Channel 4 Story Gets Featured Nationally

WTMJ Report on the Smiley Face Killer hits CNN. It's always nice to see a local affiliate get some national attention and it's on the Smiley Face Murder Club!

They were talking about this on the radio on Saturday night and some people were convinced it was the work of Satanists. Do people still buy into Satanist Hysteria? But at the same time, is this Smiley Face business just another example of the same kind of panic? Probably. This story is fricking everywhere now. If there was a gang of killers going around, shouldn't there be some more witnesses or ex-members or somebody turning up? It's like the Satanists, where there were plenty of people who talked about the ritual abuse under hypnosis, but where were the former cult members who committed these dastardly deeds? So this group committed 40-50 PERFECT CRIMES? Sure, it's not out of the realm of possibility, but it's doubtful. I can see one guy or one duo or something doing it in a series of small towns, but a connected cult across the country is hard to buy. I'm into conspiracies just as much (well, actually a lot more) than the next guy, but there's not that many secrets left anymore and a group hiding a secret like this for over a decade is hard to believe. Remember what happened to the Manson Family. They fell apart after a few murders.

Anyway, it's a good story. Unusual victims, comic-book style killer signatures, a nationwide cult- it's cinematic in its scope. The detectives say they've got enough to get a prosecution going, I'm reserving my judgment until the first trial.

But Jimi wasn't even that cute...

Hot on the heels of the Marilyn sextape which was announced a few weeks ago but not shown, a Jimi Hendrix home recording just popped up. Check it out here. I can see its use as a historical document (he's with two ladies so he's enjoying the height of rock stardom and the Free Love Revolution) but I can't really seeing it as appealing to my (or most anybody's) prurient interest. Have we come so far that we don't just want to watch attractive people having sex to watching ANYBODY having sex? I guess it's all fantasy anyway in a case like this one, and sites like XTube are contributing to the democratization of pornography anyway (and of course I'll watch it out of curiosity) but when is it going to come to a Dennis Franz or God forbid, an Oprah-Stedman wide-angle fiasco?

Just when we thought it was over

Just when we thought it was over
Originally uploaded by Wendy Lynn

I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but it is snowing hard outside right now. That's right, I said the "S word". I guess I shouldn't be surprised by anything (weatherwise) in this state anymore.

Monday geek reviews

This week:
Boat engines
I got the boat out on the water yesterday and it was amazing. Of course now it is supposed to snow today. Anyone else starting to think that Wisconsin has the worst weather in the union? I suppose you could say it is my choice to live here, but I just can't seem to peel myself away from my friends and family who have decided to live in the frozen tundra. Anyway, about boats:
I am delighted that I finally have a boat with a clean bill of health from the mechanic so I can enjoy an entire season of boating (which is only about 5 months long in this state, but I'm gonna make the most of it). I have a Mercruiser Inboard/Outboard engine. I am kind of nervous because I already got it ready for summer and it is supposed to dip down into the 20s this week, which can crack the engine block. Some mechanics say that you'll be fine unless there is an entire week of below 30s temperatures, but some say that it is risky even for a little while. This is one reason I'm trying to sell my condo, so I could keep it in a garage and out of the elements. If anyone would like to post their personal experiences with engine block cracking, I would love to see it.
So, I read the engine reviews before I bought this boat and I wanted a Volvo Penta because they are supposedly better and quieter, but I am very happy with my Mercruiser and it got me from the Union to Marshall park in about 6 minutes last night (tops out around 46 mph, which is twice what you would ever need for skiing). I also paid less for it and parts are cheaper and more readily available should anything go wrong with it. But that won't happen this season. I have confidence this will be a good one. After my old boat sank in Lake Superior last year, Poseidon owes me one.

Smiley Face Murder Club

I'm sure I've talked about the La Crosse Serial Killer before. Even my mother knew about it when I moved to La Crosse back in 2000 and she warned me that young men were getting drowned in the Mississippi River when they walked home alone drunk (ahem). When I lived in La Crosse, the locals that I hung around with thought much the same thing, but there was no evidence and it is fairly plausible that these dudes just fell into the river when they were wasted.

