🗳️ Judge says 23 late ballots must be counted

🚧 Lake Street Closed Until Late June For Construction

• North Lake Street is closed to traffic between University Avenue and State Street starting May 18 (today!) for sanitary replacement and pavement restoration work.
• The section of street, which includes the multi-use building under construction to replace the State Street Campus Garage, will still be open to local traffic. Through traffic will have to detour via Park Street to get from University Avenue to Langdon Street. The closure is expected to last until June 22. [City of Madison]

🗳️ Now 23 Madison Ballots WILL Be Counted, Judge Says

• The saga over 23 late-arriving absentee ballots in the April 7 primary election took another turn last week. Dane County Judge Everett Mitchell overruled an order by the Wisconsin Elections Commission to not count those ballots in the about-to-be-certified Wisconsin Supreme Court race.
• In Wisconsin, absentee ballots are counted at the polling locations, and the 23 ballots in question arrived after 8 p.m. on Election Day due to election administrator error. The WEC said that state law mandates that ballots arriving late not be counted no matter what.
• But the progressive law firm Law Forward, which is representing two of the 23 voters, successfully argued that there’s a long-running precedent not to deprive voters of their constitutional rights due to official error. [VoteBeat]

☕ Big Changes May Be in Store for Edgewater Hotel

• Want to meet for coffee at the Edgewater? The historical Madison hotel on the shore of Lake Mendota is proposing some big changes that would include adding a grab-and-go coffee shop and market.
• The Edgewater Hotel is hosting a virtual information meeting at 6 p.m. today to discuss the changes, which would take place over the next five to seven years. In addition to the coffee shop, the plan would include a new structure on the grand plaza for year-round use of the lakefront, improvements to the rooftop sky bar, and improved public access to the lake. [City of Madison]

Many people drive by the nondescript two-story brick building on the corner of East Washington Avenue and South Baldwin Street without realizing they’re passing by a piece of rock music history.

Smart Studios was a recording studio that was ground zero for the ‘90s alternative rock movement. Nirvana, Smashing Pumpkins, and studio founders Butch Vig and Steve Marker’s own band Garbage recorded music there.

Filmmaker Wendy Schneider captured the grungy, influential history of the studio at 1254 E. Washington Ave. in her documentary “The Smart Studios Story.” On the City Cast Madison podcast, Schneider talked to host Bianca Martin about her experiences making the documentary.

‘Let’s Get Smart!’

As musicians on the 1980s Madison rock scene, Vig and Marker would often hang out at the Plaza Tavern. When it was last call, they’d declare “Let’s get smart!” and go record music until sunrise.

After several frustrating experiences trying to book time to record at other people’s studios, the duo decided to start their own.

The original Smart Studios actually originally opened across the street, in what was then the Gisholt Machine Tool warehouse. They invited any and all Madison bands to come record there.

Grunge bands from the Midwest heard the music coming out of Smart Studios and wanted to come to Madison and record there too. As their notoriety grew, Vig and Marker bought the two-story building in 1987 to accommodate all the demand.

Hitting the Big Time

When Nirvana came to Smart Studios in 1990 to record eight songs—one of which, “Polly,” appeared on their “Nevermind” album—Smart Studios was known nationwide as a place to come and record. But Vig and Marker made a point to make sure lesser-known local bands could still book time to record there too.

As Garbage began using the studio more and more to record their own music, that left less time for outside bands to make music there. And as the ‘90s grunge movement faded in the ‘00s and Garbage took more and more of Vig and Marker’s time, the studio’s importance began to fade. The studio closed its doors in 2010.