Isthmus: Nov 19-25, 2015 by Isthmus

NOVEMBER 19–25, 2015

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VOL. 40 NO. 46

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MADISON, WISCONSIN

“The ultimate hire” Legendary coach Barry Alvarez looks back on 25 years at UW

T I M OT H Y H U G H E S

ISTHMUS.COM NOVEMBER 19–25, 2015

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■ CONTENTS

■ WHAT TO DO

4 SNAPSHOT

TRUMPED

Local reporter braves the GOP spin room.

6-9 NEWS

MONEY PIT

GOP wasted time, resources chasing elusive mine.

10 TECH

IF THEY BUILD IT

PerBlue is one of the latest tenants to sign on to tech hub StartingBlock.

PAULIUS MUSTEIKIS 23 ART, 26, 28 FOOD

CHRIS LAY 28 FOOD CHRIS LAY was working at MadCity Music Exchange when a couple of guys from Graft came in to buy vinyl records for their new downtown tapas restaurant. Lay knew that Brasserie V also spun records, but he wasn’t ready to call it a trend until he learned that Gib’s Bar was playing records Sunday nights. A comedian, writer and collector of vinyl himself, Lay takes a look this week at the return of the turntable to local restaurants.

PAULIUS MUSTEIKIS’ photographs pop up in multiple articles this week. He took the photo of sculptor Erika Koivunen, the vinyl collection at Graft and the luscious-looking cocktail at Cento. His Isthmus cover photo of UW’s Kathy Cramer is now part of a time capsule the university buried in July beneath the floors of Bascom Hall.

17 COVER STORY

BARRY BALL

“Coach-for-life” Alvarez reflects on 25 years at the UW.

23 ART

THE ALCHEMIST

Welder Erika Koivunen transmutes base metal into art.

Rising star

25-31 FOOD & DRINK

STOP THE INSANITY

Why suffer at home when you can go out for Thanksgiving?

DINNER AT 33 1/3 RPM

Vinyl is infiltrating local restaurants and bars.

32 RECREATION

RUN FOR YOUR SUPPER

Turkey trots burn pre-feast calories.

Mon., Nov. 23, Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery, 7:30 pm UW anthropology prof John Hawks, discoverer of Homo naledi as co-leader of the Rising Star Expedition, will discuss the project and the cave where the huge cache of hominin fossils was found.

35 MUSIC

NO, NO, NANOOK

Drop the puck! WTF!

Inuk throat singer Tanya Tagaq upends stereotypes.

Sun., Nov. 22, Kohl Center, 4:30-6:30 pm

36 STAGE

You’ve cheered on the hockey team from the stands, now here’s your chance to join them on the ice at Skate with the Badgers. (No tripping or slashing — leave your sticks at home, but bring your skates.)

FRENCH KISS

Madison Opera’s La Bohème tells of love and loss on the streets of Paris.

JOHN W. BARKER

38 SCREENS

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS

36 STAGE

Claustrophic Room explores the ties that bind.

JOHN W. BARKER is another vinyl collector, amassing some 110,000 classical music records. A professor emeritus of the UWMadison history department and a passionate music lover, Barker has reviewed classical records since 1957 and classical music for Isthmus since about 1990. This week he raves about the Madison Opera’s performance of La Bohème.

50 EMPHASIS

RE-ANIMATOR

Taxidermists venture into new territory.

The best things in life are....free books

IN EVERY ISSUE

Happy Booksgiving! The family-owned bookstore chain promotes literacy by giving out books to each child who attends this special storytime.

12 MADISON MATRIX 12 WEEK IN REVIEW 14 THIS MODERN WORLD 15 FEEDBACK 15 OFF THE SQUARE

Sat., Nov. 21, Half Price Books (4250 East Towne Blvd.; 626 S. Whitney Way), 1 pm

40 ISTHMUS PICKS 52 CLASSIFIEDS 53 P.S. MUELLER 53 CROSSWORD 54 SAVAGE LOVE

Mad vendors unite Tues., Nov. 24, Madison Turners Hall, 3001 S. Stoughton Rd., 4-8 pm

Get a head start on your holiday shopping at the Dane Buy Local Holiday Expo. Gifts, decorations and wine will all be on hand — and your purchases support our local job creators.

PUBLISHER Jeff Haupt ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Craig Bartlett BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR Mark Tauscher EDITOR Judith Davidoff NEWS EDITOR Joe Tarr ASSOCIATE EDITOR Michana Buchman FEATURES EDITOR Linda Falkenstein ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR Catherine Capellaro MUSIC & ENTERTAINMENT EDITOR Jon Kjarsgaard STAFF WRITER Allison Geyer CALENDAR EDITOR Bob Koch ART DIRECTOR Carolyn Fath STAFF ARTISTS David Michael Miller, Tommy Washbush CONTRIBUTORS John W. Barker, Dylan Brogan, Kenneth Burns, Dave Cieslewicz, Nathan J. Comp, Aaron R. Conklin,

ISTHMUS is published weekly by Red Card Media, 100 State Street, Suite 301, Madison, WI 53703 • Edit@isthmus.com • Phone (608) 251-5627 • Fax (608) 251-2165 Periodicals postage paid at Madison, WI (ISSN 1081-4043) • POSTMASTER: Send address changes to 100 State Street, Suite 301, Madison, WI 53703 • © 2015 Red Card Media, LLC. All rights reserved.

We are the 51% Sat., Nov. 21, & Sun., Nov. 22, Alliant Energy Center, 10 am-4 pm

In addition to the usual fashion and food, the Madison Women’s Expo offers presentations on office Pilates, self-defense and yoga, football tips from Antonio Freeman, poetry by Fabu, author talk with Michelle Wildgen and more.

FIND MORE ISTHMUS PICKS ON PAGE 40

NOVEMBER 19–25, 2015 ISTHMUS.COM

Ruth Conniff, André Darlington, Marc Eisen, Erik Gunn, Bob Jacobson, Seth Jovaag, Stu Levitan, Bill Lueders, Liz Merfeld, Andy Moore, Bruce Murphy, Kyle Nabilcy, Kate Newton, Jenny Peek, Michael Popke, Adam Powell, Katie Reiser, Jay Rath, Gwendolyn Rice, Dean Robbins, Robin Shepard, Sandy Tabachnick, Denise Thornton, Candice Wagener, Rosemary Zurlo-Cuva ADVERTISING PRODUCTION MANAGER Todd Hubler ADVERTISING MANAGER Chad Hopper ADVERTISING ASSISTANT Laura Miller ADVERTISING REPRESENTATIVES Lindsey Dieter, Peggy Elath, Amy Miller WEB ANALYST Jeri Casper CIRCULATION MANAGER Tom Dehlinger MARKETING DIRECTOR Chris Winterhack EVENT DIRECTORS Kathleen Andreoni, Courtney Lovas EVENT STAFF Sam Eifert EVENT INTERN Megan Muehlenbruch ADMINISTRATIVE DIRECTOR Kathy A. Bailey OFFICE MANAGER Julie Butler SYSTEMS MANAGER Thom Jones ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT Carla Dawkins

n SNAPSHOT

Inside the scrum: Hi, Mom!

Dylan Brogan, in glasses to the left of Donald Trump, waves at the Fox Business cameras after the GOP presidential debate in Milwaukee last week.

