It is a major festival weekend in Dane County with both Madison and Middleton rolling out solid weekends of music, entertainment and food. We wrote about Madison's Orton Park Festival earlier this week, so we might as well as start off with Middleton's Good Neighbor Festival.

Starting tonight at 5 p.m. you can travel to downtown Middleton and ride various carnival attractions. The carnival runs all weekend. One of the most amusing non-music events of the weekend takes place on Saturday at 11 a.m. when Middleton hosts the Mascot Challenge. The mascot list for 2008 has yet to be released, but last year featured Bucky Badger, Maynard from the Mallards, Culver's Scoopie, and many more. Note to self, add Dane101 mascot creation to action item list.

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.

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.

Besides being the lead singer in one of my favorite local bands The Runners-Up, Erika Zar (a.k.a. Aunt Goodness) is also a dear, dear friend of mine that recently had surgery. This Wednesday, at the High Noon Saloon, there will be a benefit to help her out with some of those damn doctor bills.

I sent Erika some questions regarding her recent illness and the benefit show. Enjoy!!

I know you are currently writing an article for Dane101 about your medical experiences you have recently gone through, so I don't want you to give away too much information, but what exactly happened?

Well I wouldn't necessarily call it an article. It'll probably be more like a rant about being trapped in the hospital for a week. Don't get your hopes up.

This is a "not enough time in the day" edition of Music Around Madison, because lots going on, but not enough time to pontificate on anything. So, coming fast and hard, here are some recommendations and you are encouraged to add everything I miss in the comments.

Friday

Willy Porter will be dazzling the audience on the Terrace with his clever song craft and elegant guitar work. This is a unique show in Madison for the Mequon, Wisconsin native who, I think, typically plays at the Barrymore when he passes through. Perfect artist for one of the last summer night's of 2008. Tim Whelan's Trio will be warming up the audience before Porter takes the stage as the sunsets.

If I ever opened a music venue I think I would equip it with an air conditioning unit that felt like you were stepping onto the frozen plains of Antarctica. Today I spoke with a woman from Texas who claimed it was 105 degrees, “How’s the humidity?” I asked. “It never gets that humid,” she said in her regional drawl. I envied her. In the past couple days I have managed to sweat through my rather extensive t-shirt collection, even the ironic one’s purchased from a thrift store when I didn’t know any better. If this weather doesn’t let up soon I’m going to have to either do laundry or share with the world the hair on my nipples; I’m going with the former, nobody needs to see a topless Joshua James. This weeks shows come to us from the fine folks at True Endeavors and take place in venues that may or may not have A/C. The usual rules apply be the first to comment with the show you wish to attend and the pair of tickets are yours. Provided of course that you haven’t won in the last three weeks. On with the shows this is it!

Here are some musical events occurring around these parts this day and the day after this day.

Dane101 and the Majestic are presenting a "Rock Band Night" tonight. Ten "rock bands" will be doing battle on the main stage to see who is the ultimate virtual rockstar (XBOX 360 version). Everyone is welcome to come try their skills in between rounds. More information is available here. 8 p.m.

At the Project Lodge, K Records recording artist Jeremy Jay will be bringing his Buddy Holly/Interpol influenced songwriting to the intimate stage. He'll be joined by TD Reisert and Black Umbrella. 7 p.m.

Half a year ago, Madison’s The Box Social and Milwaukee’s Quinn Scharber and The... spent one of the coldest nights of the winter blowing the minds of Café Montmartre’s packed house of thrillingly rabid booze-soaked fans. If you were one of the lucky masses in attendance that night, you know that both bands performed with an electric energy delivered from complete sincerity, honesty and confidence about the work they were there to present. To say that the evening was special would be a massive understatement. This Thursday, the bands will be back to do it all over again.

Check out this coincidence, the image on the cover of the new Crustacean Records DVD is an obvious nod to Batman and the DVD is being released on the same weekend that the new Batman film, The Dark Knight, hits the screen. What do you think of them apples?

Anyway, another summer weekend in Madison means another busy weekend in Madison. Maxwell Street Days starts today and runs until Sunday all up and down State Street. If you were wondering how State Street construction might impact the festival of consumption, no worries, a check yesterday revealed things were rather nicely cleaned up and sidewalk space will be readily available. In addition to downtown shopping, the Dane County Fair is in full gear at the Alliant Energy Center with plenty of fun for the whole family. Pride Fest kicked off last night at the High Noon and continues until Sunday with events all over the city. Other than that, as always, we have a boatload of music to check out.

When I was in grade school, I thought learning your instruments was the last step at being a musician in a band. After all, who has money for instruments when you are a kid? In the meantime, we figured we would work on our dance moves and how “cool” we looked together playing. So, in Tim Wendland’s basement, three friends and myself would put on Poison’s “Unskinny Bob” and air guitar, air drum, air bass and lip sync our instruments. Luckily, I was taking drum lessons at the time and my instrument was already chosen for me. My friends, however, had to vote on who should play what instrument. This, of course, already caused in-fighting within the band. Who has the flare to be the lead singer? Who has the bad attitude to play lead guitar? Who is going to get stuck playing bass? Eventually, this was all worked out and we voted on the band name, “T.A.N.G”. (Tim, Adam, Nate and Greg).

Prepare to get your local music feast on — all over again. Starting at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday July 13 the High Noon will host the 2nd Annual Rock & Roll Buffet local music festival. The now annual event features the same “seven bands for seven bucks” buffet-style format as last summer as well as the purposefully diverse and eclectic lineup of seven Madison bands, served up in succession throughout the day.

Easing you into the seven hour long local music binge will be the palette cleansing, bluegrass and Celtic-inspired Old Tin Can String Band. In an era of overproduction, the five-piece, all acoustic group is the perfect way to settle in at the High Noon and prepare your ears for a long feast of assorted local bands.

At the risk of sounding gushy, John Mayer at Summerfest 2008 was totally wicked awesome.

The mark of a great performer and highly talented musician is someone who can bring a crowd of 17,000 people from all ages, backgrounds and lifestyles together for 2 hours of utter musical and wit-filled entertainment.

John played an array of older songs that he deemed “his roots”, new music we haven’t heard before, current hits, and all-time favorites. He rocked harder, serenaded softer and wooed everyone from teeny boppers to grandmas (and some dudes, too, I think).

Saturday was my first trip out to the new Frequency nightclub and I’ve got to say I really took a liking to it. At first I had some reservations; not because of the club, Darwin, its history or anything; just that I typically get frustrated by the lack of attendance at live music events and a small room just underscores that reality. But the key word in that last sentence is “reality” and by the end of the evening I felt privileged to have seen such a magnificent performance by Sleeping in the Aviary in such a personal setting. That, and the fact that the mixing, provided by Eric Brusewitz, was top-notch. Controlling the levels in such a small space and keeping the vocals on top are the mark of excellence and as long as Brusewitz is behind the modest Mackie board at the Frequency things will be okay.