Nov. 9, 2017 Print Edition

Blues Legend Bobby Rush Aims to Pass the Torch

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NOVEMBER 9, 2017 | 5

::NEWS&VIEWS FEATURES | POLLS | TAKING LIBERTIES | ISSUE OF THE WEEK

How Milwaukee’s Lakefront Was Saved LEGISLATORS AND PROFESSORS CHANGED THE FOCUS FROM FREEWAYS TO PEOPLE

N

::BY MICHAEL ELCONIN AND WILLIAM HOLAHAN

MELISSA LEE JOHNSON

ext time you have some time to spare as you drive along Lincoln Memorial Drive, stop near the Veterans Park Lagoon and walk eastward through the park toward Lake Michigan. Stop and admire what you see: the Milwaukee Art Museum’s Calatrava Wing, Discovery World, Harbor House, the Maier Festival Grounds, Milwaukee Community Sailing Center, McKinley Marina and Bradford Beach. You’ll also see a vast expanse of land crossed by bike paths and jogging trails, a beautiful lagoon, the cliffs of Lake Michigan and the city skyline. Milwaukee has inherited, preserved and invested in arguably the finest and most valuable shoreline of any city in the country.

Now imagine all that gone. Instead of that majestic scene, you are standing in the middle of a six-lane freeway running straight from Bradford Beach to the Hoan Bridge. Cars rush by, trucks belch diesel fumes and the noise is louder than you can yell. The parkland in which you are walking was paved over or never built; the city is cut off from Lake Michigan by the noise and pollution of cars and trucks.

Ridiculous, you say? Well, that freeway was actively supported by the “establishment” until the late 1970s and was part of the official “Regional Plan” until 1981. Its purpose was to relieve the congestion caused by the post-World War II explosion of car ownership and the exodus to the suburbs. This is the story of how that plan was stopped, which allowed for development of the lakefront as we know it today. It is a story of bi-partisan agreement (remember those?) on how to save the essence of the city.

By the 1960s and ’70s, key portions of Milwaukee’s freeway system were in place, consisting of a basic sideways “T”—Interstate 94 from Chicago through Downtown and, as I-41, north to Green Bay and I-94 west to Madison. These connectors relieved long-distance car and truck traffic, which previously had to navigate streets and two-lane roads. But there also was the aforementioned regional plan, which met with great resistance in Milwaukee, calling for additional freeways through many parts of the city.

The plan included a freeway around Milwaukee and another along the entire lakefront, connecting through a huge gash in the bluff to Ogden Avenue and Nash Street and across town to meet the north-south freeway (now I-43). Under the plan, this circumferential route would have been connected to the Hoan Bridge to carry traffic down the lakefront from Juneau Park to Racine, Kenosha and on to Chicago, forming a second freeway parallel to I-94, five miles to the east.

Divide and Conquer

By around 1970, as the regional plan became known to the general public, awareness rose about the intended ripping up of key sections of the city, including the demolition of thousands of homes. Vocal opposition grew. A court injunction was obtained to protect the lakefront, but no such protection was afforded in several other parts of town. The transportation planners fought back, obtaining a State Supreme Court ruling rendering the injunction temporary, pending further study, including an environmental impact study.

Meanwhile, the highway agencies built small sections of freeway as soon as they had approval, hoping that, as each piece was completed, it would be harder to oppose the remaining portions. As the projects proceeded, those in favor were described as modern forward thinkers and everyone else as opposed to progress, economic development, jobs and even safety and environmental quality. This policy of divide and conquer left unfinished segments, called “stub ends,” all over town.

These stubs were a blight for years, emblematic of a city that could not make up its mind whether the lakefront was a treasure or a transportation corridor. One of these 30-foot-high monstrosities was captured on film in the 1980 John Belushi movie The Blues Brothers. The dangling stub of the unfinished, elevated I-794 was a perfect stage for a chase scene, with cars careering over the edge and falling cinematically to the ground below. Not captured on film, of course, was the removal of the Italian community from the Third Ward, whose houses and beautiful Our Lady of Pompeii Church were demolished and replaced by concrete bridges.

6 | NOVEMBER 9, 2017

SHEPHERD EXPRESS

Challenging the Logic

Pockets of opposition emerged around town, but they were little match for the combined forces of business and labor in favor of the plan. While opposition groups formed around the segments of the plan that directly affected them—Stadium South, Lakefront, Park-West—they were too disparate and uncoordinated to surmount the establishment pro-freeway forces.

As approvals were issued, home demolition and concrete paving proceeded, and the people who were once natural opponents to the construction were swept away. And as each piece was built, the cost of completing what remained decreased.

Remaining opposition fragmented while road builders, materials suppliers, labor unions, business leaders and other supporters of finishing the job demanded that the plan go forward as quickly as possible.

But at the same time, a small coalition of state legislators and UW-Milwaukee professors decided to take a more coordinated, analysis-driven approach. They formed a study group to challenge the economic logic and engineering of the plan.

The group included state office-holders and academics who brought political, economic and engineering expertise to a process that had been driven by business and labor leaders and professional transportation planners.

Many members of this task force went on to prominent public careers, including Jim Moody (later a U.S. congressman representing Milwaukee’s East Side), John Norquist (who became the city’s mayor) and Dave Schultz (subsequently Milwaukee county executive). It also included Mordecai Lee, who’s currently a professor of urban planning at UWM, as well as UWM professors Ed Beimborn and Bob Schmidt (engineering and geography, respectively).

The task force found that those freeway stub-ends were expensive physical symbols of the impasse with freeway proponents who would not consider modifications to their plan.

Freeway proponents argued that transportation experts had developed the plan, that all the pieces of the plan fit together, and that each piece was essential to systematic traffic movement in a growing metropolis. The notion that the entire plan must be implemented, without changing any piece of it, became the first challenge for the task force.

The Pink Report

The task force prepared a study with an unglamorous name: “A Report Prepared by The Ad Hoc Legislative Task Force on Milwaukee Transportation.” It came to be known as “The Pink Report” because, when the time came to publish it, Dave Schultz volunteered to make copies, and the only cover stock he could find that weekend was pink. Written over a period of six months, the authors described their role as “blending political reality with technical competence to pinpoint the problem and to select a series of concrete steps for action.” The report was only 49 typewritten pages, but was packed with economic analyses, technical critiques and specific recommendations. The task force challenged many of the assumptions used to justify the plan and showed that the individual pieces of the freeway could, indeed, be changed without undermining the entire system.

The technical sections of The Pink Report outlined a number of planning errors, starting with the assumption that freeways merely serve existing land-use patterns. This is a key falsehood: Freeways also change traffic patterns and shift the tax base away from cities to suburbs, adding to miles driven and, ultimately, to congestion; the more we build, the busier they get.

SHEPHERD EXPRESS

AS YOU COMPLETE YOUR WALK ALONG THE LAKEFRONT, LOOK AT ALL THE PEOPLE. YOU WILL FIND ALL AGES, ETHNICITIES AND COUNTRIES OF ORIGIN. THEY ARE JOGGING, ROLLER-SKATING AND IN WHEELCHAIRS. THERE ARE COUPLES, FAMILIES, SINGLES, THE YOUNG AND THE ELDERLY —A DIVERSITY BEFITTING MILWAUKEE, A CITY WHOSE NAME MEANS “GATHERING OF WATERS.” Other less obvious, but no less important, errors included the planners’ assumptions of cheap gasoline and projections of development made possible by freeways that ignored lost development opportunities on land where the freeways were planned. Finally, travel time was the key savings from the plan, but not all time is of equal value. In particular, people place a much higher dollar value per hour saved when the savings come in minutes rather than in small, almost imperceptible chunks of a few seconds. Most of the savings claimed by the plan were in five-to-20-second intervals, and, therefore, their value had been exaggerated.

Dangling Stubs

The Pink Report provided a long list of recommendations for an improved planning process. Compared to the somewhat abstruse economic sections, the section that grabbed the most attention was the most practical: what to do with those dangling stubs! Fortunately, for the wide acceptability of its report, the task force included transportation engineers-professors Beimborn and Schmidt, experts in highway design. They wrote the chapter that laid out a specific list of recommendations, including maps, for tying all those “stub-ends” into local roads in a way that improved traffic flow without building the remaining parts of the plan.

Even the gigantic I-794 stub featured in The Blues Brothers was eventually connected to city streets and for 30 years was an integral part of the surface street system—before being restructured recently to make room for the high-rise Couture residential-commercial building. Beimborn and Schmidt showed that those dangling stubs had great potential for traffic flow if only they could be connected properly. Accordingly, I-794 was finally linked to the “Bridge to Nowhere” (the Hoan Bridge), which at the time was a laughing stock, built as part of the original regional plan, but not connected to anything. The “stub end treatments,” as they were known, provided the visual imagery for a feasible alternative to that regional plan.

The Pink Report was released in early 1977. By providing a thoughtful explanation of what was wrong with the regional plan, and by providing alternatives, the “freeway opponents” were suddenly seen as advocates of a solution rather than grumblers. This newfound respectability changed the tenor of subsequent discussions with newspaper editors, business lead-

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ers, planners and state officials. In early 1978, Gov. Martin Schreiber formally “de-listed” a segment—the “Stadium South.”

For the first time, there was a formal acknowledgement that the plan would not be completed in its entirety. Land acquisition and work on all other segments stopped, and local transportation planners for the City of Milwaukee, Milwaukee County and the state began considering suggestions for integrating the stub-ends into the existing street network.

Bi-Partisan Action

Of course, the state legislature had to act on a parallel track.

As opposition to the plan developed greater cohesion and engineering and economic competence, key members of the legislature used it to change the debate in Madison. It was particularly advantageous that two key members of the Ad Hoc Legislative Committee were positioned to move legislation to de-map the plan: state Rep. Michael Elconin and state Sen. Jim Moody used The Pink Report as evidence of the need to change the plan. By then, two additional members of the Ad Hoc Committee, John Norquist and Mordecai Lee, were members of the state Assembly from the Milwaukee area as well.

By providing a viable alternative, The Pink Report gave legislators a chance to save money, get traffic flowing, end the blight of useless concrete dangling in the air and stop the destruction of thousands of additional homes in the city.

With the logjam broken, the legislation worked its way up to a bi-partisan conclusion: In 1981, Wisconsin’s Republican Gov. Lee Dreyfus signed the bill that ended the threat to the Milwaukee Lakefront.

Epilogue: Keep Admiring Our Great Lakefront

Today, it is remarkable to read the list of specific “stubend-treatments” recommended in The Pink Report. All were eventually finished, many using almost exactly the same map as in the report, attesting in a very concrete way to its effect on the community. Its effects along Milwaukee’s Lake Michigan shoreline are perhaps the most notable.

As you complete your walk along the lakefront, look at all the people. You will find all ages, ethnicities and countries of origin. They are jogging, roller-skating and in wheelchairs. There are couples, families, singles, the young and the elderly—a diversity befitting Milwaukee, a city whose name means “gathering of waters.” The parkland saved from freeway construction has become a place where people gather daily by the water to enjoy its space and its peacefulness to think, and to explore the wonders of a great lake. But the story does not end there.

In 2017, the construction cranes are building the new headquarters for Northwestern Mutual, Johnson Controls and the Couture high-rise—all three rising above the area saved by the Ad Hoc Legislative Task Force and the ideas contained within its Pink Report—the 49 pages of which laid the economic foundation for an ongoing investment in the city’s future.

Michael Elconin served in the Wisconsin State Assembly and is currently a businessman in San Diego. William Holahan is Emeritus Professor of Economics at UW-Milwaukee.

In 1976, they founded and managed the task force whose report led to bipartisan consensus to de-map the planned freeway along the lake, enabling the development of the Milwaukee Lakefront into one of the great urban spaces in the nation.

Comment at shepherdexpress.com. 

NOVEMBER 9, 2017 | 7

NEWS&VIEWS::FEATURE

Wisconsin Fights for its Retired Workers LOCAL PEOPLE TAKE ACTION AGAINST THREATS TO PENSIONS ::BY ALISON HENDERSON

Struggling with depression…

Rogers Behavioral Health is currently recruiting individuals, ages 18 to 65, to participate in a clinical research study aimed at reducing the symptoms associated with Major Depressive Disorder. The study, delivered on a smart phone in a controlled setting, includes brief sessions twice per week for four weeks, and participants will receive compensation for time and travel.

To learn more, call 414-865-2600 or visit rogersbh.org/depression-research.

All inquiries are confidential.

This study is funded through private donations to the Rogers Memorial Hospital Foundation.

8 | NOVEMBER 9, 2017

K

enneth Stribling retired from the trucking industry after more than 30 years of service. In the years since, however, the 65-year-old Teamster has been working overtime to fight for the retirement he was promised. Like 10 million others, he spent the majority of his career paying into a multiemployer pension fund, often negotiating wage cuts, no pay increase or other benefits, to safeguard his future. But in 2015, he received a letter stating that safeguard could be cut by 55%. He’s not alone.

“It would have been devastating,” said Stribling, whose pension is part of the Central States Pension Fund (CSPF). It would have affected his ability to help his children or care for his youngest grandson. His family would have had to downsize. “When we first heard about the possible cuts, I went to work downsizing anyway, paying off debt, I paid my house off … just to be able to withstand that impact,” he said.

With almost 400,000 members and more than 1,500 contributing employers across a variety of industries, CSPF was, until recently, the largest multiemployer pension fund in the nation. There are 25,000 CSPF participants in Wisconsin; almost 13,000 of them are retirees.

Historically known for its ties to organized crime and investments in hotel and casino real estate, the fund was once considered flush and fail-proof, but within 10 years, it is projected to be insolvent and will be unable to pay any benefits to current or future retirees.

Some of the nation’s largest multiemployer plans are underfunded and have low workerto-retiree ratios, which put more responsibility on contributing employers. Central States has one active member paying in for every five retirees receiving benefits, and in 2016, it was 42% funded, according to its annual funding notice—a 6% drop from 2014.

Along with several attempted solutions— including increasing employer contribution rates, ending full benefits for early retirement and a bill that proposed a taxpayer-funded bailout—came the 2014 Multiemployer Pension Reform Act (MPRA), which replaced retiree protections from the Employee Retirement Income Security Act and, for the first time, allowed cutting retiree pension benefits to prevent a fund from failing. Funds in critical status must request these cuts through an application to the Treasury Department, which then approves or denies it.

“It sort of turned the law on its head … and said let the retirees handle it,” said Karen Friedman, executive vice president and policy director of the Pension Rights Center. “We tried to stop the law, but it was snuck into the [2014] omnibus spending bill.”

Pensions to be Slashed?

In 2015, Central States submitted an application in which approximately 270,000 people would have some portion of their pension benefits reduced. “Their application was particularly draconian for a number of reasons,” Friedman said. “It would have allowed cutting [pension] benefits by up to 50-70%, which would have been unprecedented.”

“A lot of people don’t realize we paid for this just like you pay for a 401(k). We negotiated our wages,” said Paul Host, who retired from ABF Freight after 24 years. The 61-year-old said that for years, money was even diverted from his health care benefits to pay into his pension, causing a significant increase in his medical deductibles.

Insolvent funds are supposed to be backed by the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation (PBGC), a federal insurance agency responsible for the current and future pensions of about 1.5 million people, according to a 2016 PBGC

“A LOT OF PEOPLE DON’T REALIZE WE PAID FOR THIS JUST LIKE YOU PAY FOR A 401(K).

WE NEGOTIATED OUR WAGES,” SAID PAUL HOST, WHO RETIRED FROM ABF FREIGHT AFTER 24 YEARS.

report. However, the liability program is also alarmingly underfunded, estimating it will run out of money by 2025. Pensioners already take a cut when their benefits are assumed by the PBGC, but will get next to nothing when the program runs out of money. “No Central States Pension Fund participant would get any meaningful pension, because Central States and the PBGC will both be out of money,” according to the CSPF website.

“It is impossible to script a more tragic horror story,” former CSPF executive employee Bruce Trojak wrote in a 2017 letter to the U.S. Government Accountability Office, which is now investigating the government’s oversight of the CSPF. The imminent insolvencies that threaten the financial security of millions of Americans have been viewed as an impending economic crisis; Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin called it a pension “tsunami.”

But now these retirees—and some of their stillemployed counterparts—are leading the fight to keep what is theirs.

The Treasury Department denied Central States’ MRPA application for failing to meet certain criteria, including unrealistic rates of return, but also because of the overwhelming feedback from organizations and thousands of plan participants, representatives and beneficiaries.

A national movement has formed in the years since MRPA, much of which started in Wisconsin with people like Stribling, Host, Bernie Anderson and Bob Amsden, among others.

These men are now participants and leaders in the Milwaukee chapter of the newly formed National United Committee to Protect Pensions (NUCPP). With more than 60 chapters in 22 states, it has been incessantly organizing, letterwriting, lobbying and visiting Capitol Hill to raise awareness about the issue and find a solution that avoids devastating effects on pensioners and taxpayers. “This has become a full-time job,” Anderson said, noting that he and Stribling often dedicate 60-100 hours a week to the cause.

