Redevelopment Authority

Location: 809 N. Broadway, 1st Floor Boardroom. Agenda

City Plan Commission

Location: 809 N. Broadway, 1st Floor Boardroom. Agenda

Babylon Circus brings dances of resistance to Milwaukee

It’s 12:55 in the afternoon, and I’m preparing to make my first international call through my cell phone. It’s almost 8 pm in France, where lead singer David Baruchel is in the studio with ten other bandmates making their latest album. It’s a big deal. The 2004 Babylon Circus album Dances of Resistance was a hit; worldwide, the group is as big a draw as, say, the Red Hot Chili Peppers are in America. But perhaps you haven’t heard of them. While Babylon Circus has produced three full-length albums and one EP since 1995 and sometimes play for huge audiences (for proof, see here), their influence in the States is relatively minor. This may be in part because most of their songs are in French (sometimes mixed mid-song with English), or it may be because the genre of music they play is hard to nail down and describe. The group’s nom de guerre is apt: Babylon Circus is influenced by Romani music and instruments infused with the bombastic rhythms of reggae and ska. The style is often called “chanson,” which uses the meter and timbre of the French language to set the rhythm. Their onstage antics and cacophony of sound bring frequent comparisons to Gogol Bordello, an international band that plays hardcore cabaret- and punk-influenced rock music. How about this for a written description? Take shades of No Doubt, Sublime, Bob Marley, and Less than Jake – but add even more musical chops. BC’s songs are mostly about social awareness and change, with occasional riffs on personal love and loneliness (like “J’auruis bien voulu”) but nary a treacle-y power ballad in the repertoire. Baruchel emphasizes that the sonic wave of joy and love they send out at their concerts gets bounced right back. “It’s always a big adventure, and we don’t always know what will be next,” Baruchel says. “In New York,” he says – the only North American city the band has played until now – “we played for a big audience in Central Park and a small one in Brooklyn. Each one had a different energy – both were powerful and filled with a lot of love.” Baruchel goes on to describe the vibe from a well-chronicled musical happening in Syria that BC encountered right about the time of the start of the war in Iraq. They weren’t sure how they would be received, but in the middle of the show, the band stepped down from the stage and paraded down the street “carnival style.” Soon shopkeepers were closing up to join the festivities and women in full hijab were dancing along with the music. Even if they couldn’t understand the words, people could relate to the joyful sound. “Afterwards one man took me in his arms,” Baruchel says. “I couldn’t understand what he was saying, but I could feel what he was saying – that it was good to him.” There are other tales of BC’s tours in Ireland, Russia, Australia and beyond. It’s hard to tell […]

Eureka!

By Charise Dawson The Boulevard Ensemble Studio Theatre, located at 2252 S. Kinnickinnic, opened the world premiere of Chad M. Rossi’s Eureka! on Wednesday, April 9. The play runs through Sunday, April 27. Modern theatre needs new writers. According to Artistic Director Mark Bucher, theatre competes with television, film and technical writing. Without new theatre writers, audiences would suffer through endless re-stagings of Arsenic and Old Lace and Nunsense. New playwrights and new scripts attract new audiences, provide new opportunities for actors and demand a collaborative partnership with all of the talents on board. Eureka!, a new play by a new writer, is a perfect example of the seeds that a fresh production can sow. According to Bucher, pages, subplots and an entire character were cut from Rossi’s original script over the course of one month of rehearsals. Now it’s up to the audience and critics to test the piece and provide valuable feedback to the playwright. In turn, the playwright will continue to develop his piece. The comedy takes place in modern-day Milwaukee and features two male roommates under the wiles of two female friends. It explores what can happen to a male friendship beyond the college years and takes a compelling look at the driver/follower relationship on both the platonic level and the romantic level. Generally, the male/female pairings produce more chemistry than the friendly banter between the men. The first half of the script is devoted entirely to the men in the four-person cast, and the interplay between the two becomes strained over time. The play spins its wheels for too long before the women enter to infuse the story with more life. The characters are credibly sketched, though each seems a bit one-dimensional during his or her time on stage. There is the dreamer, the achiever, the bitch and the free-spirit. A lack of reversals, transformations and surprises keep the characters from going beyond a “type.” Bucher attempts to play up the script’s comedic aspects by adding a more rigorously physical dimension to the acting than the text might imply. The result seems discordantly cartoonish, although there are some very effective choices in the scene between Clyde and Teri (Jason Krukowski and Rachel Lewandowski). The actress suggests an impromptu after-bar dance party and tries to coax her partner into dancing. The physicality was wonderfully awkward and offbeat. The director’s notes affirm that this is an attempt to fully “produce” new work rather than simply “develop” it. But while Eureka! may be on the right track, both the script and Bucher’s interpretation feel distinctly as if they are still in the “development” phase. VS For more insight on Eureka!, Read Charise Dawson’s interview with Chad M. Rossi. Eureka! stars Rachael Lau (Nancy), Rachel Lewandowski (Teri), Cesar Gamino (Wayne) and Jason Krukowski (Clyde). All performances are at the Ensemble’s theatre space, located at 2252 South Kinnickinnic. For tickets and information, call 414.744.5757 or visit the Boulevard online.

