2007-06 Vital Source Mag – June 2007
Vital’s 2007 Farmers Market Guide
By Amy Elliott, Evan Solochek, Jon Anne Willow In the urban epicenter of metropolitan Milwaukee, it’s far too easy to forget that we live in Wisconsin, a major player in the nation’s agricultural life and a leading producer of cranberries, corn, oats, potatoes, cherries, green beans and, of course, fresh dairy. Enter the farmers market – arguably the best way for urbanites to participate responsibly in our rich agricultural infrastructure. While some markets still feature trucked-in fare, more are focusing on what we have right here. There aren’t many downsides to buying locally. Healthier produce raised with fewer chemicals comes to us across far less distance and with shipping costs minimized and no middle man to pay off costs are drastically reduced, and the effect on the environment is alleviated. But most of all, it’s good to know where your food comes from, how it gets here and who’s dealing with it. And with lots of markets offering flowers, baked goods, coffees and teas, artwork and even live music, you’d be hard-pressed to find a more pleasant way to spend a few precious summer hours. NOTE: Some information is unconfirmed and noted with an (*). Bauer’s Farmers Market 11813 7 ½ Mile Rd., Caledonia 9 a.m. – 6 p.m. daily, July through November. 262-835-4386. Brown Deer Farmers Market Bradley Commerce Center, N. 43rd St. and Bradley Rd. 9 a.m. – 6 p.m., Wednesdays through October. Annuals and perennials, herbs, roses, and fruits and vegetables. 414-354-6923. Brookfield Farmers Market City Hall, 2000 N. Calhoun Rd 7:30 a.m. – noon, Saturdays through October. Flowers, fruits and vegetables, Piedmontese beef, maple syrup, chickens, eggs, bison meat, baked goods, dried floral, garden art and much more. Weekly entertainment and demonstrations. 70th annual Dahlia Show September 23, with more than 600 blooms on display for judging. 262-784-7804 or brookfieldfarmersmarket.com. Burlington Farmers Market Echo Park, 588 Milwaukee Ave. 8 a.m. – noon, Saturdays through November. 262-342-1171. Cudahy Farmers Market 4700 S. Packard Ave. 10 a.m. – sold out, Fridays through November. Locally grown and produced baked goods, fresh produce, apples, honey, flowers, crafts and more. ci.cudahy.wi.us. Delafield Farmers Market 514 W. Main St. 7 a.m. – 1 p.m., Saturdays through October. Producer-only market; locally grown vegetables, fruits, herbs, honey, cider, flowers, annual bedding and perennial plants, ironworks, homespun woolen yarns and other locally handcrafted items. 262-968-4471. East Side Open Market 1901 E. North Ave. 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., Saturdays, June 30 through October. Produce, agricultural products, flowers, herbs, CSA, amazing artists and marvelous local musicians. theeastside.org. East Town Farmers Market Cathedral Square Park, 520 E. Wells 7:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m., Saturdays through October. Farm-grown produce, baked goods, specialty foods and arts & crafts. Free entertainment and children’s activities. easttown.com. Elmwood Plaza Farmers Market Durand Ave., Racine 8 a.m. – noon, Tuesdays and Fridays through November 2. Seasonal asparagus, rhubarb, beans, tomatoes, corn, melons, bedding plants, apples, baked goods, chickens, eggs and fresh flowers. 262-886-3284. Fondy Farmers Market 2200 W. Fond du Lac Ave. 7 […]
Jun 1st, 2007 by Amy Elliott
June 2007
June 5th The Aggrolites Reggae Hit L.A. Hellcat/Epitaph Belly The Revolution CP Marilyn Manson Eat Me, Drink Me Nothing/Interscope Paul McCartney Memory Almost Full Hear Music/Concord O.A.R. Life From Madison Square Garden Atlantic Rihanna Good Girl Gone Bad Def Jam Bruce Springsteen Bruce Springsteen With the Seeger Sessions Band Live in Dublin Columbia Swizz Beatz One Man Band Universal Motown Tiger Army Music From Regions Beyond Hellcat/Epitaph Various Artists We All Love Ella: Celebrating the First Lady Of Song Verve June 12th John Doe A Year in the Wilderness Yep Roc The Mission, U.K. God is a Bullet Cooking Vinyl Sinéad O’Connor Theology Koch Mark Olson The Salvation Blues HackTone Queens of the Stone Age Era Vulgaris Interscope Mark Ronson Version RCA June 19th The Chemical Brothers We Are the Night Astralwerks