Just "Madison's," yes. It's right across the street from the Great Dane, a block from the capitol. And no pretensions, believe me. That would last about 2 seconds there. The times when we DO learn something really good, really difficult, and then we pull it off perfectly, it's nice and humbling when not a single person claps, much less turns around to look at you mid-cellphone call from the bar. But most evenings, somebody with good taste comes in and notices. I console myself looking for that guy / girl in the crowd most evenings. Somebody once walked up mid-Jason Faulkner song, singing the lyrics! That was impressive.

There's rocking out:



And then there's rocking out in front of the world's coolest mic stand

this is going to be a game time decision based on the cover at the door.

No cover.

Great news.... congrats AND happy birthday!

this is going to be a game time decision based on how far i have to walk and whether i can make it that far.

oh, and then there is rocking out with a Janet Jackson/Garth Brooks style headset mic (not recommended):

...wow. Dancin around like he think he Janet Jackson! Wish we had some Highschool pics, like singing at his graduation!!

Understood. It'd be really nice to meet you, but I'll stop getting my hopes up. Either way, I hope you have a really good time. And bring a coat... it's anywhere from 40 to 8 degrees out this week.

Dat backyard Pluma stage?!!?

STOP THE MADNESS KURTZ!

yeah, i'd like to pull it off, but at the moment i don't know WHERE in madison i'm going to be, and you make it sound like there's a possibility that i'd die halfway there due to exposure. also i'll be with a particularly obnoxious friend of ours who i may not want to be seen with. still, we'll hope for the best. maybe this time i won't tell the gf that i want to meet some dudes that i talk to online when i'm supposed to be working and i'll just mention "hey, this bar looks all right, let's pop in". pretend we went to college together and she'll never know the difference.

Ditto... my wife'll be there. "Hon, this is... Chase, I think. We met online. Anywho-" I have to go see the irish show afterwards, as I never get to see those guys anymore, and I get the "guest list" treatment, so as soon as we're done @ madison's I'll be heading there (about 5 blocks away). They're good, and the place is very very nice.

How obnoxious is the friend?

he can be pretty bad, but he's a moody fucker so i won't know where his head's at until RIGHT when we get there.

Complete with bucket of beer JUST FOR ME!!!

Congrats to you, now drink up!

Man, are you getting paid to babysit this guy? Yikes. Well, if you have a choice, try to have fun. If I knew your area / route, I'd recommend good bars close by.

Maybe you can drop him off at the (junky as all get-out) strip club, and then pick him up again at like 2.

Hey Kurtz! Make me an avatar of that one of me really drunk. Dat fungy!

he was a good friend of the gf when they were on college, and there's been times when i've really enjoyed his company and then there's been other times. and honestly i'm not sure that the strip club thing would work because i've known him for 5 or 6 years and i still really don't know what team he plays for, or even which sport. he's in law school at UW so i assume that we'll be near that, and he's mentioned something called state street. honestly i'm just going b/c i've got some family in wisconsin i want to see, but mostly because i've just never been to wisconsin.

State street is the main drag downtown, pedestrian / cab only, and it's lined with bars, resturaunts, and shops, for its entire 5 or 6 block length. There's good and bad. It's about 85% students there... gets rowdy late at night. That's where the infamous Halloween riots are nearly every year. Madison's is diagonally across the captiol from State St.

i didn't know that you guys had riots.

We got riots, we got the Onion, the got the Capitol Brewery (purveyors of delicious Capitol Amber, god love 'em)...

Madison = "200 square miles surrounded by reality." Most militantly liberal place you're likely to find. Wierd, heavily-backed political correctness, mixed with drunken fratboys. Lakes everywhere. More bars than I ever thought possible. Great musicians cooking your mexican food, bike lanes on almost all major roads, great place.

i've heard only good things about it, save from my grandfather who called it a "hotbed of liberal..." and then i kind of lost it in the yelling. i think that it was negative, and i think that he included portland in that too at some point. i'm looking forward to the trip, just wish that i could afford to make it longer.

sounds like a larger version of boulder.

oh, and happy birthday to busty...and congrats on the job.

hmmmm.......High school band pics, you say?





Yes, its the world famous Opus Fairgrounds

*shudder*



<----------just died a little inside.