Arab Strap

By Michael Seidel What I’ve always loved most about Arab Strap is their unapologeticness. Drinking, fucking and, well, just fucking up are all endlessly recurring themes throughout their oeuvre, but never, not once is there a ‘sorry’, nary a pinkie toe dipped in the stagnant pool of regret. Arab Strap understand and even embrace the concept of human fallibility, that missteps are the bedrock of experience and perspective. The band, who hail from Glasgow, Scotland, recently completed their second tour in support of Bright Eyes, whose influence on Monday at the Hug and Pint is undeniable (leadman Connor Oberst even lends backing vocals to a track called “Flirt”). Flourishes of vaguely esoteric instruments (esoteric in the scope of rock, that is) like lap steel, bagpipes, violin and accordion are liberally distributed, creating a record that’s fuller, more confident and even – gasp! – more American sounding than previous efforts. The record follows the black comedy protocol that the band established as far back as its first record – it’s the next chapter in Arab Strap’s continuing saga of closing times, betrayals, mutual deception and dirty weekends that transition effortlessly into filthy weeks. Monday at the Hug and Pint isn’t a good starting point for those unfamiliar with the band (Philophobia should play that role), but it is a nice little chap piece, essential for anyone set on assembling the entire Arab Strap puzzle. Matador Records

Big Tobacco Wins Another Hand

By Frizell Bailey Wisconsin is smoking. Sometimes it seems that you can’t throw a brick out of a window without striking a smoker. Don’t get me wrong. I have no particular beef with either smokers or non-smokers. In fact, I smoke. The irony is not lost on me (I do, however, like to think of myself as “recovering”). It is a curious thing that so many people, especially young people, take up a habit we all know is bad for you. I suppose the same can be said of alcohol, pot, or any other drug you would like to name. But there’s a difference. These other drugs make you feel good pretty much right off the bat. On the other hand, you have to really want to smoke to become a smoker. I can’t speak for everyone, but those first few cigarettes required an awful lot of persistence and commitment. So, why are so many Wisconsinites sucked in by smoking? History smoked. In 1891 a law was passed restricting the sale of cigarettes to minors. The law was rarely enforced. One University of Wisconsin student in 1912, in his thesis about unenforced laws in the state, lamented that “No tobacco man stops to question a youth who asks for a package of tobacco whether he is old enough to smoke, and few dealers refuse it even to small boys whom the dealer cannot help knowing are too young to smoke.” In 1959 the law was actually repealed by the legislature. It wasn’t until the late eighties that the law would be placed back on the books. In 1988, Wisconsin was one of only nine states that allowed the sale of cigarettes to minors. A study released in 2000 by the American Journal of Preventative Medicine ranked Wisconsin 49th, just ahead of North Carolina, in the sale of tobacco to minors. But why has it been so difficult passing tobacco control laws in Wisconsin? All in the lobby. As we all know, money equals power and influence. And the tobacco industry certainly has a little to spare. According to a report entitled, “Influence of the Tobacco Industry on Wisconsin Tobacco Control Policies”, released by the University of Wisconsin Comprehensive Cancer Center, the tobacco industry has been especially successful in its lobbying efforts in Wisconsin. The report states that the tobacco lobby has spent over $7.2 million on lobbying the state legislature since 1997. How do they do it? By covering all bases. In Wisconsin, as is probably true in most states, the tobacco industry has been like that slightly shady but always fun uncle that gave all the kids money and toys. The tobacco lobby in Wisconsin contributes to individual elected officials and candidates, as well as to the two political parties and campaign committees. Although they make contributions to both major parties, the party in the majority generally gets the lion’s share. From the beginning of the year in 1999 to the fall of 2002, the tobacco industry contributed $23,700 […]