“Because of them, many members of the U.S. Congress realize what a mistake the passage of MRPA was, and they have inspired new plans,” Friedman said. “This is not a partisan issue; this is about keeping promises to retirees.

These guys drove trucks across the country in snow and rain to put food on the table for their families and so they could have a pension when they retired. This law really torpedoed those promises.”

Many wonder what will happen next, fearing this new precedent is the tip of the iceberg and could carry over to other types of benefits, such as single-employer pensions, 401(k)s or even Social Security. Many more wonder how we got here in the first place.

Shared Responsibility

The deep and sprawling roots of the multiemployer pension issue go very far back and very high up with a handful of contributing factors, some of which are widely acknowledged and others that are widely speculated.

The first and most commonly cited culprit is the deregulation of the trucking industry in the 1980s, which led to thousands of bankruptcies SHEPHERD EXPRESS

NEWS&VIEWS::FEATURE known criminals like Goldman Sachs—though Goldman Sachs was experiencing losses year after year.”

Installation view of MYTHOLOGIES: EUGENE VON BRUENCHENHEIN at the John Michael Kohler Arts Center, 2017.

and more than 10,000 employers exiting Central States. Then, there is the untimely convergence of two major recessions occurring just as retirement reached the Baby Boomer population that makes up a majority of the fund’s participants.

Ironically, the success of these funds may have also contributed to their downfall. To avoid becoming overfunded, CSPF paid out a series of benefit increases that eventually became unsustainable, and because the plans originally had tens of thousands of companies paying in, they paid comparatively low premiums to the PBGC and were also lower on the list of payouts made after a bankruptcy, according to Anderson. That’s why MRPA was put in place, he said. “What they’re actually asking us [retirees] to do is to pay that liability that should have been the company’s responsibility in bankruptcy,” he says.

The combination of economic misfortunes seems to portray a nonpoint source of fault.

However, there is skepticism surrounding the significant losses suffered by Central States once the government took control of the fund, despite regular oversight from a judge and special council. A 1982 consent decree, meant to rid the fund of corruption, required selling off real estate investments and turned the management of many of the fund’s assets over to Wall Street firms like Goldman Sachs.

“We lost millions with the mafia; we lost billions with the government,” Host said. The CSPF attributes some of these losses to continued employer bankruptcies, while others point to risky investments. Trojak explained that, when the financial markets collapsed in 2008, CSPF was 68% invested in equities, many of which were in mortgage-backed securities and investment banks that held toxic assets. “Being nearly 70% invested in stocks is a lot like ‘betting on black’ at a roulette table,” Trojak said.

Host, Anderson and many others believe they deserve access to the Troubled Asset Relief Fund, created to stabilize the financial system during the 2008 financial crisis, or to some of the billions of dollars Wall Street paid in fines after the crisis. “The [government] wasn’t really doing a good job of safeguarding our futures, our retirements,” Host said. “They did things like allowing Central States to invest with

CHICKEN BONES, TIN FOIL, AND GLITTER

Solutions for Solvency

On a Saturday morning in late September, dozens of Milwaukee NUCPP members packed into the Brookfield American Legion Post for an update on the state of their pension fight.

As attendees lined up to sign the newest reptargeted letter, Amsden, Anderson and Stribling spoke to fervent cohorts about the most recent developments.

“Wisconsin is so unique because we have everybody: We’ve got Republicans, Democrats, congressmen, senators all working for us, and they’re all talking with their aides and staffs about us, about how … we become one to let the rest of the country know that Wisconsin is leading this fight to save the pensions,” Amsden said to the crowd.

Several proposals are currently at hand with several more on the horizon, including Sen. Bernie Sanders’ Keep Our Pension Promises Act, the Bridge to Solvency and the Funding Assurance Plan. The 1-2-3 Solution, coming out of Wisconsin, suggests all 10 million multiemployer plan participants contribute a premium between 1% and 5%—depending on the status of their fund. Many local NUCPP members are also patiently awaiting the Sherrod Brown bill, which is expected to be introduced this fall.

Anderson said the goal now is to get their representatives to review all the plans and get behind those with the fewest cuts. “At the end of the year, the fund will be another billion dollars smaller,” Anderson said. “We certainly would like this over by year’s end.”

They have the ears of senators in Wisconsin and across the country, Friedman said. “I am convinced that, because of their activism, we will prevail, and we will find a better solution,” she said. “These guys have become the best citizen activists we know, and to them, it’s a larger principle. It’s not just about their pensions, it’s about, as a country, do we value taking care of our workers? This issue is an American dream issue. This is fundamental to democracy.”

Comment at shepherdexpress.com. 

Ordinary things made extraordinary Featuring works by Emery Blagdon, Loy Bowlin, David Butler, Eugene Von Bruenchenhein, and Stella Waitzkin.

FREE ADMISSION

This exhibition is supported in part by a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Department of Tourism, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Funding was also provided by the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Kohler Trust for the Arts and Education, Kohler Foundation, Inc., Herzfeld Foundation, and Sargento Foods Inc. The Arts Center thanks its many members for their support of exhibitions and programs through the year. The John Michael Kohler Arts Center is a 501(c)(3) (nonprofit) organization; donations are tax deductible.

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THE STATE OF PENSIONS:  In 2016, the Central States Pension Fund (CSPF ) had $16.43 billion in assets and $39 billion in liabilities, according to the fund’s annual notice. The fund had 66% of its assets in stocks and 32% in debt instruments; it continues to have no assets in real estate.  About half of CSPF benefits payments currently go to “orphaned” employees whose employers never fully paid the fund to cover their benefits.

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 More than 60 plans covering nearly 1 million workers are eligible to apply for benefit cuts under MPRA. Almost 20 plans have already so applied, according to the Treasury Department.  The maximum PBGC guarantee for workers who retire at age 65 is $5,370 monthly.

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NEWS&VIEWS::SAVINGOURDEMOCRACY ( NOV. 9 - NOV. 15, 2017 )

E

ach week, the Shepherd Express serves as a clearinghouse for all activities in the greater Milwaukee area that peacefully push back against discriminatory, reactionary or authoritarian actions and policies of the Trump administration and other activities that seek to thwart social justice. We will publicize and promote actions, demonstrations, planning meetings, teach-ins, party-building meetings, drinking-discussion get-togethers or any other actions that are directed toward fighting back to preserve our liberal democratic system.

Thursday, Nov. 9

consin and Citizen Action of Wisconsin have come together to organize a weekly Saturday campaign of knocking on doors and phone banking to get people thinking about the 2018 elections. Volunteers can go out and talk to voters about the issues that they care about and get them involved in different events happening in the community.

Liberty for All! African American Civil Liberties in Milwaukee @ Alverno College (3400 S. 43rd St.), 6-7:30 p.m.

Reggie Jackson, head griot at the Milwaukee-based America’s Black Holocaust Museum, will speak at this event which aims to “look at the struggles of African Americans in Milwaukee to attain those basic civil liberties that we assume are the rights of all Americans.” Attendees are asked to register in advance online at alverno.wufoo.com/forms/liberty-for-all.

Activism and Racial Climate in America @ UWM Union Ballroom (2200 E. Kenwood Blvd.), 7-9 p.m.

Peace Action Wisconsin: Stand for Peace @ The corner of Sherman and North avenues, noon-1 p.m.

Comedian, host and actor Amanda Seales will come to UWMilwaukee’s Union Ballroom for a lecture on activism and racial climate. This event is free and open to the public with firstcome, first-served seating. Doors open at 6:30 p.m.

Saturday, Nov. 11

Voter and Civic Engagement Campaign @ Acción Ciudadana de Wisconsin (221 S. Second St.), 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

Acción Ciudadana de Wisconsin, Latino Voting Bloc of Wis-

SHANK

Every Saturday from noon-1 p.m., concerned citizens join with Peace Action Wisconsin to protest war and “Stand for Peace.” Signs will be provided for those who need them.

Protesters are encouraged to stick around for conversation and coffee afterward.

Tuesday, Nov. 14

Historic Tax Credits: A Call to Action @ Pritzlaff Building (315 N. Plankinton Ave.), 3-5 p.m.

Wisconsin’s historic tax credit program is facing rollbacks as a result of the budget bill recently signed into law. The federal program could also fall victim to tax reform legislation taken up by Congress. The Coalition for Historic Preservation is hosting a roundtable discussion on efforts taking

place to strengthen and maintain these programs and how best to advocate in support of both the state and federal programs.

Wednesday, Nov. 15

Expert Panel with Rachel Schneider of The Financial Diaries @ Community Advocates (728 N. James Lovell St.), 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.

Rachel Schneider, author of The Financial Diaries, will join an expert panel on economic insecurity hosted by Community Advocates. Earned income tax credit expert Steve Holt and Community Advocates COO Maudwella Kirkendoll will join Schneider. The Public Policy Institute’s Julie Kerksick will moderate the panel.

Zeidler Center for Public Discussion Gala @ Best Place at the Historic Pabst Brewery (901 W. Juneau Ave.), 6-8:30 p.m.

The theme of this year’s Zeidler Center gala is “Unity Through Dialogue,” and will feature a keynote speech from award-winning author, columnist and professor Samuel G. Freedman. You can purchase tickets at my.zeidlercenter.org.

To submit to this column, please send a brief description of your action, including date and time, to savingourdemocracy@shepex.com. Together, we can fight to minimize the damage that the administration of Donald Trump has planned for our great country.

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NEWS&VIEWS::POLL

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by Russian propagandists and put profits over patriotism by running them. You said:  Yes: 81%  No: 19%

What Do You Say? Republicans unveiled a tax proposal that they admit would provide massive tax cuts for the wealthy and increase the deficit. Even if you personally received a modest tax cut under that plan, would you support it?  Yes  No Vote online at shepherdexpress.com. We’ll publish the results of this poll in next week’s issue.

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Tax Cuts Expose the Biggest Lie of Paul Ryan’s 2017 Holiday Craft Fair of Career Washington County

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ages to pass any—will be the biggest, greatest and beautiful legislation ever passed.

E most G! to pass the biggest, greatest, most FRE In order N I ARK Pbeautiful tax cuts for himself, his family and their wealthy friends, Trump isn’t going to limit himself al alto only what can be cut out of governrigin e riginspending o o l l l l ment for other people. The Trump tax d A A a ade d-m nd-m also will add a record $1.5 trillion to fedhan s! hacuts s! t raft deficits over the next decade. Confronted craf ceral with the most monstrous explosion of budget deficits in history, Ryan—the relentless foe of immoral, America-destroying federal deficits he claimed would bankrupt our children and leave a once great nation in ruins—obediently wcfairpark.com ~ 262.677.5060 wcfairpark.com ~ 262.677.5060 promises to get it done, boss.

Ryan’s job and political career may depend 2017 Holiday Craft Fair of upon it. With Republicans in complete control of the White House, U.S. House of RepresentaWashington County ::BY JOEL MCNALLY tives and U.S. Senate, passing tax cuts should Washington County Fair Park & Convention Center Washington County Fair Park & Convention Center emember all those economic be a cinch. Republicans always fool hardAmericans into believing tax cuts will charts Wisconsin Congress- working Saturday, November 18th ! upon them and their families; in REEshowered be Saturday, November 18th G F man Paul Ryan used to hold N E I RKordinary Americans barely receive a light FRE ING! A truth, P up on 9a television K 9a - 3p - 3p proving that PAR increasing federal deficits un- drizzle. $3 Admission (12 & over) (12 &lead over) to the Admission der Democrats$3would inexorably al l for the Wealthy rigin e nation’s total financial collapse—with shell- ll oWindfalls gina i r d o A All All -made -mathe real money from the Trump tax cuts, shocked Americans digging out of the smold n a d to an early analysis by the Tax Policy han s! s! dering, economic wreckage? As House Bud- h according t raft f c a r c get Chairman, Ryan claimed the nation’s only Center, is reserved for the wealthy with some hope for survival was draconian Republican windfalls exceeding $720,000 a year. About a House budgets beginning in 2010 making sav- third of middle-class taxpayers could actually age cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Secu- get tax increases. Most will initially receive rity, food stamps and every other government a few hundred dollars for a few years before their taxes start going up again in 2023. program benefi tting ordinary~Americans. wcfairpark.com ~ 262.677.5060 wcfairpark.com 262.677.5060 Several special whopping tax cuts apply Paul Ryan was the economic equivalent of that unnamed American officer during the Viet- only to the wealthy, which, of course, means nam War who infamously argued that a certain the Trump family (he tries to hide this by revillage had to be destroyed in order to save it. fusing to release his tax forms). Eliminating Ryan’s cruel proposals won him second spot the Alternative Minimum Tax for the wealthy 11:00 am – 2:00 pm on the 2012 Republican ticket and a promo- would have cut Trump’s 2005 taxes, which Potawatomi Hotel & Casino tion to Speaker of the House. That puts Ryan were leaked publicly, by 85%. Eliminating esMilwaukee, WI squarely in charge of passing Donald Trump’s tate taxes for millionaires would save Trump’s KEYNOTE SPEAKER: massive tax cuts that will overwhelmingly go family an estimated $1.4 billion. A special lowMary Houghton 11:00am Small Biz Market Opens to Trump and his family and other millionaires, er rate for so-called “pass through” businesses Innovative forerunner billionaires and their corporations. Ryan’s sud- would apply to most Trump businesses.

12:00pm Lunch & Program That makes even crueler some of the tax den embrace of deficit-exploding tax cuts ex1:30pm Last Call: Market in community economic deductions Republicans eliminate for people poses the biggest lie of his political career. development in dire straits to free up all that money for the Sponsorship begins at $1,000 ultra-wealthy. That includes people with cataGOP Plan Will Raise Debt Corporate Tables of 8: $700 Paul Krugman, a Nobel Prize-winning strophic illnesses and special needs children Individual Seat(s): $65 economist and New York Times columnist, first who have medical expenses greater than 10% RSVP: bit.ly/WWBICrsvp began pointing out in 2010 that Ryan’s mean- of their income and those with enormous lossspirited budgets did little to eliminate U.S. debt. es from recent hurricanes, floods and natural Ryan simply used exaggerated claims about disasters not covered by insurance.

WWBIC supports entrepreneurs with Ryan has abandoned the biggest lie of deficit spending as an excuse to propose devasquality financial & business education tating cuts in government programs. Then, he his career about the urgency of reducing the programs, one-on-one coaching and lending. urged turning those savings into (guess what?) nightmare of U.S. budget deficits, but his new massive tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. lies about Republican tax cuts benefitting the #WWBIC30TH “Ryan is not, repeat not, a serious, honest man middle class will create a brand-new Ameriof principle,” Krugman has written. “He has can nightmare. Compound interest on that been an obvious fraud all along, at least to any- enormous $1.5 trillion addition to the national debt will require even greater tax increases and one who can do budget arithmetic.”

Ryan’s support for the largest increase in government spending cuts in the future. That the national debt in U.S. history now makes it means the next huge boot to fall will be dracoclear all his apocalyptic fear mongering over nian cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Secudeficits was a total sham. A year after his elec- rity, food stamps and every other government Presented by: tion, Trump has failed to pass any major legis- program.

Paul Ryan’s lies may change, but his solation, which he promised voters would somehow magically become a reality on “day one” lutions—and the enormous tax cuts for the of his presidency. But that hasn’t stopped the wealthy—are always the same.

Comment at shepherdexpress.com. n self-aggrandizing Trump from claiming any

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SHEPHERD EXPRESS

Best of Milwaukee 2015

NEWS&VIEWS::ISSUEOFTHEWEEK

WINNER

We’re Paying a Lot More for Healthcare than Minnesotans

A

::BY KEVIN KANE

s we enter open enrollment, some will be surprised by the sticker prices of health insurance. You may even be someone who received a letter saying your insurance was increasing by double digits or leaving the marketplace completely. But it is important to realize that this is not the experience everywhere, and we could have prevented this.

For years now, Citizen Action of Wisconsin has done research contrasting the health insurance prices between our state and our neighbor to the west, Minnesota—a state that has done a lot more to rein in the price of healthcare and which has seen rates far lower than we have. How much of a difference are we talking about? In a new analysis of the health insurance rates consumers are seeing right now on state health insurance marketplaces, the average Wisconsinite will pay 45% more than the average Minnesotan for the same plan, and on top of that, we here in the Badger State can expect higher out-of-pocket costs, too.

The differences could not be starker. While Wisconsin health insurance prices are increasing by 36% since last year, four-out-of-five insurance companies in Minnesota are lowering their premiums. The divergence is so large that a 40-year-old consumer in Milwaukee can expect to pay $2,899 more in premiums—and see a $2,500 higher deductible—than their counterpart in Minneapolis-St. Paul! Nor is Milwaukee the worsthit city in Wisconsin. Green Bay and La Crosse both will see premiums more than twice as high as someone in the Twin Cities.

Why is it so much worse in Wisconsin when President Donald Trump is sabotaging healthcare across the country? It turns out the answer comes down to Gov. Scott Walker’s administration and the Wisconsin State Legislature. Our state has left insurers effectively alone to decide what to offer and at what price. Minnesota, on the other hand, has made a bipartisan push to prove that the state has a clear and necessary duty in protecting consumers from skyrocketing health costs.