Maps We Can Create Mute The Mooney Suzuki Have Mercy Elixia The Polyphonic Spree The Fragile Army TVT Two Gallants The Scenery of Farewell Saddle Creek The Unseen Internal Salvation Hellcat/Epitpah Matt White Do You Believe Geffen The White Stripes Icky Thump Third Man/Warner June 26th Ryan Adams Easy Tiger Lost Highway The Automatic, Automatic Not Accepted Anywhere Columbia Bad Brains Build a Nation Megaforce Beastie Boys The Mix-Up Capitol Marc Broussard S.O.S.: Save Our Soul Vanguard The Click Five Modern Minds and Pastimes Lava/Atlantic Editors An End Has a Start Kitchenware Nick Lowe At My Age Yep Roc Meat Puppets Rise to Your Knees Anodyne M.I.A. Kala Interscope Mya Liberation Motown Steve Vai Sound Theories Vols. 1 & 2 Epic
Jun 1st, 2007 by Erin Wolf
VITAL’S 2007 Photo Contest Winners
I think photography as the America of “Art.” It is not a perfect analogy; photography doesn’t arrest undocumented artworks and detain them indefinitely, nor is it engaged in an endless quest to start wars against developing art forms whilst alienating and disenfranchising photographs at home. Photographs are sometimes bought and sold to the highest bidder, but that’s not what I mean, either. Photography is a highly democratic art form. Not everyone is born with the fine motor skills to learn how to draw or the craftsmanship necessary to sculpt or carve wood. But most people can figure out how to press a button on a camera. With a light meter and a little practice, even a manual camera is intuitive enough to understand. The ever-expanding accessibility of digital equipment has even made it possible to eliminate the complicated and costly process of developing your own prints. Now all you need is a printer, or someone whose printer you can use and – voilà – a masterpiece. The ease of photography invites experimentation and ingenuity. Like America, nothing is guaranteed – not everyone can afford those fancy macro lenses, and not everyone has an eye for composition – but photography strives for equality of opportunity. And frankly, that makes the old institutions a little bit nervous. If you were an oil painting, you’d be nervous, too. Look at what happened to Great Britain. And in the grand scheme of things, photography is a pretty young way to make art, and even though a photograph is one of the world’s most powerful tools for telling a story or conveying an image, photography is still fighting for its credibility in the art world. Not everyone trusts photography. It’s too instant. It’s too mechanical. The artist is too far removed from the art. Or so it is still sometimes said. This year, in the spirit of opportunity, we awarded two different awards for each category – Best Professional and Best Amateur. The judges – Cori Coffman, Executive Director of the Eisner Musuem of Art and Design; Deone Jahnke, a local professional photographer who works all over the country and Sonja Thomsen, adjunct professor at MIAD and head of Milwaukee’s Coalition of Photographic Arts – swore to be fair and impartial administrators of their duties. They rated each photograph blind before the law (well, they could see, but it was anonymous) and on video camera themselves, for all to witness at our second Random Exposure opening on June 14 at the Eisner, which will include over 60 of our favorite entries, democratically displayed for your viewing enjoyment. There will also be music, food and more. Look for details on page 18. In your winners, you will see testament to the radical and boundless fruits of this art for the people: color, shadows, truth, comedy, tragedy, apathy and beauty. PORTRAIT BEST IN SHOW Best Professional Jessica Kaminski “Girl in Doorway” Jessica Kaminski received her BFA in Fine Art Photography from MIAD in 2001. Since then, she […]
Jun 1st, 2007 by Amy Elliott
Fixing MPS
