Bad Movies In Bay View

Vote! Speak Out! Stand Up!

Then I looked up

Yesterday I had an anti-epiphany. At least I think that’s what it was; I’ve never had one before and I’m not sure about the correct term for what I experienced. Epiphanies are big realizations or sudden flashes of inspiration. What I experienced was more like suddenly remembering something obvious I used to know and shouldn’t have forgotten. I was driving to pick up my sister and then my oldest daughter to do a little shopping for my wedding in June. I was thinking about table decorations and desserts and dresses and what we would do for dinner later when it occurred to me that it’s been awhile since I’d driven down the street thinking about shopping and dinner – and nothing else. It felt great. Normal. To celebrate, I turned the radio from NPR to a Top 40 station and started singing. Loudly. Now I imagine everyone goes through similar periods in their lives. One minute you’re routinely thinking about Saturday night or what color you’d like to paint your kitchen; the next it’s all very serious. Money. Health. Family crises. Career. Relationships. Sometimes everything at once. And before you know it, a year has passed – or maybe two – since you cared about your garden or what’s happening in your neighborhood, let alone the world. At 41, this certainly isn’t the first time I’ve been absorbed by matters of personal gravity, but what I didn’t take note of in the past is the actual process of returning to normalcy after heavy times. Then again, maybe I didn’t used to need a formal process. Probably I’m less resilient now in some ways than when I was younger, and therefore more conscious of what I’d like to avoid re-experiencing in the future. Remember how there was a time when you could fall in love easily, then have your heart broken and almost immediately do it all over again with equal abandon? Yikes. I’m madly in love with my fiancé, but getting to know each other contained elements of a job interview that I would once have found deeply disturbing. While chemistry was definitely a factor, neither of us dropped the reins until we were solid with each other’s personal resumes – from work ethic to parenting style. It was a first for both of us, and awkward in a few spots, but in the end we’re definitely better together for knowing and accepting each other up front. There are lots of things you can’t control – like, for example, who you meet – but you can control how much you engage with that person. It’s a model that can be extended across many parts of one’s life, and to good purpose. (I’m sorry if you already know this, but since this is my column I can only write from personal experience. Thanks for your patience as I work to catch up.) Which comes back around to coming back around. It’s so easy to lose yourself when life becomes intense, but […]

The Clintons and the Dallas Cowboys

While most of the universe has already reached the conclusion that Barack Obama will ultimately receive this year’s Democratic nomination for president, there are a few voices reminding us that it ain’t over until it’s over. Among them is Dan Schnur, a Republican consultant originally from Wisconsin, who presents his argument in terms all fans of the Green Bay Packers can relate to. He compares the Clintons to the dreaded Dallas Cowboys who could never be counted out while there was still time left on the clock. I also recall inspired come-from-behind victories by the Cowboys though mostly from an earlier era. Back in the ‘70s, I was often amazed by the Cowboys of Tom Landry and Roger Staubach who routinely scored two or three touchdowns in the closing minutes of key games. More recently, the Jimmy Johnson-Troy Aikman teams committed similar atrocities at the expense of the “green and gold.” Schnur draws a parallel between Dallas’s mojo and the times that the Clinton clan came back from certain death, during the 1992 New Hampshire primary, following the health care reform debacle (aka Hillarygate), the Republican takeover of Congress in 1994 and the Lewinsky scandal of the late 1990s. For the most part, I don’t buy it. For Hillary Clinton to overcome Obama’s lead in delegates, she would not only have to win the remaining primaries in delegate-rich states of Ohio, Texas and Pennsylvania but by extremely large margins. But it certainly is entertaining to imagine some Republicans shuddering at the thought of facing the Clinton machine. Surely, Newt Gingrich, Bob Dole and George H. W. Bush wish they had a wooden stake they could bury in the heart of this family. It is true that in politics, as in sports, momentum can shift in a New York minute. So make sure you don’t get a sandwich or take a bathroom break until either Obama or Clinton have nailed down the nomination. You don’t want to miss this finish.

