Over the last few days there has been a lot of controversy regarding Tweets sent by Green Bay Packers Nick Barnett and Jermichael Finley and Aaron Rodgers.

I actually have a solution so this doesn’t happen again.  I’m proud to announce a new product which will revolutionize the way we communicate with each other!  It’s called the Twitter Critter.  This tool will make using Twitter so much better for everyone and it’s FREE!

The Twitter Critter is a special upgrade for your Twitter account.  It’s something that will make each Tweet you send infinitely better.

Let me explain how the Twitter Critter works.  First of all, you don’t need to buy anything new to use the Twitter Critter.  It’s already with you and located in a solid, protective case above your neck!  It’s between your ears and behind your eyes.

Go ahead.  Take a moment to rub your hand on top of your head.  Yes, that’s it.  The Twitter Critter is located under that hard surface.

Okay.  Now that you’ve found your Twitter Critter, let me explain how to use it.

Using Twitter was really easy in the past.  In fact, it was just two simple steps.

Step 1: Type any thought that comes into your mind on your Twitter account.

Step 2: Hit enter.

Now with the Twitter Critter there’s only one more step.

Step 1: Type any thought that comes into your mind on your Twitter account.

Now here’s the big difference:

STEP 2:  TAKE A FRIGGIN’ SECOND TO LOOK AT WHAT BRILLIANT THOUGHT YOU WROTE AND THEN USE YOUR TWITTER CRITTER TO DECIDE IF IT’S REALLY WORTH SENDING OUT.

Step 3 now actually has three choices:

Choice 1) Hit enter

Choice 2) Edit what you wrote and make it better

Choice 3) *Best Choice* Erase and stop Tweeting because no one really gives a crap about your random thoughts anyway.

Good luck and enjoy using your Twitter Critter!   In fact, you can even try to use your Twitter Critter in other situations like when you speak.

Fitz And The Tantrums

High Noon Saloon

January 30th, 2011

Fitz And The Tantrums is a band you must see live.  The 6-group band came to Madison and brought enough energy for everyone in the crowd at the High Noon Saloon (and it was full of people).  They have the art of showmanship down.  It’s amazing.  Lead singers Michael Fitzpatrick and Noelle Scaggs are so complementary to each other.  If you haven’t heard of the band before, you probably have heard of the song “MoneyGrabber.”  Here it is below:

The High Noon Saloon is the perfect venue for this group and the crowd was an eclectic mix of ages.  It’s nice to go to a show where a wide variety of people like the music.  They played through a variety of their songs off their album “Pickin’ Up The Pieces” and a few new hits, most notably the songs “Wake Up” and “6 AM.”

I think the beauty of this band is that they have a great sound that is both entrenched in the past and enterprising in the present.  They have a nice mix of indie and Motown.  Their songs are, for the most part, irresistibly good.  They have a foot-stomping storming sound that gravitates towards the drum and the beat.  Scaggs and Fitzpatrick have a great stage presence and seem to feed off of one another.  The physical and lyrical interplay between them is kinetic.  I also have to give credit to the others members of the band.  James King is incredible on saxophone and flute.  Joseph Karnes is forceful on bass.  Jeremy Ruzumka was energizing on the keyboards.  And the drummer John Wicks was great.  Wicks came on just before the encore and talked about how Clyde Stubblefield, the famous drummer from Madison, was an inspiration for him and he hoped everyone at the show would donate some money for Stubblefield’s kidney transplant.

The Best Moment of the Show:

At the very end of the show, right before the grand finale of “MoneyGrabber,” Fitzpatrick and Scaggs had everyone get as low as they could go to the floor and had everyone dance up as the song got louder.  It was so much fun.

Overall:

This was a phenomenal show that featured a great band playing some cool songs.  I still think this band has a lot more in them creatively and it will be great to see them get bigger and bigger.  I highly recommend that people go see them live.

-Soren Nieminen

Independent Madison artist and former Project M contestant Whitney Man has landed an opening slot for Loretta Lynn on February 12 at the Hoyt  Sherman Theatre in Des Moines, Iowa.

Whitney Mann released her self-titled debut EP The Way Back Home and was featured on NPR and won the 2010 Madison Area Music Award for New Artist of the Year.  She grew up in Camden,Michigan and started singing and songwriting there.  She went to school at the University of Michigan receiving a degree in English and now lives in Madison.

