Jimmy Madison area music association the mama awards show it happens tomorrow night
October 20th at the high noon saloon in Madison and the show starts at 7 p.m. with the red carpet at
5.30 and me and Terry Barrow be on the red carpet and doing a lot of stuff here at this show.
Well here to tell us all about the show what to expect is Mama's executive director Dana Perry
Dana welcome back to Maxing Gradio. Hey, thanks for having me dudes. It's great to see you again.
Likewise, my friends. Likewise. We were talking off air Dana. You have a killer shirt tonight. I do.
The classic Led Zeppelin. Led Zeppelin. And if anybody's listening that knows me,
that's like, Oh, her Led Zeppelin shirt. That's one of her five shirts. Go Dana. So this is one
of my five shirts. Led Zeppelin. I was like, this is appropriate for tonight. You were telling me
the story about this guy who came up to eight nice shirt and somehow he thought free bird was
a Zeppelin. I know he was like free bird. I could have punched him. I was like, sir,
sir, how dare you serve gasp and gasp she did. Yeah, he does not win a mama. No.
Well, no, no, Dana. Last time we saw you, you weren't the executive director of the Mama's. I was
not. How did that happen? I don't know, honestly. I have no idea. Well, I was asked,
you know, Rick Twite, our mutual friend and companion in music. He, you know, they were in
need of an executive producer for the award show. So it started there with being executive producer
for the award show. They just kind of, you know, was last year. It was at the crucible and in the
two years before that it was virtual. And I feel like, you know, the award show, as we know it,
is still kind of trying to come back to its glory, you know. But they kind of needed somebody
for it. And while it's not, you know, at the overtures and it's full glory, it's at a nice
staple local venue, high noon saloon, which I'm pretty excited about. And we're going really
performance heavy this year. We've got eight different musical acts going real simple on the
awards presentations because we just, you know, we're just wanting to get together. Like we just
want to get together and celebrate local music. So, and to get these awards out and make sure that
we're given these musicians honor and all that stuff. And that's really what it's about. So I was
like, I can do that. So he's like, you executive producer, the award show's like, yeah, man,
let's do it. And then it was just a couple months after where they were like, you know, what,
we're really in need of an executive director right now. And we feel like you might be good for
the job. Are you interested? And, you know, I went to a board meeting and I was like, it seems
within my skill set. Where are we at? Where's the mama at right now? What can I do to help? So,
sure, let's try it on. I'm all about the XP, you know, the experience points.
Well, I couldn't think of a better person right now in the city of Madison to take this
responsibility on and take on the challenge that you have in front of you. Thanks, dude.
What is the, the state of the mama's right now? And what is the mama's like kind of biggest
need? So right now in my personal opinion, I think the biggest thing that mama needs right now
is community connection is really just getting back that the music landscape changed a lot over
COVID. Like, there's we, we lost some venues. We lost a lot of musicians who were just like, well,
if I can't play for people or I can't play for money, then I'm not doing this anymore. But also,
we got a whole wave of new artists that were like, you know what? I'm bored. I haven't played
guitar in 25 years. Let's pick that up again. And they're making good music. And you know, we ran,
you know, I run music at Cargo Coffee East and during the pandemic, we ran those live streams.
So I had the benefit of kind of staying in touch with a lot of the music community just by holding
those live stream shows. And I got to meet this whole wave of new artists that were coming through.
And, and you know, there's, you know, just kind of sitting down with Rick and Roy. And they're like,
I feel like I'm just out of touch with the scene. And I'm like, that's fair. That's totally fair.