But now, (hat tip to my sister for tipping me off on this one...) it looks like they're getting closer to finding out who's behind this. the two NYC detectives that have been working on this case think they have linked 40-50 different murders in eleven different states over the past decade. What these guys did differently than local police is that they looked harder for where the victims went into the river, than where they came out and that's where they found the "Smiley Face" connection and have hypothesized it's a group of traveling killers who leave a titular calling card by the locations that the victims get thrown in.

So, Wisconsin's back on top when it comes to serial killers. I wish the LaX police department would have broken this to begin with (but they're probably too busy giving parking tickets and busting people for making out on Grandad's Bluff) but it was the re-opening of the Chris Jenkins case in Minneapolis and changing it to homicide that ignited the news coverage for the story (which is why it's the Minneapolis news that jumped on the story first.) However, we definitely can petition the license plates to say "America's Original Home for Serial Killers" which is way cooler than "America's Dairyland" (which factually isn't true any more in any case. We already have lost dairy production to California, but we'll always be the home of Ed Gein!)

I try to stay away from most news because it's depressing and very little of it affects my life, but since leaving La Crosse, I have a soft spot in my otherwise cold heart for the town and this story made me think about when we used to talk about the serial killer. And if you ever question what kind of sickness people are capable of, see if this doesn't change your mind.

Here we are at Corners Inn

Here we are at Corners Inn
Originally uploaded by Wendy Lynn

They didn't quite get our name right on the sign but we're still pumped to rock here tonight!

Invasion of the Peeper Snatchers

Hat tip to Tim from Govt Zero for this bit of ridiculousness about penis theft in the Congo. They should just order some Enzyte.

Butch Walker

Has anyone seen my black Butch Walker t-shirt with red lettering? It might be somewhere in Texas. Please hit me back if you know its whereabouts. It was a gift and it would be cool to wear it for the pictures we are having taken in the next couple of weeks. Thanks.

On a brighter note, High Tech Happy Hour was pretty sweet last night at the Brink. That place is super classy, but not pretentious. Everybody we met was really nice and several people had interesting stories, like the massage therapist who said he knew a guy who got his license revoked because a girl came on to him during the massage and he wouldn't go for it, so she trumped up some stories about him.

Sunspot Road Mania - Ep. 78

In this episode, we do a quick "Hello" to the podience and talk a little about the upcoming show this weekend. The episode ends with a clip of Axiom performing "Neanderthal" at the Polo Room!

Peanut Butter Whoppers

Peanut Butter Whoppers
Originally uploaded by Wendy Lynn

Not bad on their own, but I bet mixed with regular chocolate-covered ones, these would be unstoppable!

Fire in the sky and why I love UFOs

They formed a square and a triangle and were visible for around 13 minutes on Monday night. Is it just me, or just the Internet and the proliferation of cell phone cameras and the like, or are unexplained lights in the sky happening ALL THE FUCKING TIME lately? I know that I write about this a lot and it doesn't have that much to do with the band so I should probably explain myself.

In a ballshell, I think aliens are kickass. I run SETI@Home on my MacBook and I want to meet (a friendly) one someday. I have no idea if these lights are aliens or military craft or just frickin' fireflies (not the Joss Whedon kind), I have no idea if the people who say they've been abducted are telling the truth. I have no idea if there are aliens out there, but I think it's cool that we're looking for them. The idea that there's something watching us and studying us alternately fascinates and terrifies me. So, when I hear something new I want to share it with everyone because I hope they're as excited about it as I am (and I know that most of you think UFOs are kickass too.)

So, is there news with Sunspot? Fucking A right. We're working on new songs every week now, we've had some great shows lately and have met even more cool people. But we've taken it easy on the Road Manias and personal blogposts lately so we can put that time into working on new material and making our live show more exciting and involving (and admittedly, I've been using some of that time exercising my PC muscles heavily.) However, you're going to love what we have for you over the next few months, so keep your eyes on here in the next month for some new shiz that we're creaming our jeans over.

If you want more Road Manias, please let us know and we'll make sure to make them more regular (Metamucil-style) in the near future. Also, if you could let us know your favorite way to watch them (YouTube, iTunes, podcast catcher, Myspace video, etc...) so we can make sure we deliver it on the platform that you enjoy the most.

Monday Geek Reviews

This week:
The Brewers

I don't know about you, but I took a break from baseball starting around the 94 strike. It was probably a result of the strike combined with me going to college and having a new team to root for. Living in the Milwaukee area most of my life, I never really got into the Badgers, but when it is right there in your face, it can be fun to root for the home team.

