SCENE GREEN BAY • DE PERE EDITION | WWW.SCENENEWSPAPER.COM | APRIL 2015
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with Green Bay Mayor Jim Schmitt Photos by City of Green Bay image/Chris Rand
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CENTRAL WISCONSIN
CONTENTS COVER STORY L4 Green Bay Mayor Jim Schmitt
ENTERTAINMENT
R20 Right Wing Nut
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Second City: A Great Place
R22 Media Rants
to Start
R26 Rohn’s Rants
Graphic Designer Ericka Kramer-Baker • 920.602.2297 ebaker@scenenewspaper.com
FINE ARTS
R14 Nick Olig
R8 Artful Living
OUTDOORS
GREEN BAY Ad Sales Norma Jean Fochs • 715.254.6324 njfochs@scenenewspaper.com
R16 Dobie Maxwell
L13 Steven Haas
R30 Seeing Green
R28 Buddist Advisor
R34 Beauty and the Beast
R36 April Concert Watch
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Graphic Designer Jeff Hillis jhillis@scenenewspaper.com
CONTRIBUTORS Steve Lonsway Tricia Derge Kimberly Fisher Jean Detjen Richard Ostrom Nick Olig Dobie Maxwell Dennis Riley Robert Meyer Tony Palmeri
Rohn Bishop John Price-Kabhir Will Stahl Michael Mentzer Jane Spietz George Halas Jeremy Johanski Patrick Mares Donna Fischer Rob Zimmer
R10 Cinema Beneath
Spring Gardening Tips
FOOD & DRINK
R40 The Spanish Inquisition
R2 Brewmaster
L12 Green Bay Film Festival
R4 Tricia’s Table
EVENT CALENDARS
R6 From the Wine Cave
R42 Live Music
NEWS & VIEWS
L10 Pasquale’s
L14 The Big Events
R18 The View From the Leftfield Seats
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Advertising deadline for May is April 20 at 5 p.m. Submit ads to ads@scenenewspaper.com. The SCENE is published monthly by Calumet Press, Inc. The SCENE provides news and commentary on politics, current events, arts and entertainment, and daily living. We retain sole ownership of all non-syndicated editorial work and staff-produced advertisements contained herein. No duplication is allowed without permission from Calumet Press, Inc. 2015.
April 2015 | SceneNewspaper.com | L3
COVER STORY // CONVERSATION BY THE GLASS
A Conversation by the Glass with Green Bay Mayor Jim Schmitt BY JEREMY J. JOHANSKI Photos by City of Green Bay image/Chris Rand
When Green Bay residents visit the polls on Tuesday, April 7th 2015 there is a bit of history on the line for the city’s top elected office. With the completion of what would be a 4th term in office as Mayor of Green Bay, Jim Schmitt would become the longest serving mayor in Green Bay’s history. Schmitt assumed office in 2003 fresh out of a successful private sector career as a business owner and immediately set a course to revitalize Green Bay’s perishing core downtown. The Catholic family man, originally from Two Rivers, Wisconsin has watched his family grow up around him over the last 12 years and the residents have watched a mayor and a city grow and transform as well. A Green Bay native, I was one of the participants in the life and culture of the city until my departure about five years ago. Since then I’ve been an observer from faraway Madison, Wisconsin and I’ve not forgotten what life, as I remembered it, is like in Green Bay, however I’ve seen changes, visible and intrinsic that have happened in those years and it was time for a catch-me-up. I uncorked a bottle of wine and sat down with Mayor Schmitt for an engaged, mature and respectful chat to do some reflection, evaluation and assessment in the first of my Conversations by the Glass. In the quiet upstairs of Angelina’s Italian restaurant on Adams Street in downtown Green Bay I poured two glasses of a 2012 Cantina Miglianico Montupoli Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, courtesy of Swiss Cellars. A relatively young red Italian wine, soft and soothing to sip on for an afternoon conversation. “Here’s to our Conversation by the Glass!” Schmitt said with a raise of his glass. Schmitt, while not a wine critic by any means said, of the many restaurants and events he attends throughout the year, those featuring wine tend to operate with L4 | SceneNewspaper.com | April 2015
a more relaxed ‘slower pace.’ Schmitt chose Angelina’s for our conversation for much the same reason. “I eat here often,” Schmitt said “Angelina’s is a great restau-
here, the more opportunity I see. There will be a time when this is over for me… but there’s so much to do.
Mayor Schmitt with local school children on Bike to School Day.
rant and it really brings creative people to the community. I like coming here for lunch, for dinner...I’ve probably had everything on their menu so I don’t know if I have one favorite.” JJJ: Not having favorites I think is a very acceptable answer. I have always seen declaring favorites as a limiting thing. Having a favorite limits an open mind. MS: My concern with having favorites as the mayor…people may think the others aren’t my favorites or they’re not great then…politically, they’re all great. Do I have a few favorites maybe, yeah I think I do. JJJ: I’m betting that you have a favorite city. When you first set out on your first term as Mayor, I recall hearing an idealistic, newly elected Jim Schmitt hoping to have perhaps the opportunity to set a course for Green Bay over two, maybe a third term… now we’re looking at a fourth… MS: I don’t know that I fully remember that, ha ha. JJJ: What’s driving Jim Schmitt… what’s the passion? MS: It’s the city…I love the city, and the harder I work at it and the longer I’m
I would do this if I didn’t get paid. I have a passion for this. I’ve been offered some other things, some people have called and I’m not interested…I’ve never looked for another job since becoming mayor. This is what I want to do. The city is doing very well. It’s Mayor Schmitt with riders on the Zippin Pippin roller coaster. like being in the private sector in a businew businesses and those moving down ness that goes from never making money here. The convention center addition… to making money. The city has had record but ultimately, I’m a critic of myself and development… others and I think we have a ways to go but JJJ: That’s always been a big thing for it’s definitely over a “5.” I’m not ready to you. You came in promising change, big give anything a 10 yet. I’m definitely very change for downtown. How do you feel pleased but I have very high expectations you’ve done on on a 1 to 10 scale? of the city and our people and we all have a MS: I think there are a lot of people lot of work we can do. that would give us a “10” because they JJJ: Obviously you’ve had a significant were so frustrated and had kind of given tenure in the private business sector first… up and lost their confidence in downtown do you think that’s going to continue to and now that you see housing…no one help the progress here and in the developwould’ve thought of that ten years ago and ment strategy as well?
COVER STORY // CONVERSATION BY THE GLASS
MS: No question, the private sector experience is helping me be the mayor I am and therefore helping the city. The private sector is the real, real world. You have to make payroll, you own the company…I did that. We made money through becoming more efficient. In the public sector you do that by going from two men and a truck to automated garbage pickup and upgrading technology and those are principles you bring in from the private sector, and that’s how we can afford to continue to do what we do in Green Bay and lower our taxes. JJJ: There’s always seemed to be this old politics shall we say within our local politics. Older organizations…Bellin Hospital, the Green Bay Packers…I was looking at the new development being debated out in the Interstate 43 Industrial Park on Green Bay’s far-east side, the psychiatric hospital being pursued by Strategic Behavioral Health. The business has basically said we’re coming to Green Bay, but they’re giving Green Bay the option as a city, to sell them land first. I find it very interesting when out of area businesses move in and long-time area businesses such as Bellin Hospital approach and lobby the local elected officials on matters like this. You’re trying to allow for a fair and competitive market and I saw the comments you’ve made in regards to aldermen reinforcing that committees evaluating issues like this need to remember to focus on the interests in development, fair market capitalism and making sure that those values are upheld for the City of Green Bay. MS: …Free enterprise. JJJ: Right, I think that very much speaks to your private business background. Do you think that items like this are more important for the residents or is this more about the city’s bottom line?
MS: You talk about ‘old Green Bay politics’…but let’s use another term, traditional Green Bay. When we start to enhance and challenge the staple industries here…and when we talk about the Packers, Bellin, education…we brought in a charter school…there are changes that the community needs and healthcare, in this instance. When Aurora came here like 15 years ago that was controversial, but that’s because of the traditional way we did business. This Strategic Behavioral Health facility…is going to change the way that business is delivered in our community and sure, Bellin might not be fully comfortable with it, but remember, my job is to do what’s best for Green Bay. I’m a free market enterprise person and I believe in that and the capitalistic system…it’s been around for 200 years… and if we as even a local government start over-protecting businesses, that gets dangerous…so I’m not just letting this project go forward, I’m supporting it because it’s good for Green Bay. JJJ: Do you think you’ve changed where the needle is on any progressive mentality for Green Bay? It would have made your job as a mayor a great deal easier to have a gem like a new Packer stadium to rebuild your downtown around. Do you feel like the residents therefore are behind your drive for progress and development and don’t hold too tightly onto things that are beyond just intrinsic value? MS: I think so. I think the reason that people really don’t like to embrace change is most often when they’re in a comfort zone. Some people that have been here for 50 or 60 years…they’re comfortable here and they’re like, ‘why are you doing this, changing this, building this…why Contine on Page L6
Mayor Schmitt addresses area youth and parents at Bay Beach. April 2015 | SceneNewspaper.com | L5
COVER STORY // CONVERSATION BY THE GLASS
Mayor Schmitt speaks at a ceremony at the Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary.
Contined from Page L5 are we putting in City Deck, the larger convention center?’ but those are things we need to do to attract talent and retain it and that’s critical. We talk about this ‘old Green Bay’ and I don’t see anything wrong with it having went along to get along… now we’re taking more of a leadership role on things and being more aggressive on securing businesses here and schools and our education system. We’ve put our nose in a lot of things and it belongs there, we’re the state’s third largest city. We have good relationships with traditional businesses and with many that are born and raised here, but it’s my job to explain to them that what we’re doing here in Green Bay is just building on what they’ve brought here and we’re going to utilize that to build a little bit more aggressively with the interests of everyone in mind. JJJ: I’d say that’s much about what’s the “Green Bay Way.” You’d mentioned comfort, and that’s one of the most recognizable things to me, having lived here… Green Bay is a very comfortable spot but that’s where the challenge is for progress I guess in realizing the value in change. MS: We’d like to keep the talent and people that are here, but we must be careful not to push our people so far out of the comfort zone they enjoy here that it’s more uncomfortable now. A small example of that is Bay Beach. The place is 100 years old and it’s been much the same way for quite some time. Not much had changed outside of facility repair and painting. This is one thing where I made a decision to really enhance it and adding a major ride L6 | SceneNewspaper.com | April 2015
with the Zippin’ Pippin,’ and that was tough for a lot of people to accept at first… and now it’s showing as one of the most profitable and well attended assets the city owns, and the park is very profitable when before it had not been. I have a 10-year plan for that and it’s still going to be 25 cents per ticket, no admission charge, free parking. That’s a small example of that progress challenge. And to look back at that Packer’s stadium referendum, that wasn’t met with 80% approval it was only 52 or 53% of the people, and that was with a lot of effort from the Packers. I think people are largely pleased with that project…and the City Deck and the convention center project. JJJ: What does that convention center mean to Green Bay…the increase in size and what it will do for bringing people here? MS: We’re the third largest city and we have about the 8th or 9th largest convention center space, so this will put us in the top five now with 75,000 square feet. So what we did, and this goes back to the private sector experience, is that before we built that expansion of 20,000 square feet, we talked to the customers. We didn’t run to the City Council and Department of Public Works and ask, ‘what’s the easiest to build?’ We looked for the best things that we needed and that’s why it will be successful. It will bring in millions of extra revenue annually and it’s already booked to exceed expectations by being sold out for this year. Conventioneers are good to have for a couple reasons. First, they spend per day per person, multiple times what someone coming for events like a soccer tour-
nament does. Conventioneers stay here and the Packers provide an easy venue for and eat at places downtown, not so much us to offer. things like fast food. The other thing is JJJ: So when you are a visitor elsethe exposure they give the city. I always where…what’s that like stepping off a try to go and welcome the conventioneers plane in another city? When you get into and tell them about the city with every- town, what do you look for…people, city thing from our VA Clinic and the Botani- core, culture…what strikes you first? cal Gardens, UW-Green Bay, NWTC… MS: Well, first of all, I travel and You can park your car here and do a lot observe things under the belief that if they of things here in three days. You can walk can do it, so can we. I always look for what down to restaurants, you can jog the trails we could bring to our city that they have, and City Deck, you can go to live events at that we could do different or better. Maybe the Meyer Theater, shop on Broadway… lighting designs (I’ve always been interested JJJ: What is a failure or weakness in that) or recreation spaces, events, etc. you have? It seems simple but I want Traveling as the Mayor of Green Bay something you can see about yourself that is actually very easy. Everybody knows perhaps you’re endeared to but know you of Green Bay…EVERYBODY. I mean, could or should change. I grew up in the area here, but you go to MS: I think we hear too much that pol- Jerusalem or Africa...people know Green iticians are all thick-skinned and everything Bay! You know though, you look around is always like water off a duck’s back but I and you see we have a heart here and we take stuff way too personally. If we don’t want to share that with other communities. get a project, or the State won’t fund one of I want to be a leader for other communiour roads…I know it’s crazy but I seriously ties, but we also have to keep learning. We lay awake all night sometimes over stuff like can’t be totally comfortable thinking we’re that. I know it’s sometimes out of my con- doing everything alright because we always trol and I have to let it go, but it’s tough. have a lot to learn. So when I travel, I Or if someone says something negative really always look for what we can do better about the City of Green Bay…I take that in Green Bay, our way. very personally and maybe I shouldn’t… JJJ: Who would be one of the few but no, I love this city and the people… people that you’ve met while in office, the system and structure, by and large are famous or not that has made an impact on good, but expediting things in government you that may have changed your course or is also hard, but I’m learning. something about how you operate? JJJ: In dealing with the Packers…I went MS: I get invited to a lot of 100-yearout to that Seattle fiasco, which was rough. old birthday parties, and I go. I talk to MS: Well that had to be cool, that’s a them, and when you think about that, good city. these people are 100 years old, many of JJJ: It was a good time…until the whom I’ve told I’m glad you’re not running fourth quarter of the game there. But here, against me. But what they have given to does the mayor go to every home game? this city I don’t know that we always appreMS: Oh yeah…I go and entertain ciate and how hard they’ve worked, many too. We’ll bring in mayors from the visiting team cities often. They pay their own way to come here, but then we show them our city. But I’ll also help entertain customers that look at coming to Green Bay, such as some developers and businesses that look to build relationMayor Schmitt snaps a selfie at City Hall with area teens. ships with our city
COVER STORY // CONVERSATION BY THE GLASS
whom have grown up here. What you see is that even at their age they’re still very proud of this community. The other thing that I’ve gotten a lot more engaged with since I’ve become mayor is the Eagle Scouts. What these kids are doing in their young ages and in our country and others is simply amazing. The young people remind me to help build a community and a culture that might be someplace that they want to live. Then you have the centennials that have made this city home and I’m charged with respecting that and keeping them proud. JJJ: You’ve mentioned the desire to get more young professionals to choose Green Bay. What about your own family? MS: I have three college age children and I will tell you that I don’t know where they all will be, but I do know that they wish to end up in an urban environment. We’ve done a lot of traveling as a family and when we travel, we’ve always stayed in the downtown’s and never by a hotel out off a highway…my children love the urban environments, be it Nashville, Chicago, New Orleans, San Francisco…that’s where
it’s at and that’s how they want to live. Now, are they going to live in Green Bay? I’m not so sure we’re there yet in terms of what they need and want, but it’s also a good thing that, for them, they get away for a few years. Eventually, you have to live in a city that you’re proud of, and they are proud of Green Bay and they’ve liked seeing the transition that we’ve made in the last 12 years. I think we’re really getting there. They have other things like their dad being in the media that might keep them away a little bit for now too. We do have many other things that draw attraction for young professionals like designations as best city for the creative class and that’s big. Those that are creative, concerned about the community, arts and social issues… people who have their work and community involvement blurred, and that’s awesome and that’s what we need here. So move to Green Bay! For additional content from this Conversation by the Glass and more information on the wine featured, find the link to Conversations by the Glass online at scenenewspaper.com.
