Song Sung Blue
Milwaukee rallied for one (or a few dozen) of its own last night – almost 1000 people showed up for the local premiere of Song Sung Blue, a documentary by Greg Kohs about local legends Lightning & Thunder, a husband-and-wife Neil Diamond tribute duo. Milwaukee Film literally rolled out the red carpet for the crew and much of the cast, notably Claire “Thunder” Sardina, who stepped out of her limo in a fabulous scarlet sequined gown just as we arrived at the theater. VITAL was there in full force along with hundreds of community luminaries and personalities. The film, though tragic, is joyous and exultant, an eloquent, oddball testimony to the power of love and of music and performance. The entire VITAL team – a hard-scrabble handful of toughies – was choking back tears at the end of the night. Song Sung Blue – which has won major film festival awards around the country – certainly stands alone as a beautiful piece of documentary cinema, but seeing it in Milwaukee was extra-special. Walking back to the car in the rain we ran into Dancing Queen and Dancing Machine, whose maniac moves were featured briefly in the film: And of course, at the after party at Shank Hall, where we crowded around the bar talking heatedly about this week’s monumental election, we were graced by the presence of Thunder herself, who gave a rousing performance with another Neil Diamond impersonator (“We call him ‘Frightening,’” Thunder said) as well as Dave Alswager, Mark Shurilla and the Greatest Hits. And maybe the best part: I hadn’t realized it right away, but I spent most of the night sitting next to the bass vocalist of The Esquires, Milwaukee’s most famous soul band. When he was finally convinced to take the stage with the Esquires’ keyboard player, they joined the Greatest Hits for a stumbling – but perfectly triumphant – rendition of “Get On Up.” It was a good night for Milwaukee, and it made me proud to live here. More information on Song Sung Blue available here. Cheers!
Nov 7th, 2008 by Amy Elliott
Friday Photos Friday, 07. November 2008
Park Lafayette Kane Commons The North End Breakwater Condos Hometown Dorm Site
Nov 7th, 2008 by Dave Reid
Open Letter to Mayor Barrett Concerning Transit
On Monday, November 10th, your representative to the Regional Transit Authority (RTA), Sharon Robinson, will cast an important vote for the future of transit in our city and region. We write to you to encourage her to vote "yes" to any sales tax funding proposals. While we have recently outlined why we think RTA's are an efficient way to deliver regional services, we have a few more things we think you should consider.
Nov 6th, 2008 by Jeramey Jannene
99 Bottles Documentary in Milwaukee and Madison + Q&A with filmmaker Jason Williams! Read It Now!
99 BOTTLES a documentary about WI and Beer 4 shows on 4 different nights. Arrive 30 minutes before all show times for FREE Beer Tasting WHERE: Times Cinema (Milwaukee) WHEN: November 6-9 Thursday at 7:00pm Friday at 7:00pm Saturday at 7:00pm Sunday at 4:00pm WHERE Orpheum Theater (Madison) WHEN: Nov 13-16 Thursday at 7:00pm Friday at 7:00pm Saturday at 7:00pm Sunday at 4:00pm “99 Bottles Documentary” was created to promote exposure and public awareness of the rich and vibrant craft brewing industry. Visit the site for more details and the trailer: 99bottlesdocumentary.com What prompted a doc on beer? The producers David Oplinger and Glen Popple were interested in developing a project that was home grown. They were discussing ideas while taking down a few brews at Wolski’s Tavern. Glen relayed a story that his co-worker kept bugging him to make a documentary about craft breweries. “That is a great idea,” said Dave. The great part of the story is there was no such documentary made about this subject before. They decided to start asking the different breweries about the project and found out that all of them were thrilled to have their stories of history shared to the world, or at least in Wisconsin. How long did it take to shoot this doc? The documentary pre-production planning started in February simultaneously with shooting. The idea was to shoot the general “beer enthusiast” and ask their impression of the industry. One of the questions we asked was, “If you could ask a brewmaster anything, what would it be?” This lead to the list of questions that became the focal point of the interviews with brewmasters and owners. Principal photography lasted from February through May. The logistical issue was scheduling trips to other cities each week to get the necessary footage. We went as far as Sand Creek Brewing Co. in Black River Falls, which is 3.5 hours one way. War story to share? Crazy day during production? The biggest war story is the Premiere debacle. The gallant effort we choose was, shoot, edit, and distribute a full feature documentary within 6 months to the Harley Fest lovers. In the final day of editing for the premiere the Compressor failed to output a media file to burn a DVD. After repeated attempts the program crashed at about 20 to 30 minutes through each attempt. The thought was to work solid full time for 1.5 months to cut a feature documentary and deliver a show, but the luck wasn’t there. The lesson is “pick the show date last, not from the start”. The craziest day during production was obviously the above failed premiere. What are you working on next? Currently I’m working on 2 projects. I am in post for a short called “Indefinite”. The premiere of the trailer will be shown during the “99 Bottles Documentary” shows. “Indefinite” is a co-directed project with Christopher Kuiper. He will be penning a comic book series that ties in with the short. The other project […]
