'local music is a harbinger of community' | thoughts on madison's music scene
On a recent episode of A Public Affair on WORT 89.9 FM radio, I spoke with Nick Pjevach, Chair of the Madison Arts Commission, about the local music scene and recent trends in entertainment culture from the city's public art perspective.
Nick used to write about politics and culture when he worked for TONE Madison. We discussed one of his pieces, titled "Veterans Memorial Coliseum should proceed with caution," what the community has been asking for when it comes to entertainment, and how the city has been working to address disparities in access to music.
Listen to the full episode here!
What struck me from the conversation:
A lot of music events happen on the east side of Madison, and getting to the venues can be hard for people. There should be more efforts to make sure music entertainment can be accessed by as many people as possible.
Civic leaders in charge of negotiating the contract with Live Nation, Frank Productions Live, and the Alliant Energy Center have their work cut out for them, ensuring the community gets the best deal for the future concert venue. Bigger, better concerts in Madison could be a possibility one day.
Social justice and arts college program First Wave at UW-Madison, and its alumni are so beloved in the community, and the city can do a better job at supporting urban arts in schools and youth programs. The youth need access to fun things to do, and safe spaces to be creative could be a solution.
Madison's population is projected to grow exponentially, and most of those people are likely going to be between the ages of 18 and 30, meaning the city, commercial stakeholders, and community planners are going to need to prepare to cater to a crowd of folks who come from all over. We yearn for third spaces!
I love spaces like the Wisconsin Union, where Nick used to work as the Music Committee's leader, to bring artists to campus. I still remember my freshman year at UW-Madison when Sam from Mentos brought DJ Khaled to campus! I just lowkey wish all the good stuff didn't happen in isolation in this town.
We discussed bars and clubs, too, even though I was a little triggered about Cielo getting in trouble for their music being too loud. It's too bad, the music was actually fire the two times I went!
We also talked about the importance of being involved in the community because there are so many events taking place (especially this summer) that need volunteers and staff.
Finally, I wanted to stress something important Nick brought up, and that's that there's only a handful of Black establishments in Madison with liquor licenses. In our conversation, we briefly touched on it, but my hope is that we can have more intentional spaces because I'm in dire need of new club spots. Roxxy is starting to get a little overrated, and I don't know if Sotto's is the move anymore lol.
I'll never forgive myself for missing the PARTYNEXTDOOR concert back when I was in high school, nor INFINITY SONG when they came to Madison this summer. Still, I'll give my city its props for branching out and trying to diversify its music options!
I'm hoping to keep this conversation about music going! Years ago, when I first created this website and platform, I knew I wanted to try and do more music journalism because of how long music has played an important role in my life. Mind you, I've been singing and writing lyrics and such my whole life, and I played the violin from 5th grade until sophomore year of high school. It's only natural that I embrace this side of my creativity again.
Thank you for reading and supporting the content!
Let me know if you have any topics you want me to focus on for future shows, or if there are other story ideas you want me to look into. I'm always open to talking about ideas!
xo enjoyiana
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