Then last year, the Brewers proved worth watching. I'm sad because I miss Jenkins and I think that Cordero was a better closer than Gagné and better for morale, but I am once again excited by this year's team. Sure, it took Prince a while to hit one over the fence, but I am delighted to see Kendall behind the plate instead of Estrada, I think Corey Hart is one of the most reliable guys in the league, and Bill Hall is his best yet. I would like to see Gallardo more cuz I think he's awesome.

I'll be going on Wednesday for half-price ticket night. If anyone else is going, lemme know.

It's ON at the BBC!

It's ON at the BBC!
Originally uploaded by Wendy Lynn

Come on down... The party is heating up!

Shattered

Shattered
Originally uploaded by Wendy Lynn

These guys are doing the Rolling Stones proud and ROCKING the walls off BBC! Woooohoooo!

If scientists wanted to hear a Neanderthal that badly...

...they didn't have to synthesize one in a lab, they could have got one much more quickly from CDBaby OR they could have downloaded it right away from 

More on X-Files 2

It finally has a title and you'll never guess what it is.

TreoCast read my email and responded!

Many of you know how attached I am to my Treo 700p smart phone (aka "SuperPhone")... the wonderful device that lets me do email and blog from the road, update my Twitter feed from anywhere, etc. Oh yeah, I make calls on it once in a while too!

I recently wrote in to TreoCentral's TreoCast podcast for assistance with finding an application that would allow us to webcast from my phone. I want to be able to share a more live and in-depth view of our road travels and shows with you all - something beyond (in addition to) the blogging we normally do.

Not only did they take the time to search out some possible solutions, but they also were kind enough to include our song "Scott Bakula" (available here on ) at the end of the podcast. ROCK!

So please check out Episode 41 of the TreoCast - and thanks again to Dieter and Mike, the hosts of the show, for responding to my call for help!

Oh... and I'll let you know when I get my "remote broadcast" idea working!

Wendy's DrummerCam: Saturday 4/12/08 @ The Polo Room, Polo, IL

Wendy's DrummerCam: Friday 4/11/08 @ JB's Speakeasy, La Crosse, WI

Wendy's DrummerCam: Saturday 4/5/08 @ Club Prestige, Eau Claire, WI

Thanks to our buddy Watson for sponsoring this private acoustic show... We had a blast!

Tax Time

Just a reminder to all the procrastinators that tomorrow is the big day when taxes are due. I know what I'll be working on tonight...

Uncle Sam might be after your money, but Sunspot just wants you to rock with us. So here's a friendly reminder in the spirit of the season:

Download YouTube videos as MP4s!

This is something I've been waiting for for over a year. Download YouTube videos in a good-quality format that's iPod and QuickTime compatible and no messy conversions!

Monday Geek Reviews

This week:
Earphones

Short of paying $200 for a nice studio pair of ear-covering, noise cancelling Sony, Audio Technica, Sennheiser or AKG headphones, a few of us have been checking out headphones that keep the price down, but don't make you feel cheated when listening to your ipod.

Technology has come a long way from the giant runway-controller style heaphones of the 70s to the cheap out-of-ear walkman headphones of the 80s, to those weird backwards looking ones that you wear over the ear from the 90s and now we have all of these little things to choose from to stick in our ears.

How do you know what sounds good? Unfortunately stores won't let you try stuff out, so you have to buy them, take them out to your car, see if they suck and then try to return them if they do. The people at Target or Best Buy or places like typically don't know good sound quality from roadkill, so you are kind of out of luck there. So, here are the opinions of myself and a few other people to at least help you weed some out.

Mike has a pair of Apple in-ears that go for $40 and he said he would buy them again. He uses them for mixing as well as entertainment.

Wendy bought noise reducing ones at full compass and they hurt her outer ears.

At my house, we've been through the following:
Stock Ipod headphones: One of the Ear Jamz broke and the silicone tips were always coming off and getting lost.

Philips Premium Sound- Sounded like ass. Unstable bass and too much treble. Took em back.

Sony High Performance- Better than Philips but still sounded bad. Too much treble and unstable bass. Took em back.

Nike Flow- Comfortable fit for working out but sounded just as bad as the sony and philips. Took em back.

