Letter to the People - February 2014
Publisher's Commentary
by Rökker
Madison East Poms team in Zombie costume (guess which one is Lizzie), and Rachel out on the floor performing a halftime routine.
Willy Wash: A Musical Yahara: Come down to the “Citizens Parlor”, a meeting where Willy Wash: A Musical Yahara members will inform the public about the new movement to guide re-development in the “Capitol East” area to include music, art, culture, education, and enterainment. There will also be a time for questions and input.
The Citizens Parlor will take place at the Goodman Center in Madison on February 13th from 6:30-8pm. To find out more, go to the website at www.willywash.org or join the “Willy Wash” group on Facebook. Become involved.
VO5 Equality Love Fest: The Barrymore Theater in Madison will host this benefit on February 15th for Fair Wisconsin, an organization fighting for fairness and equality in the LGBT community. DJ Wyatt Agard will open the show at 7pm and give way to everyone’s favorite local disco band VO5. For more information go to
FairWisconsin.com/lovefest.
Bash in the Bluffs III: The third annual Bash in the Bluffs returns to the Pumphouse in Baraboo as a slice of Madison heads to circus town. We’re gonna drag along Jimmy K of Max Ink Radio and some Rökker Vodka and have a good time!
Local Love Fest: Brad Van and Dustin Boyle are the creators of Local Love Fest, a combination of a compilation cd made up of local bands covering a song by another local band (usually long broken up), and a live event showcase. They don’t sell the disc and only give it away at the show. Then, each year before the next show, you can download the previous year for free. So go to the show and get a cd, or wait for a year to download it for free. A few nuggets to look for are Sparklfuck covering Phox, Droids Attack covering Masked Intruder, and Sky Road Fly covering a classic “Packer” tune by Madison legends Poopshovel.
Friday, Feb. 7 at the High Noon Saloon features Droids Attack, Warhawks, Real Knives, and Old Buffalo Money while Saturday, Feb 8 at the Crystal Corner features Government Zero, Kill Junior, and Damidol. For more go to For more go to facebook.com/LocalLoveFest.
Distill America: Madison’s own micro-distilled convention returns to the Inn on the Park on February 22nd. I’m not sure whether its more fun talking to attendees or sampling all the crazy whiskeys from across the country as well as locals like Rökker Vodka, Yahara Bay, Old Sugar, and Travis Hasse’s Cow Pie Liqueurs. It’s the only event that I know of that you can talk to so many distillers up personal. Special thanx to the Madison Malt Society and Star Liquor for putting it all together. For more info go to DistillAmerica.com
White Empress: The news is out there is a new Empress and her name is Mary Zimmer. You may remember her from the cover of Maximum Ink when we featured her with her old bands Luna Mortis and Ottomon Empire.
The band has also released an EP which is downloadable for free or donation at WhiteEmpress.com. What you will not find out on the website is a band member listing.
It’s still a mystery who the drummer is, but guitar is Paul Allendar, the guitarist from Cradle of Filth, as well as x-Coal Chamber bassist Chela Rhea, and vocalist Mary Zimmer make up the core of the four piece band.
Brutal yet beautiful, bluesy, progressive metal… not for the meek, this is White Empress.
Adventures with Lizzie and Nikko: Basketball season finds me chasing both kids. Nikko playing on his school team, and Lizzie performing with the Poms during halftime at home games. I was very proud of her this month as the dance routine the squad performed was one that Lizzie had choreographed with her coach. The squad also had a fundraiser for a day where young kids came in to learn a routine with them and performed later in the evening at the game. Lizzie’s younger cousin Rachel did a great job!
Pictured on previous page: Madison East Poms team in Zombie costume (guess which one is Lizzie), and Rachel out on the floor performing a halftime routine. (below).
(2755) Page Views