What did Minnesota do that we should emulate, and how can we go even beyond them? Minnesota took it on itself to play a hands-on role in designing the health market. They created their own enrollment website, required insurers to seek prior approval before raising rates drastically, outlawed the sale of “lemon” transitional health plans that aren’t compliant with the Affordable Care Act and used available federal funds to ensure that MinnesotaCare (their version of BadgerCare) covers as many people as possible.

None of which Wisconsin did. But they’re even going beyond that—creating what’s known as a “reinsurance” plan to protect against excessive uncertainty and even pushing for a public option at the state level to compete with private insurers. Wisconsin can, and should, do all of this.

Can Wisconsin Do Better?

We can design a fair insurance market that protects consumers with preexisting conditions, while not letting insurers game the system. We could have a BadgerCare public option, so consumers are not at the mercy of insurance company decisions.

Right now, there’s a bill in the state legislature—introduced by State Sen. LaTonya Johnson (D-Milwaukee) and State Rep. Eric Genrich (D-Green Bay)—to open up BadgerCare as a public option to individuals and small business owners. We need this now more than ever as Trump’s sabotage raises insurance prices.

Wisconsin can and must do more. We can guarantee quality affordable healthcare for all. We can take on corporate medicine that extracts profit from people at their most vulnerable. It’s indefensible that our next-door neighbor can provide healthcare at a fraction of what we pay, and if we don’t catch up, we’ll fall further behind.

Kevin Kane is organizing director of Citizen Action of Wisconsin and head researcher comparing healthcare costs between Wisconsin and Minnesota. He can be reached at kevin.kane@citizenactionwi.org.

Comment at shepherdexpress.com. n SHEPHERD EXPRESS

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::DINING

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DAVE ZYLSTRA

FEATURE | SHORT ORDER | EAT/DRINK

Greek Heritage Inspires Breakfast Menu at Mimosa

and topped with fresh avocado slices. Like all dishes here, it makes a massive plate, and is brightened by the bit of lemon and generous application of avocado. All omelettes come with your choice of house potatoes or fruit.

Shrimp, a not-so-common breakfast menu ingredient, also makes an appearance in the morning jambalaya skillet ($12.95). Tender pulled chicken breast, breakfast sausage, shrimp and Cajun seasonings are cooked together with peppers and onions, then placed on top of potatoes with two eggs. A Mexican-inspired choricero skillet ($11.45) with chicken chorizo, and a Greek chicken souvla skillet ($11.45) are also available.

Blueberry buttermilk pancakes ($8.95) were fluffy and packed with fresh berries.

Belgian waffles can be stuffed with house-smoked pecans ($8.95) or topped with ::BY LACEY MUSZYNSKI fried chicken cutlets and rosemary and soy sauce-infused maple syrup for their ververy neighborhood needs a good breakfast spot. Whether it’s a greasy sion of chicken and waffles ($10.95).

Do not pass up a chance to try the signature Mimosa breakfast potatoes. They’re spoon, an upscale diner, or something in between, breakfast restaurants made with Evreniadis’ mom’s recipe, and they’re what he grew up eating. They’re always seem to serve up just as much community camaraderie as stacks chunky, similar to what we’d call home fries, and cooked only in olive oil, not butter. of pancakes.

They have great crispy brown bits from the griddle and are seasoned well. You can Mimosa Breakfast & Brunch fits the bill as Franklin’s new neighborhood order them topped four different ways, one with feta, lemon and bacon ($4.95), and brunch spot, and seems to be a quick favorite. On any given day of the week, the breakfast- and lunch-only restaurant is bustling with customers, one with a tangy Greek yogurt avocado sauce ($3.45), for instance.

The menu has a small lunch section, including sandwiches and entrée salads, many of whom endure a wait for a table. But the staff is friendly and runs if you can pull yourself away from the breakfast items. Smoked pecans show up like clockwork, so while you won’t be outwardly rushed to vacate your again in a maple chicken salad sandwich ($9.95), which is served with fresh cut fries, table, customer turnover is efficient and continuous. tabouleh salad or fruit. A steak salad ($13.95) with a 7-ounce Once you grab a table, though, you’ll understand cut of beef, pickled onions and orange champagne vinaigrette why there’s a wait. The menu is on par with some of makes a substantial meal. the more well-known daytime restaurants in the city, Along with mimosas and a Bloody Mary loaded with Mimosa with international cuisine influences as well as Ameribacon, feta and pickles, Mimosa serves a signature blend can classics like biscuits and gravy.

Breakfast & Brunch of coffee from Colectivo, making it easy to linger. Everyone Greek flavors in particular permeate the menu due 9405 S. 27th St., Franklin else seems to share the same idea, making for a brunch to owner Apostoli Evreniadis’ childhood in Greece. A Hellene that’s louder than it is relaxing. But if what you’re looking 414-574-5132 | $$ omelette ($9.95) is folded with sautéed baby kale, imported for is a unique menu, big portions and an atmosphere feta cheese, and roasted red pepper sauce for a vegetarian mimosabreakfast.com that will wake you up in the morning, then Mimosa is your option. The simply named shrimp omelette ($12.45) is one of Handicapped Access: Yes neighborhood spot. the standouts of the entire menu, though. At least a half-dozen CC, RS, GF large shrimp are cooked with lemon, garlic, fresh tomato and Hours: Daily 6 a.m.-3 p.m. Shrimp Omelette, Berry Sweet Pancakes at Mimosa onion, then tucked in a cage-free egg omelette with cheese

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SHEPHERD EXPRESS

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The biscuits keep coming if you tell the server “yes”—warm and slightly crunchy, served with butter and maple syrup. It’s only one of a couple dozen unique touches that makes Devon Seafood + Steak (5715 N. Bayshore Drive, Glendale) worth the trip, even if you live nowhere near the North Shore. Lodged in a handsome structure of stone, tile and dark wood, Devon is part of a national chain, yet each link is distinctive to its locality. The recently revised Milwaukee menu focuses on local sources whenever possible for seafood and vegetables.

The menu also accents steaks, prepared to each diner’s satisfaction. The “Power Lunches” come in two sizes, combo ($13) and entrée ($18); both include choice of soup or salad in generous portions. Be sure to try the New England-style crab cakes (more meat, less filling) or the spicy Andouille hash topped with a fried egg. Stick around for the long happy hour: Monday-Friday, 4-7 p.m., with drink and appetizer specials.

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DININGOUT::EATDRINK

Homemade Goodness from Cakes by Linda Kay ::BY SHEILA JULSON

C

ooking and baking were always part of Linda Burrell’s life. Her mother Jessie loved to prepare and share hearty, visually appealing meals and desserts.

Burrell, who was born in South Carolina and grew up in Massachusetts, frequently perused her mom’s cookbooks and experimented with recipes, often tweaking them to make them her own.

That passion for cooking and baking led Burrell to form Cakes by Linda Kay in 2011.

Burrell makes specialty cakes for any occasion, and cookies, cobbler, pie, cupcakes and more.

She’ll also make just about any sweet treat a customer requests. Burrell’s specialty is sweet potato cobbler, a treat that her mother often made and was a favorite with relatives.

Sweet potato cobbler is likely familiar to those with Southern roots, but many people in Milwaukee had never heard of the treat. Burrell started making them for farmers markets and events, and the sweet potato cobbler was a hit, even with people that swore they didn’t like sweet potatoes but were won over when they sampled the treat.

Burrell bakes most items from scratch, and she rents a commercial kitchen. Other customer favorites include red velvet cake, caramel cake, sweet potato or pumpkin pie, peach or apple cobbler, chocolate cake, chocolate-covered roasted peanuts, and scratch-made banana pudding, a

treat Burrell said older generations often recognize and love from their childhood.

Growing up in the home kitchen and watching family members bake can provide the best culinary education, and Burrell learned volumes while baking with her mother and experimenting with recipes. That’s why today she has the confidence to tackle a request from a customer— whether or not she’s made the item before.

“If a customer approaches me and asks for a strawberry rhubarb pie, even if I’ve never made one, but by the end of the day, I could produce one. I love that type of challenge,” Burrell said.

She also hears from people who have a cherished family recipe and asks her to duplicate it. “I tell them, ‘We’ll find a way to work it out.’”

One example is when a vendor at Fondy Farmers Market gave Burrell some peaches and told her to do something with them. Rather than making her usual peach cobbler, she made a peach cream cake with crumbly topping. Embodying her mother’s spirit of building social connections through food, she shared the cake with Venice Williams, executive director of Alice’s Garden, where Burrell has a small garden.

Burrell gets carrots for her carrot cake, and zucchini for her zucchini bread, from her garden. She sources other ingredients from local vendors when possible.

“When you cook for people, it brings a smile to their faces and their tummies. You share love for people by preparing food for them,” Burrell said.

Burrell sells her treats at farmers markets and events. This winter she’ll be at the Outpost Makers Market, held Thursday (10 a.m.-2 p.m.) and Saturday (12-2 p.m.) at the Wellness Commons on 16th and North Avenue. In February, she will participate in Carnival Milwaukee, a tasting event held by the Urban Economic Development Association. Burrell takes custom orders, especially with the busy holidays approaching.

“If people don’t want to bake, I’ll gladly do it for them,” she said.

For more information, call 414-202-8876 or visit facebook.com/cakesbylindakay.

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Emmy-winning, Oscar-nominated writer and director Rob Schrab presents

“Embrace the Dumb: The Rob Schrab Experience” November 15, 6 p.m.

MIAD’s 4th Floor Raw Space, Free & open to the public.

MIAD Illustration alum Rob Schrab shares his successes and failures with: • Ghosted • The Sarah Silverman Program • Parks & Recreation • Community • The Mindy Project • Monster House • Scud: The Disposable Assassin

miad.edu/creativityseries

Green Bay: It Gets Even Worse ::BY PAUL NOONAN

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::SPORTS

here is no way to sugarcoat the truly terrible display of football put on by the Green Bay Packers in their first game back from the bye—a 30-17 loss to the Detroit Lions at Lambeau Field. Given an extra week to prepare for life without Aaron Rodgers, Mike McCarthy and crew somehow managed to come up with a game plan that was even worse than their strategy against the New Orleans Saints.

The defense appeared undisciplined and uninterested in being there as Mike Daniels played one of his worst games as a professional, setting the tone for lackadaisical effort that failed to force a single punt from the Lions.

Worst of all, Brett Hundley showed no signs of development—panicking in the face of blitzes, taking several terrible sacks and missing wideopen receivers. It was a complete and total failure across the board.

Mike McCarthy and Brett Hundley

Packers Head Coach Mike McCarthy is not one to deviate much from his standard offense, focusing on execution over tactical creativity, but if ever there was a time for some tactical creativity, it was tonight. The Packers have had two years to scout and train Hundley, and by now they should understand his strengths and weaknesses. He had trouble with the rush in college and he still does. His mobility will gain him yards, but it will not buy him time to make a throw, because he is a poor passer on the move. He has a strong arm and can hit guys on outs, but he has struggled with down-thefield throws. He has a lot of big deficiencies, but he also has tools to work with. But instead, McCarthy chose to hide him behind screens and dump-offs.

The fact is that Hundley looked bad, and McCarthy’s strategy indicated that he believes Hundley is bad, but more read option would have at least given him a chance. An offense that capitalized on his mobility would have

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at least given them a chance. McCarthy attempted to “simplify” things for Hundley, but “simple” need not be “predictable.” You can have a package of plays that is both easily understandable by the offense and difficult to figure out for the defense—especially if your quarterback can take off running. Instead, McCarthy called a game as if he had no interest in winning, and Hundley obliged.

Defense

Dom Capers’ defense relies primarily on turnovers to be effective, and they rely on a strong pass rush bolstered by blitzing to create that pass rush. Capers brought extra rushers repeatedly in this game, but the Lions picked up every one of them with ease, leaving only Nick Perry and Dean Lowry to split a lone sack. Mike Daniels should be embarrassed, and when everyone watches the tape later this week, I’m sure he will be. His inexcusable unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the Lions’ first drive when they were at third-and-14 allowed the Lions to score the game’s first touchdown, and he was a complete non-factor for the rest of the day.

On a second-and-18 play in the third quarter, the Lions somehow managed to get Golden Tate singled on inside linebacker Blake Martinez, who was smoked for 21 yards. Matthew Stafford operated without opposition, converting 61% of Lions’ third downs and holding onto the ball for some 36 minutes. The Packers’ defense was unable to get off the field, and when they did, the offense almost always put them right back out there. Tackling was atrocious across the board, and the Packers safeties frequently started 20-30 yards off of the line of scrimmage, allowing for enormous holes to develop in a porous Packers zone.

Capers’ defense, when it does work, only really works when the team is ahead. If the Packers are playing a competitive game, an opposing offense can easily exploit its weaknesses, and the Lions took their time—methodically moving up and down the field and taking exactly what the Packers gave them.

Going Forward

Green Bay faces the Chicago Bears next week, and there is no reason to believe things will improve. The Bears’ defense has quietly been very good, and Hundley will have problems moving the ball if nothing changes. The Bears’ offense is atrocious, and that fact may keep Green Bay in the game, but if Mike McCarthy keeps playing the same strategy with an inadequate quarterback, the team will continue to lose.

McCarthy and Capers have shown that they can only run one kind of team. That team no longer exists, and if the incumbent coaches cannot adjust to their new reality, it calls into question exactly how good they were in the first place.

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Ex Fabula Takes the Big Stage Local storytelling comes to South Milwaukee PAC ::BY SELENA MILEWSKI

tory. Stage. You.” The succinct motto of Milwaukee’s original storytelling organization, Ex Fabula, says it all. Since its 2009 founding by Adam Weise, Amy Schleicher, Leah Delaney, Matt Sabljak and Megan McGee, Ex Fabula has worked to provide an ever-expanding range of events, workshops and inter-organization collaborations that foster organic storytelling by community members of all backgrounds and experience levels. Coming up next in the organization’s ninth season is a large-scale event titled “Risking It” coming to the South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center (SMPAC).

The core requirement for all stories shared at Ex Fabula’s events is that they be true and personal. Participants use a simple central theme to guide their idea-generation process, and formats take a broad range at storytelling events, or “StorySlams,” as Ex Fabula terms them. Just a few of these formats are: “Solo,” in which an individual is allotted five minutes to relate a personal tale of interest; “Rashomon,” in which two storytellers tell their separate versions of the same story in 10 minutes; and “UltraShort,” a written story from one to five lines long that an audience member writes during a Slam and submits to be read anonymously.

Asked about Ex Fabula’s diverse offerings outside of the regular season of Slams, co-founder Megan McGee lists Ex Fabula Radio (weekly on 89.7 WUWM); the Puente Project (a bilingual English-Spanish storytelling initiative); Equal Access Project (for individuals with disabilities); and Fellowship (which uses stories to inspire conversation and action related to race and equity issues). She notes, “We also do dozens of smaller collaborations each year. For example, in September, we worked with the Chipstone Foundation and Milwaukee Art Museum to present a curated StorySlam inspired by the Rashid Johnson exhibit and the ‘Dave Project’ gallery.

We also taught workshops for Veritas High School and Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin.”

Ex Fabula 'Risking It'

7:30 p.m., Friday, Nov. 17 South Milwaukee PAC

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‘Fiercely Local’ Talent at International Touring Venue Ex Fabula is always seeking new collaborators, and the Friday, Nov. 17, event at SMPAC marks the first time the two organizations have worked together. “When Rachel [Sorce, SMPAC’s executive director] contacted me about hosting a Slam there, I thought it was a great fit for Ex Fabula. Many of their performances feature touring artists, but they always have at least one local performer—and Ex Fabula is fiercely local! Plus, we love bringing new voices to the stage, so I was glad to hear that they were interested in having workshops prior to the StorySlam.” She explains that the event’s theme, “Risking It,” was chosen “because it has a bit of drama and suggests that something is at stake— both great qualities in a story.”

This event is billed as a “curated StorySlam,” meaning that the first-time tellers included were chosen through a public storytelling workshop at SMPAC as well as a student workshop held at South Milwaukee High School. The latter involved three days’ work with Ex Fabula storytelling coach Nelson López to help students identify and structure their own “Risking It” stories, give one another feedback and practice storytelling sans notes.

A few Ex Fabula regulars are also on the docket for Nov. 17. In this category, McGee highlights Peter May, an Ex Fabula volunteer who has won the “Audience Favorite” storytelling award, and also performed and offered a workshop at SMPAC in the past with a capella group, Six Appeal.

Asked how community members can get involved with the organization, McGee recommends Ex Fabula’s monthly StorySlams as an entry point. As she explains, “Any attendee can put their name in the hat for a chance to tell a story onstage, and we do several drawings with just the first-time tellers in order to ensure that we’re hearing new voices.” If telling a five-minute story onstage seems too daunting, attendees also have the option of submitting an “UltraShort” to be read onstage.

“Of course,” McGee continues, “some people just come to listen, and that’s an equally important component of our events. And there are other ways to get involved too, such as participating in projects like Equal Access, volunteering, listening to our radio show or even bringing Ex Fabula programs to work, school or community groups. All the details are at exfabula.org.”

