Scott Gordon

Madison

Editor-in-Chief and Publisher at Tone Madison

I’m just chasing that electric rabbit | publisher at @tonemsn (he/him) | [email protected] | Signal: 608-571-2537

Featured in: Favicon

bandcamp.com Favicon

pastemagazine.com Favicon

avclub.com Favicon

klfy.com

progressive.org Favicon

urbanmilwaukee.com Favicon

isthmus.com Favicon

arklatexhomepage.com Favicon

vinylmeplease.com Favicon

beachwoodreporter.com + 3 more

Articles

Die, die, miss "American Pie"

1 month ago | tonemadison.com | Scott Gordon

This is our newsletter-first column, Microtones. It runs on the site on Fridays, but you can get it in your inbox on Thursdays by signing up for our email newsletter. Don McLean never really went after Killdozer for covering “American Pie” on the 1989 covers album For Ladies Only. Touch And Go Records initially issued the album as a box set of five 7″ singles.
The body camera issue – Tone Madison

1 month ago | tonemadison.com | Scott Gordon

We’ve spent a lot of time over the past couple years reporting and writing about police body cameras. Tone Madison‘s latest print edition focuses entirely on the subject, with all-new illustrations by Andrew Mulhearn, design by Kay Reynolds, and an introduction by UW-Madison history professor Simon Balto. The issue recaps what we’ve learned while reporting on local police agencies’ pursuit of body cameras and the obstacles a new Wisconsin law poses to people seeking access to bodycam footage.
Wisconsin's leaders need to stop being doormats

1 month ago | tonemadison.com | Scott Gordon

This is our newsletter-first column, Microtones. It runs on the site on Fridays, but you can get it in your inbox on Thursdays by signing up for our email newsletter. One of the central problems of the Trump era is that most observers of U.S. politics have set a frightfully low bar for what constitutes “standing up” to Trump and the fascist Republican Party.
Tone Madison is announcing some leadership changes

1 month ago | tonemadison.com | Scott Gordon |Christina Lieffring |Grant Phipps |Steven Spoerl

Tone Madison will be making some major changes this year. But we’re not going away, nor is our commitment to fiercely independent coverage of culture and politics in Madison. Co-founder Scott Gordon will step down from his role as Publisher and Editor-in-Chief on May 1. After taking some time off, Gordon will continue to contribute to the publication as a writer and reporter.
Wisconsin Books to Prisoners goes back to square one

2 months ago | tonemadison.com | Scott Gordon

This is our newsletter-first column, Microtones. It runs on the site on Fridays, but you can get it in your inbox on Thursdays by signing up for our email newsletter. Back in fall 2024, we reported on the Wisconsin Department of Corrections’ tightening restrictions on prisoner access to books.
Rachel Litchman receives disability-journalism honor for Tone Madison comic on housing policy

2 months ago | tonemadison.com | Scott Gordon

Madison-based comics artist and writer Rachel Litchman’s comics-journalism project “Madison’s (un)affordable and (in)accessible housing problem,” published in January 2024 on Tone Madison, took home honors from the National Center on Disability and Journalism’s (NCDJ) Excellence in Disability Reporting awards. NCDJ, based at Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, announced this year’s awardees on Monday.
"Milk Punch" revels in a Madison beautifully adrift

2 months ago | tonemadison.com | Scott Gordon

Though it centers around a joyride in a stolen car, Erik Gunneson’s 2000 film Milk Punch sets a relaxed pace. That allows all manner of little things to come to the fore—comic setpieces, sweet moments of friendship, familiar bygone places, impeccable music choices, and a whole collection of misfit objects that seem expertly (yet effortlessly) culled from thrift stores and yard sales.
Madison and Dane County should fund the arts like it's an emergency, because it is

2 months ago | tonemadison.com | Scott Gordon

Artists, arts administrators, and journalists in Madison constantly bring up the talking point that Wisconsin is among the worst places in the nation (by some measures the worst) for state-level funding of the arts. It’s true, it’s awful, and it’s a disservice to our community and communities around the state. I’m glad that so many people draw attention to it.
Another layer of isolation could be coming for Dane County Jail "residents"

Feb 24, 2025 | tonemadison.com | Scott Gordon |Dan Fitch

The ACLU of Wisconsin sent out its annual holiday card in December. But no one on the organization’s mailing list actually received the physical card. Instead, recipients opened up an envelope to find a sad piece of copier paper, printed on either side with black-and-white scans of the card’s exterior and interior, plopped askew onto a scanner with its edges cut off. The front of the card depicts what might be an arrangement of pine boughs, against the background of a snowing sky.
Madison needs an evil gossip rag

Feb 21, 2025 | tonemadison.com | Scott Gordon

This is our newsletter-first column, Microtones. It runs on the site on Fridays, but you can get it in your inbox on Thursdays by signing up for our email newsletter. You can get a lot out of Madison’s media landscape. What you cannot get is something that appeals to your petty, nasty side—stuff that makes life genuinely unpleasant for politicians, business leaders, and half-assed local celebrities. This is a real problem. Madison needs a robust gossip publication.