Feb
09
Secret Policeman’s Private Party
Laughing with the Python Crew
David Luhrssen I Hate HollywoodMention The Secret Policeman’s Ball and music usually comes to mind—performances by an array of top performers from the late ‘70s and early ‘80s in a series of fundraisers for Amnesty International. But comedy was always at the heart of the project. The S
Posted at 05:00 PM
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Feb
08
Growing Power’s Will Allen to Meet with Michelle Obama Tomorrow
Lisa Kaiser Daily DoseYeah!
Growing Power’s Will Allen is slated to appear with First Lady Michelle Obama tomorrow as she kicks off her campaign to fight childhood obesity.
Michelle couldn’t have picked a better guy to help her out.
Will’s bee
Posted at 03:50 PM
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Feb
08
Alabama Senator Shelby’s Tantrum Puts a Hold on Nominations—Including Louis Butler’s
Lisa Kaiser Daily DoseHeard about the Republican senator who’s trying to extort the federal government for money?
Sorry. Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby is stamping his feet and holding his breath until he gets some pet projects for his home state.
When Democrats a
Posted at 02:53 PM
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Feb
08
Danny Gokey to Play Record Release Concert at Turner Hall
Also: He used to drive a semi-truck
Evan Rytlewski On MusicMilwaukee's highest achieving "American Idol" contender Danny Gokey will play a record release concert Saturday, March 6 at the Turner Hall Ballroom, the venue announced this morning. Gokey will be inaugurating his major-label debut, My Best Day
Posted at 07:59 AM
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Feb
08
Sex, Drugs and Auditions
Pink Banana Casting For Its Spring Shorts Show
Russ Bickerstaff Curtains
Pink Banana Theatre has been staging shorts programs for a few years now. Its latest offering, Sex, Drugs And The American Way finds its way to the Off-Broadway Theatre’s Studio Theatre this May. The new show features work by a number
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Feb
08
Wisconsin Writer: Sheila Julson
Hailing from southeast Wisconsin
Ken Brosky Fiction AddictSheila Julson, a classmate of mine at Redbird Writing Studio's roundtable group, wanted me to share some of her stories she's written on the blog, and so here it is. See how simple that is, aspiring writers? It's not scary. What's the point of writing sto
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Feb
08
The Song of Sparrows
A Quiet Iranian Masterpiece
David Luhrssen I Hate Hollywood
Iran has become one of the lights of world cinema, the repression of its authoritarian regime notwithstanding. Perhaps, like Russia under the czars or Hollywood under the Production Code, a certain degree of censorship can actually spur creativity when
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Feb
07
The Superbowl XLIV Music and Halftime Thread
The Who show some flesh, while indie bands "sell out"
Evan Rytlewski On MusicThe Super Bowl packs a month's worth of pop culture into a loaded four-hour broadcast, so it's a little bit difficult to keep track of all its big music moments, but here's what jumped out at me the most:
* The Who's halftime show was a disaster, perh
Posted at 09:55 PM
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Feb
07
Four Shows With Three Sisters
Local Companies Stage A Quartet of Shows Prominently Featuring Sister Trios
Russ Bickerstaff Curtains
My wife’s two sisters came over yesterday. The three of them were in the kitchen making cookies as I worked on bits of writing that I was attempting to get done. The three sisters motif was particularly strong this weekend, as my wife and I had als
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Feb
06
Dark Comedy On The Edge Of Milwaukee
Waukesha Civic Theatre’s Stylishly Dark Family Coemdy Worth The Journey
Russ Bickerstaff CurtainsThe trip out to Waukesha is a bit further than I’m used to going for a show. I don’t make it out that far for a show, but as there was nothing else opening this weekend and there were people involved in this production who have done work I&rsq
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Feb
06
Amelia Earhart
Queen of the Air
David Luhrssen I Hate Hollywood
Although Amelia Earhart wasn't the first female aviator, she was the most famous woman pilot from the early years of aviation and the only one generally remembered today. Alas, she is less known as the first woman to fly the Atlantic and Pacific than
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Feb
05
Dems to Paul Ryan: Game On: Let’s Vote on Social Security
Lisa Kaiser Daily Dose
At the same time Republican Rep. Paul Ryan is getting a valentine from the JS editorial board, Democrats in Congress are practically gleeful that the Janesville congressman is pushing his Roadmap for America’s Future 2.0.
Why?
Posted at 03:40 PM
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Feb
05
Yeasayer's Odd Blood is Incredible
Incredible.