ISTHMUS.COM NOVEMBER 19–25, 2015

BY DYLAN BROGAN

As the candidates were delivering their closing remarks at last week’s GOP presidential debate in Milwaukee, I joined reporters from across the country in a mad dash to the “spin room” to stake out valuable real estate. A mainstay of political debates since the Reagan era, the spin room offered me the rare opportunity to grill a candidate vying for the most powerful office on earth. All that stood in my way as a reporter for WORT-FM was the much maligned mainstream media. The battleground was clear. A barricade classed up with a black skirt divided the large banquet room in two. On one side was a small raised stage with Neil Cavuto from FOX Business, which sponsored the debate. On the other side was the rest of the media. After the debate, candidates would parade before us to defend and spin their performances. Tension in the room rose as the end of the debate loomed. Securing just the right spot alongside the waist-high barrier was

essential to asking a candidate a question. I settled on what seemed to be a choice location close to the only entrance and exit in the VIP zone. A number of highly groomed and recognizable network reporters were close by, which seemed to validate my strategy. With my turf claimed and the candidates about to emerge, a throng of camera operators suddenly muscled their way into the room. They forced me back a few steps and straight into a veteran TV reporter. Ohio Gov. John Kasich was the first to arrive, but despite being a mere six feet away, he might as well have been in Columbus. Dr. Ben Carson and Carly Fiorina entered in quick succession. As each candidate arrived, clusters of reporters swarmed, frantically jockeying to get microphones in front of them. When the most famous candidate appeared, cries of “Trump, Trump” rang out from all directions, as reporters tried to get the billionaire’s attention. Alas, the spin room was in full swing, and I was left in no man’s land. As I contemplated whether to fight my way through the mob, the absurdity of the moment struck me. Does my

credibility as a reporter hinge on my ability to claw past CNN’s Dana Bash and effectively shout a question at Ben Carson? It was then I noticed that I was in the background of FOX Business’ post-debate interview with Donald Trump. I was just one face among a sea of people to the average viewer, but I knew back in Madison, my dear mother and father had spent hours waiting for this unlikely moment. Years of unconditional love and support had altered my parents’ grip on reality. I knew they were carefully watching every minute of the GOP debate, half-expecting Cavuto to at some point say, “and now for a really tough question, here’s Dylan Brogan.” My suspicions were confirmed when I received a text message. My mother had sent me a picture of their television screen, where Carly Fiorina was now in the hot seat with Cavuto. Sure enough, in the background of the photo, there I was. The picture was followed by the message: “Saw you behind Trump too. Drive home safe, wear a seatbelt.” As the media circus drew to a close, I saw one last chance for glory and seized it. As The

Donald was exiting the room, he sauntered past me. I shouted out a question, the last he would receive that night. “Mr. Trump, how do you win Wisconsin?” I yelled. Despite the Republicans’ unchecked power in state government, no presidential candidate carrying the GOP banner has won the Badger State since 1984. He didn’t answer the question, exactly, but his response was true to his braggadocio style. Trump turned to me and declared: “I’ll win Wisconsin. I love Wisconsin.” n Attendance at Milwaukee Theatre for debate: 4,000 Number of people who watched on TV: 13.5 MILLION Number of reporters at the debate: 550 Amount spent on the 2012 presidential election according to the FEC: $7 BILLION Amount some predict will be spent on the 2016 campaign: $10 BILLION

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n NEWS ANALYSIS

DAVID MICHAEL MILLER

The great snipe hunt That new mine up north? Much promised, nothing delivered.

ISTHMUS.COM NOVEMBER 19–25, 2015

BY MARC EISEN

“A new day has dawned in Wisconsin.” That’s what an exultant executive at Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce, the state’s pre-eminent business group, said when Gov. Scott Walker signed the auspiciously numbered Senate Bill #1 into law on March 11, 2013. That measure, strongly opposed by Democrats and environmentalists, made it easier for an iron ore mine to open in the Penokee Hills in hard-pressed Iron County where unemployment sometimes reaches into double digits. “Thousands of new jobs” would result from the rewriting of the state’s mining laws, the governor confidently predicted. Indeed, WMC detailed the expected creation of 700 mining jobs paying $60,000 a year with more than $20,000 in annual benefits. Plus another 2,100 spinoff jobs for the struggling “up north” economy. Earlier, the powerful Wisconsin Club for Growth, in a fierce attack on Dale Schultz, the lone Republican state senator opposing the mining legislation, claimed he would kill “more than a billion dollars in private-sector investment and thousands of quality jobs in mining, manufacturing and ancillary businesses that would last for decades.” All this, of course, was a pipe dream.

Adele, my neighbors’ preschooler, turned over more earth digging in her backyard than the Florida-based mining outfit called Gogebic Taconite did in Iron County. Adele probably found more iron ore, too. Blaming hostile federal regulators, Gogebic quietly dropped plans for the mine early this year without bothering to secure a permit under Wisconsin’s newly liberalized mining law. Ouch! Bluntly stated, Wisconsin’s political and business leaders had led us on a snipe hunt. For liberals, fearing ecological ruin in the north woods, it’s easy enough to find malevolence and bad faith in this episode. But self-delusion mixed with ineptitude — and some avarice — may better explain a fool’s errand disguised as economic development. It was a costly waste of time when real action was needed. The Wisconsin economy has been struggling since the start of the new century. Household income has been substantially reduced. The percentage of economically disadvantaged children has jumped. Job growth has been painfully slow. (It took nearly eight years for Wisconsin to recover the jobs lost in the Great Recession.) And poor Iron County recorded the second-highest unemployment rate in the state in September.

I’m dead wrong in making the anti-mining case. That’s what Kurt Bauer, WMC’s president, argues. “[T]he largest untapped iron ore deposit in North America isn’t going anywhere,” he says in an email. “The legal and regulatory framework now exists should another mining company decide to apply for a permit in the future when it makes economic sense to do so.” WMC is playing “long ball” on mining, he explains. People want instant gratification from the legislation, but “it’s like planting an apple tree: It takes years before it finally bears fruit.” The governor’s office, in an email from the press secretary, wasn’t backing down either. Laurel Patrick faults the federal stance on wetland mediation for killing the project and touted Walker’s other pro-business policies. She made no mention of the mine’s underlying economics. That was smart, because the numbers don’t add up. Thomas Power, 75, an emeritus natural resources economist at the University of Montana, has studied mining for almost 50 years. He chuckled and said “certainly not” when I asked him in a phone interview if mining iron ore in northern Wisconsin was a good bet for producing jobs and wealth. “Mining in the United States hasn’t been a growth center or a source of regional prosperity for at least a half century,” he says. “Just look across the country. When was the last time

the Iron Range in Minnesota was prosperous? Or the last time when Butte, Montana, was prosperous? Or the Appalachian coal fields? Or the Ozark lead fields? Or the Arizona copper towns?” The only contemporary success story he could cite was gold mining in the middle of nowhere Nevada, where the workers commute to work. Reality is that mining operates on a recurring boom-and-bust cycle, he notes, and the bounce-backs are inevitably fueled, in part, by technological advances that reduce the workforce. Mining jobs, as a result, has been greatly reduced. “It’s like agriculture,” Power says. “The rural Great Plains is losing people. Its not because we’re producing less and less wheat. It’s because we need almost no people to produce the wheat. It’s the same with mining.” “It’s hard to imagine how some sort of sustainable prosperity can be built around an industry of that sort,” he adds. “That’s not badmouthing mining. That’s just the facts of the matter.” Power says those facts are grim both worldwide and in the United States. To begin with, the U.S. is a bit player in iron ore mining, responsible for only 1% to

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2% of worldwide production, he says. The good stuff, once mined in upper Michigan and northern Minnesota, is long gone. The Penokee Hills deposit, known for 150 years, has never been dug because of its projected high cost and low quality. Steel mills in the Southern U.S., Power notes, find it more economical to import high-quality iron ore from Brazil than to look northward to the upper Midwest. It gets worse. Power says the price of iron ore has plunged from almost $200 per ton to almost $50 a ton. This reflects, in part, the cooling of the massive Chinese economy and its once insatiable hunger for steel. “Almost nothing is going to survive with three-quarters of the price disappearing,” he says. This news is doubly bad for Wisconsin. The market plunge didn’t just cause Gogebic to drop its lease on the Penokee Hills.

