The Tea Partiers held a Tax Day demo at the Wisconsin state capital today. The local organizers said the crowd totaled 12,000. Seemed like a stretch. Much closer to 3000.

Tommy Thompson took the stage late in the rally. His face was as red as his tie. He was so fired up, I was worried he’d have a heart attack and we would see “ObamaCare” in action.

Rumors have been flying about the possibility of Tommy running against Russ Feingold this year. Much to the dismay of the people who chanted “Run, Tommy, Run,” he has decided not to. Like just about everyone else who spoke, he had a very pro-God ending.

I did speak to Terrence Wall, a local Madison developer, who is running against Feingold. He criticized Feingold, saying he’s been in office since 1982 and is now a career politician. “He hasn’t accomplished anything,” said Wall.

Wall said that his top priority is to get jobs started and rebuild confidence in the state, and “get government out of the way.”

I asked him, given what he said about the government being in the way, where he came down on civil liberties. Would he have voted for the Patriot Act? (Feingold was the only Senator to vote against it.)

Wall said he would have voted for the Patriot Act. It’s about “striking a balance” between security and rights. “I’m for civil liberties,” he said. “And they’re going after terrorists; they aren’t going after you and me.”

Well what about the No Fly Lists? “I had a friend who was on one of the those by mistake.”

Wall should be an easy target for Dems. Wall says he’s against taxes, and oh, is he ever. According to the Capital Times, “Wall has not paid personal state income taxes in nine of the past 10 years, according to the state Department of Revenue. That’s quite remarkable, as Wall is a son of privilege who has always enjoyed great wealth and whose real estate empire has, according to his own campaign spokesman, incurred tens of millions of dollars in tax obligations over the past five years.”

The Capital Times continues: “Let’s consider Feingold’s record. According to Department of Revenue figures, the senator paid net taxes between $6,000 and $9,400 each year from 1999 to 2008. So how come Russ Feingold pays more net taxes than Terrence Wall? That’s easy. Feingold’s one of the great mass of Americans who work hard, pay their taxes and try to abide by the rules. Wall’s one of the elite few who think that their money and position give them the privilege to write a special set of rules for themselves. Feingold thinks everyone should pay their fair share. Wall thinks that working Americans should pay their fair share — and his.”

Top Ten Signs at the Mad Tea Party:

“One Nation Under God, not Obama”
“Your dog has birth papers Do You Mr. President”
“First they ignore you . . . Then they laugh at you . . .then they try to fight you . . . then you win. –Gandhi”
“Cap your income and Trade your freedom”
“Chris Matthews needs a diaper change”
“Teach a man to fish and you lose a Democrat voter”
“On the eighth day, God created capitalism”
“Free markets not Free loaders”
“I will not grab my ankles”
“Social Justice sucks if you work hard”

There were some non-Tea Party people around too. A group of young women with glasses and short hair had signs that read “Giving tea a bad name.”

But the most ironic moment was hearing the organizers blaring Rage Against the Machine. Huh?

Shakespeare, as in Robbie Shakespeare, of Sly and Robbie fame, rocked the Barrymore Theater on June 10. Sly and Robbie have been the backbone of Jamaican reggae for more than thirty years. But their influence is felt worldwide.

According to Allmusic.com, “Their rhythms have been the driving force behind innumerable songs — one statistician estimated that together they’ve played on approximately 200,000 tracks, and that doesn’t count remixes, versions, and dubs. As a production team, the pair has been the equivalent of a creative storm, the cutting edge of modern dub, ragga, and dancehall.”

They’ve played on and produced albums for a variety of artists including Bob Dylan, Grace Jones, Bunny Wailer, Ben Harper, No Doubt, Serge Gainsbourg, the Rolling Stones, Gilberto Gil, and Carlos Santana.

Sly Dunbar was on drum kit and Robbie bounced the heavy bass lines, with a top-notch back-up band. (The rhythm guitarist bore a striking resemblance to Nelson Mandela, which was kinda cool.)

They started out playing “Liquidator Dub,” which is the opening track to their excellent album “Masters of Dub.”

For people unfamiliar with the genre, dub music is a form of reggae that features a throbbing bass and drums sound. Often older tunes are remixed into a dub style. So, for example, “Liquidator Dub” is a remix of the 1969 hit, “The Liquidator,” with lots of echoes and reverb.

And it’s this remixing that Sly and Robbie are so good at. Unlike other reggae bands, Sly and Robbie take old songs and make them sound fresh. I saw Stephen Marley, scion of Bob Marley, a few months ago at the same venue and was disappointed by the weak Bob Marley medley Stephen threw in. Sure, the audience expected it, but did it seem stale.

Sly and Robbie drew from reggae hits from the past and performed current ones, too. They played a pared down version of “Welcome to Jamrock,” a recent hit by Damian Marley (another progeny of Bob Marley).

And when Robbie sang the old dancehall tune, “You Don’t Love Me (No, No, No),” I wanted to melt. It’s one of my favorite songs, ever. And to see it performed live by the Masters of Dub was truly memorable.

Robbie looked like a samurai, dressed in a long, black sleeveless coat hanging over his jeans and sneakers. He wielded his bass like a sword. I could feel the bass line in my chest. As a friend said, he could play the same note for 100 measures in a row and still make it sound interesting.

Sly Dunbar was amazing on drums. It resonated on the dance floor.

After nearly 2 hours of groove, the band bid farewell. Robbie was the last one on stage. He sang and played a long meandering solo on his guitar. He left the stage while still playing his bass.

After all these years, they didn’t dial it in. They even came to the lobby and smiled for photographs. I happened to be right there at the merch table and snagged an autograph.