Slow loading in IE8

Though I’ve seen similar topics posted, the circumstances seem slightly different in each, so I wanted to post my specific issue.

I’m using Hatch theme (I have done some simple modifiying, both directly to the code and via the Theme Tweaker plugin). All is fine on Mac browsers, but not ie8.

Though the home page and all its content load nearly immediately, the site still hangs for up to about 45 seconds. Specifically at the bottom of the screen the browser says, “waiting for (my site name)”. The message is slightly different at times; sometimes it’s prefaced with “4 items still loading”, “2 items still loading,” sometimes no preface at all. Let me reiterate that in most cases the site has in fact fully loaded all the text and images, despite the message saying otherwise; though in some cases 2 or so of the 8 images don’t load until the “waiting” message has resolved itself.

The site is http://www.danielmcgowanmusic.com/ . I realize that the IE8 validation tool kicks back many errors, but my programming skills are extremely limited, so I’m hoping I can narrow in on the cause of the slow loading in ie8.

Thoughts?

Thank you!