“What could they say? They passed the law. They sold the public a bill of goods. The mining company walked out on them.” — Former Sen. Tim Cullen

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It’s also damaged Wisconsin’s critical but struggling manufacturing industry, which makes mining equipment for the world. Two big equipment concerns, Joy Manufacturing in Milwaukee and Caterpillar (which bought South Milwaukee’s storied BucyrusErie firm in 2010) have laid off hundreds of Wisconsin workers because of the global slowdown in mining. Even the state’s scrap metal industry has crashed. Loeb-Lorman Metals, which rode the industry’s boom-and-bust cycles for a century, was forced into financial receivership in July. Bad news for small-town Wisconsin. The company’s assets — it had processing sites in Fort Atkinson, Watertown and Reedsburg – were sold to a St. Louis firm whose plans will probably include plant closings. One can only pause and ask: Our best minds thought mining was a good bet for Wisconsin’s future? These are the people you would think would have the greatest insight into business dynamics — free-market Republicans and their corporate supporters. And they took us on a snipe hunt.

Embarrassment may partially explain why the mining issue quickly fell into the memory hole and — whoosh — disappeared. This despite the fact that mining was deeply entwined in the Capitol’s gnarly political crusades. The much-vilified John Doe probe uncovered that Gogebic contributed $700,000 to the Wisconsin Club For Growth’s anti-recall defense of Walker and Republican lawmakers. WMC’s political arm spent nearly $900,000 on TV ads to oust an anti-mine Democrat from the state Senate in 2012, according to the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign. Old news! The Capitol’s ruling political class quickly moved on to “right to work,” “prevailing wage, and assorted “free speech” issues aimed at defanging campaign regulation and shrouding political bankrollers in protective secrecy. Mine? What mine? The issue was seemingly scrubbed from the collective memory. “What could they say?” shrugs former state Sen. Tim Cullen (D-Janesville). “They passed the law. They sold the public a bill of goods. The mining company walked out on them.” Here’s the kicker. Bad policy exacts a cost. It’s the opportunity cost of not pursuing more productive strategies. Efforts that might actually put people to work and fatten their wallets. It’s fair to ask, as Bauer did of me: If not mining, what else do you do to help the struggling north country? Hey, there are no easy answers! But here’s a start. George Meyer of the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation suggests a federal protective designation for the Penokee Hills’ (and Bad River) watershed akin to the tourist-friendly Apostle Islands’. Business columnist John Torinus makes a convincing case for regional economic strategizing anchored in the tech schools and UW campuses. Tech advocate Tom Still argues we need to focus on startups to replace Wisconsin’s fading legacy industries. Cullen sounds the familiar refrain that Wisconsin needs more venture capital to help those startups. And Laura Dresser of the Center on Wisconsin Strategy offers a common-sense suggestion for overall strategy: Government usually does best by not targeting a specific company for help but by focusing on broader-impact infrastructure improvements like K-12 education, college and tech training, modernized transportation networks, and expansive broadband and digital services. It’s Thomas Power who neatly sums up the lesson of our mining escapade: Prosperity in the modern age “isn’t based on what’s buried in the ground but primarily on what’s buried in our head.” “As an economist, I’m always appalled at the incredible fascination with that particular fairy tale,” he says. “That, like pirates, we should dig into the earth to find treasure.” n

n NEWS

Missed connections Policymakers misdiagnose skills needed to fill jobs gap BY STEVEN POTTER

ISTHMUS.COM NOVEMBER 19–25, 2015

When David Mead needs to add a scientist to the ranks of his biotech company, he’s usually stuck choosing between two vastly different types of candidates. “When we get undergraduates [from a university], they tend to have a lot of book knowledge but very little technical lab skills,” says Mead, owner of Lucigen Corp. in Middleton. “And when we hire people with associate degrees [from a technical college], they have a lot of lab skills but not a lot of theoretical or book knowledge.” This so-called skills gap — where employers have jobs available but can’t find employees with the right skills to fill them — is nothing new. “It’s always been a problem,” says Mead, whose company, which specializes in biological tools for life science research, has doubled in size to 66 employees since 2010. The skills gap has been blamed, in part, for Wisconsin lagging behind other Midwestern states during the economic recovery. Depending on who you ask, the blame shifts between employers accused of not offering high enough wages to post-secondary educators being shamed for not keeping pace with industry needs. Gov. Scott Walker calls addressing the skills gap “a top priority,” and implemented financial initiatives in the 2013 budget for apprenticeships and worker training grants. But that effort is missing its mark, says a UW researcher who released a study on the skills gap this week. The “focus on technical skills alone is a short-sighted approach,” says Matthew Hora, a scientist with the UW’s Wisconsin Center for Education Research. “It’s taking a really complex problem and coming up with an overly simplistic solution.”

DAVID MICHAEL MILLER

“Wisconsin policymakers have misdiagnosed the skills gap problem and consequently have devised overly narrow policy solutions,” Hora writes in his report “On the Wrong Track: How Workforce and Higher Education Policy Reflects a Misdiagnosis of the ‘Skills Gap.’” Hora surveyed almost 150 employers and educators in the biotechnology and advanced manufacturing fields, discovering that more than technical skills are needed for an employee’s long-term success. Instead, Hora says, employers and educators found common ground in stressing a need for “soft skills” — the ability to think critically, work hard, communicate clearly and work on a team. “It’s a complex set of attributes and knowledge [that is needed] — it’s not just any one thing,” he says. “The foundational skill is knowing how to learn.”

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An established method to teach these skills, Hora says, is using interactive classrooms. “The best way to do it is hands-on learning. That could be an apprenticeship where you’re combining academic and on-the-job training; it could be training in a four-year program in biology where you’re doing experiments and learning how to design an experiment,” he says. “It could be at a technical college where you’re doing problembased learning.” Hora’s study, which was funded by a grant from the federal government’s National Science Foundation, recommends providing funds to teach educators and workplace trainers hands-on learning techniques; fostering more education-industry partnerships; and ending the vilification of educators as the cause of the skills gap.

