New Digs: Political junkies, concerned citizens and get-out-the-vote workers jammed into the just-opened Third Ward offices of Organizing for America (OFA) to gear up for the ongoing fight to change our nation for the better.

Think Local, Buy Local, Live Local: Our Milwaukee, an alliance supporting locally owned firms, pooled resources to hold a daylong fund-raiser for Haiti. Up to 1,000 supporters of the cause poured in to Lakefront Brewery to bid on auction items, drink Lakefront beer and listen to Afro-Cuban jazz by De La Buena and Kings Go Forth’s retro rhythms. Food donors included...

Checking In: The reunion of the long-running Wisconsin Public Radio comedy/variety show “Hotel Milwaukee” filled the Turner Hall Ballroom with some 500 die-hard fans and newfound friends. After an eight-year hiatus, the show featured the original cast, including the Shepherd’s own lovable curmudgeon, Art Kumbalek, Marcie Hoffman, Mike Neville, Bill Clifford, Jeana Stillman...

Centenarian Celebration: The Zoological Society of Milwaukee (ZSM) celebrated its 100th birthday with a big blowout featuring a competition of 16 zoo-themed cakes. Judges included “Foodie-About-Town” Kyle Cherek, Dr. Robert Davis, Zoological Society CEO, MATC culinary instructors Tom LaPierre and Debra Socha, Zoo Director...

Domes Dancing: Vibrant African music echoed throughout the lavishly festive Mitchell Park Conservatory Domes, celebrating Ko-Thi Dance Company’s 40th season. Founder Ferne Caulker lovingly praised director Una Van Duvall as a “mini-hurricane” and thanked the company’s other key players: new...

Belly Up to the Bar: The annual Celebrity Bartender Night at the Newsroom Pub was packed with pols, publicists, publishers, pundits and related communications practitioners who helped the venerable Milwaukee Press Club celebrate its 124th anniversary. Sharon Cook, now with M&I’s nonprofit trust department, staked out a prime...

Best of the Best: More than 1,000 Shepherd Express fans poured into the annual Best of Milwaukee party at the InterContinental Milwaukee for noshing, schmoozing and cheering on this year’s winners. Queues formed to sample an array of food and froth. Chris Johnson poured Lakefront Brewery’s new Local Acre Lager, the first with 100% Wisconsin-grown ingredients since Prohibition...

Power of the Purse: Wine, Women and Purses were in abundance at the Gilda’s Club fund-raiser at Devon Seafood Grill. Guests came to support the club’s mission of providing emotional and so

New Brit in Town: London native Mark Clements, the Milwaukee Repertory Theater’s new artistic director, was wholeheartedly welcomed at a Harley-Davidson Museum celebration. Rep board member/Harl

A Sea of Pink: It was a perfect autumn lakefront day for the 13,000 people—walkers, runners, breast cancer survivors, those in treatment and their family and friends— who came out to suppo

Clothing trendies took to the streets to launch International Fashion Week with a fashionable Fashion’s Night Out. More than 30 boutiques around town participated. Adding a touch of glam at Lela were Bobbi Scherr, studying social work at MATC; Megan Radke of the Wicked Hop...

The chilly lake breeze whistling over Discovery World’s Rotary Amphitheater did not deter die-hard music fans from attending the final Live @ the Lakefront concert series. The evening featured Longacre, playing from its new CD, Transfixed Summer. The show was sponsored by...

Art lovers and nostalgists stopped by the “renovated” Sydney Hih for the grand reopening of “Park East Information Center and Museum,” curated by artist Neil Gasparka, and the IN:SITE Park East Corridor temporary public art project, chaired by Pegi (Taylor) Christiansen. Memories of the one-time hippie...

Musician Paul (Reno Nevada) Jonas’ dream to own a bar has been realized with the opening of his trendy Tonic Tavern on South Kinnickinnic. Redoing a former garage, Jonas was aided by carpenter Bill Backes, Uptown Savages’ drummer, and Elm Grove designer Stephanie Berg. At his hot grand...

A bash to benefit the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation was simply over-the-top spectacular with fire-eating by Erik Bang!!! and Miss Punch, along with magic by Sir Pinkerton Xyloma; plus the Brew City Bombshells’ sea of bustier-clad lovelies. A racy/lacy runway show featuring Shannon...

The Pettit Foundation’s Cecelia Gore and Randy Bryant, the East Side developer and president of the Milwaukee County Historical Society, exchanged wedding vows at Mount Zion Missionary Baptist Church. The ceremony was officiated by the Rev. Louis Sibley III, with...

A Public Enemies Sneak Peek Speakeasy party at the RDI Stages was jammed with Wisconsin’s movers, shakers and friends of film. Clad in Roaring Twenties attire while checking guests’ secret passwords were actress Emily Vitrano and accountant Tim Grove. The snazzy soiree...

A crowd of 400 was treated royally at the $19 million Hyatt Regency renovation celebration. The top-notch event included a ribbon-cutting ceremony followed by an over-the-top reception in the hotel’s Grand Ballroom, room tours and more partying with kt’s Universal Love Band...

The Wherehouse, a 5,000-square-foot, beautifully renovated old cooperage with bars, dance floors and party rooms, and the adjacent Hot Water, are hot. Last week, the first of Scott Robbe’s summer music and party series called “Sound and Vision” was launched with FUNK, spotlighting Chicago’s...

The first “Savor Milwaukee,” a preview of culinary treats and performances from the city’s summer festivals, was hosted by the Greater Milwaukee Hotel- Motel Association. Representing the ethnic fests, area hotels sponsored food stations lining the Pfister ballroom. Among them, the...

TEMPO International`honored women from around the state, bestowing its Leadership Award to the ever-radiant ex-Summerfest chief, Bo Black. Among the relatives cheering her on were son Blake, daughter Kelly, daughter Stephanie with her husband, Jay Anderson, and in-laws Barb and Steve Anderson.

Play Time: Despite a plethora of Friday night entertainment choices, the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre had a huge turnout at its Brooklyn Boys premiere. In his welcome, Artistic Director C. Michael Wright applauded Konrad Kuchenbach for sponsoring the Skylight Bar apres-party. UW-Milwaukee was well...

A paper air-plane-flying competition added a playful element to Flight Box, Present Music’s musical odes to flight and related celestial elements. Before the performance in the Milwaukee Art Museum’s Windover Hall, guests tested their engineering skills by creating paper airplanes, with an eye toward achieving...

The Capital Grille’s lobster mac ’n’cheese, Crawdaddy’s jambalaya and the Mason Street Grill’s polenta and short ribs were among the culinary delights the recent “Taste of Milwaukee” benefit for United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) of Southeastern Wisconsin at the Pfister. Radio personality Dan Kyle hosted.

More than 200 foodies poured into the Milwaukee Public Market to see Rick Bayless, Mexican cuisine guru, Obama’s favorite chef and owner of Chicago’s Frontera Grill and Topolobampo restaurant. The MPTV Friends organized the quickly sold-out event, coordinated by MPTV’s Marina Tanzer and Jill Nickerson, the Public...