Paint The Town

Boulevard Ensemble

Wednesday night I joined the dozen or so audience members brave enough to venture out in the 17° weather to see the Boulevard Ensemble’s production of Richard Dresser’s comedy, “Rounding Third.”  Now you may (or may not) be saying to yourself, “Doesn’t sound very festive for the holiday season.”  Exactly.  I think it was a brilliant choice – to provide us with a couple hours of non-Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa-related entertainment that evoked memories of warmer days.  Aah.  It was a relief to sit back and watch the two-man show and its exploration of, to be honest, anything but Little League baseball.  The play seems to focus more on the parents, which I feel is quite fitting for the youth sports world in general.  Actors Thomas Rosenthal and Jason Powell performed their parts so convincingly, it seemed as if they were playing themselves.  In fact, I  enjoyed the show enough to call the Boulevard’s Business Manager, Chris Ward, the very next day to order a pair of tickets for my father and his wife.  You should really try to make it down to Bay View to catch this show.  I think its themes are universal enough to reach a fairly wide audience - and did I mention there’s a killer Macarena performance included as well?   

Holiday Catch-Up

It’s either feast or famine in this town.  Last week Saturday, for example, there were so many things going on – there was no way you could possibly choose or even attempt to hit them all.  The Violent Femmes were playing at the Brat Stop in Kenosha (huh!),  my fave Minnesota trans-gender glam rock band All the Pretty Horses were playing at Club Anything (807 S. 5th St.), The Benjamins Reunion Show was over at the Mad Planet (533 E. Center St.), the Uptowner (1032 E. Center St.) was hosting the annual Leo Feldman X Holiday show, featuring Master Zaster Blaster (my friends Johnie Shimon and Julie Lindemann were taking Polaroids of people sitting on Bob “Santa” Watts’ lap - eew!), cow-punk band Chop Top Toronados were playing at Linneman’s Riverwest Inn 1001 E. Locust St.), and psychedelic band Plasticland were playing over at Shank Hall (1434 N. Farwell Ave).  Whew!   

So after I decided not to be too ambitious and get stranded somewhere in Riverwest with my somewhat unreliable car, Ed and his friend James picked me up and we stopped at their friend’s graduation party at an athletic club in South Milwaukee.  Can’t say I’ve been in those parts for a while, and after about five minutes, I quickly remembered why.  After staying for a suitable period of time (and Jaegermeister shots), we headed over to Shank to catch the end of the Plasticland show.  It was somewhat painful to see such a small crowd, even though the light show was phenomenal.  So we sat through the rest of their fairly mediocre set and called it a night.  Can’t say Plasticland will be at the top of my list the next time I am racking my brain for things to do on a Saturday night.

Sunday night I wanted to stop at Linneman’s to see the Riverwest Accordion Club’s holiday party, but by the time I made it over they were packing up their gear.  Well, that’s okay – they’re playing tomorrow night at the Art Bar (722 E. Burleigh St.), so I’ll see if I can make it over there, barring any holiday disasters or catastrophes.   

The Nutcracker

My wonderful friend Marney just left after doing the majority of painting in my now-killer-looking bathroom and bedroom and I am bushed - to say the least.  Whew. 

Anyway, enough about me, let’s talk about . . . The Milwaukee Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker! (Have I mentioned that the “S” in my name also stands for Scrooge – i.e. not a huge holiday fan, which is an understatement, so after a full workday/week, I was not chafing at the bit to join the teeming masses of Nutcracker junkies jamming themselves into the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts.)  But once my niece Hannah figured out what we were seeing, she was SO excited that my humbug-aura started to melt away.  And why wouldn’t she be thrilled – even before the production began, the stage was literally glittering with a translucent multi-colored curtain that was framed with 3-D images from the story that lit up when the performers were onstage (I must say, though – the Nutcracker’s lit-up eyes at the top of the proscenium were a bit demonic).  Oh, but it was lovely – Mark Petrocci played the bratty little brother, Fritz, and was just spectacular (he’s that cute poster boy for MB in their “I am a dancer” ad campaign.).  There were over 100 kids in the show, and they really put on an impressive performance.  Of course, the costumes were exquisite – from the three goslings that provided some comic relief in the Land of Toys and Sweets to the crazy huge Babushka and her hoards of children, dressed in brilliant traditional Russian garb.  The highlight of the show, however, was the final numbers with Karl and Marie – their sheer power, strength, grace and flawless technique made Hannah gasp – “Wow!” and commanded applause several times throughout their performance.  As we rose to give the cast a standing ovation, I was really glad that I was able to enjoy the performance that most assuredly gave birth to a whole new generation of Nutcracker fanatics (and perhaps some returning fans as well).      

