Madison DJ Mike Carlson and family lose home in fire; benefit at Inferno tonight

Local DJ Mike Carlson and his family lost their East Side home in a fire Tuesday afternoon. Channel 3000 reports that the damage racks up around $250,000. In other words, four people are now displaced. "Luckily everyone's safe," says Carlson's friend Matt Fanale, a local electronic musician and promoter, "but they lost everything short of Mike's laptop and DJ rig. 75 crates of vinyl and all of his family's possessions gone." Carlson's fellow DJs have set up a Paypal account for anyone who'd like to make a donation and help the family recover: Just go to Paypal and address the payment to mikeandfamilybenefit@gmail.com. A veteran local DJ, Carlson also runs the MC Audio equipment and record shop on University Ave. He spoke with us about a year ago about spinning music from the '80s and '90s. Carlson is apparently scheduled to play this Friday at Great Dane Hilldale; it is not clear yet whether he plans to keep this gig or not.

UPDATE: The Inferno will host a benefit for Carlson and his family tonight. There is no cover. Instead, the organizers are requesting donations of non-perishable food and clothing, "Mostly men's L and XL clothes, size 34-38 waist, and women's size S and juniors clothing." Doors at 9 p.m.