VITAL
Episode #1 – The New Media Show
The New Media Show – Welcome to the inaugural episode of the ThirdCoast Digest podcast: A weekly mixture of Milwaukee community and culture. On this weeks episode, ThirdCoast Editor-In-Chief Jon Anne Willow speaks about the switch to internet publishing, and shares all that ThirdCoast Digest has to offer. Also on the program, Ted Bobrow tells us his thoughts on the Brew City as a native New Yorker, and Milwaukee music kingpins Fan-Belt give us the 4-1-1 on the “Milwaukee Sound” Play Here Subscribe with iTunes Featured Music: Christine Hoberg – www.myspace.com/christinehoberg Big Fun 4Ever – www.myspace.com/bigfun4ever Juiceboxxx – www.myspace.com/officialjuiceboxxx —————————————————————————————————– Next Week: Tea Krulos speaks his mind on the downsides of intellectual property, Mark Metcalf sits down with former Milwaukee Shakespeare artistic director Paula Suozzi, and Nick Schurck brings us a very special interview.
Mar 13th, 2009 by ThirdCoast Podcast
Help us rename the Bruisers column
Last month, VITAL Source and ThirdCoast Digest were threatened with a cease and desist order by another derby league in the region, alleging that the title of our popular derby column Talk Derby to Me, by Tea Krulos (with a fabulous vodcast of the same name by Noah Therrien), was protected under U.S. Trademark. It’s a dark day for Milwaukee derby lovers, but have no fear: we will continue to publish the bout recaps, skater interviews and season recaps you’ve come to love and post great footage, live from the track, after every game. Today, we ask you today to help us select the new title of TD2M: 2.0. If you don’t like any of these, we’re savvy; just shoot us an email and let us know if you’ve got a better idea. We’ll add it to the poll. Voting closes on April 10 and the new title will be unveiled at the April 18 Bruisers bout at the Franklin County Sports Complex. You can buy your tickets now at brewcitybruisers.com! Thanks for your help! [poll ID: “2”]
Mar 12th, 2009 by Amy Elliott
The New Mar-Ho?
Floor Two in the Marshall Building is getting crowded! Step of the elevator and directly in front of your face is Catherine Davidson’s gallery, and around the corner from that is Gallery 218. Down the hall and to the right is a space Stella hears is going to be the new gallery space for the Wisconsin Visual Artists organization (formerly Wisconsin Painters & Sculptors), the oldest non-profit in the state dedicated to visual artists based in this state. We’re wondering if this place will represent only artists in the southeast chapter, or will it house the works of WVA’s other chapters? Rumors are rumors. We’re just asking. Whatever, a furtive look into the area reveals a large area set behind double glass doors. When we visited in early March, the concrete floor was newly stained and two royal blue chairs were in place. It’s said it will be open for the coming Gallery Night & Day. So Mar-Ho allegedly is the place to be, at least from the standpoint of having a wealth of grazing possibilities. Floor five is alive with the Portrait Gallery and their additional new space directly across the hall, and floor one is home to Grava Gallery and the adjacent Elaine Erickson Gallery, whose owner chirped “the more the merrier.” Of course, it’s only merry if dealers are actually selling art, and what they sell (quality anyone?) should be the primary concern of anyone and everyone seeking something other than the banal. The aforementioned Catherine Davidson also has an office on floor five, with walls painted a great shade of “eggplant” that will do for my purposes. The front entry to the Marshall Building could use a face-lift, as could the lobby which is awash with sandwich boards hyping what’s where. As is, it’s like stepping into a rummage-0-rama. This can be fixed however. Lurking behind various other doors in Mar-Ho are attorneys, masseuse types, party planners, a female detective, the Shepherd Express, and who knows what? Should you desire, Jings serves great Chinese eats, and a reasonably priced cup of joe is available (with cigarettes!) in the wee space on the first floor. Everyone is harping about the big increase in Third Ward parking meter fees, which seems like a duh! move in these problematical times, but then again, perhaps the powers that be figure that anyone shopping in the Third Ward has plenty of change to spare and they are happy to take it.
