Isthmus

Underwear parties. The Imperial Palace. The Sunspot van. Luther's Blues. Rock Star Gomeroke. The Junkers. The old New Loft. The King Club. Jane Wiedlin. Kiki's house shows. Pooley's. Full Story »

At the beginning of this decade, local radio was mostly live and staffed 'round the clock. By the decade's end, broadcast radio was almost exclusively prerecorded outside of drive-time hours. With few music-loving DJs or music directors left to navigate our local airwaves, radio was no longer a taste-making medium for new music. Full Story »

After O'Cayz Corral burned on Jan. 1, 2001, Cathy Dethmers spent more than three years planning a replacement. When she opened the High Noon Saloon in 2004, the venue instantly defined the Madison club scene. The large, well-appointed room became a haven for indie-rock touring bands, and Dethmers kept her commitment to booking local shows, too. Full Story »

Carl Johns brought all the sensibilities of indie rock to Madison music, first through NoahJohn, then through Charlemagne. His impressionistic pop-rock meandered from acoustic folk to psychedelic rock, and national music websites like Pitchfork took notice. Full Story »

The music of Madison was transformed this decade in ways that mirrored broader changes in the identity of the city itself. Full Story »

Almost everyone who's tried to make a living as a musician has heard the old adage: "Don't quit your day job." The thing is, lots of local musicians have great day jobs that they wouldn't dream of ditching, and plenty have found a way to rehearse, perform and create while the rest of us sleep, watch TV and play Wii. We're a town of weekend warriors when it comes to music making. Full Story »

Blues is one of those musical genres best experienced live, and the tunes of Madison's Cash Box Kings are no exception. The evidence is the group's new CD of nine live performances from the now-defunct Cuda Cafe in Deerfield. Full Story »

The Sounds didn't just wait patiently for success. They've earned it through years of long, hard touring that most rock bands would never endure. Full Story »

Flamenco's a cultural expression born of poverty, sex and violence in the medieval merchant ports of southern Spain. Culturally it's Spanish, Jewish, Moorish, Romani. As an art form it has churned for centuries on the rocks of politics and fashion. Flamenco's run the gamut of venues from street corners to taverns and proscenium arch theaters. Full Story »

Just because I don't want to play a certain video game very much doesn't mean I hate it. To the contrary, two new video games are quite good, objectively speaking (they're entertaining and impressive), but simply aren't my cup of coffee. Full Story »

It's official: Everybody loves SpongeBob SquarePants. You can tell by all the stars who line up for cameo appearances in the cartoon's 10th anniversary special, including Robin Williams, Pink, Tina Fey, Will Ferrell, Craig Ferguson, LeBron James and Rosario Dawson. Full Story »

Gregg Mitman thought Tales from Planet Earth would be a one-shot deal. The UW-Madison history of science professor and interim director of the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies was a principal organizer of the 2007 environmental film festival. "Opening night, there was a line two blocks long waiting to get into the Orpheum," he remembers. He had anticipated 500 people might show up the ... Full Story »

Food, Inc.: Gross, harmful aspects of America's food system are examined in this polemical documentary. The argument isn't helped by an unappetizing blend of mawkishness and preachiness. Full Story »

The Men Who Stare at Goats is one odd duck. A title card reads "More of this is true than you would believe," but it's impossible to tell what's factual in this fictionalized take on Jon Ronson's book about Army experiments in the paranormal because it all sounds so deeply ludicrous. Full Story »

Sushi is the kind of food you can't really, in good faith, dumb down. In an age when elitism has become the dirtiest word, it remains an unapologetically elitist specialty. And that's justified. Genuine sushi chefs, the kind who turn the tradition into an art form, train for years to do justice to one piece of perfect yellowtail sashimi. Full Story »

The new Hy-Vee, at 3801 East Washington Ave., was crowded on its grand opening Friday, Oct. 30. Madison schools had the day off, so kids trailed moms and dads pushing carts; plus there were lots of seniors, because who else would be grocery shopping at 10:30 a.m.? There were armies of staff, too, asking shoppers how they were doing, and mobile cashier stations to ease checkout congestion. Full Story »

The best stuff to do with your kids this month Full Story »

Does your kid have a hobby? Do you know anyone's kid who has a hobby? Adults have hobbies. Kids used to have them, too. There's a lot of anecdotal evidence that indicates there's at least a perception that the number of youngsters pursuing hobbies has declined. There seems to be a decrease in leisure time and an increase in TV-watching and videogame playing. Full Story »

At first it seemed a strange idea: a retrospective of pop music in the first decade of the new century? Did that much happen? Actually, it was jolting to think that it has been a full 10 years since the digital calendar rolled over from three nines to three zeros. But it has. Full Story »

I am appalled by your story on Wisconsin's health insurance regulator ("Unable to Resolve Your Complaint," 10/23/09). The state should take a stand, because health care is critical. Until President Obama and Congress pass the public option, it is only going to get worse. Full Story »

Contributing writer Tom Laskin weighs in on the Gomers' Tuesday rock workouts at the Club de Wash: "For nearly a year now, the local punk band has been building jams around wacky musical themes and kitsch-ridden visual gimmicks." One night they may "break out the flashpots and face paint and churn out a dozen Kiss covers." Another night, they might revisit Billboard's top 10 hits from 1967. "We ... Full Story »

UP: David Runyon. WYOU bequeaths tapes from Runyon's groundbreaking TV show, Nothing to Hide, to UW's Memorial Library. The show, which ran from 1981 until Runyon's death in 2001, is said to be the world's longest-running TV show dealing with gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues. Full Story »

Democrats drop plans to increase the liquor tax to pay for stiffer drunk driving laws. Instead they propose increasing fees for drunk drivers. Conservative Green Bay talk-show host Jerry Bader is suspended for two weeks after claiming that Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton dropped out of the governor's race because of an affair. Lawton responds: "I will be celebrating in two weeks my 36th wedding ... Full Story »

Dear Tell All: Sorry, but I have to correct your assessment of fashion or the lack thereof among University of Wisconsin-Madison students. First, you are correct about UW students dressing like total slobs -- during the day. Full Story »

Game Four of the World Series on Sunday drew an average TV audience of 22.8 million viewers. That was the highest among the first five games and the largest baseball audience since 2004, when an average of 25.4 million people watched the Red Sox sweep the Cardinals for Boston's first title since 1918. Full Story »