R.I.P. Sam Neill

Until the End of the World! The Piano! Sirens! In the Mouth of Madness! And this one. Goodbye Sam Neil.

O'Cazy Corral, misogynistic bouncers, and a chance encounter with Bono: A Night of the Music Venues We Have Loved

A couple two tree weeks ago I attended a Make History Madison event called "The Music Venues We Have Loved". WORT DJ Cooper Talbot did the initial introduction but I was lucky enough to have a chance to chat with her before things got underway. She proved to be a wonderful lady with her love of oozing from every pore, apparent in every word she spoke.

John Wedge of local band The Periodicals and Sean Michael Dargan, another local muso, directed the discussion.

The panel consisted of a slew of local musicians and venue owners who would reminisce about Madison's music scene mostly of the 1980s and 90s and talk about the challenges and rewards of running a music club.

Pam Barrett - owner of the Harmony Bar and muso of Motor Primitives fame as well as other bands.

Tony Casteneda - founding father of the Madison Latin jazz scene and aspiring Wisconsin assemblyman.

Cathy Dethmers - bassist in Tormentula, former owner of O'Cayz Corral and High Noon Saloon.

Dan Hobson - drummer extraordinaire of Killdozer, most notably, but also a country ton of other local acts like The Tiny Band, Optometri, Cement Pond, etc.

Joe Lambert - booked bands at the Crystal Corner Bar for a couple decades.

Lisa Marine - bassist in numerous Madison bands including The Quickies, Bent Antenna, and The Tiny Band with Dan Hobson.

Darwin Sampson - former owner of The Frequency.

Missing was Kevin Willmott, owner of The Frequency's successor, Gamma Ray Bar and singer in Don't Mess With Cupid.

Whew!

I had a front row seat with my pal Eric the Driftless Cowboy, DJ for Classic Country Corner on WVMO along with a good friend of Lisa Marine's with whom I am an acquaintance. So I had a nice chat with her and did some catching up.

There was a lot of reminiscing about venues no longer with us, especially O'Cayz, and the community spirit that these places engendered. Someone, I cannot recall whom, recounted how, at O'Cayz, people far from the bar would start a beer brigade since they were packed in too tightly to get the bar without undue hassle. They'd hand to the person next an empty glass, some cash, and give their order and all would be passed along in a chain to the bar. The drink would be poured and paid for and then the new glass along with any change would be passed along in the same way to the thirsty music lover who was unable to make their way to the bar.

Some memories were not so sweet as Lisa and Cathy (and perhaps Pam) recounted how they'd be mistaken for girlfriends at gigs and be stopped by venue personnel from loading their gear.

Dan told the story of meeting Bono on State Street when U2 played Merlyn's back on the Boy tour. Darwin and Joe both talked about how they got into booking/club ownership with the former offering advice: don't just book bands you like. He said that he brought bands into The Frequency that he was unfamiliar with and ended up becoming a fan of countless groups.

Tony was the first to break the 80s-90s barrier when he took us back to the 1970s as he talked about being a part of the first Latin jazz band in Madison as well as the pioneering Cardinal Bar and its first owner Ricardo Gonzalez.

At some point it dawned on me that most of the conversation concerned downtown and campus area venues and this got me wondering about those elsewhere in town, specifically black owned ones. I silently wondered if Mr. P's Place, the bar owned by Madison civil rights firebrand Eugene Parks, had hosted music. Within a few minutes, someone in the audience mentioned a couple venues the panel hadn't spoken about and noted that Mr. P's Place had jazz nights.

This brought back memories of the tribulations of R Place on Park, a black owned club with a mostly black clientele which lost its liquor license back in 2011. In its short lifetime, R Place, from what I've heard, had a loyal customer base and provided for black Madisonians a space of their own, so to speak.

 

Audience members added to the mix by mentioning various other, smaller, more low key venues such as housing co-ops like Lothlorien and the storefront venue Project Lodge that was on the near northeast side.

 

With the emphasis on downtown/campus venues where alcohol was served and music as something you pay to see, the book The Hidden Musicians: Music-Making in an English Town came to mind. It looks at the amateur musicians of the London suburb of Milton Keynes with a lot of pages devoted to unpaid performers and those for whom music performance was an avocation, not a big source of income.