Milwaukee Public Museum

After dragging my weary butt otta bed on Sunday, I picked up my niece Hannah and we went down to the Milwaukee Public Museum (800 E. Wells St.) to see “Chocolate: The Exhibition.”  I hadn’t been to MPM since their breathtaking "Pearls" exhibit and was looking forward to showing Hannah around a place that seemed magical for me when I was her age.  And the chocolate.  After letting her in on the secret location of the rattlesnake button on the Native American bison hunting exhibit, we wound our way through bilingual panel after panel about where chocolate comes from, the history of its development into a luxurious confection and its marketing all over the world.  They even had a Reggie bar!  It was very interesting, although we were both disappointed that there were no free samples (c’mon – interactive experience opportunity - wink, wink).  I still managed to break down and buy a few small edible remembrances.  And of course you can’t visit the museum without passing through the Streets of Old Milwaukee and the European Village.  I can’t count how many times I’ve been through those parts, but still love them so much for some reason or another.  Hannah got a kick out of it too, which was reassuring (i.e. I’m not a  total nostalgic corn-dog – whew.)

I dropped her off at my mom’s and then dashed back downtown to the Irish Cultural Heritage Center (2133 W. Wisconsin Ave.) to read a play Milwaukee Irish Arts is thinking about taking to the annual Acting Irish International Theater Festival, which is being held in Toronto this year.  The play is “An Irish Play” (how original, I know) by American playwright Dan O’ Brian.  It was fun – I don’t think I’ve heard so many f-bombs being dropped in such a short period of time since, well probably the last time I was on the "auld sod" a couple years ago.  O'Brian  really has an ear for dialogue, and it involves juggling pint glasses amongst several people!  I’ll keep you posted if I get called for auditions (!). 

So after chatting about the work for a while afterwards, my fellow veteran MIA actors Margaret and Eamonn walked back to our cars, which had been BESEIGED by an armada of incontinent birds.  Yuk.  Good thing it was dark.  OK, too much information . . . more updates to come

David Barnett Gallery

Saturday Susan and I met my friend Karrie over at the David Barnett Gallery (1024 E. State St.), which was celebrating its 40th anniversary.  I felt like such a loser because it’s been around for so long, and I drive past it all the time, and this was the first time I had been there.  But man was it worth the wait.  Room after room of this gorgeous mansion filled with pieces from Picasso and Chagall to a modern abstract mobile hanging over the grand piano.  It was just lovely.  So cozy and laid back – I could have spent so much longer wandering through the place just gazing at these incredible works of art.  If you haven't made it over there yet either, try to make a New Year’s resolution to stop by sometime. 

Then Karrie and I drove over to the River Horse (701 E. Center St.) in Riverwest for their monthly “Get Down,” which is held every second Saturday and features the Noble brothers spinning funk all night long.  Wild.  I’ve always enjoyed going there anyway – great ambience, facial tattoos, etc. – but this was SO MUCH FUN!!!!  People just got their booties onto the small floorspace in front of the DJ tables and just shook it until close.  Awesome.   

about last Friday night . . .

Hello – is it spring yet?!  Sorry for the prolonged absence – shoveling has taken over my life (yeah, cry me a river, whatever).  So last Friday, after meeting my friend Jeff for happy hour at the Highbury Pub, I scooted over to Feral Gallery (823 N. 2nd St. Ste. 413) for their exhibition of Theresa Kereakes’ show, "Punk Turns 30," which featured her pohotos of late ‘70’s/early '80's punk rock bands, including the Ramones, the Germs, the Cramps and Joan Jett's bedroom (!).  Without a (legal and free) place to park downtown and running late, I dashed in there looking for my friend Nicole and her friend Bill to no avail.  Not wanting to get towed/ticketed/etc., I beat a hasty retreat, picking up Susan and dashing over to the Milwaukee Art Museum (700 N. Art Museum Dr.) for their Sounds of Christmas show, to which I had been looking forward for weeks.  Christian Marclay, creator of the BRILLIANT “Video Quartet” exhibit in MAM’s AMAZING “CUT/Film as Found Object” exhibition, has local DJ’s spin from his collection of over 1,500 Christmas songs, even making an appearance himself.  Unfortunately, due to all the running around, we didn’t arrive in time for the opening reception or Marclay’s very brief spin.  Instead, we wound our way through the wings until we reached an area with a huge image of the two DJ’s’ turntables and people sort of milling about as the speakers emitted unintelligible sounds at a pace that would make a tortoise seem hare-like, if that makes sense. . . we found Nicole and Bill and shared our mutual disappointment.  What a letdown.  Really.  I can’t even begin to describe my “This is IT?!” feelings.  Standing in the semi-darkness watching the "kids" meandering their way through the older adults - who seemed somewhat awkward in this setting - was just painful.   There are more DJ events slated for the next two Thursdays from 7 to 9 p.m. , so maybe they’ll be different.  Regardless, get your buzz on beforehand, because there was no sign of libations anywhere near the place. 

