Yay!  There is a great level of stress that has been reduced to something a tad more manageable now that the Madison Area Music Awards are over.  You can see a list of the winners at http://www.themamas.org (if you care that much!).

For Local Sounds, we had a great response!  This year we debuted Local Sounds Magazine, Local Sounds TV, and MadisonUrban.com.  We also pushed out a new version of the Local Sounds site as well.  It has been a crazy few months, but we / I made it!

Local Sounds TV was by far the hit of the night.  Once we started getting some interviews lined up, it seemed everyone wanted to be on TV!  I was planning on maybe 5-8 interviews tops during the red carpet between 6:00 and 7:00.  We ended up doing tons more for a grand total of about 3 hours!  It was crazy!  And after we were done doing interviews, artists and kids alike were regularly using our Local Sounds backdrop as a place to take photos (see photo).  Awesome!  Not to mention free press for us…. suckas..

That’s right Jabloggyites.  The reason I’ve been missing in action for so long is because I’ve been going bonkers with preparing for the 6th Annual Madison Area Music Awards (MAMAs) here in Madison.  I’m winding down here finally as the music awards are this Saturday, May 9th.

Here’s a brief rundown of what I’ve been doing:

• Designed and printed 1000 hand fliers
• Launched MadisonUrban.com, a new community for the urban / hip-hop / R&B scene in Madison
• Built and deployed Local Sounds Magazine, a new online magazine covering the music scene in Madison
• Tended to and maintained the Madison Area Music Awards website (I’m the web guy on the board of directors)
• Built and deployed the website for Local Sounds TV, a new service we’re launching this Saturday
• Managed the design and construction of a 4×8 Local Sounds backdrop for the Local Sounds TV video booth at the MAMAs on Saturday
• Planned the booth for Local Sounds at the music awards in the lobby
• And I think that’s everything…

So see?  I wasn’t faking it!  Oh, and before Saturday I still plan on updating the Local Sounds website, so hopefully by this weekend you can go to localsounds.org and check out all the features I’ve listed above.

Thanks for your patience, and I should be back a little more often very soon.

I realize my presence on Jabloggy has been a little quiet, only posting once a week for the last few posts. Unfortunately, it might get worse before it gets better. See, it’s MAMAs season (Madison Area Music Awards) here in Madison, and I always gets pulled in several different directions at once during the next couple of months (le sigh…).

But after all the hub bub is over, I expect to be able to talk about a few new things for Local Sounds that we’re planning on debuting and promoting at the music awards. If all goes according to current plans it should be a good time (for us and maybe you too! don’t worry, we’ll share!).

In other news, I have to take back everything I said in the last post about Mac. I failed to mention that I was giving him a test drive last week. I took him out of the shelter as a foster parent to see if he and Lexi would get along. As (crappy) luck would have it, Lexi wasn’t overally keen on the idea of having a buddy around all the time. Plus after looking at the expenses incurred with a second child, I came to the conclusion that I would have to wait to expand my family. So last Saturday I had to take him back. It was sad, but I’m sure he’ll find a good home!

Come early to take advantage of the $5 cover charge ($10 after 11:30pm), where you can enjoy a great night of hip-hop and R&B with Tefman (L.O.S.T. S.O.U.L.S.), Rob DZ, DLO (with KALO), and 2007 MAMAs winner Felicia Alima. DJ Fusion will be performing before the show and in-between sets. Proceeds will support the Madison Area Music Awards, which raises money to help put instruments into kids’ hands. A MAMAs booth will be set up for your convenience to help you register to become a MAMAs member and vote in the first round.

The first round of voting will run from February 5th through March 20th. The Nominee Announcement Party will be held at the Brink Lounge on Saturday, March 28th and the final round of voting will run from March 28th through April 28th. The 2009 Madison Area Music Awards will take place at the Barrymore Theater on Saturday, May 9th. Performers for the awards show and other fundraising events will soon be announced.

Calendar of Events

• February 5-March 20-1st Round of Voting
• February 21-The Urban Fundraiser at the High Noon Saloon featuring Tefman (of the L.O.S.T. S.O.U.L.S.), Rob DZ, DLO (w/KALO) and Felicia Alima
• March 21- JT Whitney’s “Free Beer for a Year” Fundraiser
• March 28-Madison Area Music Awards Nominee Announcement Party at the Brink Lounge featuring live music by MB3, raffle and silent auction
• March 28-April 28-Final Round of Voting

Sucks to be all you people who didn’t come down to the High Noon Saloon in Madison last night to check out 4 amazing rock bands and help support WJJO’s Rock for Launchpad benefit! The band I used to play with, Planet of 9, was one of the bands, but that isn’t the best part. Of course, the best part is I got to guest star and play their Madison area hit “Falling Down” with them!

