some serious hits in the last few years, with artists leaving town and moving on, but there always seem to be some fresh voices coming along to fill in. Add in the First Wave program at the UW, the National Poetry Slam competition coming here next year, and a whole slew of hip-hop centered events to the mix, and you've got a surprisingly vibrant scene for what is, at its core, a small city/big town in the Midwest.

There's still plenty of work to be done to keep the local arts scene alive and well. It seems like there's always something to fight against, to overcome, but the great thing about Madison is that no matter how many clubs close, how many arts publications shut down, there will always be people here interested in making, promoting and listening to music, regardless of how many people turn up for their shows. Just don't say they're dying. It's just change, and if we put forth just a little bit of effort to see it through, it's usually for the better.


(photo credit: yours truly, of God-des & She)