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He also recommends the Wisconsin Fast Forward grant program disperse training funds beyond manufacturing. Since the program was founded in 2013, 53% of its funds have gone to manufacturing. “[Manufacturing], which has a lot of political power here, has been particularly outspoken about the issue, but how many young people are going into the skilled trades? Not a whole lot,” says Hora, adding that health care, business and information technology are growing at a faster rate. Jim Morgan, president of the Wisconsin Manufacturers & Commerce Foundation, however, makes no apologies about his industry getting the lion’s share of the WFF grants. “The estimates are that with every manufacturing job you create, you create two other auxiliary jobs, and that’s not true in any other industry,” he says. “Manufacturing causes a ripple effect.” Who should pay for innovative job training is another area of dispute. “If we look at the state as the only way to get this fixed, we would be stunting our growth big time,” says Rep. Bob Kulp (R-Stratford), chair of the Youth Workforce Readiness Task Force, a committee created by the Republican-controlled Assembly and charged with exploring collaboration between educators and employers. “Industry needs what education has. Industry has money to make that happen.” Rep. Katrina Shankland (D-Stevens Point), the vice chair of the committee, counters that the state’s recent, deep cuts to education exacerbate the problem. “At the end of the day, it has to do with the lack of investment in education at all levels,” she says. “We really need to invest in our education, from pre-K through higher education — and if you look at the last five years, you’ve seen the opposite of that.” n

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OVERTURE HALL A trio of sublime French masterpieces, featuring one of the world’s most virtuosic cellists

MAURICE RAVEL

Sara Sant’Ambrogio, Cello

Valses Nobles et Sentimentales

CAMILLE SAINT-SAËNS

Cello Concerto No. 1

John DeMain, Conductor

HECTOR BERLIOZ Symphonie Fantastique

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MAJOR FUNDING PROVIDED BY: Barbara Ryder • DeEtte Beilfuss-Eager and Leonard P. Eager, Jr., in memory of Karen “Lovey” Johnson Rosemarie Blancke

SUN, NOV 29, 7:30 PM | $45+

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n TECH

A look inside StartingBlock Madison PerBlue is among innovators moving into entrepreneurial hub BY ALLISON GEYER

UW-Madison graduates Justin Beck and Forrest Woolworth worked out of Beck’s 700-square-foot college apartment for two years after founding PerBlue, a mobile and social gaming company. The business launched in 2008 — a few years before Madison’s startup scene began booming. At that time, there were no coworking spaces, no truly tech-focused business incubators and few spaces where young tech entrepreneurs could connect with mentors, Woolworth says. As the company grew, PerBlue experienced “early-stage office space issues,” moving its headquarters five times by 2014 as the company’s needs evolved. Now, boasting about 30 employees and a portfolio of games played by more than 10 million people, PerBlue is preparing to move again — this time into the new StartingBlock Madison entrepreneurial hub slated to open on East Washington Avenue next winter. PerBlue will serve as an anchor tenant in the 50,000-square-foot space along with other previously announced tenants, including apartment searching service Abodo, data reporting and analytics software company Beekeeper Data, “Internet of Things” company MobileIgniter and weightlifting wearable tech company WeightUp Solutions. Fledgling health care IT company Redox Engine is also planning to move into StartingBlock. Woolworth says “things would have been a lot different” for PerBlue if StartingBlock had existed back in 2008. “It potentially would have accelerated our growth and company.” “This is something that will take the startup community to the next level,” Woolworth says of the project. “It’s definitely an exciting piece of long-term infrastructure that we can build off of and a really compelling anchor in keeping tech [companies] here in Madison.”

Forrest Woolworth of PerBlue (current offices above), says StartingBlock should help keep tech companies in Madison.

StartingBlock will cater to high-growth companies — dynamic startups that require flexible leases and office space as they add employees and evolve operations. In addition to the tech startup office spaces, StartingBlock will also house “makerspace” Sector67; gener8or, a startup accelerator; and industry group Capital Entrepreneurs. “It very much runs the gamut who’s coming into the space,” StartingBlock executive director Scott Resnick says. “Some of these companies range from an individual who is essentially moving from their garage into StartingBlock to a full-fledged company with 30 to 35 employees.” Construction has yet to begin, and more than a year remains before StartingBlock opens, but those involved with the project are already heralding it as an important catalyst to further develop and strengthen the Madison tech startup community. “We’ve received a tremendous amount of support,” Resnick says. “The real grassroots ef-

ISTHMUS.COM NOVEMBER 19–25, 2015

Participants are needed for a study at UW-Madison looking at whether the cautious use of sleep medication reduces depressive symptoms in people with depression and insomnia.

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fort is from the entrepreneurs who are choosing to reside in this community.” Especially in light of Oscar Mayer’s impending closure, local tech companies are excited about the opening of StartingBlock, saying that the project represents a bright business future — one that promotes technology, innovation and collaboration in an effort to secure Madison as a hub for startups. “This is the rebirth of the Madison business community,” Resnick says. StartingBlock is not yet at capacity, but already buzz is building among the current and prospective tenants. Beekeeper Data graduated from the gener8or program in 2014 and on Nov. 9 made its software available to the public after a successful beta trial with four local partners, including future StartingBlock tenant Adobo. Beekeeper CEO Matthew Rathbone is excited about forging potential partnerships with

the other startups moving into StartingBlock. But he says “the biggest advantage is being able to have conversations and really figure out ways to solve problems.” “There’s a tremendous amount of knowledge [among] all the entrepreneurs,” he says. Redox Engine, a company whose technology helps integrate electronic health records, has not yet signed on as a StartingBlock tenant but is “definitely interested,” says Luke Bonney, company co-founder. “It feels like StartingBlock has an opportunity to be a core partner within the [tech startup] ecosystem in Madison,” Bonney says. “Because of that, it almost felt like we’d be missing out on cool stuff if we didn’t have some sort of opportunity to be in the space.” After less than a year in business, Redox Engine already has 10 employees and recently secured $3.5 million in its latest round of fundraising. Based on this trajectory, the company “could double the size of [its] staff in the next 12 months,” Bonney says, making the flexibility of StartingBlock’s office space leasing terms and the space itself particularly appealing. “When I sat down and talked to Scott [Resnick], I really felt like I was talking to a peer who understood what it was like to be nervous about signing a five-year lease,” Bonney says. GrocerKey, a Madison-based company that makes an on-demand grocery ordering app, graduated from the gener8or startup accelerator in May and has been working from the gener8or offices for the last six months. The company, which has grown to 25 employees, recently signed a year lease for an office space on the Capitol Square but is excited to move into StartingBlock when the building is complete, says CEO Jeremy Neren. “I gain inspiration just being around other entrepreneurs,” says Neren, a UWMadison graduate. “There’s a certain energy when you’re around other companies in the same place as you.” n

You gotta live it every day Isthmus.com

2015

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DECEMBER 12–23 Capitol Theater at Overture Center

Admission: $3 Adults Children (12 & Under) FREE

TICKETS: ctmtheater.org 608.258.4141

Presented by:

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It’s two weeks after Halloween. We figure it’s safe to ask you to shop with us. Holiday Open House and Farmers & Art Market

In Downtown Fort Atkinson

Rutabaga Paddlesports sells merino wool and natural fiber clothing, tested and selected by people who use it every day.

Saturday, December 5 Holiday Open House Enter the Holiday Red Box drawings at participating merchants for a chance to win Chamber Gift Certificates and the Merchants Giant Gift Box Give Away. Giant Gift Box $1500 can be viewed at the Chamber. Value MERCHANTS MAKING A DIFFERENCE RECIPIENT: Council for the Performing Arts Purchases at participating merchants on December 5 will support the Council for the Performing Arts.