UNITY 04-04-15 UNITY
WHISKY DITCH 04-11-15 2 HOUR NOTICE 04-18-15 BIG MOUTH 04-24-15 CONSULT THE BRIEFCASE 04-25-15
CONSULT THE BRIEFCASE April 2015 | SceneNewspaper.com | L7
ENTERTAINMENT // SECOND CITY
Second City: A Great Place to Start Second City is well known as the starting place for a startling number of TV personalities and comedic legends. So when they bring The Best of Second City to the Weidner Center on April 16, you can be assured that isn’t an empty boast. Casey Whitaker was available to tell us just what we can expect from the upcoming showing. The Scene: What position do you play for the troupe? Casey: We’re a comedy sketch improv and ensemble. So there’s three girls and three guys. So there’s actors and then we have our musical director and our stage manager who travel with us as well. And I’m one of the actors. The Scene: Do you have roles? Or is it whatever a specific actor brings to the table when it comes to comedy sketches? Casey: Yeah, we all trained at second city and IO and all of that. And we audition for the general audition and then what we tour is the archive material from all the main-stage reviews and etc reviews in Chicago that have been [going on] for the last 65 years. So yeah, we’re interpreting the written material that the Stephan Colberts and the Tina Feys wrote. And then sometimes we do write our own material and do an original sketch. And obviously the improv we make up on the spot. So when you get in [to the ensemble] you get assigned a few of the roles. And you just try to do them justice and maybe add a bit of yourself into it. The Scene: Now you’re really big on audience participation too aren’t you? It’s not just something where people sit and watch for a couple hours. Casey: That’s right. I think some
Kelsey Kinney L8 | SceneNewspaper.com | April 2015
Top: John Sabine, Casey Whitaker, Blair Beeken Bottom: Kelsey Kinney, Jamison Webb, Jasbir Singh
people know that and some people don’t. Usually the front area [is called on]. And I think we’re doing a piece now where we just walk out into the house and try to find people for audience participation. Most the time we just have them answer questions to improvise off of. No one gets pulled up and is expected to be funny. But yes, we do use audience participation a lot. The Scene: How long have you been at second city, and how is your cast comprised as a whole? C a s e y : We’re t o u r i n g w i t h RedCo. There’s three different touring companies, and we just call them colors to keep them separate. But there’s red, blue
John Sabine
and green. My company is RedCo. I’ve been with them, two years in July, full time touring with them. And I was an understudy before that for the touring company. And then in 2011 I did this thing called BenchCo which is the same thing that we’re doing but called BenchCo because you’re kind of on the bench to see if they want to use you further. The Scene: Sure, how well do you know the rest of the troupe, you said it was three girls and three guys? Are you all fairly similar experience-wise? Casey: We just got one new girl, Ali just started with us a month ago, but everyone else, we’ve been together for over a year. And I think that’s very clear on stage. We’re all very close and good
Jasbir Singh
Casey Whitaker
friends. So when we improvise or even do the scripted material the chemestry is undeniable. We’re a strong unit and everybody knows how to play together well. The Scene: So who else is touring with the troupe? Casey: Chelsea Kinney has been there awhile. We call it the triple J’s, Jamison Webb, Jasbir Singh and John Sabine. And then the new girl Ali Barthwell just joined us and she’s great too. The Scene: Now you mentioned that this show covers the best of Second City’s 60 some year history, do you want to go into that a little bit? Casey: So yeah, we 56 anniversary of Second City. So we had our 55th anniversary shows earlier in the year near Christmas. I think it’s December 21st or something like that. We choose material from show from all the decades and it’s just such an honor to do the scenes that Rachel Dratch wrote, or whoever we admire personally and getting to do their work. The Scene: Now do the actors get any input in the scenes you’re choosing? Casey: The running order of the show changes a lot. And once in a while we get to have a wishlist for things we want to try. But at the end of the day our director and producer have the final say on what we put in the show. But there is definitely some conversation with us as to what we want to try. So that’s always nice too. The Scene: Do you have any personal favorites right now? Casey: The scenes could change by then. But we just put a scene called Rubanesque, an all female scene with all three ladies where we rap about being women of a fuller body type. So it’s a lot of
Ali Barthwell
April 2015 | SceneNewspaper.com | R1
FOOD & DRINK // BREWMASTER
Alaskan Brewing Co. Black Imperial India Pale Ale BY STEVE LONSWAY This month’s selection was taken from our own stock of guests beers that we run in the Stone Arch Tap Room. The Alaskan Black Imperial India Pale Ale comes in a 22 oz. bomber bottle with a very intriguing label portraying two black ravens
perched in a riverside tree. This beer is part of the Alaskan Brewing Company’s Pilot Series which is what they name their limited edition specialty releases. Because it’s a bigger beer, our team chose snifter style glassware which was the right decision for this beer. We paid close attention to our serving temperature and nailed it at 48 degrees. As we poured our samples, a couple comments came out indicating the dark ruby red pour. It seemed to pour heavy as well. We had noticed that the foam started out more of a tan and as it settled (which was rampant) it darkened. I held the glass up to the light to admire the richness of the color and saw that the beer had brilliant clarity even though the label warned that natural sedimentation may occur. The color alone is reason enough to buy this beer. A rich brown/red and not opaque like many in this category. The aroma aspect of this beer was just as pleasing. Our team identified smells similar to mint, chocolate, roast malt characteristics, dark cherry, biscuit, and Indian spice, possibly biryani? Intensely complex malt notes with spicy citrus hop aromas popping out to really tease the senses. When tasting this beer, all the above R2 | SceneNewspaper.com | April 2015
aromas appeared in the flavors as well. An assertive dry, roasted malt flavor but not over the top and balanced to perfection with sweet citrus hops. The chocolatey notes definitely were more pronounced as it warmed. This dark beauty finished with a bit of an alcohol bite, strong hop bitterness and an extremely pleasing mouthfeel. With a touch of prickliness from the carbonation and a creamy, dry finish, this full bodied brew almost whispers treacle at the end. This beer will pair very well with spicy dishes especially the aforementioned Indian Biryani. Other fare that would complement this brew is blackened fish or an aggressive gumbo. Steve actually brought a bottle home to pair with the nights’ meal of black bean tacos and reported perfection! Their website description of this offering states an original gravity of 1.087 which in brewing indicates fermentability that after fermentation, results in alcohol content. There is a discrepancy in that number. The site indicates a 8.5% alcohol by volume, the bottled version we sampled indicates a 7.7% a.b.v. We assume their draught version contains the higher amount. Regardless, the 7.7% in the bottle works really well. The bitterness in this beer came in at 70 I.B.U’s. I.B.U. stands for International Bitterness Units and is a quick indicator of how hoppy a beer is. The higher that number, the more hoppy or bitter the beer is. Typically the human palette can only identify up to 100 I.B.U.’s so 70 is definitely on the higher side which, again works because of the high “fermentatblity” of this beer. Overall an excellent, flavorful example of the Black I.P.A. style. Now let’s get into the creators of this libation. Alaskan Brewing Company proudly calls Juneau, Alaska home and has since they first opened their doors in
December of 1986. Started by husband and wife team, Geoff and Marcy Larson as the 67th brewing company to start in the United States, their continued hard work and impressive trail of awards has gotten them to be the 16th ranked brewery on the Brewers Association’s “Top 50 Craft Brewing Company’s” list based on sales volume
(2012). Matter of fact they are the Great American Beer Festival’s most awardwinning craft brewery – pretty impressive especially being located in the final frontier. Their flagship beer was derived from shipping records and an old newspaper article they discovered in researching brewing history in Alaska. From the Douglas City Brewing Co. that operated at the turn of the last century (1899-1907). That beer today is known as Alaskan Amber and deserves a taste or two as well. These fine folks have developed a welldeserved reputation of brewing quality beers for many years and are perennial winners at World Beer Cup competition and Great American Beer Festival. They have won numerous awards for their Alaskan Smoked Porter which lands in my top five beers of all-time. They use alder wood to smoke choice malts in a commercial smoker in small batches and the flavors this tedious process creates is nothing short of amazing. FINAL WORD: Search the Alaskan Black Imperial India Pale Ale out and enjoy in moderation. And while you’re out, pick up a bomber of their amazing Smoked Porter too. It ages really well so maybe add a few for your cellar. Make an Alaskan night out of it. Prosit!
April 2015 | SceneNewspaper.com | R3
FOOD & DRINK // TRICIA’S TABLE
Giving Baby Chicks for Easter – PLEASE DON’T BY TRICIA DERGE Has a relative of yours ever had the bright idea of giving live baby chicks as an Easter gift? Spring is the season when some Bozo’s purchase “baby chicks” for their backyard poultry flocks or to give as Easter gifts, but one Oregon public health expert advises caution around these cute, fuzzy birds. The problem: Baby poultry carry salmonella bacteria that can cause serious illness. “Salmonella bacteria often contaminate adult chickens, ducks and other live poultry, so it goes without saying that their offspring often carry it, too,” says Emilio DeBess, D.V.M., Oregon Public Health veterinarian “What’s worse is that because of their size and cuteness, these birds often are picked up by children, who will put them close to their faces and kiss them,” DeBess says. “In many cases, children may not wash their hands after handling them.” Since 2010, nine outbreaks of illnesses caused by salmonella bacteria from
chicks have occurred, affecting at least 37 confirmed salmonellosis cases and many more suspected cases. A third or more of the cases were children, DeBess said. The last major salmonellosis outbreak, in 2013, occurred after people handled, kissed and kept poultry inside the home. Because nothing says Easter like a houseful of chickens pooping all over the Oriental rug. Salmonella infections can cause diarrhea, abdominal cramps and fever symptoms lasting three to seven days, DeBess said. Anyone with compromised immune systems, the very young and elderly people could become very ill and die of the infection. “We don’t think they are appropriate
Easter gifts,” DeBess says, “especially for young children - those younger than 5 who are particularly vulnerable to serious illness from salmonella contamination because of their underdeveloped immunity.” Many people purchasing baby poultry also don’t realize the responsibility involved with raising chicks and ducklings as the animals grow up. “These birds require space to roam and food to eat, and these factors can be expensive,” DeBess says. “As a result, they often are abandoned after they become adult chickens and ducks.” If that dimwit aunt or uncle does give live chicks as a gift, here are a few tips for preventing salmonella infection from baby poultry
Japan’s Newest Freaky Burger!
Finally!
The Cadbury Creme Burger!
You’ll have to travel some to find it, but at long last a bistro has created an edible “Heaven on Earth.” A west London restaurant has dreamed R4 | SceneNewspaper.com | April 2015
• Don’t give live baby birds to children. How about a nice stuffed animal, or a package of Peeps? • Always wash hands with soap and water, and thoroughly clean surfaces after handling any animal or coming in contact with animal waste. • Keep chicks in an appropriate outdoor area. • If chicks are handled, never nuzzle or kiss them. They’ll only want more attention, and you’ll have a harder time separating from them emotionally when it comes time to butcher. • Never allow poultry inside the home.
up an Easter-inspired burger topped with a melted down Creme Egg. The Creme egg burgers, being served at the K West Hotel & Spa, in Shepherds Bush, are made with a sweet brioche bun dipped in white chocolate. Inside the bun is a chocolate patty made out of a gooey melted crème egg, as well as mascarpone cream, and a helping of strawberry jelly. The calorific sliders, available at the Studio Kitchen restaurant in the hotel, cost £5.50 ($8.00) for a portion of two, or as
part of the Spring Rocks Afternoon Tea starting from £22.50 ($33.00) per person. Each burger contains roughly 530 calories, adding up to 1,060 calories when served together - more than half the recommended daily intake of calories for a woman. Afternoon tea diners can also enjoy other Easter inspired treats such as mini hot cross buns, quail scotch eggs and savory sliders.
If you’re on the go in Japan, and you don’t have a lot of time for lunch...how about a quick Frog Burger?! The home country to pitch-black burgers can now boast another strange sandwich, due out later this month. The Orbi Yokohama Museum has taken the bamboo-charcoal buns and inserted an entire deep-fried frog in between them, and also adding some lettuce, a chili sauce, and an ingredient described as “a small amount of soy sauce-flavored chicken.” It costs about $8.40, and it comes with a drink. Essentially...it’s a frogwich! The burger actually promotes a new exhibit at the museum featuring poisonous creatures from around the world, including spiders and puffer fish.
Timeless Creations, Old World Charm Make Your Dream Home a Reality in 2015 With a Custom Designed & Built Home by Jesse Burg
April 2015 | SceneNewspaper.com | R5
FOOD & DRINK // FROM THE WINE CAVE
From the Wine Cave BY KIMBERLY FISHER Ahh, finally we are starting to see signs of spring. The snow has melted, the grass is starting to green, and the warmer weather brings out the best in us. Shake that cabin fever and get ready for your next
leg of wine exploration. Let’s talk about the three basic white grapes, but this time with a twist. Each year, some new region comes into vogue and some new grapes come to the forefront. It is worthwhile to concentrate
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on these three classic white grapes and by varying the regions; you can put them side by side and really taste the difference. See how each region, each producer is similar and how they can be different. The journey won’t take long, but the result is your palate will broaden greatly and you will
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auvignon lanc is a varietal that originated in the Bordeaux region in France and the name most likely gets its name from the French words Sauvage (wild) and Blanc (white). It is planted in many regions of the world and takes on many different personalities. When exploring this intriguing varietal, take the time to taste through three different regions to experience the incredible variety found in this grape. Depending on the climate, the flavors can differ from grassy, brassy herbaceous flavors – Santa Rita 120 Sauvignon Blanc (Chile) to tropical fruit and floral notes – Matanzas Creek Sauvignon Blanc, Bennett Valley, Sonoma (CA). Other parts of the world can show flavors of grapefruit, tree fruit such as peach notes and green peppers – Yealands Sauvignon Blanc (New Zealand). Each will lend its own expression and take you down a path of discovery.
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hardonnay originated in the Burgundy wine region of Eastern France, but is grown everywhere. The grape is a neutral varietal but can be greatly influenced by terroir and oak. It can be a lean, mean, fighting machine meant to age such as Chardonnay based Champagne or White Burgundy. It can appear medium bodied with noticeable acidity and flavors of green apple and pear out of New Zealand - Villa Maria Chardonnay (New Zealand). In California, you can find a creamy mouth feel and a kiss of oak – Freemark Abbey Chardonnay, Napa (CA). Finally the wines of Washington State tend to be similar to California, but it emphasizes the fruit than the creaminess – Columbia Crest 2 Vines (WA).
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iesling first originated in the Rhine region in Germany and I believe it is a chameleon in terms of what it can express. It is aromatic, with flowery, perfumey notes and can have high acidity when done perfectly well. Usually pure and fresh, this varietal can take you on a roller coaster ride. In Washington State, Riesling is an easy drinker with a detectable peach and mineral component that tends to adapt to production methods done in Germany – Snoqualmie Naked Riesling (WA). In Germany, Riesling tends to have more apple and tree fruit notes with a tangy level of acidity – Schlink Haus Riesling (Germany). Monterey has an expression of cool weather allowing Riesling to sport its own character. Seaglass Riesling, Monterey (CA) is the perfect expression of cool air, minimal rainfall and a long growing season putting all the flavors in check. R6 | SceneNewspaper.com | April 2015
add a wealth of knowledge for your wine vocabulary. Kimberly Fisher is Director of Fine Wine Sales for Badger Liquor-Wine & Spirits.
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FINE ARTS // ARTFUL LIVING
Artful A Living BY JEAN DETJEN Fox Cities/Central Wisconsin independent business owners: A side-feature of my new ‘Artful Living’ column in Scene
Newspaper will be all about fashion and objects d’art. My personally selected ‘Foxy Finds’ will be featured monthly, starting with the April issue. I’m on the hunt for unique, artful creations for body and work/
living spaces that excite the senses. Clothing, shoes, accessories, decor items, and all variety of art objects will be highlighted. DIY artisans, shop owners and fashionistas are encouraged to contact me with sug-
gestions for my picks of the month. Cheers to living artFULLY!
Murano glass cufflinks in aqua green stone and chrome. Crafted in Italy for XMI Platinum collection. Other color combinations of blues, tans and reds available. $89.50 from Bill Paul Ltd., Neenah. billpaulltd.com
Blue & cream Aztec print jersey track shorts by Envi (USA). Drawstring waist with sporty piping detail. $74. Available at Azure, DePere in sizes XS-L. azurewi.com
Paintable ceramic wall sharks from The Fire | Pottery, Mosaic & Glass Fusing Studio, Appleton. $25.99 each. thefireartstudio. com.
Straw coral cowgirl hat with funky fabric band from Besselli, Green Bay. Guaranteed to turn heads. Price: $48.00. besselli. com.
Chic vegan faux leather mint green moto/biker jacket by Black Swan. Dress it up or down. $94. Available at Vintique, Neenah. vintiqueboutique.com.
Reclaimed silver and gold artisan necklace. This piece is made with organic discs of reclaimed sterling silver, fused fine silver, and 12k gold-filled links. Even the clasp is made by hand. Each piece is unique but can be ordered by contacting Jackie Schubbe at doobeadoo@ gmail.com. This 25-inch necklace sells for $100.
Exquisite Kinzig Design lamps from The Frame Workshop, Appleton.theframeworkshop.com. Hand blown glass bases. Richly colored shades sewn from embroidered silks and other elegant fabrics. Topped with distinctive finials that enhance these uniquely crafted pieces. Made in the USA. Prices vary.
Take edginess up a notch in the Sugar, a wedge style sandal that straps all the way to the ankle with a back zipper. Reminiscent of gladiator styles that have been one of the top trends of the last few seasons. Comfy and cool. Black & white polka dots featured. Eye-catching animal prints and solid hues also available. Joseph’s Shoes, Appleton. $139. shopjosephsshoes.com.
Lou Reed woodcut tribute print by Chad Brady / C.E. Brady Art. Custom frame by Foxley’s, Appleton. Created on the day of the musician’s death. Limited edition of 10, $150 (print only). Available at Coventry Glassworks & Gallery, Appleton, or through the artist: cebradyart@ gmail.com.
Site:1 portable wireless speaker from Princeton Audio. Handcrafted from instrumentquality tonewood and tuned for optimum frequency response. Interchangeable interfaces make it simple to listen inside or outside, wireless, over Bluetooth or hardwired. Rechargeable battery lasts up to 12 hours. Sleek design, available in a wide variety of wood and finish combinations. Special reduced pricing on the initial build of these through Spring at $299. Listening party at the Fox Note in Downtown Princeton on April 4th with free drinks and concert by Rebecca Hron of The Guilty Wanted! More listening parties will also take place in Appleton and Milwaukee. princeton-audio.com.
R8 | SceneNewspaper.com | April 2015
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April 2015 | SceneNewspaper.com | R9
ENTERTAINMENT // CINEMA BENEATH
Mortal Phases BY RICHARD OSTROM This month I am going to devote some quality time toward a surprisingly good modern day take on one of the oldest school fractions of the monster movie subgenre. Said film, calling itself ‘Late Phases’ (with the subtitle, ‘Night of the Lone Wolf ’ on the cover art but nowhere in the film) and hailing from the good folks at Glass Eye Pix (by way of Dark Sky Films) seeks to pull itself up from the oft tread conventions tied tight to the common fold of the werewolf film staple and branch off in a decidedly different, more character fueled, direction.
Situated in some far flung, small in scale New York state locale dubbed ‘Crescent City’, ‘Late Phases’ weds the viewer close to the pared down living situation of one vision free war vet name of Ambrose McKinley (realized onscreen by the ever dependable Nick Damici) with little more to yearn for but to count off the remaining days of his dwindling existence with his loyal pooch by his side. Our dutifully complacent chap has just freshly set down in these uneventful parts (with the aid of his always distracted son, played by Ethan Embry) when, from directly out of nowhere, arrives an intrusive menace of an extremely bestial nature. It would appear, as the pesky quirks of horror movie fate would have it, that the ‘harmless’ vibe of this community is seriously inflected by a heady dose of Lycanthropic corruption. The first thick taste of such comes in R10 | SceneNewspaper.com | April 2015
very direct fashion one fitfully solemn evening wherein our main man cursed with the failed eyeballs must quickly acclimate to a violent, fatal attack upon, first his kindly neighbor and next his ever faithful, four legged best friend. Promptly following this unprovoked assault, Ambrose sets forth to plot a course of action that will, hopefully, locate, isolate and snuff out the savage culprit. What this will ultimately entail is the deeper delving into the predictably conservative social circles that inform the spine of this specific slice of small town Americana. Ambrose attempts (not often successfully) to win the trust of the resident old biddy greeting committee (designed, to a degree, after characters in the original ‘Stepford Wives’ as confessed by the director on the revelatory commentary track) as well as integrate himself into the thick of the area religious populace (which looks to be a fair chunk of the story’s supporting players). This all unfolds in a fairly expected manner with a series of not-so-stable confrontations giving way to the inevitable red herring or two on the way to the customary human to were-thing transformation reveal that these kinds of pictures are cemented around. Fortunately for us, this oh so potentially simple and cliché susceptible piece of lower budget, wolfman calamity is guided to a far nobler fruition by the totally able hand of a gent named Adrian Garcia Bogliano. Those precious few of you who actually follow my scattershot column on a constant basis may recall that name as being associated with a lively film I covered but a year ago called ‘Here Comes the Devil’. That film proved itself the wealthy result of an ingenious and uber-resourceful filmmaker who could absorb and adapt his volumetric genre influences to the benefit of a work that, in itself, was wholly original and effortlessly engrossing. ‘Here Comes the Devil’ also marked the widest ever exposure in this America Bogliano had yet been graced with. This reasonable level of cult success on, mostly, the festival circuit served to put him in a position to take the next best step forward in his rising career, to craft a film within our lovely boarders. Thus, ‘Late Phases’ was born.