Chad M. Rossi’s big ideas

By Charise Dawson Boulevard Ensemble Studio Theatre closes its 22nd season with Milwaukee Playwright Chad M. Rossi’s comedy Eureka! The company calls the play a randy comedy of “fourplay,” rife with young-adult growing pains, a love story or two and aliens from outer space. The production exemplifies the Boulevard’s mission to provide training for emerging artists. Rossi came to Milwaukee from “up north” five years ago. He knew he wanted to pursue a job in the arts and worked at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts as a house manager. Here he had his first opportunity to see a performance on the big stage and watch how people reacted to each production. His interest in theatre “just clicked.” “There is human connection,” he said. “It’s the old idea of storytelling. Having people laugh, cry, connect and come together as a community to listen to a story.” Eureka! is Rossi’s first try at a production of this scale. Triggered by the theme of grandiosity, Rossi created a character, Clyde, caught up in the mania of a changing world. The title comes from Clyde’s ideas, or as Rossi puts is, his “eureka” moments. “He becomes disillusioned. He creates big ideas to deal with what he cannot control.” The play is also a relationship play. “It shows the evolution of friendship and how an old college relationship changes when one person meets someone else. Clyde was going through a disgruntled time [and] learning that life was not all roses.” “How do you deal with the bad and still have love and find beauty?” Rossi wanted to ask. “There has to be a natural balance. An acceptance. How can we connect as human beings and at the same time be worried about what could happen to us? Our society can make people so mean and hardened by experience.” Strong women, drawn from life Rossi also used his script to explore the strength of women in male/female relationships. The women characters take over the play from the moment they are introduced. Rossi has always had strong women in his life. “They’ve always run the house. They’ve always run the show. They still do.” Audience members had a hard time liking one strong female character, Nancy, a seemingly uptight shot-caller. Many called her a bitch and struggled to understand what her male counterpart saw in her. Rossi defended her. “Mark made a great comment the other night. He said ‘If the apartment would suddenly start on fire and all four characters were in the apartment, Nancy would get everyone out.’ She is in control. She makes sure everyone is doing well. She won’t take anyone’s bullshit. “My wife has read more of my work than anyone on the planet, including me,” admits Rossi. Once his wife “got” the script of Eureka! and thought it was funny, Rossi knew it was fine. Rossi’s wife, who has an academic background in philosophy, will join Rossi on his wild theories and big ideas, but always brings him back […]

5th Ward’s Growth Continues

Work has begun on at the former Transpak buildings located at 235 E. Pittsburgh Ave. The first is a smaller more recent building which had significant structural problems and is in the process of being demolished. The second is a larger warehouse building that is in the process of being gutted for a mixed-use redevelopment. To accommodate a first floor retail component the City of Milwaukee recently vacated the turning lane adjacent to this property. The new 102-room Iron Horse Hotel located at 500 W. Florida St. has been under construction for several months and should open during the summer of 2008. It will be run by Miami boutique hotel operator Desire Hotels. Desire Hotels operates numerous high-end hotels throughout the country including the The Strand and The Sagamore. The Iron Horse Hotel will bring this same level of style to Milwaukee by featuring exposed brick and timber, down pillows, high-end linens, walk-in showers, flat screen TVs, Wi-Fi and covered parking for motorcycles. Additionally, the redevelopment of 234 W. Florida is making good progress. New windows have been installed throughout half of the structure and the gutting and reconstruction of the second half is well underway. The 5th Ward has shown to be one of the emerging neighborhoods in Milwaukee and these project are just a small portion of the redevelopment efforts that have been ongoing.

