2008-05 Vital Source Mag – May 2008
VITAL’s Online Summer Recreation Guide
As promised, here’s our comprehensive guidebook for living low-impact this summer, with links, contact info and more good ideas than you can shake a stick at. Have fun! ADVENTURE CHARTER BOATS Lake Michigan dive charters, right outta Milwaukee. THE ALDO LEOPOLD FOUNDATION E13701 Levee Rd., Baraboo BIKE TO WORK WEEK May 11 – May 16, statewide. And check out the City of Milwaukee’s Milwaukee By Bike map! BURLINGTON CHOCOLATE FESTIVAL May 23 – 26 in Burlington CAVE OF THE MOUNDS 2975 Cave of the Mounds Rd., Blue Mounds CEDAR GROVE CHEESE In Plain. 800-200-6020 CIRCUS WORLD MUSEUM 550 Water St., Baraboo 866-693-1500 CIVIL WAR MUSEUM 5400 1st Ave, Kenosha 262-653-4140 HOUSE ON THE ROCK In Spring Green. 608-935-3639 HEIDI FESTIVAL/TASTE & TREASURE of NEW GLARUS June 27-9 in New Glarus. LEN-DER CHARTERS Lake Michigan dive charters from Milwaukee. 414-482-1430 LIVING ADVENTURE 88260 State Hwy 13, Bayfield 866-779-9503 MILWAUKEE COUNTY PARKS Need we say more? MOREL MUSHROOM FESTIVAL May 17-18 in Muscoda NEENAH STREETBALL CHALLENGE June 14-15 in Neenah PORT WASHINGTON PIRATE FESTIVAL June 6-8 in Port Washington THE RENEWABLE ENERGY & SUSTAINABLE LIVING FAIR June 20-22 in Custer SPRING FORAGER’S HARVEST May 17-18, W5066 State Hwy 86, Ogema TEN CHIMNEYS ESTATE & FOUNDATION In Genesee Depot. 262-968-4110 WISCONSIN STATE PARKS Info on all of the parks, forests, recreation areas, state campgrounds and trails. GROTTOS DICKEYVILLE GROTTO 305 W Main St, Dickeyville 608-568-3119 GROTTO OF THE HOLY FAMILY St. Joseph, WI RUDOLPH GROTTO 6957 Grotto Ave., Rudolph 715-435-3120 WEGNER GROTTO Cataract, WI MEMORIALS KOREAN WAR MEMORIAL PARK OF WISCONSIN Worzella Pines Park, Plover MEMORIAL CLOCK TOWER Mead Rapids View Park, 1st and Baker St.,Wisconsin Rapids WISCONSIN STATE FIREFIGHTERS MEMORIAL Ben Hanson Park, 2nd Ave., Wisconsin Rapids MUSEUMS AMERICA’S BLACK HOLOCAUST MUSEUM 2233 N. 4th Street, Milwaukee 414-264-2500 BETTY BRINN CHILDREN’S MUSEUM 929 E. Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee 414-291-0888 CAPTAIN FREDERICK PABST MUSEUM 2000 West Wisconsin Avenue, Milwaukee 414-931-0808 THE HEARTSTONE HOUSE 625 W. Prospect, Appleton 920-730-8204 THE HISTORY MUSEUM AT THE CASTLE 330 East College Avenue, Appleton 920-733-8445 HISTORIC MUSEUM WALKING TOURS 828 N. Broadway, Milwaukee 414-277-7795 INTERNATIONAL CLOWN HALL OF FAME 161 W. Wisconsin Avenue (inside the Grand Avenue Mall), Milwaukee 414-319-0848 KENOSHA HISTORICAL CENTER 262-654-5770 KENOSHA PUBLIC MUSEUM 5500 1st Ave, Kenosha 262-653-4140 MILWAUKEE ART MUSEUM 750 N. Lincoln Memorial Drive, Milwaukee 414-224-3200 MILWAUKEE COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY 910 N. Old World Third Street, Milwaukee 414-273-8288 MILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM 800 W. Wells Street, Milwaukee 414-278-2702 MITCHELL GALLERY OF FLIGHT General Mitchell International Airport 5300 S. Howell Avenue, Milwaukee 414-747-5300 RACINE ART MUSEUM 2519 Northwestern Avenue, Racine 262-636-9177 RACINE HERITAGE MUSEUM 701 South Main Street, Racine 262-636 3926 WEIS EARTH SCIENCE MUSEUM University of Wisconsin Fox Valley Campus 920-832-0125 NATURE/GARDENS THE BARLOW PLANETARIUM 1478 Midway Road, Menasha 414-276-5760 BOERNER BOTANICAL GARDENS 5879 S. 92nd Street, Hales Corner 414-425-1130 GORDON BUBOLZ NATURE PRESERVE 4815 N. Lynndale Drive, Appleton 920-731-6041 GREEN BAY BOTANICAL GARDEN 2600 Larsen Road, Green Bay 920-490-9457 HECKRODT WETLAND RESERVE 1305 Plank Road, Menasha 920-720-9349 LAKE GENEVA ANIMAL GARDENS 5065 Highway […]
May 1st, 2008 by Vital Archives
Tim Fite
Timothy Sullivan ain’t proud of his past life as an MTV “one track” rap wonder, and his work under alias Tim Fite is his attempt at renewal. His free 2007 internet LP, Over the Counter Culture, lashed anger at the state of our hate- and greed-mongering union. Fair Ain’t Fair beelines to the acceptance stage. Opener “Roots of a Tree” insists that we shouldn’t be measured by bygones but by whom we have grown to be. Hippy-dippy sentiment aside, this release isn’t for the faint of heart. An f-bomb drop within seconds of play sets an abrasive tone, but more significantly, since each song is a patchwork of obscure banjo and accordion samples recovered from record store discount bins, the musicality takes patience to comprehend. It’s best to start with the approachable “Yesterday’s Garden,” about a distracted Fite accidentally driving through his girlfriend’s flowerbed. The language is plain and details are omitted, yet a lucid snapshot develops over the course of the record. Outside of literature, these moments are rare, but “Motorcade,” a scene suspended in slow-mo as if ripped from a Wes Anderson film, does it more than once, flecked by toy piano. Tympanis, snares, and other percussion — courtesy of a high school orchestra — on “The Names of All the Animals” and “Rats and Rags” pique interest and help the CD achieve more than just cut and paste. Though “Sing Along” finds Fite back in his old pop politics, he primarily continues to propel forward. “Everyone gets to make one,” he says on “Big Mistake.” If lucky, the error of apocalyptical proportions he’s saving up can match Fair Ain’t Fair’s success in overcoming his minor ones.