For this, Bogliano’s official English lingo debut, the man has carted a few of his well honed directorial traits with him. Witness the soothing warmth of the often succulent cinematography that works one into a lull to pull them away from the danger you know damn well is impending. See, as well, the fetishistic dedication to utter practicality when it comes to the meat of his film’s FX work. Minimal digital input was employed in the rendering of the beasties or their unsparing carnage. What you eventually lay eyes on is, for the most part, pure latex, body in suit reality (the ‘from scratch to completion’ details can be found in the 30 minute featurette ‘Early Phases’ which ventures into creature maker Robert Kurtzman’s studio to casually observe the nuts and bolts behind it all). Now, while it makes for a slight case of sensory adjustment, these delightfully cheesy monstrosities actually prove to be effective throwback, shock horror material once the last stains of polished digital trickery fall from ones’ psyche. They help to propel the mounting unease as generated throughout the narrative between our protagonist and a litany of set minded residents who can never really gel to Ambrose’s somewhat cold, do it yourself persona. It seems this fella’s determined in-town snooping has raised up the red flag with a number of folks from the gabby spinsters to the local police and back around to the members of faith who express equal parts concern and distain at his disruptive behavior. In the end, it all must spiral back to a case of a life hardened man and his sharpened wits pairing up against a violent wall of supernatural opposition, something the film rather effectively marries to the concept of a fading mortal soul facing its’ concluding moments. ‘Late Phases’ is, apart from being a solid genre entry occasioned by welcome bursts of quality gore, a very satisfying roll out of distinct characters and the fitting performances that breathe them to cinematic life. In addition to the fine, subtly rendered lead work by Damici (whom some may recall from his team ups with stellar director Jim Mickle, like ‘Stakeland”), the picture is peppered with many a (semi)
familiar mug from across the cult-pop culture entertainment landscape. The statuesque Tom (‘House of the Devil’, ‘Last Action Hero’) Noonan takes part as a mentor like preacher with a soft spot for cigarettes, Tina Louise (Ginger from Gilligan’s Island, now looking more like a Golden Girl) show up as one of the pesky neighbors, Lance Guest (the teen hero of ‘The Last Starfighter’) is a rather creepy hanger on at the church and former ‘Twin Peaks’ bad boy Dana Ashbrook cameos as an underground gun dealer. All help to fill out the background details nicely. Each piece of this decent cast works to raise the end product well above the standards long set down by one too many a slapped together, direct to the shelf, werewolf themed time killer. ‘Late Phases’ features the usual extra stuff (some of it mentioned above); play by play audio commentary, a pair of featurettes and the film’s trailer. It comes to availability on Blu Ray and/or DVD from the aforementioned Dark Sky Films (darkskyfilms.com). Worth a shot, I say. Now, for a much needed passing mention to the ongoing phenomenon of the film festival in this state of ours. With many such cinema based gatherings taking place all across Wisconsin (Wildwood in Appleton, Wisconsin International Film Fest in Madison plus collectives in Green Bay, Milwaukee, Weyauwega and many, many others) I thought it only fitting to pass along a quick assemblage of my own make pretend fest line up culled from many recent finds that I just never got around to rambling about in a regular column. 1. ‘Whiplash’-Call it ‘Full Metal Jazz Band’. Young drummer with obvious skill set comes under the intense tutelage of a firebrand instructor (J.K. Simmons in an Oscar winning, volcano of a performance). The film charts how the poor lad must endure relentless immersion into the methods of his chosen craft (often to the sharp accompaniment of a barrage of profane insults) in order to come out the other side as one of the greats. The best I’ve seen, thus far, of the most recent slate of Academy Continue on Page R12
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ENTERTAINMENT // CINEMA BENEATH
Continued from Page R10 Award darlings (sorry Birdman). 2. ‘Under the Skin’- Scarlett Johansson is an alien newly arrived on Earth (more explicitly, Scotland) with an apparent agenda of luring suitable human males, by virtue of her foxy exterior, to her mysterious lair for abduction and...uh...processing purposes or something. Slow, spare and enigmatic, the film marks a return to filmmaking after a near decade of absence for Jonathan Glazer (‘Sexy Beast’, ‘Birth’) who takes the bare skeleton of Michel Faber’s source novel and has crafted an absorbing study of a being out of place in an environment made all the more alien in itself as the whole film seems to align with Scarlett’s character’s somewhat abstracted point of view. Dense and challenging in its ambiguity. 3. ‘The Guest’- Those clever, ‘wink, wink’, cats behind the home invasion splat fest ‘You’re Next’, Adam Wingard and Simon Barrett, are back with another jumpy thriller that repeatedly nods back in time toward entries from multiple genres from the 80s and 90s. A soldier on return
from the Afghan war ingratiates himself as the proposed combat pal of a naïve family’s fallen son. The mystery thickens as the man (essayed by ‘Downtown Abby’ star Dan Stevens) turns out to hold secrets that could prove quite threatening to his obliging hosts. Twisty, stylish fun in an old school, accidental video store discovery
kind of way. 4. ‘Starry Eyes’- Think of one of David Lynch’s starlet in trouble scenarios played out on a more straight arrow path, for awhile, until the darker themes of the storyline bleed vividly to the surface. Somebody named Alex Essoe stars as Sarah, a waitress at a typically degrading Hooters knock off joint who yearns to be a star, awww. She claims she’ll do anything to get the part and
soon finds herself put to the test of making good on her word in the most unexpected and disturbing way. Relentless once it kicks into its’ true narrative intent, with a game lead performance by Essoe that runs an emotional gauntlet that stands to gut the soul of any timid viewer. 5. ‘VHS Viral’+’The ABC’s of Death 2’- The latest additions to the two anthology franchises that have done all in their power to fully revitalize the format to the level once held by the likes of ‘Creepshow’. They’re not quite there, but not for lack of persistence and notable improvement of product (especially ‘ABC’s’ which had a lot to make up for in relation to its inaugural entry). Segments very wildly as per usual, but there seems to be a shift in favor of craftsmanship and stronger ideas (as opposed to beat you over the head gross out/shock tactics) which gives me great hope as this whole concept continues to move foreword. Bring on the next round. 6. ‘Life Itself ’- A look at the life and uneasy death (more to the point, dying days) of the most famous of all movie critics, Roger Ebert. ‘Hoops Dreams’ creator Steve James conducts a series of interviews
with a post speech, jaw removal Ebert in his hospital room and interweaves the recollection of Roger’s rise from lowly Illinois newspaper lackey to the heights of cinematic analysis as the co-host of the popular ‘At The Movies’ syndicated program and beyond with input from some of the man’s big name pals like Martin Scorsese and Werner Herzog. We see images from Ebert’s youth in Urbana, IL and hear recollections from many mouths of his tussle with serious alcohol abuse before he became the sweater sporting rival to fellow Chicago film critic Gene Siskel. Funny, revealing and a bit unsettling (James is often present for Ebert’s sometimes unpleasant medical upkeep), ‘Life Itself ’ is a fully rewarding look at one of the most unique of all modern celebrities, in this overburdened age of self indulgent blogging and social network info-overkill will there ever be elbow room enough for another like him? Me thinks not. That’s enough. Happy festing, no matter how or where you do it. killpeoplenamedrichard@yahoo.com
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April 2015 | SceneNewspaper.com | R13
ENTERTAINMENT // NICK OLIG
Game of Thrones Stimulus Package BY NICK OLIG The new year brought with it subzero temperatures and a temptation to bingewatch popular shows I’d never seen. A friend’s recommendation guided me to Game of Thrones. By the end of the first episode, with so much potential for episodic drama rife with good, evil, sex, and violence, I gazed out the window, saw two polar bears battling over dumpster scraps outside of Chinatown Kitchen, and realized I was indeed hooked on Game of Thrones. The most striking part of the HBO series is its enormity. Due to its eversprawling story arc, Thrones features about a dozen major characters, scores of minor characters, numerous stunt doubles, and countless extras—and that only covers the people who appear on-screen, not the producers, writers, directors, editors, camera and boom mic operators, wardrobe designers, set builders, stylists, key grips and best boys (whatever it is they do), caterers, and dialect coaches who constantly harp on the actors to British-up those accents. That last job might be the easiest since many of the performers hail from the United Kingdom. Although the program is certifiably huge in the States and we can at least be proud the dwarf was born in Jersey, we seem to be missing the full potential of HBO’s pop-culture juggernaut. Thrones makes a staggering amount of money and generates a lot of industry, but that industry mostly profits Europeans, not Americans. And for that reason, I declare that our president and Congress should unite in a massive group-text effort with the show’s producers. We’ve got to let them know that the average American has the potential to be yet another minor character in a seemingly infinite realm. We must demand that an already crowded, fictional universe be expanded for the benefit of America. Our Thrones homeland is to be named McDonaldsburgh. Devout fans have no reason to suspect the rise of McDonaldsburgh will clash with author George RR Martin’s epic vision. The new land’s inhabitants, the McDonaldsburghers, will exist apart from Martin’s multitude of characters R14 | SceneNewspaper.com | April 2015
and their various adventures. If we can somehow tie together all the stories in the end just like they did on Seinfeld, that’d be fantastic. If not, hey, we’re just hoping to get paid either way. As if that plea wasn’t humble enough for the purists, we’re only asking for ten minutes of screen time per episode. Plus we’re Americans, so you don’t have to worry about a drop-off when it comes to sex and violence. By introducing McDonaldsburgh into the narrative, my hunch is that America’s unemployment rate could be cut in half. Fi l m e d i n t h e woods of northern Wisconsin—the Midwest’s answer to Hollywood if there ever was one—job-growth would commence with some big-time deforestation efforts so we can build enormous sets to make McDonaldsburgh come to life. For that endeavor, we’re going to need thousands of lumberers, construction workers, and engineers— and if any of them fit the part, we also need someone to play the parts of the rugged crusader Clutch Mountainside as well as the goateed schemer Fork Stansbury. The most crucial set-piece is the luxurious mayor’s office. (Yes, mayor’s office, the others can have their silly monarchies, but we do things the McDonaldsburgh way.) Mayor Plus Wonderpledge rules the land with a strong hand and a charming smile, but you might remember him from a bunch of movies in which he gets butchered, so don’t get too attached to the guy! His wife Fern is a paragon of virtue and his children Whiff and Beige are spirited upstarts with bright futures, but Plus’ longtime rival Lance Wedgers and his cousinly lover Stemla Prickerbush are dead-set on sabotaging the entire Wonderpledge family. They intend to unseat Wonderpledge behind the hallowed mayor’s desk and symbolically decimate his empire by using the over-sized key to the city to
smash his “Realm’s Best Mayor” mug. Bare in mind, besides the obvious acting jobs these characters create, every performer will require makeup ladies (or lads), costume designers, fight coordinators, acting coaches, personal trainers, personal assistants, desperate hangers-on like that surfer dude who crashed at OJ’s, and various shoulder-to-cry-on specialists (a position which pays a respectable $12/ hour). Elsewhere in McDonaldsburgh, the area’s finest horse-drawn carriage
manufacturing barn is overseen by Lord Fordsworth, who’s constantly warning his rabble-rousing blacksmiths Vanderley Cobbleport and Bloom Chesters to stop carousing with his 19 irresistible daughters—each more scantily clad and born out of wedlock than the last! (Hoping this one will get its own spin-off, btw.) Citizens can take refuge from their troubles at the McDonaldsburgh Gladiator Arena. Therein, a series of physical challenges pit contestants against Gladiators like Clamp Superplex, Ore Flackington, Boom Merlin-Olsen, and my personal favorites, the chesty Eliza Thundersnow and her bosomy friend Vivacity Landolakes. All performers are clad in McDonaldsburgh’s most wondrous invention: spandex. Gladiator events like the Dwarf Catapult, the Rapunzel Climb, the Bastard Toss, and the Axe Fight to the Death are sure to put even the best Gladiator, Indigo Foxboro (whom I just made up to create another job), to the ultimate test. Contestants include Remi Millimeter, who was
sentenced to compete after his newfangled system of measurement was deemed straight-up witchcraft. In more scandalous fashion, citizens can also take refuge from their troubles, or perhaps add to their troubles, by patronizing Vice Everlast’s Burlesque-o-torium, where the bedazzling Marigold Minutia dances nightly. Male dancers Fort Bravado and Leif Deciduous provide some eye candy for the ladies. Also the gay men, I suppose. Anyway, they supply this eye candy to the tunes of Clive Aerosmith and Sammi Redrocker, McDonaldsburgh’s most radical glockenspiel and lute combo. The villainous Speck Crumbsteign and the complex yet also quite complicated Plate Wightly vie to manage them. Oh, and in closing, we’ll come up with stuff to do for the following characters: Flea Highriser, Fanny Pebblekeg, Zane Beedles, Ladybird Nippley, Wheely Cobblestone, Big Mama Cabbagepatch, and if possible, a part for me, Sir Beardythins of the North. The main cause for concern is that these jobs are not going to create themselves. (Though Sir Beardythins would be capable of magically creating jobs if given the opportunity.) Our government needs to reach an agreement with Game of Thrones and its British contingency. So, however you want to go about it, whether that means screaming out the window in the general direction of the White House or sending your city counsel a video cassette of you being super- P.O.’d, or perhaps some third, smarter form of political action, make your voice heard about the Game of Thrones Stimulus Package. Let’s let those British thespians know they’re not the only ones with castles and dragons, and we’re proud of our bouncy castles and WWE Hall-of-Famer Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat! And if they refuse us, we must usurp the British throne. Queen Elizabeth is 88 years old, so I gotta wonder, how hard could it be? It’d be such an easy usurping, we could arm a dwarf from Jersey with a crossbow to get the job done. Only kidding about the regicide! Regicide is no joke, it’s not a comedy. It’s the best drama on TV.
April 2015 | SceneNewspaper.com | R15
ENTERTAINMENT // DOBIE MAXWELL
An Ending to Vending BY DOBIE MAXWELL As painful and disappointing as it may be to accept, I have finally forced myself to live with the harsh reality that at this point in my life the only way I will ever appear on SportsCenter is if I take a foul ball to the face at a baseball game. And even then, they won’t mention my name and I will only be on for a few seconds while the anchors crack a joke and then report the final score. Sports dreams die hard in those of us that have them. I’m not sure what the exact percentage is of little boys that have pictured themselves as being locks to be inducted into one or more sports Hall’s of Fame, but I have to believe it’s in the high 90s. I know I was bitten by the baseball bug at first, then football and basketball followed shortly thereafter. By age nine I had my life plan set. There was absolutely no doubt in my still squishy and not fully developed prepubescent brain that I was going to conquer them all, and be a modern day Jim Thorpe. I would work out a deal where I could have special clearance to play in all the big games in all three sports, and of course I would be able to play for my local Wisconsin teams so I wouldn’t have to move anywhere else. I was fully prepared to work at it, but that pesky little distraction called “school” kept holding me back from devoting my entire being to what I was sure was to be my true calling. Why would I have to waste valuable space inside my skull with useless claptrap like math or world history? Millions of little boys – and who knows how many little girls – fall prey to this ridiculous idea every year only to have those delicate dreams and sky high hopes dashed to the rocks below with no consolation prize from the universe. Only a precious few ever make it and that’s just how it is. The closest I ever made it to participating in professional sports was in high school when I was a ball boy for the Milwaukee Bucks. It was my job to sit underneath one of the baskets during the game, and whenever anybody would hit the ground I ran out on the court with a R16 | SceneNewspaper.com | April 2015
towel to wipe up the sweat so nobody else would slip and fall. Sometimes the game would stop, sometimes not. It was especially tricky when it wouldn’t, because I had to run out and wipe up the sweat while watching what was happening on the other end of the court. The action could switch back to my end in a split second, and more than a few times I had to dive off the court to avoid a trampling. I lasted two seasons as a ball boy, and in retrospect it was an unbelievably pleasant experience most sports fans never get to enjoy. I was lucky enough to have a great staff of fellow ball boys to work with, and we all got along swimmingly. In fact, I am still in touch with many to this day. One story I will never forget involves my fellow ball boy Wade Waugus and Philadelphia 76er player Henry Bibby. It taught Wade and I a valuable life lesson while also letting us both know in no uncertain terms that a career in the NBA as a player was officially off the bargaining table for the rest of eternity on this particular cosmic plane. Once again, the harshness of it all was ugly. Like any number of high school boys anywhere Wade and I fancied ourselves to be more than decent basketball players. The fact we were both Caucasians without the genetic dispositions to make us even close to six much less seven feet tall wasn’t enough to stop us from assuming we’d eventually get drafted by an NBA team and spend a dozen years getting rich and winning rings. Henry Bibby was the last player on the bench for the 76ers who were a powerhouse team then. They had the great Julius Erving aka “Dr. J” and a galaxy of stars around him. Mr. Bibby didn’t play all that much, and he wasn’t all that tall either. He might have been six feet, but no more. Wade and I were doing our ball boy duties hours before the game and Henry Bibby was on the court by himself practicing his free throws. He sized up Wade and me and asked if either of us were basketball players. We said we were, and Henry came up with an on the spot proposal. “How about we have a little game then?” he asked innocently. “It will be you two against me and we’ll play to 21. For
every basket you get, you get three points. For every basket I get I get one point. And to make it even more interesting, how about we play for one dollar a point?” To avoid reliving all the bloody details, the final score was 21-3, and I honestly can’t recall if Wade or I scored our lone basket. Mr. Bibby beat us within an inch of our lives, and I don’t think he came close to breaking a sweat. Wade and I instantly had respect for just how good any player is that makes it to the pros – even if it’s the very last person on the bench. He stomped us good. And to add gas to the fire he made us pay up on the bet. Ball boy salaries were nowhere near player salaries, but a bet was a bet. Wade and I emptied our pockets, and swore we’d never tell a living soul about what happened. I have always kept that secret buried in my heart – until now. My last brush with professional sports was with baseball. After I graduated high school I still thought I had a shot at getting drafted to play baseball. I pitched in some city leagues around the Milwaukee area and the Kansas City Royals held tryout camps in every Major League city. They came to Milwaukee and my coach suggested I go try out. I did get a second look by the scout on duty, but I never got a contract offer. That was a sledge hammer to the heart, but what could I do? The following summer the Milwaukee Brewers were hiring vendors. I needed a job, but I also wasn’t ready to let go of the dream. Somewhere deep in the crevices of my cerebral cortex I had a fuzzy image of one of the Brewers’ pitchers tearing his rotator cuff and word getting out that I was in the stadium to come to the rescue. I’m ashamed to admit it now, but it’s absolutely true. Being a vendor on opening day in an outdoor stadium in Milwaukee made mopping up sweat as a ball boy look like a dream career. The temperature that first day was locked firmly between severe testicle retraction and purple flesh frostbite requiring amputation of digits. It was torture. And what ball park treat was I assigned to sell for nine hellacious innings? POPCORN! Stale, over salted, disgusting popcorn. I think I had a better chance of selling life insurance that day.