"Risking It" takes place at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 17, at the South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center, 901 15th Ave. For tickets, call 414-766-5049 or visit southmilwaukeepac.org/ event/exfabula/.

N O V E M B E R 9 , 2 0 1 7 | 19

MICHAEL SCHMELLING

::THISWEEKINMILWAUKEE WEEK FRIDAY, NOV. 10

THURSDAY, NOV. 9

6lack w/ Sabrina Claudio and Sy Ari Da Kid @ The Rave, 8:30 p.m.

Hillary Clinton @ The Riverside Theater, 7:30 p.m.

Few rappers have taken the minimalist sounds of Atlanta and the emotionally tormented spirit of R&B-laced rap in the Drake era to further extremes than the Atlanta rapper 6lack, whose songs often catalogue the ugly details of relationships in crisis—few of which have happy endings. His distinctively stark 2016 debut album, Free 6lack, was the work of a romantic fundamentally incapable of sustaining romance.

Apparently a lot of listeners could relate to his heartbreak: Like many of his dates on the tour behind the album, this show is currently sold out.

A year after her shocking electoral defeat, Hillary Clinton remains, as ever, an object of enormous fascination, especially among conservative media outlets that continue to conjure new conspiracy theories about her by the week, usually in hopes of distracting from the decidedly non-conspiratorial controversies surrounding Donald Trump. Amid all the chaos and conjecture, Clinton has attempted to control her own narrative, most prominently with her book, What Happened, an unexpectedly candid account of the election and the constant sexism she’s endured as a public figure. She’ll discuss some of those experiences at this live appearance.

SACRED w/ Peter DiStefano @ Alley Cat Lounge, 8 p.m.

Featuring seasoned players from local bands like Everybody, Chandelier, Brando’s Charm and Tweed Funk, Milwaukee alt-rockers SACRED look to the heavy spirit of ’90s modern rock. It’s fitting, then, that the band shares this bill at the Alley Cat Lounge (located in the Five O’Clock Steakhouse, 2416 W. State St.) with a veteran of that scene: former Porno for Pyros member Peter DiStefano. He’ll be performing acoustically behind a project he calls his “Punk Rock Story Book,” which will include music from his time with Porno for Pyros as well as the band Lance Herbstrong.

6lack

Jonathan Burks Band w/ Heidi Spencer & the Rare Birds and Lyric Advisory Board @ Linneman’s Riverwest Inn, 9 p.m.

Milwaukee’s Jonathan Burks could be a convincing country singer if he could keep a straight face. Needless to say, he can’t. For years, the wisecracking songwriter has been releasing sly, funny records about his vices and musings. His latest, Getting High, is less alcohol obsessed than some of its predecessors, but his wayward lyrics remain as sharp as ever, frequently recalling Beck during his ’90s slacker days. Throughout the record, Davis Cusma assists Burks on tuba, trumpet and trombone, further accentuating the album’s boozy, Dylan-on-a-bender vibe.

Action Bronson w/ Trash Talk and Meyhem Lauren @ The Rave, 8 p.m.

Maura O’Connell and Karan Casey @ Irish Cultural and Heritage Center, 7:30 p.m.

Few rappers have more distinctive interests than New York eccentric Action Bronson, a gifted spitter who peppers his albums mixtapes with comical, wide-ranging references to action movies, pop culture, ’80s sports trivia and his true love: fine cuisine. Along with his outsized personality, his passion for food and background as a chef helped him land his own TV show, “Fuck, That’s Delicious,” a form-breaking series for the Viceland network that documents his unusual lifestyle and the food he eats on the road. Between seasons, Bronson released his latest album this summer, Blue Chips 7000, a typically funky, jocular affair featuring production from several of his go-to producers, including The Alchemist, Harry Fraud and Party Supplies.

TOM GOULD

Irish singers Maura O’Connell and Karan Casey have each enjoyed decades-long careers.

O’Connell sang for the popular Celtic group De Dannan and has collaborated with acts like Van Morrison and The Chieftains, while Casey sang for the band Solas and has worked with The Dubliners and the Boston Pops Orchestra. Needless to say, they have a lot in common. For this show, the two likeminded singers will share a night of music and stories titled “A Celebration of Song and Life,” which will examine what it means to be a modern, independent Irish woman.

Jessica Lea Mayfield w/ Blank Range @ The Back Room at Colectivo, 8 p.m.

Though her sweet voice and tuneful ear are the first qualities most listeners will notice about Ohio songwriter Jessica Lea Mayfield, what lingers is her biting wit and fearless honesty. On her latest album, Sorry Is Gone, she balances her dry humor with some of her most personal, pained songs yet (she wrote it after the dissolution of her abusive marriage).

Recorded with Dinosaur Jr. producer John Agnello and Sonic Youth drummer Steve Shelley, it’s her heaviest record yet, both sonically and emotionally. “Soaked Through,” in particular, is one of the rawest accounts of abuse in recent memory. “My heart wants all the bad things I used to let it have,” she sings sorrowfully.

Action Bronson Jessica Lea Mayfield

20 | N O V E M B E R 9 , 2 0 1 7

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Read our daily events guide, Today in Milwaukee, on shepherdexpress.com

Ex Fabula Risking It

Nov. 17, 7:30 PM True, personal stories

FRIDAY, NOV. 10

JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound w/ The Right Now @ Shank Hall, 8 p.m.

A lean, mean and highly unlikely cover of Wilco’s “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart” helped put Chicago soul revivalists JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound on the map. The group also enjoys some of the finest TV placement that the Fox Network has to offer.

For years, their poster has been on the wall of “New Girl” character Nick Miller’s bedroom (actor Jake Johnson is a fan of the band and appeared in the video for their track “Rouse Yourself,” alongside Aubrey Plaza). Fans of the band can expect to hear some new material from them at this show. Earlier this year, they released their latest album of footstomping Memphis soul, Neon Jungle.

SATURDAY, NOV. 11

A beautiful night of brave yet vulnerable storytelling

Kneel to Neil @ Linneman’s Riverwest Inn, 7 p.m.

Once again, musicians and songwriters from all corners of the Milwaukee music scene have come together for this tribute to Neil Young—also a fundraiser for two very worthy causes: community radio station WMSE and The Bridge School, a school for disabled children in California. Performers at this latest installment of the local tradition, now in its 13th year, include Joe Jucious, Chris Haise, Carolinas, Bella Brutto, Dramatic Lovers, Panalure, Redhawks, Lady Cannon, Plea Bag Whyte, Jay Anderson and Aram Feriants.

New Found Glory w/ Roam @ The Rave, 8 p.m.

“…a sterling example of first-rate jazz music-making…”

- Los Angeles Times

Along with Blink-182, Florida’s New Found Glory helped usher in a new wave of punk in the late ’90s and early ’00s, inspiring a generation of young pop-punk bands. Punk purists, of course, absolutely reviled them at the time, but the band has shown surprising longevity, branching out and maturing on later records without losing the sense of brevity and silliness that made their music so appealing in the first place. For this show, the band will celebrate their 20th anniversary by playing two of their albums, 2002’s Sticks And Stones and 2004’s Catalyst, in their entirety, along with other favorites and new material from their ninth and latest album, Makes Me Sick.

New Found Glory

TUESDAY, NOV. 14

Melanie w/ Dana Erlandson @ Shank Hall, 8 p.m.

For better or worse, singer-songwriter Melanie Safka will always be remembered for her 1972 smash hit “Brand New Key,” which reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts despite being banned from many radio stations because of implicit sexual innuendos.

That song’s success sometimes overshadows Melanie’s other accomplishments—she delivered two more Top-40 hits that year alone—and the longevity of her career. Now 70 years old and more than 30 albums deep, this Woodstock veteran continues to carry herself as an artist unwilling to conform to anybody else’s expectations.

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Big Bad Voodoo Daddy Dec. 7, 7:30 PM (414) 766-5049

southmilwaukeepac.org N O V E M B E R 9 , 2 0 1 7 | 21

::PERFORMINGARTSWEEK THEATRE

MUSIC

MORE TO DO

Holmes and Watson; Murder for Two

Le Poème Harmonique

They Rose at Dawn

The Milwaukee Repertory Theater opens two new theatrical works within days of each other. The first is Jeffrey Hatcher’s Holmes and Watson, which follows the latter sleuth as he looks for his missing-in-action partner. In doing so, he must follow all the leads he receives from multiple sources, as well as investigating all those who are now claiming to be the real Sherlock Holmes.

Hatcher is no novice at mystery writing; the American playwright and screenwriter has inked nearly 30 plays thus far—many being whodunits—and has written for the beloved TV detective long portrayed by Peter Falk, Columbo. Holmes and Watson will be directed by former Rep Artistic Director Joseph Hanreddy.

Murder for Two, co-written by (and starring) Milwaukee High School of the Arts alum Joe Kinosian and Matt Edmonds, takes a lighter approach to sleuthing. JC Clementz directs this two-man show in which Kinosian and Edmonds collectively portray some 13 different characters. It’s “a perfect blend of music, mayhem and murder,” says The Rep’s Brianna Cullen, “in a witty and winking homage to old-fashioned murder mysteries.”

(John Jahn) Holmes and Watson runs Nov. 14-Dec. 17 in the Quadracci Powerhouse; Murder for Two runs Nov. 10Jan. 14, 2018, in the Stackner Cabaret. Both theaters are located at 108 E. Wells St. For tickets, call 414-224-9490 or visit milwaukeerep.com.

France’s Le Monde describes the performances of musical ensemble Le Poème Harmonique as “total art; refined in the extreme and wonderfully alive.” Their longawaited Midwestern premiere takes place curtesy of Early Music Now in what is sure to be a lively program of Spanish dance music from the 1600s, principally exploring how this music from south of the Pyrenees came to influence French late-Renaissance and early Baroque music.

Founded in 1997, Le Poème Harmonique, led by French lutenist Vincent Dumestre, uses rare instruments—theorbo, lirone, tiobino, arpa tripla, viola da gamba and violone—to evoke the sounds of centuries ago. “Danza! Spanish Dances in 17thCentury France,” is the name of their Milwaukee concert. They’ll be exploring both instrumental and vocal songs and dances that made their way into French culture— not only pumping new blood into French music but also engendering a renewed French fascination with their neighbor to the south. A pre-concert lecture at 4 p.m. will shed additional light on the music and the era in which it was composed. (John Jahn) Saturday, Nov. 11, at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 914 E. Knapp St. For tickets, visit earlymusicnow.org.

DANCE

MAD LI(M)BS Danceworks Performance Company (DPC) Artistic Director Dani Kuepper choreographed a dance both transparent and mysterious for her UW-Milwaukee students last winter to music by the American avant-garde composer/choreographer Meredith Monk. Kuepper always wonders, she said, what audiences take from such work. She aims to find out. She’s reset the dance on her professional company but with breaks for audience suggestions. Based on what they’ve understood thus far, viewers will propose what might come next. The dancers will improvise accordingly, working (I’m assuming) back to the original choreography, until the next break for audience direction. “How do you honor the integrity of the pre-existing piece while adapting to a new context?”

Kuepper is asking.

But that’s only the first 15 minutes. What follows is a spoof of the classic ballet Giselle (the one with the murderous Wilis) starring DPC’s great dance comedian Melissa Anderson and guest performers Jason Powell as Narrator, Andréa Moser as Queen of the Wilis, Morgan Williams, Christa Smutek, Bobby Miles and Zach Schorsch.

It will abound in a variety of modes of audience-directed improvisation, even to the costuming. The evening will also include challenging improv games for the dancers and an audience-interactive aerobics competition.

(John Schneider) 7:30 p.m. Nov. 11-12 & 17-18 and 8 p.m. Nov. 16 at Danceworks Studio Theatre, 1661 N. Water St. For tickets call 414-277-8480 ext. 6025 or visit danceworksmke.org.

22 | N O V E M B E R 9 , 2 0 1 7

This is a solo dance performance by Minneapolis-based choreographer and classical Indian dancer Aparna Ramaswamy that will, through both movement and music (the latter via a group of Carnatic musicians), examine the idea of women as carriers of ritual and wisdom. They Rose at Dawn premiered two years ago at The Joyce Theater in New York City; it was subsequently awarded a national touring subsidy by the National Dance Project. Saturday, Nov. 11 at the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts, 19805 W. Capitol Drive, Brookfield. For tickets, call 262-781-9520 or visit wilson-center.com.

The Ever After —A Musical Since 1933, the Racine Children’s Theatre has been introducing generations of children to live theater, centering on plays and musicals with attention-retaining action, humor and audience participation. RCT’s next show is The Ever After—A Musical.

Its setting is a daytime talk show in which the host is interviewing Cinderella and her stepsisters to see if time really does heal all wounds, and if “they lived happily ever after” is a reality—or just a fairytale ending. Nov. 10-12 at the Racine Guild Theatre, 2519 Northwestern Ave., Racine. For tickets, call 262-633-4218 or visit racinetheatre.org.

Switch Witch An evil witch with a deceitfully sweet laugh; a good witch with an unfortunate scary laugh. How is this so? It seems natural that they would want to switch laughs so as to “fit in” and be more, well, stereotypical, right? In Switch Witch, part of Sunset Playhouse’s Children’s Theater Series, with the help of a magical frog pal, the pair of witches with the “wrong” laughs discover that being true to yourself, rather than to the image others think you should strive to fulfill and live up to, might be the right way of fitting in. Nov. 15-18 at Sunset Playhouse, 800 Elm Grove Road, Elm Grove. For tickets, call 262-782-4430 or visit sunsetplayhouse.com.

On the Verge: Or the Geography of Yearning Directed by Maureen Kilmurry, Eric Overmyer’s imaginative theatrical adventure, On the Verge: Or the Geography of Yearning, is a tale about finding your place in the world. It centers on three Victorian women who set out to explore the last unknown place on the map, “Terra Incognita,” making their way through difficult terrain—both literally and figuratively. This Marquette Theatre production features expressive, humorous and witty dialogue set among surrealist imagery. Nov. 9-19 at the Helfaer Theatre, 525 N. 13th St. For tickets, call 414-288-7504 or visit showclix.com/event/ on-the-verge-or-the-geography-of-yearning.

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MARK FROHNA

THEATRE

Plot Thickens in Cabaret Milwaukee’s Latest ‘Clockwork Man’ ::BY SELENA MILEWSKI

C

Cabaret Milwaukee’s ‘Clockwork Man’

SHEPHERD EXPRESS

Milwaukee Ballet’s ‘La Bohème’

DANCE

Beauty and Loss in Milwaukee Ballet’s ‘La Bohème’ ::BY JOHN SCHNEIDER

T GEORGE KATESEKES, JR CARROLL STUDIOS OF PHOTOGRAPHY

abaret Milwaukee’s latest trilogy delivers a darkly comic second installment in The Heart of the Clockwork Man. In episode one, we watched World War I-era English physician Dr. Boggs (Kirk Thomsen) descend into madness and murder after discovering his wife’s infidelity. Now we see him embark on a systematic, black magic-fueled rampage set right here in 1918 Milwaukee. Hot on his heels are Polonius and Sinfan, two operatives from a top-secret, anti-dark arts organization called The Conclave. The plot thickens when Dr. Boggs realizes the “soul powder” he creates by robbing victims of their essence makes for an especially exciting opium additive and begins selling his wares to a local den.

If you missed episode one, fear not: The plot of The Heart’s 1930s-style radio play (fully staged in the lovely Astor Hotel Pub) is easy enough to follow, and the entr’acte performances by singers, dancers and comedians make the show all the more enjoyable.

Among the “Clockwork” ensemble performing David Law’s witty script, Thomsen shines as the unhinged doctor; his maniacal staccato laugh and physically astute performance are fascinating to watch. Audwin Short’s Sinfan is entertainingly unflappable in the face of the supernatural. Marcus Beyer’s Polonius, though more incredulous, is likewise a well-drawn early-20th-century trope: tough guy solving crime through brawn as much as brains. Making his Cabaret Milwaukee debut, Clarence “Sammy” Aumend is entertaining as Uncle Chen, the opium den’s proprietor, caught on more than one occasion practicing Tai Chi. House Piano Man Joe Makovec brings beautiful atmospheric scoring to these dramatic scenes as well as expert accompaniment to all musical portions of the radio show.

Among the “Howling Radio Hour” (entr’acte performers) cast, Evan Maruszewski keeps things running smoothly as host Richard Howling. Director and co-writer Josh Bryan’s 1937 news bits are interestingly linked to present events. In this episode, the radio crew grapples with the Hindenburg disaster (commendably played straight) as well as the apparently century-old Milwaukee street car debate. Mrs. Milli (Laura Holterman) furnishes her usual hilarious, sexually charged tips for good housekeeping; Danielle Webber puts in a dynamic tap dance performance; and torch singer Dora Diamond enchants the house with poignant numbers such as “Sophisticated Lady” and “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes.”

The Howling Radio Hour Jinglers (Sarah Wallisch, Kira Walters and Michelle White) are charming, and special props go to White for doing double duty in a small dramatic role.

Amanda Hull’s costumes tie everything together aesthetically; this installment finds the radio show ladies in forest green and the “Clockwork” cast in well-chosen period attire.

