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Hey Everybody!
You know, I've seen awards given for the category of Music Journalist, I've seen all kinds of credit given to all kinds of people for Wisconsin music, but I've never seen one given to long time Maximum Ink writers John Noyd and Dave Luecinger. These guys have been writing for the Wisconsin music scene for almost ten years. In fact, they both came with me (from the old Night Sites & Sounds) and started Max Ink, of course there was Paul Gargano as well, but we'll talk about him on a different day. Dave has relentlessly covered the blues like no one I know, and his attention to the live music calendar is a blessing. I'm not sure there is another like him in the country! Now John on the other hand, has covered anything I've asked him to and more! No questions! (even when he probably didn't like it). John's dedication to Maximum Ink and the music scene is without question as well. Having done interviews, cover stories, CD reviews and monthly columns on everyone from Plastic to Rebels Without Applause to jazz you've never heard of. It is for that reason that I give JOHN NOYD the MUSIC JOURNALIST of the Decade award. Since the other "award" system hasn't recognized him, I will. That said, John is going to take a leave of absence from his LOCAL ACTION column. Don't worry, you'll still see some CD reviews and hopefully an occasional cover story. John, enjoy it, you've worked really hard and I thank you (and lemme know CD reviews you have for next month!).
I'd like to commend Steve Horn for all of his dedication and service through the years to the Madison music scene, he was largely responsible for bringing the Annex to the forefront of the club scene. He's left the Annex to pursue other endeavors, we wish him well and much success!
Which brings me to a congratulations for Jamison Downing, he's been promoted and will take over where Steve left off. Jamison came to the Annex after the Mango Grill closed their doors. He brings a lot of experience and flair to the position. I'm sure he will bring the Annex to new heights.
Last month I went to the STONE TEMPLE PILOTS show at the Alliant Energy Center. In the middle of the show, Scott Weiland announced to the crowd that his drummer should receive a "Badge of Courage" for playing the show as he had a bad case of the flu and had been vomiting all day. On that note, the drummer held up a big, white pickle bucket with his initials on it. The crowd cheered and the show went on without a glitch. Then came the encores. During the middle of the first encore, I was watching the drummer (as I always do, I'm a drummer) and the dude leans over and pukes in the bucket. He didn't miss a beat! And then, he puked again! By the end of the song he had his face in a towel that a roadie threw him. I could just imagine his nose burning like crazy. At that point, I was like, 'hey, I don't need to see you play that bad, go take care of yourself'. But of course, the show must go on and he played another song (I don't think he had enough in him to launch a third time). Anyway, I thought that was beyond the call of duty. I'm not sure if I could handle playing on stage and puking in front of 4,000 people and not missing a beat. Most people didn't even know it happened (Weiland watchers). He gets my Metal of Honor for sure!!
ROCK THE VOTE: That's right, get out and vote!! Of course, everyone tells you that this election is important, it is. Oddly enough, I think all the candidates suck. They all have skeletons in their closet and ain't a one of 'em honest!! So what do you do? I know, I couldn't figure it out either. If Bush is elected: 1) the house and senate can push there radical Republican plans through with no fear of veto. Bad. 2) Bush will then be able to pick any Supreme Court justices should any current members die or step-down, a good chance that'll happen this time. Bad. 3) The guy got rich in some really seedy ways. OK, someone loaned him $600,000 so he could purchase a rather large stake in the Texas Rangers baseball team, only to sell it to a generous billionaire for over 10 million. Not to mention his selling off of his stake in an oil company based in the middle east just before his father launched Operation Desert Storm (which was to affect oil prices)….and we really don't want to get into the perjury case in Texas where the good Governor of Texas perjured himself in almost the identical way that Clinton did (signing an affidavit that he was not involved with an ongoing lawsuit against the state of Texas, it was proven he was)…and there's more. Now Gore isn't much better, of course he's got Tipper, which doesn't help, and he's in a whole peck of trouble for his fundraising techniques (I guess it must be hard to out market the Republicans), and there's more on him as well. He's pretty boring but at least he'll make better choices in the Supreme Court and will be there to veto the GOP when needed. Now if you're thinking Nader, well, he has almost as many skeletons as the other guys, but if Nader gets at least 5% of the total vote, he'll get matching funds for the next election. Which would be cool if another party could mix things up a bit. Well, that's my two cents. If ya don't vote, you can't bitch!!! You want to check out the SKELETONS IN THE CLOSET website on the candidates? Go to www.realchange.org.
Good luck! And see you next month!
Rokker
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