I caught El Valiente for the first time a while back at the High Noon Saloon supporting the Kadane Bros and Bottomless Pit and I thought they left something to be desired. How wrong was I? It could have been an off night but it also could have also been the fact that the poorly attended show made it sound as if all of the bands were playing in a cave. I’m going to choose the latter because what I witnessed this past Saturday at the Frequency was one of the finest live shows by a local – nay, any - band I have seen in Madison. Their energy, their sweat, and the sweet sound of their glockenspiel had me going through my record collection the next morning trying to dig up a copy of El Topo that Eric Caldera (guitarist) had given me the night of the High Noon show (after I had drunkenly criticized them) to see if the show at the Frequency had been just an aberration...it wasn’t.

August 21 is the 234th day of the year. On this date in 1851 John McCaffrey was executed, the last execution to be carried out under Wisconsin law.

* WSJ: UW swimming eyes new speedy, but pricey, swimsuits

* TDP: Ben Bauman creates a SOLVE tribute mural at Mother Fool's

* WISC: Costco Vs. Sam's Club On Madison's West Side

* Letter From Here: Vilas Park's wearable art that welcomes being worn away by playing children

* Palmer: Reflections on the Great taste of the Midwest

* TCT: God-Des and She get a rousing hometown welcome

* TCT: Orpheum tours benefit efforts to relight the marquee

* Dane101 Better Living: Slowing down in a world built for speed

If you are reading this, love music, and don't live in Madison, you may want to consider moving here, because the music in this city for September and October is...simply...wow...well, I'm at a loss for words, so let's just get into it.

In addition to shows featuring the Magnetic Fields, Broken Social Scene, the Walkmen, Okkervil River, and so many more, Madison will be featuring the SoCo Music Experience with The Roots and the Black Keys, the Forward Music Fest with Neko Case, Dan Deacon, Mason Jennings, and 50 plus other acts, and now this line-up from WSUM's Snake on the Lake 2008.

If the media likes a good scandal, then it loves a good sex scandal. More so, it would seem, when that scandal involves prominent politicians. Think back to the veritable media frenzy over President Bill Clinton’s dalliances with an intern, or Sen. Larry Craig’s wide stance in a Minnesota bathroom, Sen. David Vitter’s diaper fetish, or, more recently, Sen. John Edward’s extramarital affair. Why then would Wisconsin media completely drop the ball on a rather well-documented sex scandal involving the chairman of the Brown County Republican party and a minor?

Good question.

Donald Fleischman, said chairman, was charged back in 2007 with two counts of child enticement, two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a child and a single charge of exposing himself to a child. His court date is set for the third day of the upcoming Republican National Convention, September 3. The incidents upon which the charges are based allegedly took place in November of 2006. That leaves a full year between when the police initially intervened and when charges were filed.

Wednesday evening is the kickoff of day one of the annual Reverence music festival that almost didn't happen this year.

For five years, rivetheads and other connoisseurs of dark electronic music looked forward every summer to the biggest party of it's kind in the Midwest. What had started as a going away party for a local musician ironically transformed into the start of something big; by it's fifth year, Reverence had grown into four nights of industrial music and other harsh electronics from underground acts both in the land of cheese and from many other states and continents. But last year promoter Matt Fanale had grown weary of the constant stress that goes with booking bands and losing money. He announced that he was leaving the business, with the exception of setting up occasional shows for local acts or friends (as he did when the California powernoise duo C/A/T made a pit stop here while on tour in July), and was probably taking Reverence with him. But like a certain Green Bay quarterback, Fanale decided that retirement sucked (after his wife talked him out of it) and Reverence is back for a 6th round of mayhem.

August 20 is the 233rd day of the year. On this date in 1866 President Andrew Johnson formally declared the American Civil War over.

* AP: Former University of Wisconsin athlete Matt Tegenkamp qualified for the 5,000-meter Olympic track and field final on Wednesday morning

* TDP: Q & A with Nate Palan of Hometown Sweethearts

* MRD: “Derby in Dairyland,” will bring hundreds of women from the 12 top-ranked leagues in the Eastern region to complete for the title of Best in the East.

* Ald. Konkel: Those lousy air quality standards could hurt economic development!

* Dane County Parks: Dane County Parks is considering development of additional disc golf course facilities. We’ve created a list of questions for our park patrons to help us better understand user needs and desired components of future disc golf areas

* Ideas: Canada Geese At Brittingham Park in Madison

* TCT: Coffeehouse changes name to avoid lawsuit

* Dane101 Better Living: 8 Tips That Will Keep Your Refrigerator Healthy And Your Bills Low

A few years ago I realized something: I didn’t really enjoy myself at big arena shows. Even if I really liked a band a lot, and even if they played well, the huge crowd, the hassle, and the distance between me and the band kept it from being a really excellent experience. There was never any personal connection with the performers. In a lot of ways, I felt like I was just checking something off a list or seeing it just so I’d be able to say I’d done so.