So, we dashed to Artasia (159 N. Broadway St.) in the Historic Third Ward, where there was PLENTY of food and drink to be had in celebration of . . .well, I don’t quite know offhand, but man was it cool.  They had Asian musicians playing traditional string instruments and pan after pan of GORGEOUS Chinese food from Red Pagoda(631 W. National Ave.) – a Chinese restaurant in the middle of one of the most Latino parts of town – go fig . . . I HIGHLY recommend the vegetable chow fun – oh my lord.  Anyway, it was really cool to walk around and chat with all sorts of people, surrounded by these AMAZING Asian artifacts – furniture, wall hangings, ceramics – and a lot of these objects are quite affordable (hooray!).  It was really a lovely surprise.

Afterwards, Susan and I dropped by Shank Hall (1434 N. Farwell Ave.) to catch De La Buena – a world music ensemble comprised of several One Drum members.  It was really fun – there must have been a dozen people onstage, playing all sorts of exotic instruments and jamming together to the delight of the dancing audience members.  In fact, Susan got swept away by an especially enthusiastic fan, who whirled her around the room to the Latin number they were playing at the time.  They even had a hemp soap and incense booth in the back, in case you might happen to be running low on your hippie paraphernalia.  What DON'T they think of?  After a somewhat brief time, however, we kind of hit the wall (so to speak) and Susan and I agreed that it was time to head home.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to see some of my fave WMSE 91.7 FM DJ’s Marcus Garvey and DeSoto spin during the break, but I am always sure to catch their Tuesday morning show, “Fantastic Planet” from 9 a.m. to noon.  We bid Ed and owner Peter Gest goodnight, and braced ourselves for the walk back to my car in the FREEZING cold.  Brr. 

Chamber Theatre: A Holiday Double Bill

Hey-ho . . . Friday – snow day for me – i.e. shoveled myself sweaty and navigated my way around town in my slip-slidey good-4-nothing vehicle, narrowly avoiding getting stuck in several different places, including my own freakin’ driveway. 

But yesterday, I managed to wind my way through the snowy streets of the Historic Third Ward to the Broadway Theatre Center (158 N. Broadway St.)  for Chamber Theatre’s Holiday Double Bill: James M. Barrie’s (author of Peter Pan) The Old Lady Shows Her Medals and Truman Capote’s A Christmas Memory.  There was a pretty decent crowd for a stormy Thursday evening in the Studio Theatre – the former Theatre X space, where I first saw Flora Coker perform A Christmas Memory when I was in high school (a million years ago).

But first – the old lady, or should I say – ladies, who seemed to be one-upping each other with stories of their sons at war in WWI.  I’ve never seen Ruth Schudson (co-founder of Chamber Theatre) perform before, and – after The Old Lady Shows Her Medals - I now realize what I’ve been missing.  In the talkback afterwards, her fans even commended how she poured Pvt. Kenneth Dowey his tea - in an elaborate, yet flirtatious manner that resembled a Japanese tea ceremony.  And Pvt. Dowey – he could be my long-lost whatever – man did he cut a figure in that kilt. Their Scottish accents were spot-on as well, which added an extra bite to his initial abruptness towards Mrs. Dowey.  I completely lost it in the final scene, in which Schudson said absolutely nothing, and yet . . . oh my god, go see this before it closes and you end up kicking yourself for missing it.   

