who puts the Mad in Madcity?

July 17th, 2009 Posted in Tour, Uncategorized

Oh, oh Madison. How do we love you? If we count all the ways, we won’t even make it to Minneapolis on time. ( Speaking of, check out the “Shows” tab for a recent update on when and where in Minneapolis Friday and Saturday!)

After about 8 hours on the road and a fabulous lunch at Mr. Salsa’s in Oglesby, Illinois, we pulled into Madison, WI ready to rock. Where, oh, where was this rocking to take place, you ask? Well, we really didn’t even know until we had arrived in town. All the graceful magic we’ve manifested (and have had enormous help manifesting by all the indescribably amazing hosts we’ve had in each city) brought us to Angela the artist, photographer, and neo-burlesque performer. Sweet, sweet, daring Angela in the house so gorgeous it could be a museum, the one filled to the brim with art, costumes galore, and fresh produce from her back yard. Not only did she appear from the ether just to host us, but she immediately took us on a night tour of beautiful Madison, stopping at a bar to drum up excitement for our show, and heading down to a sandy beach lake for the night.

The next day found us chalking the dedicated bike/ped paths with announcements for the show, stopping at the coffee shop 40 hundred times, admiring the community garden that lay directly behind Revolution Cycles, and spreading the word (with the awesome flyers Angela designed and printed on hot pink paper just for us). Both before and after a huge organic brunch at the house, Angela took part in a first-ever event. She learned an entire Sprockettes dance number, SOTI, to be performed at our show. And did she ever perform it! How do we thank you, Angela, for being gutsy enough to just jump in and for doing it in your very own hot pink and black? And thank you Jeff, for bringing the peeps to your shop for the party!

We got to the show, and of course, the crowd was already pumped and ready to see some fabulous bike dancing. Folks filled the parking lot and the roof above Revolution Cycles. We danced our hearts out and brought Angela up for an encore presentation of SOTI, which she ruled. The DJ did a bang-up job morphing the end of our set into a dance party. There was a live band inside the shop and a DJ in the lot. Madison, we love you. We love your bike paths and organic coffee and bursting berry trees and bushes and swimming lakes and your food. The food. Right, the food. Onto the food.

After the dance party, Chris took us to his outstanding restaurant, The Weary Traveler and treated the Sprockettes (and Daniel, Agent Tippy Tappy, and Angela, Agent Olive Talique) to dinner and drinks. Amazing. Amazing. He serves local and organic food and has a beautiful menu. There isn’t a website, but if you are ever hungry and thirsty while you’re near 1201 Williamson St in Madison, you will love this place. Do be sure to check out the Specials board, as there is now a very special little souvenier to be found right at the top. Thanks, Chris, for feeling the vibe and treating us to a wonderful meal at the end of our very busy day.

After dinner, it was another night ride out to the lake for a bonfire. I would write more about that, but it’s only just now happening so who knows what the night has in store! You’ll just have to check back to see.

I forgot to mention our town mascot! This time around, it’s Velo the cat, who lives at the bike shop (which is 2 blocks from where we’re staying). He’s a long hair and has his summer shave on, making him feel like a velveteen rabbit.  Velo regularly receives postcards and updates at the shop that Angela writes for him about her travels and adventures. He’s a well-rounded little black cat, Velo is. Now that he’s seen the Sprockettes, he’s ready to relax, content knowing that if a mini-bike dance team can roll into his parking lot and take the town by storm, absolutely anything is possible. Anything.