This was, of course, beyond the purview of the discussion at hand but recognizing all of the musical activity that doesn't happen at a beloved club paints a fuller picture and makes the idea of a Madison music scene more expansive.

At the end the panelists seemed to come to agreement that the Madison music scene has always been eclectic and that it is still healthy, that new generations of performers and audiences are keeping the flame alive and will someday be able to look back just as we were that night.

I met Dan Hobson afterwards as we were both unlocking our bikes and asked him if he was still booking bands for the Orton Park Festival. He said that he was and proceeded to talk up a band that is set to appear at this year's event. They are from Chicago and I believe the band's name starts with an S. But, since I'd never heard of them, I cannot recall their name. He did this same thing several years back when he and his fellow music bookers brought Chicago's up and coming Twin Peaks to the fest.

He thought that the music line-up for the festival was up but its Facebook page hasn't been updated in a few months as I write.

That's one of things I really like about Dan. In addition to just being a really affable fellow, he is a fan of new music and is always championing bands of today.

Song of the day, 6 July 2026

Since I'll be posting something about the Madison music scene later today, this seemed highly appropriate.

"Is he talking about her magic carpet?"

I've been watching this review of Jethro Tull's Songs From the Wood by Doug Helvering and he notes the generous use of double entendres in the lyrics of "Velvet Green". He theorizes that it will be "The Lemon Song" of Songs From the Wood. I laughed aloud.

Song of the day, 5 Juli 2026

Clean microwave. Check.

Vacuum apartment. Check.

Harvest my first serranoes of the year. Check.

Get ladyfriend hooked on Rivers of London series by Ben Aaronovitch. Check.

Not exactly full-sized, but it's my first chili plant in ages. I think they'll end up in pico de gallo. They could be hot...

I recently finished listening to a BBC Radio 4 show called Legends that did a 5-part bio of Miles Davis so I am spending some time listening to him before I head to my ladyfriend's house for dinner.

Willow's latest gift

In addition to getting a doughnut fort earlier this week, Willow got a coffee table yesterday.

I can vouch that she is enjoying it.

Song of the day, 3 Juli 2026

Since there's a new (newish, anyway) documentary on the Carolina Chocolate Drops, here they are here in Madison at the Orton Park Festival back in the day.

There's a Carolina Chocolate Drops documentary!

It's called Don’t Get Trouble in Your Mind. Here's the trailer. It looks mighty fine.

Just when you thought the Eastern Front couldn't get any more appalling

My current read is War of Annihilation: Combat and Genocide on the Eastern Front, 1941 by Geoffrey P. Megargee.

I am not very far in so it's been background so far but it will lay out how, contrary to popular perceptions, the Wehrmacht colluded with the SS to help carry out the Holocaust and just inflict heinous cruelty on civilian populations in general. Just when you thought the Eastern Front couldn't get any more appalling.

Here's Megargee giving a lecture on the subject.

Bummed

I was just informed that the Chicago dates for Radiohead's Kid A Mnesia Motion Picture House have been cancelled. I was looking forward to this immersive art experience and hearing some Radiohead music in Dolby Atmos.

Bummer.

A comfortable doughnut

Willa's a killa!

Willow is also enjoying her new doughnut bed/cat fort courtesy of my ladyfriend.

Nirvana '89 show in Madison released

Nirvana's first gig here in Madison on 7 July 1989 at O'Cayz Corral has been dusted off and shared on Youtube.

I once had a conversation with a sound guy about town who told me that he was going to record the Nirvana show he was doing but he had forgotten to hit record because he was chemically enhanced, shall we say. I am not sure if it was this performance or the one the following year at Club Underground.

While it doesn't have A+ hifi sound, it is quite good.

It's too hot to cook inside

And so the grilling continues. Last night it was brats. Presumably because of the awful humidity, my first attempt at lighting the charcoal didn't go so well. Uff da!

They were quite tasty and went well with a highly refreshing pilsner from Goldfinger which I picked up when I was in Chicago a couple weeks back.

Willow enjoys my desk and environs

Not only does she hang out on my desk...

...but has also taken to napping on my desk chair.

Song of the day, 30 Juni 2026

Since I've been listening to Yes' Heaven & Earth a lot lately with the intention to write about it, here's one of my favorite songs from it.