Well, hey there, here’s my 11th annual roundup of favorite concerts for Isthmus.
I got around in 2016. Upwards of 80 shows in Madison, Milwaukee, Chicago and beyond. I listened to jazz, alt country, rock, classical, experimental — none of it was the stuff that dominates the music charts.
And sometimes I just I stumbled into a felicitous and serendipitous musical moment:
Harris Lemberg’s weird but enjoyable surf/instrumental band, Compact Deluxe, at Tempest (Jan. 22). Jim and Mike Blaha of Shadows in the Crack raising the roof at Mickey’s late one night (Oct. 28) with their noisy twin guitars. Madison’s grande dame jazz singers — Gerri DiMaggio, Jan Wheaton and Lynette Marguiles — trading choruses and killing on “Summertime” at Genna’s (July 23).
Or walking through Atwood Fest (July 31) with my dog Blue and hearing keyboard monster Jimmy Voegeli with horns and thinking: I gotta see this guy more often. Or 15 minutes earlier, breaking into a big smile hearing Jane Lee Hooker — an all-female southern soul band out of New York — rave up, howl and seize the music that may be the last redoubt of male privilege in the music world: southern boogie.
Or poking my head into the Harmony Bar music room (Dec. 8) during a fundraiser for a sick musician at the exact moment “Westside Andy” Linderman unloads a perfectly sculpted harmonica solo that stops me in my tracks.
There’s a lot of good music out there.
You can read about my favorite shows at the Isthmus website.
My older roundups are here: 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006.
Stories by Marc Eisen 