Nov 6th, 2008 by Howie Goldklang
The Morning After
So the Obama girls will get a puppy. And the nation gets to celebrate. Barack Obama’s astonishing victory was the result of a nearly flawless, extremely well-run campaign. He assembled a talented, loyal and disciplined team around him who planned and implemented a remarkably effective strategy based on a message of change and hope, and built a grassroots organization all across the country around a candidate who believed that voters would support someone who displayed leadership qualities including intelligence, poise and maturity. And it worked. John McCain delivered an excellent concession speech, praising the new president-elect, pledging his support, and calling for unity in this time of challenge. Obama’s acceptance speech was appropriately somber, leaving the joyful hosannas to others while keeping his focus on the hard work ahead. So the long, long campaign is over. But the hard work of governing is just beginning. Let’s take a brief moment to reflect on the significance of this election. Much has been said about how historic it is that our nation will have it’s first African American president. No question. However, what might be even more consequential, especially to the community of nations that looks to us to set an example, is that we have held an orderly if rambunctious election that has resulted in a change in the party in power during a time of war. This democracy stuff can be a messy but wonderful thing. You will recall the contentious 2000 election sent a similar message when the outcome took weeks and a Supreme Court decision to get resolved. Remember how proud we were that the conflict ended peacefully, even if we weren’t so happy with that outcome? Let’s hope this time turns out better for the country and the world. One of the key local challenges will be to build upon the awesome organization that was created in support of candidate Obama. People turned out in droves to contribute their time and energy to elect someone they believed in. It will be difficult to maintain this organization without a specific focus or goal. But that’s our responsibility and there is no shortage of needs on the local scene. The overwhelming support of the sick leave referendum by voters in the city of Milwaukee despite the opposition of Mayor Barrett and the business community is an exciting example of the potential of such a people power movement. I find this recent trend by our political leaders to pass the buck on the pressing issues of our day by asking voters to tell them what to do through referendum to be very disturbing and cowardly. If you run for office, you are asking voters to place their confidence in you. Earn your salary by making those decisions or get out of the way and let someone else do it. One of the dangers of government through referendum is that voters may not take the time to analyze issues and may be susceptible to well-funded ad campaigns. Fortunately, the sick leave […]
Nov 6th, 2008 by Ted Bobrow
November Fifth
Up in the morning; out on the trail. Actually Prospect Avenue was the former route of Sauk Indians, but yesterday, November 4, 2008, it’s treked by people headed to the Charles Allis Museum to vote. By 7:30AM, I turn around and head home because no way am I fighting that line. The sun was splendid, so instead, I sat on the south facing balcony and read the New Yorker’s cartoon issue. R. Crumb & company have a few pages poking fun at their family reunion in Minnesota. One of the drawings shows them waiting for a train in Columbus, Wisconsin. Hey, since when does a train run through Columbus? Below the balcony, a U.S. Navy destroyer has parked on the rim of the lake and cars are unloading people eager to see the latest in weaponry. Bob Barr, a Libertarian, remarked that we live in a cartoon world, and it seems he’s right. Pundits are already busy yapping about whether Obama will swing to the far left when he takes office. He won’t, but it’s a frightening thought. President O will be busy enough trying to unscramble the global mess. Even with a tsunami of Democrats in the Senate, I’m betting it will be a year before anything substantial is accomplished. I’m greatly offended by non-thinkers who rush forward to gush, “never in my lifetime, or even in my kid’s lifetime, did I think a black man would be elected to the office of the President.” This smacks of reverse racism, all schmoozy and woozy. Much to the disgust of my Republican family, I wrote in former Nebraska senator, Chuck Hagel, a friend of McCain’s who is likely to join Obama as Secretary of State. I decided to do so, shortly after reading a feature about him in the New Yorker.
