Make Music Madison 2025

 

Today was Make Music Madison, and I got swag:

I just wanted that to be the first photo on this post, because then it shows up as the thumbnail when you look up my posts. This morning Travalon and I relaxed, then when he went to turn on the air conditioning, he discovered that a mourning dove had built a nest on the window ledge outside our bedroom, so that we couldn't close the window. We looked at it, and there was a baby bird in it, so we couldn't knock it off the ledge. Mourning doves are notorious for building their nests in the worst possible places - there is an entire website devoted to stupid nest location choices by doves - and I wasn't surprised since I kept hearing the thing calling outside our window early in the morning. I wanted to take a picture of the baby bird, but the mother came back, and I didn't want to frighten her away so sorry, no photo.

When we did get going, we went to Garver Mill to have pizza and check out a flea market, and somehow we got really good parking there. Next Travalon ran into a local bookstore to find a new biography of Judy Garland, but they didn't have it. 

Our next stop was the grand opening of our favorite chocolate shop in town, or I should say grand re-opening in a beautiful new space. Even the bathroom was gorgeous. We got there at a weird moment; we just wanted to get some chocolate and then hear the local Latin jazz band, but they shooed everyone out for the ribbon-cutting ceremony. However, I begged to buy chocolate because my time was limited due to my own gig, so they let us get some bonbons, and then they shooed us outside for the ribbon-cutting.

We sat in the shade, listening to the Latin jazz band, until they took a break at exactly the time I thought we should leave. We headed home and rested a few minutes until we had to head to my bandmate's driveway for our own Make Music Madison gig. Travalon took photos and videos.

Someone else took this photo. It makes me laugh because the shadow makes it look like I have a mustache.

We were told to wear our black band shirts, and as you can see, I was the only one who did - even our leader, who made the proclamation, did not. She also told us to arrive fifteen minutes early and then arrived just before we started herself, and she held us up by several minutes because she had to tune. I'm kind of at the limits of my patience with her at the moment. She was also really struggling with chords, and in the videos you can hear me playing chords, but not her. However, on one song the fiddles were really struggling with the melody, so I jumped in and played that. I guess that's the role of a mandolin: "Clean up on Aisle Fifteen!" Show up where you're needed. As always, afterwards people said they really liked it when I played tremolo - that's a crowd pleaser. Nobody asked about my instrument, but they may have all seen it before. We had a surprisingly large crowd, maybe twenty people at the peak, and I think they were all friends of various band members. It was VERY hot, and as you can see, I had to sit in the sun more than the others. (The audience were all in the shade.) I debated about bringing my other mandolin, but the old taterbug mandolin is a real trooper, and she had no problem with the heat. The bassist and I agreed that it was hard to play when your hands are so sweaty, and the instruments do tend to go a bit sharp when it's so humid out, so we had to stop and tune now and then. Anyone who has ever been to an early music concert where they use period instruments will be familiar with this concept.

Travalon and I went home and had a light dinner of hummus and protein sandwiches in pita that only needed to be microwaved, chicken for him and falafel for me. Then we went to Warner Park, which is so close to us, to hear a band called Hirt Alpert. With a name like that, we expected they would play music of Herb Alpert and Al Hirt, and that is exactly what they did. The sponsor for that spot was Witkins Realty, and they were giving away the rainbow koozies and welcome packages for new home owners. They gave me one of each, even though we have owned our condo for eleven years. Can you believe that?

Our final stop was Rennebohm Park, which is very far from us, to hear a big band called All That Jazz. We only got to hear the last twenty minutes of their set, but it was worth the trip - they were so good! Travalon found both bands on the Make Music Madison website. Since it's on a Saturday this year, we decided we should actually hear some other groups besides mine for once.

I still needed steps, and I had not prayed a rosary, so I put on my high vis garb and took a walk outside in the dark.

No idea why my eyes look so crazy in this photo. Maybe I was thinking how crazy I was to go from air-conditioned comfort to the heat and humidity outside in the dark. We are cooling the outside a bit because we can't close the bedroom window, and Mama Dove must love it because now she is constantly on the nest. I can't say that I blame her.

Famous Hat