A Christmas Memory was no less wonderful – just as I had hoped.  It’s been five years since Coker last performed it with Theatre X and it is just as new, fresh and, as she described, “hilarious.”  Reading the text just doesn’t do the story justice, as Flora Coker and Ryan Winkles proved once again last night.  Their long-time fans thanked them for bringing it to life through their animated facial expressions and physical gestures.  Montgomery Davis (co-founder of Chamber Theatre) explained, “The beauty of [Capote’s] text is that it . . . comes alive in your mind.”  Exactly. 

GO SEE THIS SHOW NOW - OR ELSE!!!! 

Naked Boys Singing

After we finished painting Saturday afternoon, Ed and I shoveled our respective abodes and I bravely (foolishly) ventured the unplowed streets to meet my friend Jenna for sushi at Ichiban (2336 N. Farwell Ave.).  (note to self: in order to avoid going up the windy street by the water tower SIDEWAYS, thereby endangering myself and others, choose a more level route, get snow tires, or stay the heck at home.)  Regardless, we had a lovely meal – I have two words for you – “flaki maki.”  AND their green tea mochi was wonderful (this is coming from a well-known mochi-hater.). 

To my dismay, however, I discovered my wallet was missing, which caused quite a bit of distraction and distress and the last thing I wanted to do was to see Uncommon Theatre Company’s production of Naked Boys Singing!.  We trudged ahead, however (in Jenna’s much more stable Kia), and made it to the Milwaukee Gay Arts Center (703 S. 2nd St.) just in time to say hello to Artistic Director Mark Hooker and snag an aisle seat (“for a more interactive experience,” he suggested.  Groan.).  He delivered a brief introduction, in which he apologized for any shrinkage that may have occurred due to the inclement weather.  Musical Director J. Ruben Plirainen proceeded to sit down at the piano and before you could say “gratuitous nudity,” the testicles – I mean trousers - were flying, making The Full Monty look tame.  Would you believe me if I told you that, after a while, I really didn’t notice that they weren’t wearing clothes?  Well, they’d put on different pieces for various numbers – towels, cowboy boots, tuxedos – and that’s just to name a few!  But the show really did cover several different themes that made it more than just an all-nude male review.  The numbers addressed topics ranging from image awareness, masturbation and Robert Mitchum to losing a loved one to AIDS.  Jeffrey and the three Joshes did more than just bare their asses. Rather, they proved that the body is the window to the soul.  And I give them SO much credit for that.  Talk about cajones . . . I think it’s worth checking out, for way more than just the titillation value.  These guys have some great pipes and can really bust a move in their sequined aprons.  Granted, this show is definitely not for everybody.  But I think it really highlights our similarities, rather than our differences – an effective tool (no pun intended) in the “why can’t we all just get along” movement.

PS. Wallet was discovered half-buried in the snow in my driveway when I got home that night.  Guess it’s time to go purse shopping – yay!      

First Stage Children's Theatre

Friday night my niece Hannah and I braved the chilly elements and caught First Stage Children’s Theater’s  (929 N. Water St.) production of Frank L. Baum’s The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus.  They had a pretty decent crowd for such a cold night and, once again, they did not disappoint.  I’m not a huge holiday fan in general, so to be honest, I really wasn’t chafing at the bit to see a kid’s “there really IS a Santa” play.  And, yet, Dan Katula’s (who played Mr. Quimby in Ramona Quimby) rendition of the jolly one made even the Scroogiest audience member smile in spite of him/herself.  Granted, like any holiday show, it had its schmaltzy moments, but man those little forest nymphs were so cute – I just wanted to eat them for breakfast.  Instead, we munched on gingerbread man cookies during the intermission and admired sketches of Kären Kopischke’s ornate costume designs.  Even though the crowd was getting somewhat restless in the second act, their patience was rewarded with a brief talkback afterwards, where the actors stay onstage and field questions from the audience.  It was really a cool opportunity for kids to talk with and learn from each other about the theater. 

Nevertheless, it was still no match for the brutal cold that assaulted us as we ran back to the car.  Milwaukee winters – I’ve was born and raised here and yet I still can’t get used to them.  Brr.  Thin skin, perhaps. 

MKE Online Semi-Finals!!!

OK YOU GUYS - THE GLOVES ARE OFF - THE GAUNTLET HAS BEEN THROWN DOWN - IT'S TIME FOR THE MKE ONLINE SEMI-FINALS!!!

So, my dear readers, if you could PLEASE click here and cast your vote for Paint the Town, I will be eternally indebted to you - food, alcohol, coffee, shoveling, whatever - you got it. 

Thank you thank you thank you.  And now back to our regularly scheduled blogging . . .