Weekly Milwaukee Development Bookmarks

Articles from the past week covering development in Milwaukee. http://www.madison.com/tct/entertainment//index.php?ntid=277466 JS Online: Coggs’ positive focus proves successful State legislators reach agreement on Great Lakes Water Compact – Small Business Times Doyle: Great Lakes water compact to pass without amending veto provision – The Business Journal of Milwaukee: Bando Chmura Group plans to buy another Pabst brewery building – Small Business Times JS Online: Marcus to shine anew State moves forward with I-94 project – Small Business Times

RTKL to Facilitate 2008 Downtown Planning Process

On Tuesday April 8th the Department of City Development held its first Plan Advisory Group (PAG) meeting for the 2008 Downtown Plan. The PAG will work with the Department of City Development (DCD) and the urban design firm RTKL throughout the planning process. Specifically over the next seven months PAG members who are primarily made up of business owners, residents, and other stakeholders will meet three or four more times to voice their opinions and shape the future of downtown Milwaukee. RTKL is a worldwide planning firm that focuses on creating great vibrant places where people live, work and play. RTKL has an extensive background in urban planning and has been involved in numerous planning projects. Recently they’ve been involved in plans for Mockingbird Station, Dallas Main Street District, and the Oklahoma City Downtown Action Plan all of which attempt to create lively urban environments. Additionally Terry Wendt, of RTKL, has experience on the Power and Light District project where he managed site development. This extensive experience with large urban planning projects gives hope for a successful planning effort here in Milwaukee that may one day lead to Milwaukee’s own version of the Power and Light District.

Journal Sentinel Capable of Good Journalism

When the Pulitzer Prizes were announced on Monday and it was revealed that Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Dave Umhoefer had won the Big Enchilada for local reporting, I was happy for Umhoefer and the rest of the Journal Sentinel staff who worked on this investigation of yet another excessive manipulation of the county pension system to grossly benefit county retirees. I have tremendous respect for the Pulitzer Prize and I know that this award should not be taken lightly. If you don’t remember this story from last July, it’s worth a read. It’s well-researched and well-written. The bottom line is that county leaders rigged the system to allow certain workers to pay for the privilege of extending their length of service in order to qualify for substantially greater annual benefits. More than 350 workers paid nearly $3 million in order to convert past summer jobs, internships and other seasonal work, normally ineligible to count towards pension benefits, in order to qualify for additional benefits totalling more than $50 million, in violation of federal tax code and county ordinances. As a result of the story, the county turned itself into the IRS in order to avoid a potential audit. This was a new wrinkle on the pension scandal that had first been broken by Bruce Murphy and posted on the milwaukeeworld.com web site back in 2001. When Murphy called attention to how the county had implemented new and extraordinarily generous benefits for thousands of county workers, it was seen as a black eye for the Journal Sentinel which not only had missed the story but apparently hadn’t even been sending reporters to cover the meetings where the “pension sweeteners” were discussed. Some critics, including Michael Horne who now writes for milwaukeeworld.com, fault the Journal Sentinel for not crediting Murphy and his original story with leading to this Pulitzer. Horne scoffs that JS editor Marty Kaiser claims this is the type of reporting that only a newspaper can do. Kaiser’s gratuitous boast appears disingenuous, if not totally dishonest, given how Murphy broke his story in 2001 writing for a web site. The competition between old-fashioned newspapers, printed on paper and distributed to front doors and driveways, and their online brethren, capable of being updated 24/7 is becoming increasingly moot. All providers of news need to realize that the internet represents the future. Newspapers, magazines, cable and broadcast television, etc. are simply content producers and consumers want to receive that product in the most convenient version possible. As traditional circulation drops, newspapers are struggling to figure out how to generate revenue online, not such an easy proposition, given that most people expect access to web sites to be free. Plus, Craigslist and other online classified sites have gutted one of the greatest sources of revenue for newspapers. This is not unique to the news industry, of course. The music business has been radically transformed by downloading and the iPod and that’s only one example. All news organizations are facing this challenge and resorting […]

Ben and Jerry made me think of more than ice cream- a lesson in responsible consumerism

Friday, 11. April 2008 Photos

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Alderman D’Amato’s Parting Gift to Milwaukee

City of Milwaukee essentially came to end on Wednesday April 9th, 2008. Despite what some residents of the 3rd district may believe this is a significant loss for the City of Milwaukee. Over the years Alderman Michael D’Amato has had conflicts with UWM students and certain residents groups over specific issues but more importantly he pushed for Smart Growth initiatives, encouraged development, was key in the development of new student housing options for UWM, worked to bring Manpower to downtown Milwaukee, and most importantly improved the city as a whole. At his last ever Common Council meeting Alderman D’Amato, along with Alderman Tony Zielinski and Alderman Bob Bauman, entered one more resolution that showed his strong support for the City of Milwaukee. This resolution, his last gift to the City of Milwaukee, encouraged UWM to expand within the City of Milwaukee. It is still unknown what is next for Alderman D’Amato but clearly his leadership on the Council and desire to grow Milwaukee will be missed.