Fountains of Wayne

By Brian Barney Fountains of Wayne Welcome Interstate Managers S-Curve Records www.fountainsofwayne.com With their third release to date, Welcome Interstate Managers, New York’s Fountains of Wayne has cemented their standing as one of the great all-time pop acts of recent years. Song writing duo Adam Schlesinger and Chris Collingwood, along with former Posie Judy Porter and drummer Brian Young, have crafted yet another collection of songs that take the best of the timeless catchiness reminiscent of groups ranging from The Monkees to The Knack. Polished with style is the flavor of the day in hit-worthy tracks like “Stacey’s Mom” and “Little Red Light” where hard-edged guitars meet melody lines that remain stuck in the brain from the first listen. The jangly, slightly overdriven layering of vintage guitars through vox amplification resounds throughout in tunes such as “No Better Place.” Although the subject matter of cell phones and late appointments may wax redundant, the volley between electric and down right pretty acoustic in tracks like “Valley Winter Song” keeps things fresh and interesting. A precious gem lies hidden under this vast mountain of pop in the country snippet “Hung Up On You,” which features a guest appearance by steel pedal master Robert Randolph. With equal doses of pop, twang, rock and 60s psychedelica, FOW’s latest has covered all the bases with something for everyone.

The First Day of School

By Lucky Tomaszek My middle child, Emma, starts kindergarten this month. Like all parents, I find it hard to believe that this baby is ready for such a large endeavor. She is a smart, beautiful and creative five year old who truly seems ready for a slightly more structured learning environment. Emma has already learned so much. She is just starting to read and loves to add single digit numbers. She can tell you anything about bugs and loves art. She knows the colors of the rainbow and is borderline obsessed with putting all of her toys in ROYGBIV order. And she is craving more! When I sent my older child Lena to public school for the first time (albeit briefly, as it turned out), we made a big deal out of the day. She got a new dress to wear, with nice shoes and a new headband. She took a long bath the night before and I spent extra time and care combing her hair and trimming her nails. In the morning she jumped out of bed, excited to start on this new adventure. I helped her dress and gave her a necklace to wear to school, so she’d have something to hold on to if the day seemed hard. Of course we took pictures, lots of pictures of Lena’s first day of school. Eventually, group schooling didn’t work out for our family and I brought her home to start homeschooling. As I am getting ready to homeschool Emma, I think back on that other first day of school warmly. It was fun to shop with Lena and buy her first day of school dress. It was wonderful to spend the extra time with her the night before the big day. And the look on her face when I gave her the necklace was priceless. It was clear to both of us that she was growing up, and this first day of school was a rite of passage. These rituals of dressing up and taking pictures mean a lot to families. They make a special occasion out of these important events. Rituals like this show your kids that you know they’re ready to take this next big step and you believe they can succeed. All of this helps your child feel like a valued member of the family and increases their self-confidence at a time when kids are nervous and scared about trying something new. I want to make Emma’s entry to homeschool kindergarten just as special as Lena’s entry to public kindergarten. Emma is emotionally and developmentally ready to take the next step with more a formalized learning environment, and that step should be marked. We have decided that we will dress up in first day of school clothes and take pictures. We will break out our new school books for the first time and do a little lesson, and then we’re going to celebrate Emma’s entrance to kindergarten with a picnic at a local park. I hope […]

Eliet Brookes

By Brian Barney Eliet BrookesThe Miles Left Over Recorded poetry and spoken word do not get commercially released as often as they should. Look for it in a store and you’ll be sauntering through the same ghetto aisle that has been set aside for “comedy.” Luckily for those of us who wade through Adam Sandler, Weird Al and the Jerky Boys, there exists poetry CDs like Eliet Brookes’ The Miles Left Over — eleven tracks of sheer pleasure. Settle into a pleasant moment, fire-up the CD player, cuddle up with Brookes’ beautiful voice and don’t forget the cocktail party at the bar on the fifth track. Exquisitely produced by Brew City musician Paul Setser, each track features musical accompaniment ranging from the talents of acoustic guitarist Richard Pinney to Paul Lawson to the Aimless Blades to Setser himself. Never obtrusive, the music adds to the substance of Brookes’ voice at every turn. Brookes works from a variety of moods quite successfully. Overall, there is a sense of incredibly tranquil peace, even in the bittersweet moments of the second track, “annie from broken street.” Somewhere halfway through that fifth track, Brookes says, “of course, none of this is true.” Somehow she manages to make even something this haunting sound very reassuring. Remarkably dark moments are traveled through with great grace. Brookes’ voice is not the only one on the CD. The fifth track features cameos by poet Lisa Mahan, musicians/poets Tank Staggers, Voot Warnings Rustle of Luv and several more. And then there’s the seventh track. Eamonn O’Neill manages to make Brookes’ contemporary poetics sound vaguely like Middle English. The journey ends on an intriguingly Asian-sounding “usyoumewei, (eliet’s mantra),” as performed by singer/songwriter Mariah Myerson. Can’t find the CD? Eliet Brookes can be reached at: herontree@ecoisp.com. It is also available at Woodland Pattern. See Eliet: Sept 8: Thai Joes Sept 18: Zodiac Luxury Lounge Sept. 24: Y-Not II Sept 26: Bremen Café

