Arabesque Music Ensemble

By Blaine Schultz Umm Kulthum was a very popular Arabic vocalis; in her beautiful and powerful voice, she performed songs composed for her by a trio of talented men. Zakariyya Ahmad, Muhammad al-Qasabji and Riyad al-Sunbati are known as the Three Musketeers. This album is made up of tunes written in the 1930s and 1940s – some of which were originally recorded for movies. This is not a reissue, but a contemporary project of the Chicago-based Arabesque Music Ensemble. It is a tribute to the composers. For these recordings, the ensemble worked with 75-year-old vocalist Youssef Kassab, who transcribed the original recordings. While most of the group members are in their 20s and 30s (and have recorded with Shakira and Beyonce), they sought to recreate the vibe of the original era. The Three Musketeers were traditionalists for the most part, but added touches of Western influene – hence the appearance of cello alongside ‘ud and qanun. Liner note translation of the lyrics speak of sacred and secular devotion and patriotism – love in its many forms. What stands out is the care the musicians took with this music. Lilting melodies glide and rage with ease. The Arabesque Music Ensemble performs February 5 at the DeKoven Center in Racine.

What’s Going On In The Third Ward?

OnMilwaukee.com’s Julie Lawrence has a good review of some of the retail and tavern activity in the Third Ward.

It’s Official, Fonz Funding Complete

Milwaukee is the talk of the internet today, as the major news outlets announce the Fonz statue to the world.  Visit Milwaukee has officially raised the $85,000 needed to build the statue. I’ve been in support of the statue since I first learned of it because it encourages visitors (who come to Milwaukee for completely unrelated reasons) to stay downtown, walk downtown, and spend their money downtown. One more thing for Milwaukee visitors to do. Mary Louise Schumacher is still opposed to the statue because it’s too trivial. The Associated Press has an article that sums up what is happening, and even mentions Brenner leaving town. The best part of the entire thing is that Henry Winkler and company held a press conference to announce the completed funding in front of the Culver’s at the Shops of Grand Avenue. Couldn’t they find a slightly better location?

Smart Cars Hitting The Street

The Smart Car fortwo, arguably the smallest car on the market at 8-feet-long (the Prius is 14.6-feet-long), has hit the US market for the first time this month.  Streetsblog has a shot of one parked sideways amongst the rest of the cars on the street in NYC. While I’m in no way in favor of cars, Milwaukee is far from ready to be a car-free paradise.  Sure certain neighborhoods are far better than others, but without a car certain people would struggle to get around, especially in the winter.  We, as those who want to live a low cost, environmentally-friendly car-free lifestyle, need to walk before we run and getting smaller, quieter, and more fuel-efficient is one component of that. In to the picture steps the low-cost Smart Car, finally available on the US market.  While not more fuel-efficient than the Toyota Prius, it’s smaller and cheaper.  For urbanites that need a car infrequently the Smart Car might be the perfect match.  It’s easy to park, quiet (neighborhood friendly), and gets pretty good gas mileage at nearly 40 miles a gallon.  The car has a suggested retail price of just under $12,000. An electric model is on the way, which is more attractive from an environmental standpoint, but will contain a $35,000 price, which might be too much for the average consumer to stomach. As far as space goes inside the vehicle, I road in one in Germany and found it plenty comfortable, more so than say climbing in and out of a small pickup truck. I won’t complain if all my neighbors replace their cars with Smart Cars.  Just think of the asphalt we could save.  More bike lanes anyone?

Job Openings at Miller Park

When new stadiums are built we hear rumors of all these jobs they’re going to bring to a community.  Often enough it’s hard to tell if those jobs are actually created. On Friday afternoon, you’ll be able to actually apply for those jobs in a job fair at Miller Park from 4 – 7.  They’ll be doing it again on Saturday morning.  And if you can’t make either of those days, it looks like the Brewers will allow you to apply online.  OnMilwaukee.com has all the details.

Fonz Wins, Brenner Leaving Town

Lake Michigan Under Fire

Our beloved Lake Michigan is in trouble.  In the last year alone “the small fish” that sustain the big salmon and trout had their numbers cut in half.  Thanks to a growing number of mussels that are able to live at deep depths and rob the water of energy (the plankton), the ecosystem is under fire. But fear not, Jim Doyle is coming to the rescue (how about that for a change).  The state of Wisconsin will spend $6 million to build an experimental ballast water treatment system for the state’s Great Lakes ports, most importantly Milwaukee.  As you hopefully know, most of the invasive species in Lake Michigan today enter through the discharged ballast water of ships.  Wisconsin and the United States have been slow to pass legislation regulating this discharging, which can be largely prevented by discharging the ballast water in the open ocean. This system will hopefully serve as the catalyst for a movement by all Great Lakes ports to finally do something about allowing ballast water to be discharged.