The Greek myth of Sisyphus tells the story of a man condemned by the gods to roll a rock up a hill only to have it roll back down each time, forcing him to repeat the task over and over again for eternity. Some might argue that Sisyphus is the perfect metaphor for the vexing problem of education reform, particularly in Milwaukee. The performance of many urban public schools has been abysmal for decades. And it seems that every few years a new set of reforms are announced with great fanfare. But the results have generally been the same or worse. Same as it ever was. So it was with a good deal of skepticism that I attended an announcement last fall of a new initiative designed to finally address the problems facing Milwaukee Public Schools. I showed up at the news conference prepared to hear the latest school reform flavor of the month. Would it be smaller classes and more teachers, a revamped curriculum, a new set of high stakes tests or a combination of all of the above? I was wrong on all counts. What was unveiled that day wasn’t a plan, but a new process for involving the entire community in developing a strategic plan for MPS. “For the first time ever,” the news release trumpeted, “leaders from Milwaukee Public Schools, the Milwaukee Board of School Directors, the Milwaukee Teachers Education Association and the Greater Milwaukee Committee have joined together to focus the community’s attention on higher expectations for student achievement in MPS.” Better late than never Sister Joel Read, former president of Alverno College and chair of the GMC’s education committee, said the announcement represented “a turning point for MPS, for the children of Milwaukee and the entire community.” This is a sad statement, though true. MPS leadership, the teachers union and civic and business organizations have indeed failed previously to successfully come together to sort through the problems of the school district, whose concerns they all inherently share. In a combined statement, the groups said “MPS’ current student achievement results are unacceptable. MPS can and must do a better job educating students and preparing them for college and career.” Since that day last fall, nearly 20 public hearings were scheduled to solicit input from parents and other members of the community. An organization called Focus on Results was brought in, with support from local businesses, to assist in the development of a new strategic plan for MPS. The result is a “draft action plan” organized around a set of principles so basic as to be inarguable, which was unveiled in May. Sister Joel said the collaboration between MPS Superintendent William Andrekopoulos and WTEA Executive Director Sam Carmen was unprecedented, and called the 35 page document a “good first step.” I must admit that I didn’t feel like breaking out in a chorus of “Kumbaya” when the superintendent of Milwaukee Public Schools and the leader of the teachers union reached an agreement on a set of […]
Jun 1st, 2007 by Ted Bobrow
Great Lakes Myth Society
“Girlfriends are leaving/new girls arrive/you open the circle/to be blinded by light.” This lyric from “Heydays,” the opening track to Compass Rose Bouquet, the sophomore offering from Michigan “northern rock” music “collective” Great Lakes Myth Society, perfectly summarizes the thesis being defended throughout – melancholy is meaningless unless it’s tempered by good spirits in the heart and in hand. When guitarist Timothy Monger sings “Uncertain the future/nostalgic the past/unable to recognize/moments that last,” there’s more sun in his voice than rain. That springtime disposition carries into all aspects, from production to songwriting. The tunes crackle with energy and spark, from the cavernous drums to the silvery trumpets on the psychedelic-via-”Crimson-and-Clover” tune “Raindrops and Roses.” The band isn’t afraid to explore the myriad folk influences available to their collective, either; “Queen of the Barley Fool” and “Debutante” incorporate Irish pub choruses without slipping into affectation. “Debutante” even throws indie-rock distortion into the guitars, giving the up-tempo jig some teeth. They accompany accordion-driven waltz “The Gales of 1838,” which closes the record with a slow, six-minute build that sways like the bow of a wind-blown pirate ship complete with refrains proclaiming that we’ll have “wine, wine, wine, more wine tonight.” This is Americana anyone can get behind. Great Lakes Myth Society takes the folk-infused sound with which we’ve all become intimately familiar and polish it with a pop sheen, producing earthy, heartfelt waltzes and jigs that manage to be introspective and fun at the same time. Pass the Jameson; who wouldn’t drink to that?