An entertaining show for the whole family and a nice nod to the waning Halloween season, The Heart of the Clockwork Man is a worthy entry in the growing Cabaret Milwaukee catalogue.

Through Nov. 19 at the Astor Hotel Pub, 924 E. Juneau Ave. For tickets, call 414-9023895 or search “clockwork man” on brownpapertickets.com.

he titular bohemian of Giacomo Puccini’s opera La Bohème is the starving writer Rodolfo. On Christmas Eve, while his three attic roommates hit the town, he stays behind to finish an assignment. A young woman who apparently lives in his tenement but whom he’s never met knocks at the door, hoping he’ll light her candle. There’s no electricity, and she lacks a match. She starts to cough, she drops her key. Who is she?

“I’m called Mimì,” the libretto reads, “but I don’t know why.” Mimì has no family or friends, she makes and sells embroidery and, in a matter of moments, she becomes his perfect partner, his dream of love and happiness made real, a miracle. Three months later, she dies of tuberculosis surrounded by his caring family of artist friends.

That well-known story has never been so clear or haunting to me as it was in Michael Pink’s translation of the opera to ballet. I know the music by heart, having sung along with my vinyl recording countless times when no one could hear me. Enchanted by the melodies and voices, I paid scant attention to the tale’s implications; in fact, I found the story overly simplistic, even annoying. But as dance theater, La Bohème became profound for me. It seems at least as much about family as romantic love. It’s about what beauty means; the dancers themselves seem swept up in it. It’s about the loss among a young society of something precious, something you could call by many names. It makes you feel that loss.

I wish I had words adequate to describe the dancing on opening night. The entire company was at its best, better than ever, capable of anything and everything. As Mimì and Rodolfo, Luz San Miguel and Davit Hovhannisyan, finer every season, made Pink’s intoxicating, challenging choreography look as natural as breathing. As their sparring friends Marcello and Musetta, Timothy O’Donnell and Annia Hidalgo were just as perfect in their dancing and complete in their embrace of character. Garrett Glassman (Colline) and Parker Brasser-Vos (Schaunard) vividly completed this entirely credible family.

Perhaps to suggest that the Milwaukee Ballet—including Pink and the staff—is a real-life family, no preshow curtain stood between the stage world and the audience. Performers roamed the darkly lighted Paris streets. Stas Venglevski played “La Vie en Rose” on his accordion until the orchestra cut in with Puccini.

N O V E M B E R 9 , 2 0 1 7 | 23

A&E::FILM

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‘Loving Vincent’

Loving that Animated Vincent Van Gogh ::BY DAVID LUHRSSEN

P

ainted backdrops on movie sets are older than Hollywood. Occasionally, painted images took center stage on screen, as in the 1948 fable about a hard-pressed artist, Portrait of Jennie. Loving Vincent, a story of the most famous hard-pressed artist of all time, claims to be the first fully painted feature-length motion picture. Every frame in this animated tribute to Vincent Van Gogh was hand painted in oil by a team of more than 100 artisans.

The story concerns a young man, Armand (British actor Douglas Booth animated in oil paint), on a quest that brings him into the company of various Van Gogh associates after the artist’s death. The real message of Loving Vincent, however, is the medium itself. Many

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frames will look familiar to anyone who has seen Van Gogh’s work; they ripple with light and color just like his paintings. The night sky is bold with stars; in daylight clouds are furiously daubed onto the sky. Van Gogh’s images often struggle with the stasis inherent in two-dimensional painting. They are strangely alive, as if the artist perceived the unceasing motion of molecules at the quantum level.

In Loving Vincent, those vibrating colors fade to black and gray during flashbacks recounted by the people Armand encounters. In one of those is glimpsed a scene Van Gogh (depicted by Robert Gulaczyk) never painted—the moLoving ment when he presents Vincent his severed ear wrapped Robert in a handkerchief to a Gulaczyk woman in a brothel.

Loving Vincent’s Douglas screenplay isn’t pitch Booth perfect. No one uttered Directed the “sorry for your loss”

by Dorota banality in late 19thKobiela century France. And yet, and Hugh the narrative successfully Welchman renders the legend of Van Rated Gogh as a genius engaged in a losing struggle PG-13 with existence. Rejected in life, after death he was recognized as the preeminent early modernist and embraced as the model artist-martyr in an uncaring, hardheaded world. Alas, by the end of the 20th century his name was as associated with auction results as artistry after owning his work became the ultimate trophy for museums and plutocrats.

SHEPHERD EXPRESS

A&E::FILMCLIPS Daddy’s Home 2 PG-13

Murder on the Orient Express PG-13

Star-packed adaptation of Agatha Christie’s famed “whodunit” stars Kenneth Branagh as the mustachioed Belgian detective Hercule Poirot. The cast also includes Johnny Depp as an enigmatic gangster, Judi Dench as the imperious Princess, Penelope Cruz as a dedicated missionary, Willem Dafoe as an anti-Semitic professor, Daisy Ridley as a governess and Michelle Pfeiffer as an aging femme fatale. It’s the 1930s aboard the Orient Express, an opulent train touring Europe, when a passenger is murdered. Poirot interrogates travelers, learning each is connected to the murdered man who himself may be connected to a monstrous criminal affair. Poirot’s enormous mustache becomes a character that is nearly as challenging as the case. (L.M.)

Roman J. Israel, Esq. PG-13

Denzel Washington gives an affecting performance as attorney Roman J. Israel. The lawyer’s encyclopedic knowledge helps courtroom attorneys win cases, but Israel, who lacks both fashion and people sense, stays safely out of sight. After years of helping the downtrodden and earning paltry pay, Israel is hired by George Pierce (Colin Farrell) to do legal research for his upscale firm. Tempted to ignore client confidentially in return for a big payday, Israel strays from his path. The script had interesting places to go, but becomes a shaggy dog tale relying on Israel’s character to keep us interested. (L.M.)

created & performed by David Gaines

In the original Daddy’s Home, Will Ferrell and Mark Wahlberg co-starred as step dad Brad and biological dad Dusty, respectively, competing to impress two adorable kids. Eventually, the men agreed to be co-dads. Two years later, Brad and his wife (Linda Cardellini) along with the kids, plan to share Christmas with Dusty and his new cute step daughter. Then, both Brad’s and Dusty’s fathers (played by a macho Mel Gibson and lovey dovey John Lithgow) arrive proffering unsolicited opinions of their sons’ arrangement.

Critics termed the first film mediocre; the sequel offers the same none-too-insightful comedy. (Lisa Miller)

Brilliant performer David Gaines returns to the Gigante stage to transform the cinematic classic Seven Samurai into one rip-roaring evening of live physical theater.

A tour de force not to be missed!

Winner of six Best of the Fest awards, in the U.S. and Canada

The Thin Man Not Rated

The Thin Man series was one of Hollywood’s first franchises and—as would often be the case—the sequels wore out the initial idea through increasingly patchy plots. However, the first Thin Man (1934) has endured as a classic. It had little to do with its source in Dashiell Hammet’s novel, but rode instead on the charm of its stars. William Powell and Myrna Loy played Nick and Nora Charles as high society sleuths who stepped between cocktail lounges and fancy parties while solving murder. Like James Bond, Nick preferred his martinis shaken, not stirred, and his prodigious consumption hindered neither his investigative prowess nor his witty repartee. (David Luhrssen)

ONE WEEKEND ONLY! NOV. 17 – 19, 2017 Kenilworth 508 Theatre Tickets: gigantesamurai.brownpapertickets.com or 1.800.838.3006 info: theatregigante.org

Artistic Directors Isabelle Kralj & Mark Anderson

[HOME MOVIES/OUT ON DIGITAL]  In this Corner of the World

The award-winning 2016 animated feature begins with idyllic memories of prewar Japan as experienced by the child protagonist, Suzu. Married at 18 as the war begins, she notices the conflict gradually impinging on life in her hometown near Hiroshima. Visual contrast is added through images on the girl’s sketchpad. Suzu is an artist. The pale colors and eggshell blue sky form a deceptively pleasant backdrop to a revealing story of everyday life in wartime.

 Portrait of Jennie

Does time move forward in a straight line or curve around us? Portrait of Jenny (1948) wondered about this as a hard-up artist (Joseph Cotton) befriends a young girl (Jennifer Jones) in Central Park. The eerie musical motif hints that she’s a ghost flitting in and out of time. Cotton often moves through a painted world, adding visual magic to a story that could have come straight from Rod Serling in a moment of whimsy.

 Take The Money And Run

Woody Allen’s directorial debut, Take the Money and Run (1969), is a mock social-problem documentary complete with stentorian narration and the requisite interviews with parents, parole officers and associates. Allen plays a ne’er-do-well criminal raised “amidst the violence and poverty of the slums.” The film looks forward to mockumentaries such as This Is Spinal Tap and gazes back toward Chaplinesque slapstick. Snatches of puerile writing nudge against some hilarious visual gags.

 In His Own Home

Summoned by screaming, police descended on a University of Florida student’s apartment. He was having a paranoid breakdown, and by the end of the altercation, the student, Kofi Adu-Brempong, was shot. The 2010 incident was one of many recent police shootings with a racial complexion.

The documentary includes startling cellphone footage as well as interviews with colleagues and cops. Along with race, mental illness was a factor, as was the militarization of police tactics.

—David Luhrssen SHEPHERD EXPRESS

O’BRIEN FELLOWSHIP IN PUBLIC SERVICE JOURNALISM CONFERENCE

PANDEMICS AND THE HAND OF MAN

DEBATING HUMAN INTERVENTION IN THE NATURAL WORLD Our choices are increasing the threat that once-distant diseases will spread to developed nations. How we respond is fraught with ethical, moral and political concerns.

Join Mark Johnson, Pulitzer Prize-winning science journalist at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and O’Brien Fellow, as he discusses his “Outbreak” series and leads a panel discussion of experts and students.

For more information, visit: marquette.edu/comm/obrien-fellowship.

Thursday, November 9, 2017 Marquette University Law School 1215 West Michigan Street 2:30 – 5:00 p.m.

N O V E M B E R 9 , 2 0 1 7 | 25

O C O N O M O W O C

A&E::VISUALART

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‘Bridge Work’ Connects New Artists at Greymatter Gallery ::BY KAT KNEEVERS

G

reymatter Gallery is probably one of the smallest art venues in the city. Given the compact nature of its real estate, it means exhibitions are about quality over quantity in every respect.

The current show, “Bridge Work 03,” is the last at Greymatter as directors Zina Mussmann and Rachel Quirk are refocusing time and energy on their studio practices. For this final endeavor, artists Jason S. Yi and Leah Kolb of Plum Blossom Initiative have organized the third annual Bridge Work program. Emerging artists, transitioning from art school degree programs to the professional world, receive the

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benefits of mentorship and exhibition opportunities. In this year’s show, the three young artists share a sense of purpose as well as unique turns of style in their media.

In his prints, Allen Lasky favors a black-andwhite palette to suggest fragmented architectural forms on a large scale. He creates layered images referencing buildings and construction that live in tension with ranges of white negative space.

Our perspective shifts like we are witnessing a crumbling memory of a cityscape. Sculptures accompany the prints, as though architectural detritus has tumbled to the gallery floor.

LaNia Sproles’ collages are also monumental and mounted directly on the wall, eschewing the conventions of framing. Papers spill out and meld together, with some figures cut in silhouette while others are meticulous graphite portraits. Kindred seems to float as gold paper legs and arms swirl or dance, while multiple heads entwine within a body of light and dark clouds of dense pattern.

Also bridging the realm between the recognizable world and abstraction are Allison Krenz’s photographs. An image of two fish, their mouths touching while the coldness of their eyes acknowledges death, is strange and unnerving. This effect is also felt in other images of swordfish bodies that glow in vibrant colors against deep black backgrounds. Krenz’s project ponders conventions of beauty and its relationship to the grotesque. It is a question that has been rolling around the annals of modern and contemporary art for decades, and is still worth addressing in the work of the next generation of artists.

Through Dec. 2 at Greymatter Gallery, 207 E. Buffalo St., Suite. 222.

LaNia Sproles, Hope is Just a Phase, Mixed media, 2017 SHEPHERD EXPRESS

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VISUALART|PREVIEW

‘The Shape of Things to Come’ at East Side’s galerie Kenilworth ::BY TYLER FRIEDMAN

“T

he Shape of Things to Come” is the second exhibition to take place at the East Side’s new galerie Kenilworth. The show features three Milwaukee natives and MIAD graduates united in their use of “geometric minimalism to debate how we navigate and appreciate the act of living.”

Karin Haas (now living in New York) contributes pastel drawings that riff on the theme of three stacked geometric forms. The airy color combinations and ambiguous albeit familiar shapes yield a nonconfrontational, pleasantly perplexing experience of abstraction.

Harvey Opgenorth (now in L.A.) applies acrylic to panels to play with perception like an optical illusion. Hazy stripes of colors, recalling the aurora borealis, unaccountably shift positions as they traverse the panel from east to west.

Keith Nelson repurposes castoff odds and ends collected from his work as a museum preparator.

The resultant collages reconcile chance with composition to transform debris into contemplation.

“The Shape of Things To Come” opens with a reception Friday, Nov. 10, from 6-9 p.m. The exhibition is up through Dec. 31.

Drawing by Karin Haas

By Eric Overmyer

Nov. 9 – 19

Follow three Victorian women as they travel through time and discover jungles and ice sheets, a cast of interesting characters, and strangest of all, the future. Filled with wit and humor, On The Verge, is a wonderful exploration of finding one’s place in the world.

Evan P. and Marion Helfaer Theatre Order tickets by phone or online: 414.288.7504 marquettetheatre.showclix.com

“ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER HAS BROADWAY ROCKING!” – REUTERS

“AN EXUBERANT FEEL-GOOD MUSICAL. ROCK ON!” – VARIETY

“Small Works by Sculptors in the Bradley Family Foundation Collection” Lynden Sculpture Garden | 2145 W. Brown Deer Road

As the erratic seasons veer toward winter, it becomes increasingly unpleasant to venture out in the Lynden Sculpture Garden’s 40-acre expanse to see the 50+ monumental sculptures housed on the grounds. The thoughtful folks at the LSG have therefore selected smaller sculptures from the Bradley Family Foundation’s collection for a warmer, indoor exhibition. Among the works to be displayed is a set of posters created by pioneering minimalist sculptor Tony Smith for his 1967 five-part sculpture Wandering Rocks, which is installed on the Lynden grounds and visible through an exhibition window. The exhibition is on display through Feb. 18, 2018.

“Beyond My Window Sill” Inspiration Studios | 1500 S. 73rd St.

Ronni Shmauz loves painting and hates to see things go to waste. These dual passions find expression in “Beyond My Window Sill,” on display 6-7 p.m., Tuesday, Nov. 14 (or by private appointment) at Inspiration Studios. Salvaged windows serve as the West Allis artist’s canvasses, coming with their own beautifully distressed frame and brought to life by natural light. Shmauz will lead a workshop for kids on Saturday, Nov. 25, to help harried parents get a jumpstart on the holiday season.

SHEPHERD EXPRESS

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N O V E M B E R 9 , 2 0 1 7 | 27

A&E::BOOKS BOOK |REVIEWS

Mexicans in Wisconsin (WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY PRESS),

BY SERGIO M. GONZÁLEZ

The first known Mexican in Milwaukee was an anomaly. Acclaimed for his musicianship by the city’s German cultural elite, composer Raphael Baez married a German American musician and was fully assimilated into high society. “Although Baez found success and fame in Wisconsin, it was some time before other Mexicans followed,” writes Sergio M. González in his compact immigrant story. The early 20th century saw the first wave of Mexicans to the Badger State, nearly all of them agricultural or industrial workers and often relegated to the worst jobs. As shown by González, a doctoral candidate at UW-Madison’s history department, Mexican Americans were always productive contributors to the state’s economy and, eventually, its culture. Mexicans in Wisconsin name checks the United Community Center, Mexican Fiesta, Voces de la Frontera and other community groups and indicts the racist stereotyping by our current president. (David Luhrssen)

The Story of the Jews Volume Two: Belonging: 1492-1900 (ECCO), BY SIMON SCHAMA

For most Jews in the 19th century, America, not Palestine, was the Promised Land. “Jewish immersion in the host culture was less bound by policing and social hatreds than anywhere else in the world,” Simon Schama writes in the latest volume of his epic history, The Story of the Jews. Although best known for his PBS series “Simon Schama’s Power of Art,” art history is only one facet of Schama’s broad erudition. The chapter on the Jewish experience in America is a narrative of persistence in the face of prejudice. Anti-Semitism was rampant in the U.S., but the growing nation had fewer entrenched restrictions and more opportunity than anywhere in the Old World. Ironically, some Jews became slave owners and rose to high office in the Confederacy; others fought for the Union and advocated for abolition. As in his many previous books, Schama writes with (sometimes bitter) humor and an eye for how particular stories can reveal the meaning of entire epochs. (David Luhrssen)

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SHEPHERD EXPRESS

A&E::OFFTHECUFF

A Musical Murder Mystery at Stackner Cabaret

November ovember doings at Boswell Bosw Acclaimed history podcaster Mike Duncan at Boswell on Thu Nov 9, 7 pm for The Storm

Before the Storm.