Needless to say, I didn’t set any sales records that first day. It was pelting something between snow and sleet, and the Brewers were playing the dreaded White Sox that day so their obnoxious fans were mixed in with the drunken sea of Brew Crew faithful to make it one big ugly bar fight. Everybody was yelling at me to, “Get the beer man over here.” I tried to sell them my popcorn but they wouldn’t have any of it. By the end of the game I was ready to jump off the upper deck and end it all. But the Brewers squeaked out a win and I decided to come back for another day. The next game was two days later, and there were one tenth of the people in the stands that were there for Opening Day. The bad part was there was the same amount of vendors. I had no chance to unload anything without three more of my cohorts swarming around them with the same item for sale. The only redeeming factor was that instead of popcorn I was now selling hot dogs. After taking a few laps across my section of the stadium and not selling a single dog, I walked down to the front row of the bleachers and plopped myself down next to the warmth of the hot dog container. I started watching the game while simultaneously downing one hot dog after the next. I made it through a half a dozen, and got thirsty so I ended up buying a Coke from one of the other vendors who shot me the most quizzical look I ever received – but he sold me the Coke. By the later innings a few people had wandered into my section and I shared the remainder of my hot dogs with them. When the game was over I left my container there and put my vendor’s smock on top of it. I didn’t have any money for bus fare, so I ended up walking several miles home. But at least I wasn’t hungry. I can’t help but remember that story whenever another year of baseball starts. Somewhere in the karma files I owe the Milwaukee Brewers 24 hot dogs. Dobie Maxwell is a stand up comedian, and writer. Find where he’ll be performing his next hell-gig at dobiemaxwell.com
Vist our webiste for more information www.foxcitiesbookfestival.org April 2015 | SceneNewspaper.com | R17
NEWS & VIEWS // THE VIEW FROM THE LEFT-FIELD SEATS
The Long Path to Equal Citizenship BY DENNIS RILEY The 14 th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees every citizen equal protection of the laws of the state in which that citizen — any U.S. citizen in any state for any reason — finds himself or herself. The amendment doesn’t define equal protection, but the First amendment doesn’t define free speech, the Fifth doesn’t define due process, and the Eighth doesn’t define cruel and unusual punishment. That job is left to the courts, and it is definitely a work in progress. Likewise, we don’t have a clear and easy-to-find statement of what it means to be a citizen entitled to equal protection. That is, are there aspects of the relationship between an individual and the state he or she resides in that rise to the level of citizenship and that do raise clear issues of equal protection? I think we can identify at least three. THE RIGHT TO VOTE
Start with voting. Would anyone consider himself or herself an equal citizen if denied the right to vote? This gets to be a bit of a tricky question, of course. That’s because as important as the right to vote is, the opportunity to vote is crucial to making that right a reality. In fact, serious enough restrictions on the opportunity to vote can quickly erode the right to vote. Even in the heyday of the suppression of the African American vote — from the end of Reconstruction to the passage of the Voting Rights Act — no Southern state formally denied those African Americans the right to vote. They just
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made it virtually impossible to cast a ballot by using impossible-to-pass literacy tests, poll taxes, and good old-fashioned physical and economic intimidation. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 opened up the opportunity for African Americans to vote, and until the Supreme Court struck down one of its most important enforcement mechanisms, no state had moved to put greater obstacles in the paths to the polls . . . for anybody. But those days are over, and state after state — including Wisconsin — has moved to make it tougher for people to vote. Photo IDs, shorter voting hours, fewer chances to vote on weekends, even moving polling places, have all been aimed at reducing the ease of showing up to vote. These restrictions may not have been aimed exclusively at African Americans, but Souls to the Polls was created by African American churches for Sunday voting, and an awful lot of Southern states reduced or eliminated Sunday voting. Besides, even if some restrictions were not aimed at African American voters, those restrictions hit those voters disproportionately, and results matter just about as much as intentions. EDUCATION
Then there is public education. We got into the business of widespread, basically free, and generally compulsory public education by the 1840s, and the job was always left to state and local governments. It is hard to overestimate the historical importance of public education in the tale of upward social mobility in this country. Even before the Supreme Court held in 1896 that “separate but equal” facilities
met the 14 th amendment test of equal protection in public accommodations — segregated railroad cars, to be precise — Southern and even border states maintained separate school systems, if there were schools for African Americans at all. That system continued unchanged until the Supreme Court held in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas (1954), that separate could never be equal, and it was changed only very little over the next couple of decades despite President Eisenhower’s use of federal troops in Little Rock in 1957. Housing segregation accomplished in the North what the law had accomplished in the South, and to this day the bulk of African American children in the South and in the big and even medium-sized cities of the North go to schools where they are surrounded by other children of color. EQUAL PROTECTION
Finally, equal protection of the laws has to depend on equal enforcement of the laws. That, alas, may be the furthest away of all. Not every American city or town is a Ferguson, Mo., but even the Justice Department’s carefully worded and clearly circumscribed report on the law enforcement system in Ferguson suggested that Missouri town was not an anomaly. If you haven’t been exposed to the mind-numbing numbers included in that report, just consider one or two. Sixtyseven percent of the city’s residents are African American — 85% percent of the citations were written to African Americans, 93% of the arrests were of African Americans, and 100% of the 60 incidents
in which a police dog was commanded to attack a Ferguson citizen involved an African American. The reason we know all of this is that Michael Brown was an African American. To add insult to injury, the citations and arrests were used in part to raise money to help the cash-strapped city pay its bills, and officials in the police department exchanged racist emails all the while. As President Barack Obama said so eloquently at the Edmund Pettis Bridge at the ceremony commemorating what has come to be called Bloody Sunday — the day that voting rights marchers were attacked by Alabama state troopers — 2015 is not 1965, let alone 1915. So much change has come, and so much good accomplished. John Lewis was one of the young men severely beaten on the bridge that day. He is now Representative John Lewis (D. Ga.). African Americans are prominent in every walk of life. The small private liberal arts college I attended all those years ago, the one without a single African American student or faculty member, just said good-bye to its beloved African American president. When I pick up my grandsons at school, there are students of color in every classroom, a far cry from what I saw when I picked up my daughter 30 years ago. As our African American President also said, however, we have a long way to go. Can anything make us hurry? Enough out of me. Dennis Riley has been teaching about American government and politics since the year Richard Nixon was inaugurated as President of the United States.
Free General Admission for Everyone, Always
April 18 – September 6, 2015
Inspired by the flora and fauna of the Pacific Northwest, Native Species features 38, blown glass vessels by William Morris, protégé of Dale Chihuly.
165 North Park Avenue Neenah, WI 54956-2294 Telephone: 920.751.4658 bmmglass.com
HOURS: TU – SA, 10 am to 4:30 pm, SU 1 – 4:30 pm
AACG
Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass
This exhibition is supported in part by a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the state of Wisconsin and The National Endowment for the Arts.
April 2015 | SceneNewspaper.com | R19
NEWS & VIEWS // RIGHT WING NUT
The State of Media Vetting BY ROBERT E. MEYER Scott Walker got elected as governor of Wisconsin without a college degree. That has the usual purveyors of snide remarks, such as democratic provocateur, Howard Dean, questioning Walker’s presidential qualifications. Funny, once upon a time the unlikely achiever was celebrated as an American success story. In Howard Dean’s world, Walker is shunned because he isn’t an elitist--or a liberal. In my book, Walker’s decision to drop out of college only helped him to escape being immersed in the liberal hegemony that permeates contemporary higher educational environments. On the other hand, I do have a college degree, but never got elected to anything (though I tried a few times when I was younger). So I guess that proves I’m an underachiever of the highest order. I guess higher education ain’t everything! Former Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold acted according to his convictions and was lauded by the media as a maverick. Walker does the same thing and gets branded as a shill for his close friends the Koch Brothers. In fact, he’s such good friends with them, that he couldn’t tell the difference when a liberal imposter called his office pretending to be one of the brothers. That would seemingly indicate a rather dubious close friendship. The gag never could have worked with me though--I don’t have any close friends for anyone to impersonate. Being a rock, an island and a loner has certain advantages, I suppose. Speaking of the Koch Brothers, I never knew much about them before Walker was elected the first time. These guys have been so relentlessly impugned with boilerplate diatribes, that were I not already a conservative, I’d have to assume these guys are doing something right. A little research showed that the brothers were generous philanthropists. Some people are surprised to discover that conservatives tend to be more generous with their own money than are liberals. I was never surprised by that fact. If you expect the government to do R20 | SceneNewspaper.com | April 2015
everything for everyone, you’re less likely to see the need for doing anything for anyone yourself. Of course, I could never make the cut in politics anyway. I would address issues regarding the meaningless curiosity over my opinions on the neo-Darwinian synthesis, the causes of Climate Change, Obama’s religious beliefs and my educational deficiencies, along with other irrelevant issues before the questions were even asked. That way the people who are swayed by my answers could leave, and not bother wasting their time listening to the actual policy speech. And that’s the state of media vetting today. Don’t bother finding out anything for sure about candidates, just single out the candidates you don’t like, and ask a bunch of foolish questions that will make the candidate look bad regardless of the answer they give. Walker was smart not to take the bait. I have often suggested that fools ask questions that serve no purpose in being answered, but far from having no purpose, their questions have a nefarious purpose. The statesman Benjamin Disraeli is credited with saying that there are lies, damn lies, and then there are statistics. In that spirit, I would submit that there and lies, damn lies, and questions designed to provoke one word answers that are misleading. We know any innuendo about media bias is just part of a loony conspiracy theory. Of course, I have noticed that people who deny the presence of media bias are usually the ones who share the same ideology as the source of the bias. Go figure. But, alright then, the mainstream media can demonstrate that they are fair and objective once more, by having their moderator ask all candidates participating in the 2016 Democratic Presidential Debates, to raise their hands if they believe in Biblical Creationism. On second thought, that venue may not include many participants, so perhaps any collection of assembled liberal politicians should do. After all, the Democrats came within
a whisker of dropping reference to “God” in their platform for 2012... at least until cooler heads prevailed, and they realized they had gone a bridge too far. They could have unnecessarily lost the votes of some lunchbox Joe’s, who though they have nothing in common with progressive ideology, still continue to vote for the donkey, because everyone “knows” the Democrats are the only party championing the little guy. My oh my, how they have feasted off that canard. I’m not expecting Walker to be the last
man standing when the smoke clears in the Republican primary. But, Walker’s success could influence the audacity of the conservative platform for 2016. The longer he stays relevant in the presidential race, the more shrill and obnoxious his detractors will become. That will prove to be wonderfully entertaining.
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April 2015 | SceneNewspaper.com | R21
NEWS & VIEWS // MEDIA RANTS
Media Rants Talks to Mike McCabe BY TONY PALMERI Democracy activist Mike McCabe, former Executive Director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign and author of the reform manifesto Blue Jeans in High Places, will speak at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh on Thursday, April 9 at 7:30 p.m. in Reeve Union 306. Attendance is free and open to all. If you are interested in what is ailing our democracy and what we can do to cure it, please attend!
his campaigns at a time when newspapers were king, and how we now see $80 million spent on statewide races for governor once television replaced newspapers as the place where most people get most of their information about government, elections and candidates running for office.TV also has changed the way politicians talk. They now have to speak in soundbites. They have to be glib, and they think they have to be blow dried and made up to look like TV anchors. Substance is sacrificed. More
In anticipation of Mike’s visit, I asked him to respond to a few questions. MEDIA RANTS: Blue Jeans in High Places is relatively silent on the role of mainstream media in helping to create the civic crisis described. What’s the media’s role in that crisis? MCCABE: The role has been huge. Chapter 12 focuses on how the changing media landscape has contributed mightily to the decline of our democracy’s health. There are other parts of the book that don’t appear to be addressing the media, but describe how politics has changed because of the way news organizations have changed. Like how Bill Proxmire used to be able to run successfully for statewide office while spending less than $300 on each of
truth is found on “fake news” on Comedy Central than is found on the “real” news provided by cable news. That’s a sad commentary on the state of the media. MEDIA RANTS: Are there particular Wisconsin news sources and/or journalists that you rely on to find out what’s “really going on” in our state? MCCABE: I don’t put my eggs in one basket, or even in a few baskets. I believe in reliance on a very wide variety of news sources. I still subscribe to a daily newspaper, and glean news from the websites of many others. I am an avid public radio listener. I get a lot of news online, from a large number of sources. I occasionally listen to commercial talk radio, but generally don’t find it very useful. I used to
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faithfully watch “Meet the Press” and “Face the Nation” and other national news programs, but have given up on them. I learn way more from one episode of The Daily Show on Comedy Central than I did from a month’s worth of watching Washington pundits pontificating on one of the major networks. Some of the best news sources are small, little known operations, and some of the finest journalists work for such outfits. The Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism and its wisconsinwatch. org website is outstanding. I’m a big fan of Bruce Murphy at urbanmilwaukee.com. He’s really good. Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert deserve to be included among the nation’s best newsmen. They are going to be tough to replace on those shows. As I write in the book, thank god for satire. The last safe harbor for truth. MEDIA RANTS: During your time at the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, your “Big Money Blog” was a lifeline for many activists seeking information and insight about how special interests rule our politics. Will you continue to blog or produce similar reports in some other format? MCCABE: Yes, I will start blogging again very soon. I can’t help myself. MEDIA RANTS: You’re quite active on social media. How are Facebook and other social media changing the civic landscape? MCCABE: I have a love/hate relationship with social media. They are amazing tools, with vast potential to democratize the media. But they are still in their infancy, politically speaking. They also
have a dark side, obviously. Some of what you find on social media is mindless, some of it is disgusting, and some of it is downright depressing. But on the whole, I think the good outweighs the bad. I find Facebook and Twitter and other social media platforms to be very valuable ways to reach people, exchange ideas and even inspire action. So I try to overlook what I hate about them. MEDIA RANTS: Blue Jeans in High Places offers some pretty hard-hitting criticism of the political status quo, yet it’s also a very hopeful book. You seem optimistic that engaged citizens can repair our broken democracy. Why are you so optimistic? MCCABE: The political system is broken; the major parties are failing us. There’s no whitewashing that. The current moment is bleak. But such conditions have existed before. And every time past generations encountered these same kinds of threats to democracy and civil society, they rose to the occasion and straightened things out. I refuse to believe that there is something fundamentally different about us or wrong with us that renders us less capable of making change than past generations were. We’ve reached a crucial turning point, just as our grandparents and great grandparents and great great grandparents did. And I have no doubt that we will do what they did. Tony Palmeri (palmeri.tony@gmail.com) is a Professor of Communication Studies at UW Oshkosh. • SAVE • SAVE • SAVE • SAVE •
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NEWS & VIEWS // ROHN’S RANTS
April elections and, Did the GOP commit treason? BY ROHN BISHOP Attorney General, Brad Schimel, likes to remind his audience how a bill becomes a law, using the “School House Rocks” cartoon as his example. It goes something like this: “First, a bill passes the Assembly; if it passes the Senate in the exact form; it goes to the Governor’s desk. If the governor signs the bill, it becomes a la………a lawsuit in Dane County Court!” The left’s attempt to circumvent the legislative process by using activist liberal judges, who see themselves as “super legislators” instead of judges interpreting the law and constitution, is why these spring judicial elections have become so important. There is no better example of liberal activist judges than, Chief Justice Shirley Abrahamson and Justice Ann Walsh Bradley. On April 7, we can do something about it. The non partisan spring election has two important reasons to get a conservative out to vote. State Supreme Court race between Justice Ann Walsh Bradley and Judge James Daley An amendment to the state constitution that changes how the Chief Justice of the state supreme court is determined.
Daley served as the Rock County District Attorney when he was appointed to the bench by Governor Tommy Thompson in 1998 and he’s been re-elected five times. In 2013 the Wisconsin Supreme Court named Daley as the Chief Judge of the 5th Judicial Circuit, where he established three specialized diversion courts, a drug court, a veteran’s court, and an OWI court. Judge Daley is also a decorated war hero, enlisting in the U.S. Marine Corps; he served in Vietnam, where he was
rassment on the high court. Defeating Justice Bradley will be no easy task and is unlikely. Only two justices have been defeated for re-election since World War II... “Loop Hole” Louis Butler in 2008, and in 1967 a challenger defeated incumbent Justice George Currie. Currie lost his bid for re-election after he allowed the Milwaukee Braves baseball team to relocate to Atlanta. (As a baseball fan I’d have voted against him too!) On April 7, vote for Judge James Daley.
The White House, democrats, and the news media were indignant; Nancy Pelosi was so hot her plastically enhanced face started to melt. “Treason!” they roared. Did the Republican commit treason? No. Article 2 of the constitution states, “He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two thirds of the senators present concur”
Article 2 of the constitution states, “He shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two thirds of the senators present concur”
Daley vs Bradley The race for the Wisconsin Supreme Court pits long time liberal justice, Ann Walsh Bradley, against Rock County Judge James Daley. R26 | SceneNewspaper.com | April 2015
awarded the Bronze Star with “V” Device for Valor, the Purple Heart Medal, a Meritorious Mast, and the Combat Action Ribbon. Following his service overseas, Daley served the Wisconsin National Guard for 30 years. Then we have incumbent Justice Ann Walsh Bradley, who’s helped to turn the Supreme Court into something of a circus. It was Justice Bradley, who during their discussions about Act 10...snapped, and in a rage of anger charged at Justice Prosser in an apparent attempt to harm him. Justice Prosser put his hands up for self defense and the justices had to be split apart. Then Justice Bradley lied about the event, leaking to media outlets that it was Prosser whom attempted to “choke hold” her! Justice Bradley has repeatedly ignored precedent, the constitution, and the law in a fledgling attempt to undercut the conservative legislature and governor. Most notable are her attempts to overturn the governor’s reforms, mitigate our Second Amendment Rights, and to block our Voter ID law. Justice Bradley has become an embar-
For an independent fair minded conservative Supreme Court justice. Constitutional Amendment Currently the chief justice of the state Supreme Court goes to the longest serving justice on the court. This amendment would change that, allowing the justices to elect their own chief. This amendment comes after years of frustration with the current chief justice, Shirley Abrahamson. Her inability to get along with justices has helped to make our court slow, dysfunctional, and a joke. Allowing the justices to elect a chief is a way to make the chief justice accountable to his or her peers. This would put Wisconsin on par with 22 other states and should make the court more efficient and effective. Did GOP Senators commit Treason? In early March, 47 Republican Senators signed an open letter to the leadership of Iran, reminding them that any “deal” Iran was to strike with President Barack Obama could be terminated on January 20, 2017...the first day of the next president’s administration.