DOWNTOWN FORT ATKINSON SOUTH MAIN STREET The Soulful Toad, Fort Atkinson Club and First Congregational Church. GET ALL YOUR HOLIDAY PARTY NEEDS Baguettes, Fresh Bread, Fudge, Butter, Scones, Pies, Cookies, Cakes, Jams, Honey, Egg Nog, Cider, Local Beef, Produce, Organic Cheese, and more! FIND ORIGINAL HOLIDAY GIFTS Oil & Acrylic Paintings, Watercolors, Art Glass, Ceramics, Jewelry, Handcrafted Wooden Toys, Quilts, Needlepoint, Wind Chimes, and more! Santa letter drop-off at Soulful Toad

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8th Annual Winter Farmers & Art Market – 9am-3pm

n MADISON MATRIX

n WEEK IN REVIEW THURSDAY, NOV. 12

BIG CITY

FRIDAY, NOV. 13 n

UW-Madison students rally in support of the #ConcernedStudent1950 protesters at the University of Missouri.

Madison finally earns platinum-level status as a Bicycle Friendly Community. PREDICTABLE

SURPRISING

shooting on the southA west side of Madison leaves one man dead and another injured. The Wisconsin State Journal reports that the incident was “predicated on…[a] commercial transaction gone awry.” This is the 10th homicide in Dane County this year.

MONDAY, NOV. 16 n

"EXCELLENT”

“Five strikes and you’re out” — a bipartisan group of lawmakers wants to crack down on repeat drunken driving offenders.

Could nuclear power make a comeback in Wisconsin? GOP legislators propose lifting moratorium on new plants.

SMALL TOWN

espite the fact D that states have no authority to keep out refugees, Gov. Scott Walker joins 26 other GOP governors in slamming the door on new Syrian refugees, citing concerns about letting in potential ISIS insurgents.

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TUESDAY, NOV. 17

W-Madison’s beloved U student newspaper The Daily Cardinal announces it will cut production of its print edition to two days per week starting next semester. The Semiweekly Cardinal just doesn’t have the same ring.

kiosk at West Towne Mall Sales Support available Thursdays, 4–7 p.m.

he state Assembly approves T a pair of controversial bills: one that rewrites the state’s campaign finance laws and another that eliminates the nonpartisan Government Accountability Board. Now, all they need is a gleeful signature from Gov. Walker.

The Madison Common Council votes to nix body cameras for Madison police officers on the advice of a citizen-led panel. Instead, the city will focus on a citizen-led effort to build trust between police and communities.

WEDNESDAY, NOV. 18 n

ity officials and Big C Top Baseball, a partnership that includes Madison Mallards executives, are nearing agreement on a two-year contract to refurbish and manage operations at Breese Stevens Field on the near east side.

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Things we want you to know: Shared Connect Plan, Retail Installment Contract and port-in required for all lines. Credit approval also required. A $25 Devic e Activation Fee applies. Valid for new accounts only. A Regulatory Cost Recovery Fee applies (currently $1.82/line/month); thi s is not a tax or gvmt. required charge. Additional fees, taxes, terms, conditions and coverage areas apply and may vary by plan, service and phone. $400 Switcher Incentive: Requires purchase of a new Smartphone with Device Protection+ and trade-in of an active Smartphone on former carrier’s plan. Limit one $400 reward per ported-in line. Traded-in Smartphone must be in fully functional, working condition without any liquid damage or broken components, including, but not limited to, a cracked display or housing. Smartphone must power on and cannot be pin locked. For in-store transactions: $150 Promotional Card given at point of sale with trade-in of Smartphone. Additional $250 Promotional Card will be mailed to customer within 6–8 weeks. Promotional Cards issued by MetaBank,® Member FDIC, pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A. Inc. Valid only for purchases at U.S. Cellular® stores and uscellular.com. For online and telesales transactions see uscellular.com for redemption details. Device Protection+: Enrollment in Device Protection+ required. The monthly charge for Device Protection+ is $8.99 for Smartphones. A deductible per approved claim applies. You may cancel Device Protection+ anytime. Federal Warranty Service Corporation is the Provider of the Device Protection+ ESC benefits, except in CA and OK. Limitations and exclusions apply. For complete details, see an associate for a Device Protection+ brochure. Kansas Customers: In areas in which U.S. Cellular receives support from the Federal Universal Service Fund, all reasonable requests for service must be met. Unresolved questions concerning services availability can be directed to the Kansas Corporation Commission Office of Public Affairs and Consumer Protection at 1-800-662-0027. Offers valid at participating locations only and cannot be combined. See store or uscellular.com for details. Limited-time offer. Trademarks and trade names are the property of their respective owners. ©2015 U.S. Cellular

n OPINION

Playing the victim card How sore feelings over Act 10 protests helped kill donor disclosure rule BY BILL LUEDERS

When a different group of protesters appeared outside Wanggaard’s home on Feb. 18, police handled the matter in five minutes flat, without incident. On March 20, they responded to a call about seven protesters “yelling and screaming.” But the police report says the group dispersed peacefully and “at no point did anyone become loud, disruptive or disrespectful in any way.”

Bill Lueders is associate editor of The Progressive and president of the Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council, which opposes eliminating the employer-disclosure rule.

Just before 11 p.m. during the state Senate’s marathon session of Nov. 6, Sen. Van Wanggaard (R-Racine) laid out his reasoning for ending the longstanding rule that significant donors to state political candidates identify their primary employer. The public, he argued, is out-of-control and cannot be trusted. “I went through Act 10,” said Wanggaard, referring to state Republicans’ neutering of public employee unions in 2011. “I had my home, my residence, picketed.” He referred to “neighbors being intimidated by 150 people out in front of my house.” He said his critics should confront him in Madison, not “come and terrorize my neighborhood.” The employer-disclosure rule, which the Senate passed as part of a larger overhaul of the state’s campaign finance law, has nothing to do with these alleged events. It is used by groups including Wisconsin Democracy Campaign to track patterns, like how donors affiliated with payday lenders helped defeat tighter regulations by pumping $75,000 into the coffers of both Democrats and Republicans in 2009. It also proved useful in nabbing a railroad magnate who illegally used his employees to funnel above-the-limit donations to candidates, according to the Government Accountability Board, which another GOP bill that passed during the same session dismantles. Ending this disclosure rule was not part of the original campaign finance bill. It was added as an amendment on the day it passed the Assembly by Speaker Robin Vos, the Republicans’ chief crusader against open and transparent government. (It was Vos who orchestrated this summer’s failed attempt to gut the state’s open records law and who is apparently still seeking to exempt the Legislature from its reach.) Senate Republicans, after a closed-door meeting, had indicated they intended to preserve the employer-disclosure rule for donors who give $200 or more. But, reported the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, some senators “balked at that idea and convinced their Republican caucus to end the requirement after all.”

