Where has the summer gone??  It’s always such a disappointment when the season(s) we really enjoy always seem to go twice as fast as our archenemy Winter.  Summer in Wisconsin is the season of festivals and outdoor entertainment, drawing people out in large numbers.  But as soon as it starts to get cold, it seems the local music scene once again has to move back indoors and hope that concert goers brave the cold to attend the winter events.  But enough about my season rant!  On to the music…

2010 has been a great year for Local Sounds.  So far, we’ve hosted two fundraisers, kicked started the process of converting from an LLC business entity to a non-profit corporation, merged with and started to redesign the ever popular Madtown Lounge website and community, continued to increase the momentum and growth of Local Sounds Magazine and Local Sounds TV, re-launched MadisonUrban.com as HipHopMadison.com, and started the Local Sounds Music Museum on the Madtown Lounge website.  And it’s only August!

This fall, Local Sounds is once again sponsoring the Industry Meltdown Midwest Music Summit.  If you remember, we were a small part of the inaugural year when it was held at the Monona Terrace Convention Center in Madison in 2008.  This year, it is being held at Potawatomi Bingo and Casino in Milwaukee on September 17th and 18th, 2010.  Check out their website (link above) for more information.

This fall also marks another first for the Madison area as the First Annual Madison Hip-Hop Awards is held at the Orpheum Theatre on November 5th. Local Sounds is proud to play a part in this event and newly formed organization by using its HipHopMadison.com as a website and portal to information about the award show, artist registration, voting, and more.

We’d like to thank everyone who has either volunteered, partnered with, supported, or helped us in some way this year.  Part of our mission includes creating lasting relationships with other local music organizations, volunteers, bands and fans to build the community, and we think we’ve done a pretty decent job this year.  Here’s to more to come this year, and into 2011!

Support your local music scene.  If you don’t, who will?

Matt, Rick, Allen, and Lucas

Join us on Saturday, July 24, 2010 as we host the First Annual Local Sounds Luau at the Frequency Live Music Venue in downtown Madison!

Come out and enjoy the summer weather at our Hawaiian-themed party, complete with a view of the beach, tiki lights, leis and monkeys!  Cabana wear is encouraged, so come in flip flops, shorts, swim wear, tank tops or sarongs!

There will be live music all evening long from three local Madison bands, including Meteorade, Underculture and The Cemetery Improvement Society.  There may even be a limbo contest!

The festivities begin at 8:00pm, $6.00 at the door.

And of course, as Rick says: “Everybody is gonna get leid!”  Hope to see you there!

(Click here to see the Facebook Event Page)

The Madison Blues Society is holding its 8th Annual Blues Picnic on Saturday, June  19, 2010 at Warner Park. This great event continues to be FREE! Everyone from the community and beyond can come and enjoy a fantastic day of music, food, beer and fun in the sun!

We’ve got another great lineup of music and there’s plenty of room for dancing. If just hanging out is your style, there’s also lots of room for blankets and chairs with shade under the trees. We’ll have a variety of traditional and ethnic food vendors to give you lots of options for great eat and drink. And Capital Brewery will be back with their fine brews.

This year’s performers include:

• 11:30AM to 12:25PM - Tate and the 008 Band
• 12:45PM to 1:40PM - Shake Daddys
• 2:00PM to 2:30PM - Joe’s Blues Kids
• 2:30PM to 3:25PM - Cash Box Kings
• 3:45PM to 5:00PM - Reverend Raven and the Chain Smokin’ Altar Boys
• 5:30PM to 7:00PM - John Primer
• 7:30PM to 9:00PM - Grana’ Louise

Local Sounds and Madtown Lounge are proud to be supporters of this year’s picnic.  We look forward to seeing you there!

The 7th Annual Madison Area Music Awards promises to be the biggest and best yet.  The big news is, we’ve moved the show to the Capitol Theater in the Overture Center.

The date of the awards show is Saturday, May 8th, 2010. Reserve the date now as you won’t want to miss this signature Madison event.  Once again, the MAMAs will be hosted by John Urban.  This year’s special musical guest is Jimmy Voegeli, playing the Capitol Theater organ.

PERFORMING AT THIS YEAR’S MADISON AREA MUSIC AWARDS:

• Aaron Williams & the Hoodoo
• Whitney Mann and Band
• Sunspot
• The Lucas Cates Band
• dumate
• VO5
• MAMAs All-Star Fusion Band (featuring Hanah Jon Taylor, Clyde Stubblefield, Biff Blumfumgagnge, Gary Chin and Louka Patenaude)

More as information will be posted as it becomes available here: http://bit.ly/bQ7h6Q

Next Level Productions and Bellatoria Pizza are proud to present the return of ROCK THE SOUND. This years fundraising efforts go to the Madison Area Music Association, to help them continue to “put instruments in the hands of kids.” This event takes place at Scatz in Middleton WI. on April 3rd. It will feature the absolute best of Madison area all original rock. This line up will also feature the debut of new Faces For Radio drummer, Phill Buerstatte, and the debut of Shawn Brown’s new band The Viscous Circle. Along with the legendary Muzzy Luctin, Cudasigh, The Motherhive Syndicate, Don Bakken, and new comers Transient. This is a show that cannot be missed.

Guitar Center will be giving away a guitar and WJJO’s Kurt Baron will be there to introduce the bands and will be doing call backs to the station during the event. Kurt will also host a special WJJO Local Stage on March 28th, at 9:00pm, that will feature all the bands on this bill.

This is as local as it gets folks. If you’ve ever considered yourself a supporter of the local music scene, you need to be at this show. No more of downtown vs. suburbs, Madison Music scene UNITE, if only for one night.

This show is sponsored by: Bellatoria Pizza, Apparel 1, Capital Brewery, Nuclearview Design, Maximum Ink, Raintite Construction, Megatone Studios, and Guitar Center.

Event URL: http://themamas.org/madison-area-music-award-events/scatz-sports-bar-nightclub-fundraiser/

Event URL to Share: http://bit.ly/cOFFd7

Next Level Productions Interview http://magazine.localsounds.org/