Nov 5th, 2008 by Stella Cretek
Eurydice
By Ryan Findley How much of the grief we suffer in life is because we can remember what came before? After all, a loss isn’t a loss unless you remember that you’ve lost something. The Milwaukee Repertory Theater stages a contemporary re-telling of the Orpheus myth by Pulitzer prize nominee and MacArthur Foundation grant-winner Sarah Ruhl that explores the connection between memory, loss and grief. The classic story centers around Orpheus, the musician who’s grief upon losing his new bride, Eurydice, is so great that he travels to the gates of the underworld and convinces the Lord of the Underworld to allow him to take her back with him to the land of the living. The Lord of the Underworld agrees on the condition that Orpheus is not to look at Eurydice until they are home. Orpheus cannot resist turning around to see if she is following him, though, and Eurydice is sent back, leaving Orpheus alone once more. Ruhl turns this formula on its head. The main character of Eurydice is not Orpheus; rather, it is Eurydice that takes center stage. Ruhl adds Eurydice’s father to the cast of characters, waiting for her in the Underworld. The father received a less-than-thorough dunking in the River of Forgetfulness upon his arrival in the Underworld years ago, and has retained most of his memories from his time among the living. When Eurydice appears inside the gates of the Underworld, he works to help her recover her own memories. This act sets up the dramatic tension of the play. Because Eurydice has recovered her memories of life before her death, when Orpheus comes to get her, she has a choice to make: remain with her father in the land of the dead, or return with Orpheus to resume their interrupted life. Lanise Antoine Shelley is excellent in the title role. She’s delightfully care-free, both when alive and in love with Orpheus and when dead and slowly reconnecting with her father. Davis Duffield plays the distracted artist Orpheus very well; anyone who has ever been involved with anyone who had artistic aspirations will appreciate his hasty scrambling to soothe Eurydice after having failed to say that he was thinking about her three times in a row when asked. Eurydice’s father, played by William Dick, is eminently believable in his love for his daughter, letting her go even though it nearly kills him a second time to do so. The Chorus of Stones is hilarious, providing comic relief. Wayne T. Carter turns in scene-stealing performances as the childish, lecherous Lord of the Underworld, although his turn as a nasty interesting man is much less interesting to watch. Tony-award winner Todd Rosenthal designed a wonderfully grungy, modern underworld that is part subway station and part neglected public pool. Eurydice is less emotionally affecting than you might expect a re-telling of the Orpheus myth to be, but it is also more intellectually stimulating than you’d expect a re-telling of the Orpheus myth to be. Ruhl trades […]
Nov 5th, 2008 by Ryan Findley
Sometimes A Donut Is Just A Donut
This morning on my way to Schwartz on Downer, I stopped in at the Obama headquarters and helped myself to a plain old unfrosted old-fashioned donut. The workers were busy firing up the troops for the final days of the world’s longest presidential election. On the north wall, a large portrait of Obama (resembling a Chuck Close painting), stood guard over the laptops and walls plastered with directions, instructions, phone numbers, blah, blah. I strolled around eating my donut trying to decide who I was going to cast my vote for on November 4. Earlier in the day, I drove by the Zeidler building in hopes of finding a parking spot to cast an early vote. No luck, but no problem either. On November 4th I have only to walk a few blocks north of where I live, and vote at the lovely Charles Allis Museum. The good news on Downer Avenue, is that the huge Gokhman parking structure has decided to get rid of the puke-green accent on the front of the building. In fact, it looks like the whole paint job has been changed. It’s much better….quieter in understated shades of ivory and white. The bad news is that Lixx is for sale, and well, Downer was spookily quiet, almost deserted. That section needs help big time. A block north, things are much livelier. It was quiet at Schwartz too, but they had my copy of Mishima’s “After the Banquet” ready to take home. There’s an air of tension everywhere this week, or is it just me? When you set your clocks back on November 2, you had a whole extra hour to feel tense. For many voters, the choice of our next president will be clear. Me? I’m still in a fog. The donut I ate weighs heavily as I write.
Nov 4th, 2008 by Stella Cretek
Finally!