And with the Assembly’s ratification on Monday of the Senate version of the bill, they are a gubernatorial stroke of the pen away from doing just that. Whether Wanggaard’s colleagues found his argument persuasive or even relevant is difficult to assess. But there is reason to question its accuracy. The main protest in front of Wanggaard’s house was on Feb. 14, 2011. The Journal Times of Racine put the crowd at “about 45 people,” not 150. The protest organizers, Steve Urso of the Racine teachers union and Joe Kiriaki of the Kenosha teachers union, both formerly, deny there was any bad behavior. Kiriaki calls it “one of the most peaceful pickets I’ve even been at.” And Urso says he never even saw any neighbors, much less any being terrorized. “I don’t know what he’s talking about,” grouses Urso, a former Dane County sheriff’s detective. Urso is angered because Wanggaard, as a fellow former cop, “knows damn well the importance of accurate and complete information.” Wanggaard, in an interview, says he wasn’t present at the protest and isn’t sure

of the numbers. But he insists his neighbors and their children cowered in their homes as protesters were “screaming at the house” — or so he was told. He says discrepancies are to be expected when “you’re under fire and when you have individuals who are out of control and acting reckless.” Reports generated by the Racine Police Department do not bear this out. The one from Feb. 14 says Urso and Kiriaki “were very cooperative and courteous” and left peacefully. Urso says he hadn’t known that a Racine ordinance prohibits picketing residential homes and afterward advised his members not to return.

THIS MODERN WORLD

During the Nov. 6 Senate session, Republicans argued that businesses should not be subject to threats and intimidation over campaign donations by their employees — though their examples dealt mainly with other things, like the protesters wreaking havoc outside Wanggaard’s home. Democrats countered by quoting conservative U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia: “There are laws against threats and intimidation; and harsh criticism, short of unlawful action, is a price our people have traditionally been willing to pay for self-governance. Requiring people to stand up in public for their political acts fosters civic courage, without which democracy is doomed.” Sen. Chris Larson (D-Milwaukee) said he personally had received threats during the Act 10 protests. But he cautioned against using this as a justification for secrecy, saying “We should know who is trying to influence and impact our government at every level.” But now that will be harder to do in Wisconsin, because some lawmakers are still seeking to settle the score over attacks made against them, real or imagined. n

BY TOM TOMORROW

ISTHMUS.COM NOVEMBER 19–25, 2015

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n FEEDBACK

Beer stats

Draw, pardner

Your article “Craft Brewery Slowdown” (11/5/2015) is based on a study from the Brewers Association — the craft beer trade association — that really shows the opposite of the story’s argument. As most people know who follow, say, baseball, one cannot base growth on percentages without some idea of the original batting average. Many of the states that have outpaced Wisconsin in craft brewery growth had fewer breweries to begin with, and fewer barrels per adult in the state, the best measure. If I am batting .333 because I am one for three and I get another hit, I am .500, over an 80% increase. If I am .333 because I am 10 for 30 and get another hit, I am batting .355, a 6% increase. According to the study on which the article is based, Wisconsin ranked ninth in the nation in terms of barrels of craft beer per adult between 2011 and 2014. Its growth was steady over the four years, and its “percentage growth” was lower than most other states on the chart only because many states had less production per adult to begin with in 2011. Most craft breweries would not exist without the federal tax subsidy given to small producers, so talking about a slowdown in growth will just awaken people to the fact that there would be little growth if taxpayers, who drink a $3 MGD, weren’t subsidizing your $7-a-glass boutique oatmeal stout. Don Wiener (via email)

Carrying a weapon on campus shouldn’t merely be allowed, it should be required (“Campus Carry,” 11/5/2015)! Like books and a laptop, every student should be expected to show up for the first day of class with a handgun. Concealed carry is for wimps! The gun should be carried in a holster, low on the hip, with a rawhide thong tied just above the knee so you’re ready to draw. If there are concerns about improper use, each classroom could have a proctor (a work-study position) who sits on an elevated chair at the back of the class with a long gun, ready to enforce classroom decorum. Steve Rankin (via email)

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AL D! FIN EKEN WE

I am more than disappointed in Isthmus’ decision to publish Scott Renshaw’s review of the movie Suffragette (11/12/2015). The story, which he downgrades as a “melodrama” and criticizes as being “one-dimensional,” is an incredibly important and powerful look back on a harrowing push in the ongoing fight for women’s rights and equality. Not only does this film force viewers to accept the realities of how horribly women have been demeaned and abused in the notso-distant past, but it also confronts audiences with the fact that we have not yet won this battle! Women are still oppressed, undervalued and grossly mistreated around the world, and many of us, men and women alike, live in denial and complacency. Leah Brooke Conway (via email)

Share comments with Isthmus via email, edit@isthmus.com, and via Forum.isthmus.com, Facebook and Twitter, or write letters to Isthmus, 100 State St.,Suite 301, Madison WI 53703. All comments are subject to editing. The views expressed here are solely those of the contributors. These opinions do not necessarily represent those of Isthmus Publishing Company.

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n COVER STORY

“The

ultimate ” hire TIMOTHY HUGHES

Legendary coach Barry Alvarez looks back on 25 years at UW BY MICHAEL POPKE AND MARK TAUSCHER shocked the program and drove it to the brink of destruction. How bad was it before Alvarez? Under two different head coaches — Jim Hilles and Don Morton — Wisconsin went 9-36 between 1986 and 1989. Camp Randall was half full on Saturdays, the athletic department was $2 million in debt, the guy in charge of video for the team also was the equipment manager, and players were embarrassed to wear their letter jackets in public. “It was a mom-and-pop shop,” says Andy Baggot, a veteran sportswriter who covered Badgers football and the athletic department for decades for the Wisconsin State Journal and now writes for UWBadgers.com. He cites the

triumvirate of Alvarez, former athletic director Pat Richter and former chancellor Donna Shalala for making sports a priority again at the university. “They had to take an operation from ground zero in terms of expectations and run it the way they thought it should be run. Barry Alvarez was a big part of a getting things moving in the right direction.” What if, 25 years ago, Alvarez — an assistant at Notre Dame under head coach Lou Holtz at the time who never even visited the UW campus before taking the job — hadn’t accepted Richter’s offer? What if the athletic director instead hired West Virginia University’s Don Nehlen, who had two decades of head coaching experience?

Richter did reach out to Nehlen, right after West Virginia lost the 1989 Gator Bowl. But Nehlen was in no mood to discuss an invitation from Richter to visit Madison. “I called Don after the bowl game, and he wasn’t very cranked up,” Richter, now 74 and retired, says. “He wanted to think about things for a day or two. When he said that, I decided that I was going to go with Barry, because we needed somebody who was cranked up and ready to go. Barry had every motivation to succeed.” Alvarez was cranked up, all right. Despite a 1-10 season in 1990, Alvarez became the winningest football coach in

➡

NOVEMBER 19–25, 2015 ISTHMUS.COM

Barry Alvarez will never forget his first day as the University of Wisconsin’s new head football coach in 1990. “I walked into the football offices and there were two secretaries sitting there smoking, in sweatshirts and jeans,” Alvarez recently recalled from his office overlooking Camp Randall Stadium in Kellner Hall, a building that didn’t even exist in 1990. “I thought, ‘This isn’t going to work.’ It was run like a bad high school program. There were no standards for anything.” The Badgers were good enough to earn trips to some minor bowl games in the early ’80s, but the 1986 death of head coach Dave McClain during a spring practice

n COVER STORY

JEFF MILLER / UW ATHLETICS

Alvarez, left, with Ron Dayne after the running back ran a record-breaking 108 yards in a September 1998 victory over the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Above, Chancellor John Wiley (left), Alvarez and his wife, Cindy, unveil a life-size bronze sculpture of Alvarez outside Camp Randall Stadium on Oct. 13, 2005.