Mr. Tomatoface

Oh, yeah. Every Tuesday. Come ON! What was I THINKING?! I can’t play this game. It’s Thursday night. Tomorrow is Friday. Fail, fail, fail. Jesus, what happened to this week? I had every expectation that this was going to be one of those breezy, pretty weeks, that I’d just sleep a lot and stroll into the office whenever I felt like it and spend a lot of time at my desk poking at various flabby spots on the internet and then go home early and drink juice and take a nap. It did NOT happen like that. This week opened up like a big ol’ jaw and swallowed me whole. On Tuesday (remember Tuesday, when I was supposed to be blogging? Preferably whilst drinking juice?) I stopped in at the 88.9 RadioMilwaukee anniversary fête at Palms Bistro. I met the fine gentlemen of Great Lakes Distillery — at the wizened age of 1, now Wisconsin’s oldest distillery, our first since prohibition — and sampled their very nice gin, which is made with sweet basil and Wisconsin ginseng, two botanicals that have never been found in gin — before now. It was delicious — sweet and spicy — and I am not just saying that in hopes that they will write in and say, “oh hey Amy, we love your blog and we know you’re a lush; here’s a bottle of gin for you.” But some friends & former coworkers (including my esteemed colleague Mr. John Eding) thought it might be nice to catch up over some more banal libations, so we skipped over to Landmark Lanes, everyone’s favorite palace of trash, for $2 beer night. (Yes, friends who are not from Milwaukee and do not understand, you are correct in interpreting that special to mean $2 for a pint of any beer at all.) Before I knew it, it was bedtime. On Wednesday, when I should have been blogging my apologies for missing my self-imposed Tuesday blog parade (Matt Wild, am I driving you crazy!?), I was at the ever-grand Turner Hall Ballroom, PBR Tall Boy in hand, working the sponsorship table for the Sia show, wondering why no one was dancing to opening phenom Har Mar Superstar, who you just have to see to believe. I didn’t really know what to expect from the night at all. Sia seemed nice enough, a cute Australian with a pretty voice and credentials — former singer for Zero 7, spots on the soundtracks for Garden State and Six Feet Under — that had me looking forward to sort of ambient, possibly production-heavy, likely sort of humdrum pop finery. All I knew about Har Mar was that he is frequently booed offstage, and that it was possible he would show up in a cape and a g-string. But he was great, exactly the kind of kitsch that I fall for — a genuinely incredible, Prince-esque R&B voice, a tight back-up band (with a bass player in a Storm Trooper costume), lots of dancing […]

sadly, not actually the same thing

THIS SUNDAY! The Black Lips w/Quintron and Miss Pussycat @ TURNER HALL!

We are sponsoring this sure-to-be-spectacular show at beautiful TURNER HALL this Sunday, March 2. Visit us at the VITAL table and sign up for ticket giveaways, grab a copy of the new March issue, get some VITAL crayons or a limited edition VITAL 5th Birthday tote bag, or just say hi! Or dance with us! We are champions on the dance floor. We hope you come say hi!

The Kitchen Sink Strategy

It’s about time that I set the record straight. Despite my vast experience and Mensa-worthy intelligence, the public seems enthralled by the soaring rhetoric and surface appeal of my rival bloggers. Since being raised modestly by working class parents, I have devoted my life to poking fun at the foibles and hypocrisies of the worlds of politics and government. Who can deny that I am best prepared for a career as an online political humorist? I attended the same high school as Art Buchwald and the same college as Dave Barry! My career in journalism and media relations has given me unparalleled insight into the compromises and petty struggles that are endemic malignancies on the authority figures and institutions of power of our time. Now that I am toiling away day and night to share my insights with the masses surely the world will recognize that I am entitled to my rightful place as blogger extraordinaire despite its apparent attraction to the pretty words of my clearly less deserving competition. So after careful consultation with my coterie of respected advisors, I have decided to launch my “kitchen sink” strategy to point out the flaws of these pretenders who dare challenge my blogger preeminence. Before I start, let me state clearly and unequivocally that I have the utmost respect for all of my peers in the blogosphere. They are all extremely accomplished and, if I wasn’t in this race, I would passionately and energetically support whichever one of them wins the endorsement of the public. But you would have to be deaf, dumb and blind (not that there’s anything wrong with that!) not to recognize that I am the most qualified and therefore undeniably entitled to ascend to the throne of top blogger. For starters, let’s take a look at my distinguished colleague from Madison, Ed Garvey. I welcome Ed’s contribution to the public discourse; his liberal credentials and institutional memory are assets that we all should treasure. But surely I am not the only one to notice that Ed spent years working for one of those unions representing athletes. With all the controversy surrounding sports these days, is it really much of a stretch to imagine Ed sticking a syringe into the butt of Roger Clemens? Think about it? I hereby declare that I have never injected an athlete with performance enhancing chemicals. Et tu, Ed? Next, I call your attention to Bill Christofferson, a smart and talented former journalist and political operative who I have the utmost admiration for. Nobody gets under the skin of Wisconsin’s conservatives more than Bill. They blame him for every tactic undertaken by the state’s Democrats and assorted progressives ranging from creating 527 groups to masterminding Jim Doyle’s election as governor. But isn’t it time that we reject the politics of the past? Certainly nobody has ever compared me to Rasputin and I doubt Charlie Sykes or Mark Belling even know my name! Then there’s James Rowen, another worthy blogger whose contributions on politics […]