Last night I had dreams of every strange breed: that I slept through the election, that I couldn’t same-day register, bombs at the polls, that I voted on a Barack Obama/Bob Dylan ticket. I woke up every hour, jittery, and had to force myself to go back to sleep. At six in the morning, by the dusky morning light and an unseasonable breeze, I pulled myself out of bed and into some decent-looking clothes to the reassuring rumblings of NPR. A few weeks ago, I thought about voting early, but I like, sentimentally, the flush of civic excitement and public activity, the coming-alive of some sort of town square. I walked across the park through piles of fallen yellow leaves and met my friends across from the Cass Street School. I gave them apples and they handed me a big mug of just-brewed coffee, and at 6:45 am, we stood in line, which was already halfway down the block. In 30 minutes we were inside the building amidst wall murals of inexplicably frowning sad-faced fish and funny school posters (“What about cigarettes?”). We voted in the gym. The halls were still empty, but by the time we reconvened outside the buses were arriving, and crowds of yelling children were descending upon the school, skirting the line of voters that was now snaking around the block. While I was changing my address at the registration table, the election officiant helping me looked up from our papers and said, “Here comes big T.B.!” I turned in my chair to face the gymnasium doors and sure enough, there he was, with his one-man security detail: THE MAYOR! It was an enchanting, hassle-free, feel-good morning (with a nice, sunny boost from the warmest election day temperatures in more than 40 years). Four years ago it was raining and I was clutching my heart with anxiety and a trenchant sense of disappointment; today, the mood has been overwhelmingly enthused, excited and perhaps preemptively celebratory. I’ll take it. I’m glad I voted in person. I’m glad I voted. The adrenalin that surged me through this morning is thinning, but I’m still so thrilled!
Nov 4th, 2008 by Amy Elliott
The God Committee
By Peggy Sue Dunigan What is a day of life worth? This question becomes the focus for Acacia Theatre Company’s opening production, The God Committee. The ninety-minute, no-intermission script by Mark St. Germain tackles complex ethical and moral questions regarding organ transplant– specifically heart transplants– together with a host of underlying health care issues critical in today’s society. The seven member cast consists of four doctors, a nurse, social worker, and a priest whose challenge becomes deciding who will receive the next heart, arriving by helicopter in one hour, and classifying patients for their priority status on the heart donor list. However, plans go awry, traffic impedes the heart’s arrival, and another decision must be made. During all the committee’s discussions, the politics, costs and criteria for determining these life and death events consumes center stage. The priest, Father Dunbar, states the case that if the committee “makes these decisions on anything that can’t be quantified you’re playing God.” With 91,000 people on the list for heart transplants and only 11,000 a year becoming available, qualifying for and topping the donor list requires patience, dedication, fortitude, and a little luck. Many patients die while waiting for a donated organ that can be implanted. The Acacia cast carries this subject material with appropriate intensity and without melodrama, a nod to director Glenna Gustin. Even Douglas Smedbron’s Father Dunbar delivered his quirky humor with skill. Brenda L. LaMalfa’s Dr. Ross added a fine touch to the difficult role of a mother who lost her only child to suicide. While the entire cast displayed competent acting, the loud Irish music played during the performance distracted from the play’s purpose. The script is strong enough to stand alone, and ought to have been allowed to do so. But the crucial issues of organ donation and health care resonate throughout the production, and will become even more vital in the future when the impact of dwindling medical personnel and monetary resources is fully felt. Additionally, the measures that surround end of life controversies are becoming increasingly debated. These fascinating questions dealt with in The God Committee provide an plenty of fodder for conversation afterwards. This includes one about placing the orange dot on a personal driver’s license, the symbol that an individual is willing to be an organ or tissue donor, giving the gift of life to another person should they lose theirs. What is a day of life truly worth? VS Acacia Theatre Company presents The God Committee at Concordia University in the Todd Wehr Auditorium through November 9. For tickets: 414.744.5995.
Nov 4th, 2008 by Peggy Sue Dunigan
The Solution
A regional transit authority with a dedicated funding source is the solution to the Milwaukee regional transit woes. The use of an authority represents the most efficient and reliable way to deliver a service to a region. A dedicated and reliable funding source is essential to empowering an authority to deliver the services for which it is tasked. While Milwaukee's freeway system was designed and built to serve the region, the Milwaukee region's multiple transit systems stop and start at invisible lines. The various transit systems have different fares, operating hours, vehicles, and branding. As they are now, the systems simply aren't designed to work together to ensure a high quality of service to the region.
Nov 4th, 2008 by Jeramey Jannene
New Land Proposes New Development on Kenilworth
New Land Enterprises has proposed a development for the southeast corner of Farwell Avenue and Kenilworth Avenue. The proposal is a five-story mixed-use apartment building with first floor retail.
Nov 4th, 2008 by Jeramey Jannene
