 |  |
|---|
Emily's Post: Tom Barrett, Justice Gableman and that blowhard Blaska
on 11/16/09 at 2:55 pm | Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett antes up, Gableman’s down and dirty tactics endorsed by panel, and would it be repetitive to mention that Blaska is up in arms over nothing again? |
 |
Emily's Post: Disturbing the peace
on 11/09/09 at 9:58 am | What a glorious weekend! All of that unexpected sunshine and warmth made it exceptionally difficult to sit indoors with a laptop and hash out a proper blog post, but for you, sweet readers, I have persevered. After all, I can’t well let Blaska have the only word on this site. |
|
Cracking down on sales to chronic drunks is misguided strategy
on 11/05/09 at 9:00 am | I've been thinking a lot lately about how Wisconsin deals with citizens who abuse alcohol. With our dismal drunk-driving statistics, arguments over whether or not to allow children into bars with their folks, and proposals on everything from the size of liquor bottles that may be sold to the taxes placed on beer, the regulation of alcohol is a hot topic these days. |
|
Emily Mills: Welcome to the Monkey House
on 11/02/09 at 9:36 am | For The Daily Page, however, my goal is pretty simple, and I've created a clever and not at all menacing acronym for it: KILS, or "Keep It Local, Stupid." I want to peel back the many layers of the delicious and sometimes tear-inducing onion that is Madison area politics and culture, and I'd love some company. So if it's got a solid local angle or connection, you can be sure I'll do my best to process, analyze and shake my fist at it. |
|
Inside the green rooms
on 10/30/09 at 9:00 am | In Madison, these havens run the gamut from posh to paltry. Talk to any gigging musician and you're liable to hear all sorts of green-room horror stories, and even the occasional glowing review. |
|
Is Madison's Freakfest too tame?
on 10/29/09 at 8:35 am | Time was city officials and area police would be using this time to go over their best riot-squelching plans. Downtown businesses would be bracing for the descent of vandals from near and far, and the news media would be dusting off their usual stories speculating on the levels of debauchery and debasement that might be reached by State Street partiers. |
|
Madison makes 'em laugh
on 10/16/09 at 9:00 am | Madison has always had its fair share of sketch, improv and standup acts -- not to mention being the hometown of comedic titan Chris Farley. And these days, there's a flourishing scene taking shape here, one that offers a supportive community for those wishing to flex their funny muscles. |
|
Wisconsin needs to rein in payday loan outfits
on 09/10/09 at 9:00 am | When I heard that state Rep. Gordon Hintz, a Democrat from Oshkosh, was introducing a bill to cap the interest on payday loans at 36%, I was excited. Finally, I thought, someone is doing something about this unchecked industry. |
|
Out-on-the-town smackdown!
on 08/28/09 at 9:00 am | Some college towns make it easy to plan a night on the town by having only one decent place to go to. Thankfully, Madison is very much not like some college towns. There are so many good venues dotted across the isthmus that plotting the course of a night out can be daunting, especially for someone new to the city. |
|
Out-of-the-way pleasures
on 06/19/09 at 9:00 am | If you grew up in a small town, or even a small city, it's likely you've heard or uttered this phrase at one point: "There's nothing to do." The natural reaction for many such dissatisfied souls is to move to the big city, seek out brighter lights and a greater diversity of entertainment options. But Madison has managed to cultivate a wide range of nightlife without throwing up a handful of skyscrapers along the way. |
|
Leave those buskers be!
