WORT is having a block party? As they say on the internets, w00t! That must mean summer is officially here! Hoo-rah! The WORT Block Party returns to South Bedford Street for year number 11 on May 18 officially kicking off not just summer in Madison, but also the city's busy festival season. The event celebrating one of the longest running community radio stations in these United States starts at 11 a.m. and runs until 7 p.m. In between those hours there is beer provided by local breweries, music ranging from celtic rock to bluegrass, and food. The band schedule is below:

If you are looking for a way to honor our nation's bravest this Veteran's Day you can consult the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs page. The Wisconsin Historical Society issued a statement "saluting our newest Veterans." Governor Jim Doyle issued a statement. We could only find few events listed for Madison, including the press release we received early this morning.

From the Veterans for Peace Madison Chapter:

On Veterans Day, Nov. 11, 2007, the Veterans for Peace Clarence Kailin Chapter 25, Madison, will present a “Memorial Mile”—some 4300 tombstones along the frontage at Olbrich Park, 3527 Atwood Ave., Madison. This is the estimated number of American casualties so far in Iraq and Afghanistan. The tombstones will be erected from 7 - 10 am and a ceremony to Mourn the Dead, Heal the Wounded and Stop the War will be held at 2 pm across from the garden, near the tennis courts and parking lot. In case of inclement weather, the ceremony will be held at the East Side Business Men’s Association, 3735 Monona Dr. just south of Olbrich Park.

If you thought Halloween ended when they street swept State Street, think again. Madison has plenty more reasons to keep applying make-up and costumes. Vampire Jedi anyone (or would that be Vampire Sith)? Below are some ideas:

Zombie Tuesday!: No matter how hard we try the zombies just refuse to stay in the ground here in Madison. They lurched down State Street a couple weekends ago and on Tuesday will be taking part in a Zombie Dance Party at the King Club. UW-Madison's student radio will be hosting this event.

At 11:45 a.m. on Saturday, I was frantically driving to the far East side to make it to my bank before closing time. The bright orange demarcations of construction were everywhere on East Washington, mucking up traffic and adding to my frustration. I drove past the Big Lots and the Wendy’s and the cell phone stores galore, finally reaching the sprawl of asphalt that contained my bank, everyone else’s banks, any suburban franchise restaurant one could dream up, and all the big box stores. I found myself thinking, with glee, how lucky I am that I live with my daughter in Madison, Wisconsin, where countless modern “necessities” are just a stone’s throw away from a couple of beautiful lakes, a jewel of a capitol building, the University, the world’s best farmer’s market, State Street… needless to say, after my transaction we turned right back around and headed downtown.

Geek.Kon got off to a great start yesterday. Here are some photos from the event by me, Chris Norris, including the Costume Masquerade. The Con runs until 4pm today.

After spending the day at Geek.Kon, Madison's first (hopefully annual) gathering of the geeks, there's plenty to write about. A weekend wrap-up is coming soon, including a photo gallery, but for now let's just say we were wowed by geek couture. The costumes were ace. The shoes, occasionally mind-boggling. Wigs were plentiful, snarky pins and badges abounded, and we think there may have been a dress entirely held together by a chain of Swingline staples. But the t-shirts? Priceless. Here's a list of t-shirt slogans we saw. We left out the ubiquitous Geek.Kon shirt, though it boasted perhaps the best phrase of all, "Get your geek on." We also left out the equally eyecatching slew of No Brand Con tees, and of course the nudge, wink "Talk Nerdy To Me"--both were everywhere. Did you see one that stood out? Leave it in the comments!

1. Music Pirate
2. I Heart Thor
3. Zombie Killer
4. +1 Shirt
5. Geek Orthodox
6. Reduce, Reuse, Reanimate
7. Geeks Rule
8. Don't Think Twice: You Didn't Get It The First Time
9. Swordplay!
10. Wingman
11. Let's Make Biscuits
12. The Big Cheese
13. Schrodinger's Cat is Dead
14. Perfectionist
15. You're Unique, Just Like Everyone Else
16. Better Off Undead
17. It's A Legitimate Exit Strategy
18. Paladin: Property of the Gaming Dept. (thought it was a Badger tee for a moment)
19. Danger: Rabid Fangirl
And the ultimate geek t-shirt:
20. roses are #FF0000, violets are #0000FF, all my base are belong to you

The bride and groom who were married at Pres House at approximately 1 pm this afternoon will not be lacking intriguing background scenery for the pictures they were snapping outside the church. To their left, Logarhythm was rocking out on Library Mall surrounded by bobbing heads and "Legalize It" banners. To their right, a steady stream of eager costume-clad, tail-wagging geeks headed towards the Humanities Building, computers, swords, and robots (yep, I saw a robot on a leash) in tow.