We settled on Shure 110s. They are comfortable and sound like a dream. They are not the greatest for working out because the cord is a little heavy and long, but they are worth it for the sound quality.

Please leave your comments about your successes and washouts in this category.

Polo room.

Mike on the Pole. Axiom just covered Neanderthal. Holy crap. The freezing rain was rough on the way here, but we drove past New Glarus Brewery and Monroe (home of cheese days and Berghoff and Huber beers.)

The Songs For + Mike

The Songs For + Mike
Originally uploaded by Wendy Lynn

at JB's Speakeasy in La Crosse!

The Search for Spock is over!

And just like Star Trek 3, it's got a happy ending (well, except for the Enterprise being blown up and Kirk's son getting killed)- we found him last night! He was outside the apartment complex the whole time. We'd been putting food out at night-time for the past few days and something had been eating it. So, last night we put out a live animal trap (did you know you could get those at Menard's? Remarkable.) and an hour later, there he was.

Thanks for the positive thoughts and energy that everyone sent in his direction. It was truly appreciated.

RIP Cosmo

Man, I feel like I'm thinking about death all the time lately. Cosmo from State Street died last week. The article says he was a 'charmer' and on the occasions that I met and spoke to him (one of the most memorable of which was probably him playing to me outside of Gino's on a two-string guitar just screaming at the top of his lungs while I was trying to eat dinner. The man wasn't much of a crooner, but he certainly knew how to capture your attention) he definitely had a unique perspective. We always used to call him 'The Homeless Iggy Pop' before we knew his name.

Whatever you think of State Street or Madison's cast of characters (and I vacillate on the matter, somewhat. Especially after that poor girl's murder last week), it's interesting to read this article and realize these dudes you see on the street have a family. They're uncles, sons, and brothers. They had a childhood, most of the time they had people that tried to raise them right. However they ended up in the state of affairs that they're in, they're in it now and how does it help me to judge them?

At first, I wondered why they would write a long article about a guy that I always thought was a street weirdo. But it was a respectful article about a guy that most students at UW knew. Sure, he probably pissed you off at one time or another if you hung around State Street enough (he certainly got my goat on more than one occasion, especially when I had to work at the Badger Herald when it was right above Taco Bell), but he was a human being just like me. So, that's as good of a reason to write an article as any. RIP Cosmo.

More Life Imitating Art

This time it's Fight Club. And it's one of the reasons that the movie was originally was so successful in the first place. It spoke to something that's inside a lot of men. Masculinity is still (even after the Iron John movement considered offensive and most males are marginalized by sitting at a desk all day. And it still ties in to what I was talking about the other day with attractive female teachers seducing their man-children students. The role of the man that was important in the village is not as important in the boardroom or the office meeting space (anymore, at least.) In the most popular shows men are portrayed as idiots (even though I do still adore his brother, why is According to Jim still on the air?) For some reason (and it's probably a good evolutionary one), physically fighting makes men feel good, nay, awesome. We all know that. There's gotta be a way to channel that constructively. And the more and more we alienate that aspect of our masculine energy, the more it's going to boil over in places like these "fight clubs".

I'm just not surprised when stories like this come out. What else are we expecting?

Just like that David Duchovny Movie

where he falls in love with Minnie Driver! Except with a decidedly unhappier ending. Actually, I liked Return To Me a lot. It was hard for me not to like anything Mulder was in back in the day.

Here's another story of a woman who took on some of her organ donor's characteristics after the transplant. This was dealt with in Body Parts as well. The IMDB entry for that movie says that ads were cancelled in Wisconsin because of Jeffrey Dahmer being in the news shortly before, but I remember seeing the ads before the movie came out. I might have seen them earlier in the summer, because the movie came out less than two weeks after Dahmer was discovered.

Anyway, here's another story of a woman who received a transplant and her reading habits changed for the better. I didn't think there were actual stories about people being affected by their organ transplants outside of the the aforementioned Jeff Fahey classic and the great Korean movie (and American remake which I didn't see), The Eye. But cellular memory is an actual theory (dismissed by scientists, per usual) that we can hold memory and intelligence in more than just our brain. Well, I could be persuaded to believe that. Most cognition might only happen in the brain, but what about hands that master an instrument? Legs that can run marathons? Is it possible that those nerves can store information as well as be used for communication? I dunno, but it's cool. I'd like to get the transplant if Ron Jeremy ever dies suddenly because you know that thing's gotta have some crazy memories!