Books and Islands in Ojibwe Country

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In Search of An Agenda

By John Hughes Sure, it’s early in the race. But some lucky candidate could set the agenda for debate. Who will it be? Early next year, The City of Milwaukee will elect its first new mayor in well over a decade. The field of candidates is crowded and still growing. So far Tom Barrett, Vincent Bobot, Frank Cumberbatch, Sandy Folaron, Martin Matson, Tom Nardelli, John Pitta and Marvin Pratt have declared. More entrants are expected. Even though it’s early in the race, the unique circumstances of this election are already drawing attention to it. Thus far, no one has stepped forward to set the agenda for debate and thereby define the issues that will determine the winner. But the questions are out there. We contacted each of the candidates with four that we think must be addressed. This month, we hear from Barrett, Faloron, Matson and Pitta. The remaining candidates will give their answers in October. Tom Barrett has served in the State Assembly, the State Senate and the United States Congress. This year he suffered a narrow defeat in a bid for the Democratic nomination for Governor of Wisconsin. His concerns include preventing increases in property taxes and mayoral accountability for Milwaukee Public Schools. Sandy Folaron is President of the West End Vliet Street Business Association, and has been involved in numerous neighborhood and community organizations. She is also a successful businesswoman. Martin Matson is former Deputy Director of the city pension offices, and has served Milwaukee for several years in the Department of Public Works, in accounting and business operations. His campaign slogan is “Giving the City Back to the People.” John Pitta is a seventh grade math teacher at Roosevelt Middle School of the Arts. He holds two master’s degrees and is currently finishing a Ph.D at UWM. He has previously worked for J.M. Brennan Inc. and Johnson Controls. He currently serves on the advisory board for the Strive Media Institute, a local non-profit that provides mentoring and media training for Milwaukee area youth. 1. VITAL SOURCE: What specific steps will you take to make the police chief more accountable to the people of Milwaukee? Tom Barrett: I, along with the new chief, will be accountable to the residents of this community, and I intend to work closely with whoever is selected. The state legislature is exploring a change in the selection process for the Chief, and I am interested in the outcome of the issue as well. The current situation reflects a long, protracted, complicated degeneration of this Police Administration’s relationships – with the Mayor’s Office, with the police unions; with the community (the public at large, as well as specific community-based organizations); and with the media. Too often, the current situation has degenerated into tussles in the media among the Police Chief, the County Sheriff and other elected officials. While the arguments get more personal, more crimes are committed and residents begin to lose faith. The next Police Chief must work to build relationships, and […]