on 06/11/09 at 9:00 am | Madison has a strange relationship with State Street, its alternately venerated and maligned pedestrian thoroughfare. Clearly, it's a draw for visitors and residents alike, an outdoor shopping mall and a gateway between Capitol and campus. It's a great place to watch people, grab a bite and enjoy the color and funkiness that make it special. |
|
Madison electronic artists create a new kind of beat
on 05/15/09 at 9:00 am | It's any given night at the Inferno nightclub on the city's north side, a haven for people who move to the beat of a darker, grittier drummer. The club is ground zero in Madison's industrial- and electronic-music scene, for musicians and fans alike -- even as other clubs, like the High Noon Saloon and the Frequency, are embracing the technological crowd. |
|
Torture really ticks me off
on 04/30/09 at 9:00 am | The so-called Y Generation, to which I belong, is often accused of being too cynical and uncaring. And while I'd agree we are a fairly sarcastic bunch, I think it's for the exact opposite reason: We do care. We care so much that often the only way to deal with the horrifying absurdities in the world we've inherited is through humor, dark though it may be. |
|
Brian Turany reflects on The Mic 92.1 as Clear Channel makes cuts
on 01/22/09 at 7:12 pm | Madison's Air America affiliate, The Mic 92.1, is in better shape today than it was when he began as its program director. Brian Turany takes pride in that. "I think the last four years on a whole were pretty successful," says Turany. "I'm happy we got the station to where it is now, which I think is stronger than it was two years ago, and definitely stronger than where it was when it started." |
|
Madison progressive radio fans win again
on 01/14/09 at 11:14 am | In response to the recent dropping of the Thom Hartmann show and departure of local morning host Lee Rayburn from The Mic 92.1 FM, a group of concerned listeners came together to discuss the future of the station. Friends of Progressive Radio met at the Dardanelles restaurant Monday night for a passionate, sometimes rowdy discussion of what a station that calls itself "progressive" should carry on its airwaves. |
|
Madison's The Mic 92.1 boots Thom Hartmann, and Lee Rayburn follows
on 01/13/09 at 10:32 am | Lee Rayburn has not commented publicly on whether his decision to leave the station was prompted by the dropping of Hartmann’s show. I did, however, speak to him about the flurry of changes at The Mic, and his departure in general. |
|
Madison joins nationwide protest against Proposition 8 ban on gay marriage in California
on 11/15/08 at 4:11 pm | Early Saturday afternoon, amidst the throngs of red-clad game day Badgers fans, a river of rainbow colors wound its way up State Street to the Capitol. Hundreds of people gathered as part of a nationwide day of protest against the passage of Proposition 8, the measure repealing the recently granted right of gay marriage in California. |
|
Every seven days
on 11/14/08 at 9:00 am | The life of a weekly-gig musician is not an easy one. It's hard enough to attract crowds to one-off shows, let alone convince people to come see you on a regular basis. It's often the case, too, that you find yourself playing for people who haven't come to hear you. |
|
Madison's drag kings dress as men, but it's more complicated than that
on 10/17/08 at 9:00 am | The lights dimmed, the crowd let forth an appreciative cheer, and onto the stage strolled the confident, swaggering, decidedly masculine figure of a dapper gentleman in a three-piece suit, complete with fedora. |
|
His Holiness the Dalai Lama speaks to the heart of Madison
on 07/20/08 at 2:44 pm | Marking his seventh visit to Wisconsin, His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet spoke to a mostly packed Dane County Coliseum on Saturday, the opening event of a week-long series of talks and teachings in and around Madison. He arrived on Friday, and started his visit with a consecration of a new temple at the Deer Park Buddhist Center in the town of Oregon on Saturday morning. |
|
Internet famous, real-world notorious: UW student mocks WisCon, starts online firestorm
on 06/05/08 at 1:21 pm | "What I wrote was sexist," says Rachel Moss, "I will admit this." The University of Wisconsin-Madison grad student is referring to a photo essay she posted in late May on the widely-read online humor forum Something Awful. Attending the annual WisCon feminist science-fiction convention held at the Concourse Hotel over Memorial Day weekend, she shot photos of various con attendees with a focus on obese participants, and combined these with negative commentary to assemble a salvo that touched off a particularly nasty online controversy last week. |
