This yearâs event is slated for Saturday, October 30 on State Street in downtown Madison. Gates will open at 7:00 PM with tickets available at the gate for $10.
$7 advance tickets are available now at the Coliseum box office, Ticketmaster, or at several businesses in the State Street area.
Mountain Dew Amp Stage
7:15 PM
Mike Droho & The Compass Rose
8:20 PM
Mechanical Kids
9:25 PM
Runner Runner
10:30 PM
My Dear Disco
12:00 - 1:30 AM
OK Go
Channel3000.com Stage
7:30 PM
Project M's Daniel + The Lion
8:35 PM
Aaron Williams & The Hoodoo
9:40 PM
American Bang
10:45 PM
Stealing Angels
12:00 -Â 1:00 AM
Little Big Town
Ticketmaster Stage
8:30 PM
DJ Will Calder
11:00 PM
Costume Contest featuring Grand Prize of roundtrip airfare for 2 to London and a Nighttime Jack The Ripper Tour and a LG 42â Plasma TV
12:00 -Â 1:30 AM
DJ Will Calder
The business ticket outlets will be selling tickets through Friday, October 29 and there is no service charge at any of those locations (only service charges on tickets sold at Ticketmaster outlets). Â Participating businesses are designated with special multicolored posters with the Freakfest logo and the words âFreakfest Tickets Available Hereâ. Â Tickets on the day of the event will be available at booths near the entrances beginning at Noon and continuing through the end of the event or when the street reaches capacity. Â Additional information is available at the official Freakfest website: http://www.channel3000.com/freakfest
Freakfest 2009 drew a record number of people with an estimated 55,000 people enjoying the music and costumes on State Street. Â Once again the city was able to cut back on costs and there were fewer arrests as the event continues to run smoothly and become more successful. Â As the event continues to grow in popularity, it is definitely recommended that people purchase their tickets in advance or get to the event as early as possible to purchase their day of event ticket and insure admittance.
R.I.P. Willie "Big Eyes" Smith, who passed away Friday (Sept. 16) at his home in Chicago after suffering a stroke. He was 75.
Even if you never saw Smith play, you may have heard of him if you're a follower of the local blues scene in Madison. He was father to Cash Box Kings' drummer Kenny "Beedy Eyes" Smith.
Best known as the drummer for Muddy Waters, Smith started out on harmonica and played harp for Bo Diddley and other groups back in the 1950's.
Willie "Big Eyes" Smith received a Grammy in 2010 for his work with Pinetop Perkins for Best Traditional Blues CD for an album called "Joined at the Hip." (Perkins died this March at age 97.)
The blues world is mourning the loss of David "Honeyboy" Edwards, who died early yesterday at his home. The last of the original delta blues performers has died, just shy of his 96th birthday.
I was lucky enough to see "Honeyboy" when he played the Belleville Blues Festival a couple of years ago, to introduce him and to shake the hand of a man who was a contemporary of Robert Johnson. It was an incredible honor.
This is a guy who was respected by every one from Robert Cray to Keith Richards, and was still a helluva performer almost until the very end. He played his last shows in April of this year.
There's a documentary available on DVD that tells his life story. Check out the trailer here and click here for more info.
Back before anybody ever heard of "singer-songwriters," there were very talented folks who wrote the songs, but rarely sang them where any one could hear.
We lost two greats on Monday when Jerry Leiber died of cardiopulmonary failure at the age of 78, and Nick Ashford died of throat cancer at age 69.
Leiber, along with his writing partner Mike Stoller, came up with some songs that were something more than "classic," if there were a word for that.
Leiber was barely out of high school when he co-wrote Hound Dog for Big Mama Thornton, that Elvis eventually made a hit. Leiber said it was written in 12 minutes flat! Other songs with the Jerry Leiber credit include Stand By Me, Jailhouse Rock, Spanish Harlem, On Broadway, and even a novelty hit or two, including Yakety Yak for the Coasters.