As usual Obama is ignoring both the constitution and the congress, a co-equal branch of government. Secretary of State John Kerry announced that he is not negotiating a treaty, but a “legally binding plan.” “This is clearly a treaty,” Sen. John McCain said, “They can call it a banana, but it’s a treaty.” President Obama seems hell bent on letting Iran have a nuclear weapon. This notion terrifies many of us, who believe that Iran’s leadership is so dangerous, so nutty, that if they get nuclear weapons, they will use them. There will be a second holocaust and a third World War fought this time with nuclear weapons. No, the Republicans didn’t commit treason; they’re trying to save the world from a nuclear Iran. The Republicans are trying to sound an alarm, an alarm no one wants to hear. But, at least their letter brought attention to the “treason” being committed by Obama and Kerry. In 1953 America executed the Rosenberg’s for secretly giving nuclear technology to an enemy, the Soviet Union. In 2015 the president does it in plain sight! Rohn W. Bishop is a monthly contributor to the Scene. Bishop, a former member of the Waupun City Council, currently serves as Treasurer for the Republican Party of Fond du Lac County. Contact Rohn: email: rohnnyb@msn.com Twitter: @RohnWBishop
April 3th - Raglanders 4 point Reyes April 10th - T.U.G.G. April 11th - DJ Lockens April 17th - Evergreen April 18th - Jam Funk All Stars April 25th - Kyle Megna and The Monsoons
April 2015 | SceneNewspaper.com | R27
ENTERTAINMENT // BUDDHIST ADVISOR
Dreams, Redux BY JOHN PRICE-KABHIR THE BUDDHIST ADVISER (This column follows from last month’s piece about dreams and dreaming.) But dreams have a lightness about them. As a brick or stone carries weight, dreams carry no weight. Although the images in dreams are ethereal, the “things” of dreams do not have weighty substance. We float through our dreams. Even nightmares keep us one step from the gritty reality of waking life. Though they can torment us, they do not physically injure. It is only in imagination that dreams carry substance. Pema Chodron, the great Zen nun philosopher, wrote of a recurring dream she’d had after a divorce. She was tormented by the divorce. Nuns weren’t supposed to divorce. She felt it as a weakness. In this dream, night after night, she was chased by a dragon. It never quite caught up to her, but she felt that if it did, she would be mangled or killed. Then, one night, when the dream was dreadfully vivid, just as the dragon cornered her and was about to grab her, she turned on it and screamed, “No! No, you cannot have me. Go away!” And sure enough, the monster was dispelled, gone, never to return. This is most vivid dreaming. But the key is the dragon never got her. Like a dream of falling, where the person falling would die if the dreamer hit bottom, because if she did, the sequence would end in death and the dreamer‘s end. We’re never killed in our dreams. If we had been, we’d never wake up! The violence in dreams does not reach climax. I can think of no instance where I was physically injured by something in a dream, only terrified by what might happen. I might feel anxious or intense fear concerning some awful event in a dream, terrified. Never am I pummeled. I am injured, but I am never really physically hurt, but never am; in fact, I recall no dream actually bringing real pain. The pan in dreams is impending damage or deep disappointment. In a twisted way, dreams have a kind of solace in “what might have been“. R28 | SceneNewspaper.com | April 2015
Oh yes, I desire this or that in a dream. A recurring dream I’ve had the past several years involved getting out of work at my former job and not knowing how to get home. Or, in another recurring dream, I desire to lead a group of people to a place and find myself lost. But I do not feel pain in this context. So in those ways, my wanting, my desire, brings want but no pain. While in these senses, dreams can be unkind, but they do not physically hurt me. So when we think of the Buddhist notion of desire as one of the major torments of life, dreams surely can bring that. And in the sense of being hurt by a “what if,” he lessons of dreams are kind in their own ways. Like the dream about being frustrated about leading people home or to a desired place, I can most definitely see the lesson. In my unfulfilled desire to reach fulfillmet in a life goal never reached, the dream tells me about how I’d never led “my people’ to our appointed goal, the lesson is that I should have ever given up, no matter what the goal. I failed to lead the people to the promised land, to overcome the obstacles. I have dreamed over and over of trying to find my way home. This very well might relate to not having an unhappy childhood This is truly archetypal, like the journeys of Ulysses. Many times I am a Don Quixote, ceaselessly, night after night, trying to find my way home from a long and arduous journey. No ironically, the journey is simply finding my way home from work. And when I am home, isn’t the same home. It’s a home I’ve left. I’ve given up, and upon returning home, I went back to is an altered home. My son is gown up without me. My animals are dead. Dreams are not fulfilled as I thought they should have been. There’s a clear image in that, and it’s an image of why I turned to Zen. It’s sad. Another dream, also about finding my way from “here” to “there” involves travel of an epochal nature. At times, I am with a special group of people who’ve been chosen to represent a strong force of humankind. We’re of all ages and represent a cross-section of young and old, science and humanities. We board a giant
It
is only in imagination that dreams carry substance. vessel designed to travel through all of earth’s climates and terrains. Our destiny is the North Pole, then back, quite slowly through all climates and environments. This great journey is completed and does brig us home, unlike the other more simple treks, Noah’s Ark? Then, of course, there are the dreams of sex. Applying Freudian psychology to dreams, I conclude I do have issues with my parents, and I find I am not homosexual, if only desiring coupling with females is my goal. I’ll admit to having desires in dreams that would be inappropriate in waking life, for there have been instances where my sexual desire involves women with whom sex would be inappropriate by normal mores. I sat with my mother in hospice for two solid months while she died. She seemed to be dreaming, and talking in her delirium. One night, when it seemed she was just on the verge of dying, she talked of sitting at a dinner table. In a curious sense, out nurse that night was rather grossly offended because she was a born again Christian, and my mom definitely was not. One of the guests did not show. “I know who‘s missing,” she lamented. “It’s Larry, we’re waiting for Larry. When he comes, then we can eat.” It made her very sad that Larry wasn’t there. Yet it was still weeks before she died. Larry, a real person long dead, was missing and we couldn’t begin to eat before he arrived. This vignette reminds my of my dream of cousin Tim. He’s just outside, on the other side of the window, out in the yard. I am aimlessly wandering inside the house. I can hear his voice, in a quiet whisper,
complete with the unusual inflexion of his voice. The glass is dusty. I can see his image, smudged by the dust. And he’s speaking in a whisper, barely audible, but I can hear him and I know he wants me to come out. I want to join him, but there is no door. I can find no door before I awaken. Tim had died suddenly and unexpectedly just a few weeks before I started having this dream. Tim was the closest thing I had to a big brother. He shepherded me through all the manly rites of passage: driving a car, swimming, fishing, drinking beer, girls. In times where very important things a boy must do to become a man, Tim was there for me. Like my mom missing Larry (her brother in law) at her own Last Supper, I had a dream of missing my dear cousin Tim in an image associated with death - in a dream. I use the Larry and Tim dream anecdotes to illustrate how significant dreams can be, even in their mysteries. I do not understand dreams, but I know they’re important, and they bring meaning through their unique veils, meaning telling us vagaries illustrating some obvious import and some confusing and too vague to make clear sense. But dreams are exquisite. Think of life without dreams. It would be a life with much less mystery. Ah, the mystery of dreams. So very sweet in their own faces through the dusty window. John Price - Kabhir, is an ordained Zen householder. I welcome your input at 920558-3076; Shiningcrow11@yahoo.com
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OUTDOORS // SEEING GREEN
Bats in the Spotlight BY WILL STAHL Bats and I go back a ways. The first one I ever saw washed up dead on the shore of the lake I lived on. No more than ten, I saw at once what it must be with its matted, furry body and translucent wings. It was creepy and fascinating all at once. In later years I had bats flutter up in my face as I ripped the wood shingles off a 130 year-old house, squeaking as they flew frantically to holes they obviously knew of. I killed one with a broom because I could not figure out how to get it out of my house and trapped another between a record album and a toy pail for live release. When my kids were growing up in Peoria, we sat with the neighbors watching them loop and whirl in the twilight, eating insects that would have otherwise annoyed us. Though 25% of all mammal species are bats, they exist in the twilight edges of our consciousness. Because they are all nocturnal, we do not see the role they fill in our natural world and we so rarely see one close. When we do, it carries the load of our subconscious impressions. Bats have become associated with all the Halloween imagery of witches, vampires, and evil in general. Flying is a natural characteristic of birds––in mammals it is strange and suspect, especially when they only do it at night. By the twenty-first century, most educated people, whatever their subconscious dread, understand that bats are significant in controlling insect populations, and their absence would allow our tiny tormentors to multiply unchecked. It is then with alarm that the news has spread that a hitherto unknown disease has been killing bats in huge numbers. In recent years we have heard about the die-offs of amphibians and honeybees, monarch butterflies, songbirds and northern moose, and this may seem like just one more. In those cases causes are mostly uncertain and diffuse. Scientists know what has been killing the bats. “White nose syndrome” is caused by Pseudogymnoascus destructans, a cold-loving R30 | SceneNewspaper.com | April 2015
fungus that thrives in caves. It appears as a white growth on bats’ faces and wings. It was first reported in 2007 but was later identified in a photo from 2006 taken in New York State. Since then it has been found in 25 states in the eastern US and five provinces of Canada. It was unknown on this continent before 2006, though it is present in healthy bats in Europe. Scientists believe humans must have introduced it, as it was first identified in a New York cave near where commercial caves draw thousands of visitors a year. Studies have shown that the fungus is not spread by airborne transmission, but it can persist in soil and clothing for a long time. This evidence that the fungus could be spread by human activity has prompted the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to encourage decontamination of clothing and equipment by cavers and close some caves to human visitation completely.
For a time scientists believed it caused bats to die because it aroused them from their usual winter torpor so they’d fly around. Without food available, this used up all their fat reserves and they died of starvation. With study researchers realized it was a little more complex. The fungus invades the skin of the wings, and fighting that infection already uses up the bats’ energy and causes changes in blood chemistry. The damage and excess carbon dioxide building up in the blood causes the bats to wake more frequently, and the increased activity and loss of water and electrolytes through the lesions results in their death by starvation and dehydration. Estimates are that as of 2012, between 5.7 and 6.7 million bats have died. Undoubtedly, it’s many more by now. Consider that each bat eats roughly a thousand insects an hour, which means in a nine-hour early summer night, a thousand Continue on Page R32
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April 2015 | SceneNewspaper.com | R31
OUTDOORS // SEEING GREEN
Continued from Page R30 bats would eat about nine million insects. In one night. Six million bats would eat 54 billion insects per night. Every night. Except they won’t because they’re gone, and a couple of million pounds of assorted insects fly around uneaten. When it comes to our food supply, health, and summertime comfort, the bats are on our side. As long expected, white nose syndrome was identified on a few northern longeared bats in a single cave in southwest Wisconsin. Whatever needed to be done to conserve bats was going to be done in this state too. Clearly, supporting a robust bat population is in our best human interest. But how do we do that in the face of a disease that is easily transmitted and 90-95% fatal? Anything we can reasonably do should be done, one might think, especially to prevent transmission. The United States Fish and Wildlife Service is a federal agency charged with looking out for the wildlife of our America. Other agencies such as the Park Service and the Forest Service have responsibilities in that area, but for the USFWS it’s the main deal. Managing any species has a couple of major considerations. How are people to treat members of the species? Hunt them? Kills them only if they are problems? Feed them? What if a person’s usual activities result in occasional harm to members of the species? Consequences or none? What about species habitat? Do we destroy it with impunity? Preserve it voluntarily? Preserve it with incentive? Preserve it by regulation with the force of law? Buy it up and set it aside? These are the questions the USFWS has to consider in the case of every species, and the Endangered Species Act gives them quite a bit of power to enforce what they decide. Of course, this is government we are talking about here, so no decision is made in a sealed room. Politics are always howling outside the door. But still the USFWS has a fair amount of discretion in regulations it writes around an endangered species though it must subject anything major to the comments of the public, the scrutiny of its representatives and the limits of its budget. If you are as old as I am, you may R32 | SceneNewspaper.com | April 2015
remember the “snail darter,” a tiny fish apparently found only in the upper reaches of Tennessee’s Tellico River that the state wanted to drown behind a dam. That little critter held up that dam project until it collapsed of its own inertia. For some it became an archetype for material progress halted by an insignificant species of very few individuals. It didn’t help when the fish was later discovered in a couple of other streams. What the USFWS is proposing for the northern long-eared bat is a set of regulations that limit what can be done within a quarter of a mile of places where the bats hibernate. Other limitations affect the forest areas the bats use for roosting in the
summer. Also limited is cave touring and exploration in sites where the bats are known to be. Now these would be logical steps to take if you believed as the USFWS scientists do that white nose syndrome can be transmitted by human traffic into the caves and bats can be disturbed by any loud and disruptive activity in the vicinity of their hibernacula and roosts. And if the bats are so valuable to people as they seem to be for controlling insects, who could object to rules that keep them safe? It turns out that two particular groups object to some aspects of these proposed new regulations: loggers who want to cut
trees on land near caves, and cavers, people who want to go in the caves. Both feel their rights are being trampled, and they both make a case that the rules are unnecessarily strict. Next time we’ll take a look at this controversy, which seems to me a microcosm of the conflict between conservation and human plans that plays out time and again. Can these bats be saved? And will these regulations be the means by which they might be? We won’t know those things by next issue, but we’ll see why the different stakeholders believe the way they do. Stay tuned.
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www.hilltoppubandgrill.com April 2015 | SceneNewspaper.com | R33
OUTDOORS // SURE SIGNS OF SPRING
Sure Signs of Spring BY MICHAEL MENTZER It’s interesting and a bit daunting to process what filters through a person’s mind when the thought barricades are pushed aside. On a recent unseasonably mild afternoon, my thoughts — probably for a number of unfettered reasons — turned to Beauty and the Beast (not the story, but the outdoor world); baseball great Roberto Clemente and a mystery story about one of his bats; white-throated sparrows, indigo buntings, Baltimore orioles, catbirds, towhees, kinglets, rose-breasted grosbeaks and redstarts; and, of all things, woodchucks (not the famous ones that predict wintry patterns, just the run-of-the-mill variety). It all started, I think, when I saw the distinctive shiny brown husks of American elm tree buds on our driveway and the fuzzy, grayish green skins of star magnolia buds in the garden. It seemed kind of early to see them but I certainly wasn’t complaining. They appeared in the midst of a longawaited warming trend sparked by a shift in the jet stream — the polar vortex be darned. They opened the gateway to old memories and some growing concerns.
Beauty and the beast By chance and observation a number of years ago, I reached the conclusion that the forces of nature that burst the blooms on the star magnolia in the far corner of our backyard are the same ones that prompt the lake sturgeon spawning ritual on the Wolf River and throughout the Winnebago System. When the paper-white blooms with five petals, like stars, engulf our magnolia even before leaves appear and the fragrance R34 | SceneNewspaper.com | April 2015
filters through the surrounding air, it’s more than a “safe bet” that sturgeon are spawning and carrying out the grand design of their prehistoric ways. It’s a link of beauty and the beast in the rites of spring. I think about it when I see other magnolias, no matter what variety they might be, in bloom in Fond du Lac and beyond. A few years ago, I watched huge sturgeon rolling and gliding together inches from the Wolf River shore and at most two feet from me where the river flows through New London. There’s a sturgeon walk there to make it easy for people to view the spawning spectacle. Sturgeon are protected there, as they are at several key points along the river systems, and people volunteer their time to protect the vulnerable giants from those who don’t care about preserving the resource for posterity. There was a time when violators slaughtered sturgeon when they were most vulnerable, weakened the genetic strain and threatened their future in Lake Winnebago and the Upriver Lakes of Poygan and Winneconne. Thankfully, that has changed. It’s one of the great environmental success stories in our part of the world — the Sturgeon for Tomorrow organization and human beings protecting a species for future generations. Sturgeon prospects are bright not only here in our piece of the Winnebago System but at points around the world because of work and research being done in our socalled corner of the world. If time allows, the walk along Sturgeon Trail in New London is priceless and unforgettable. I vowed a few years ago that I would go every year to experience it. I’ve failed on that promise. It bothers me because I know better than ever before how quickly life changes and opportunities fade into the fog of good intentions. Woodchuck humor I laughed when I saw the newspaper photo of Jimmy the Groundhog and his big choppers nipping the ear of the Sun Prairie mayor on Groundhog Day. It makes me smile even more when I
realize that I know who Jimmy is but don’t have a clue what the mayor’s name is. We have our own personal Groundhog Day at our house along the Dutch Gap near the Elizabeth Street Bridge. It always happens in mid to late March. We look for days from our family room windows for the annual appearance. There are a couple burrows carved into the south side of the Gap where groundhogs traditionally make their spring debut. They haven’t missed a spring appearance in 30 consecutive years. I say “they” because it certainly can’t be the same one we saw for the first time in the spring of 1985. They carry on the tradition, which is admirable considering the changes and threats visited on them over the years. They make me smile but for a different reason than Jimmy did. And they make me think about what’s to come and whether their days are numbered. They just might not fit someday in a more citified Dutch Gap. Northward migration The colorful birds that winter in the southern states, Central America, South America and the countless islands and estuaries of the Gulf of Mexico will be in our backyards very soon, singing the songs that distinguish them. They need no lingual translation whether they sing in Nicaragua or Horicon, El Salvador or Fond du Lac, the West Indies or Door County. Birds fire the imagination. They unite countries, even continents, during the spring and fall migrations. They know no boundaries, and nationalism is foreign to them. The late Owen Gromme, who was regarded as one of the finest wildlife artists in North America, viewed his Fond du Lac hometown and this part of Wisconsin as one of the most remarkable, most prolific areas of bird life to be found anywhere. He enjoyed great personal satisfaction in the outdoors and in watching the “birds of Wisconsin.” In hindsight, I realize that Owen taught me more in his conversations, explanations and observations than I could comprehend
at the time. One of his lessons has grown in marked importance for me over the years. It’s simple and complicated at the same time: Make time to appreciate the beauty and the message of birds. If you are fortunate to find that appreciation in your own proverbial backyard, enjoy it all the more. Roberto’s bat By sheer chance, I picked up a book the other day that I had read a couple years ago. I sat down at the kitchen table and read it again. The title is “A Drive into the Gap,” written by Kevin Guilfoile, son of Bill Guilfoile, a former Fond du Lac resident who was employed by the New York Yankees and Pittsburgh Pirates before becoming vice president of the Baseball Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, N.Y. It’s a small book in terms of pages (only 71), but large in terms of what it has to say. It’s about baseball and the great Roberto Clemente of the Pirates and a bit of mystery surrounding the bat he used to get his 3,000th hit in his final regular season game of the 1972 season. The bat is on permanent display at the Hall of Fame, where Bill Guilfoile saw it every day of his career there. But it’s about so much more — fathers, sons, memories, the ravages of Alzheimer’s disease and the theft of memories, tragedy and the blessings afforded by the “good days.” I read the book much more closely this second time around. I appreciated it more. In fact, I also appreciate the legacy of Roberto Clemente more than I did when I was a kid. I grew up a Milwaukee Braves fan and Henry Aaron was my baseball hero. Back then I perceived any praise for Clemente as a slight of Aaron. If Clemente was picked as the All Star right fielder over Hank, I was distraught. I view them both as heroes for different reasons today. Clemente died aboard a plane bound for Nicaragua as part of a humanitarian aid mission for earthquake victims on New Continue on Page R40
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April 2015 | SceneNewspaper.com | R35
ENTERTAINMENT // APRIL CONCERT WATCH
Todd Rundgren at the Pabst BY JANE SPIETZ Songwriter and recording artist Todd Rundgren not only put out such classics as “Can We Still Be Friends?,” “I Saw the Light,” “Hello It’s Me,” “Love is the Answer,” “We Gotta Get You a Woman,” and “Bang the Drum All Day,” but he has embraced numerous other roles as well, throughout his 40-plus year career. Rundgren is highly respected as a record producer (Badfinger, Meatloaf, Hall & Oates, XTC, Patti Smith, New York Dolls and many others), computer software developer, video pioneer, conceptualist and interactive artist. He earned recognition for his critically acclaimed 1972 release, Something/Anything? Amazingly, he sang all of the vocal parts, played all of the instruments and produced this masterful work. Rundgren received the Les Paul Award in 2014 at the 29th annual NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) TEC Awards. His latest album, Global, has been described as a contemporary fusion of styles - rock, soul and electronica. An accompanying Limited Edition 2 Disc CD/DVD is set to be released on April 15, 2015. I connected with Todd Rundgren in March during a stop in Mexico City while he was touring with Ringo Starr and his All Starr band. Jane Spietz: This is not your first gig with Ringo. What’s it like to work with a former member of the Beatles who is a great musician in his own right? Todd Rundgren: It’s an honor and kind of something you have to do. If a Beatle calls, you must answer because they had so much to do with most of us even getting into the music business. This band has been together almost three years so we’re all well used to each other. That initial awe has turned into almost a family relationship at this point. JS: Musician, songwriter, recording artist, video pioneer, computer software developer, producer - which of your many roles do you feel you have enjoyed the most and why? R36 | SceneNewspaper.com | April 2015
TR: It’s one the relationships of those things with the people where if you do in those bands the same thing kind of sustain all the time even to this you get kind of day. I still work jaded about it. with the same And these other people...somethings are an times in various opportunity to contexts. The kind of ‘clear sort of family my head’ someatmosphere that times of musical we had and the responsibilities, incredible perlike when I first formances that got into learnwe put on will ing computer always be kind programming. of like a golden I took a whole age to me. But I year off and don’t spend a lot didn’t tour, and of time dwelling d i d n’t w r i t e on the past. So if any music at all. you had a list of WHAT: Todd Rundgren (Laughs) I somequestions asking WHERE: Pabst Theater, Milwaukee times need to step me about things WHEN: 8 PM May 21, 2015 away, step back for that used to be, COST: $36.50 a while and think I’m probably not about everything going to have a INFO: www.pabsttheater.org/ just so I can still lot to say about show/toddrundgren2015 feel refreshed it. (Laughs) For www.tr-i.com/flash.html when I have to get instance, right involved in music now I’m about to again. But ultimately, it’s going to wind up wrap this tour up, and then 100% of my being something to do with music. And all consciousness is going into preparing for of those other things in the end, somehow the tour that we’re about to do behind the wound up leaping back to music. All of the new record. things that I did with computers, which JS: Yes, Global. I have listened to it. It’s I thought at first would have more to great! do with the visual aspects - graphics and TR: Thank you. I tried, in this parthings like that – also informed me about ticular project, to regroup in a way. My last changes in the music business when that record was aggressively experimental. I was digital technology started to be applied to incorporating a lot of new techniques and recording and such. So, these are the diver- sound. I was essentially educating myself at sions that are ultimately going to have to the expense of my audience which is not do with music in the end. unusual. I’ve done it several times before. JS: Which of your musical periods have (Laughs) This record is an opportunity to you most enjoyed? take the things that I learned on the last TR: I always have fond recollections of record and merge it with my kind of more what we call the Nearly Human era, which traditional sensibilities and my inclination was in the late 80’s. I did two records com- to write about larger concepts. I think pletely live in the studio with no overdubs. in that sense it makes a more accessible And the bands that I had in those days, and record.