Mann has played at Summerfest, opening for Willie Nelson and George Jones.  You can check some of her music and her upcoming shows on MySpace.  Her next show in Madison will be  on February 13th at the Oblrich Botanical Garden.

Here is a video of Whitney Mann and her band at the 2010 Madison Area Music Awards:

Seattle’s Fleet Foxes plan on releasing their second album May 3rd. The band has just made the title track Helplessness Blues available as a free download. Robin Peckhold’s vocals sound amazing.. perfect for today’s snowy blast! Their first tour in a couple years begins April 30th in Vancouver.

Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues by subpop

What could be better in the dead of winter than a festival dedicated to beer and cheese?

I had a great time at the Isthmus Beer and Cheese Festival on Saturday. Because Mike and I haven’t missed a Great Taste of the Midwest in years, and plan vacations around visiting brewpubs, you might think we would have tried every beer there is.

You would be wrong, Hops-and-barley breath! Yes, I did have a chance to re-sample some old favorites. And I did find some new tasty treats.

I even discovered a couple of new brewpubs. St. Francis Brewery is located in the southern Milwaukee suburb of St. Francis. How it managed to open in the spring of 2009 without me knowing it is beyond me. I tried the Lust Weissbier, which I really enjoyed, even though I usually don’t like wheat beers. According to their website they use a special strain of yeast that results in wonderful banana and clove flavors, and they didn’t lie. And I was glad it was not too yeasty.

The Woodman Brewery is located in Woodman, WI, between Boscobel and Potosi. I tried the pilsener, which was a light (but not “lite”) tasting, drinkable brew. A quick check of their website shows they also offer more choices include a honey raspberry beer which sounds interesting, and a chocolate porter coming soon.

Other ones that I circled in my beer menu were the Scottish Porter from Brewery Creek in Mineral Point (Mike also raved about the Frankenshandy), the Bitter Blonde from South Shore Brewery in Ashland (it wasn’t bitter), and the root beer from the Potosi Brewing Company.

Oh–there was cheese too. I loved the Apple Smoked Cheddar from Carr Valley Cheese in Middleton, and Mike kept going back for the Buttermille Blue from Emmi Roth USA in Verona.

Organizers of the festival say it was a big success, and they’re planning another for next year. I suggest you attend.

Yes, I know it’s Monday and the caption contest winner has not yet been announced. On Wednesday, the worst thing that can happen to a DJ named Gabby happened. I lost my voice!  I could barely talk on Thursday and ended up staying home the rest of the week NOT TALKING. It was the longest few  days of my life.

But we DO have winners!!! So, let’s get right too it.    

We start, as always, with honorable mentions, starting with Sara’s simple and to the point caption:

You think this is weird, you should see my brother and his ant farm!

Then we have Steve:

jacque cousteau’s other brother kooky cousteau try’s to follow in his brothers footsteps, but just doesn’t quite get the hang of the scuba thing….

Kraig shows compassion in his caption:

Forget about Bartholomew!  Hasn’t anybody considered just how unnerving this entire experience was for the goldfish?

Eric get a nod because of an obvious reason. : )

Maxwell should of read the fine print.  He thought he was entering a contest to win hIs very own, private, underwater Phish concert!

I chose Anne’s caption because I love a play on words:

Someone told Mikey he should “sleep with the fishes”. Nobody told him what to do when he woke up.

Our final 2 used the same theme, and I went with the first one received, so our first runner-up is Paul!

NASA’s budget cutbacks resulted in some rather unfortunate lapses in judgment concerning safety issues.

That means this week’s winner of these FABULOUS prizes is JAN!  

Due to governmental cutbacks, several agencies had to merge together.  Meet the dept. of  DNR/Clean air/clean water/freedom of speech/peta/healthcare.

On the heels of her award winning memoir Just Kids Patti Smith has suggested she plans on releasing a number of literary projects in the future. The first of which is a detective novel she’s been working on the past couple of years. Smith has loved detective novels since she was a kid and says her next work is inspired by Sherlock Holmes and crime writer Mickey Spillane.

She has also been working on a new record and is planning a brief UK tour. Patti’s son Jackson, a guitarist married to Meg White and her daughter, a composer, have been rumored to take part in a few of the UK dates.

If you haven’t had a chance to pick up Just Kids, here’s a compelling excerpt from the book read by Patti herself.  She has such an inherent ability to emotionally move you no matter what the venue.

