Back in the day, did you go to punk shows at Merlyn's or see Soundgarden at the O'Cayz Corral? Get in a tangle with Big Liz the door girl? Buy your records (vinyl only!) at the B-Side? Then you should hightail it down to Tenney Park this Sunday, July 13, 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. for the First Annual Senior Scenester Potluck, where aging hipsters and their younger friends will gather to swap stories and jams. Bring your gear, your instrument, a dish to pass and at least five bucks to cover the shelter and PA system rental. A half-barrel of beer will be on hand, but bring more if you'd like.

The potluck announcement over at thedailypage.com forums has been generating pages of nostalgia and reminiscing.

One of the event's organizers, Lisa Marine, filled me in on some of the details via phone. Marine, 45, moved to Madison on New Year's Eve 1987 and got involved in the music scene right away as a fan, going to shows at the Club de Wash, O'Cayz and the Chamber. For the past 15 years, she's also played in rock bands: the Quickies, Mae Rae, Noah John ("postmodern psychedelic hillbilly alt-country") and most recently, Tancho Tancho! (the exclamation point is part of it).

Where did the idea for this scenester potluck come from? It started off because of funerals, really. A couple of people that were part of the scene died in the past couple years. Most recently, Kevin Freiling, who was the singer in Jimmy the Go Go Man, died a couple months ago. All the people from the old days were at the funeral. It was so great to see all the old O'Cayz people and Club de Wash people. People were saying, "It'd be nice if there were a happy event to see them at, we should have a party!" After that, I just thought, of course we can have a party, why couldn't we have a party? We just have to do it. We're encouraging people to bring photographs and flyers from the old days.

What else should people know? It's a potluck 'cause we're old people. Maybe there'll be a reunion or two of the old bands. I'd like to see Cattleprod and The Appliances SFB reunite. My current band is made up of scenesters from the old days, so it'll be sort of a super group that way. People who want to relish that sense of community that the Madison music scene still has should come. I don't think that's true of the music scene in other cities.

How do you think the music scene in Madison has changed over the last 20 years? Well, it was really thriving back in the 80s and 90s. It was very, very easy to find a lot of good shows that were very well attended back in the day. We went through a lot of trouble with clubs shutting down or burning down. It seems that people aren't coming out to shows the way they used to. And I'm not so sure the student population is as into it as they used to be. They don't flock to it the way they did back in the late 80s or 90s.

Why? It's hard to say. It's especially hard for me to say because I like to go to shows. For me, going out to see bands was so much a part of my college life. I still go even though I'm older now and I have a family. I think it's the way people listen to music. It's so much more accessible via the media now. They can just pick and choose songs from records. Maybe they're less willing to just take a chance and go out and see a band unless they've heard about it.

What are some of your favorite memories from the old days? There were all these people you could count on seeing out. If Marco Pogo came and jumped around at one of your shows, you knew that was sort of a sign of approval.

Who's that? He's probably around my age - a quiet, tall, super thin guy who pogo dances at shows. He's been around forever. He just has this uncontrollable burst of dancing energy. Even at larger headlining shows, sometimes the band will just stop, amazed - "Look at that guy." Eric Hysteric was another dancing guy who was hilarious. He did the groovy hippie dance.