This event is free but seating is limited. Come early!

The crowd-pleasing Michael Perry takes on the great French philosopher Michel de Montaigne in

OFF THE CUFF WITH MILWAUKEEBORN PLAYWRIGHT JOE KINOSIAN

Montaigne in Barn Boots, Tue Nov 14, 7

pm at Boswell, plus Nov 15 at Oconomowoc’s Books & Company.

::BY BRIAN BOYLE

E

qual parts Agatha Christie murder mystery and Marx Brothers screwball romp, Murder for Two plays in Milwaukee at the Repertory Theater’s Stackner Cabaret, Nov. 10-Jan. 14, 2018. The two-man show pits one detective against nine individual suspects in a series of piano-centric musical interrogations. For co-writer and co-star Joe Kinosian, bringing the show to Brew City is a total homecoming, returning the award-winning playwright and performer to his roots, where he grew up and attended high school.

When did you first get the idea for Murder for Two? I had joined the Broadcast Music Incorporated musical theater writers workshop in New York. I had written a couple of other musicals that nothing had happened with and hadn’t gone anywhere, and I figured this workshop would be a great place to meet potential collaborators and people to make things happen with, in a random networking sense. The first year of the program is basically speed dating for theater writers; you’re randomly paired up with another person in the class and you work on a project together. I was paired with Kellen Blair on an assignment that involved writing a song for the movie It’s a Wonderful Life. And it was a great assignment for us because we had this shared love of old movies, and that’s sort of what we bonded on.

After that and the first year, we were looking for something to do before the second year of the program began. We wanted to write something we could self-produce that was small, and could be produced inexpensively. The major impetus for that production decision was that we were these people who had no contacts, who were new to the business, and we just figured if we could get it off the ground ourselves without relying on others, that would be wise.

What works served as the inspiration during the writing stage?

The style of it just came from our love of And Then There Were None and the Thin Man movies and the Marx Brothers. So that was sort of the notion, without basing it on anything, to imagine a world where it was the Marx Brothers playing out an Agatha Christie story.

What do you think it is about those two genres—comedy and mystery— that make them play well with each other?

Obviously, death can be a scary thing. But something about laughing about what is scary in life is very appealing, I think. Comedies and mysteries by themselves, without involving each other, are always welcome. But there’s that whole notion how every big

SHEPHERD EXPRESS

Joe Kinosian

Tickets almost sold out for Alexander McCall Smith at Boswell, Thu Nov 16, 7 pm. Tickets are $29 and include a copy of

The House of Unexpected Sisters. Visit mccallsmithmke.bpt.me.

scare in the movie Jaws comes right after a joke. There’s something about the yin and yang to that equation I find very interesting, and I think a lot of artists are drawn to it.

And what about adding music to that? How did that come in?

We originally were writing this play around my skill set, because I was an actor in it who would perform in it for free. I was a piano player first, before anything. I always felt more comfortable being behind the keys, in any situation. I went to Milwaukee High School of the Arts, and my way into the theater department at first began when I asked if I could play the piano for the musical my freshman year, and I slowly inched my way towards the stage. It became a big part of my performance, and the play really built from there.

In the early stages, we wanted to write a full musical. But we didn’t have the money to hire the two actors, plus a band. It just made sense that we added music into this equation by making the actors do it.

And then there’s a lot of links between the screwball, slapstick style of comedy and the music. Of course, the music of the Marx Brothers is iconic, and my influence for the music was—even though it takes place in the modern day—novelty ragtime-style music of the ’20s and ’30s.

What does it mean to you to bring your show to Milwaukee where you grew up?

It’s very cool. I grew up going to see shows at The Rep all the time, especially in middle school. I had a teacher who took my class in middle school—the kids who wanted to and had an interest in theater—and we basically saw everything through the mid-’90s while I was there. So I know this theater very well. Now I finally get to see the other side of it.

For tickets and more information about Murder For Two, call 414224-9490 or visit milwaukeerep.com.

Poet (and Cave Canem fellow) Vida Cross’s work references her Chicago upbringing in Bronzeville at Night: 1949. Cross, who teaches at MATC, is at Boswell on Sat Nov 18, 7 pm.

Community Advocates Public Policy Institute presents lawyer, professor, and policy maker Peter Edelman, author of Not a Crime to Be Poor, Wed Nov 29, 7 pm, at Boswell.

Don’t forget to celebrate Small Business Saturday on Nov 25.

Boswell Book Company Visit: 2559 N. Downer Ave Call: (414) 332-1181 Browse:boswellbooks.com Email: info@boswellbooks.com Facebook.com/boswellbooks N O V E M B E R 9 , 2 0 1 7 | 29

Know your status.

Get tested!

::HEARMEOUT ASK RUTHIE | UPCOMING EVENTS | PAUL MASTERSON

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Nov. 9: Vinyl Potluck and Family Style Dinner at Riverwest Public House Cooperative (815 E. Locust St.): Bring a record to spin and a dish to pass because this ain’t your mamma’s potluck! A DJ will be playing the albums you bring, so pick a few good ones—as well as your favorite salad, casserole, side, cake, brownies or bars. The eating is good and music loud at the 6-9 p.m. bash.

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Dear Ruthie,

My family has an ongoing joke about my being gay. It’s a long story, but the punch line is “rainbow bright.” So, pretty much every time the family gets together, I’m either called “Rainbow Bright,” or someone notes that the sun is too bright—too “rainbow bright,” and the like.

My family is very supportive of me and has always accepted my homosexuality. I get that it’s sort of cute for them and that it’s all said in fun, but it’s feeling like a ball-buster, derogatory and mean-spirited. I want them to stop this 13-year inside joke, but I also don’t want to come off the wrong way. What’s the best way to let them know that it’s time to retire “rainbow bright?”

Working every day to build a pro-fairness business community in Wisconsin

Join more than 470 businesses and organizations as a member today Memberships start at $100 per year Learn more at www.WisLGBTChamber.com 30 | N O V E M B E R 9 , 2 0 1 7

Thanks, Rainbow Connection Dear Rainbow...

Bright,

Inside jokes can help make family times special. If the joke has gone too far or someone feels like the butt of that joke, however, then it might be time to put that puppy to rest.

Don’t let your frustration build up anymore, honey bunny. If you do, you’re likely to snap at the next “rainbow bright” comment, which could damage a relationship. Instead, let the family know up front that “rainbow bright” isn’t funny anymore (if ever) and that you’re starting to take it the wrong way. Step up, sweetie, and ask them to stop. I know this will feel uncomfortable at first, but it will lead to many rainbowfree years of happiness ahead.

Nov. 9: Hillary Clinton Live at Riverside Theater (116 W. Wisconsin Ave.): What’s next for Hillary Clinton? What’s her story? What the hell happened? Find out during this night with the popular presidential candidate herself. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for the 7:30 p.m. presentation. Visit pabsttheater.org for tickets that start at $85.

Nov. 10: A Parents’ Night Out at the Milwaukee LGBT Film Festival at UWMilwaukee Union Cinema (2200 E. Kenwood Blvd.): Call the sitter and head out for a date night with your honey. Miltown LGBT Families sponsor the movie Princess Cyd during the Milwaukee LGBT Film Festival, and you’re invited to enjoy the film!

Tickets to the 7 p.m. viewing are $5 at the door.

Nov. 10: Miltown Kings Variety Show at The Wherehouse (818 S. Water St.): You’re in for a wild night when the Miltown Kings present this change-of-pace season opener. See what the troupe has up their sleeves with this no-holds-barred 21+ show. The craziness starts at 9 p.m. with a $15 cover charge.

Nov. 11: A Night of Cabaret at The Marcus Center (929 N. Water St.): What good is sitting alone in your room? Come hear the music play! It’s time for the Milwaukee Metropolitan Community Church’s annual fundraiser—and a night of cabaret seems like the perfect way to celebrate! Toss in a few appetizers, a silent auction, cash bars and some of Cream City’s favorite entertainers, and you have this 6 p.m. fundraiser. Visit milmcc.org/cabaret/ for $30 tickets.

Nov. 11: Preview Night for ‘A Grown-Up Christmas Wish List’ at Second Time Around Realty (3121 W. Wisconsin Ave.): The gang from the City of Festivals Men’s Chorus is offering up a free preview of their popular holiday show. The 7 p.m. sneak-peek concert includes beverages and light bites.

Nov. 11: Harry Potter Party at D.I.X. Milwaukee (739 S. First St.): Hufflepuff?

Slytherin? Gryffindor? If these words fit your lexicon then grab your striped scarf and ditch the muggles for a wizarding night of drinking, drag and dancing. Best of all, the Chicago cosplay group GeekHaus hits Brew Town for the enchanting evening that starts casting spells at 10 p.m.

Nov. 12: Beer & Soda Bust at Kruz (354 E. National Ave.): The crew of Castaways MC Milwaukee are at it again! They’re hosting another of their infamous Sunday Funday beer busts from 3-7 p.m. at one of the city’s favorite leather/Levi hot spots.

Enjoy raffles prizes and more during this benefit for Courage MKE. Want to share an event with Ruthie? Need her advice on a situation? Email DearRuthie@Shepex.com.

SHEPHERD EXPRESS

::MYLGBTQPoint of View

Gustave Caillebotte: A Gay Man at MAM’s Current Exhibit ::BY PAUL MASTERSON

T

he Milwaukee Art Museum just opened its current special exhibit, “Degas to Picasso: Creating Modernism in France.” The collection’s 150 works represent modernism’s initial decades beginning in the last quarter of the 19th century. The causes behind this movement are many. Advances in the technology of art, political upheaval and shifts in the general social order may be cited. But, one can also credit the advance of modern art to a presumably gay man, Gustave Caillebotte, a lesser-known impressionist artist of the period.

The MAM collection has one of his many paintings of canoeists on the River Yerres.

Ours shows them at rest, gliding along with the languid current, perhaps after a vigorous sprint and, perhaps, on their way to share a meal with friends at a riverside café. In fact, Caillebotte himself appears among the reveling boatmen in PierreAuguste Renoir’s famous Luncheon of the Boating Party. He and Renoir were close friends so he’s dominant in the composition.

Caillebotte was not only an artist but a very rich one. At 26, he inherited his father’s fortune and, in the manner of La bohème’s Schaunard, generously spent his money on his struggling artist friends, Edgar Degas, Claude Monet, Camille Pissarro and Renoir, among others, subsidizing their exhibitions, buying their art and, in the case of Monet, paying his rent. He tried to bequeath his collection of nearly 70 works to the French government but, although some were accepted, most were not.

Luckily, many of those reSHEPHERD EXPRESS

jects would wind up in Philadelphia’s Barnes Foundation.

Anyway, whether he was gay or not rests in the eye of the beholder. There are no extant love letters written to another man or revealing remarks by his contemporaries.

What does exist are his paintings that almost exclusively depict male subjects: teasingly voyeuristic views of nude bathers, muscular rowers, brawny working-class types like the three shirtless parquet planers and portraits of handsome bourgeois flaneurs. Granted, he seems to have had a mistress for a time and even left her an annuity. Still, the artist never married, was generally shunned by his relatives and lived with his mother until he was 39 (he died at 45). Although those aren’t necessarily ironclad indicators of gay proclivities, today we might say, “Do the math.”

Besides, given the social stigma of the times, even if there were more palpable evidence of his being gay, it would probably have been deliberately destroyed.

In the past, the absence of academic discussion of Caillebotte’s apparent preference may be just another case of daring not to speak the obvious. Today the subject is being explored by more open minds. In any case, were it not for Caillebotte, the movement may not have caught on in quite the same way. Those earliest impressionist exhibits may never have taken place, and, thanks to his own collecting, many works survive today that may have been lost (Monet destroyed 500 of his own paintings in a fit of depression—fortunately, Caillebotte had already purchased 14).

Food for thought when you see the show.

And don’t forget to pay tribute to Caillebotte in the main gallery.

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N O V E M B E R 9 , 2 0 1 7 | 31 10/13/17 10:44 AM

::MUSIC MUSIC

For more MUSIC, log onto shepherdexpress.com

RICK OLIVIER

FEATURE | ALBUM REVIEWS | CONCERT REVIEWS | LOCAL MUSIC

Blues Legend Bobby Rush Aims to Pass the Torch

::BY JAMIE LEE RAKE

If any blues lovers only know singer Bobby Rush from seeing the bold and bawdy act he’s taken to stages around the world for more than 60 years, they might be surprised at his soft-spoken humility when he’s not entertaining.

Speaking on his cellphone en route to a Midwestern date on the “Take Me To The River Memphis Soul and Rhythm & Blues Revue” tour he is co-headlining with fellow bluesman Charlie Musselwhite and old-school R&B crooner William Bell, the first thing he wants to discuss is his Grammy Award. He won one earlier this year in the Best Traditional Blues Album category for Porcupine Meat. “Winning a Grammy has energized me,” the 83-year-old enthuses. “It’s given me new levels in life. I’m grateful to God I’m able and healthy enough to be doing what I’ve been doing all these years.”

Though he may be playing to bigger crowds than ever, he doesn’t want that greater adulation to distract him from remembering the grounding he experienced coming from gigging on the “chitlin’ circuit” of clubs in African American neighborhoods for so long. “I’ve crossed over, but I’ve not sold out,” he says. “I don’t want to forget the bridge that brought me across.”

32 | N O V E M B E R 9 , 2 0 1 7

Some of the steps on his way to becoming an elder statesmen of a genre that has influenced much of the nation’s popular music come from a long history of Milwaukee dates. He recalls that his first show in the city occurred at a venue that has long since shuttered, but, also, “I’ve played every little club on Fond du Lac [Avenue]; I’ve played Summerfest; I’ve been on many side streets. I’ve played joints, joints, joints!”

And, if one of his most recent appearances in the city—at the Blues Fest concert a few years ago, where he shared a bill with other lifers in music, including Denise LaSalle and the late Bobby “Blue” Bland, among others—is at all indicative, Rush still comes off as a supreme player, flanked by two curvaceous female dancers shaking away and deflecting from their employer’s craggier handsomeness. His persona and act have made an impact upon the sexual frankness currently prevalent in commercial radio and R&B—even if blues is virtually nonexistent on current youth-oriented urban radio.

But don’t try insinuating that his sound is irrelevant. Not only does the size of the audiences he continues to attract contradict that sentiment, but, Rush adds, “If you don’t like the blues, you don’t like your mama! Everyone has a story, so everyone has the blues. When folks understand that they are not the only ones who go through ups and downs in life, it’s easier to get past it, to keep going.”

Rush keeps going, too. “It’s about passing the torch on,” he says of the continued attention he pays to hitting the road and maintaining friendships with younger people who appreciate his artistry. The latter objective may be a practical one, too, however. “I hang out with younger people because there aren’t any people my age to hang out with!” Among those no longer among the living are many of the peers with whom he has shared performance dates and who’ve been in his band. “There have been thousands of musicians and solo artists who have played in my band,” Rush reflects, if, perhaps, with a bit of hyperbole in the number, adding, “They have all been special to me; it saddens me that many of them are no longer here.”

Though he also continues to play the majority African American venues that built the foundation of his popularity, his current tour—playing this Friday at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts’ Wilson Theater at Bobby Rush Vogel Hall—Rush notes, “has been Friday, Nov. 10, about 80% white audiences.” What 7:30 p.m. is it about his music that draws folks across ethnic groups who often have Vogel Hall’s different tastes in what they want Wilson Theater from blues? “I think it’s the energy of the music,” he says. “The soulful parts ... the funk stuff going on.”

Rush has been around long enough—and with sufficient success—to pretty well call the shots in his career. Listening to his latest album (he’s due to return to the studio again early next year as well) and Omnivore Recordings’ 2015 four-CD retrospective of his life’s work, Chicken Heads, one can easily get the impression that he has always had the philosophy he shares here: “I record what I feel and hope everyone likes it. The truth is the truth.” And the truth is that Bobby Rush is a blues survivor and musical treasure.

The Take Me To The River tour, featuring Bobby Rush, Charlie Musselwhite, William Bell, Frayser Boy and more, stops at Vogel Hall’s Wilson Theater (929 N. Water St.) on Friday, Nov. 10 at 7:30 p.m.

SHEPHERD EXPRESS

MUSIC::LOCAL

KELSEA MCCULLOCH

::CONCERTREVIEW

Milwaukee Shoegaze Veterans Brief Candles Recalibrate on ‘Retreater’

B Luna

Reunited Indie Rockers Luna Led an Easygoing Night ::BY DAN AGACKI

U

pon exiting Galaxie 500 in 1991, Dean Wareham formed Luna, a band that replaced Galaxie 500’s brittle jangle pop with a sturdier, more guitarcentric sound. During their initial run, Luna operated within the major label landscape, which from 1991 to 2005 was a quickly evolving industry.

After their breakup, Wareham continued to work on music with wife and Luna bassist Britta Phillips, as well as releasing solo music and scoring music for Noah Baumbach films. Then, after a decade apart, Luna reconvened in 2015 to tour Spain and the U.S. With the release of a covers album and an instrumental EP earlier this year, it is safe to say that Luna is back to being a fully functioning unit.