Jun 1st, 2007 by DJ Hostettler
What should have happened
What should have happened One of the perks of writing a column like SubVersions – aside from being able to indulge your love of pointless Saved By The Bell references – is that it constantly forces you out of the house and into the wide, wacky world of Milwaukee’s Kinda-Sorta-Thriving Night Life?. At least once a month, you’re compelled to throw yourself willy-nilly into the sinuous arms of the city – forgoing yet another night of watching Cheaters in your underwear – in search of beauty, cheap booze and an event deserving of 1,000 words. The downside, of course, is that these events usually turn out to be complete busts. For every life-affirming rock show and spontaneous dance party, there’s at least one tepid burlesque show and a good ol’ fashioned random mugging. Nevertheless, a breathtaking column is usually formulated beforehand, and an appropriately poignant conclusion is strived for (friends! city! redemption!). Of course, after about a half-dozen drinks and a knee to the groin, things usually tend to fall apart. What follows are two such events attended in hopes of some sort of bittersweet, revelatory moment that instead ended in crushing despair and ill-advised trips to gay bars. Each one will be divided into three parts: what happened (the mostly-true account of the event), what should have happened (the hoped-for outcome that inevitably never came to fruition) and a few sample lines from the breathtaking, yet ultimately abandoned column. Hallowang What happened Through a bizarre set of coincidences, I learn of a fabled “Hallowang” party being thrown somewhere on Water Street. The idea – a costume party exactly six months before and after Halloween – is a noble one, and along with that machine that can launch a Busch Light clear across your living room, certainly represents frat-boy ingenuity at its finest. I soon discover a group of attractive lady friends will also be attending said festivities. They’re going as Ghostbusters – complete with jumpsuits and inflatable proton-packs – prompting me to stick some batteries and stereo wire to a metal colander, put in on my head and go as Louis Tully, a.k.a Vince Clortho, Keymaster of Gozer. Arriving at the pre-determined Water Street bar (Mel’s? Art’s?), we find the number of costumed attendees lacking. Though we receive our fair share of confused looks – along with a large number of people who mistake me for Doc Brown from Back to the Future – the night nonetheless proceeds swimmingly. Things turn quickly tragic, however, after I accidentally thrust a lit cigarette into my friend Kelly’s open eye; following some worried fretting and a few more drinks, she’s fine, and the entire Hallowang contingent hops on a chartered school bus headed for our final destination, Cans. Once there, awards are given out for the best costumes, and we end up losing to two chumps dressed as Fred and Velma from Scooby-Doo. The night concludes at Foundation (more confused looks), where a drunken, nonsensical argument over a deflated proton-pack signals an […]
Jun 1st, 2007 by Matt Wild
The road to hell by, by any other name
It’s time for me to admit it – I am one of those moms. By that, I mean I make mistakes with my kids. And the mistakes I make are classics – the ones we all swore we would never make. When you’re pregnant with your first baby, you make a list of things you know you will do for your child. And most of us make a list of things that will never happen. In light of a few particularly painful recent gaffes on my part, now may be a good time to remind us all that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Last weekend we celebrated Emma’s 9th birthday. She had a fairy party with a few of her friends on Saturday. Sunday evening, we had a big family birthday dinner for her, complete with ice cream cake and presents. I felt like we had covered it all. I felt like a good mom. But then she came home from school with a giant “Happy Birthday” sticker on her shirt. Her brother said, “Whose birthday did you have at school today?” and I heard Emma answer, “It was supposed to be mine.” That’s when I realized I had forgotten birthday treats. Completely forgotten – didn’t even register on my radar. Of course, today I tried to make it up to her by supplying enough Pudding Pops to feed a small army. She seems to be okay with this, but I am traumatized. Earlier this month, my first grader Jeffrey had to make his “All About Me” book to present to his class. He needed a collection of pictures of himself, starting from when he was a newborn and spanning his short little life. I pulled out the box of family photos (all jumbled and unorganized – another confession for another time) and went through nearly a hundred packets of photos. To fill the page titled “When I was born,” I was able to produce a picture of Jeffrey taken when he was 9 minutes old, a studio photo of him when he was two months old and then some photos of his first birthday party. He had a good time looking at the thousands of pictures of his older sisters, but he did wonder out loud where all the pictures of him were – several times. I wondered, too, and told him that I was sure I had just packed them in a different box. The truth is I’m not sure there are any more pictures of his first year. But wait, there’s more! 1. I don’t always make the kids eat vegetables. Every night at dinner, they are offered fruit and veggies. They have to pick one and they have to eat what they pick. But it often happens that for several days in a row no one picks a vegetable. I don’t push it. I didn’t like vegetables as a kid and I do now. I’m hoping they grow into it. 2. I […]
Jun 1st, 2007 by Lucky Tomaszek
Let us eat cake!