Cherrywine

By Michael Seidel Bright Black marks Ishmael Butler’s emergence from musical hibernation. Butler used to lead Digable Planets – most known for the top 10 hit “Rebirth of Slick (Cool Like Dat)”, who released two stunning albums before snuffing itself out in 1996. That’s when Butler crawled into a cave of obscurity, shielded from even the wannest sliver of spotlight. He learned how to play guitar. Digable Planets’ sound was a highball of laid back jazz samples and lyrics so silkily delivered that, outwardly, their political slant appeared as an undercurrent. But any move beyond lyrical veneer will illume activism – black power, pro-choice, etc – as quintessentially Digable. It’s what they were all about. With Cherrywine, however, Butler rails against political expression. In Resonance magazine, Butler recently admitted, “It’s not that I didn’t believe what I was saying back then – it’s just that I wasn’t really being politically active in my own life. Now, I’m just trying to do something that represents who I am. I want to be more real.” So I guess that cocaine, bitches and gansta are the real Butler. References to those things stand in tall banks on the surface of every song. Machismo thematics and delivery expose such a deep political bankruptcy that I can’t help but wonder if it’s all, despite Butler’s contentions, cunningly masked social commentary. The departure from the Digables’ message is so unrealistically sharp that it must be tongue-in-cheek. Political intentions aside, it would be foolish to say that Butler’s lost his flow. His delivery is as slick as ever. The music is devoid of samples; it’s raw, organic, wah-wah infused funk that bores itself into your consciousness and takes unrelenting hold. Bright Black is excellent debut album, but still, I can’t stop myself from questioning its sincerity. DCide Records

Milwaukee Youth STRIVE for excellence

By Frizell Bailey There seems to be an awful lot of attention paid to the misdeeds of young people these days, from the tragic beating death in a Northwest Milwaukee neighborhood to the contentious Mayfair mall controversy. But there are plenty of teens in Milwaukee making positive contributions to their city and their communities. The Strive Media Institute, located on Martin Luther King Drive in Milwaukee, is an after school program where teens get practical experience in just about every facet of the media. The non-profit institute was founded in 1990 by Matthew Johnson, a Milwaukee native who saw a need for an outlet that provided tools to youth to help them become strong members of the community. Not your father’s ad agency. Strive functions like an agency, with both external clients and internal projects. The program is divided into four different business units: film and video production, technology, print journalism, and integrated marketing communications. What separates Strive Media from many other mentoring and training programs for teenagers is that the media products are conceived and produced by kids in the program. This is even more impressive when you consider that Strive’s weekly TV show, Gumbo Television, won an Emmy, and will air regularly on TMJ-4 beginning this fall. They also produce a glossy magazine, Gumbo, once every two months that enjoys statewide and national distribution. The kids have a presence in cyberspace with their Tecknow Solutions group, which designs websites and was featured on the front page of the Journal Sentinel’s Business Section. Fighting youth smoking with FACT. The Integrated Marketing Communications program is an agency with local and national clients, one of the most high profile being the FACT anti-smoking campaign. In addition to widely aired TV commercials written and produced entirely by Strivers (as they call themselves), the program targets youth smoking with events, undercover compliance checks and other guerilla tactics aimed at empowering teens to make their own choices about tobacco, and not succumb to Big Tobacco marketing. Anabel Navaro, Integrated Marketing Communications Supervisor, believes keeping control of the campaign in the hands of teens is critical. “FACT’s focus is to urge kids to be cognizant of their actions, to recognize that by smoking they’re actually putting money in some rich guy’s pocket who’s trying to kill them. And that’s what makes it cool. If you had adults working on a mission like this, you wouldn’t be getting the passion.” The Institute receives compensation for FACT as part of the tobacco settlement. With the elimination of the Tobacco Control Board and the impending reduction of anti-tobacco program funding (which so far has decreased from $25 million in 2001 to $15 in 2003, and is slated for another $5 million reduction next year), Strive Associate Director Molly Collins is concerned, but by no means assumes that FACT will come to an end. “There’s going to be some money for the youth programs, and while it might be a competitive RFP (request for proposals — from various agencies) […]

Jay Farrar

By Jeremy Saperstein Terroir Blues (“terroir” is French word, by the way, literally translated as “soil”) is a much more finished work than Farrar’s first solo effort Sebastapol (which was still a great record. The consistency probably is helped by the first consistent group of Farrar has had with him since the apparent splintering of Son Volt. Mark Spencer (Blood Oranges), Brian Henneman (Bottle Rockets) and Jon Wurster (Superchunk) are among thoses who function as Farrar’s band for this outing, and the reward is seen in a record that contains as much experimentalism as Sebastapol (as in the between tracks noise of parts I-VI of “Space Junk”). “Cahokian” is a perfect song for the mingling of cultures past and present. (“I will wait for you/in the green green spaces/wearing our post-industrial faces”) while “Fool King’s Crown” makes a fairly overt (for the traditionally oblique Farrar) political statement backed by Brian Henneman’s electric sitar. The name of this record is particularly apt — not like the dirt of the Stooges, say, but the earth a farmer might let slip hopefully through his fingers, dreaming of a fine harvest. Farrar is a man at the top of his game right now and seems able to grasp anything he reaches for. This record is a great display of mastery of American music. Act/Resist Records

