Stephen Schwartz and Friends-A Wonderful Night of Singing!

Stephen Schwartz

Part of the season at Overture Center this year is a series of performances that are cabaret themed.  The first in the series happened last Thursday night in the beautiful Capitol Theater.  This show “Stephen Schwartz and Friends” was a true delight!  If you ever wondered what it would be like to be invited into the living room of one of Broadway’s most successful and prolific composer/lyricist (Wicked/Pippin/Godspell/Working) Thursday night was truly that.

Schwartz, in a very relaxed way told stories of his music, performed songs both well known and not so well known.  Joining him were 2 incredibly gifted and well known performers as well.  Debbie Gravitte, Tony Award winner for Jerome Robbins’ Broadway and Scott Coulter, one of the best cabaret performers and voices I’ve heard in a long time both graced the stage with their phenomenal performances and strong and enjoyable voices.  All in all the night flew by because of the great talent we got to enjoy on stage in the Capitol Theater.

Don’t miss the rest of this series.  The wonderful Sally Mays will be performing on November 6, 2008 and David Burnham will be here on February 19, 2009.

My only disappointment was the theater wasn’t sold out for this great show.  Kudos to the programming staff at Overture for bringing such wonderful musical talent to Madison.

Downtown Living Walking Tour this Sunday

A really cool event that happens each year is the Downtown Living Walking tour sponsored by Capitol Neighborhoods, Inc. and Downtown Madison, Inc.

“Big Life, Small Footprint,” Downtown Madison Inc. & Capitol Neighborhoods event, 1-5 pm, 9/28, at six locations. Tickets/maps at www.downtownmadison.org or event day at Jo’s Tazzina, 45 S. Bassett St. $10. 443-1972

To find out more, click this link.

The Truth About the Real Estate Market

Lately I’ve been asked alot about “When do think the real estate market will bottom out?”

It happened yesterday when I got my hair cut.  The stylist, Margie at Cost Cutters on University Avenue asked me that question when she found out I was a REALTOR.  It happened last night at a REALTOR function out in Oregon.  In fact, I can recall at least 5 conversations this week with folks asking this same question.

When will this happen?  I don’t know.  If I did I would be “timing” the market to the extent that I could amass as much real estate at that very moment, then sell it as the market climbs back up and retire (relatively) young and wealthy.

The truth is none of us know when the market will tick back up.  And if we’re waiting for that to happen, the only way we’ll know it has is when it does–thus loosing the opportunity to buy property at the bottom.  What I do know is there are some great indicators that this might be a great time to buy.

My standard response when someone asks about “timing” the market is that one can’t do this.  You see, real estate has historically been a buy and hold game.  Sometime in the early 2000’s it became a buy and immediately sell for a huge profit game.  This skewed the mindset of many would be property buyers.

There’s no denying this is a buyer’s market.  The number of properties for sale does exceed the number of buyers in the market-thus opportunity is there today.  With interest rates staying very low (long term rates hovering around 6.0%) and selection being the hightest I’ve ever seen (20 years in this business) now might be the time.

Consider the following chart:

This Keller Williams will pack the house, not sell it

…was a headline that caught my eye this morning in 77 Square magazine published by the Capital Times here in Madison.  I especially love the fact that the author, Rob Thomas, calls Keller Williams Realty a “real estate giant”.  Not bad for a company that only started here in the Madison market less than 6 years ago.  Here’s the entire article from 77 Square-  Darren Kittleson

Rob Thomas

September 16, 2008

It’s not that Keller Williams is antisocial. He liked other musicians just fine.

He just didn’t need them. Williams is best known for taking just a guitar on stage with him and enthralling audiences — including regular stops in Madison at least annually — with his finger-bending guitar and tongue-twisting lyrics, a sort of Gilbert and Sullivan meets Bonnaroo.

But now Williams has a band, featuring former String Cheese incident bassist Keith Moseley, guitarist Gibb Droll and Leftover Salmon drummer Jeff Sipe. The quartet just released a live two-CD/one-DVD set, succinctly called “Live,” that stretches out a bunch of Williams’ songs, including “Tribe” and “You Are What You Eat.”

Jam-band fans should be very pleased, especially since the lineup is coming to the Barrymore Theatre, 2090 Atwood Ave. at 7:30 p.m. next Wednesday, Sept. 24. Tickets are $25 through the Barrymore box office or its outlets, by phone at 241-8864, or online at www.barrymorelive.com.

Cornmeal will open the show.

(And in case you were wondering, this Keller Williams has nothing to do with the real estate giant of the same name, outside of getting first dibs on the Keller Williams entry on Wikipedia.)

City of Madison Opens “Downtown Plan” Office

The city of Madison has been working throughout the year with area residents and those who work downtown to create a vision for the Downtown in the future.  I had a chance to participate in Phase II of the process a few months ago.  You can see my thoughts by clicking here.

The new Downtown Plan Project Office will give Downtown residents, employees and visitors an opportunity to stop in and see the progress being made on the Downtown Plan.

Located adjacent to the Overture Center and the Library, just steps off of State Street, this storefront office will provide an opportunity for people to talk one-on-one about the future of Madison’s Downtown with City staff in a casual atmosphere.

You Can Visit the Office to:

• Ask questions
• Share your ideas & opinions
• Talk to City staff
• View maps and other information

Downtown Plan Project Office

Location:

125 West Mifflin Street

 

125 West Mifflin Street

 

(Corner of W. Mifflin & Fairchild, across from the Library)Tuesday – Friday: 10 am – 2 pmStop in and share your thoughts.

 

125 West Mifflin Street