|
Minute-by-minute at Blitz Smackdown 2008
on 02/18/08 at 1:32 pm | Every year, Mercury Players Theatre throws a theater festival that it calls Blitz. Contrary to what you might think, the event has less to do with drinking yourself into oblivion or London circa 1940 and more to do with seeing the birth, life and spectacular death of a handful of stage plays, all in the span of just 24 hours. These festivals are hectic but friendly affairs, with everyone in it for love of the craft and the company. Still, from this chummy atmosphere there rose the specter of the great beast Competition, and so the Blitz Smackdown was born. |
|
Madison hosts all-city Scrabble tournament
on 02/07/08 at 12:12 pm | Break out the dictionaries and the little wooden squares because it's time for a Madtown Scrabble smackdown! A citywide Scrabble tournament, organized by Madison Family Literacy, aims to help raise funds for reading and education programs for adults and children in the city. The tournament runs from February 23-24 at the Hilldale Shopping Center, and kicks off with a challenge game between Mayor Dave and whoever makes the highest bid for the honor of schooling him at wordplay. |
|
There will be blood: Massacre (The Musical) drinks your milkshake
on 01/25/08 at 2:25 pm | The body count will be high, guts will be spilled, and songs will be sung. If you haven't already heard the news, consider yourself warned: Massacre (The Musical) is coming, and it aims to blow, or maybe just sing, all other horror musical comedies out of the water. At least, that's my opinion. Admittedly, I might be a little biased, as I had a hand in helping to create the movie. |
|
Jamming for education in Ecuador
on 01/10/08 at 3:41 pm | This Friday night, the cold, wintry climes of Wisconsin will be connected to the warm rainforests of Ecuador through the power of music and a shared commitment to helping out people in need. Four bands -- The Eugene Smiles Project, Baghdad Scuba Review, Elf Lettuce and Good Time Camper -- will take the stage as part of a fundraising effort for La Hesperia, a conservation and education program in the Western Lowlands of Ecuador. |
|
Madison Gay Hockey hits the ice, rings in the New Year
on 12/31/07 at 1:14 pm | They're here, they're queer, now get on the ice and get ready for some serious hockey. On Sunday night, the members of the Madison Gay Hockey Association played their last games of the year at the Madison Ice Arena, though five events remain in the season. The match-ups were between the six league teams: Dyno-White vs. the Killer Bees (3-2), the Skyhawks vs. Gang Green (3-5), and Mulan Rouge vs. the Blue Flames (2-0). |
|
Winter begins with a solstice bonfire at Olbrich Park
on 12/22/07 at 11:45 am | In what's become an annual tradition at both the winter and summer solstices, the Friends of Starkweather Creek warmed a cold winter Friday night with a blazing bonfire, hot drinks, caroling and marshmallows. The secular celebration of the solstice brought a sizable crowd of adults and children alike to Olbrich Park. They gathered around the fire for warmth, while in the snowy field around them, an impressive snow fort and an army of snowmen in various stages of completion stood silent vigil. |
|
It's time to celebrate the 12 Days of Wishmas
on 12/06/07 at 1:29 pm | Kim and Jason Kotecki are quite the pair. Seven years ago they started a small business to produce the comic strip originally created by Jason as a way to win over his now-wife, Kim. That comic strip, based on their lives as children and named "Kim and Jason," became the basis for their personal and business philosophy: bring as much childlike wonder into adult life as possible, and help give happy childhoods to those who might otherwise not get the chance. |
|
The Madison Pop Fest returns for round three
on 11/07/07 at 11:52 am | The winds are blowing and the temperature's dropping, but this weekend the Madison Pop Fest aims to warm you up with scorching hot local and national bands, music movies and a full-on opening night revival with none other than the Master of Party, Andrew WK. An ambitious lineup follows over the weekend: a dozen-plus acts, along with workshops and screenings of Electroma from Daft Punk and Heima from Sigur Ros. |
|
A new and improved Buffali to debut at non-profit fundraiser
on 10/31/07 at 4:21 pm | Andrew Yonda and Clare Fehsenfeld, who together comprise the Buffali, will be playing their first Madison gig in some time on Thursday at the High Noon Saloon. The group are debuting a full backing band, a handful of new songs and, they say, a newer sound. |
|
|
Log in