Frau Dorkenstein at your service

Brink v. Godzilla

Be there! BE THERE! BE THERE!

I Biked Home Today

Sunshine and a tail wind!

Pro Walk/Pro Bike 2006 NOT "Making the Connection"

The Pro Walk/Pro Bike annual international conference will be held in Madison this year in September. It's a good fit for Madison as we are one of a very few cities in this great land that's relatively bike and ped friendly (though much improvement is needed). A huge percentage of our population bike or walk to work, even in the depths of winter. Yeah for us!

The Motor Primitives are down with that. We bike, walk or bus to work. We bike to gigs when we can (But, that damn bass amp is a hog). We set up our shows at places that our fans can easily get to by bike. It's just plain 'natural.'

So, naturally, I think we'd be THE perfect fit to play at the conference party. Advocacy people love to be able to cut a rug after sitting in conference all day. And, let me tell you, the Monona Contention Center rug needs cutting!

Well, the conference organizers went with mature, safe music. No disrespect intended toward Harmonious Wail. They're phenomenally talented musicians. I saw them at a wedding once.

They don't have a song called Be the Engine, do they? "Making the Connection" my ASS!

Note: Props to Darjorie for asking us to play the Thunderhead Alliance Retreat.

Mayor Dave’s New Music Corner

(March 30th, Live on WMMM)

It would seem that I missed ‘an event’ while I was out of town. Friends of mine (thanks J and B) had gotten our CD to Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz who reviews a local CD Monthly on WMMM, 105.5FM (Entercom Communications). Normally, the Mayor goes to the station to conduct the review but scheduling precluded this, so he phoned it in.

I’m glad he liked it and hope he continues to enjoy the CDs.

Here’s an abbreviated transcript:
DJ Jonathon Sutton (JS)
DJ Kitty Dunn (KD)
Mayor Dave (MD)

JS: [THE BANTER BEGINS]…But sadly, he’s phoning it in today.
MD: Well you know, I usually phone it in but this time I’m literally phoning it in.
JS: We know what you’re doing. I’ve figured out why he’s not here. It’s because he’s driving around testing all the new Wi-Fi stuff.
MD: Yeah, isn’t it cool?
JS: Is it working?
MD: Well I don’t know…[MORE BANTER]

JS: Alright Mayor Dave, good morning.
MD: Good morning how are you?
JS We’re doing OK. Let’s talk some new music and we’ve got some local music Mayor Dave in the Motor Primitive[sic].
MD: Yes! This month I’m reviewing the Motor Primitives, a local band that started in 2003. And I actually know some of the members and they’ve actually got two CDs out. One called The Motor Primitives…
JS: Very creative.
MD: Yeah, introductory CD and the other one’s called Be The Engine. And they’re both great, I highly recommend them.
JS: Who do you know?
MD: Pam Barrett who’s the lead singer and writes all of the music and actually, they played at one of my fundraisers when I was running…They won’t again ‘cause they kinda hate me. But then, they liked me, and despite the fact they hate me they’re great, they’re really good.
KD: What kind of music?
MD: It’s kind of a Pretenders sound, straight ahead rock, really catchy tunes and clever lyrics. They’re good.
JS: So is this..Is the reason they’re on is you’re trying to get them for another one of your fundraisers coming up in the future?
MD: No. I’ll never get them, they’re too big for me know.
JS: So why do they hate you? Is it because of the whole sick leave thing? Did they get mad about that?
MD: Oh, I don’t know. This and that. It’s pretty much like the whole general public.
JS: No! Everybody loves you!
KD: No, Dave!
JS: Are you sad these days?
MD: No, I’m fine.
JS: OK, so now, through the high tech equipment at the mayor’s office…
MD: Now…I gotta tell you where they’re playing next.
JS: OK, surely.
MD: On April first they’re playing at the Orpheum as part of the Wisconsin Film Festival. They are the party, They are at the party Saturday night.
JS: Those party’s get kinda crazy.
MD: Yeah, so April first at 10 O’Clock.
JS: So now, the technology we have is so advanced, Mayor Dave is going to hold the phone up to his little CD player for a second.
MD: Yeah, it didn’t quite work out because I wasn’t there physically in the studio to bring the CD. Apparently you guys can’t afford to buy the CDs there. It’s just a radio station.
JS: Exactly.
MD: So through the magic of technology I’m gonna play ‘em on my own office stereo and you’ll get a little taste OK…
JS: OK, only about, like, 20 seconds…
[the mayor plays Be the Engine, Part I. Through the phone, it sounds like pooh!]
JS: Oh yeah, that sounds good.
KD: I can’t even barely here it.
MD: Good, huh.
JS: sounds awesome.
KD: A little quiet.
MD: Was it a little quiet?
JS: It reminds me of when I was a kid, my friend would get a new album and want to play it to me over the phone. He would put it up to the speaker and I’d yell, “I can’t hear it.” But he couldn’t hear me.
MD: See the problem was that the line wasn’t long enough to the phone and I couldn’t get it close enough to the speakers. But, we’ll work it out next time.
JS: And do you have two plasma TV’s in your office or just one.
…[BANTER CONTINUES]. JS goes on to dis’ the MAMAs and then it’s back to the regularly scheduled corporate radio programming.