photos by Kevin C. Groen Cake Lady & Petite Pastries 3561 S. Kinnickinnic Ave. St. Francis 414-294-4220 cakeladydesigns.com Michelangelo fashioned the treasured Statue of David and the Pieta. Rodin gained prominence for his ponderous works, The Thinker and The Kiss. An anonymous artist chiseled out a place in art infamy with the Venus de Milo. None of these renowned sculptors, however, have anything on Sara Unkefer, owner of The Cake Lady and Petite Pastries. Her towering confections are not only artistically impressive, they’re edible! Wedding cakes festooned with elaborate piping, swags, grape clusters and dotted with frosting pearls are her forte. But one of Unkefer’s greatest gifts is her ability to realize her clients’ desires in cake. She has created a wild, teetering tower of silver and gold fondant-wrapped gifts; colorful fish cakes as big as a reeler’s imagined catch; football helmets and cartoon characters. From the kooky and kitschy to the elegant and fabulous, The Cake Lady does it all. The 32-year-old, her husband Briton (a corporate chef) and their toddler son Levi are Bay View residents and the pastry shop is just a couple of blocks away in St. Francis. With their combined experience and reputations, this couple could live and work anywhere, but chose Milwaukee for proximity to both their families. Sara Unkefer grew up in Appleton, one of six kids. Her mother had an artistic streak, expressed in home crafts like Mickey Mouse and Cookie Monster cakes for birthdays and painting ceramics. Unkefer helped paint the intricate Hummel characters and holiday decorations because she had a steady hand, a must in her profession. “I was an adventurous kid,” Unkefer says. “I was very decisive. I knew what I wanted and was willing to put up an argument to get it.” Her parents were a catalyst for her experimental zeal. She instilled the philosophy that nothing’s impossible. “Growing up in a family of six gave us a lot of strength. They taught us to embrace life and not to be sacred to do what we believe in.” Though her parents never traveled beyond Canada, their children all had the wanderlust. Unkefer worked long hours in Door County restaurants summers and falls to finance her exploits. There she met a young woman who brandished photos of herself with Taliban gunmen in Afghanistan. While most people would be terrified by this disclosure, for Unkefer it deepened the intrigue of travel. After a year at UWM studying anthropology, Unkefer set out to experience ethnic traditions in situ. Backpacking by herself, she toured Mexico, Central America, the Carribean, Holland, Spain and Belgium. Fellow travelers introduced Unkefer to diverse culinary traditions. One trekker carried three duffle bags of spices he had collected on his travels. His meals, prepared in a borrowed kitchen or in banana leaves over an open fire, were so amazing they prompted Unkefer to abandon her vegetarian lifestyle. In Guatemala she encountered a man who’d built a wood-fired oven for baking breads and pizza. It was an encounter that […]
Jun 1st, 2007 by Cate Miller
Waukesha’s new Majestic Cinema and Palladium dinner theater
Marcus Theaters took a calculated risk opening up the colossal Majestic Cinema (770 N. Springdale Road, Waukesha) over the May 4th weekend, not only as a move to bolster attendance in an era of home theaters with surround-sound and HD/Blue-Ray technology, but also in location and philosophy. Set not far off from the now-demolished Westown and now-defunct West Point theaters, the Majestic is seated on the farthest edge of an industrial complex off the back side of a Home Depot and Sam’s Club. But rather than stick with the familiar spartan, low-ceiling multiplexes that have become a recognizable mainstay for the Marcus corporation theaters in the past 25 years, this 16-screen affair – two of them ‘UltraScreens’ and another a dinner theater called the AT&T Palladium, which will be detailed further along – is a throwback to the art deco days of the cinema house. Starting from the outside, gone is the towering and lit signboard listing movies, in favor of reading the times off the internet, outside posters and electronic marquees over the ticket stations. Forgivably, because there was a rush to get it open for the premiere of Spider-Man 3, the Marcustheatres.com website did not have a working phone number until Friday. Even then, only one automated message worked. You also are not able to purchase show tickets online (as of this writing) as they work out the programming kinks. A giant neon-lined overhang (think: Vegas casino) guides those who want to keep their date