We were told at the registration table that the turnout was already creeping over 1000 registrants-- far more than the potential 200 that Kon planners had envisioned back in February. Way to go! This is sure to be a boon to Madison in the future. More to come about Geek.Kon, but we'll leave you with this choice echodrop:

What was in the skies over Belleville, Wisconsin during the months of January through April in 1987? Two decades later, no one knows for sure if the more than a dozen unidentified object reports were actual UFOs, but the citizens of Belleville are unwilling to let it go (and we are the better of for it). Every year the curious and convinced descend on Belleville to celebrate UFO Day - when the town pretty much celebrates the alleged visitations by extraterrestrials.

The Belleville sightings have been studied by "UFO experts," such as the Center for UFO Studies, and been ruled legitimate UFO sightings. Since then, the last weekend of every October, events themed around the unexplained are held. The all day event starts at 8:30 a.m. on October 27 and runs right on until 1 a.m. October 28.

Dane101 presents the MadPubQuiz of Awesomeness - All Joss Whedon. Questions will be completely mined from Whedon's television shows: Firefly, Angel, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

As always with all of our pub quizzes, the break down will be eight rounds with 10 questions each round. In this case three will be Buffy, two will be Angel, and two will be Firefly. The remaining two are as yet to be determined, but will likely be quote rounds. There will also be a bonus "identify that second tier character" picture round.

Teams of three to five. Registration is $5 per team to be collected on the day of the event. Starts at 9 p.m. on October 8 at The Old Fashioned (21 N. Pinckney Street). Please register your team name ASAP via Facebook or by writing to info @ dane101 . com with "Joss Whedon Quiz" in the subject line.

Being the 30th year of the fair that captures the spirit of Madison better than any other it was interesting to see the old and new stand side by side. Nowhere was this more evident then the contrast between the juggling escapades of the Truly Remarkable Loon and the positive hip hop message of Elements of Change. Click here to read more.

Madison continues to herald the end of summer and the beginning of fall this week with yet more celebrations in the form of festivals. From a Madison World Music Festival on campus to the Willy Street Fair on Williamson Street there is more than enough to keep you and yours occupied.

Putting the previously mentioned better known festivals aside for a moment, let's take a look at some things you may not have been aware are happening around town and the region.

As mentioned before on Dane101, Geek-Kon seems to have a little bit of everything. Brian Hagen is in charge of the Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero rooms and will also be featured on two panels, one concerning Japanese Pop music and another concerning something called Yaoi. Dane101 sat down with Hagen to find out what can be expected.

DDR/GH

Everyone has that one friend. The friend that truly can rock out with Guitar Hero or all of the beats of Dance Dance Revolution down like riding a bike. You sit there watching and wonder one of two things - “Wow, I wish I didn't have a job and could play Guitar Hero all day” or “Jimmy is so good he must be the leader of the Dance Dance Revolution!” Or maybe that GH/DDR pro is you? Are you?

When September rolls around in Madison it always feels the city is celebrating our last month on Earth. September 2007 is no different with plenty of festivals, music, and more helping us bid "farewell" to the summer and say "how do you do?" to the fall.

After the Taste of Madison during the first weekend of September, weekend number two kicks it up a notch.

It's not easy being a geek with a diverse palate. Every branch of the geek hierarchy (and there is an actual geek hierarchy with published sci-fi authors sitting comfortably at the top) pretty much has a convention every year in some form or another. However, a hard look at the list of conventions targeted toward geeks reveal one major omission – there appears to be no convention that brings RPGers, anime lovers, cosplayers, Guitar Hero Masters, LARPers, video gamers, DDR Champions, Magic the Gathering pros, and J-Pop fans together in one place. Madison's Geek-Kon aims to change that – and why not? Wisconsin is, after all, the birthplace of one of the largest “geek” conventions in the world – GenCon. Starting with 12 attendees in Lake Geneva in 1967 at the home of Gary Gygax (one of the founders of Dungeons and Dragons), the roleplaying game enthusiast convention has since grown in attendance, moved from Wisconsin, and is now split into multiple conventions around the world. The U.S. Convention in Indiana hosted more than 20,000 attendees in 2006. Still, GenCon pretty much focuses on roleplaying games and some video gaming – and all of those geeks with a diverse palate – left out in the cold.