Jane Wiedlin Returns!
Jane Wiedlin is back in Wisconsin, no, not in Oconomowoc, but a bit west, in Madison…
We’re sure you know, that it’s no secret that we love Jane, and she loves Star Wars, but we’re excited to see she has come back home to Wisconsin. From the article Go-Go’s guitarist and Wisconsin native Jane Wiedlin falls in love, buys a house and whips up a Madison band:
Isthmus: I understand you were born in Oconomowoc. Were you raised there?
Jane Wiedlin: No. We lived in West Allis, and then when I was 6, my dad was an oral surgeon and he got a job at the VA Hospital in Los Angeles, and he packed the whole family and we moved to L.A.Do you remember a lot about your early years in Wisconsin?
I remember the cold. I remember my brothers and sisters asking me if I wanted to be the princess, and I said, “yes, I want to be the princess!” So they took me outside and they built a chair out of snow and then they put snow on my head, and they said, “You’re the snow princess!” And I think I started crying.Do you see yourself moving back to L.A., at least part time?
My whole life and my whole career I’ve always felt a little bit different than the people around me, and I never could understand what it was. And now I think it’s because I’m from the Midwest, and I think that makes you different. People here have certain innate values and ways of being that are different from people in other places. I really want to be here now.
Read the whole article, and learn about her new love, and her new band, Lady Robotika. (Personally, I think they should have called the band “Snow Princess” but maybe they can use that for the album title…)
October 29th, 2008 at 1:35 pm
Thanks for sharing the article – it was great! I agree with Jane — I have always felt a little different from everyone I meet in the South and it’s because I’m a true Midwestern at heart. I hope to move back to Wisconsin, particularly Oconomowoc, in the next couple of years so I can come back “home”!
October 31st, 2008 at 6:03 am
Tiffany, good to hear! Oconomowoc welcomes you…
March 27th, 2009 at 11:06 pm
I spent some of my first years with a best friend named Jane in West Allis; we were penpals after her dad packed the family into their station wagon and hauled them away to CA. I remember standing on the front lawn and watching them take off. We eventually stopped writing each other (this was long ago, before zip codes were neccessay!) and I never knew until about 1982 what had happened to her. Saw her on MTV late at night while up with a baby, but didn’t know that it was her. Some time later, two DJs in a local radio stasion said the song “Rush Hour” was Jane’s and that she had moved to CA straight from Oconomowoc, knew that wasn’t true.
Anyhow, please tell Jane that it is only cold about 6 months of the year back here in WI; and those can be ANY of our 12 months. Maybe I wasn’t watching carefully enough when the car was packed, but I think when they left Jane was the youngest, then there was only Wendy(?) and Bob.
It would be nice it you can forward this to her, but if not, so be it.
I can give several clues that I am who I say I am:
Bob’s Bait Shop
Greenfield Park
Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church/School
Brick ranch house on 114th Str, which still has lilacs along the front walk
Grandpa Mason played the piano and lived on the south, the Tesch Family lived on the north of the Wiedlins
Who am I now?
I live just north of the tiny village of Newburg in Washington County, about 8 miles east of West Bend. I have lived in the West Bend area since 1978. Currently I am employed at BC Ziegler and Company, West Bend. I have been doing payroll for the last 15 years and like what I do. Married 31 years to a West Bend native, two sons, and lots of friends. With much work from my brother we sold Mom’s West Allis home last October. Am going on a gambling junket this Sunday with friends from ‘The Parkside’ in Newburg, because there isn’t much else to do while we are waiting for Spring.
my contact info, just in case….
donnagundrum@live.com