Right! Now, let’s get this straight. The mayor was referring to me and me alone when he said “they hate us.” I don’t think that my band mates have weighed in, for or against the mayor’s various decisions. But I would say that “hate” is a little strong. Disappointed, yes.

I spent a little time “stumping” for Dave’s election. I even suckered a couple of the pre-Robin & Matthew MPs into playing a fundraiser at the Orpheum (Kat and Sandy).

Madison’s a pretty cool place to be. People take pride in their city and actively try to make it a better place. What makes Madison a livable city? What makes anywhere a nice place to be? To me, a healthy city is one where neighbors interact with one another. People coexist recognizing one another as humans. Infrastructure must be in place in order for that to happen.

Suburbs are the place you go to if you want to be isolated from your fellow man. And, fine with me if you don’t want to interact with me. But don’t cut a high speed highway down the middle of my nice, cozy, human scaled neighborhood so that you can more conveniently escape to you’re little weasel-hole Stepford house.

Mayor Dave represented hope for a lot of us. He seemed to be an urbanist who understood the importance of alternative transportation and human scaled communities. How economics and environment are positively affected not just by smart growth but by smart use of all of our resources.

I personally was looking forward to the days following Dave’s election when my husband wouldn’t come home frustrated by city meetings. Pissed because city staffers were running rough shod over the process in order to maintain a status quo that they’d come to know. “No, this coffee shop can’t be approved because it doesn’t have 20 designated parking stalls.” Stupid crap like that can ruin your whole day.

Well, we were overjoyed by Dave’s victory! Now this city was going to rock with vitality. Staff wasn’t just going to blow us off as they did when Sue Bauman was in charge….

Holy shit! I’m only half way through my thoughts and this post is entirely too long. Here’s the abridged version:

1. Parking on the square = BAD. It has made a relatively safe bicycle commute more dangerous as the restricted right lane is now ignored.

2. The planned E. Wash/First St make-over will make negotiating those crossings an absolute hell for all but the most agile pedestrians. But gosh it will sure make it easier for the motorist to maintain his/her speed through those high-speed right turn lanes. “On ramps” in the middle of the city? = BAD

3. Intimidating the Transportation and Parking Commission to raise bus fares by threatening to pull future support for Metro if they don’t do what you want. You can’t have a trolley without connectivity with other transit. Driving Metro ridership into the ground via fare increases = BAD.

4. The Economic Development Commission is full of a bunch of short-sighted buffoons! They will never say, “Good job Mayor Dave!” So why woo them. They will always say, “Madison is not business friendly.” Well, there are so many ways that that statement is false. The counter to this lame mantra should be, “you’re wrong because of [fill in the blank].” The reaction shouldn’t be, “Oh, you’re right you poor thing, let’s form a task force, put you on it and so that you can self validate your plight.” BTW [fill in the blank] can be, “we provide density in the town center that no other Dane county community can.” Or “We provide swift and easy access to a multitude of resources (of enormous breadth) no other city in Dane county has.” EDC = BAD.