Three Unrelated Persons Per Residence

One of the often-overlooked rules for residences in Milwaukee is that no more than three unrelated persons may live together. I’ve never heard a good reason for why the rule is in place or how one can get around the rule (outside of simply ignoring it like many landlords do). DailyReporter.com finally gave me an answer to all of my questions.  It turns out that it’s mainly a financial issue for keeping the rule on the books.  Reducing the number of occupants per residence limits the potential income of a landlord and helps slow any burning desires they have to buy up the entire block with the income from packing 5 people (probably students) into a house, and turning the neighborhood into a slum lord’s paradise. This rule has the greatest affect in the areas surrounding universities in the city, primarily UW-Milwaukee. There is of course always the factor that 4 or 5 college students together in one residence can cause trouble, but the prevailing reason for the rule seems to be the financial factor. To get around the rule you can simply claim someone you’re living with is your cousin, but Alderman D’Amato is leading the charge to tighten that loophole by requiring residents be first cousins, and not simply cousins to get around the requirement.

2008 Downtown Planning Process Begins

The Department of City Development recently held a Downtown Plan Update Kick-Off event introducing the upcoming planning process that will set the stage for Downtown Milwaukee’s development for the next ten years. As part of the kickoff DCD released the Downtown Plan Update Report which pointed out the successes of the 1999 Downtown Plan such as the revamped Intermodal Station, the removing of the Park East Freeway, the Riverwalk expansion and the Milwaukee Public Market. The report also pointed out ongoing issues that still need to be addressed such as the abundance of surface lots, the lack of affordable rental and condominium units, and the need for further pedestrian improvements. The 1999 Downtown Plan proved how effective this process is in improving the City but the time has come to update it for the next ten years. Continuing on these efforts the City is beginning work on the 2008 Downtown Plan. As part of this planning process the city is conducting an online survey asking residents for their input into the process. If you have thoughts on what will help Downtown Milwaukee’s continued growth you can participate in the survey by completing the Downtown Plan Community Survey.

Clearing the Air

A proposed ban on smoking in all workplaces in Wisconsin is stalled in the state legislature and that’s too bad. There’s no doubt that secondhand smoke is dangerous so it seems to me a no-brainer that no employee should be subjected to toxic air on the job. More than twenty states including New York, California, Illinois and Minnesota have passed smoke-free workplace measures and, as Gov. Doyle has pointed out, Wisconsin is in danger of becoming the ashtray of the Midwest. Even tobacco-addled countries like Ireland, Italy and France have enacted smoking bans, for heaven’s sake. Gov. Doyle reiterated his support for a ban on smoking in the workplace during last night’s State of the State address but it is unlikely to get very far this year. The Senate Public Health Committee passed a version of the ban earlier this month but Senate Majority Leader Russ Decker appears unwilling to bring the measure to a vote. He has called for supporters and opponents to work out a compromise which basically amounts to sweeping the bill under the rug. It’s a disappointing position for Decker to take since his rise to his leadership role was largely tied to his support for the Healthy Wisconsin proposal. Apparently, he wants Wisconsin residents to have access to health care as well as making sure they get exposed to air that can cause lung cancer, emphysema and other diseases so they need the coverage. I’d call that the “Full Employment for Healthcare Workers” platform. Most people recognize that the key stumbling block on this issue boils down to whether an exception should be allowed for bars and taverns. Opponents argue that the owners of places where people go to drink should be able to decide whether to permit smoking or not. Their customers, it is said, choose to spend their money there and are free to go elsewhere if they don’t like it. On the other hand, of course, bars and taverns are also workplaces and their employees are as entitled to clean air as everyone else. The bill passed by the Senate committee would give bars and taverns an extra year to comply with the ban but opponents apparently aren’t satisfied with that. The idea that waiters, waitresses and bartenders know that exposure to secondhand smoke comes with the job and could work elsewhere if they wanted to is bogus. I had a boss once who held meetings in his office where he smoked. They rest of us hated inhaling the smoke and we knew it wasn’t good for us. But it’s not that easy to find work or to tell a job supervisor you’d like them to be more sensitive to your needs. Newsrooms used to be as smoke-filled as any bar and that just doesn’t make it right. Interestingly, there appears to be widespread agreement on this issue. A variety of polls shows that more than two-thirds of people favor a ban on smoking in workplaces, including bars and taverns, and even […]