Drinking Coffee Elsewhere

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By John Hughes Twenty-four years ago, 40-year-old Randy Keltner was in a bad way. Years of corporate stress, a sedentary lifestyle and indifference to nutrition had taken its toll. He found himself going from doctor to doctor with complaints, suffering and malaise. He was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and sent home with, as he put it, “an approach which masked the situation with medications,” rather than healing it. Keltner felt, intuitively, that this was not good enough. There had to be more than diagnosis as fate, disease as something dire and foreign that visited you and stayed, or was corrected with pills and/or surgery. So, he took the road less traveled at the time. Not outwardly rebellious or counter-cultural in his appearance, this mild-mannered gentleman took a walk on the alternative side; alternative medicine, that is. In his office, he sits across a table from me, beaming. Founder and director of Ana, a massage therapy firm, he exudes excitement and youthfulness. After 33 years in the corporate world, Keltner retired from Hatco Manufacturing and went to school for massage therapy. He learned from Andy Schaefer, one of the best therapists in the nation. After a few years of principally doing table massage at his spa, he now makes house calls, or more accurately, office calls. He offers 15-minute treatments in business and office environments. “I want to serve,” he says, his face glowing. “If I serve and help people, help the community, the rest will follow. I want to serve people, to help them, and massage does that. It helped me.” His face is radiant. He is an attentive listener who makes you feel that anything you say will be given the benefit of the doubt. Somehow, by the way he stands, walks and sits at table, he exudes the sense of someone at home in his body. When he reports that he feels much better at 64 than he did at 40, it’s easy to believe him. The name Ana is partially derived from the Sanskrit word “Prana,” or dynamic life breath, which is equivalent to Chi, or Spirit. It is also inspired by two of Keltner’s grandchildren, both named Anna. “We had fun coming up with that name,” he says, in his soft, cheerful voice. For Keltner and his partner, Sharon Herrmann, massage is a “regular modality.” Keltner is also trained in Reiki and Cranio-Sacral Therapy, but their central passion is massage in the workplace. They come directly to any office, use no oils, and, using a special chair, massage fully clothed employees in the head, neck, shoulder, back, arms and hands. It’s an effective stress-buster and can be used as a reward in an office incentive program. Their popularity is growing. From August 28th until the 31st, Randy, Sharon Herrmann, and eight other massage therapists will be participating in the Harley Davidson celebrations by stationing themselves in South Shore Park from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m., offering massages for 15 minutes, at $20 a piece. After all, […]

American Splendor

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Lovelier Than Ever

By Jason Keil Liv Mueller and Barb Endes have been hard at work this summer, putting the finishing touches on The Lovelies’ highly anticipated new album White Leather, their fourth release of smart, catchy, melodic rock due for release in late September. In a recent interview, Mueller shared that she’d been distracted, at least momentarily, by a review she stumbled upon from their recent show at the SXSW festival in Austin last March. The article described the band as “Laverne and Shirley meet the Everly Brothers,” going on to describe the band’s look while making little mention of their music. “They looked like they bought their outfits at the Chess King,” the reporter went on, only taking time to refer to their music as “bland.” But one scathing review can’t slow the juggernaut year for one of Milwaukee’s favorite bands. In addition to playing SXSW, breaking in their new drummer and dedicating most of their summer to White Leather, a tour of the Midwest and the South has been set up to promote the release of the new album. “I thought that the title encapsulated everything wonderful: Nancy Sinatra and Evel Kneivel, bubbles and danger, tough and soft, leather and lace,” says Mueller of White Leather. “Our friends and followers can expect to hear a great Lovelies record.” White Leather is, in many ways, a literal continuation of their previous release Hot One. In fact, four of the tracks from Hot One were re-recorded for White Leather, as their new label, St. Louis-based Force MP, feels they’re great songs that deserve a “wider audience.” Even with a degree of success in the testosterone-drenched world of rock music, there’s still a “chick rocker” label attached to The Lovelies. Mueller isn’t bothered. “Being a woman in music is very comparable to being a man in music, except Barb and I have these things called ‘breasts’ that get in the way of our guitar straps sometimes,” she says. “I see The Lovelies kicking open doors, breaking gender roles, and making so much money that Barb and I can finally get the sex change operations we’ve been waiting for!” Liv jokes. “But seriously, who knows where we fit in, or if we ever will. We’ve always remained true to our own style, and that makes us proud. I think there are a lot of female fronted bands that are getting a lot more respect than they used to.” Mueller remains distracted by the SXSW review, going so far as to shoot a response to the critic that seems to encapsulate The Lovelies unique sense of ironic fun. “I have never read a good rock review that didn’t go into great detail about the ‘appearance’ of a band before commenting on its music. I’m grateful that he tuned in to my ‘guitar centric-go nowhere tunes’ … In this day and age of hustle and bustle, Starbucks, traffic jams and video stores, I pose to you this question: Why go anywhere? EVEN in a song? My […]

Le Divorce

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Welcome to Milwaukee’s Eighth Wonder — Pier Wisconsin!