Get Out of Town

By Jeremy Saperstein I think Wisconsin is the best state in the union in which to live. Okay, I’ll grant you that I’ve only lived in two others, but my search pretty much ended here. To quote myself, from a postcard I wrote to a pal back in Minnesota “Small towns, cheap beer – Good God, man! What more could you want?” I wrote that in the last century, when I was young, foolish and drunk, but my views haven’t changed. Wooed by the hills, farms and – yes – the inexpensive beer, I moved to southeast Wisconsin years ago, and I haven’t looked back. Well, to be truthful, I do look back in the summers when hordes of people converge on my quiet southside neighborhood for any of the festivals centered in Maier festival park, especially the Big Gig. This year promises to be extra sticky with the potential masses of Harley Fest 100 visitors. Before any enraged festival goers or hog riders march on my house like the villagers in a monster movie, clutching pitchforks and burning torches, let me issue a small caveat: I have no problem with the festivities. Like most everyone, though, I sometimes just want to be alone. On the other hand, there are always concerts I want to see at Summerfest. And I have nothing but admiration and respect for the fierce loyalty and brand recognition Willie G. has built for his all-American endeavor. I welcome the fests. Really. Sometimes, though, you need to get away. Because we’ve chosen to live in a town bordered by a Great Lake on the east and Chicago to the south, there aren’t a lot of directions you can ramble without becoming wet or swarmed by FIBS (a nice acronym for our southern neighbors). I’m not talking about needing an island paradise, or even the great Northwoods. There’s plenty of leisure to be taken right here in our fair state, within just a few hours by car. Start by going south Somebody once wrote this about diners in Wisconsin: Good diners in Wisconsin always have an indigenous dish for breakfast – a Mess, a Garbage Plate, a Scramble. They’re all based on scrambled eggs and sausage or peppers or onions or whatever else the pro prietor likes or needs to move off the shelves, and they all take on legendary qualities for fighting off hang overs among locals. With this in mind, one of the first stops you make could be Frank’s Diner in Kenosha (508 58th St., Kenosha). Frank’s breakfast specialty is the Garbage Plate, and is a huge mixture of ham, green peppers, eggs, hash browns and jalapeno peppers, and will stomp any hangover into the ground. An original railcar diner, Frank’s is located in the heart of downtown Kenosha and has a reputation that has outlasted owners and patrons alike. “Order what you want, eat what you get” originated as a tongue-in-cheek motto among the regulars (including local luminaries and politicos) and has become, […]

The Mistreaters

By Jeremy Saperstein Some of Milwaukee’s favoritest sons travel off to the eastern metropolis of Detroit City and come back with an audio document that performs the improbable — it’s as raucous as a live show, but offers the tightness of polished radio fare. Which is not to say that this slab is genteel. Within thirty seconds of the tightly wound intro to “The Other Man” I was feeling my brain slide around in its pan as I rocked my head furiously with the beat. With a short break for the slow bluesy growl of “She’s My Witch”, that’s the way it went for the rest of the disc. Other favorites include the frantically rhyming “Hard On The Eyes” and the high-energy squall of “Brandon Takes It”, which makes me think of any number of other famous Detroit combos. The Mistreaters might only know three chords, but they know those chords cold. And they understand how to deliver them for maximum impact. Estrus Records