Nick Ashford was one-half of the songwriting duo Ashford & Simpson. He and his wife Valerie wrote lots of great Motown hits, including Aint No Mountain High Enough and Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand) for Diana Ross. They had a hit that they sang in the in the 1980's. Remember Solid As A Rock?
Do you think maybe Leiber and Ashford will team up and write some songs for a new demographic, on the other side?
After Amy Winehouse died last weekend, a lot of people rushed to their computers to download her albums. In fact, she's back on Billboard's Top Ten.
In the sales cycle ending on Sunday, 50,000 copies of her two albums were sold. Compare that to 1400 the week before..and 44,000 so far this year (according to Nielsen Soundscan). More than 46,000 of the albums that sold (mostly from Saturday to Sunday, I'm sure), were sold as downloads.
Makes sense, since most of us probably found out about Winehouse's death online. I found out on facebook. One more click..and I would have had the whole album!
The surge in the sale of Amy Winehouse albums has got me thinking about the whole concept of rock stars' music becoming more popular after their death. I guess it seems like a natural way to mourn..to appreciate the artists' work and realize that their music will live on. What I don't get is the bandwagon people..who really had no interest in an artist until they died.
I'll have to admit, I got more interested in Elvis after he died in August of 1977. I didn't run out and buy any albums, but I did cut a lot of articles out of the paper and make a scrapbook.
And despite the fact that I was a John Lennon fan before his death, I didn't even go out and buy Double Fantasy, but millions of people did. I just couldn't get past the Yoko factor on that one, so I just threw some Beatles on the turntable and let that music help me heal.
But you know record companies have mixed feelings when their artists die. Sure it cuts down on the long range sales projections, but in the short term, it means big bucks.
This concept was the topic of a Smiths song that came out in the 1980's on the album "Strangeways Here We Come."Â The song "Paint a Vulgar Picture"Â starts out like this.. "At the record company meeting, on their hands a dead star, and oh the plans they weave, and oh the sickening greed..."
But greed is good, right?
The Madison Area Music Awards nominees were announced over the weekend..and what's this? Jonathan & Kitty are nominated?
Why yes..yes, we are. And herein lies the dilemma. In the radio personality category, Jonathan and I are joined by two of our colleagues..Gabby Parsons and Pat Gallagher.
The 4th nominee is Rockin' John McDonald, host of "I Like it That" on WORT.
Now it seems to me that the Triple M votes will be split, and the obvious winner will be Rockin' John. And I've no problem with that. He's a great guy! Not that I'm trying to sway anybody's votes or anything.
As I make a quick glance through all the nominations, I notice a lot of familiar names, including the names of past and current Project M contestants. And there sure are a lot of categories covering a wide variety of genres, including rock, pop, country bluegrass..and even a category called "unique."
Click here to see the list of nominees and to vote. You must be a Madison Area Music Association Member to vote. This requires a minimum donation of $5 which goes to support music in schools and put instruments in the hands of kids.
The awards will be handed out in a ceremony/concert in June.
Today marks the 68th birthday of George Harrison, the lead guitar player of the Beatles..and the man who inspired many of today's top guitar players to pick up the instrument.
As a tribute, the entire 2002 Concert For George is being streamed live today at www.concertforgeorge.com.
You can watch some of the same folks that are on the Concert for George on this video as well. Can you figure out who every one is?
Will the Rolling Stones be going out on tour this year? Not unless Mick Jagger and Keith Richards can kiss and make up.
There have been reports that the Stones have a new album in the works and the they were planning to tour in 2011. But now it looks like reports of the tour have been exaggerated. This is what the band recently posted on facebook:
Some of you may have been made aware of the news stories concerning us touring and Live Nation. We wanted you to know directly that we have no current dealings with Live Nation and to date no news on touring. We can however confirm that you will be amongst the first to know if there is any tour news.."
Now contactmusic.com says the tour is threatened because Mick is still furious about something Keith wrote in his book Life. You got it, the "tiny todger" line, in which Keith alleged that Mick's girlfriend had no fun with Sir Mick because of his..well..you get the idea.