A lot of people do. I feel that way sometimes. It's hard, man. And it's hard to kind of get it to
feel like it felt like before. And so I think things like with with mama and with other,
you know, local music organizations, the thing right now is, is getting back to community
connection, whatever that looks like. Maybe it doesn't look like it did before, but it looks like
something. You know, and we have listeners all across the state of Wisconsin. And they may not
know what the Madison Area Music Association is. And why is so dear to our hearts? And the charity
that's behind the mamas. Talk about that, you know. Yeah. Actually, it's been really cool getting
to kind of work a little behind the scenes and get to know the organization better. You know,
I've gone to the Mamma Awards every year. I didn't make it last year. It was the first year
and like 12 years that I haven't gone. But I, you know, kind of getting to, you know, kind of see
how the organization works and runs. And essentially, it's a nonprofit organization that raises money
for primarily local music education initiatives. We help out schools if they need instruments or
anything like that. But also, local music community as a whole, there's the mama cares organization,
which raises money for musicians who are having some health problems. And maybe it's affecting
their performance and perfecting their shows. And it's just all kinds of things like that.
It holds several events throughout the year. I got to be a part of my first kind of gear
donation, which was cool. I think it's called White Horse Middle School, their music theater
department. We gave them like this whole bunch of like total package of gear for their musical
theater program. They got new mics and a board and all kinds of fun stuff. So that was really
cool to actually be a part of. And the kids were so excited. Just like, we've had to pass one
mic around for the last show. And it was terrible. So thank you for these mics. That's a win right
there. That's a win, man. Yeah. That's what it's all about. It's the instruments and the hands of
kids. Yeah. And I've seen directly what it'll do. So it's pretty great. Well, the voting is done.
The results are in and now the Mamma Awards show is tomorrow night. And we get to find out the winners
and here live music. But this is at the new venue, the high new saloon. So how will the award show
play out? Like, how has the format changed? What are we in for tomorrow? That's a good question.
So I mean, usually those who have gone to the mamas, you know, the award show, you know,
in various years, especially time after time, know a lot of times we like to have it at the
Capitol Theater in the Overture Center. We were fancy pants and kind of make it big and glamorous.
And while we don't have a big glamorous venue, we're kind of want really just
putting the focus on the artists, the musicians, the performances. But we're kind of going a little
out to make it a little swanky looking. I've got tablecloths, centerpieces. I was going to ask about
like seating. Are they going to have like seating more than what it's usually like at time?
German's going to be your personal Butler all night. He is. I know. German's going to be run in
the video reels, which is a lot of fun. So high new and is awesome. I just kind of gave them this
floor plan. And I was like, can we do this? And they were like, oh, yeah, totally. So we're going
to have rows of chairs set out in like the first half of the stage. And then tall tables and the
first half of the room closest to the stage. And then the back half of the room is going to have
tall tables. Cool. So they'll be seating for sure. We're going to go ahead and have, I think,
at least five, six rows of chairs out in front. And then tall table seating in the back.
And they're seating up on the balcony, of course, which is always a good spot.
Awards going to be given away on stage and people come up and say stuff. Or is that going to be the
same? Or how's that going to work? Yeah. So we're actually the awards that are presented on stage
this year are the awards that we call the overall. If you've noted, if you voted for the Mamas
in previous years, it's kind of a newer thing that they're doing. I'm still kind of learning the
ropes of the categories and stuff myself. But they have these overall categories like overall
performer of the year, overall artist of the year. So we're going to give those bigger awards out
on stage in person. And then the rest of the awards kind of like years past, we're going to go ahead
and present in video rules, which German and I did the video rules this time too. So we had a lot
of fun with that. Nice. Let's see. Well, what artists are playing there? Do you have any quick
points? I heard I heard Paige Cleber is going to be playing with Mackenzie Moore. Oh, fun. Okay.
So Mackenzie, the thing we're doing with Mackenzie Moore, it's actually a lot of girls rock
camp crew. Because what I love about this about, I mean, I could talk for Girls Rock Camp days. But
early in the formative years, we're 15 years old now, Girls Rock Camp. And in the formative years,
it's an example of an organization that did receive a little mama donation, like Mama gave
in a little kick towards Girls Rock Camp in the early years. Either the first or second year,
I can't remember. But an organization like Girls Rock Camp is a great shining example of 15 years
old. Mackenzie Moore, Multimamo Award winner. I had her at Girls Rock Camp at 13 years old.