Small local shows are in many ways the opposite. When there are few dozen people in the room, the band is able to play to each of them. The personality and energy of the crowd becomes a meaningful part of the show in a way that could never happen in a larger venue. For a fraction of the cost of a big national tour at the Alliant Energy Center, I can see a show a mile from home that I’ll enjoy more. It’s an easy win.

Madison's Summer of Music Festival's continues with the final festival before school starts - the Orton Park Festival. Below is a full schedule of what can be expected entertainment-wise. For more information visit the Orton Park Festival website.

August 19 is the 232nd day of the year. Today is National Aviation Day.

* Mcllheran: "...why, then, would cities paint their bike lanes such that you can't be three feet away from the parked cars?"

* Marketplace of Ideas: ...perhaps there's less urgency about gas prices in Madison because ... gas prices are (as of today) lower in Madison than in other metro areas of Wisconsin.

* Scratch Crib: During the mid-1970s Elvis and his pals took over two floors of the Art Deco hotel on the shores of Lake Mendota.

* TCT: Underground utility construction on Library Mall on the UW-Madison campus has begun and won't be completed until June 2009.

* Nichols: Baldwin to address Democratic National Convention

* WISC: Divers Continue Search For Man On Lake Monona

* PASTE: As far as summer indie-music festivals in the middle of Wisconsin go, Forward Music Festival in Madison really seems to take the cake.

* CoS: "...with a slew of new additions, including Mason Jennings, Flosstradamus, and Thao with the Get Down Stay Down now scheduled to show up between September 19 and 20, to say our mouths are watering would be an under statement."

* Dane101 Better Computing: Monitor System Changes With Tiny Watcher

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.

In just about two weeks time I’ll be burning big time jet fuel to get myself to the ProWalk/ProBike Conference in Seattle. It’s hard to believe that it’s been two years already (and in many ways it feels like it has been much longer) since I lent a hand in organizing the last conference, which was held in Madison the week after Labor Day 2006. I learned last week that the Madison conference was the biggest one ever, with over 650 people in attendance. The organizers are expecting over 700 people this year, and have some concerns that the venue will be over capacity. The first ProWalk/ProBike (then known only as ProBike, before the newer, more politically correct, name came into play) was in 1980 with only about 200 people present. This will be my fourth PWPB.

August 18 is the 231st day of the year. On this day in 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution is ratified, guaranteeing women's suffrage.

* TCT: Authorities have identified one drowning victim and will continue to search for a missing swimmer in two separate incidents Sunday on Lake Monona.

* Letter From Here: By the time we got to the Monona Terrace, the bike path had just been cordoned off and there were police and emergency vehicles eveywhere.

* WSJ: The city's Water Utility is recommending a rebate plan to encourage residents to buy high-efficiency toilets, which could save about 2.3 million gallons of water daily, the output of one well.

* Critical Badger: Why not take on a subject that needs more discussion. Something a little less safe, maybe a little more controversial? Was this a piece you saved for a lazy Sunday when you were out of material?

* Daily Mitzvah: How to make a box from paper scraps

* The CDP: Ten Hard Hitting Questions from the CDP

It has been a week since the Great Taste of the Midwest, and I have had time to reflect upon it. This was the seventh consecutive Great Taste for me, and it was probably the finest. The new, more spacious layout was comfortable, the weather was superb, and at the end of the day I was still somewhat mentally fit. Truly, a roaring success.

While the usual array of super-hopped pales, barrel-aged porters, and such were available, for me this was the year of sour brews. We’re in the Belgian era, and tart styles like lambics and saisons look to be coming into their own. I also enjoyed some tasty sour ales and interesting fruit beers. I’m a Lemonhead kind of guy, so these sour styles all made my day.

August 16 is the 229th day of the year.

* WISC: Madison Man Accused Of Squeezing Officer's Groin

* TCT: Get lost in Madison's 'Beermuda Triangle'

* Yates: Photographing storm destruction at this summers At Fair on the Square

* HotelsByCity: Madisonians love to read. And, they love their bookstores, if the number of cars parked out in front of Barnes & Noble or Borders is any indication. But those big chain stores are not the only show in town

* Physorg: University of Wisconsin-Madison and Hitachi have achieved higher data-storage density by using self-assembling block copolymers to shrink the size of the pattern manufacturing templates used in disk drives and other data-storage devices, paving the way to smaller electronic devices and higher-capacity hard drives.

* Dane101 Felon Living: Hot Wire Your Car

Let's get right into this because there is so much to get into.

In roughly an hour Rob Dz is set to get the weekend party started on the UW Memorial Union Terrace. The schedule says the event starts at 5:30 p.m. and will act as a release party for one of Madison's favorite hip-hop sons. Joining him as the sun settles in the West so a new day of Olympics can rise, will be Unity the Band and Aussie-darling Felicia Alima. Admission is free, so use what you save to pick of the new disc for R.Dz.

At 7 p.m. you can waddle on over to Electric Earth where they are throwing up some all ages fare with From Citizen to Soldier, Devil's Pie, Mouthful of Birds, Noris and Corpse Collector. OR transport yourself out to Governor Nelson State Park and enjoy the evening with Amy Curl and Dan Kennedy.