The band’s first Milwaukee show since reuniting began with an opening set from Big Mother Gig. The crowd filed into Turner Hall Ballroom early to catch this formerly Milwaukee-based (now Los Angeles) band. Their middle-of-the-road alterna-rock was enough for moderate success in the early ’90s, but a quarter-century after their breakup, the band sounds even stronger. Their set exuded a confidence that their earlier iteration was lacking. It was surely a treat for the longtime fans in attendance.

Following an actual ’90s band was Soccer Mommy, a band steeped in the sound of the MTV Buzz Bin bands of 1995. They easily could have opened for Helium if it wasn’t for the fact that the members of Soccer Mommy were likely born around the time of Helium’s touring days. Their set of syrupy bedroom pop pushed forward at a constant but relaxed pace. A broken snare drum did little to slow their momentum. A young band touring with a legacy act, Soccer Mommy carried that weight admirably.

Dean Wareham emerged from backstage with a Warholian mop-top as his Luna bandmates filed to their positions, all smiles. Through the first few songs, Wareham sang with a nasal Dylanesque tone, a lower register than what he’s known for. As the songs came and went, Wareham displayed that he still can take his unique voice to the higher register of his younger years.

Luna took the casual momentum built by Soccer Mommy and added a brighter energy to it. The laidback sense of the performers combined with amusing between-song anecdotes gave the whole set an Austin City Limits feel. As the band rattled off songs that older fans had been waiting over a decade to hear again, younger fans enjoyed experiencing those songs for the first time. The overall pleasantness of the whole situation was inescapable— so pleasant, in fact, that the band returned twice for encores.

SHEPHERD EXPRESS

::BY EVAN RYTLEWSKI

rief Candles’ new album, Retreater, arrives, just like 2011’s Fractured Days before it: profoundly behind schedule. Speed has never been one of the strengths for the shoegaze quartet.

Most of their lengthy between-album delays can be chalked up to the band’s methodical writing process, which involves piecing together songs as a group then exactingly pairing them with lyrics and vocal melodies, often through trial and error.

“It can be a labor to make the lyrics fit,” says Kevin Dixon, who splits guitar and singing duties in the band with his wife, Jen Boniger. “Since no one person steers the ship, and it’s always all of us together writing the songs, the lyrics and the vocal melodies come last, and frequently there will be some dissonance in a song that can make putting vocals on top of it really hard.”

This time out there were also personal reasons for the delay, though. After Fractured Days, the band lost their drummer, who had played with the band since the entire group migrated from Peoria, Ill. to Milwaukee in the early ’00s. He’d been with the band so long they wondered if they could even continue without him. As they pondered breaking up, a friend tipped the band to a drummer who performs under the moniker radishbeat and encouraged the group to give him a try.

“We had a rocky start,” Dixon says. “He was a radically different drummer than our old drummer. Then it clicked. There was one practice where it just seemed to come together like, ‘OK, I got this.’”

Then came yet another scare that might have put the group’s future in jeopardy: Before the band had even played their first show with him, radishbeat apologetically informed the group he needed to move to Fort Collins, Colo. But instead of replacing him, the band stayed the course, practicing and recording with him online. That remote setup profoundly influenced the record, Dixon says.

“Basically, we rehearse in kind of a virtual space,” he says. “It’s really interesting, because you’re playing without amps. You’re totally in headphones. I have to believe on a certain level it influenced the way we played and the way we wrote.

“Once we got past the technical issues of rehearsing online, it almost made things easier, because there was no doubt of what anybody was playing,” Dixon continues. “You know, sometimes when you have a bunch of loud amps and you’re in a small space—because bands always practice in small spaces—there’s a tendency to only hear one or two things. But online, through headphones, you can hear everything. You can hear how everything interacts.”

Like the Brief Candles records before it, Retreater is cloaked in a gorgeous haze of rippling melodies, sunset-hued guitars and celestially sighed vocals. But it’s more taut and alert than its predecessors. There’s a drive to the whole record that a lot of contemporary shoegaze albums lack.

Nearly every track is either a rocker or an immediate pop song; very few meander in the way most people associate with shoegaze—a term that Dixon says the band has grown removed from.

“When you say shoegaze, people’s minds immediately tend to go to My Bloody Valentine, or maybe Ride or Slowdive,” Dixon says. “But I was never hugely influenced by those bands. It always amazed me how shoegaze became this loaded term that meant one very specific thing.

“If you listen to their early EPs, My Bloody Valentine were a rock band,” Dixon says. “They weren’t shimmery or anything. Those songs were aggressive.

They were rock songs and pop songs that had a little bit of weirdness to them. And I think a lot of shoegaze bands forget to rock. They get too hung up on the shimmery stuff and forget to have that element of rock ’n’ roll.”

Brief Candles’ Retreater is streaming at briefcandlesus.bandcamp.com.

N O V E M B E R 9 , 2 0 1 7 | 33

MUSIC::LISTINGS THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 9

Alley Cat Lounge (Five O'Clock Steakhouse), SACRED w/ Peter DiStefano Amelia's, Jackson Dordel Jazz Quintet (4pm) Angelo's Piano Lounge, Acoustic Guitar Night Art Bar, Comedy Open Mic Cactus Club, Richual presents: Indie Mix Up Cafe Carpe (Fort Atkinson), The New Pioneers Colectivo Coffee (On Prospect), Mason Jennings Company Brewing, Ruth B8r Ginsbur w/Kendra Swanson MKE CD release & Amanda Huff County Clare Irish Inn & Pub, Acoustic Irish Folk w/Barry Dodd Frank's Power Plant, Line of Outcasts w/Dead Country Gentlemen Jazz Estate, Mike Cammilleri Organ Trio Mason Street Grill, Mark Thierfelder Jazz Trio (5:30pm) Miramar Theatre, Ookay w/Fox Stevenson (ages 17-plus, 9pm) O'Donoghues Irish Pub (Elm Grove), The All-Star SUPERband (6pm) Pabst Theater, Kirk Franklin & Ledisi w/PJ Morton Potawatomi Hotel & Casino, In Bar 360: Al White Duo (8pm), In the Fire Pit: Lewis Brice w/Jay Matthes (8:30pm) Rave / Eagles Club, Action Bronson w/Trash Talk & Meyhem Lauren (all-ages, 8pm), Turnover w/Elvis Depressedly & Emma Ruth Rundl (all-ages, 8pm) Shank Hall, Jasmine Cain The Bay Restaurant, Pat McCurdy The Packing House Restaurant, Barbara Stephan & Peter Mac (6pm) Transfer Pizzeria Cafe, Dan Flynn Trio Turner Hall Ballroom, The Motet and Dopapod Up & Under Pub, A No Vacancy Comedy Open Mic

FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 10

Alley Cat Lounge (Five O'Clock Steakhouse), Joe Richter & The Fabulous Tremtones American Legion of Okauchee #399, Our House Angelo's Piano Lounge, Piano Night Anodyne Coffee (Walker's Point), Lil Rev and Friends w/Jim Liban & Jim Eannelli Cactus Club, Farewell Milwaukee w/Jaybone Bell & Lady Cannon Cafe Carpe (Fort Atkinson), Lost John and the Dusty Millers Caroline's Jazz Club, Jeff Hamann Quartet Circle-A Cafe, Alive at Eight: Bella Brutto & Jay Bullock (8pm); DJ: era & The Nile (10pm) Clarke Hotel (Waukesha), Dick Eliot Jazz Guitar (6pm) Club Garibaldi, Close Enuf Band w/Stonehedge & On Edge Colectivo Coffee (On Prospect), Jessica Lea Mayfield ComedySportz Milwaukee, ComedySportz Milwaukee!

Company Brewing, TopiaWorld Presents: Thane, Lorde Fredd33 & FRJY County Clare Irish Inn & Pub, Traditional Irish Ceilidh Session

Dom & Phil De Marinis Pizza, Tom Sorce Frank's Power Plant, Dodgeball Club w/Sam Vicari & Cabin Essence Hot Water, Miltown Kings: Variety Show - Season Opener Iron Mike's (Franklin), Jam Session w/Steve Nitros & Friends Jazz Estate, Twin Talk (8pm), Late Night Session: Elias Holman Latin Trio (11:30pm) Jokerz Comedy Club, Jay Stevens Knights of Columbus (West Allis), Wisconsin Annual Blues Harmonica Festival 2017 Kochanski's Concertina Beer Hall, Blame It on Cain w/ Eponymous & A Legend Alone Lakefront Brewery Beer Hall, Brewhaus Polka Kings (5:30pm) Linneman's Riverwest Inn, Jonathan Burks Band w/ Heidi Spencer & the Rare Birds and Lyric Advisory Board Mamie's, Harvey Westmoreland Mason Street Grill, Phil Seed Trio (6pm) Milwaukee Ale House, Sensations Miramar Theatre, BUKU w/Luzcid & Siphonic Pabst Theater, Lewis Black Potawatomi Hotel & Casino, In Bar 360: Geoff Landon & Friends (9pm), In the Fire Pit: Lewis Brice w/Jay Matthes (9:30pm) Potbelly Sandwich Shop (East Side), Texas Dave (noon) Rave / Eagles Club, In This Moment w/Of Mice And Men (allages, 7pm), Bleachers w/Bishop Briggs & Amy Shark (all-ages, 7:30pm) Riverside Theater, O.A.R. w/The New Respects Rose-Harms American Legion Post (Grafton), Grafton GALA Concert Series: Vinyl Groove 50s, 60s & 70s Shank Hall, JC Brooks w/The Right Now Smitty's On The Edge (Mequon), Matt MF Tyner & Rolf Wessel The Bay Restaurant, Larry Moore Trio The Packing House Restaurant, The Barbara Stephan Group (6:30pm) The Tap Room (South Milwaukee), Duo Sonic Turner Hall Ballroom, Colors & Chords: Collections of Colonies of Bees, Rose of the West & Twin Brother (6pm) Up & Under Pub, Underground Hive

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 11

American Legion Post #449 (Brookfield), Tomm Lehnigk Angelo's Piano Lounge, Piano Night Anodyne Coffee (Walker's Point), Nineteen Thirteen Arriba Mexican Restaurant (Butler), Greg & Ollie Davis Duo Art Bar, Katie Dahl Cactus Club, Saajtak w/Strangelander & adoptahighway Caroline's Jazz Club, The Paul Spencer Band w/James Sodke, Larry Tresp, Neil Davis & Dave "Smitty" Smith Cedarburg Cultural Center, Rebels and Renegades: Chicago Farmer and Joseph Huber ComedySportz Milwaukee, ComedySportz Milwaukee!

Company Brewing, 2nd Annual All Synths Day County Clare Irish Inn & Pub, 5 Card Studs

Cue Club of Wisconsin (Waukesha), The Rush Tribute Project Delafield Brewhaus, Dave Miller Band Fire On Water, Burgundy Ties Five O'Clock Steakhouse, Kirk Tatnall Frank's Power Plant, Rendered With Hate w/Reflection of Flesh & Order of The Jackal Hilton Milwaukee City Center, Vocals & Keys Jazz Estate, We Six (8pm), Late Night Session: Jeno Somlai Trio (11:30pm) Jokerz Comedy Club, Jay Stevens Kochanski's Concertina Beer Hall, Mike Wheeler and Liv Mueller Laura's Donges Bay Clubhouse (Mequon), Boomer Nation Linneman's Riverwest Inn, "Kneel to Neil" Benefit Concert for WMSE Radio & Bridge School w/many performers Mason Street Grill, Jonathan Wade Trio (6pm) Miramar Theatre, Phutureprimitive w/Deerskin, The Fabricator & Rilathon (ages 17-plus, 9pm) Pabst Theater, Lewis Black Potawatomi Hotel & Casino, In Bar 360: Andrea & The Mods (9pm), In the Fire Pit: Lewis Brice (10:30pm) Rave / Eagles Club, New Found Glory w/Roam (all-ages, 8pm), Bear Grillz w/PhaseOne, Dirt Monkey & Kompany (all-ages, 8pm), Jack & Jack w/Prettymuch (all-ages, 8pm) Riverwest Filling Station, Eccentric Acoustic Route 20 Outhouse (Sturtevant), October Rage w/Three Left & Saint Tragedy Shank Hall, Super-Unknown (Soundgarden tribute), Big Bang Baby (STP tribute) & Ten (Pearl Jam tribute) Silver Spring House, Rick Holmes Smith Bros. Coffee House (Port Washington), Maya No Maya The Coffee House, Lords of Liechtenstein The Packing House Restaurant, Joe Jordan & The Soul Trio (6:30pm) Trinity Three Irish Pubs, Superfly w/DJ D-Ski Up & Under Pub, Hitsleep w/Legend Alone & Magnetic Minds

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 12

Angelo's Piano Lounge, Live Karaoke w/ Julie Brandenburg Cactus Club, Abby Jeanne w/Abram Shook & Thrifttones Circle-A Cafe, Alive at Eight: The Lady-Lords (8pm); DJ: Sheppy (10pm) Company Brewing, 6th Annual Fight For A Funky Cure Fundraiser w/hosts Tyrone Bizzon Miller & Tiffany Miller Frank's Power Plant, Radar w/American Spirits & Ako Iron Mike's (Franklin), Jammin' Jimmy Open Jam (3pm) Linneman's Riverwest Inn, Howard Levy and Chris Seibold Muskego Moose Lodge 1057, Fundraiser for The Jonathan Wish Foundation w/David E. Kriby, Sherwood Alper, & John "The Voice" Hernandez as Johnny Cash Pabst Theater, Demetri Martin Rave / Eagles Club, In Hearts Wake / Fit For A King w/Like Moths To Flames & Phinehas (all-ages, 8pm)

Rounding Third Bar and Grill, The Dangerously Strong Comedy Open Mic Scotty's Bar & Pizza, Larry Lynne Solo (4pm) The Coffee House, Living Activism Fundraiser: Milwaukee High School of the Arts Chorus

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 13

Cactus Club, Bethlehem Steel w/Duckling, the Bbys & Graham Hunt Jazz Estate, Mark Davis Trio Linneman's Riverwest Inn, Poet's Monday w/host Timothy Kloss & featured reader De'Shawn L. Ewing (7:30-10:30pm) Mason Street Grill, Joel Burt Duo (5:30pm) Paulie's Pub and Eatery, Open Jam w/Christopher John The Roadhouse (Dundee), Jonny T-Bird Open Jam

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 14

Frank's Power Plant, Duck and Cover Comedy Open Mic Good City Brewing, Kandace Springs Mamie's, Open Blues Jam w/Stokes Mason Street Grill, Jamie Breiwick Group (5:30pm) McAuliffe's Pub (Racine), Jim Yorgan Sextet Miramar Theatre, Tuesday Open Mic w/host Sandy Weisto (sign-up 7:30pm) Rave / Eagles Club, Hollywood Undead w/Butcher Babies & Demrick (all-ages, 7pm) Shank Hall, Melanie w/Dana Erlandson Silver Spring House, Rick Holmes Jam The Jazz Gallery Center for the Arts, Jazz Jam Session Transfer Pizzeria Cafe, Transfer House Band w/Dennis Fermenich Turner Hall Ballroom, Mura Masa

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 15

Conway's Smokin' Bar & Grill, Open Jam w/Big Wisconsin Johnson Iron Mike's (Franklin), Danny Wendt Open Jam (6pm) Jazz Estate, Mike Kubicki Duo Kochanski's Concertina Beer Hall, Polka Open Jam Linneman's Riverwest Inn, Acoustic Open Stage w/feature Mike Krycio (sign-up 8:30pm, start 9pm) Mason Street Grill, Jamie Breiwick Group (5:30pm) Paulie's Field Trip, Humpday Jam w/Dave Wacker & Mitch Cooper Potbelly Sandwich Shop (East Side), Texas Dave (noon) Rave / Eagles Club, Trivium / Arch Enemy w/While She Sleeps & Fit For An Autopsy (all-ages, 6:30pm) The Bay Restaurant, CP & Zoe w/Chris Peppas & Jeff Stoll (6pm) The Packing House Restaurant, Carmen Nickerson & Theo Merriweather (6pm) Turner Hall Ballroom, Blitzen Trapper w/Lilly Hiatt

Charles P. Ries & The MinkTronics w/Anthony Deutsch’s Father Sky DJ Q and Poet Timothy Kloss The Polish Falcon - 801 E Clarke St, MKE Saturday, November 18th Doors Open 7:00 - No Cover

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N O V E M B E R 9 , 2 0 1 7 | 35

TOUR DE FORCE

By James Barrick

THEME CROSSWORD

PSYCHO SUDOKU! “Sum Sudoku”

Put one digit from 1-9 in each square of this Sudoku so that the following three conditions are met: 1) each row, column, and 3x3 box (as marked off by heavy lines in the grid) contains the digits 1-9 exactly one time; 2) no digit is repeated within any of the areas marked off by dotted lines; and 3) the sums of the numbers in each area marked off by dotted lines total the little number given in each of those areas. Now do what I tell you—solve!! psychosudoku@gmail.com 22

6

12

3

11

7

7

10

15

23

16 12 13

7 10

19

13

11

15 6

DOWN 1. Taps 2. “Time Machine” creatures 3. Praise 4. Means of flame containment: 2 wds.

