PrideFest 2008
Thousands of people braved tornadoes, hail and Neo-Nazis to show their pride!
Mar 5th, 2009 by Erin Petersen
Random Exposure 3
You've heard the stories, now see the pictures! Hundreds of VITAL readers gathered at the Eisner American Museum of Advertising and Design for an evening of intimate imagery, delectable dining, lovely libations and booty-shaking beats. If you were there, look for your beautiful face in this gallery.
Mar 5th, 2009 by Erin Petersen
Center Street Daze 2007
These pictures from Center Street Days were taken with a Kodak 35 Special from 1941 that I got from a Goodwill I used to work at. --Tim Edgar
Mar 5th, 2009 by Erin Petersen
“Family Album” January 2008 Gallery Night
An evening dedicated to the talented artists that made VITAL a success.
Mar 5th, 2009 by Erin Petersen
Is it Time for Milwaukee to Consider a Combined City-County Government?
Municipal government plays a vital role and provides necessary services, but sometimes you can have too much, or in this case too many.
Mar 5th, 2009 by Dave Reid
24 years of rock for Atomic. In one day.
In Miramar’s tight lobby, the tension, fervor and anticipation mounts for the upcoming six (plus) hours of current and reunited local music acts playing for Atomic Records owner Rich Menning, store clerks, and the store’s legion of devoted fans. At this early hour, Eric Blowtorch is about to hit the stage and Menning is all sheepish grins. “It was a surprise. It was,” he says. “The more I heard about the [concert] the more I thought, ‘You know, this could be awesome.’” In December, Menning announced that he would be shuttering the venerable 24-year-old music store (before it was Atomic, it was Ludwig Van Ear) located near Oakland Ave. at 1813 E. Locust St.. Differences over rent and the current economic climate made the 2009 financial forecast look bleak, even after success becoming an online broker. During a time when Tower, Virgin, and other mall record stores are closing, it’s often astounding that smaller independents in town (Rush-Mor, Bullseye, Lotus Land, Exclusive Co.) can still operate. The key with some may be the low overhead of having few employees or purchases. Everyone has their own story of working at Atomic or buying their first [insert hardcore punk/progressive/acid/import/death metal/nouveau/ad nauseum musical group here] album from the one store that had a cochlea for important but unheard-of stuff. The clerks at Atomic often put the crew at Nick Hornby’s ‘Championship Vinyl’ (Rob’s record store in High Fidelity) to shame in terms of aural audacity and rock snobbery. This was a selling point for shopping there, not a criticism. The place is small yet stacked to the rafters and sub-levels with posters, t-shirts, vinyl, cassettes, and CDs of stuff you may have only heard on college radio – or, better yet, at a local show. Atomic was also the place where local bands could premiere their recordings on 7” EPs before they ever had a MySpace page. It was this devotion and gratitude that brought erstwhile music acts to reunite for this one night. Musician and longtime Atomic employee Damien Strigens came up with the idea and made a few phone calls. One was to his former bandmates from The Lovelies: Liv Mueller and Barb Endes. Once they agreed to play a concert, calls went out to mostly defunct but well-loved Wisconsin acts such as Couch Flambeau, Sometimes Sweet Susan, a non-billed and incomplete yet devastating Die Krauzen (calling themselves Bob and Joe out of decorum), Liquid Pink, Boy Dirt Car, Mighty Deerlick, the Squares and Cherry Cake. If Atomic Valentine was a compilation album covering the last 30 years of rock in Milwaukee, it would have been a ‘Best Of.’ Many bands sounded better than ever. Everybody with a story to tell about Atomic showed up. The flowing crowd reached the 327 persons capacity at Miramar Theater several times throughout the night. Most of this audience didn’t fit into a definitive age demographic. There were grayhairs with leather pants and moptops with ironic Van Halen t-shirts. Free flowing Pabst beer – with […]
Mar 4th, 2009 by Brian Jacobson
Religulous
This was supposed to be about Nickelback, but that will have to keep for next time, or another time. By all indications, that horrible Canadian band will still be here by the time I get around to tearing into them with vituperative insight. The delay was caused by the release of Religulous on DVD in mid-February. This is, of course, the “documentary” from comedian and talk-show host Bill Maher and Borat director Larry Charles, and I put the term in quotes because Maher and Charles seek less to illuminate the subject of religion than to make light of it. I am, it must be said, not against this. I will not share with you the stories of how I came to be a non-believer—such stories are almost always as boring as those of the born-again and otherwise converted—but now you know I am one, at least. And I have read many of the recent anti-religious books, including Richard Dawkins’s The God Delusion, Sam Harris’s The End of Faith, and of course Christopher Hitchens’s God Is Not Great. (Ann Coulter had a book whose title, Godless, could easily place it among the others, but that title was meant as an insult to non-believers. The actual text was an insult to intelligence, proper research, and sanity, and then there is the fact that Coulter hotly believes that more religion would benefit the world, so long as it is the correct religion.) I had read those three best-selling texts before I went to a local theater to see Religulous, so I thought I had the arguments well in hand. I didn’t really need any of the arguments, though, because the film’s main method is to find various religiously oriented lunacies and point cameras at them. Such a method would, theoretically, not have required Maher to venture much further than his own California backyard, but he and Charles racked up the miles in traveling from London to Amsterdam to Megiddo, Israel. This last location, seen at the beginning and the end of the film, is a rough framing device of seriousness: Megiddo is, according to the Bible, the site for Armageddon. Inside the frame, however, Maher and Charles make good on their title, ridiculing Orthodox Jews, Christians, Muslims in Amsterdam, an ex-Jew for Jesus, Mormons, and Scientologists. Interestingly, they don’t include religions commonly considered “Eastern,” such as Hinduism or Buddhism, even though such supposedly laid-back faiths have produced a considerable amount of violence, bigotry, and hatred. But the negative results of those faiths don’t get much media play in the United States. This is probably just as well for Hindus and Buddhists and other omitted believers, because Religulous often has the air of a particularly ripe episode of “Jaywalking,” the late-night feature in which Jay Leno appears to run into no one but the most ignorant, unthinking people in the nation. It doesn’t help that Maher’s default facial expression is that moment before a smirk, which is only encouraged by magical Mormon underwear and […]