JS: You were quoted as saying “I don’t really do what I do for recognition. I do it because music is – if you’re lucky enough – the most satisfying thing in the world to do.” Please expand on that. TR: A lot of people think that they would like to be a musician because they feel that they don’t have any responsibilities or some other mythology that revolves around being a musician. I learn about myself and I express myself in music. I could probably do the same with some other art form or with some other kind of pursuit. But after all this time it’s just become second nature to me. It’s the way I make the world make sense to me, and it’s also the way I objectivize my thought processes. Often I do it just for my own benefit. I do it to get the thoughts out of my head and into a sense of reality so I can see whether they make any sense or not. The audience essentially is watching me. I’m not doing this trying to get in somebody else’s head. I’m trying to get into my own head, and the entertainment – if there is any in that – is watching me go through that process. JS: In 2014, at the 29th annual NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) TEC Awards, you received the Les Paul Award. What did that mean for you personally? TR: It’s always humbling to be recognized by your peers, especially the people you have so much respect for. And then when they show you respect, it’s very satisfying. At the same time, I’ve never desired to have awards, to the consternation of my fans. They would like me to be in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame. They’d like me to have a Grammy because it justifies all of the faith they’ve put in me over the years. (Laughs) But personally, the reward is in the ability to continue to do it. The ability to be able to make the music and have ears willingly listen to it. I can’t think of anything, at least in my own experience, that’s more satisfying than that – except maybe having children. JS: Tell us about Toddstock and the development of the Spirit of Harmony Foundation. Continue on Page R38
DINNER
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April 2015 | SceneNewspaper.com | R37
ENTERTAINMENT // APRIL CONCERT WATCH
Continued from Page R36 TR: Toddstock’s are held specifically on years where I have a significant birthday. The first one was my 60th birthday. That was out in Hawaii. When I turned 65, which is the one we did in New Orleans, people wanted to call it Toddstock because it was a significant birthday. And I hadn’t planned to do another thing like that until I was 70, but a lot of my fans, being as old as I am or older, thought they might not make it that far. (Laughs) The fans decided they wanted to do something for the city of New Orleans because it was still reeling from the effects of the hurricane. We found a music program down in the Lower Ninth Ward that was still struggling to meet their expenses, so the fans got together and collected $10,000. It was all strings. Kids from the age of 5 or so, all the way up to high school. They were all playing violins, violas and double basses and they gave us a little recital. We then gave them the check. Everyone felt so good about the experience they said we don’t want this to be a one-time thing; we want something more to happen. Continued from Page R34 Year’s Eve in 1972. He was departing his native land of Puerto Rico when the plane crashed into the Atlantic Ocean. R o b e r t o’s l i f e i s chronicled in the book “Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball’s Last Hero,” by Wisconsin native David Maraniss, the author of “When Pride Still Mattered,” the biography of legendary Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi. Breaking the banks Bill Guilfoile’s name is mentioned at least a few times in the book by Maraniss. It was Bill, the public relations man for the Pirates, who broke the news of Clemente’s death to the world. Kevin points out in his book, “A Drive into the Gap,” that his dad broke his children’s piggy banks the night Clemente died and put coins into a sock that he carried, along with his address book, “a mile through the cold and snow to a parking lot pay phone outside a general store,” to tell R38 | SceneNewspaper.com | April 2015
We want this to be a permanent part of our collective identity. That’s when we developed the idea of the Spirit of Harmony Foundation. It was actually developed by a couple of our associates. They brought it to me and said, “You’re going to have to figurehead this thing!” (Laughs) And so I said, I’ve not done anything like this before but I can’t think of anything better to do. We applied for our nonprofit status and got it in like record time, so fast that we’re still trying to refine our mission. Actually, just a few weeks after the tour starts we’ll be at the Clinton Library in Little Rock. We’re going to have a big symposium with a lot of participants. It’ll be our first big public event. That’s where we’re going to lay out our mission which is essentially to convince people, convince school systems the world that his friend Roberto Clemente was dead. The reason be broke the piggy banks and trudged to the general store pay phone was that he could not reach an outside line from his home phone and there was no immediate remedy to the problem. T h a n k s t o To m Guilfoile of Fond du Lac, Bill’s brother, I’ve had the chance to hold one of Robert Clemente’s bats on a couple occasions. There are base hits in that bat once used by Clemente that will be confined in that chunk of ash forever. It has a special significance, especially now with baseball in the air and another season on the horizon and the memories of Clemente slipping further into the mist. There is relevance in touching the past. It must have something to do with age. Michael Mentzer, now retired after a 40year newspaper career, writes a monthly column for Scene.
and parents alike that music education is actually an integral part of a well-rounded educational experience. That what you learn in music education applies to other aspects, and indeed literally changes the way the brain works and makes it easier to learn other things. What we’re trying to do is recover lost ground. When school systems run out of money, things like music education are the first thing to go. We’re trying to reverse that trend. JS: Since moving to Hawaii, you have taught yourself to play the ukulele, joking that “if you’re a musician, it’s required by law.” TR: Well, it doesn’t take a lot of education to learn how to play the ukulele. To learn how to play it really well requires a lot of time and effort and there are some spectacular players out there. I just noodle around on it. Somebody who’s a great ukulele player is Greg Hawkes from the Cars. He goes everywhere with a ukulele! There’s somebody with a real commitment to the instrument that I don’t yet possess. Maybe when I get old and infirm and can’t move around so much that would be my instru-
ment of choice. (Laughs) JS: What would you like to take on musically that you have not yet done? TR: Hmm, well there isn’t a lot, but I’d like to learn a little bit more about jazz theory. I incorporate some unusual changes in what I do, but I don’t really have the proper education to understand a lot of what’s going on. I like listening to it, but I could never play it. Even if I just learned a little bit, I think I would be an overall better musician. JS: Todd, what’s in store musically for your audience in Milwaukee on April 21st? TR: We’re bringing an unusual show in terms of maybe what people are used to. I’m fronting a very small group. I’ve got a DJ – his name is Dan Funk – you can look him up. He’ll be in charge of the sounds. I have a couple of background singers so there’ll be something nice to look at. And we’ll have kind of a fairly elaborate light and video show to go along with it so that we can set a lot of different moods and kind of bring the whole room into the show. We’re going to make everyone feel like they’re onstage.
the green room PRIVATE
DINING
at
920-720-5045 • zuppas.com @FACEBOOK.COM/ZUPPAS
@ZUPPASNEENAH
April 2015 | SceneNewspaper.com | R39
ENTERTAINMENT // THE SPANISH INQUISITION
Tin Sandwich to the Rescue BY GEORGE HALAS By day, they are ordinary citizens, blending seamlessly into the Wisco-Americana landscape of the Fox Cities. They have jobs, families and they might even be your neighbors. However, when night falls and the call from Commissioner Gordon – or a booking agent – comes in, they immediately don superhero identities and lead the on-going fight against the boring, the mundane and the ho-hum. Their vast array of weapons includes guitars, drums, saxophones, infectious enthusiasm and a strong commitment to fun, good music and the American Way. Other collections of would-be heroes and extraordinary gentlemen have attempted to achieve the same synergy, but as de facto leader Marbs Giles explains, it requires a deep understanding of chemistry and the olde family recipe. “Toss into a big pot,” Marbs explained, “one monster drum master, a rock-solid bassman, a right-on rhythm player, a smooth, guitar bluesmaster, a lights-out sax player, add heat and stir.” The result? A tightly-knit group with roots in the blues, R&B, rock and soul with just a touch of dreadlock that makes Tin Sandwich a most nutritious and tasty musical meal. Marbs plays some of the finest and exquisite lead guitar you’ve ever heard as well as handling a lot of the vocal leads, but he is just another citizen of the band’s “democracy.” “I think there is a bit of a similar back story that sort of binds us together,” he said. “You see, over the years we have all played in so many different bands, in so many different genres, at different stages in our lives, that now we are at a stage where coming back to the blues feels in a way, like coming home.” He is both grateful for and very appreciative of the unusually high level of talent that the super heroes bring to the cause. The one code named “Stix,” is out of Fond du Lac and has played drums for over 39 years. R40 | SceneNewspaper.com | April 2015
“He is a highly-regarded jazz drummer, and really brings that sophisticated sensibility to our blues,” Marbs said. “Having worked on projects with him over the last 20 years, I should mention that he is also an excellent vocalist. In fact, we are working on a project now that will inject his soulful voice into the band’s sound.” On bass guitar, “Buffalo” has held down the big notes for different rock groups for over 35 years. “He also has the technical abilities to integrate the highly technical side of the spectrum into the needs of today’s digital music world,” Marbs marveled. “An excellent vocalist, Buffalo takes us on intriguing journeys both vocally and emotionally.” On guitar is singer/songwriter/luthier “Hacksaw.” “He is known for his handmade string instruments of un-rivaled craftsmanship,” Marbs recalled. “So, of course, the day he went to the hospital after cutting his finger on a band saw while building a guitar, the guys in the band immediately changed his name to “Hacksaw.” Honestly, the blood had not yet dried, but that’s what are friends are for.” The latest hero to join and play for the cause is saxophonist Danny G. “Danny G on saxophone is the most recent addition to the band,” Marbs said.
“He’s been with us for about a year now. His extensive work with big bands, jazz ensembles, swing bands and his workshops, brings a bit of be-bop/swing to our more ‘Chicago Style’ blues.” Tin Sandwich will be playing at “one of our favorite places,” Becket’s in Oshkosh, on Saturday, April 18th at 8:30 p.m. Planet-Harmon Benefit Fox Jazz Fest John Harmon and Janet Planet have a very special evening of music scheduled as part of a benefit concert Saturday, April 11th, at Perry Hall at UW-Fox Valley. The festivities will start at 7:30 p.m. Susan and John Toussaint, two of the most generous supporters of jazz in the Fox Cities, are adding to the special nature of the evening. “At this event, we are announcing the new fund at the Community Foundation to support the Fox Jazz Fest,” Susan Toussaint said. “All proceeds from the concert will go to the newly established fund, and we are hoping that others will join us in supporting this ongoing fabulous annual event.” “The Jazz Fest has been a free event for over 20 years,” Planet noted. “John Harmon, who continues to give of his time
and also continues to give to this community artistically, continues to lead the efforts to keep it alive, thriving…and free.” “An evening with Janet Planet and John Harmon is also about supporting the Fox Cities jazz community,” she continued. “An Evening with John Harmon and Janet Planet” is one more way that the artists who live here continue to give and attempt to sustain the quality of the arts in our community.” Harmon and Planet are looking forward to the event in part because it presents an opportunity for them to express their gratitude and appreciation for the community support that enabled them to travel to and perform in Kurgan, Russia as part of the Fox Cities-Kurgan Sister Cities program. While the set list is still a workin-progress, it may include one or more of the songs in Russian that Planet learned and which brought Kurgan audiences to their feet.
Planet may express additional personal gratitude as well. “John Harmon is an exquisite composer, pianist, educator and friend,” she emphasized. “I’ve been lucky to have him in my musical and personal life. He has written music for me and we have collaborated on some great projects. Whether we’re performing on stage or spending hours together in a creative mode, I’m always learning from John, a master in music, life and friendship and I’m blessed to have him in my life.” “Please join us for some great music.” Please contact Lori Lacey for further information and/or to buy tickets at: laceyl@mac.com or the Fox Jazz Fest website.
April 2015 | SceneNewspaper.com | R41
CALENDAR // LIVE MUSIC CALENDAR
APRIL 2015
SARDINE CAN GREEN BAY 9:00 PM THE COUGARS SAND BOX GREEN BAY 9:00 PM UNITY EMMETTS APPLETON 9:00 PM WAYNE NEUMANN presented by www.ButtonCapBooking.com WORLD OF BEER APPLETON 9:00 PM MENASHA 6:00 PM STONEYARD FOOD & SPIRITS MR TALLPANTS AND THE APRIL 1 REVEREND RAVEN APPLETON 8:00 PM SHORTS TJ & LYNN MAD POLECATS W/THE 1001 CLUB DÉJA VU CHANDELIER CLUB GREEN BAY 8:00 PM FILTHY STILL APPLETON 9:00 PM APPLETON 5:00 PM TAYLOR JAY O’MARROS PUBLIC HOUSE TOE KNEE V’S 80’S OSHKOSH 8:00 PM WORLD OF BEER MILL CREEK APPLETON 9:00 PM DAVE STEFFENS BAND APPLETON 7:00 PM “FILTHY STILL, OWEN MAYS CIMERRON JAZZ ORGY MENASHA 8:00 PM AND THE LAST CALLS” BECKET’S MILES NIELSEN & THE CRUNCHY FROG OSHKOSH 7:00 PM GREEN BAY 9:00 PM RUSTED HEARTS COUGARS LYRIC ROOM THE SANDBOX April 2 April 3 GREEN BAY 8:30 PM GREEN BAY 9:00 PM BOBBY & EVIL EVANS KWT FEATURING TOM “DECIVILIZE, HE-NIS-RA, CRANKIN YANKEES CHANDELIER CLUB WASHATKA ULTREA” WISEGUYS APPLETON 5:00 PM JJ MALONEYS BECKET’S GREENVILLE 9:30 PM STRATEGIC 8:30 PM NASHVILLE PIPELINE KAUKAUNA 7:00 PM OSHKOSH ADAMS WAY THE SOURCE PUBLIC HOUSE R P M
LIVE MUSIC CALENDAR
HORTONVILLE LANES HORTONVILLE 9:30 PM ROOFTOP JUMPERS MILL CREEK APPLETON 9:30 PM ROOFTOP JUMPERS MILL CREEK APPLETON 10:00 PM SLY JOE AND SMOOTH OPERATORS THE SOURCE PUBLIC HOUSE MENASHA 10:00 PM STILL CRUISIN DUO POTAWATOMI CASINO CARTER 3:30-7:30
April 4 TOMMY WINCH CHANDELIER CLUB APPLETON TOE KNEE V’S 90’S MILL CREEK APPLETON THE BOMB JJ MALONEYS KAUKAUNA NO VACANCY CIMERRON MENASHA
N8770 Fire Lane 1, Menasha, Wisconsin 54952 • Phone:(920) 733-9721 R42 | SceneNewspaper.com | April 2015
5:00 PM 7:00 PM 7:00 PM 8:00 PM
April 2015 | SceneNewspaper.com | R43
CALENDAR // LIVE MUSIC CALENDAR
FOLLOW SUIT PLANK ROAD PUB DE PERE 8:30 PM THE REAL MCKENZIES W/ THE BASTARD ASSOC LYRIC ROOM GREEN BAY 8:30 PM
JANET PLANET BECKET’S OSHKOSH 8:30 PM DIAMOND AND STEEL FOX HARBOR PUB & GRILL GREEN BAY 9:00 PM JOHNNY WAD SLUGGERS APPLETON 9:00 PM REVEREND RAVEN DEJ APPLETON 9:00 PM ROOFTOP JUMPERS BACKSTAGE BAR FOND DU LAC 9:00 PM STAR SIX NINE OCTANE BAR AND GRILL WISCONSIN RAPIDS 9:00 PM THE COUGARS WATERING HOLE GREEN BAY 9:00 PM THE PRESIDENTS OSHKOSH LANES OSHKOSH 9:00 PM REVEREND RAVEN Déja VU APPLETON 9:00 PM OLSEN BAND THE SOURCE PUBLIC HOUSE MENASHA 9:00 PM UNITY JIMMY SEAS GREEN BAY 9:00 PM JOHNNY WAD SLUGGERS APPLETON 9:00 PM “T.I.G.T., THE KEPONES” CRUNCHY FROG GREEN BAY 9:00 PM GRAND UNION KOUNTRY BAR APPLETON 9:30 PM NASHVILLE PIPELINE DAISYS WESTERN SALOON
OSHKOSH 9:30 PM THE BOMB JJ MALONEYS KAUKAUNA 9:30 PM FINELINE HEADLINERS NEENAH 9:30 PM RPM LEAP INN FREEDOM 10:00 PM REBEL GRACE FAT JOES FOND DU LAC 10:00 PM MILES NIELSOEN AND THE RUSTED HEARTS CRANKY PATS NEENAH 10:00 PM BRUCE KOESTNER HEIDEL HOUSE GREEN LAKE 7-10:00 COOKEE...TIMELESS MUSIC MACKINAWS GREEN BAY 7:30-11:00 BOXKAR LVD CASINO WATERSMEET MI 8-12:00 MOSTLY WATER GRAND FALLS CASINO LARCHWOOD IA 8:30-1:00
April 5 RABID AARDVARKS FAT JOES FOND DU LAC 10:00 PM
MOSTLY WATER GRAND FALLS CASINO LARCHWOOD IA 2-6:00
April 7 LAWRENCE JAZZ THE SOURCE PUBLIC HOUSE MENASHA 6:00 PM
April 8 TOE KNEE V’S 80’S MILL CREEK APPLETON 7:00 PM JAZZ ORGY BECKET’S OSHKOSH 7:00 PM ROB ANTHONY CHANDELIER CLUB
R44 | SceneNewspaper.com | April 2015
APPLETON
8:00 PM
April 9 SUNRAEYES THE SOURCE PUBLIC HOUSE MENASHA 6:00 PM DAN TULSA DUO WORLD OF BEER APPLETON 9:00 PM SLY JOE Déja VU APPLETON 9:00 PM
April 10 BAZOOKA JOE PRIVATE HOWARD 8:00 PM MAX JONES /AARON PANTOL CHANDELIER CLUB APPLETON 8:00 PM DEWEY ROCKEM AND HOWE CIMERRON MENASHA 8:00 PM TWEED FUNK SLIPPERY NOODLE INDIANAPOLIS 8:30 PM “SOUL LOW W/ SPACE MAGIC, HER MAJESTY, THE SEA, ANTLER HOUSE” LYRIC ROOM GREEN BAY 8:30 PM WHATEVER AND EVER AMENÖA BEN FOLDS FIVE TRIBUTE BECKET’S OSHKOSH 8:30 PM CONSULT THE BRIEFCASE SARDINE CAN GREEN BAY 9:00 PM STAGE HOGGS ACOUSTIC WORLD OF BEER APPLETON 9:00 PM RED ROSE Déja VU APPLETON 9:00 PM COSMIC RAILROAD THE SOURCE PUBLIC HOUSE MENASHA 10:00 PM BOXKAR DIAMOND JO CASINO DUBUQUE IA 8-12:00
April 11 DAPHNI SCHULDES SPORTS CENTER - SNC
DE PERE 12:00 PM KINGSTON TAYLOR THRASHER OPERA HOUSE GREEN LAKE 7:30 PM THE COUGARS PRIVATE GREEN BAY 8:00 PM SWINGIN’ JOHNSONS CHANDELIER CLUB APPLETON 8:00 PM DUELING PIANOS DOCKSIDE TAVERN OSHKOSH 8:00 PM TOMBSTONE CIMERRON MENASHA 8:00 PM DIAMOND AND STEEL PLANK ROAD PUB DE PERE 8:30 PM TWEED FUNK SLIPPERY NOODLE INDIANAPOLIS 8:30 PM
