MAMAs get M.O.D.ern

This year’s awards show will be fully produced in advance

by

The pandemic has been a challenging time for local musicians, but many found ways to adapt and even thrive in response. And now it’s time to celebrate their work. This year’s Madison Area Music Association awards ceremony will again be a virtual affair, but some changes from the 2020 incarnation are in the works.

Last year the MAMAs hosted a live webcast that replicated the in-person event but experienced some technical difficulties along the way. In 2021, the MAMAs program will be produced and fully filmed in advance by M.O.D. Media Productions. “Setting the Stage” premieres at 7 p.m. on Nov. 7 on Facebook Live.

M.O.D. Media has been taking photos and video at awards shows for the past five years or so, with a focus on capturing the pre-show “red carpet” activities and post-show images of the winning artists. This year the Madison-based company will also be making the show much more educational, “interviewing key players (no pun intended) in our community that help build our scene,” says Carlos Guzman Lenz, co-owner and co-creative director of M.O.D. Media with Allison Guzman Lenz. “The idea is to have a final piece that showcases Madison’s incredibly amazing, diverse musical scene, as well as the wide range of venues we enjoy, to make Madison the stage itself. This is why we named the show ’Setting the Stage’ this year.”

Performers and venues featured include: Bird’s Eye at Audio for the Arts; Black Star Drum Line at Madison Youth Arts Center; Michael Darling at High Noon Saloon; Rob Dz on State Street; Mr. Chair at North Street Cabaret; Natty Nation at Olbrich Botanical Gardens; Morgan Rae at Liquid; Rebulú at The Bur Oak; and Raine Stern at The Sylvee. Segments with show host James Ember (aka James the Magician) were filmed at the Majestic, and the program also features spots with local music backers, venue owners, and other guests.

The Madison Area Music Awards was founded in 2003 by Rick’s Cafe publisher Rick Tvedt, with a dual mission of highlighting the work of local musicians and using an annual event to help raise funds for youth music programs. The first awards show took place in 2004. The organization was rebranded as the Madison Area Music Association in 2009, reflecting a broader range of fundraising and educational activities by the nonprofit, including the MAMA Cares fund for local musicians in financial need. The organization was inducted into the Wisconsin Area Music Industry Hall of Fame in October.

Milwaukee musician Jared Judge has just released a new book designed to offer tips for working musicians. And, due to the hardships experienced by artists over the last year and a half due to COVID restrictions, Judge is offering the book for free, if you pay shipping and handling. Gigging Secrets: The Underground Playbook to Making a Living Performing details the methods Judge has used in recent years to build a busy schedule for his group Dream City Strings. “It will help rebuild a gig schedule for sure,” writes Judge in an email, “but it is focused on live music business fundamentals that worked for me prior to COVID and continue to work for me today.”

Judge, a violin and viola player, also currently performs with the Milwaukee Philharmonic Orchestra. Along with being a musician, Judge is a web developer and entrepreneur who created and runs BookLive.com, a web tool for musicians to streamline their booking, band scheduling and more. Find more information at giggingsecrets.com.

New releases

Phox lead vocalist Monica Martin, now based in Los Angeles, recently surfaced in a guest spot on the song “Show Me” on the new album by James Blake, Friends That Break Your Heart. Martin also released a solo track at the end of September. “Go Easy Kid” is a low key meditation on remembering that as humans we are not in control of everything.

The Midwesterners have just released Pecatonica Mud, an album featuring a dozen original songs by bandleader and guitarist Richard Wiegel. The recording was started before the pandemic at Williamson Magnetic Recording Company, co-owned by Midwesterners drummer Mark Haines. However, the studio closed in August 2019, with only drum tracks and a couple bass parts (by Tom McCarty) completed. “And then COVID hit,” writes Wiegel in an email. “After waiting another six months I decided I had to finish the album.”

Haines and Wiegel continued working on the album in the digital realm, with Wiegel completing all remaining guitar, bass and vocals at home and Haines mixing the tracks as they were sent via the internet. Wiegel reports that while an official CD release show is still to come, CDs will be available at his next performance at  Lakeside Street Coffee House, at 6:30 p.m. on Nov. 26. For more info on this and other music visit themidwesterners.com.