88.9 RadioMilwaukee announces winners of Milwaukee Music Awards

Local music artists Element with J. Todd and Paul Cebar won top honors Tuesday in 88Nine RadioMilwaukee’s first annual Milwaukee Music Awards, which recognize the best of Milwaukee-area music in 18 different categories. The song “Bombs Away,” by hip-hop artists Element and J. Todd, was named Song of the Year in the awards’ urban category, and R&B/world music bandleader Paul Cebar’s song “Her New Church” won Song of the Year in the pop/rock category. Other top awards included Element’s Life is a Heist as Album of the Year (Urban) and Fever Marlene’s Civil War as Album of the Year (Pop/Rock). The station honored Adi Mack (of the band Growing Nation) as Vocalist of the Year (Urban) and Scott Starr (of Fever Marlene) as Vocalist of the Year (Pop/Rock). RadioMilwaukee announced the Milwaukee Music Awards winners on the first anniversary of the station’s new format. The station launched the new format on February 26, 2007. The seasoned music staff of RadioMilwaukee, which has been featuring local artists heavily since the new format began, chose most of the winners. More than 1,000 area music fans also selected Listener Choice Awards winners in several categories by voting online. Winners of the Milwaukee Music Awards are as listed below: Song of the Year (Urban) – “Bombs Away,” Element with J Todd Song of the Year (Pop/Rock) “Her New Church,” Paul Cebar Album of the Year (Urban) – Life is a Heist, Element Album of the Year (Pop/Rock) – Civil War, Fever Marlene Vocalist of the Year (Urban) – Adi Mack (of Growing Nation) Vocalist of the Year (Pop/Rock) – Scott Starr (of Fever Marlene) Best New Artist – Leo Minor 414 Music Award (in-studio performance of the year) – Ali Lubbad & The Desert Sound Ensemble TNT Award (artist most likely to blow up nationally) – Northern Room Kick-Ass Guitar Riff of the Year – “Can U Dig It?” Certain Stars Earwig Award (catchiest single song of the year) – “Losin’ My Mind,” ShutDemDown Productions Album Cover of the Year – Dance Casador! The Championship Best Band Name – Dark Horse Project Winners of the Listener Choice Awards: Artist of the Year (Pop/Rock) – Northern Room Artist of the Year (Urban) – Element Live Performer of the Year (Urban) – De La Buena Live Performer of the Year (Pop/Rock) – Northern Room Club DJ of the Year – Old Man Malcolm Listeners are invited to the station’s anniversary party from 8 p.m. to close on Saturday, March 8 at Moct, 240 E. Pittsburgh Ave. Four local DJs will spin records, and station disc jockeys will attend. Admission is $10, with all proceeds going to RadioMilwaukee. VITAL congratulates 88.9 RadioMilwaukee on a great first year!

Weekend Music Report #2 – The Chain

Hillary’s bipolar campaign

So which is it? Is Hillary Clinton choosing to go negative against Barack Obama, as in attacking him for “plagiarizing” the words of his friend and campaign co-chair, Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts? Or is she taking the high road and praising her opponent as she did when she said how “proud” she is to be in the race with Obama? Clinton’s vitriolic attack on Obama yesterday for distributing fliers that dared to criticize her positions on health care and trade (“Shame on you, Barack Obama”), comparing his tactics to “Karl Rove and the Republicans,” suggests that she is willing to go nuclear in a desperate effort to salvage her campaign with victories in Texas and Ohio next week. It makes you long for the good old days, like last November and December, when she withstood barbs from her male opponents with class and humor, leaving it to her husband and other surrogates to call attention to how the guys were ganging up on the one woman in the race. Sen. Clinton’s mood swings create the appearance of a campaign off its medication. You would think after her “Xerox” line drew boos and her graceful “I’m so proud” comment generated her most enthusiastic response at last week’s debate in Texas, she would have learned a lesson. It’s certainly not unusual for people with political ambitions to lose touch with reality. By most accounts, Richard Nixon was one whacked-out dude. And then there was Ross Perot, who said there was some kind of conspiracy to interfere with his daughter’s wedding towards the end of his third party candidacy. Funny how we haven’t heard much from him since! Those close to Hillary always stress what a normal and decent person she is, remembering their birthdays and asking about their families. How sad to see her morph into the Captain Queeg of 2008. Saturday Night Live’s opening skit poked fun at Clinton’s increasingly bizarre rationalization of her string of losses. But the writing is on the wall. Even her husband has said that wins in Texas and Ohio were absolutely necessary for Clinton to continue. Let’s open our hearts to Hillary. May she find comfort in her strong family and close friends, when it comes time to step aside and endorse Obama for the good of her party and nation. At some point, however, it may be necessary for a good old fashioned intervention. I hear Dr. Phil is good at this sort of thing.

Political thoughts through the fog of a hangover