Mar 12th, 2009 by Stella Cretek
Meanwhile … at the Alchemist …
When improv group Meanwhile started last November, it was a simple way for six local comedians to do what they love best: make people laugh with original, unrehearsed material. But before long, the group was selling out Bayview’s Alchemist Theater twice a month. ThirdCoast Digest sat down with Vince Figueroa, Beth Lewinski and Lee Rowley, three of Meanwhile’s six members, for a brief chat and a cup of coffee that turned out to be a bit too trying for one comedian. TCD: How would you describe Meanwhile to someone who has never seen the show before? Lee Rowley: I would describe it as an improv show that tends to be funny and is in a longer format than something like Comedy Sportz. Beth Lewinski: There are six of us. We generally have a guest host who does a monologue, and then we do improv based off of those monologues. We usually have a more open second half, but we could change the format at any time. Lee: … And Vince is in it. Vince Figueroa: … Yeah. I Show up and don’t contribute. TCD: Who are some of the guest hosts you guys have had? Lee: On Friday we had the wonderful Bo Johnson who was one of the founding members of the Dead Alewives, another sketch and improv group from the early ‘90s. I feel like they are probably the most famous group of improvisers to come out of Milwaukee Vince: Not too long ago we had Dave Bogan, who’s a pretty big deal over at Comedy Sportz and is also responsible for teaching us improv. Beth: Yeah, for most of us he was our first teacher in improv, so that was cool. Then we had Kevin Gerrity. He’s a high school student who does short and long-form improv around the area. That was really cool, to get a high school perspective on stuff Lee: In two weeks we have Stephanie Graham, who is a producer at TMJ4. She actually won an Emmy. Vince: So this is going to be beneath her. TCD: What role does crowd participation play in a Meanwhile performance? Beth: There is crowd participation, but we don’t have audience volunteers. We have the person who is doing the monologue. We try to get people who have different backgrounds, and then the subject matter we get varies from show to show. The host bases their monologue off of questions from the audience. Vince: That style of game is called an Armando Diaz, after the guy who made it. Lee: We try to get relatively deep questions. Our first show we had someone from the audience ask “boxers or briefs?” Other than that we’ve had some really good questions. Beth: On Friday it was “Why did you get into comedy?” and “What is your favorite thing about comedy?” Lee: We try to get deeper questions, because the more realistic the monologue is, the better we do. Vince: It’s a great dynamic for the audience too, because they […]
Mar 12th, 2009 by Nick Schurk
Stonewalled
John Riepenhoff of Green Gallery fame, kindly send me a folder of jpeg images for a proposal he and his collaborators submitted for the Lincoln Park space. Here is an exact quote from Mr. Riepenhoff: “Attached is our proposal, they didn’t ask for budget and had limited space for description and slides on the first round of submissions, but they were supposed to invite several artists back to give a proposal talk that Soga gave so the committee could decide from the more in depth interview process who they like best, but somehow Soga was the only one the subcommittee allowed to speak.” If you’ve been following the controversy (led my Pegi Taylor of In Site), Ripenhoff’s contribution is one more piece of the puzzle. In the above quote, he says “but somehow,” and now you may ask, “but how some (Soga) and not others?”
Mar 12th, 2009 by Stella Cretek
An Artist’s Statement (How to Write One)
I was just a little kid when I picked up my first ever crayola and made a mark on paper. Oh, it was exciting to realize I too could be an artist. In kindergarten I won an award for the best drawing of a single line. My family was very poor and so we had only one crayon (a red one!). I’ve been using one color (red) ever since those days. I owe it all to my mother who used one red crayon. My grandma was a big help. Her hair was red. She was a huge influence, though it left a wide scar on my psyche when she died the day before her roots were retouched. It’s moments like that that shape artists and set them on their way. I’m often asked what my paintings “mean.” I dunno. Art is in the eye of the beholder isn’t it? Leastwise, that’s what I hear. People who demand to understand art are off-track, which maybe is why I bombed out during my art education years. My professor told me that I must move on from making a single red line. That seemed unfair and, in many ways, elitist. Stardom isn’t important to me, though sometimes I do feel a bit of envy when I notice art that is made with, say, two lines in green; but then again, we all have our special talents, and one line in red is mine. God works in strange ways. Did I mention that in third grade I won a prize for filling the most sheets of expensive paper with my single red line? The teacher hung it in the room as an example of flat-line thinking. My advice to aspiring artists? Oh dear, well, I guess I’d say stick to your guns and don’t be swayed by choices now that you (perhaps) have an entire box of dazzling Crayolas. After all, it’s up to viewers to decide what my single red line means. It could be a deer peeking out from a forest, or maybe a sunset in the Rockies. Next year I’ve been invited to exhibit my one million drawings, which actually are Xeroxed copies of the piece I did in kindergarten so many years ago. Other artists have begun to steal my ideas, and I say More Power To Them. That said, I like to think I am the one and only original which is why I sign my name (Hortense “Honey” Swartzburger) in big black marker across the front of each piece. Snobs tell me that no respected artist scrawls her names on the front of her work, but that’s their problem. My work is in various collections throughout the globe: SockitTumi Shoe Laces in Hiroshima, Bees & Babes Poster Shoppe in Hackensack (New Jersey), and even in the permanent collection at MOMA (Museum of Maligned Art) in Swampyville, Georgia. Each and every day is spent Xeroxing my mark. It’s a lonely life but I’m not complaining. It’s what I do.