Mar 4th, 2009 by Jon Gilbertson
Southwest Side Area Plan
We Need Your Input We want to hear from you about how you would like your neighborhood to look and feel in the future. Please attend an Image Preference Survey. The Image Preference Survey (IPS) is a planning technique that helps us understand how you would like your neighborhood to look and feel in the future. We will show about 75 neighborhood images (some from the Southwest Side and some from other places). You will be asked to rate each image based on your preferences for the design of residential and commercial development, public space and parking areas. We will then have a discussion about the desirability of different types of development. Results from the IPS will be used in developing recommendations for the Southwest Side Area Plan. Location: Alverno College Kellogg Room A 3400 S. 43rd St. Contact: Space is limited, please RSVP to Karen at 286.8543
Mar 4th, 2009 by Dave Reid
Southwest Side Area Plan
We Need Your Input We want to hear from you about how you would like your neighborhood to look and feel in the future. Please attend an Image Preference Survey. The Image Preference Survey (IPS) is a planning technique that helps us understand how you would like your neighborhood to look and feel in the future. We will show about 75 neighborhood images (some from the Southwest Side and some from other places). You will be asked to rate each image based on your preferences for the design of residential and commercial development, public space and parking areas. We will then have a discussion about the desirability of different types of development. Results from the IPS will be used in developing recommendations for the Southwest Side Area Plan. Location: Wilson Commons Chopin Community Rm 1400 W. Sonata Dr. Contact: Space is limited, please RSVP to Karen at 286.8543
Mar 4th, 2009 by Dave Reid
Contentious M.O.R.E Debate Continues
The controversial M.O.R.E ordinance was the primary item of discussion at this meeting of the Common Council. This ordinance proposed new requirements related to hiring City of Milwaukee residents, the utilization of emerging small businesses, and the paying of prevailing wages for all City of Milwaukee projects and private developments that receive $1 million or more in TIF funding. It was widely believed that this ordinance was going to be put to a vote of the full Common Council today, which made Alderman Michael Murphy‘s motion to send this file to the Finance & Personnel Committee all that more contentious. Through the discussion it became evident that this file had originally been scheduled to appear the Finance & Personnel Committee but was removed at the last minute because of a legal technicality. Immediately prior to the Common Council meeting a fiscal note that indicated the ordinance would require a number of full-time employees to manage the new programs arrived which made the motion to send it back to committee both legal and appropriate. Although he indicated he would likely support the ordinance Alderman Murhpy argued that “basic issues, and basic questions are just not being addressed” and that “one needs to take the time to do it right.” At first the sponsors of the legislation were surprised and took the motion as a delaying tactic. They argued that the process had been fully transparent and didn’t require any further delay. Alderman Ashanti Hamilton stated that “I think the public has been engaged and involved in the creation of this ordinance.” During the discussion Alderman Nik Kovac piped in saying “I believe in process, I campaigned on process”, but he then indicated he didn’t believe sending it back to committee would change anything. In fact he said “the controversy today will be the same in 21 days.” Alderman Joe Davis fired away at the implication that not enough questions had been asked or that there wasn’t enough transparency to the process contending that “I made a point to schedule a special meeting to achieve transparency.” Initial supporters of the motion argued more questions needed to be asked and that it would be appropriate to send it back to the Finance & Personnel Committee. Specifically, Alderman Terry Witkowski supported the motion in an attempt to gather more information saying “I do support sending this back to committee, this was a constantly evolving piece of legislation.” In an attempt to bring a bit of levity to the debate Alderman Jim Bohl joked “I’m feeling a Rodney King moment, why can’t we just all get along here?” Then he defended Alderman Murphy’s motives and attempted to call the question. Oddly on this specific motion the ability to call the question isn’t an allowed so the debate continued. Alderman Murphy responded to the criticisms by stating “I do feel I was attacked unfairly” and he again attempted to clarify his position stating that “the fact is somebody, literally two minutes before the meeting handing you […]
Mar 4th, 2009 by Dave Reid
Sinners + Saints April 2008 Gallery Night
Local artists grace our walls with work inspired by angels and demons!
Mar 4th, 2009 by Erin Petersen
America’s Gallery Night October 2008
America's Gallery Night , October 2008. Friends and lovers pay homage to America with work inspired by the landscape and folklore of this great nation. Music by The Dim Peepers+ PBR + party dresses = best Gallery Night EVER.
Mar 4th, 2009 by Erin Petersen