Evan Rytlewski On MusicIn December, Stereogum ran an odd mea culpa. Having played up Yeasayer’s sophomore effort Odd Blood as one of 2010’s most anticipated albums, they walked back that endorsement in an early, first-listen review of the record that could barely co
Posted at 01:16 PM
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Feb
05
Gwen Moore to Tony Evers: Punishing Our Children Is No Solution
Lisa Kaiser Daily DoseMilwaukee Congresswoman Gwen Moore, who has consistently been a voice of reason in the MPS takeover debate, just sent off a stern letter to state Superintendent Tony Evers, who has threatened to cut off $175 million in federal funds for MPS’s needie
Posted at 12:29 PM
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Feb
05
State’s Last-Ditch Effort to Punish MPS—And Its Poorest Students
Lisa Kaiser Daily DoseState Superintendent Tony Evers’ warning that he would withhold federal funds from Milwaukee Public Schools—or maybe just threaten to withhold funds from MPS—is a real head-scratcher.
I can only understand it within the politi
Posted at 11:47 AM
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Feb
05
Leonard Bernstein’s Omnibus
David Luhrssen I Hate Hollywood
In his time, Leonard Bernstein was classical music’s biggest star, not for his own compositions but as a conductor who championed overlooked masterpieces and as an educator. He was classical music’s great public advocate.
Alistair Cooke’s 1950s
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Feb
05
Melodrama Out West (On West Wisconsin)
Wisconsin Lutheran College presents The Curse of an Aching Heart
Russ Bickerstaff Curtains
With as many romances opening up this month as there are, it’s kind of odd that more of them aren’t opening up in time for Valentine’s Day. (The subject of a future blog, I’m sure . . .) One of the many shows not opening prior to
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Feb
04
Pavement Will Play Chicago's Pitchfork Music Festival
UPDATED: Modest Mouse, LCD Soundsystem, too
Evan Rytlewski On MusicAs was widely rumored, Pavement will play this year's Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago, Tribune writer Greg Kot confirmed today. The festival is expected to make an announcement tomorrow, the day tickets go on sale for the July 16-18 event. Single-day
Posted at 10:55 AM
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Feb
04
Tips for a Green, “Buy Local” Super Bowl Party
Kathleen Wills Green LifeWant to have a guilt-free Super Bowl party? Try these tips:
Stock up on local beer. We're lucky to live in Milwaukee where there's no shortage on selection.
Take advantage of another local specialty: cheese and dairy. About
Posted at 12:16 PM
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Feb
04
Auditions: Max, Leo & Racine
The Racine Theatre Guild Casting for THE PRODUCERS next month
Russ Bickerstaff Curtains
In addition to its massive success on Broadway and beyond, Mel Brooks’ screwball musical The Producers has had a particularly remarkable amount of local popularity in the past couple of years, having had something like three different productions s
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Feb
03
GOP Senate Candidate Terrence Wall’s Got a Tax Problem
Lisa Kaiser Daily DoseThe news just keeps getting worse for Madison developer Terrence Wall, one of the Republican candidates vying to unseat Sen. Russ Feingold in November.
First came news that the multimillionaire didn’t pay state income taxes in four of the
Posted at 02:40 PM
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Feb
03
Meat Puppets to Play Club Garibaldi
Kid Sister and Own Pallett are coming to town, too
Evan Rytlewski On Music
Though it was somewhat overshadowed by new albums by fellow '80s underground rock luminaries Dinosaur Jr. and Sonic Youth, the Meat Puppets released an excellent late-period album last year, Sewn Together, which in its fusion of psychedelia and relaxed c
Posted at 01:35 PM
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Feb
03
Featured Fiction: "Branded in Gray"
By Dawn Allen
Ken Brosky Fiction AddictThought I'd share a short story by Dawn Allen, whom I just so happen to know and can vouch for. Not sure why I'd ever have to vouch for her, since all you need to do is read her stuff to know she's got talent. This is a short story from A Fly in Amber, an
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Feb
03
Auditions For Bountiful
Acacia Theatre Looking To Cast for 1954 Drama
Russ Bickerstaff Curtains
Acacia Theatre opens its doors to potential actors this month as it holds auditions for an upcoming production of The Trip To Bountiful—Horton Foote’s 1954 drama set in Texas. A woman yearns to return to the town she grew-up in. With the rig
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Feb
03
So You Want to Be President
Stockard Channing Tells Stories
David Luhrssen I Hate HollywoodThe familiar vice of Stockard Channing narrates the primer, “So You Want to be President?” It’s one of several animated shorts on American history for the grade school set, collected on a Scholastic DVD to be released Feb. 9 in time for President’s Day. B
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