I think maybe Mick didn't read the whole book. He called it "tedious," so that probably means he missed the part where Keith said his bandmate was a control freak and had LVS (Lead Vocalist Syndrome), accused him of wanting to call the band "Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones," made fun of his solo work, slammed him for being knighted, and the list goes on and on.
It will be interesting to see what the latest volley in this little war will be--after Sunday night when Mick appears sans Stones on the Grammies. I think Keith will be less than impressed, and Mick will get mad about that "tiny todger" comment all over again.
But will the Stones tour this summer? I have no idea..but if they do..the guitar playing and the singing might seem a little angrier than usual.
Sad news among all the Super Bowl excitement yesterday..as we learned of the death of Irish guitar player Gary Moore. According to press accounts, Moore was found dead in a hotel room in Spain, where he was on vacation. No cause of death has been released.
I first heard of Gary Moore in 1990 when he released an album called "Still Got The Blues." It featured his soulful bluesy voice, incredibly expressive guitar playing..and some heavy hitters helping him out. Not only are Albert King and Albert Collins in the credits, but even George Harrison lent his voice and guitar playing to the record.
In Ireland, Moore was best known for his work with Thin Lizzy (although he was not on their biggest hit "The Boys Are Back In Town") and also released 15 other solo albums. He was also in an Irish band called Skid Row..but it's important to note it was not the U.S. hair band of the same name.
You may have heard of the passing of Gerry Rafferty, the Scottish singer songwriter who had solo hits in the 1970's, and earlier in the band Stealers Wheel. (He died Tuesday of liver failure at the age of 63).
When I heard the news I got stuck on the long and winding road of youtube, and stumbled on some songs I'd heard before but had forgotten about, and discovered some new ones as well.
Do you remember this song? It was on the album Ferguslie Park, the one that was the follow up to the self-titled debut that included "Stuck in the Middle With You."Â It made it up to #29 on the U.S. charts in 1974, and I remember hearing it on the radio. It's obvious they're lip synching here, and it's fun to watch Gerry's facial expressions.
And Mike and I thought this one sounded a little like solo John Lennon..and Mike thinks he looks like him a little bit too.
And here's the song he was best known for....
Have you heard the song "Rumble and Sway" yet on Triple M?
The singer sounds like a raspy blues dude who's definitely been around the block a few times....but surprisingly, Jamie N. Commons is only 23 years old!
He was born in England, but...
Last week, I decided I would try one new, healthy food a week, and asked my facebook friends to make some suggestions.
The first thing I tried was mango. I'm sure I've had other mango flavored things, and mango as part of something else, but...
There's only one thing that might be worse than the Neil Diamond/Barbra Streisand duet "You Don't Bring Me Flowers." And that's Jonathan Suttin doing his best crooning...doing both parts. Most unpleasant.
A lot of people liked this song...
Artist: Alchemilla
Hail From: Boston
Song: 'The Wheel'
Album: Diamonds From The Penny Arcade
Sounds Like: Hole, Pearl Jam
In Their Words: "Alchemilla had been trying to write a ballad for a little while but it wasn't happening. There...
Last weeks challenge we thought went excellent! Of course we are a little biased.
The drinking song couldn't have been any better, or any less fun. We had a blast through out the whole process, and our performance rocked.
This week is an easy...
So the story goes Michael Jackson completed this song while watching cartoons with Paul McCartney. We'll just let that sink in for a moment.
Not sure what cartoons they were watching, but it must have worked because this song made it to number 2...
The Dalai Lama is back in town, sharing his message of peace and kindness with likeminded individuals, and the Wisconsin legislature. He also held a private meeting with Gov. Walker, who said he mostly listened to what His Holiness had to say (wise...
This duet by Ol' Blue Eyes and his daughter went all the way to number 1 back in 1967. It seems a little creepy that Frank and Nancy Sinatra are singing a love song. However, a lot of Triple M listeners were in the mood for it.
Here's...