Mar 11th, 2009 by Stella Cretek
In the Dick of Time
This whole media flap about the ‘Tosa mom who objects to (among other things) MAM’s “Standing Woman” sculpture, weighs in too heavily on the side of tits and ass, i.e. the bodacious breasts and the lusty bottom on the woman standing tall. Odd isn’t it, that no mention has been made of the penises, of which there are a few standing proud in the Folk Art Collection at MAM. I guess you could call them “woodies” as they actually are to be found in carvings from wood. Take your time trying to spot them. Picking on Standing Woman is out and out sexist. Give the dame a break. The outcry from the uber-right reminds me of an incident that occurred when former Milwaukee artist, Carrie Scoczek, had the nerve to display some sculptures of male nudes in a storefront in Walkers Point. Shortly after they were installed, she strolled by the store/gallery and noticed each penis had been covered with band-aids, a twist on the old fig leaf thing. The gallery owner said he covered them because they were offensive. Have we lost our collective memories? I remember when performance artist Karen Findley stripped to the buff at a Walker’s Point gallery, much to the delight of the crowd. I think she then busied herself by slathering on syrup and feathers. Maybe I’m imagining this, but I’m almost sure that in MAM’s heady performance art days, a guy buck naked hung by his ankles in the east wing. And then there was actor John Schneider in the altogether at a Theater-X performance….
Mar 10th, 2009 by Stella Cretek
The State of the City
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett scored points by choosing the new Harley-Davidson museum as the setting for his State of the City address last month. The terrific new building, on the edge of the Menomonee Valley, served as an ideal backdrop for Barrett’s speech. Barrett is understandably proud of the progress made in redeveloping the valley. For years, this industrial corridor has been a festering sore symbolic of the economic and environmental damage left by Milwaukee’s manufacturing past.
Mar 9th, 2009 by Ted Bobrow
Review and results from WMSE’s 2009 Rockabilly Chili Contest
Neither rain nor sleet nor snow – all three of which came down Sunday afternoon in Milwaukee – could deter droves of hungry people from this year’s premier showcase of some of the city’s best commercial chili recipes while listening to rocking hillbilly tunes. Over 35 area restaurants brought 10 to 15 gallons (or more) each of their original spicy creations to the Milwaukee School of Engineering’s Kern Center in hopes of bragging rights to title of “Best”. After running out of space at the Harbor Lights Room in 2007, the popular event was moved to the university grounds which is home to the host radio station. Organizers are now eyeballing the Field House upstairs for next year, which is big enough to host a regulation soccer game let alone a crowded chili contest. Concerns were even addressed as to the not-so-green nature of the event, which went through many barrels of 2 oz. sample cups, beer cups, and spoons – plus a ton of soda cans. MSOE has recycling containers at the event, but they were not self-evident. WMSE’s General Manager Tom Crawford says that each year the communication improves between organizers and the school on how they can make these things better and these issues were well known. As for the food, everyone brought their ‘A’ game to the contest – even the very few that seemed to show up just for the premium advertising. Many of the chefs expanded or focused previous entries by trying exotic spices or meat varieties. Others remained true to the formulas served currently at the eateries in which they worked. On a special note, it was a bit sad to see two of last year’s winners not around to defend their titles in the Champion’s Corner; both Annona Bistro (2008 Best Veggie Chili) and Great Northern BBQ Company (2008 Best Display) fell prey to economic times and have closed in the last eight months. Still, the representation remains strong from some of Milwaukee’s best restaurants, cafes, delis, and catering. Without further ado, here are the 2009 winners and runner-ups in four categories as decided through ballots turned in by public voters at the event: BEST DISPLAY Winner: McBob’s Bar and Grill Runner-Up: Brewed Café In an example of simple but elegant over epic, McBob’s display of designed welding helmets won out over Brewed’s Ed Roth-inspired racing display for a consecutive runner-up decision in two years. BEST HEAT Winner: Koppa’s Fulbeli Deli Runner-Up: Bremen Café In defense of their 2008 crown for the hottest chili, multiple award-winner Sarah Cordus of Koppa’s brought both a great meat and veggie chili. But it was no match for Bremen’s freshman entry, which boasted Naga Jolokia ghost peppers among 17 ingredients meant to scorch the mouth. Just the right amount was used to prevent real pain, but even two ounces had tasters reaching for beverages immediately. BEST VEGGIE CHILI Winner: Riverwest Co-op Runner-Up: Fuel Café Fuel Café has a beautiful standard red that’s served at the Riverwest hovel, but […]
Mar 8th, 2009 by Brian Jacobson
It’s your world, explore away.