FUN WITH ATOMS WITH THE CHOCOLATEERS LYRIC ROOM GREEN BAY 8:30 PM RINGS BECKET’S OSHKOSH 8:30 PM BRIAN JAMES PUMPHOUSE LITTLE CHUTE 9:00 PM CONSULT THE BRIEFCASE ROOKIES STEVENS POINT 9:00 PM ROOFTOP JUMPERS CAPITOL CENTRE APPLETON 9:00 PM TRAVIS LEE DUO WORLD OF BEER APPLETON 9:00 PM CHARLES WALKER BAND Déja VU APPLETON 9:00 PM ROOFTOP JUMPERS CAPITOL CENTRE APPLETON 9:00 PM WHISKEY DITCH JIMMY SEAS GREEN BAY 9:00 PM STOMPIN THE HOLE
THE WATERING HOLE GREEN BAY 9:00 PM ROAD TRIP SLUGGERS APPLETON 9:00 PM ADAMS WAY LEAP INN FREEDOM 9:30 PM BIG MOUTH STONE TOAD MENASHA 9:30 PM GRAND UNION HEADLINERS NEENAH 9:30 PM HURRY UP WAIT MINESHAFT HARTFORD 9:30 PM JOHNNY WAD ANDUZZIS EAST GREEN BAY GREEN BAY 9:30 PM NASHVILLE PIPELINE ANDUZZI’S SPORTS CLUB GREEN BAY 9:30 PM RPM GAMEDAY SPORTS BAR APPLETON 9:30 PM RABID AARDVARKS MILWAUKEE ALE HOUSE MILWAUKEE 9:30 PM SEPARATE WAYS THE SHACK FOND DU LAC 9:30 PM STAR SIX NINE KOUNTRY BAR APPLETON 9:30 PM GRAND UNION HEADLINERS NEENAH 9:30 PM BIG MOUTH STONE TOAD MENASHA 9:30 PM
HALF EMPTY FAT JOES FOND DU LAC 10:00 PM HALF EMPTY FAT JOES FOND DU LAC 10:00 PM HUGH BOB AND THE HUSTLE THE SOURCE PUBLIC HOUSE
Tues-Sat 11am-6pm 17 Waugoo Ave. 235-0023
Celebrate Spring...in Vintage
architectural salvage since 1987
Crescent Moon Antiques and Salvage 537 N. MAIN ST. OSHKOSH 920-232-MOON (6666) www.CrescentMoonAntiquesAndSalvage.com
April 2015 | SceneNewspaper.com | R45
CALENDAR // LIVE MUSIC CALENDAR
MENASHA 10:00 PM FRAN STEENO HEIDEL HOUSE GREEN LAKE 7-10:00 HITS SILVER CRYST WAUTOMA 8-12:00
April 12 “MIDNIGHT GHOST TRAIN, LION SLICER, ATTALLA” CRUNCHY FROG GREEN BAY 9:00 PM PAT MC CURDY HEADLINERS NEENAH 9:30 PM
APPLETON 9:00 PM NICOLE KOTTKE BAND MENOMINEE CASINO KESHENA 8-12:00
April 17 CONSULT THE BRIEFCASE BRADLEY CENTER - ADMIRALS GAME MILWAUKEE 6:00 PM IZZY & THE SCARECROW CHANDELIER CLUB APPLETON 8:00 PM
April 15 KRIS CHARAIS THE SOURCE PUBLIC HOUSE MENASHA 6:00 PM
TOE KNEE V’S 80’S MILL CREEK APPLETON 7:00 PM ERIN KREBS & JEFF JOHNSTON CHANDELIER CLUB APPLETON 7:00 PM JAZZ ORGY BECKET’S OSHKOSH 7:00 PM “THE GHOSTWOLVES, LAST SONS OF KRYPTON, THE FOAMERS” CRUNCHY FROG GREEN BAY 9:00 PM
STRAWBERRY JAM CIMERRON MENASHA 8:00 PM “KARATE SCHOOL, THE RED HAWKS & CAN’T & WON’T” LYRIC ROOM GREEN BAY 8:30 PM REVEREND RAVEN AND THE CHAIN SMOKING ALTER BOYS BECKET’S OSHKOSH 8:30 PM BRIAN JAMES WORLD OF BEER APPLETON 9:00 PM THE COUGARS SARDINE CAN GREEN BAY 9:00 PM THY DIRTY DEUCE Déja VU APPLETON 9:00 PM
April 16 CHROSTOPHE GOLD THE SOURCE PUBLIC HOUSE MENASHA 6:00 PM BOBBY EVANS DUO WORLD OF BEER APPLETON 9:00 PM BRANDON VAN DALEN DÉJA VU
UNDERCOVER ORGANISM WITH STEREO FRONTIER CRANKY PATS NEENAH 10:00 PM COULEE BOYS THE SOURCE PUBLIC HOUSE
R46 | SceneNewspaper.com | April 2015
MENASHA 10:00 PM NICOLE KOTTKE BAND MENOMINEE CASINO KESHENA 8-12:00 VIC FERRARI THE D CASINO LAS VEGAS 9-12:00
April 18 REVEREND RAVEN AND THE CHAIN SMOKING ALTER BOYS CIMERRON MENASHA 8:00 PM REPLICA PLANK ROAD PUB DE PERE 8:30 PM “HARVEY BROWN, BRON SAGE, THE FOAMERS” LYRIC ROOM GREEN BAY 8:30 PM TIN SANDWICH BECKET’S OSHKOSH 8:30 PM BIG MOUTH ANDUZZIS - HOWARD HOWARD 9:00 PM CHAD DEMEUSE WORLD OF BEER APPLETON 9:00 PM CONSULT THE BRIEFCASE NEW CHAPTER TWO WAUSAU 9:00 PM GRAND UNION 21 GUN ROADHOUSE LEDGEVIEW 9:00 PM RPM SLUGGERS APPLETON 9:00 PM RABID AARDVARKS BAR LOUIE MILWAUKEE 9:00 PM ROOFTOP JUMPERS FOX HARBOR PUB & GRILL GREEN BAY 9:00 PM THE BLUES DISCIPLES DEJ APPLETON 9:00 PM THE COUGARS CIRCLE TAP DENMARK 9:00 PM THE BLUES DISCIPLES Déja VU APPLETON 9:00 PM RPM SLUGGERS APPLETON 9:00 PM FINE LINE THE SANDBOX GREEN BAY 9:00 PM
DOOZEY SOCIABLES NEW LONDON 9:30 PM HALF EMPTY STONE TOAD MENASHA 9:30 PM STAR SIX NINE LEAP INN FREEDOM 9:30 PM BACK’N KICKIN HEADLINERS NEENAH 9:30 PM HALF EMPTY STONE TOAD MENASHA 9:30 PM MEGNA & THE MONSOONS THE SOURCE PUBLIC HOUSE MENASHA 9:30 PM JOHNNY WAD FAT JOES FOND DU LAC 10:00 PM NASHVILLE PIPELINE KOUNTRY BAR APPLETON 10:00 PM JOHNNY WAD FAT JOES FOND DU LAC 10:00 PM CRANKSHAFT AND THE GEAR GRINDERS CRANKY PATS NEENAH 10:00 PM BILL STEINERT HEIDEL HOUSE GREEN LAKE 7-10:00 NICOLE KOTTKE BAND MENOMINEE CASINO KESHENA 8-12:00 VIC FERRARI THE D CASINO LAS VEGAS 9-12:00
April 22 TOE KNEE V’S 80’S MILL CREEK APPLETON 7:00 PM JAZZ ORGY BECKET’S OSHKOSH 7:00 PM MISTRIAL CIMERRON MENASHA 8:00 PM
April 23 IZZY & THE SCARECROW THE SOURCE PUBLIC HOUSE MENASHA 8:00 PM
CONSULT THE BRIEFCASE POTAWATOMI BINGO AND CASINO MILWAUKEE 8:30 PM AMY LAVERE W/THE RAGLANDERS LYRIC ROOM GREEN BAY 8:30 PM HAPPY HOUR HEROES WORLD OF BEER APPLETON 9:00 PM STEVE ARNOLD Déja VU APPLETON 9:00 PM “THE CREEPSHOW, PENSKE FILE, T.I.G.T., BASTERD ASSOC” CRUNCHY FROG GREEN BAY 9:00 PM
April 24 THE HONEYMOONERS ONEIDA CASINO GREEN BAY 8:00 PM
GOOD NIGHT GOLD DUST W/ AURALAI THE SOURCE PUBLIC HOUSE MENASHA 8:00 PM THE HITS CIMERRON MENASHA 8:00 PM “AGAINST THE GRAIN W/ BEAST IN THE FIELD, ACCUSER” LYRIC ROOM GREEN BAY 8:30 PM SLY JOE AND SMOOTH OPERATORS BECKET’S OSHKOSH 8:30 PM WAYNE NEUMANN WORLD OF BEER APPLETON 9:00 PM DB COLLECTIVE DÉJA VU APPLETON 9:00 PM
April 2015 | SceneNewspaper.com | R47
CALENDAR // LIVE MUSIC CALENDAR
BIG MOUTH & THE POWER TOOL HORNS JIMMY SEAS GREEN BAY 9:00 PM CONSULT THE BRIEFCASE FIRE ON WATER MILWAUKEE 9:30 PM NASHVILLE PIPELINE MR Gs APPLETON 9:30 PM GRAND UNION RED ROCK SALOON MILWAUKEE 10:00 PM HITS CIMARRON MENASHA 9-1:00
April 25 BAD HABITZ JOHNNYS LOUNGE BEAVER DAM 7:00 PM
JOHNNY WAD ICE EXPO MANITOWOC 7:00 PM TUCK AND PATTI THRASHER OPERA HOUSE GREEN LAKE 7:30 PM ANDY’S AUTOMATICS CIMERRON MENASHA 8:00 PM ROOFTOP JUMPERS PLANK ROAD PUB DE PERE 8:30 PM GO FOR THE EYES W/THE REVIVAL LYRIC ROOM GREEN BAY 8:30 PM ADAMS WAY 10TH FRAME APPLETON 9:00 PM CONSULT THE BRIEFCASE JIMMY SEAS GREEN BAY 9:00 PM DAVE STEFFEN BAND EMMETTS APPLETON 9:00 PM GRAND UNION OSHKOSH LANES OSHKOSH 9:00 PM RPM
BACKSTAGE BAR FOND DU LAC 9:00 PM SPITFIRE RODEO CAPITOL CENTRE APPLETON 9:00 PM THE COUGARS ANDUZZIS EAST GREEN BAY GREEN BAY 9:00 PM SAVONA Déja VU APPLETON 9:00 PM CONSULT THE BRIEFCASE JIMMY SEAS GREEN BAY 9:00 PM RABID AARDVARKS FAT JOES FOND DU LAC 9:30 PM
ASK YOUR MOTHER HEADLINERS NEENAH 9:30 PM THE PRESIDENTS STONE TOAD MENASHA 9:30 PM THE POCKET KINGS THE SOURCE PUBLIC HOUSE MENASHA 9:30 PM REPLICA LEAP INN FREEDOM 10:00 PM
8:00 PM
April 30 JAY MATTHES THE SOURCE PUBLIC HOUSE MENASHA 6:00 PM THE LOWEST PAIR W/ DEAD HORSES LYRIC ROOM GREEN BAY 8:30 PM
April 26 SPITFIRE RODEO CAPITOL CENTRE APPLETON
1:00 AM
April 29
STAR SIX NINE GAMEDAY SPORTS BAR APPLETON 9:30 PM THE PRESIDENTS STONE TOAD MENASHA 9:30 PM
CIMERRON MENASHA
KRIS CHARAIS THE SOURCE PUBLIC HOUSE MENASHA 6:00 PM TOE KNEE V’S 80’S MILL CREEK APPLETON 7:00 PM JAZZ ORGY BECKET’S OSHKOSH 7:00 PM STRINGBENDERS
PAT MC CURDY MILL CREEK APPLETON
9:00 PM
If you would like your band or live music venue added to our calendar please provide us you information at livemusic@ scenenewspaper.com
Located on North Main Street, just north of Hopper’s Silk Screening
Presenting...
The Talented & Popular
LIGHT HOUSE BIG BAND Playing everything from Beatles to Basie
TUESDAYS, April 14th & 28th • 7:30 PM
Come Early...
The
Show is FREE!
Enjoy Dinner Before or During the Show!
101 North Main, FDL (Next to Hopper’s) 933-6003 • Kitchen open daily 7 am R48 | SceneNewspaper.com | April 2015
ENTERTAINMENT // SECOND CITY
fun. I love that. I’m personally a fan of any strong female pieces and that is definitely one of those. That’s definitely one of my favorites right now. And i’m working on a solo song that was actually written on main stage by one of the RedCo alums Chelsea Devantez. It’s called “I Cry” and that was cool because I got to tour with her for six months before she got pulled up to main stage. So that’s always cool because I already got to work with her and look up to her. To get to do her pieces that she wrote in the last year or so on the main stage is very cool. The Scene: So is there anything that you would like to tell our readers specifically for the upcoming show? Casey: Yeah, it’s a lot of fun. It’s a two act sketch and improv show, so it’s not like a typical play. Every two minutes there’s something new that we’re putting up. There’s an improv portion of the show, that’s also really fun and interactive. And we’re just [always] excited to come out there. I want to say my company has been there before. I’m not quite sure. All the tours blend together at some point. The Scene: Have you been in Green
Bay before though? Casey: I have been personally with my college women’s choir. I don’t think I’ve been there personally with the second city. But yeah Jasbir is a big Green Bay fan, so he’s exited. It’s in his bio, but he’s from the state. T h e S c e n e : So what’s it take before you even get into Second City? Where do you draw from? Casey: We all kind of came from different backgrounds. Some of us were dance majors, some of us were theater majors. And we were all just kind of drawn to Jamison Webb, Casey Whitaker, Jasbir Singh, Kelsey Kinney, John Sabine, Blair Beeken comedy, specifically as a genre of the performing arts. We’re all from differtry to perform as much as you can to get it, it’s just a dream job, and it’s so much ent parts of the country, and you kind of experience. You just audition and hope fun. You love traveling and doing the move to Chicago and take all the chances that you win the lottery, because the odds shows and meeting new people. you can with your independent teams and are not in your favor. But if you get to do
OUTDOORS // ROB ZIMMER
Spring Gardening Tips BY ROB ZIMMER The snow has melted and the birds have returned and now, in just a few short weeks, it will be time to begin a new growing season here in Wisconsin. Take the opportunity this spring to try something new in your yard and garden, experimenting with new ways to grow. Think outside the box when growing your ornamentals, fruits, vegetables, berries and other plants. Here are some ideas to help get you started: CROPS IN POTS Growing edible crops in pots and containers is one of the biggest trends in outdoor gardening and landscaping. A number of varieties of fruits, berries and vegetables are now available in dwarf forms, perfect for containers. Mix and match with tasty, fragrant herbs to create your own garden in a pot.
MAKE IT FUN, NOT WORK The minute any hobby or interest becomes labor, it is usually no longer enjoyable. Make your gardening hobby fun by developing your own fun and outgoing style. It could mean painting pots in a fun color or designing garden beds in a fun theme. It could be growing your own bouquets and decorations. Grow a few unusual, bizarre plants you’ve never heard of. Involve the whole family and make it fun for everyone. HEIRLOOM TREASURES Collecting and growing heirloom plants, including annual flowers, wildflowers, fruits and vegetables is an extremely satisfying and enjoyable way to garden. You’ll find great selections online at several websites including Baker Seed Company and Seed Savers. Part of the fun of growing heirlooms is saving the seeds each year to increase your crop or share with friends and family. Learn-
ing the process of saving seeds is in itself an enjoyable and rewarding hobby. THE BIRDS AND THE BEES Pollinator gardens, those designed to benefit pollinating insects such as bees, butterflies and others, are a top trend in gardening in 2015. Providing not only nutrition, but also shelter and water for these insects is easy to do by planting an assortment of native and garden-variety flowering plants. Bee and butterfly hives and houses, puddling areas and other elements are also easy to create. GO NATIVE Discover the beauty and benefits of landscaping and gardening with Wisconsin native plants. Wildflowers, trees and shrubs provide not only interesting colors, textures and year round beauty, but nutrition and nesting space for wildlife, as well.
CELEBRATE YOUR STYLE Create your own garden art and accents using a variety of re-furbished or repurposed items. Find inspiration online by searching garden art projects, or visit one of our many excellent vintage shops. Whether your style is fun and whimsical or elegant and formal, you’ll discover many great ways to create do it yourself garden art projects. GROW ORGANIC Skip the toxic chemical fertilizers and amendments this year and research organic options to enhance and protect your garden treasures. You’ll discover how organic options are not only better for your yard and garden, as well as your health, but also less expensive. Rob Zimmer is an award winning nature and gardening writer with over 20 years of passionate outdoor writing experience. Find him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ RobZimmerOutdoors. April 2015 | SceneNewspaper.com | L9
BY PATRICK K. MARES Pasquale’s International Cafe has been a fixture in downtown De Pere for almost a quarter of a century, long enough for an entire generation of food lovers to grow up with the restaurant. Owner Dennis Bricco shared what it’s like to run an eating establishment older than some of our readers. I:So how long has Pasquale’s been at L10 | SceneNewspaper.com | April 2015
it’s current location? I know it’s been a mainstay in De Pere for as long as I can remember. Dennis: Pasquale’s has been here for about 24 years. … I’m only here on Mondays [these days] so [you chose] a good time to call. I’m kind of getting semiretired. I just turned 64 and all that kind of good stuff. I:Dang, I’m only 24 years old.
Dennis: Yep, and the original owner, Pete Tragos used to be my sales manager, at Advanced Plan Equipment. I moved for Hawaii for a year. I lived on Maui, but the kids didn’t like it so we moved back and found out he’d started this restaurant. So we started eating here. And then I started working here probably around ‘96 maybe. And then I worked with one of the cooks, Chad Smith. Anyway we ended up
buying Pete out in 1998. So Chad and I purchased the place, and Chad and I were partners for probably four, five, six years, then I bought Chad out. So I’ve had it for most of the time. I bought Chad out probably around 2001-2002? Yeah, probably about four years later. I:Now you’ve got quite the selection of food on your menu. And I’ve got to say, when I was a kid and I first walked in there, I was thinking, “Wait, where is the pizza on the menu.” That’s all I really knew when someone said Chicago-style. But you’ve got really good ravioli, ribs, and even hot dogs. How did that specific combination of cuisine come together? Dennis: Pete, the original owner, grew up on the north side of Chicago. So it’s North-side Chicago food. Our Italian beef, our Italian sausage, our meatballs: it’s all North-side Chicago. And our bread is from Chicago. We use Gonella, the big Chicago bakery, and then we also use Toronto Bakery. Anyhow, those are two very popular names in Chicago. But [we also use] Fontenini meats, so our beef sausage and meatballs are all North-side Chicago, gyros from Chicago, breads from Chicago. We think our credit card machine might also be from South Chicago. There’s a little window [that says], “swipe customer’s card.” Interviewer: Actually, as a followup to that, you have a number of murals on the inside of the building. Are they in reference to 20’s style Chicago? Dennis: I don’t know why they [originally] put those up there. In fact I met the artist [Pete hired] years later. She’s young but I think I would have painted them around 1991 or 1992? And they just started with an airline theme, kind of a World War Two bomber theme. And then we just picked it up from there. We kind of kept it World War Two. Interviewer: Okay, so more of a 40’s feel is what you were going for? Dennis: Yep, because America, it was a strong country. We were in good spirits. We just won the war. You’ve got the baby boomers. We were a world superpower. America was great then. So if you come in, a lot of our advertisements are from the 40’s. In fact I have very few things that are modern. I try to keep it all 40’s. Interviewer: Sure. You’ve mentioned a lot of what the made the place what it is
FOOD & DRINK // PASQUALE’S
today, but what changes has Pasquale’s seen recently? Have there been many changes? Dennis: Not really. We’ve changes some of the food, but we’ve pretty much stuck with the original menu. You know we’ve added new items to the menu over the years, but our Chicago dogs are still number one, our gyros, [and] we’re famous for ribs, our baby-backs. We’ve won numerous awards for best ribs and we smoke them right here in house. Another thing we’ve changed quite a bit is adding more beers. We have about a hundred beers now. And we never used to carry wine. Now we’re going through wine like crazy. You know, half a dozen reds, half a dozen whites. Our wine business is really good. And then we’re also probably best known for our Old Fashioneds. People come here especially for our Old Fashioneds. We make it from scratch and I think it’s the best one I’ve ever had. Interviewer: Not an easy claim to make. You go out of Wisconsin and they say “what?” You don’t know what you’ll get because they don’t know what it is. It’s like a bubbler. You know where the bubbler came from? The Kohler company in Sheboygan. They invented the water fountain and they called it the “Bubbler.” It would kind of bubble out of the fountain ... and that’s where that come from. We’ve added a couple of things here
and there, but we’ve mostly stuck with the original menu. We’re probably famous for our Alfredo. I always put it this way. I
tell customers that when I walk by a table and someone’s moaning, they’re probably eating our Alfredo. All our sauces we make from scratch; people love it. Another thing that’s unique is pastrami. You can’t get pastrami anywhere in the area. It’s all turkey pastrami. Our corned beef and our pastrami, we deli slice them here. I:So what’s real pastrami? And where does it come from? Dennis: Chicago too. We get the whole briskets and deli slice them on our slicer. Because the key there is, the thinner, the better. [What we have here], they call it turkey pastrami. It’s made out of turkey. You have a hard time finding pastrami, which is made out of beef. [It’s like] corned beef only it’s a little spicier. You know it would be [based on] the rub and the way it’s cooked. But usually around here you ask for pastrami and
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you get turkey pastrami. Interviewer: Closing thoughts? Dennis: The way I like to sum up Pasquale’s is that we’re a politically incorrect, non-sports, bar. In fact, most places you go in you have all these TV’s? I have one TV and that’s never on. We have it here for occasional Packer games, but the TV is never on here. That’s kind of unique. We’ve got the old [wood paneled] ceiling, the World War Two theme.