May 1st, 2008 by Amber Herzog
Story of the Year
By Kyle Shaffer Defining one’s sound on a passing trend can prove a death blow for most acts. But, perhaps even more daunting a thought is that of trying to reformat a band’s sound to remain relevant. Story of the Year’s heyday was the release of Page Avenue amidst an explosion of screamo bands. Two albums and a few Warped Tours later, the St. Louis crew emerges with The Black Swan, a supposedly seamless integration of the catchiness of their debut with the heavy riffing of 2005’s In the Wake of Determination. While this album may mark the group’s ability to survive without major-label support, it’s full of enough generic guitar riffs and less-than-inspiring lyrics to make the dudes in Avenged Sevenfold hold back chuckles. Throughout, this record is shaking with the fear of committing to a sound. Opener “Choose Your Fate” attempts Thrice-like energy and lands somewhere between 30 Seconds to Mars and whatever “band of the week” Vagrant Records is promoting. This is not a giant step forward in Story’s growth. Lyrically trying to tackle more serious subject matter, songs like “Message to the World” struggle to articulate communication problems between the U.S. and the rest of the planet. Even more painful is listening to lead singer Dan Marsala feign his concern for racial equality in “We’re Not Gonna Make It.” These are serious issues in the modern world, but Story of the Year’s contrived sound minimizes their importance. For a band that left a major label for ethical reasons, The Black Swan sure sounds like a record written for a paycheck.
May 1st, 2008 by Vital Archives
Sentimental outing
The Cuckoo Then, on Every Tree: Three Artists Celebrate Spring May 16 – June 28 Portrait Society Gallery 207 E. Buffalo St., Suite 526 The word cuckold is derived from cuckoo. A song in Shakespeare describes spring as the time when, “the cuckoo then on every tree, mocks married men, for thus he sings: Cuckoo!” It’s said that three birds in hand are worth three in a bush – or something like that. The Cuckoo Then, on Every Tree, is what you’ll see at the Portrait Society Gallery, 207 E. Buffalo St., May 16 – June 28, with an opening reception on Friday, May 16, in Suite 526 (5-9pm). Three artists define the season via trees, wee animals and birds. It’s been a grim winter, but the willows are greening along the Milwaukee River, the squirrels are scampering, and near my home a cardinal hopefully whistles for a mate. Get out your Crocs and toe-revealing sandals. Fire up the grill. We’ve survived yet another winter. Trees are a turn-on for Slobodan Markovic (or “Bob” if you prefer), though why that is remains a mystery for this artist. It could be that with fewer and fewer trees populating the globe, memorializing the remaining ones defines his art. The same could be said of artist Michael Kasun – the bird guy – who, with Markovic, attended MIAD’s predecessor, The Milwaukee School of the Arts, in the late ‘70s. Keiler Sensenbrenner paints small-scale images of animals, for example a majestic goat. Gallery owner Debra Brehmer describes Sensenbrenner’s style as fluid and painterly, “reminiscent of Courbet or Manet,” which is a fine thing for a goat to be. Or a squirrel. A teacher at DePaul University, she makes clothes to replace her commercially manufactured wardrobe when she’s not enlightening students or making art. The third artist in the “Green” trio, Michael Kasun, began painting images of birds for the “mini” exhibit at the popular Art Bar in Riverwest. Half of his 4” x 5” (or 4”x 6”) gouache paintings in the Portrait Gallery show are of birds he has actually sighted. Kasun’s favorite spring spot for observing his feathered friends is at Perot State Park above Trempeleau, Wisconsin, and wisely, his winter spot is Florida’s Everglades. On his 2008 spring list of sightings are brown creepers, vireos, nuthatches and even tundra swans in Lake Michigan off of North Point. “The most unusual bird I’ve seen is the least bittern, an amazing small heron that looks like a feathered dinosaur or a collared lizard when it displays,” he says. Don’t ask if he has caged birds in his home, or he’ll tell you they should be “free agents on this earth,” though $50 – $80 will buy you a Kasun bird, forever captured in paint. For strictly sentimental reasons, I popped for a spunky bluejay – they were everywhere in the cornfields in the state of Iowa where I grew up. So go ahead and admit you are sentimental. Should you have a particular tree, […]
May 1st, 2008 by Vital Archives