ISTHMUS.COM NOVEMBER 19–25, 2015

UW history (118-73-4), went 8-3 in bowl games, coached three Big Ten and three Rose Bowl championship teams and is the only Big Ten coach to win back-to-back Rose Bowls. He also guided Wisconsin to consecutive Big Ten titles for the first time in more than 100 years — transforming not only the university’s football program but its entire athletic culture. National Football League teams drafted 59 former Badgers, including nine in the first round. Alvarez split his time as both head football coach and athletic director for two years beginning in 2004 after Richter retired. Since 2006 he’s been the AD exclusively, overseeing 23 sports and 900 student-athletes. During that time the Badgers have won a combined 14 national team titles, and more than 1,000 studentathletes have earned Academic All-Big Ten honors. Some people on Alvarez’s staff today weren’t even born when he arrived on campus in 1990. Through it all, he turned down opportunities to coach in the NFL and at other universities. “Barry was the ultimate hire,” Baggot says. “But to think he would be here 25 years later? I never saw that.” “This wasn’t a stepping stone,” Alvarez says. “I came here to build a program, and I thought I had a really good plan.”

Hard to believe that 25 years have passed since an admittedly cocky 43-year-old took the podium at his introductory press conference in early 1990 and declared that fans “better get their season tickets right now, because before long, they probably won’t be able to.” “At that time, I was hot,” says Alvarez, now 68. “We’d won a national championship at Notre Dame, we were undefeated until the last game of the season [in 1989], when we lost to Miami, and whenever there was an opening at a school, somebody contacted me.” Alvarez, a former linebacker at the University of Nebraska, also has worked as an assistant coach at the University of Iowa. Throughout his career at Wisconsin, Alvarez has cited as his mentors the legendary men who were longtime head

coaches at those universities — Nebraska’s Bob the day. “We lose, 14-9. Should’ve won. But our Devaney and Iowa’s Hayden Fry, as well as Notre guys didn’t quit, even though they weren’t playDame’s Lou Holtz. ing for anything — just pride.” Alvarez knew what success felt and tasted When the 1993 Badgers won Wisconsin’s like, and he was familiar enough with the Big first-ever Rose Bowl, Alvarez bought watches Ten to implement his “really good plan.” for the seniors on that 1990 team because “they “The first thing I had to do was win over the high were part of building the foundation.” (For more school coaches, and I started meeting with them about the 1993 Rose Bowl, see sidebar.) immediately,” Alvarez says. “At my first press con- In 1996, running back Ron Dayne arrived on ference, I said I was going the scene, marking what to build a wall around this Alvarez calls a turning state and not allow the good point for Wisconsin, which players to leave. One of my was evolving into one of goals was to help coaches the country’s elite college improve high school footfootball programs. “We ball, because the better they couldn’t imagine that a were, the better I’d be.” freshman was going to be He also had to deal with our offense, but that’s what the 2-9 team he inherited happened,” Alvarez says. after Morton was fired. “The “When anybody thinks kids knew they couldn’t of Wisconsin today, they compete in the Big Ten, but think of us handing the ball they came, because most of off and Dayne running the them were recruited here,” football. We threw the ball Alvarez says, adding that a lot and had some good remore than 50 players quit ceivers come through here. on him. “And not one of But everybody thinks all we them did I miss.” did was hand the ball off. Discipline problems That year, that is all we did.” ran rampant, especially The Badgers went on with drugs, and he held to win both the 1999 and players accountable. “I 2000 Rose Bowls, arguably said, ‘Listen, I’ll give you the pinnacle of the Alvarez a chance, but I’m going to era. Then, in the summer test your ass every week. of 2000, came the Shoe Box You test positive, you’re scandal — an episode that JEFF MILLER / UW ATHLETICS gone,’” Alvarez says. “So Alvarez to this day considAlvarez and former athletic director a couple guys eliminated ers the most disappointing Pat Richter hug before the start of themselves that way. They chapter of his career. Alvarez’s final game as head coach at thought I was trying to run The university suspendCamp Randall Stadium in 2005. them off. I was just trying ed 26 football players for to make them better.” receiving discounts from Despite the challenges, Alvarez says he the Black Earth shoe store. More penalties were knew things were starting to turn around, oddly to come, including being placed on probation for enough, during a loss at Michigan State in the five years by the NCAA and the loss of some footfinal game of that first season. ball and basketball scholarships. “We went up there with one win, and our “We got ambushed, and I thought it was totally guys played their hearts out. We were inside the botched by our administration,” Alvarez says em10-yard line and threw a good play-action pass. phatically. “I don’t think our administration knew Tony Spaeth tries to cradle the ball and it goes how to handle it. We were the only team to ever through his arms,” Alvarez recalls, as if the game win back-to-back Rose Bowls, let alone win three, happened last week, not almost 25 years ago to and I felt like our own people sabotaged us.”

Alvarez maintains that university officials could have built a case that proved members of any team — and not just UW teams — could receive discounts at the store. “The athletic department didn’t really have any say in it,” Richter says today, agreeing with Alvarez’s assessment. “I think there could have been more work done in the chancellor’s office and legal offices to find other situations that were similar to ours. We could have said, ‘Hey, this student got the same discount that our people did.’ Given what’s happened [in college sports] since that time, the whole thing looks more ridiculous now than it did back then.” Barry Alvarez has encountered his share of detractors over the years. Most recently, some critics have questioned his leadership after Wisconsin’s two most recent head football coaches, Bret Bielema and Gary Andersen, each abruptly quit before bowl games. Alvarez says it would be impossible in his position not to ruffle some feathers. “There are so many things that can go wrong, so many ways you can offend people, so many ways that the bottom could fall out of the program, ways that you could go on probation, ways that you could have issues with compliance,” Alvarez says. “Just keeping your arms around everything and keeping people happy is difficult.” College sports today looks nothing like it did in 1990, and that makes Alvarez’s job even tougher, especially when it comes to managing the athletic department’s $113 million budget. The university is still expected to subsidize 23 sports despite increased expenses that include soaring salaries. As head football coach, Alvarez earned $135,000 in 1990; first-year Badgers head football coach Paul Chryst will make $2.3 million this year, and men’s head basketball coach Bo Ryan will earn close to $3 million. In 2007, anticipating an economic recession, Alvarez asked all sports to cut their budgets by 5%, “which allowed us to sustain our programs.”