OK, enough! If anyone really wants to hear more points of contention or have me explain my views in more depth, they’re going to have to buy me more than one beer (and, probably less than 4 so that I can remain coherent).

Back to the CD review:
I’m glad the Mayor likes them and I hope he continues to enjoy them. I kinda felt sorry for him as he was really trying to give a straight-ahead review but Jonathan Sutton kept regressing into gossipy, banal banter like a 13 year old teenager on the phone to his girlfriend. But, what can you expect from corporate, morning drive-time radio?

Dinosaur Rockers!

I didn't intend to live this long. Did you?

Congratulations Kat and Leah!

"Kat & Leah sittin' in a tree,
K - I - S - S - I - N - G..."
We love ya!

Smoke-athon!

The band

The set list


The players

The dancers

More insanity

The Back 40s

Buffali


Bowling

What's her deal?!
Photos by Laura Miller

Enough Rope Fer Hangin'

The Bowl-A-Thon was...errrr, uhmmm...Interesting to say the least. The live music part of the event started about an hour and a half late because the regulars in the bar wanted to watch the hockey championship.

Go Badgers! Men and women's team kicked ass this year.

Our two hour show was shortened to just over an hour. This turned out to be OK since the room really wasn't set up for live music. The sound guy (Ken did a fantastic job) was positioned about 7 feet directly in front of us. Directly behind him was a wall with a cigarette machine that blinked on and off all night. Behind the wall was the rest of the bar where, I was told, people were hanging out enjoying the night and the music. I don't know...Couldn't tell, couldn't see sh*t.

I was told that WORT did well with their benefit and that's great!

My favorite happenings of the evening:
1) While heck....Oh, I mean cheering on the bowlers in our group, I heard this odd sound and looked three lanes over from us. A ceiling tile had fallen into the lane and Fiberglas insulation was hanging down. The bowling had stopped over there and everybody was standing around looking guilty. Management came over with a ladder and fished a bowling ball out from atop of the hung ceiling. Nice technique buddy! Time to work on your release.

2) Kat and I have been trading guitar cords. I have a slightly longer one and she's been taking to heading into the audiences during the songs so I thought she could use a little more rope. Three songs into our set, she ventured out to dance with our faithful elbow dancers. At some point, she slipped and fell on to her back (but continued to play). Unfortunately, we couldn't hear what she was playing since she pulled the cord out of her amp! SWWWEEEEET air guitar solo!!

"Why do they make me sing?"

Ban Compound W

Respect WORT's right to exist!

Come to the WORT Bowl-a-thon this Saturday at Village Lanes (208 Owen Dr).
Bowl, support your community radio station and listen to us play!
Also playing are the Back 40's and the Buffali!
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Oh yeah, That's not how you spell IT!

EEEeeeeeeewwweeeeee, nasty!

The King Pins!

Celebrate National Napping Day!

In honor of National Napping day, I took two Vicodin and slept for a couple of hours this afternoon. What did you do to celebrate?

From the official Napping Day site:
It's never too late to plan for National Napping Day 2006!
This year National Napping Day will fall on April 3, 2006. Because of the loss of one hour's sleep the night before due to the return of daylight savings time, everyone in the country will be more sleep deprived than usual—and therefore more nap ready. National Napping Day is designed to make more people aware of the health and productivity benefits of napping. It is the perfect day for nappers to lie down and be counted.

Coming soon:
National Nappy Day!

Professor of Hula Hoopology

Those in attendance at the Wisconsin Film Festival Party Saturday night were treated to a couple of MP sets nicely enhanced with the spectacular hoola hooping of performance artist Tracy Doreen. Swank and elegance were the key words for the night. Tracy Doreen tirelessly HH'd through many of the MPs favorite tunes, often signing the lyrics while twirling and twirling and twirling...





The crowd was entranced by the shimmering spectacle.



For more pictures and a short write-up of the film festival go the the Isthmus Daily Page.