dane101 fundraiser's give big, sloppy thank-yous to community

When Jesse and I originally discussed a dane101 fundraiser, I volunteered to put it together with very little reservations or inner conflict. After all, being in a band and having put shows together before, I figured coordinating this event could be my little way of giving something back to dane101, a website I'm humbled to be a writer and contributor for. Since I knew I would need help, I called on fellow dane101 contributor, friend and hobbit, Joshua James to help organize the event. I seriously could not have done this without him and the "magical ring" he was protecting.

Now I knew this would be a time-consuming task, but did I know exactly what I was getting myself into? Not really. Did I expect myself to get as nervous as I did about the show? Absolutely not. Will I ever try to juggle knives again? Yup. I've got to learn somehow.

The Artists, Bands and DJ's

The sweet, sweet harmonies from the Aaron Scholz Band kicked the night off at around 6pm. His originals are reminiscent of those early Uncle Tupelo albums that I love so much, which makes it apparent that Scholz’s solo act needs to play out more. Considering how early it was when Scholz played, the draw was fantastic, but because of my nervousness, I was still worried people would leave after every set. I was proven wrong and instead found that the crowd multiplied like wet mogwais.

Big props to my friend Kyle Motor for stepping in at the last minute for Matt Joyce who was home sick and could not perform. Motor was our last minute savior of the night and like always, Kyle served up that delicious, tasty "pop". You rock Kyle.

Clarity J excels as a solo artist. She can sing. She can play piano. She can write quirky, fun pop tunes. She's got it all folks. I truly love the Buffali, but feel she's just as good by herself and doing her own thing.

The fucking Takebacks. Awesome. I love this band and was happy to have some friends who have never heard them before excitedly tell me how much they enjoyed their set.

The Shinker Family Soul Revival was weird. The first ten minutes of their set was the Brewer game getting piped through the PA speakers. I was outside and was informed about it, so I rushed in, wanting to see it for myself. It ended up working alright for me, as I was kind of wondering what the score was. So Shinky, if you are reading this, thanks. And oh yeah, you two singing together is the most frickin' adorable thing I’ve seen since “March of the Penguins”.

My band the Shabelles played next. I had some issues with my cord during the first song, but after that, the vibe felt great. It was the first time playing the Frequency and I hope to play on that stage quite a bit more in the near future. Unfortunately, however, there was not much room for jump kicks.

Pale Young Gentlemen is one of those bands that have talent oozing from their ears. Since I am a sucker for stringed instruments like the cello or the viola, PYG gets bonus points. And like always, PYG brought the magic and helped class up the place for awhile.

Then El Valiente took the stage, marked its territory and owned it. That’s how I feel every time I see them. They’re always “the band” of the night. Three become one in El Valiente.

DJ Shogan and Bob Koch spun records between acts as well as closing the night with a "45 Freakout". I was sad that more people didn't stick around as it was truly phenomenal, but I understood that it was a long night and people wanted to get home to their cozy beds. Although it didn’t stop me from dancing my drunken ass off.

Note: I also had a friend email me today to say this: "I want your vinyl friends to DJ my next birthday party". Not too shabby.

Faces with Names

Besides the extremely talented and gracious bands and artists that played, I also enjoyed putting some faces to the names I have become so familiar with on-line. For instance, I met the super, sweet Emily, who posts comments here on dane101 as "The Other Emily". After she texted Lee Rayburn to get him to come out to the show for me, I felt weirdly obligated to introduce "The Other Emily" to Emily Mills. I was a bit worried that I may disrupt the balance of the universe introducing the two Emilys…but luckily, everything turned out just fine.

I also finally met Phil, one the best photographers in town. His stuff on dane101 is always top notch and found the guy incredibly nice and personable.

The Isthmus Block Party

A few blocks away, Isthmus had their annual “Madison Favorites” block party. We got word that dane101.com came in as the number 3 website in Madison, beating out channel3000. So besides being a fundraiser, it turned into a little bit of a victory party for us as well.

The Joke That Fell Flat

So the joke of the night ended up not being much of a joke at all. OK, here is what I had planned in my head: we would build up anticipation by telling everyone I would be juggling knives at the end of the night. Everyone would wonder if I would really do it. As the show wound down, I would bring the knives on stage, get in position, and stop, grab the mic and say "I'm not gonna juggle knives! Are you INSANE? Knives are sharp.” Everyone would laugh.

Unfortunately, this is not what happened. Instead, the joke fell flat and even the crickets wouldn’t oblige me with a sympathy chirp. Of course, I have no one to blame but myself as the poor execution and an unfunny concept was my own. I decided the only solution left to dig me out of this massive hole I dug was to actually juggle those damn knives. So I threw three of them up in the air, catching one of them in my hand. I got some applause, but was not exactly the gut buster I was hoping for.

Raffle Prizes

Throughout the night, we raffled off prizes we found dumpster diving, as well as prizes donated to us from local businesses like Gotham Bagels and Sacred Body Massage. My favorite reaction was Jim winning the guitar and guitar amp. He excitedly ran up as if he had won an Oscar, holding the massively heavy guitar amp in his left hand over his head with the guitar in his right hand, all while screaming. He told me later he does not know how to play, but plans to learn to “shred it”.

Thank You

What can I say? The night was a success. We made around $700 for dane101 while having the Frequency pretty much packed the whole night through. Thanks to all the artists that played for free and played so well. Thanks to Joshua, my co-organizer. Thanks to all those in attendance. It was a special night and so nice to see you all out. If I appeared abrupt at times, please don’t take it personally as I had lots on my mind and had to spread my love around to everyone that night. Of course, most importantly, thanks to you, for reading this and for reading dane101, because I highly doubt we would be doing this if there was no readership. Thanks again.

A Thank You from co-organizer Joshua James

With my head no longer swimming and my liver only now beginning to fully function, it’s time to dish out some gratitude to everyone who made Saturday night’s dane101 fundraiser at the Frequency a success. I had never put together a show before and I never thought that if I did it would be such a large bill of bands, but all the staff at the Frequency couldn’t have made it easier. I hope beyond hope that if I ever schedule another show Darwin and crew would have me back because I’ll be damned if it isn’t one of the finer venues in town.

A really big thank you to Adam Schabow, my co-organizer in crime, who somehow convinced all the bands to play for PBR and Olympia Ice. If it weren’t for Schabow I don’t think anybody would have shown up. I guess it is nice to have a friend so well connected in the Madison music scene.

Thanks to everyone who showed up early and stayed late--I should have thanked all of you personally but it would have probably gotten sloppy as the night progressed. Oh, and props to all the raffle winners who refrained from throwing away their needle work buggy picture, copy of Frampton Comes Alive, and shark t-shirt at least until they got home.

A heartfelt thank you to all the bands; Aaron Scholz Band, Clarity J, Kyle Motor (who filled in for a sick JJ Man with about two hours notice), the Shinker Family Soul Revival, the Shabelles, the Takebacks (thank you for being good sports about me blanking on your name), Pale Young Gentlemen, and El Valiente who tore the roof off the mothersucker. Last but not least to DJ Bob Koch and DJ Logan who stayed all night for the 45 Freakout and also spun records in between sets.

I could gush on and on but I save you the dramatics just thank you, thank you, thank you.

-Joshua James Trinkner

Photos by Emily Mills.