2007-03 Vital Source Mag – March 2007
Céad mile fáilte
By Catherine McGarry Miller + Photos by Kevin C. Groen Be forewarned; if you toddle over to County Clare on St. Paddy’s day for an Irish Coffee, have your designated driver on deck or cab fare in fist before you take a swig. Oh, there might me a shot or two of coffee in it, but the rest is pure Irish whiskey slathered with whipped cream and a chocolate cookie straw. One sip’ll knock your shamrock off. Roy Huth, kitchen manager of the County Clare Pub and Restaurant, says that natives of the Emerald Isle “feel at home here. Milwaukeeans feel like they’re on vacation.” I fall in the latter category and can aver that this establishment credibly recreates the charm of an Irish inn. Though Irish cookery is not renowned in the gourmet kingdom, I had fabulous food in Ireland and the County Clare made me feel like I was back in the old country. His menu reflects wonderful dining experiences I had there, though probably not the way you would expect. It’s the seafood that takes me back to the sod, not the corned beef or lamb – I don’t remember even seeing them on a carte. What people tend to forget is that Ireland is an island whose inhabitants have always lived off the water. Though not of Irish descent, Huth has a mastery of seafood preparation that goes back to his youth cooking for his family. The Wauwatosa native always enjoyed trying new things and particularly liked smoked fish – not your average kid’s top favorite. His specialty back then was Shrimp Creole. Now he applies his intuitive talents to the likes of smoked salmon with capers and mussels steamed in a buttery tomato broth served with Irish brown bread to sop the delicious juices. The portions, like Irish hospitality, are generous and the flavors fresh as a sea breeze. The whole grained bread (available in small loaves to purchase) is exactly as I remember it in the Irish inns and cafes I frequented. Not surprising, since it’s imported from there. For St. Patrick’s Day, however, the menu will feature the expected Irish fare: Shepherd’s Pie (the Inn’s top seller), Irish Stew and Corned Beef and Cabbage. Huth presents a delicious, colorful plate of thick slices of lean, tender corned beef, al dente cabbage, bright carrot medallions and notably delicious mashed potatoes. Everything but the steak is under $15, so you’ll have plenty of change for your stout. Huth, who just turned 50, learned his craft on the job. His degree from UWM, earned in the early ‘80s, is in painting, drawing and printmaking. His father, a lithographer, planted the seeds of love for the craft. Huth became a successful artist whose works have been exhibited around the city for the past 15 years and at annual shows at Gallery H2O in the Third Ward. In 1999, one of his paintings was juried into the prestigious Wisconsin Artists’ Biennial Exhibit at the Haggerty Museum. Still, art […]
Mar 1st, 2007 by Cate Miller
A Lesson From Aloes
By Russ Bickerstaff Juxtapose three people in a domestic setting and you probably could end up launching a production of just about anything. Milwaukee Camber Theatre uses three actors and a domestic setting to launch a particularly moving bit of drama with Athol Fugard’s A Lesson From Aloes. All appears reasonably peaceful on the set as the lights rise but it’s an illusion. Aloes takes place in the oppressive days of the early 1960s in South Africa. We see the effects of a police state on three distinctly different individuals. It’s an interesting set up that is masterfully executed by three talented actors under the direction of a Milwaukee theatre icon in a lush and detailed set that is tastefully illuminated. A Lesson From Aloes is a compelling evening of drama. As the play opens, Piet Bezuidenhout (Brian Robert Mani) is feverishly studying tiny potted aloes that he had collected. The stage is decorated in great numbers of them and he is talking about them with great passion. It’s easy to get caught up in Piet’s interest as the intensity of Mani’s performance animates Fugard’s subtly poetic bits of dialogue. As preoccupied as Piet and much of the play seems to be with Aloes, we find out later on that it’s only a recently acquired hobby for him. There’s a lot more to him and his life and his relationship with his wife than breathes through the surface. The brilliant thing about Mani’s performance is that, as central a figure as he is onstage, the complexity of his personality comes as something of a surprise as it is slowly revealed. While there is very little direct foreshadowing to this complexity, it doesn’t seem to come out of nowhere when it finally becomes apparent. As the lights come up on that first scene, Piet’s wife Gladys (Tracy Michelle Arnold) is sitting not far from him wearing a big, dark pair of sunglasses. As simple as this seems, she’s a bit of a mystery even in the opening minutes. We’re not even seeing her eyes. The character slowly seems to get more and more comfortable with the third wall as things progress. Fugard slowly coaxes her into greater and greater prominence as the plot navigates its way to the end of the last act. Tracy Michelle Arnold plays it with a style and poise that gazes right into the heart of the character. The role requires much of her expression to be nonverbal. Nowhere is this more apparent than when she is alone at a writing desk in the bedroom. As the audience, we’re seeing the bedroom from a cutout in the wall. It feels very invasive watching Arnold in the bedroom even though she’s actually doing very little. It’s one of the most delicate bits in the entire play and she carries it off remarkably well. Patrick Sims rounds out the cast as Steve Daniels – an old friend of Piet’s. Steve is a black man reluctantly moving to England because […]