Like she's one of many Girls Rock Campers, like Paige Cleber. She's not even out of camp yet.
She's 11 in releasing albums. So I was like, let's do a Girls Rock Camp performance. Let's get,
you know, Girls Rock Camp alumni and things like that and present campers will get together. We'll
do this big. So as far as I know, Paige is going to be in the group, but it's going to be a big
old bunch of Girls Rock Campers. Jimmy, she's 11 years old. We just got mailed. It got mailed here,
the CD that she just put out. And so she's already booked for live in the air November 23rd.
That's great. We're going to play it. We're going to play that song a little later tonight.
Yes, we are. Actually, right. In just a few minutes here, we're with Dana Perry,
the director of the Madison Area Music Association. The worst ceremony is happening tomorrow
at the high noon saloon. Get your advanced tickets. I'm sure are available now or you can pay at
the door, right? Well, we're actually doing donation based this time. So there's no
official ticket link or anything like that. You just kind of show up and make a donation.
We're suggesting $20, but you know, the world is what it is. So we just kind of where there's
going to be ways to you can put cash in or you can Venmo or electronically any variety of ways.
Yeah, we're just generally taking donations for the night. We're recommending $20 when you get
there. So, but it's a give what you can. And what I like about it too, the money stays local. It's
going to help, you know, benefit the bands that are playing is going to help benefit the
bombers. It's going to help benefit the kids here in the wood matters in metropolitan schools.
They come around day and county, I guess. Absolutely. And Mama needs right now the support for sure.
We're really trying to kind of over over COVID. Mama dished out a lot in aid towards
musicians that we're kind of like trying to get in. And there's just it's been hard to kind of
do fundraising stuff since then. But now we're kind of getting back in action. And we really
want to have some really great events to raise funds like the Mama Awards to get back in action.
So every little bit helps. And I know there's a few people out there listening right now. They're
listening to this interview. They're listening to you are like, I want to help. I want to be part of
this. How can I do that? The Mama's dot org. I believe it is the Mama's dot org. You can find out
all about the Madison Area Music Association. The website's a little, a little simple right now,
but we're working on a big revamp. I saw what it looks like so far. It's pretty cool looking.
I'm excited for it to go live, but still all the pertinent information is there, including
donation links and finalists and things like that. Well, I tell you what, you all have a small
army, but you do a great job. Roy Elkins, Rick Twight, of course, you know, Dana Perry.
Anybody else who want to give a shout out that's on the board. And yeah, the board, I guess,
I'm still learning the ropes, of course, but we've got Anthony Lamar heading up some community
listening events. Last week. Last week. Yeah, I was going to say, I think you guys just had
him in here. So he's a, he's a big, awesome person to have on board. And we just recently
brought on, we're hoping to permanently bring on Derek Ramnorace as an events coordinator for
us, which, of course, you know, Derek really knows how to throw on a show. Oh, yeah. He's just,
brings, brings it all to the table. And they're like, we really need someone to do this. I'm like,
dude, I got, I know a guy, Derek is perfect for this job. And of course, they all knew him already.
And was like, yeah, absolutely, Derek. So we're going to have some new faces coming in. And
we've got a new board now within the last year that's got 24 members on it. So there's some,
there's some turnover, basically. And a lot of exciting things coming over the next couple years.
That's awesome. Well, thank you so much for what you guys do. Let's hear some page. Is it
Kebler? Kebler? Cleaver? Page cleaver. Page cleaver. 13. 11. 11 years old. Yep. Just put
out a brand new album called Blinded. Yeah, recorded in Beth Kiley studio. So shout out to Beth Kiley.
And Jenna Jonas. Jenna Jonas is all over it. Always. As always. Let's hear it right now playing
hard to get this vaccine on civic media. We are local music.