By Raymond Johnson Could there really be a better idea than to build a Great Lakes freshwater education center on the Milwaukee Lakefront, as proposed by Pier Wisconsin? Especially after a few years of our local water utility MMSD fouling up Lake Michigan by dumping (oops, “blending” ) raw sewage into our rivers? Those people should be given free lifetime passes once it is built — and be required to go every week. Thankfully, the project is back on track. The story So far. Local philanthropist Michael Cudahy agrees to give millions of dollars to Pier Wisconsin to build a freshwater education center. There is one condition — Mr. Cudahy chooses the architect. The firm — McClintock Architects — designs a badly over-scaled building that some (though not I) complain too much resembles the recently built Quadracci pavilion for the Milwaukee Art Museum, known as “the Calatrava.” The design is so bad (according to its detractors) that everyone freaks out, including said Quadraccis and Mr. Calatrava himself. Ideas are floated to keep the design but move the center. The Harbor Commission decides to reject a lease agreement for the center — reasonably citing the views that the six-story building would obstruct. Michael Cudahy freaks out — saying he will never give another penny to the city for anything. Fast forward a little. Mr. Cudahy reconsiders, and the Harbor Commission, turning 180 degrees, gives Pier Wisconsin a lease, with the stipulation that the building be redesigned. Apparently this design will be reviewed by several municipal agencies. The new design itself will be handled by said McClintock Architects, who will work closely with city planning director Peter Park, with some moderating by Larry Witzling, a professor of architecture at UWM. All this is good stuff, and the building produced by this team will probably be acceptable, maybe even decent. The problem is, decent is not good enough for our lakefront. Buildings on the lakefront need to be excellent. And moderation rarely produces excellence. Let’s open it up. What we need here is an open design competition. Open, meaning anyone can enter. Design as has been happening around our city over the last decade, though rarely in whole buildings. Competition is that principle upon which market economies are based, whereby excellence in everything from plumbing to philosophy is produced. The ingredients for an incredible open design competition are already in place. You have a benefactor (Mr. Cudahy) who appreciates excellence and could bankroll an open design competition for probably 1f the project cost. You have a city representative (Mr. Park) who knows a thing or two about design. And you have a moderator (Mr. Witzling) who is a nationally recognized leader in putting together open design competitions. You’ll notice I keep referring to an “open design competition,” instead of shortening it to “competition.” This is because all three of these words are equally important. The process must remain open, and be anonymous. A local woman who has been doing fabulous restaurant/bar renovations around […]

Brian Jones Lays His Hands on Peter Gabriel

By Brian Jones As sophomores in high school, my small group of friends and I spent most of our time trying to be as cool as possible. By “cool” I mean we knew we weren’t popular, so it was our goal to be as strange, and in our minds, cutting edge as possible. Nobody else in our central Illinois town wore the clothes we wore. Punk meets the new wave and we had an obligation to show everybody else how uncool they were (and, by extension, how cool we were) in our Soviet full-length wool trench coats. Of course nobody listened to the same music. We were determined to be whatever we wanted to be as long as it wasn’t like everybody else. We conformed to being non-conformist. Not many concerts come to Normal, Illinois so when my friend Paul asked me to go a Peter Gabriel show I was psyched. We knew him then only as the former front man for the 70s prog-rock group Genesis. At the time Gabriel was enjoying moderate success with a strange little tune called “Shock The Monkey.” What I did know was that Gabriel was the kind of artist who didn’t conform to any standards. He did what he wanted to do, and I wanted to see what that was all about. Paul and I put on our best punky clothes, complete with Clash and Sex Pistol buttons, and headed to Braden Auditorium one early December evening in 1982. I think Paul’s older sister drove us to the show, and I think we chugged two whole beers before we went in. Our seats were in the 4th row, just to the left of the stage. The house lights were still on when a man walked out. Nobody seemed to notice him at all. I said to Paul, “Hey what’s that guy doing, checking the mics or something?” He stepped up to the mic and said, “Excuse me… Excuse me… .” The man began again. No one really paid attention. “Excuse me. I’m Peter Gabriel. Thank you for coming out tonight. We hope you have a good time. I just wanted to let you know how things are going to go this evening. These fellows are about to come out and play for you and then we’ll be back a little later to entertain you. So please welcome The Electric Guitars.” It was him. He actually came out to introduce the opening act. He had already impressed me. After the Electric Guitars got through pounding an oil drum with a baseball bat and hitting a suspended piece of sheet metal like it was a cymbal, the lights went out. In the distance we heard drums. We looked around but couldn’t tell where they were coming from, when suddenly everybody turned around to see the whole band marching through the mezzanine pounding on marching drums. They headed out into the hallway, then reappeared right in front of us, marched up on to the stage, took […]