Tone Madison

Fiercely independent coverage of culture and politics in Madison that was journalist-owned and reader-supported.

04/03/2026

In our final Microtones, current and former editors—Scott Gordon, Christina Lieffring, Steven Spoerl, Grant Phipps, Oona Mackesey-Green, and Juan Carlos Garcia Martinez—reflect on Tone Madison's life and legacy.

Thanks to the greater Madison community for supporting our publication, 2014–2026.

Current and former editors reflect on the publication's life and legacy.

04/02/2026

Musician and arts organizer Evan Fernandez talks with Aaron Grych about the importance of managing the HQ practice space for local bands on the near North Side as well as his own ensemble, The Porch Flowers.

"...If you have a network, bring them together, then tell them to bring their friends. Have an open door, be inclusive, and you're gonna end up just building something before your very eyes, before you even really know it."

Musician and arts organizer Evan Fernandez discusses the importance of managing the HQ practice space for local bands and his own ensemble, The Porch Flowers.

04/01/2026

Artist Anne Ciecko's videopoem, LIMERENT PITTSBURGH (2025), is a highlight among the 30 selections of this year's Midwest Video Poetry Fest at Arts + Literature Laboratory on Saturday, April 4.

"...The use of a murmuring accordion melody also acts as a key component to this videopoem's heightened yearning that flits between a focus on the city's eminent industry and the crux of memory. Ciecko calls herself an autodidactic player, and sees the trans-cultural instrument serving as another voice along with her [narration], complementing the folkloric elements extracted through the multiplicity of images and words," writes Arts Editor Grant Phipps.

Artist Anne Ciecko's 2025 videopoem is a highlight among the 30 selections of this year's Midwest Video Poetry Fest at ALL on April 4.

03/31/2026

Amelia Zollner gets to know retired lecturer and winsome ornithologist Charles "Chuck" Henrikson on one of his most recent UW-Madison Arboretum Tuesday birding hikes, which he's been coordinating for well over a decade.

Like Henrikson, we "wish you good health and good birding too."

The retired lecturer and winsome ornithologist has been coordinating Tuesday birder hikes at the Arboretum for well over a decade.

03/30/2026

UW Professor Emeritus Lea Jacobs' new book, JOHN FORD AT WORK, on the renowned American director coincides with a five-film UW Cinematheque series this spring (two of which are screening shortly after the Wisconsin Film Festival: STAGECOACH on April 17 and YOUNG MR. LINCOLN on April 24).

Lance Li spoke with Jacobs about her research methodology, the role that Ford's cinematographers played in his movies, and more.

The UW Professor Emeritus' new book on the storied American director coincides with a five-film UW Cinematheque series this spring.

03/27/2026

"It's easy to build a great food culture in a city just by going out more often, especially during non-peak hours.... One small change in dining habits would have a massive impact. If even a quarter of Madisonians added one or two more nights out during the week, that would mean around 65,000 more meals for Madison's nearly 1,500 total restaurants," writes Jesse Raub in his final "Small Bites" column.

Going out on Sundays and other thoughts on building a more sustainable food city.

03/25/2026

"...This is a challenge that really interests me as a filmmaker: of 'empty space' or the question about whether or not the camera and its mere presence in space can index a historical trace or the latency or the presence of a ghost past. Can that be transmitted purely by the presence of the camera?"

Milwaukee filmmaker Ben Balcom talks extensively with Arts Editor Grant Phipps about his latest experimental short, THE PHALANX, which is premiering locally at the Chazen Museum of Art during the 2026 Wisconsin Film Festival on April 12.

The Milwaukee filmmaker's latest experimental short premieres locally at the Chazen Museum during the 2026 Wisconsin Film Festival on April 12.

03/23/2026

"Part girlhood diary, part craft lecture, and part reality-TV show confession, Low's debut full-length poetry collection, REPLICA, takes us from the spaces of childhood (playgrounds, hair salons, elders' bedsides) to those of adulthood (graduate school parties, Reddit rabbit holes, the home shared with a partner) and charts the nuanced ways the narrator has grappled with her proximity to and relationships with whiteness," writes Rodlyn-mae Banting.

Moving from childhood to adulthood, the author's new poetry collection confronts and reconciles expectations in order to live authentically.

03/20/2026

Tone Madison is saying goodbye on April 3. Though we're sad, we're also grateful. Over the next couple weeks, we'll be proud to bring you a few more fiercely independent stories on local arts, culture, and politics.

We are sad, but grateful too.

03/18/2026

From Tom Kertscher of Wisconsin Watch:

Since January reporting revealed that NDAs were signed in at least four Wisconsin communities where artificial intelligence data centers are proposed or being built—Beaver Dam, Kenosha, Janesville, and Menomonie, Wisconsin Watch learned about a fifth project with an NDA, in the town of Beloit—showing that discussions there occurred more than a year before any public announcement was made.

The town of Beloit is the fifth Wisconsin community with an NDA for a possible data center.

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