Posts tagged music

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Duke Ellington in Wisconsin:

Today is the anniversary of the death of musical legend Duke Ellington. The most prolific composer of the 20thcentury, Ellington was a musical innovator throughout his life. Commentator Dean Robbins tells us about a piece Ellington wrote just for us.

Dean Robbins is the editor of Madison’s alternative weekly, Isthmus.

 

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Dylan Slept Here

What makes an ordinary place extra-ordinary?  Discovering that one of your heroes slept there, maybe.  Commentator Dean Robbins recently stumbled on a little-known piece of music history.

Dean Robbins is the editor of Madison’s alternative weekly, Isthmus.

Images from a recent old time barn dance at the O’Brien family farm near Brooklyn, Wisconsin. Photos by Gena Larson Photography. 

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Nirvana in Madison:

20 years ago, Nirvana’s album “Nevermind” went to number one on the music charts, bringing alternative rock to a mainstream audience. Commentator Dean Robbins remembers the album’s Wisconsin roots.

Dean Robbins is the editor of Isthmus, Madison’s alternative news weekly.

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Girls Rock Camp:

Some kids go to camp to swim, sing songs, and eat s’mores around the campfire. Other kids go to camp to rock. Girls Rock Camp Madison gives girls an opportunity to find their voice and their inner rock star. Musician Beth Kille and campers Sarah Corbin and Frances Bartolutti tell us the story.

There’s a lot more to marching band practice than one might think, as evidenced in these photos of Oregon High School’s Marching Band Camp.

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Marching Band Camp:

Every year, the award-winning Oregon High School marching band spends the first weeks of summer vacation in Deerfield for a musical “boot camp” devoted to learning their new routine for the summer marching season. You think football players train hard? Check these guys out.

The 105-members of the Oregon band will wrap up their summer season this weekend at the Mid-America Competing Band Directors Association in Traverse City, Michigan. Seth Jovaag brought us this story.

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Civil War Songs:

150 years ago, Wisconsin soldiers slogged through the second year of the Civil War. Madison-based band Count This Penny set the letters of two Wisconsin soldiers to music as part of a unique Civil War arts project at the Wisconsin Veterans Museum. Today, band members Amanda and Allen Rigell share the song and story of Walter Persons.