Let SCENE readers know about your restaurant. Ads starting at $50 CONTACT: Norma Jean Fochs (715) 254-6324 to reserve your space. April 2015 | SceneNewspaper.com | L11
ENTERTAINMENT // GREEN BAY FILM FESTIVAL
HIGHLIGHTS FROM
If you missed the three, day three screen extravaganza that was the 2015 Green Bay Film Festival, we’d like to apologize. It was a heck of a show, and it’s not always easy to track down these indie films if you aren’t around for their comet-like first pass. For those who missed out, or simply didn’t have the time to sample everything the festival had to offer, we’d like to share our thoughts on a couple notable films.
The Emissary Opening night, second run after a documentary on the nature of film, this goofball scifi flick from Door County gave theatergoers a taste of what they could expect from their weekend. The Emissary runs fast and loose with a tale about three friends and the alien that needs their help. The fellow behind it, Tim Erskine, is an engineer. Honestly, engineers are great. Their enthusiasm and laser focus tend to
make them highly interesting people to be around. But that focus can get to be a bit narrow. It shows when plot of the movie puts the extra-terrestrial “emissary” in a race against time to stop a lethal explosion but along the way he decides to take time for ice cream and pictures on novelty-sized chairs. It’s not that it doesn’t work. The film is intentionally surreal. But in light of this one wonders if the two years Erskine dedicated to the meticulously planned space colony and computer graphics in the opening and closing of the film were necessary, especially when they get about five minutes of screen time. Stylized animations might have saved a lot of time without hurting the quality of the final product. The film is full of little moments like these. An actor take a pratfall but catches himself before he hits the ground. Comic timing is a bit mushy. And occasionally
jokes aren’t measured quite right, landing somewhere in the space between the sufficiently absurd and pedestrian. The relationship between the lead (played by Erskin himself ) and his romantic interest seems driven more by fate than the events of the film. It’s clearly marked from a meta-perspective, but a little sparse on the details of how we got from point A to point B. This isn’t to say it’s a bad experience. In it’s best moments the emmisiary takes a cue from oddball backwoods humor a la The Redgreen Show or Moonlight in Escanaba. The sidekick Andy, played by Tim’s brother Paul, may not always have perfect comedic timing, but his antics drew genuine laughter from the crowd. And every time Mark, played by Pat Palmer opened his mouth it seemed like we were treated to a wry back and forth that drew the best out of all the characters on stage. Heck, when he left the
main quest behind, the texts sent back and forth to keep him in the loop were some of the best lines in the movie. And running through it all was one of the best things about engineers. There was a complete lack of the self-aware cynicism that could have ruined the piece. The Emissary was aware of itself. In fact that was where some of it’s best humor came from. But a passion for the project and good natured enthusiasm runs through, smoothing over the rough spots, the occasionally campy special effects and letting the offbeat humor work. It made good natured fun of a place we’re all familiar with, while doing beach yoga and chasing after cheese isotopes. Heck, you can take the kids to this one. In short, the Emissary was fun. It’s a little like what would happen if someone took an old Mystery Science Horror TheContinue on Page L13
Green Bay Film Festival Announces Award Winning Films (GREEN BAY, WI) – The Green Bay Film Festival had a successful 5th year with great attendance, over 20 films represented by over 40 filmmakers, producers and actors. They came from all over Wisconsin, the United States and Twain. The Festival has 3 juried awards and 6 audience choice awards. The 3 Juried Award Winners are: Best Screenplay Winner – “Mahjong & the West”
2nd runner up – “Wildlike” 3rd runner up – “God Forgive Us” Best Director Winner – “The Grand Disillusion” 2nd runner up – “Somewhere Between Freedom and Protection, Kansas” 3rd runner up – “Mahjong & the West” Best Cinematography Winner – “Road to Tophet” 2nd runner up – “Wildlike”
L12 | SceneNewspaper.com | April 2015
3rd runner up – “Blame” Our Audience Choice Award Winners in our Film Categories are: Children & Family Films Winner – “I Need My Monster” 2nd runner up – “I’ve just had a dream” 3rd runner up – “The Incredible Adventures of JoJo (and his annoying Little sister Avila)” Documentary Films Winner – “Champion: The
Legacy of Jackie Nitschke” 3rd runner up – “Hamac 2nd runner up – “If a Bully Cazíim” Watches This” 3rd runner up – “Out of the Fire” “Wisconsin’s Own” Films Winner – “King High Feature Films Remembers” Winner – “When the Ocean Met 2nd runner up – “A Normal the Sky” Life” 2nd runner up – “Wildlike” 3rd runner up – “Wisconsin 3rd runner up – “Mahjong & Mining Standoff” the West” Short Films Native American Films Winner – “Revive” Winner – “Four Winds” 2nd runner up – “Blame” 2nd runner up – “K’ina Kil: The 3rd runner up – “The Walk” Slaver’s Son”
FINE ARTS // STEVEN HAAS
Steven Haas Crafts Metal into Suspended Sculptures BY DONNA FISCHER Art first learned to float, pivot, and spin around under the innovative hands of American sculptor, Alexander Calder. Since then, mobiles have moved into shopping malls, classrooms, and even above baby beds throughout the world. Graceful at any size, they dance around midair and draw attention to an area next to an entryway or stairwell that might seem awkward without it. Steven Haas knows about filling spaces with moving art. He started crafting mobiles for a 1968 high school project. Calder’s influence was pervasive at the time, but Haas found himself reflecting on ideas of his own for the art form. “In the mid-eighties I got some tools that I couldn’t afford when I was younger,” explains Haas. “With those tools I made some custom made tools that allowed me to then develop what I’m doing now. I had no idea where it was going to take me, but I knew I wanted to try this thing that I had in my head.” Haas uses aluminum that has been specially finished for his suspended expressions. Beautifully balanced, the mobiles seem to reach out and invite the viewer to explore the open space they occupy. Continued from Page L12 ater 3000 tapes and combined the film with the commentary, breathless, scapegrace, and perhaps a little wet behind the ears. Dream on Tim Erskine.
Special Mikeal Burgin and the team at Okapi Pictures presented Special, a self billed paranatural horror title. Special is a short work, eight minutes and change and at first it seems to be following the standard thriller/cold case template. There’s the archetypal distraught family, the pedophile kidnapper, and even a middle aged woman who seems to be acting as a buyer. Then it takes a turn. It would be a disservice to the team behind the piece to spoil the rest,
After a time in college and then the military, Haas settled on custom-building motorcycles for ten years. “That was kind of my art at the time.” He moved back to mobiles in the 1980’s and after a time found himself with an abundance of inventory. “I had so many of them. So I decided I had to take them out in the world, and that’s when I began doing art fairs, to see if there was a market for them.” From mobiles, Haas moved into stationary sculptures, with a definite emphasis on fish. “I was making mobiles continuously for years and I thought, ‘Well, for a change of pace, I want to start making sculpture.’ One of those sculptures can take several months to complete.” An avid fisherman, Haas says he sculpts fish species that can be found in the bay of Green Bay. When it comes to the surface details on the aluminum and stainless steel materials, Haas says he works hard to make his work his own. “Artists that work with metals are constantly finding different ways to finish them,” he says. “Every detail can set your work apart, and the finish is one of those details. We all use pretty much the same kind of tools and abrasives.” Haas works in a shop on his property, but some projects of his can be so expansive they never reach their full potential until he so you’ll have to see it yourself for the full experience. What we can tell you is that the settings and production values felt spot on. Mikeal mentions on his Indiegogo page that he was determined to employ practical effects, physical set pieces and tricks instead of the computer generated material more common to the current blockbuster. Special can feel a bit sparse at times, perhaps as an artifact of the shoestring budget. Maybe the effects have a little less pop and crunch. But they feel real, largely because they are. Props go to Kaylynn Burgin in her first time acting. Mikeal told us his daughter was a bit skittish at some of the messier special effects, but the twelve year old held her own in the starring role. On that note,
actually installs the work in the public space. “I’ve never had a shop big enough where I can hang them fully intact. The first time I see them fully assembled is the day they go up and that has caused me a few bad nights of sleep,” he says with a laugh. A small mobile can take Haas two hours to make, while a large – scale project, such as the mobile hanging in the KI Convention Center in downtown Green Bay, can require 90 days. Art elicits a different reaction in every viewer, but Haas believes his mobiles draw attention because they bring a mechanized sense of life to an area. “You put a mobile in a space and you live with it, you get used to it being there. Then you take it away and it’s like the life went out of the room; people really miss it. This kind of art brings an area into focus, in a way.” He likes the way people get caught in the spell of the slowly turning mobiles this might just be a film aimed at kiddies a little bit older.
I Need my Monster If you are looking for something for the younger crowd, I Need my Monster should fit the bill pretty well. The story is about a little boy who needs the right sort of companion under his bed to keep him in line, or he won’t get any sleep. The premise is a bit of a head-scratcher. We’re not sure how many of us remember childhood monsters being a pleasant thing, but it’s carried off well enough. As an adaptation of a children’s picture book, I Need My Monster is short enough to be a faithful run through without becoming a bloated feature-length extrava-
when he displays his work at art shows like Arti Gras. “When there’s a good amount of traffic I always like to see if I can stop the traffic. People come around the corner and they stop and create a bottleneck. I always enjoy that.” And though the larger projects are often very challenging and somewhat exhausting for Haas, he admits that the end result is satisfying. He clearly loves his art and can’t help but spy new possibilities for installations around town. You can enjoy Haas’ mobiles and sculptures up close at Edgewood Orchard Gallery in Fish Creek, and Abler Art Glass Gallery in Kiel, or go to StevenHaasMobiles.com to learn more about this gifted local artist. ganza (cough*Polar Express*cough). We’d definitely recommend this one to any young fans of the book.
What we Missed With three theatres running simultaneously there were unfortunately a number of quality films that we just couldn’t cover. The largest disappointment among these looks to be The Road to Tophet, a previous award winner at the Toronto Independent Film Festival and winner for Best Cinematography at this very film festival. The trailer indicated a slick crime thriller. Honestly we’re not sure we’ve ever seen such sexy snowmobiling.
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APRIL 2015
ENTERTAINMENT // SERIOUSLY FUNNY
April 7
A BY C For inclusion in our calendar of events, please contact us
April 1 Neville Museum International Film Series: Land of Many Palaces April 2 Inclusivity Health and Art Fair UWGB Phoenix Rooms 1:00-7:00pm Always unique, fun and hands on interaction for all of UWGB and the Green Bay community. Massage therapists, chiropractor, self-defense, free HIV/AIDS testing, sobriety bar, prizes
April 3 - 5 Motorsports Event Shopko Hall Fri 3 PM-10 PM, Sat 10 AM-10 PM, Sun 10 AM-6 PM Introducing the inaugural NEW Motorama, motorsports expo. Mark your calendars for April 3rd-5th of 2015.
April 3 - 25 Let Me Be Frank Productions Real Housewives of the U.P. presented by diamonds & gold tickets - $30 reserved seating Meyer Theater
Real Housewives of the U. P. “An original musical, comedy show by members of Let Me Be Frank Productions.” Location: Meyer Theatre L14 | SceneNewspaper.com | April 2015
While the SCENE does everything to ensure the accuracy of its Events calendar, we also understand that some dates and times change. Please call ahead to confirm before traveling any distance.
Contact Phone Number: 494-3401 April 3, 2015 - April 4, 2015 (8:00 pm), April 9, 2015 - April 11, 2015 (8:00 pm), April 16, 2015 - April 18, 2015 (8:00 pm), April 23, 2015 - April 25, 2015 (8:00 pm)
April 4 Easter EggStravaganzoo
After Thoughts with Kristy Aoki International Students in the U.S. Grand Foyer Weidner Center 5:00pm Free
April 8 Near Water Concert Series 7:00 pm Location: Meyer Theatre Contact Phone Number: 494-3401 This concert series will bring emerging musicians to the area. Shovels & Rope perform.
Stories without Words 360 Thursday Music Series
Bellevue Easter Egg Bonanza
Fort Howard Hall Weidner Center 6:30pm
April 6 Anita Sarkeesian, Equality or GTFO: Navigating the Gendered Minefield of Online Harassment‚ UWGB Phoenix Rooms 8:00pm Anita’s work focuses on deconstructing the stereotypes and tropes associated with women in popular culture as well as highlighting issues surrounding the targeted harassment of women in online and gaming spaces. Her life has been threatened because of her advocacy on changing women’s images in video games.
April 9
Steps to Make a Difference Walk UWGB Mauthe Center 10:00am The 9th Annual Steps to Make a Difference Walk is a student led fundraising event to support House of Hope, Live54218, myTEAM TRIUMPH, and KenyaHelp.
April 11 Big Event for Little Kids Shopko Hall 9 AM-3:30 PM Magical fun-filled educational fund-raiser geared to children age 8 and under and their families. The event is a fund raiser for Encompass Child Care.
Green Bay Symphony Orchestra 7:30 pm
April 11 - 12 Green Bay Monster Jam
8:00 am - 4:00 pm Location: NEW Zoo Contact Phone Number: 434-7841 Easter egg hunt from 9am-2pm. A pancake and porkie breakfast from 8am-noon.
9:00 am - 12:30 pm Location: Josten Park Contact Phone Number: 468-5225 “Three sessions where children can hunt for eggs, receive goodie baskets, meet Easter Bunny and have fun. Pre-registration is required. “
Location: Weidner Center Contact Phone Number: 494-3401 Opera’s Greatest hits.
Location: Resch Center Contact Phone Number: 494-3401 “The show stars the biggest performers on four wheels, Monster Jam Trucks! Saturday shows are at 2pm and 7:30pm and 2pm on Sunday.”
April 11 & 18 Build a Bat House 10:00 am Location: Barkhausen Waterfowl Preserve Contact Phone Number: 448-6242 Build your own bat house. $10 per box. Pre-registration required.
April 12 St. Jude Jam 6:00 pm Location: Meyer Theatre Contact Phone Number: 494-3401 “Rodney Atkins, Craig Wayne Boyd, Austin Webb, and Kelsea Ballerini perform. “
University of Wisconsin Varsity Band 7:30 pm Location: Weidner Center Contact Phone Number: 494-3401 Under the direction of Professor Michael Leckrone for over 40 years.
April 14 MythBusters 7:30 pm Location: Weidner Center Contact Phone Number: 494-3401 “Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage, co-hosts of MythBusters make a stop in Green Bay”
April 15 Neville Museum
CALENDAR // THE BIG EVENTS
International Film Series: AGHET- A Genocide Neville Museum The History and Mystery of Gemstones
Orchid Ensemble 7:30 pm Location: Weidner Center Contact Phone Number: 494-3401 “The Orchid Ensemble brings its annual productions that integrates music with multimedia, dance and scenographic installations.”
April 16 The Best of the Second City 7:30 pm Location: Weidner Center Contact Phone Number: 494-3401 The Best of The Second City features some of the best sketches, songs, and improvisations from The Second City¬ís fifty-two year history. The Second City is truly a Chicago landmark and a national treasure. America’s famed comedy troupe, The Second City, is coming to town with The Best of The Second City. From the company that launched the careers of Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell, Gilda Radner, Bill Murray and more, comes the next generation of the comedy world¬ís best and brightest in an evening of hilarious sketch comedy and Second City’s trademark improvisation.
Northeast Wisconsin Truck Expo - Shopko Hall 1 PM - 8 PM Join us at the 28th Annual Northeast Wisconsin Truck Expo – the largest Truck Expo in Wisconsin!
April 16-18 Funny Little Thing Called Love Location: Green Bay Community Theater Contact Phone Number: 435-6300 Green Bay Community Theater production. Performances at 7:30pm each evening. Additional performances on Saturdays at 4pm and Sunday matinee at 2pm.
April 18 Everybody’s Rummage Sale – Spring - Shopko Hall 8 AM - 2 PM Adult clothes, books, vintage items, music, movies, toys, baby accessories, electronics, crafts, sports memorabilia, tools, jewelry and household items!
April 19 Civic Symphony of Green Bay Concert 3:00 pm Location: Meyer Theatre Contact Phone Number: 432-4676
April 20 Allouez Village Band Concerts 7:00 pm Location: Meyer Theatre Contact Phone Number: 406-8834
April 22,25, & 29
Daddy D’s takes you on a journey through decades of top 10 hits. Enjoy a dinner with the show.
April 21 Neville Museum Creative Connections: Audience Development April 23 Neville Museum Lunch Program: Victorians’ Secrets: The Revealing History of Women’s Underwear April 24-25 Titletown Trade-A-Thon 35 Location: KI Convention Center Contact Phone Number: 469-1466 Annual trade show for beer can and breweriana collectors. Open to the public from 4pm-8pm on Friday and 10am3pm on Saturday.
Morning Bird Hike
Rocking Reifs Mills
6:30 am Location: Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary Contact Phone Number: 391-3671 “Trek the Sanctuary trails while looking for Wisconsin migrating birds. Bring binoculars and hiking shoes. This event is FREE, weather permitting.”
Location: Palace of Reifs Mills Contact Phone Number: 732-3172 Local performers put on original show featuring a themed buffet. Friday and Saturday shows at 7pm, Sunday shows at 1pm.
April 22-26 Dearly Beloved Location: Green Bay Community Theater Contact Phone Number: 435-6300 Green Bay Community Theater production. Performances at 7:30pm each evening. Additional performances on Saturdays at 4pm and Sunday matinee at 2pm.
April 23-25 & 30 - May 1 Top 10 Billboard Hits 5:30 pm Location: Riverside Ballroom Contact Phone Number: 544-4244
April 26 Elling Swings Sinatra 7:00 pm Location: Weidner Center Contact Phone Number: 494-3401 “Award-winner and eleven-time nominee Kurt Elling joins forces with a powerful quintet to pay homage to Sinatra, in celebration of his 100th birthday. “
Earth Day Event 12:00 pm - 3:00 pm Location: Bay Beach Wildlife Sanctuary Contact Phone Number: 391-3671 “Enjoy some of the Sanctuary’s most popular programs, help make enrichment items for the animals, and bring in old batteries to recycle.”
April 27 WWE Monday Night Raw 6:30 pm Location: Resch Center Contact Phone Number: 494-3401
April 28 Trampled by Turtles 7:00 pm Location: Meyer Theatre Contact Phone Number: 494-3401 With special guest, Web of Sunsets.
April 25 - 26 Titletown Train Show Shopko Hall Location: Shopko Hall Contact Phone Number: 494-3401 Sat 9 AM-5 PM, Sun 10 AM-4 PM We have over 40,000 square feet of trains!
April 25 Birthday Party For The Animals 9:00 am - 2:00 pm Location: NEW Zoo Contact Phone Number: 434-7841 Birthday cake at 1pm and fun to celebrate the animals’ birthdays. April 2015 | SceneNewspaper.com | L15