Me and another Matt (vocalist / bassist for Dragdown) went up and gave Cody (drums) and Dustin (bass) a break. It was nice to be able to get up there again and jam out a song that I love but have never played live before. It was great!

I miss that adrenaline rush… maybe I should go back to that, or start taking drugs* (or not), or something…. Anywho, I hope to add some photos to my Flickr account soon, so I’ll update this post if and when that happens.

(* drugs are bad, mmmkay kids? uncle matt wasn’t serious, get a grip!)

UPDATE (1/27/09): Added photos to the Jabloggy Flickr, as well as the “nice” photo of Cory (guitar, Planet of 9) and myself

Join JJO Local Stage host Kurt Baron at the first ever Launchpad Benefit “Rock for Launchpad”, this Saturday night, January 24th at the High Noon Saloon on East Washington Ave, just a few blocks from the state capitol. The show is 21+ and there is a $5 cover at the door. The show starts around 9:00pm, so come on down and hang out with us and support the cause.

Local bands Silence is Broken, Snooky, Planet of 9, and Dissent & Revolt offer up alternative rock & metal to support Launchpad, the only statewide music competition in the nation for high school students in garagebands, celebrates its 5th year in 2009 and is a program of the Wisconsin School Music Association and is produced by Dennis Graham Associates.

For more information, go to www.wjjo.com.

Condo Time! (impatient poop!) Offer was accepted on Friday, Home inspection passed with flying colors earlier today. We’re well on our way to the closing date of September 18th. Stay tuned!

What an unexpected and crazy 2 weeks!! Last week I started being nosy and poked around online at condos that were currently on the market in and around Madison. Well, it took me almost no time at all to find a complex that was basically giving them away!! !@$@%#

So this guy owns a few condo units and is currently renting them out. However, due to some rental restrictions that aren’t sitting too well (I won’t go into details), he’s pretty much handing out his units to pay off debt and just get them off his plate. Now that might not seem like a big deal, but despite just giving them away, they are very remodeled and nice too!! Brand new appliances, new hardwood floors, jacuzzi tubs, new windows, washer and dryer, updated kitchens, new doors, etc.

So that basically covers last week’s short search. After looking at a handful of them, I put an offer in on one on Tuesday evening. Wednesday morning (my birthday) it fell through. Some doughhead put in a cash offer, so mine was out the window!

This brings me to tonight. Earlier this evening after work I went to look at my second choice again. After a more complete walkthrough this time and a few happy details, we drove right over to the realtor’s office, put together the second offer of the week, and sent it in. Now I sit here in anticipation of tomorrow to see what becomes of this one.

I hope to be back soon with part two of this exciting chronicle…

Whaddup?! Last weekend was our first show as a band(s). We played a private beach party at a public restaurant (weird). Besides the icky smell of algae, the chanting biker crowd, and the brief period of rain where we had to protect what we had already setup (sound and drums), I think it went pretty well! We appeared first as our rock group without a name, then appearing as the backup band for Felicia Alima (go buy at the Local Sounds Music Store now!). Of course, we know where our rough areas are, but we hope to have those cleared up soon. Our next show is at The Frequency in Madison on Tuesday night. We’re playing for a somewhat diverse crowd and opening for a diverse main act, so come prepared to have fun (in more ways than one!) bwahahaha!

This evening my girlfriend and I took her daughter to the county fair here in Madison. True, it’s not a REAL county fair, more like an oversized urban-setting carnival, but hey, we take what we can get right?

Anyway, the moment we got there, we got our first load of ride coupons and jumped on the bumper cars. Wow, has it been a few years since I’ve done that! Good times.

Next, we headed on down to the kiddie rides area, where she got to ride the kiddie roller coaster, several vehicles-go-in-a-small-circle-for-two-minutes rides, the giant slide, and the big spinning bears (don’t ask).

Then we headed over to the Tilt-a-Whirl. Big mistake for someone to volunteer to take her on it when i myself haven’t been on one since high school. I think my head is still slightly spinning. Apparently my motion sickness wasn’t in remission like I thought it was. *time to lie down again for a minute*

While I was recovering from the Hurricane Katrina simulation, I sat while the girls went on the giant ferris wheel and merry-go-round.

Our final round was a few games where the little one ended up winning a stuffed rose, a Hannah Montana backpack (we couldn’t leave the fair without it, otherwise there’d be hell to pay from a 4 year old), and 2 fish. Yes I can’t believe we won a couple of fish. I never thought I’d be one of those people. And yet, here I am. Fortunately, the girls took them both home. I fear Lexi the Infamous Feline might have a tasty snack one night, so I decided against bringing the little fishies home.

Now I’m home, recovering, thinking about going to bed to sleep off the Tilt-a-Puke. Night!