dry while they park – or they can use the $3.00 valet service. For once, however, the parking area is well-conceived and the walk to the front door is not necessarily interminable. Once inside and past the long ticket lines, the main lobby opens up to a grand affair. Anyone who has ventured to the new Marcus Renaissance in Sturtevant will recognize the new standard architecture and interior design being adopted for the movie complexes. In the center of the room sits a baby grand piano surrounded by leather sofas and palm trees. The piano mysteriously waits for someone to play it, but it is unlikely the harried and tuxedo wearing employees have the time. On the left is a separate pizza bistro called Zaffiro’s and to the right a Stone Creek Coffee dominated by ice cream shop offerings. The concession stand runs almost the length of the room, illuminated from below by tanks of popcorn. Food offerings here run the gamut from traditional sweet and salty snacks to more complete fast-food offerings. While you wait in line, many flat-screen plasmas distract from the high food prices with previews of coming attractions. Got a kid in tow? The Majestic offers a party room for birthdays and, more importantly, a chamber off the lobby for babysitting services. However, on its first Saturday open the room was dark and empty save for a desk, a pair of handheld buzzers ready to call you back from the show if your kid has a tantrum and a […]
Jun 1st, 2007 by Brian Jacobson
Milwaukee Short Film Festival reels up its 9th season
It’s with some irony that the decaying relationship between Time Warner Cable and the local public access outlet (MATA Community Media) helped foster the physical existence of the Milwaukee Short Film Festival, and even more ironic that the internet – well known for stealing eyes away from theaters and television – has helped the local showcase become more popular. Festival founder and director Ross Bigley first showcased local filmmakers’ short submissions – each narrative run between 2 to 18 minutes – for several years on public access in the mid-1990s. After a short break, the festival moved to area coffeehouses before finally landing at its present venue in the Times Cinema (5906 W. Vliet St., Wauwatosa) in 2004. The 2007 series now starts with an unusual feature attraction at the Astor Theater (1696 N. Astor St., Milwaukee) Saturday June 9 at 4 p.m. and continues Sunday June 10 at the Times with a 4 p.m. retrospective and main contest showings at 7 p.m. The rapid ascent of the internet as marketer and community tool actually helped spread the word about the festival. Now entries come all the way from Los Angeles, New York, Toronto and London. MSFF has received notices from magazines and websites and features a judging panel of several accomplished members of the entertainment industry. A $1000 juried grand prize was created by previous festival sponsors and has remained by popular demand along with a separate “audience award,” both to be determined at the event. The monetary prize comes directly from entry fees and sales – so the showcase is not technically a money-making venture. Bigley and friends do it for the love of film and storytelling. MSFF’s growth can be most easily attributed to the loyalty of supporters and now two other events: one is a Sunday afternoon exposition at the Times Cinema featuring “Best Of” entries from a 10-year span by such known artists as Dan Wilson (Leavings), Malona P. Voigt (Chicxulub) and Michael John Moynihan (Take a Chance and Happiness is a Long Shot). The other, and more experimental, event takes place the day prior, way over on the east side of town. The Astor Theater plays host to a special free premiere showing of Realization by Chicago’s Splitpillow. The five-year-old non-profit film company’s concept was to create a feature-length film broken down into seven chapters, with each segment written and directed by different crews all utilizing a continuing thread. Also, different actors play the same characters in each segment, creating a very heady concept film. According to Splitpillow, the plot revolves around “a lovesick physicist trying to complete his father’s unfinished work to impress the girl of his dreams.” Official entries in Sunday’s main event are as widely varied in length as they are tone or subject matter, yet most of them promise to not be the typical summer multiplex film. Some highlights should include: The Furry Revolt, by Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design graduate Jessica Bayliss, is a brief stop-motion animation piece […]
Jun 1st, 2007 by Brian Jacobson