5. Commerce acronym 6. Wetlands tree 7. -- de main 8. Quonset 9. Greek hero 10. Ad -- per aspera 11. Spoils 12. -- probandi 13. Make imperfect 14. Expert in heraldry

15. Apple variety 16. Writer -- Wiesel 17. Containers 18. Let it stand!

24. Willow rod 26. Fish sauce 29. Eskers 32. Notched, as a leaf 33. Coalition 34. Connor of “Terminator” 35. Love, in Liguria 36. Whirlwind 37. Make expiation 38. Adams and namesakes 39. Pitfall for travelers: 2 wds.

40. Goofed 41. -- macabre 43. Promotions pro 45. Less chaotic 46. Lawn tool 50. Ceremonies 54. Weakness of muscle 55. Auto body part 56. Bette or Jefferson 57. Further 59. Part of Q.E.D. 60. Kind of trust 61. Treasure -64. Lowest level 66. “-- came a spider...”

67. State in India 68. Butterfly stage 70. In re 71. Dazzles 72. FX comedy series 73. Correct 76. Evasive movement 79. Opening in a wall in a mine 80. Affectation 81. For use in a food regimen 82. Duos 84. Experts 86. Arrow poison 88. Name meaning “noble” 90. Snow field 94. Aquatic birds 95. Judged 96. Court decree 97. Investment option 98. “-- -- boy!”

99. Lows 100. Soggy mass 101. Brusque 102. Sign on a door 103. Adventure tale 104. Two-toed sloth 105. Vingt- -- - -107. Sine -- non 109. Pindaric

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4

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13 11

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11/2 Solution

WORD FIND

This is a theme puzzle with the subject stated below. Find the listed words in the grid. (They may run in any direction but always in a straight line. Some letters are used more than once.) Ring each word as you find it and when you have completed the puzzle, there will be 27 letters left over. They spell out the alternative theme of the puzzle.

The Tablelands Solution: 27 Letters

Solution to last week’s puzzle

Anaiwan Antiques Bald Nob Banbai Ben Lamond Boonoo Boonoo Bungulla Cattle Conservatorium Copper Crops Dairy

Dams Dundee Dust East Galleries Gold Guyra Inverell Jeogla Lake Large Lunatic

Matheson Mines Museum Peel Plan Rocky Sheep Timber Trout Walcha Wheat Wool

11/2 Solution: Imagine a world without colour SHEPHERD EXPRESS

Solution: Visiting Armidale and Tamworth

36 | N O V E M B E R 9 , 2 0 1 7

76. Place in Switzerland 77. -- Collins 78. -- Lanka 79. Restaurant item 81. Indeterminate number 82. Make level 83. Declare 85. Traveling companion: 2 wds.

87. Round Table knight 89. Obvious 91. Pins 92. Narcotized 93. Online publication 94. Fireplace 96. Vigoda and Burrows 98. Pass on 101. Lay off 102. Introductory part 106. Bandage of a kind 108. Contest 110. Auctioneer’s cry 111. Treat with care 112. Ran disconnected 113. OT name 114. Reptiles 115. Like a walled city 116. Gaels 117. Floor

A L P H A B E T I Z E

© 2017 Australian Word Games Dist. by Creators Syndicate Inc.

© 2017 United Feature Syndicate, Dist. by Andrews McMeel Syndication

ACROSS 1. Dough, or bread 5. Tex-Mex favorite 10. Boa -15. Plays the ponies 19. Jai --20. Orally 21. Aid to navigation 22. Settled 23. Time in uniform: 3 wds.

25. Semi-precious stone 27. Dodge 28. Alphabetizes 30. Most senior 31. Treacherous one 32. Attempt 33. Cauldron’s contents 34. Debussy contemporary 37. Subject 38. Got, in a way 42. Sun god: Hyph.

44. Fillet of beef 47. Ibsen’s Helmer 48. Libertine 49. Slag 51. Dictum from a monarch 52. Samovar 53. Sched. abbr.

54. Organic compound 55. Summon 56. -- -- Salaam 58. Make dull or obtuse 60. Current 62. Dwell 63. Substance used in perfumes 64. Superior 65. Glowing reviews 67. -- -a-Dale 69. Tray 71. Doctor in children’s books 74. Like a chip 75. Seethe

J T K I N D E R G G E U T O S S P O T A R H E C C O W P E A D H G N E C T A R O T Q O U N L A N A I V O A O G R E E N S K E Y X E

11

Creators Syndicate

: 11/9/17

::NEWS OF THE WEIRD

::FREEWILLASTROLOGY ::BY ROB BREZSNY SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Remember the time, all those years ago, when the angels appeared to you on the playground and showed you how and why to kiss the sky? I predict that a comparable visitation will arrive soon. And do you recall the dreamy sequence in adolescence when you first plumbed the sublime mysteries of sex? You’re as ripe as you were then, primed to unlock more of nature’s wild secrets. Maybe at no other time in many years, in fact, have you been in quite so favorable a position to explore paradise right here on earth.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): As a courtesy to your mental health, I minimize your exposure to meaningless trivia. In fact, I generally try to keep you focused instead on enlightening explorations. But in this horoscope, in accordance with astrological omens, I’m giving you a temporary, short-term license to go slumming.

What shenanigans is your ex up to lately, anyway?

Would your old friend the bankrupt coke addict like to party with you? Just for laughs, should you revisit the dead-end fantasy that always makes you crazy?

There is a good possibility that exposing yourself to bad influences like those I just named could have a tonic effect on you, Sagittarius. You might get so thoroughly disgusted by them that you’ll never again allow them to corrupt your devotion to the righteous groove, to the path with heart.

CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): In the coming months it will be crucial to carefully monitor the effects you’re having on the world. Your personal actions will rarely be merely personal; they may have consequences for people you don’t know as well as those you’re close to. The ripples you send out in all directions won’t always look dramatic, but you shouldn’t let that delude you about the influence you’re having. If I had to give 2018 a title with you in mind, it might be “The Year of Maximum Social Impact.” And it all starts soon.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): The punk ethic is rebellious. It transgresses conventional wisdom through “a sometimes cynically mean absurdity that’s redeemed by being hilarious.”

So says author Brian Doherty. In the hippie approach, on the other hand, the prevailing belief is “love is all you need.” It seeks a “manic togetherness and allencompassing acceptance that are all sweet and no sour—it can be inspiring but also seem soft and gelatinous.” Ah, but what happens when punk and hippie merge? Doherty says that each moderates the extreme of the other, yielding a tough-minded lust for life that’s both skeptical and celebratory. I bring this to your attention, Aquarius, because the punk-plus-hippie blend is a perfect attitude for you to cultivate in the coming weeks.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): I’m falling in love with the way you have been falling in love with exciting possibilities that you once thought were impossible. Oh, baby. Please go further. Thrilling chills surge through me whenever you get that ravenous glint in your mind’s eye. I can almost hear you thinking, “Maybe those dreams aren’t so impossible, after all. Maybe I can heal myself and change myself enough to pursue them in earnest. Maybe I can learn success strategies that were previously beyond my power to imagine.”

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Adriana Martinez and Octavio Guillen got engaged to be married when they were both 15 years old.

But they kept delaying a more complete unification for 67 years. At last, when they were 82, they celebrated their wedding and pledged their vows to each other. Are there comparable situations in your life, Aries? The coming months will be a favorable time to make deeper commitments. At least some of your reasons for harboring ambivalence will become irrelevant. You’ll grow in your ability to thrive on the creative challenges that come from intriguing collaborations and highly focused togetherness.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): I had pimples when I was a teenager. They’re gone now, although I still have a few pockmarks on my face as souvenirs. In retrospect, I feel gratitude for them. They ensured that in my early years of dating and seeking romance, I would never be able to attract women solely on the basis of my physical

SHEPHERD EXPRESS

appearance. I was compelled to cultivate a wide variety of masculine wiles. I swear that at least half of my motivation to get smarter and become a good listener came from my desire for love. Do you have comparable stories to tell, Taurus? Now is an excellent time to give thanks for what once may have seemed to be a liability or problem.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): The next two weeks will be one of the best times ever to ask provocative, probing questions. In fact, I invite you to be as curious and receptive as you’ve been since you were 4 years old. When you talk with people, express curiosity more often than you make assertions. Be focused on finding out what you’ve been missing, what you’ve been numb to. When you wake up each morning, use a felt-tip marker to draw a question mark on your forearm. To get you in the mood for this fun project, here are sample queries from poet Pablo Neruda’s Book of Questions: “Who ordered me to tear down the doors of my own pride?

Was it where they lost me that I finally found myself?

Whom can I ask what I came to make happen in this world? Is it true our desires must be watered with dew? What did the rubies say standing before the juice of the pomegranates?”

CANCER (June 21-July 22): “Things to say when in love,” according to Zimbabwe poet Tapiwa Mugabe: “I will put the galaxy in your hair. Your kisses are a mouthful of firewater.

I have never seen a more beautiful horizon than when you close your eyes. I have never seen a more beautiful dawn than when you open your eyes.” I hope these words inspire you to improvise further outpourings of adoration. You’re in a phase when expressing your sweet reverence and tender respect for the people you care about will boost you physical health, your emotional wealth and your spiritual resilience.

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Are you working on solving the right problem? Or are you being distracted by a lesser dilemma, perhaps consumed in dealing with an issue that’s mostly irrelevant to your long-term goals? I honestly don’t know the answers to those questions, but I am quite sure it’s important that you meditate on them.

Everything good that can unfold for you in 2018 will require you to focus on what matters most—and not get sidetracked by peripheral issues or vague wishes.

Now is an excellent time to set your unshakable intentions.

::BY THE EDITORS OF ANDREWS MCMEEL

Warning: Low Sealing

T

here was an unusual obstruction on a runway at Wiley PostWill Rogers Memorial Airport in Barrow (a.k.a. Utqiagvik), Alaska, on Oct. 23: a 450-pound bearded seal. Meadow Bailey of the Alaska Department of Transportation told KTVATV that the city was hit by heavy storms that day, and airport staff discovered the seal while clearing the runway. However, staff are not authorized to handle marine animals, so North Slope Animal Control stepped in, using a sled to remove the seal. Bailey said animals such as musk oxen, caribou and polar bears are common on the runway, but the seal was a first.

Pecker-headed Vandalism

About two dozen car owners in the Nob Hill neighborhood of Snellville, Ga., were perturbed in late October by what they

thought was vandalism: Their cars’ side mirrors were being shattered, even in broad daylight. Finally, according to WSB-TV, one resident caught the real perpetrator: a pileated woodpecker who apparently believed that his own reflection in the mirrors was a rival male woodpecker. Because pileated woodpeckers are a protected species, neighbors had to get creative with their solution: They now place plastic bags over their side-view mirrors while their cars are parked.

A Burning Irony

Workers at a Carl’s Jr. in Santa Rosa, Calif., were busy filling an order for 165 Super Star burgers for first responders to the Fountaingrove-area wildfires on Oct. 26 when a grease fire broke out in the restaurant. The fire started in the char broiler and then jumped to the exhaust system. Franchise co-owner Greg Funkhouser told The Press-Democrat the building was “completely torn up. We made it through the big one, only to get taken out by this.” When the person who placed the order arrived to pick it up, he saw six Santa Rosa Fire Department trucks in the parking lot and left, so Funkhouser handed out free burgers to “anyone around.” © 2017 ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Every one of us experiences loneliness. We all go through periods when we feel isolated and misunderstood and unappreciated. That’s the bad news, Virgo. The good news is that the coming weeks will be a favorable time for you to make loneliness less of a problem. I urge you to brainstorm and meditate about how to do that. Here are some crazy ideas to get you started. 1. Nurture ongoing connections with the spirits of beloved people who have died.

2. Imagine having conversations with your guardian angel or spirit guide. 3. Make a deal with a “partner in loneliness”: a person you pray or sing with whenever either of you feels bereft. 4. Write messages to your Future Self or Past Self. 5. Communicate with animals.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): The drive for absolute perfection could undermine your ability to create what’s very good and just right. Please don’t make that mistake in the coming weeks. Likewise, refrain from demanding utter purity, pristine precision or immaculate virtue. To learn the lessons you need to know and launch the trends you can capitalize on in 2018, all that’s necessary is to give your best. You don’t have to hit the bull’s eye with every arrow you shoot—or even any arrow you shoot. Simply hitting the target will be fine in the early going.

Homework: If you could change your astrological sign, what would you change it to and why? Write: freewillastrology.com.

Go to RealAstrology.com to check out Rob Brezsny’s Expanded Weekly Audio Horoscopes and Daily Text Message Horoscopes. The audio horoscopes are also available by phone at 1-877-873-4888 or 1-900-950-7700.

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N O V E M B E R 9 , 2 0 1 7 | 37

THEBACK::ARTFORART’SSAKE

The 54 Year Itch ::BY ART KUMBALEK

I

’m Art Kumbalek and man oh manischewitz what a world, ain’a? So listen, the Feds released a boatload of potentially blockbusting JFK assassination records from the National Archives just the other week. Remember? And what did we learn? This: President John F. Kennedy was shot to death by Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas on Friday, Nov. 22, 1963. Hey, thanks for the focking tip. Answered a lot of questions I’ve been itching to know for 54 years, what the fock. Anyways, I did some research and memory work on my own and what follows is information you may not find in those government files.

1963: “The Beverly Hillbillies” was the top-rated TV show; A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum was Tony’s Best Musical; the Dodgers with superhuman Sandy Koufax swept the Yankees in the World Series (Pete Rose was NL Rookie of the Year); the Green Bay Packers failed to advance to the NFL title game after three successive visits ’cause Paul focking Hornung was busted for gambling; the Swingle Singers grabbed the Grammy for Best New Artist; Sonny Rollins took first in Down Beat’s Critics Poll on tenor sax; jeans were playclothes and they were called overalls; and in the early afternoon on 11/22 of that year, you would’ve found me cooling my heels whilst bored on my ass during eighth-grade social studies class, getting the

38 | N O V E M B E R 9 , 2 0 1 7

particulars on the fascinating topic of the economy of Guate-focking-mala, our Latin neighbor to the south, I kid you not.

I remember starting to nod off when the loudspeaker above the blackboard squealed for our attention with word that the coolest guy in the country, and the first president to be inaugurated not sporting a brim, had been shot in focking Dallas. It was like getting socked in the breadbasket by a 10th grader as hard as he could so you had diarrhea and needed to puke, in unison. Later, the radio broadcast through that loudspeaker told us the president was gone, leaving behind for some of us the firm belief that faith in the future would forever more be nothing but moosedick.

But that was then. Today, my belief that “faith in the future” is moosedick grows stronger with each successive commander-in-chief to be endured, and I am able to take a more objective view of our first Catholic president. And I got to tell you—JFK— what a guy. The original party president. The Kennedy White House, Camelot they called it, but Camea-lot would be more like it. And the “Bay of Pigs,” some kind of botched invasion of Cuba? Hell no.

The bay of pigs was the sound one heard outside the presidential boudoir when Jackie was out of town.

Lots of people to this day would swear that Jack is the top tomato when it comes to presidentializing.

I think not. Yes, true, he was the first rock-star president. Rock stars are assclowns, so big focking deal.

That fact alone is enough for me to place Jack in the lowest third of historical U.S. presidents, next to knobs like the Zach Taylors, the Jim Buchanans, the George Bushes. Yes, JFK made it possible for the Beatles to happen, but I always thought those Rolling Stones cleaned their clocks, at least until Mick Jagger started looking like Don Knotts’ stunt double.

On the other hand, he did bag Marilyn Monroe,

so that gets him up in my personal standings a tad.

Of course, back then the only celeb who didn’t bag Marilyn Monroe was the pope; although to this day there remains yet no irrefutable documentation that clearly states he didn’t get his share too, so who the fock really knows, ain’a?

And speaking of no irrefutable documentation, we have the assassination theories. About this Kennedy whack cum conspiracy cum first TV-president cum lodestone for lunatics, once that Warren Commission snow job came down with no mention of Pete Rozelle (former National Football commish) as a possible conspirator, I knew there was a stinky worm can afoot. Hey, you’re telling me that only three years after Dallas was given a football franchise over the desires of JFK, who wanted his Boston to have professional tackle football instead, the president just happened to be in that Texan cow town during the middle of football season—and got shot? Unnecessary roughness? You bet. Hey, where were the officials on that play. You tell me.

Not to mention that nobody ever questioned what the fock a schoolbook depository was doing in Texas. They hardly have schools, let alone books for christ sakes. Like Will Rogers should’ve said: “I never met a Texan who ever read a book.”

But of course, we now know that it was you and me who shot the Kennedys. Yeah, and I shot the sheriff, Tupac and J.R. to boot, what the fock. Yet to think that it’s possible that the course of our country was so dramatically altered because of tackle football in Dallas should show you a thing or two about history: Every action, no matter how tiny, causes a ripple in the cesspool of events. Just by blowing your nose, you could change the course of a nation in the future to come—so please, always be sure to carry a hanky ’cause I’m Art Kumbalek and I told you so.

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