Orchestra Baobob at the Barrymore

Orchestra Baobob at the Barrymore
Originally uploaded by Wendy Lynn

A real treat tonight and great end to the weekend as Madison was visited by this famous International act.

Kill Junior

Classic Crazy Prog Metal. Fuckyes.

Axiom CD release party tonight (Fri 6/27)!

Looking for something fun to do tonight?

Fellow rock trio AXIOM will be releasing their new CD tonight at The Annex! Come on down, it will be a rock explosion as Kill Junior opens up the show and then AXIOM blows the doors off. I heard they have some special surprises in store that will make the show even more fun than usual.

So, come on down. I know I'll be there!

Edit: Wow, I guess I should have checked the blog before posting. Didn't realize Mike already pimped the show! Oh well

Anyone else going to the Axiom Release Party tonight (6/27)?

It's at the Annex, and playing will be Axiom and Kill Jr. and those are two bands that always put me in a good mood.

I've never heard of 5Man before, who's opening, but on their Myspace there's a comment that says "(their song) 'Domino Garden' makes me wanna stab someone in the throat.", so you know it's at least going to be interesting!

If You Thought The Last Article About Madison Fascism Was Ridiculous...

...How about the proposal to ban drive-thrus?

Come say hi to us on other sites!

Social networking is out of fucking control lately, it seems like there's a ton of sites that all do the same thing. I guess that is the nature of the beast when it comes to the Internet. There's 100 different sites that do the same shit and invariably, your friends will be spread apart into different ones, and when you're in a band, you need to be on all of them. Which we pretty much are, so I just wanted to round up all the different networking sites that you can "friend" us on (and another noun becomes a verb).

Sunspot at Myspace
Mike at Myspace
Wendy at Myspace
Ben at Myspace
Sunspot at Facebook
Mike at Facebook
Wendy at Facebook
Sunspot at iLike
Mike at Twitter
Wendy at Twitter
Mike at LinkedIn
Mike at Friendster
Mike at Plaxo
Sunspot at Virb
Sunspot at Reverbnation
Sunspot at The Roc Stage
Sunspot Mike at YouTube
Sunspot Mike at Flickr
Sunspot Wendy at Flickr

That's the ones that I can think of off the top of my head. If anyone else can think of any other good ones, please let me know, we love meeting new people. The only way that I keep up with all the networking sites is through PageOnce which is a site that lets you put everything on one page. I know that you might be cautious with their Internet passwords because you might be hiding nuclear fucking secrets on your computer, but, I've been a member for several months and I even put all of my financial stuff on there and I haven't had a single problem except for all the money I don't remember donating through my AmEx to LaotianLadyboys.com. Nevertheless, I wouldn't worry too much about it. You have a better chance of someone stealing your credit card number from your mailbox than you do online.

Come say hi on those sites and let us know what we can do to spice them up!

The Dutch Love The New Song

You can read about them preparing for the upcoming 2012 apocalypse here (and I'll make sure that I hazily ask them what they think about it when I'm in Amsterdam two weeks from now) while you listen to the free download of our new song, "2012", from here.

Life Imitates Art : Waiting

I wonder if this cook shows people the "batwing" as well?

Monday Geek Reviews

This week: Extreme

So, I like Extreme about as much as the next guy. No, I probably like Extreme more than the next guy. Yup, not only did I buy Pornograffiti like everyone else, but I also bought Waiting for the Punchline. Incidentally, I'm still waiting. Nuno is an awesome guitarist, but that album proved that he should not be a producer. I have sat through hours of Gary Cherone's vocals just to hear Nuno play. I really like his lead playing, but I think it's his rhythm playing that sets him apart. A lot of guys are afraid to play intricate rhythms because it makes the music too "funky" and not heavy enough, but I think it really defines his style and is quite unique. That being said, the solo from "Get the Funk Out" is one of my favorite guitar solos ever in a pop song, right up there with "Here I Go Again" and "Hot for Teacher." And as much as I think it is silly that this article is in a section called Blistering Metal News and the word integrity is used in the same article as Gary Cherone's name (even after what he did to Van Halen), I very much enjoy what Nuno has to say about musicianship, so read it.
Now I just have to wait for Queensrÿche to go triple platinum so I can sell my Ovation Custom Legend Roundback (autographed by Chris DeGarmo and Michael Wilton) for like a million space bucks. After writing this paragraph, I've also decided to legally change my name to Bën.

Mario Theme song composer

I just stumbled across this link and was pleased to get a little history on the famous theme song for Super Mario Brothers. I never knew that the same person wrote the Mario score and the Legend of Zelda scores (up to the Ocarina of Time).

Hats off to Koji Kondo for writing the soundtrack to my childhood... okay, maybe my adulthood too!

Behind the Mario Maiestro's Music on wired.com

Free Download of "2012" available now!

The MP3 of our new single, "2012" is available in a variety of different size/quality MP3's.

You can download it from our web site.

If you like the song, please consider donating to our Paypal tip jar. Anyone who donates $1 or more will get their name on the 2012 Wall of Fame, which will be posted on the web site and also at our merch stand at live shows.

A huge thanks to our engineer/producer friend Steve Hawkins for all of the hard work he put into this release!

Wendy's BongoCam: 2012 World Premier 6/13/08 @ Sunspot HQ, Madison, WI

Thanks to everyone who made it to the house party to celebrate the release of "2012". You made it a very memorable occasion!