Looking for a great place for a relaxing night out, in a casual comfy atmosphere? I know that sounds like the opening line to a commercial. But it’s really the best way to sum up the night Mike and I had at Quivey’s Stable Grill during Madison Restaurant Week.

The Stable Grill is located inside a stable built back in 1855, and is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Mike and I felt comfortable right away! We also enjoyed the juxtaposition of the setting with the 80’s music that was playing in the background. I hadn’t heard “She Drives Me Crazy” by the Fine Young Cannibals in a long time!

But I digress. Mike and I started by ordering a couple of great local Ale Asylum Beers, and then made our choices off the special 3-course menu. We both ordered the same thing so it made things easy for our extremely cordial server.

We started off with the spinach salad, which was topped with warm bacon dressing, red onion, mushrooms and hard boiled egg. It was a delicious blend of flavors and went great with the Madtown Nut Brown beer.

Next was the entree..which was a fish fry that went way over the top! It was comprised of beer-battered whitefish, pretzel-crusted lake perch and crispy rainbow trout fingers. You can tell that Quivey’s really pays attention to the batter, because each was quite unique and flavorful. Not like some places where it seems like all the fish is dumped into the same mixture of flour and milk. The french fries were huge with great potato flavor and a fine accompaniment to the fish.

For dessert we picked the turtle pie, which looked fantastic. I’m sure it will be decadent and delicious..it’s sitting in the fridge at home waiting for us.

Quivey’s Grove Stable Grill is open for lunch and dinner and there’s even a happy hour Monday thru Thursday from 4-6pm. It’s a great place to go during Restaurant Week, or any time!

Find out more about Quivey’s Grove Stable Grill and the Stone House next door here.

I’m worried.

I’m scared.

Frankly, I’m a little sick to my stomach.

As you may know, I’m a Bears fan and I made a friendly wager with Mayor Dave.  He, of course, is a Packers fan.  The bet was simple. If the Bears would have won last week, Mayor Dave would come on my show and sing “Bear Down, Chicago Bears.”  It’s a great song and I’m sure everyone would have enjoyed hearing it.  The song has great lyrics like:

“Bear down, Chicago Bears.  Let every play lead the way to victory”

“Bear down, Chicago Bears.  Put up a fight with a might so fearlessly”

“We’ll never forget the way you thrilled the nation with the T-formation”

“You’re the pride and joy of Illinois, Chicago Bears…Bear Down”

That’s a great song and I’m sure Mayor Dave would have a sounded fantastic.   Alas, we won’t get to hear him sing.  However, I have to live up to my part of the bet and that’s what is making me sick.  We bet that if the Packers won, I’d have to come to a Madison City Council Meeting dressed in full Packers garb.  Here’s the problem.  I don’t know if I can really do it. I have some strict rules when it comes to wearing clothes and more specifically sports gear.  I know these rules are strange, but I’ve stuck to them since, well, since forever.

Rule #1  Don’t wear the same underwear more than 3 2 days in a row.

Rule #2 It is acceptable to wear a shirt inside out to hide a food stain

Rule #3 Only wear sports gear from Chicago (except the Cubs)

Rule #4 Only wear college gear from Wisconsin (my alma mater) OR college gear from my wife, Lindsay’s school. (Lewis & Clark)

Rule #5 Never, ever, ever, wear sports gear from the enemy such as Packers, Twins, Vikings, Indians, Golden Gophers.

I have followed these rules my entire life..  I was going to ask Mayor Dave if we could alter the bet a little.   However, I then remembered what happened to him just a few weeks ago after the Rose Bowl.

I guess I’ll be wearing Green and Gold for the first time on Tuesday.

This just in: Justin Bieber and Ozzy Osbourne are teaming up for an ad that will run during the Super Bowl. The aging god of heavy metal and the latest teen sensation will be teaming up for a Best Buy ad.

Now a lot of you might think that’s an unlikely combo, but I disagree. The two actually have a lot in common.

1. Justin Bieber was named Best New Artist at the BET..Black Entertainment Television Awards. Ozzy Osbourne was in Black Sabbath.

2. Justin Bieber recorded with Usher. Ozzy needs an usher to take him to the bathroom.

3. Justin Bieber’s autobiography is called First Step 2 Forever, 100% Official. Ozzy’s autobiography is called “I Am Ozzy, 100 % Lubricated.”