By Andrew Muchin The memory is nearly 40 years old, yet it’s vivid and intense: I’m seated with my father and grandfather in a wooden half-pew at the back of Anshe Poale Zedek Synagogue in Manitowoc. Both the men’s pews before me and the women’s to my right are filled with worshippers dressed in their best clothing. Every man wears a black skullcap. Every woman sports a fancy bonnet or has clipped a square of black lace to her sculpted hair. The worshippers recite and sing Hebrew prayers and chat in hushed tones. Even as a child, I know most of the 150 people who are gathered for a major Jewish holiday. My friends from religious school are seated with their parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins and even great-grandparents. And 20 of them are from my extended family, comprising four generations. The traditionally observant congregation is a true community, with all of the warm acceptance and occasional lack of privacy that the term implies. As a six-year-old, I don’t know much about Judaism, but seated with my people at the synagogue, the amber light from tall stained glass windows bathing the sanctuary, I feel part of something larger than myself. The demise of small town Jewish culture In those baby-boom years, Manitowoc was one of 14 small Wisconsin cities with a synagogue and active Jewish community. Just 25 years earlier, that number was 20. As the late attorney Leonard Loeb, a native of Watertown, once told me, “You used to be able to travel the entire state and never eat treif,” or non-kosher food. In my lifetime, a fragment of the Jewish people’s 4,000-year history — those active, optimistic times I remember so fondly in Manitowoc — has been replaced by a sense of semi-doom. These days, the entire Jewish community couldn’t fill two pews in the sanctuary. I’m part of the problem. I haven’t lived in Manitowoc since my family moved to Milwaukee in 1970. Like me, most of my religious school classmates have left. Meanwhile, the majority of the worshippers I recall have died. There’s little economic or Jewish communal rationale for young Jewish families to stay in Manitowoc or move in. Manitowoc Jewry, like the communities in Fond du Lac and Sheboygan, is slowly dying of attrition. How soon those three populations will duplicate the demise of congregations in Arpin, Ashland, Hurley, Marinette, Stevens Point and Superior is not clear, but the handwriting is on the wall, to paraphrase Hebrew scripture (Daniel 5:5). A past filled with colorful characters Small-town Wisconsin’s Jewish communities — which produced Harry Houdini (maybe the most famous man of his time), writer Edna Ferber, State Treasurer Solomon Levitan, Major League outfielder Morrie Arnovich, Green Bay Packers co-founder Nate Abrams, Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.); several rabbis; and many of the state’s most important industrialists — are no longer a staple of the Badger State. I may be front-man for a statewide Jewish history project, but I’m far from Manitowoc’s most interesting or influential […]

The Negro Problem

By Jeremy Saperstein Let’s start with the name: it’s meant as a knowing jibe — something to make politically-correctoids bristle. It oughta make you feel better that leader Stew is, indeed, black — and he’s making some of the finest literate and culturally-aware power-psychedelic-pop I’ve ever heard. The disc is like some sort of hideous hybrid of the every unique artist you care to name (to namecheck: I hear echoes of Charles Mingus, Sly Stone, Brian Wilson, Syd Barrett, Arthur Lee, Ennio Morricone, Roy Wood, John Fred and Burt Bacharach – and that’s just in the two songs that close the album! [“Bong Song” and “Bermuda Love Triangle”]) Despite the name, race is no issue within the grooves of the record, which features tongue-in-cheek references to records that have come before (“If London calls/just say I’ve stepped away” from “Watering Hole”), obscure pop-culture icons (“I’m Sebastian Cabot in your dreams/I’m Sebastian Cabot — what’s that mean?” from “I’m Sebastian Cabot”) and so much more — all in meticulously clever lyrics that continue to unfold through repeated listenings. Smile Records