Black Widows

Check this story out about a 76-year old who's had five husbands since the 50's (and a couple who died violently), a real black widow. Female serial killers are such an anomaly (even thoough there's lots more than I expected) and this one's interesting because it shows the basic difference between the genders when it comes to a mass murder. Males are stalkers who kill people they don't know (usually) and females murder the people that trust them (nurses with patients, daycare mothers, husbands, etc...) I never really thought about female serial killers before but it makes sense how they would operate as opposed to males.

Oh well, just some light reading to distract myself from having to clean up my flooded basement.

2012

Here's the video for the new song, cut with some scenes of their favorite post-apocalyptic flicks!

Not with a whimper, but a bang!

Sorry for mangling my Eliot, but the song's ready and we'll have a video up for it shortly as well. See you tonight!

Here's a news story to put you in the mood!

Sweet

Wonder why he's in a cop car.

nkotb

Holy crap. New Kids on the Block has a new video. They look kinda old, but those boys can still dance! I remember pretending to like them to impress a girl on the swingset at a campout in 6th grade. She snail mailed me a dubbed tape. I threw it out. Not like my Milli Vanilli tape which I put masking tape over the tabs and dubbed over. Then I couldn't send it in to the record company for free music during the recall because I had tampered with it.

Friday the 13th Event at SUNSPOT HQ!

You may have noticed the teaser on www.sunspotmusic.com... Well, this FRIDAY THE 13TH we will be having a special event to announce the release of our new single!

It will be an "after work" happy hour with some fun surprises that you don't want to miss. The price of admission? We ask that you bring a friend who has never seen Sunspot. If you don't know anyone who fits that category, let us know and we'll think of an alternative "price"... mwahahahaha.

If you'd like to attend, please fill out the form here. We will send you all the details. For now, all you need to know is:

Friday, June 13th
6:00 PM
New song / video launch
Sign up here!

Hope to see you FRIDAY THE 13TH!

Monday Geek Reviews

You might know that Kenny G had the record for the longest note in the history of man, but did you know that he is a kickass golfer? Yeah, I didn't believe it either until I saw that he won the Michael Douglas golf event like 5 times. I mean, that's gotta be like shooting hoops with 2nd graders, right?

Here's my favorite quote:
"With the sax, I learned technique well enough so that it feels like part of my body and I just express myself," he said. "That's where I want to get in golf."

I think we know what part of his body Kenny expresses hisself with...His embouchure, of course, you perves.

Here's a guy that is really impressive and didn't just stop because he choked on his own spit. He almost doubled the world record for vocal notes.

Get Sunspot Music For Free

Fill in the rest of your Sunspot collection with Amie Street. They're giving $5 electronic gift cards to all new people that sign up and lovely enough, all of our albums are on there as well!

Kyle at his b-party!

Someone said he's been drinking...

My kind of place!

My kind of place!
Originally uploaded by Wendy Lynn

Congratulations, Buzz!

Congratulations, Buzz!
Originally uploaded by Wendy Lynn

He just crossed the stage and received his Masters in Mechanical Engineering.... Wooohooo!

Alice Cooper High School Yearbook Photo

This is why I fricking love Metal Sludge.

Monday geek reviews

My favorite video since



Thanks, Wendy, for the Weezer video and Amy in LaCrosse (from Sunshine Policy) for the Ultimate showdown.

Old Celebrity Activists Vs. Young Celebrity Bidet Swimmers

There's something about old hippies getting political that resonates with me more than when others try to get in on the act. Compare this story about Neil Young working on an electric car to the email and mailing that Leonardio DiCaprio sent out about saving the polar bear.
I admit it took a little time for me to warm up to Leo (I finally "got" him when The Man In The Iron Mask came out), but that message is fraking ridiculous.

I don't mind as much as I used to when celebrities decide to get preachy. I've made my peace with it. They're using their status, pull, cache or whatever to do something active to further a cause they believe in. Okay, that works for me. But there's just something about that 60's generation that makes it seem more okay, maybe because they've alwways been the ones who were political. It was a generation with an axe to grind, so idealism doesn't seem sappy or out of character from them.

Everyone else is from the Age of Cynicism. We've never seen the future as anything bu dystopian and corrupt. Neil Young seems earnest and he's not asking for your money, but he's putting 120 thousand of his own dollars into making a difference. And he's working on converting a car, not doing stuff like carbon offsetting (which so far seems well-intentioned at most but a money-making scheme at least.) Anyway, I liked what Neil was trying to do. I liked the quote that he "used to believe you could change the world by writing songs." That's an awesome line and it's probably the best thing he could say that gives him the cred to be able to not sound like a bunghole when he talks about this stuff. He's part of the generation that really did think they could change everything. That's cool. I mean, it didn't work, but at least they tried for a little while, which is more than can be said for mine.

Speaking of generations, if you're into non-fiction, check out The Fouth Turning. I just finished it last week and it's a fascinating look at American history in the terms of cycles. It talks about how to prepare for an upcoming crisis (think on the scale of the Second World War or the Civil War) and how it's a circle that returns in the scope of a human lifetime.

On the note of the future, keep looking at the site this week as we launch a new single. The delivery process took a little longer than expected but it'll be out in short order and I'm really excited about it. We'll let everyone know when it's ready, but keep checking in.

We'll also be having a house concert to celebrate the release. It's going to be at my place again on June 13th (think similar to the Scott Bakula party), so if you're interested in coming out, email us immediately so that we can get you more details.