Mar 1st, 2007 by Vital Archives
Paula Frazer & Tarnation
Not having thoroughly kicked all her baggage to the curb with 2005’s Leave the Sad Things Behind, San Francisco singer-songwriter Paula Frazer follows up with another album about moving on. Her fourth solo release, Now It’s Time, also revives her former band, Tarnation, as support. Frazer soups up alt-country standbys with jangly honky-tonk piano on “Bitter Rose” and flamenco tambourine on “Another Day.” “Pretend” features a childlike yodeling reminiscent of a wooden train whistle. Effectively simple string arrangements flesh out many of the tracks. If Frazer’s lyrics mirrored her eclectic instrumentation, Now It’s Time would be perfection, but she constantly recycles the same stale imagery (the sun, darkness, fire). But while the album would benefit if the storytelling were on par with the songwriting, the lack of lyrical originality is not necessarily detracting to Frazer, whose voice could draw listeners singing about…well…the sun, darkness and fire. Like Joni Mitchell meets Morrissey, Frazer’s soulful voice turns, trills and glides effortlessly from track to track. It’s sunken yet confident, parallel to the music it narrates. Though overtly melancholy, these barbiturate-drenched songs find a way to float. Now It’s Time touches on relationships’ gray areas: when to stay and when to go, when to speak up and when to hold your tongue. Not uncertain, however, is Frazer’s ability to deliver a plush, relistenable disc for fans of the heavier-hyped (and less authentic) Neko Case and Jenny Lewis. VS
Mar 1st, 2007 by Amber Herzog
Van Morrison
By Blaine Schultz Ducks don’t come much odder than Van Morrison. He refers to his biggest hit “Brown Eyed Girl” as “the money shot” when he deigns to play the tune live. Often times it is not on the set list and it is strange that a guy who doesn’t exactly banter with the audience would offer a pornographic backslap to introduce the tune. As the teenage leader of Belfast’s Them, Van wrote the garage-punk anthem “Gloria” and that tune typically gets short shrift as well at his performances. Yet give Morrison utmost credit for being true to his muse over the course of a four decade career. He’s gone from garage R&B to pop hits to the stream of consciousness masterpiece Astral Weeks to albums that veer dangerously close to New Age, but he’s always done it on his own terms. Only Bob Dylan and Neil Young have lead such long and winding careers. For his 1974 appearance at the Montreux jazz festival Morrison’s most recent studio album had been Hard Nose the Highway – a likeable record but not exactly a career marker. For this date he’d left behind his sprawling Caledonia Soul Orchestra and, according to legend, assembled a piano/bass/drums group at Montreux. Very few artists, even in the open minded post-hippie 1974, would be willing to take such a chance with a pickup band of stellar players. Which goes a ways to explain why so few artists fall into a category with Morrison. And true to form, the set list reflects no expected choices and is littered with tunes that would be played rarely over the years. “Twilight Zone” eventually surfaced on the Philosopher’s Stone compilation as a different arrangement featuring an odd falsetto vocal. At Montreux Van acquits himself on acoustic guitar picking out spare bluesy riffs while Jerome Rimson’s upright bass and Pete Wingfield’s piano also take melodic turns. He also takes turns on harmonica (impressive) and saxophone (less so). If the first show is a unique document the second avails its riches with repeated viewings. In 1980 Morrison would again return to the expanded band format, highlighted here by ex-James Brown sax player Pee Wee Ellis’ extended solos. It is evident that Morrison trusts his musicians and gives them reign to tap into the moment while Morrison loses himself as well. “Summertime in England” builds to a Morrison and Ellis call and response near-Evangelical situation verging on hypnosis and as the tune fades the band launches into “Moondance” and Morrison looks like an alarm clock just went off in his head and he’s wondering what he’s doing onstage. This particular segment is a gem; that sense of a Holy Grail moment that players and listeners will tell you justifies an obsession – to paraphrase Van himself – sometimes “it ain’t why, it just is.” The next pair of tunes “Haunts of Ancient Peace” and “Wild Night” offers a similar juxtaposition. The set list is a near-perfect 15 song travelogue moving from trance inducing […]
Mar 1st, 2007 by Vital Archives