As most people reading this know, we at Vital Media group were, until very recently, the publishers of VITAL Source Magazine. For seven years VITAL lived in print, found monthly on stands around the Milwaukee metro. Focusing mostly on arts and culture with some coverage of community initiatives and issues, VITAL was a great little mag that entertained about 30,000 people once every 30 days. There were addictive regular columns like SubVersions and REEL Milwaukee, locally authored comics and a puzzle page. We hosted some of the city’s most fun parties. But guess what? For all that we did right (and all that could have been done much better) it didn’t matter in the end. When the economic apocalypse hit last year, we knew by late December that it made no sense to hang on to our beloved, arcane publishing model. So we pulled the plug on the printed magazine, which garnered more attention in death than it ever had in life. Go figure. What transpired in the days that followed can best be called “a long story.” We’d had our new website in development for six months, but even though we were planning all sorts of new experiential features, it was still slated to be the turbo version of the traditional VITAL Source product. In hindsight, this would have garnered a resounding yawn from you and made us just another local website vying for ad dollars and reader eyes. And none of us needed seven more years of that. So, in a feat that I will go ahead and term derring-do, we sat down with a metaphorical clean sheet of paper and re-imagined ourselves from the ground up. We wanted to remain committed to our local audience, but from a broader horizon of interests and concerns. Of course, that’s just fancy marketing talk for wanting to offer more things of more compelling interest to more readers and include the ideas of more smart and interesting people. It’s not a revolutionary idea, by any means, but rather the Holy Grail for online publishers, an elusive recipe for the very elixir of life. On a broad scale, Slate and Salon do it right for newsies, as does Technorati for tech-types. These three sites (and others) author a great deal of their own content, but also pull in carefully selected feeds and stories from outside sources compatible with their audience’s interests. The result is a rodeo of voices, a veritable cornucopia of really good reading for folks with a certain set of interests. It’s kind of like the old portal idea from way back at the turn of the 21st century, but amped up with live feeds, sharing tools, social networking opps, video, podcasts and other stuff our (slightly) older siblings only dreamed about. We believe this model can fill a real need at the local level, at a time when worlds are colliding. On one side, most daily newspapers have moved too slowly to embrace the very real opportunities for high quality, […]
Mar 8th, 2009 by Jon Anne Willow
Sound Bites
Welcome to the new Sound Bites, a ThirdCoast Digest/VITAL blog about excellent eating and great values here on the Third Coast. As in my previous columns for Vital Source Magazine, “Chow, Baby!” and “Eat This,” these will be informative blogs about local troughing, from the humblest hot dog to the most luxurious fois gras. We’ll hear from outstanding home cooks to some of the best chefs in the nation who are cooking here in Milwaukee. Here, you’ll find (hopefully) interesting tips and entertaining stories on: Sound eating Sound nutrition Sound recipes Sound kitchen tools and equipment Sound restaurants Sound values Sound tips on great values Sound chefs Sound inside track on local culinary trends Sound consumer opinions on eating in Milwaukee First Sound Tip: Get a free Marcus Rewards Card for discounts and freebies at Marcus Hotels & Resorts. Stop in at any of the following destinations to get your free card or sign up online at www.MarcusRewards.com. I’ve used the card and it’s great. It got me an invitation to a terrific free cheese, lamb chop and wine tasting at the Milwaukee Chop House. The weather outside was frightful, but inside it was delightful with great food and wine and a full house to downtown notables. Milwaukee Marcus Restaurants: Kil@wat Restaurant, 139 E. Kilbourn Ave