Good for What Ales You

By John Hughes Cattail Ale, a Wisconsin-style mild ale, is Lakefront Brewery’s first release of a year-round beer in six years. “The Cattail Ale is a special formula we’ve been working on for a while to reflect a style of ale indigenous to Wisconsin,” says Russ Klisch, president of Lakefront Brewery. “We recognized the demand for a handcrafted mild ale in our lineup to appeal to wider audiences.” He added that Cattail is now second in overall sales, just behind Riverwest Stein, and the most popular beer on the tour. “The beer is a mild ale. When people come to a tour, they’re not all beer fanatics. People who just like to enjoy a beer like Cattail a lot. Real beer enthusiasts might not find it as flavorful.” Russ’s own favorite brews are Eastside Dark and Cream City Pale Ale. But, he adds “I find myself drinking a lot of it at home. It’s a very drinkable beer.” The recipe is a true craft ale brewed with only water, yeast, hops and malted barley, in keeping with the Bavarian Purity Law of 1516. The ale will be available only in Milwaukee and Waukesha counties until inventories are built to allow wider-ranging sales. Lakefront Brewery, established in 1987, makes handcrafted beers such as Riverwest Stein, East Side Dark, Cream City Pale Ale and Klisch Pilsner, as well as specialty brews such as Pumpkin Beer, Holiday Spice, Belgian White, Oktoberbest and Extra Special Bitter (ESB), and a non-alcoholic Golden Maple Root Beer. Its’ rental hall is also noted for some of the more memorable parties here in town. At great sacrifice to themselves, we had some VITAL SOURCE staffers sample Cattail Ale. Below, their heroically acquired dispatches. John Hughes, Staff Writer I am a zealous devotee of Lakefront Brewery’s Riverwest Stein, East Side Dark, Fuel CafÈ Stout, and Cream City Pale Ale beers. The newly available Cattail Ale will not be supplanting them anytime soon. It is an excellently crafted, flavorful, lightweight beer. I find it good but overshadowed by its siblings. It will have a sweet niche as a companion to an overbearing, gigantic hamburger and fries meal, or a massive Mexican dish, where you need some respite. Also, on a hot Milwaukee day, sitting in the shade of your backyard with this one, contemplating your sweetie, would make for a tasty afternoon. Four stars. Jeremy Saperstein, Pop Culture Editor Cattail Ale, the latest offering from Milwaukee’s Lakefront Brewery, is a great summer beer. The first sips I had were at a cookout, standing on someone’s driveway in the hot sun, and it went down smoothly — almost too smoothly. Only my strong sense of decorum kept from overserving myself and becoming, well, a charming and lovable drunk. Cattail Ale is a deep golden color in the glass and, unlike a lot of the microbrew hordes, doesn’t possess an annoyingly cloying sweetness — only a rich, malty flavor that makes me want more. Ken Morgan, Theater Columnist Picked up a twelve-pack, […]

The Stratford 4

By Jeremy Saperstein An activist San Francisco who combine an echoey, distorted sound with tight songwriting and boy-girl vocals? Nah, it couldn’t be! The Stratford 4 formed from the same roots as fave rockers Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, but give us a dreamier, poppier sound that’s reminiscent of the shoegazer bands of the 80s and 90s while never stooping to pure copying, gracefully entwining sinewy guitar leads with blast of fuzzed out rhythm. Others will hear suggestions of Hoboken’s sometime noise merchants in Yo La Tengo — probably owing more to the S4’s way with a pop tune and their lack of fear of atmospheric freakouts and loud, distorted guitars (the CD title is a good shorthand description of the contents). Jetset Records

By Raymond Johnson Although the Park East freeway spur is not yet completely demolished, it is already beginning to be hard to remember exactly what it the spur itself was like. The area is brighter and less foreboding. And with the new McKinley Ave. taking shape, a sense of concreteness and inevitability envelops the project. It is really going to happen. Milwaukee really is going to return this area to productive use after decades on the public dole. It is not too early then to ask (indeed, hopefully not too late), how will we remember this great wound inflicted on our city? As the scar slowly disappears, how will we memorialize those who sacrificed their homes and livelihoods for this freeway, those who stopped it short of the lake, and those who have pushed it back to Sixth Street? And finally, how will we teach our children what was done here, both so that they may learn from these mistakes and take inspiration from this battle to fight others looming on the horizon? Thus far, such remembering seems to have been all but forgotten. The model presented last November at City Hall was mostly about healing and repairing. While this is important, we must also remember. For a while, maybe decades, this likely will not be necessary. The newness of it all, the new streets, new buildings, new businesses, and new residents will be a constant reminder of the wastefulness of what once stood. Before then, and probably for a least a decade, the open space waiting to be filled with all this newness will be a reminder. No, the remembering will not be truly needed until much later, perhaps after the first new building expires its term of usefulness and is torn down. The piers: monolithic monuments to past mistakes. How about a monument? A monument to the destruction and eventual rebuilding of our city, one that matches that which occurred. The piers that once held up the spur are such a natural choice. Their scale exactly matching that which existed, they would be a perfect reminder of the Park East Freeway spur. Unfortunately most of these piers have already been razed. The best single one to have kept, on the median of Water St., has been torn down. This pier would have been a highly visible reminder, Water St. being such a prominent thoroughfare. There are only three others remaining – two in the Milwaukee River and one on the west side of 3rd St. All three should be left standing. As Milwaukeeans return to the River as a prime location to live, work, and play, the two piers left standing within will become increasingly visible. The third pier has an opportunity to be magical. It stands on the lot line of 3rd St., just north of the Sidney Hih building. Somehow the City needs to keep this pier to be reused within the structure of a new building or public space. The possibilities are limited only by […]