True West

Sam Shepard’s True West is a cleverly dark comedy that would be all too easy to overdo in all the wrong places. A less than shrewd production could miss the finesse of the original script, but the Spiral Theatre, in a tiny space on National Avenue, brings the right immediacy and intimacy to capture Shepard’s somewhat sinister humor with strikingly vivid form. In a testament to its growing prominence in local theatre, Spiral Theatre nearly sold out its 30+ capacity studio theatre on one of the coldest nights of the year. Spiral’s show is impressive, and while not all of the finer points of Shepard’s script are perfectly intact, the company manages to deliver an exceedingly enjoyable trip to the theatre. Len Macki stars as Austin, a struggling screenwriter who is looking after his mother’s place while she is away in Alaska. He’s managed to secure a meeting at her place with an important Hollywood producer (Josh Wetzel) to pitch an idea for a love story. The only problem: his brash older brother (Terry Gavin) is staying with him and threatens to blow Austin’s one chance at getting the producer’s green light. Things begin to unravel when Austin’s brother convinces the producer that it would be a good idea for Austin to write a Western instead. (Okay: Shepard’s plot is a lot better than it sounds in a few sentences. And if it’s not staged correctly, it’s every bit as cheesy as it sounds.) Len Macki, comfortably at the center of the production, holds much of the production together. (He’s not prominent locally, but he’s been active elsewhere, most notably Madison.) He dynamically renders Austin’s emotional development over the course of the play, moving from one intricately realized moment to the next. When Austin loses composure and takes to drinking, his emotional collapse is palpable. When he’s clearly dropping pieces of toast into toasters that aren’t plugged in, it makes sense even, though the illusion isn’t complete. Everything that happens around Austin makes sense, even when the production doesn’t make anything clear, and for that, Macki is truly remarkable. Gavin and Wetzel competently hold up their ends of the play. Gavin plays the seedy older brother with a subtle hint of a greater depth. Wetzel plays a Hollywood producer with a nice-guy charisma you wouldn’t expect from a man in his position. This contrast makes for an interesting performance; Wetzel seems almost guileless in a job one would expect to be played like a politician. Rounding out the cast is Sandra Stark in the role of the mother – again (during the holidays she appeared in Boulevard Theatre‘s production of Indian Blood). Seeing Stark play mother twice in three months would be strange if she weren’t so good at it. She speaks the lines. She doesn’t really need to do much more than that. She’s a natural for this kind of role, and here she’s a clever bookend to the production. Spiral Theatre’s production of True West runs through February […]

Old World 3rd Street Getting New Facelift

Old World 3rd St just west of the Milwaukee River is going to be home to a new restaurant or two and another tavern.  I’ll break them down location by location. Robert Ruvin, who has yet to start construction on any of his nearby developments, will have a new high-end restaurant opening in his Third Street Pier building in March. Kincaid’s Fish, Chip and Steak House will occupy the space previously occupied by the Third Street Pier restaurant and give you everything the title indicates for a pretty penny. A development that is drawing opposition from other businesses on the street is Bootleggers.  A sister tavern of another two-story tavern in downtown Minneapolis, the place will feature live bands, a dance floor, and an outdoor patio.  Other tavern owners on the street voiced their concern through their lawyer who said that Bootleggers will bring “price wars, cheap liquor and bad behavior on the street.”  Alderman Bob Bauman supported giving Bootleggers a liquor license, but has expressed concern about the establishment’s potential to be disorderly.  Coming to the aid of Bootleggers, the Minneapolis Police Department submitted a letter of recommendation.  Both a dance and tavern license were ultimately issued at the January 15th Common Council meeting, meaning the tavern’s opening is all but for-sure. Bootleggers hopes to be open by June. The most interesting of the developments is the Milwaukee Brat House.  Led by entrepreneur Jack Schaefer, the Brat House will be an old-world German tavern and hopes to be open by March.  The tavern will serve food at both lunch and dinner. Why is this so interesting?  Because it continues the trend of turning West Town into Little Munich.  A place where Germans can come to and feel right at home, and where Wisconsinites can go to celebrate their heritage.  To start things off right on Old World 3rd Street is the Old German Beer Hall and Mader’s Restaurant.  Over at The Brewery (the Pabst Brewery redevelopment project) there is the proposed Hofbrauhaus Milwaukee in the old Blue Ribbon Hall. Another reason to be excited about the Milwaukee Brat House is that finally you’ll have a place to take your family and friends to enjoy a delicious bratwurst.  Sure, you can get a brat at a lot of places around Milwaukee, but the brat is just an after thought on the menu.  I don’t want to go to a big fancy restaurant to get a bratwurst, I want to go sit at a table somewhere and look at a menu that is dominated by the notion of the bratwurst.  Plain and simple, feed me delicious meat. I can’t wait to try out the new places on Old World Third Street, some before others as my wallet allows.