Mason Street Grill, 425 E. Mason St Milwaukee ChopHouse, 509 W. Wisconsin Ave Miller Time Pub, 509 W. Wisconsin Ave CLEAR, 139 E. Kilbourn Ave Café at the Pfister, 424 E. Wisconsin Ave The Café at the Hilton, 509 W. Wisconsin Ave The Rouge, Sunday brunch, 424 E. Wisconsin Ave Starbucks at the Hilton, 509 W. Wisconsin Ave Marcus Entertainment & Nightlife spots: Blu Lounge at The Pfister, 424 E. Wisconsin Ave Lobby Lounge at The Pfister, 424 E. Wisconsin Ave zenden at InterContinental Milwaukee, 139 E. Kilbourn Ave Upon enrollment, you get 200 bonus points. Additional points are added any time you frequent any of the above locations. Get double points on Sundays from 4 to midnight at locations open during those hours. These points will get you discounts at all of these venues. Also enjoy free member events such as: NCAA tournament Kick-off, Miller Time Pub Mar 19, 5:30-7:30pm. Show off your b-ball skills and win prizes, or just come to watch. The New Blu – Blu at the Pfitser May 7, 5:30-7:00pm. Blu Martinis and a sampling of Executive Chef Weber’s culinary creations,while enjoying the atmosphere and view from the 23rd floor of the Pfister in the newly renovated lounge.
Mar 2nd, 2009 by Cate Miller
A new collaborative
The space at 2241 South Kinnickinnic Avenue that once housed Broad Vocabulary, Milwaukee’s first and only feminist bookstore, sits barren. The signature cornflower blue exterior stands out among other shops and restaurants, but inside, all that remains are stark walls and empty shelves … for now. Around Milwaukee, in conference rooms and libraries, in bars and coffee shops, a resurrection is in the works. Enter A Broader Vocabulary Co-operative, a crew of … um, broads, bound and determined to get the shop back on its feet after former owners Tina Owen and Jennifer Morales were forced to close the struggling bookstore last fall. The café we’re at is nearly full, and the air feels electric. Every table is a hotbed of excited conversation, surrounded by people with notebooks and agendas. We settle in just as someone in the back cranks up the stereo so that Booker T. and the M.G.’s “Green Onions” can be heard over the bustle, giving momentum to the buzz around us. Once the announcement was made that Broad Vocabulary would close, friends and lovers of Broad immediately came together to try and save this vestige of the Bay View landscape. “We [couldn’t] just stand by and let this happen,” says Hannah Wallisch, a former volunteer and board member for the new co-op. Wallisch, along with other board members Annie Weidert, Stephanie Schneider, Patty Donndelinger, Janine Arseneau and Barbara Chudnow didn’t know each other from Adam (or in this case, Eve) when they decided to take on this formidable task. And so the wheels began to turn. In November 2008, after months of research and a stack of paperwork, A Broader Vocabulary Co-operative was formed. Wallisch says that the immense outpouring of support from the community and from other successful co-ops has been an inspiration. “It’s a good kick in the pants,” she says. “ You realize that anybody can do this…you just have to work hard and educate yourself.” The decision to go co-op seemed a likely progression, allowing the responsibilities of the shop to be shared among people who can pool their time and resources to meet the needs of running a small business. The ladies looked to other Milwaukee businesses that have flourished with a co-operative structure, like the Riverwest Co-op and People’s Books for guidance. By the time Broad Vocabulary closed its doors on November 30th, the co-op had few resources and even less money – at least not enough to re-open immediately. The plan was in motion, but not quite ready to take flight. They decided to hold a fundraiser on the store’s last business day to build momentum for the project, and to give a face to the co-op. “The Phoenix Rising fundraiser spread the awareness that something was in the works even though the store wouldn’t remain open,” says Stephanie Schneider, who also works as a teacher in Milwaukee. The fundraiser was a huge success, allowing ABVC to raise enough money to make an offer on the store’s inventory – […]
Mar 2nd, 2009 by Erin Petersen