Where were these teachers when I was in school?

Another teacher tries to seduce her student, but with dirty pictures (this time in Sweden, which makes it even dirtier!) And check the comments section of the story for links to the actual pics (which are admittedly, pretty good, even by my jaded Internet porn standards.)

Is this something that happened a lot in the past and it's just coming to light now? Or is this just because men are becoming more child-like every year so these teachers (since they're already forced to be attracted to Omega Males) are just acting on impulses that they think are natural because he's already reached sexual maturity and he's probably AS mature as any guy they've dated.

Of course, it's a natural double standard, because I don't know many guys who would consider the student a "victim" especially in today's age when this is a known phenomenon for at least ten years. It's like cougars minus twenty years. It is ridiculous though, and even more so that it keeps happening over and over again. I just can't help but think that it's a symptom of something larger though and we just haven't figured it out yet.

Soylent Green is Charlton Heston

RIP to the Omega Man.

I loved a lot of his movies, you damn dirty apes, but my favorite moment was the SNL when he surprised Phil Hartman (acting as Oral Roberts) as God coming for his ransom. I couldn't find the clip on YouTube or online, but if you know what I'm talking about, you know how perfect of a moment it is.

Monday Geek Reviews

This week's review: Yamaha
I absolutely adore my Yamaha P-150 digital piano. I remember being at Cascio music back in the nineties (before it was Interstate, back when it was a mom and pop shop in New Berlin, WI) and stopping by just for fun to try out some pianos. I was in college at the time, so I didn't want to spend a lot of money. So, I'm playing a keyboard and from behind me I hear a really nice sounding piano and turned around and it was a digital piano that just sounded very realistic. Turns out it was the last one in the city and so they unloaded the floor model and gave me hundreds off. I've never had it in for maintenance or anything and the weighted action keys feel as great as the piano sounds. I've had a little frustration with the synth section, but only when I record direct from the outputs. I think I get a better sound miking the speakers, but for recording there is some sound of me hitting the keys, plus you always have to worry about environmental noise. So, why are their student line wind instruments crap? I would swear that the sax keys are made out of tin foil and paper clips and the valves on their trumpets constantly need to be taken in to get rebored. I do like their intermediate and pro line saxes and tubas, though. I have a Getzen-made Canadian Brass tuba from before Yamaha started making them, but I tried out one of the F tuba Canadian Brass line from Yamaha and it was really nice too. So, I guess it just goes to show that with music you have to try stuff out even within brands to make sure it fits you. Next week I'll be posting about analog delay pedals because I'm in the market for one. If anyone wants to send me any of their reviews on such pedals, I would be delighted to check them out and pass them on to the blog readers.

Smoking Ban Links to More OWIs?

Hat tip to Wendy for finding this today. Normally, I'm not really into these kind of correlational studies because they don't really prove anything (and statistics can be skewed to represent almost any viewpoint) but it's Friday, I'm feeling lazy and I'll take any potshot at the Nanny State that I can. Smoking Ban links to an increase in OWIs (with research done by a UW-Milwaukee researcher, keepin' it local!)

Madison Cab Stand

Excellent news for us drinkers! I've been hoping on something like this for awhile.

Photos from Club Tavern Show 3/29

Thanks to our buddy Watson for taking these great pics of the show on Saturday!

This one gets my vote for most frightening (clothed) shot of me ever:

Missing Kitty

“Mr. Spock“ ran away on Sunday March 30th on the 1200 block of East Wilson St. in Madison. He's a black long-haired cat with yellow eyes, has a white streak on his neck and on the sides of his paws. Last seen running towards the apartments behind Jolly Bob's. Please email me if you see a cat in the neighborhood that even comes close to the description.

If you're an east-sider or are in the Willy Street area, please keep a look out, it would mean a lot to me.

Humanity Should Not Be Destroyed: Reason #8

Our friends are adopting a FOUR-PACK of kids from Russia.

Their kindness and generosity will allow these kids to remain together as siblings, in a home, with a loving and caring family.

Hats off to the Klahns for selflessly demonstrating what true human compassion is all about!