“Football’s the train that drives it all,” he says, turning his head toward Camp Randall’s playing field and explaining that two-thirds of the money UW athletics generates comes from its football program. “As long as we can keep this stadium full, we can keep all 23 sports competing at a high level. Right now, we’re not in danger of losing sports. We’re in pretty good shape, and we’re one of the few schools that have sports pay for themselves.” Alvarez has attempted to make life a little better for Wisconsin student-athletes, too, especially the ones who don’t play football. But he does not think paying athletes is the way to go. “I’m not for pay-to-play, but you have to allow them to live,” Alvarez says. As part of his effort to improve the athletic experience on campus — and because he made good on his day one prediction that Camp Randall would be consistently packed — Alvarez has supported and overseen the building of several new athletic facilities, including the Kohl Center, LaBahn Arena, the Robert and Irwin Goodman Softball Complex, University Ridge and the Fetzer StudentAthlete Academic Centers. Alvarez can be seen at those facilities, too: One recent weekend, he made appearances at football, men’s and women’s soccer, volleyball and fall softball games. “We didn’t do anything for football for years,” he says. “Then we lost a couple [recruits] because of facilities, and I knew we had to do something.” Alvarez plans to improve the exterior of the UW Field House by replacing the old windows and making the corridor at the south end of Camp Randall Stadium as attractive as the north end. Improvements to the stadium’s press box and the addition of more premium seating also are on his to-do list. With four more years left on his contract (along with a possible fifth, he adds), Alvarez likely will have time to spearhead those projects and more. He also is a member of the College Football Playoff Selection Committee. “I like the energy of the college environment,” he says. “As long as my health is good and I enjoy what I’m doing — and the people that I answer to think I’m doing a good job — I’m not ready to slide into Florida just yet.” And when he finally does retire? Alvarez smiles: “I know the program’s going to be a hell of a lot better than when I showed up.” n

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See page 21 for more on Barry Alvarez and the 1993 Rose Bowl.

ISTHMUS.COM NOVEMBER 19â&#x20AC;&#x201C;25, 2015

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n COVER STORY A cocky Alvarez at his first UW news conference: “Get season tickets now.”

VIENNA BOYS CHOIR Christmas in Vienna

Mark Tauscher and Barry Alvarez talk ’93 Rose Bowl Growing up in the 1980s in Wisconsin, I did not dream of going to play football for Bucky. But after watching Wisconsin beat Michigan State in the last-ever Coca-Cola Classic in Tokyo in 1993 — a victory that sent UW to its first Rose Bowl since 1963 — I knew I wanted to wear the red and white. Seven years later, I was a starter in the 2000 Rose Bowl game against Stanford, and Barry Alvarez was my coach. During a recent interview with Alvarez, I asked him about preparing for a game halfway across the world, as well as his Rose Bowl memories. Here’s an edited version of our conversation.

I’ve never really heard a lot of stories about the trip over to Japan in 1993. There have to be some fun, behindthe-scenes stories about that. The NCAA was taking two schools a year over there, and it was hard to find somebody

Looking back at the introductory press conference in 1990, what would you tell that Barry Alvarez today? I’d tell him, “I’m glad you’re so damn naïve that you can sit up here and spout off like you are.” I was just so confident. n

Mark Tauscher: What sticks out the most in your mind about that first Rose Bowl experience? Barry Alvarez: Just how excited everyone in this state was. It was like no one could believe we were going to the Rose Bowl. Other than myself and my staff, there wasn’t a person in this athletic department who had ever been to a bowl game. But our kids weren’t overwhelmed by it.

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Why not? I think they were prepared. They were very confident. They were tough-minded. To go to the Rose Bowl and win that first time is really hard.

to give up a home game. It was summer of 1992, and the game against Michigan State was going to be our last game of the year — and we had an open date before it. I’m looking for an edge to win the game. It would be a hell of a reward for the kids. It would be like a bowl game. So I called [then MSU head coach George] Pearles and said, “Would you be interested in playing in Japan?” I got ahold of the people on campus who work with astronauts, and they told me you can knock your body clock back two hours a day by using light and dark. So I bought all the players sunglasses and told them when to wear them during the day. We practiced two hours later than usual, we stayed up two hours later, we slept two hours later. We did that for a week. The day before we went to Chicago to fly to Tokyo, we practiced from 9 at night to 11, and then went to a midnight movie. We drove to Chicago and got there about 4 in the morning, and I let them sleep until noon. Then we got on a plane with Michigan State but told our guys they couldn’t sleep. Michigan State didn’t know anything about it. They’re all beat up because they just played the night before. We were better than them anyhow, but we had every advantage in the world. And we beat the hell out of them. [Final score: 41-20.]

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Koivunen fell in love with welding in a college art class.

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Erika Koivunen populates Madison with her quirky sculptures BY BOB JACOBSON n PHOTO BY PAULIUS MUSTEIKIS

spired by Dr. Evermor (real name: Tom Avery), who became her friend and mentor, Koivunen has been welding scraps into art ever since. If you spot a quirky sculpture made of repurposed metal in some public place on Madison’s near east side, chances are pretty good that Koivunen made it. She built the CommuniTree — the 30-foot colossus installed this summer that welcomes people into the Willy Street neighborhood from the west and the mini-version of the tree that stands in front of the Wil-Mar Neighborhood Center. The cool benches at B.B. Clarke Beach? The metal flowers in front of Madison Sourdough? The metallic sapling at Willy St. Co-op? The flock of birds on the bike path? All Koivunen. She didn’t design the gigantic birds at 211 S. Paterson — those were dreamed up by Dr. Evermor himself — but she did spend nine months helping him erect them. It’s not just the east side. Koivunen made the garden gates at Midvale Elementary School, the

72-foot mezzanine railing at Barriques on West Washington Avenue, and dozens of smaller sculptures in and outside of private homes and businesses all over town. So how did a nice girl from the Fox Valley end up in Madison making a living transforming decommissioned bicycle chains into fish and refrigerator doors into tables? “I would say that having three older siblings gave me this particular fondness for things that were abandoned and broken — things that nobody else wanted,” Koivunen says. As a kid, she glued shards of discarded plastic together. Now she uses metal and a blowtorch instead of plastic and glue. Koivunen discovered welding in an art class at UW-Fox Valley, and by the time she transferred to Madison in 1995 she knew that metal had become her main medium. But the idea of working with found materials didn’t take hold until that fateful first visit to Dr. Evermor. After that, she started visiting the sculpture garden

and workshop nearly every weekend. One day, she worked up the courage to ask “Doc” if she could weld a few butterflies out of some old Fiskars blades she found amid his piles of junk. He announced to the assembled congregation of friends, artists and hangerson that “This little girl is going to weld 1,000 butterflies.” So she did — 1,018 of them, in fact. In the ensuing years, she spent countless hours welding alongside Dr. Evermor. About a dozen years ago, Koivunen decided that she would never be happy in a conventional job, so she quit her day gig at Barnes & Noble and plunged into art full time. “I have been completely unemployable for 12 years,” she says. “I’m very bad at taking directions, so that helped push me off into my own world.” Money? She doesn’t sweat it. “My marketing strategy is just to build stuff and

CONTINUE D ON PAGE 35

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NOVEMBER 19–25, 2015 ISTHMUS.COM

The first time it happened, Erika Koivunen was doodling in her sketchbook at Victor Allen’s coffee shop on State Street. A man approached, called her a “little artist” and asked if she liked to paint and draw. She surprised him by saying she liked to weld. He told her to head up Highway 12. The very next day, Koivunen was enjoying a drink at the Paradise Lounge, sketchbook in hand, when a different old guy, perched on the next stool, leaned over. “Oh, you’re a little artist,” he said, before telling her to head north. She figured she’d better head up Highway 12 and see what all the old-guy fuss was about. She grabbed a classmate with a car and headed up to Dr. Evermor’s sculpture garden, about 45 minutes north of Madison, home of the Forevertron — the world’s largest scrap-metal sculpture — and a zillion less humongous metallic masterpieces. The year was 1997, and the rest is history: In-

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Give thanks for restaurants Let someone else put a bird on it (your plate, that is) BY LINDA FALKENSTEIN

The cult of Thanksgiving continues to grow. Once upon a time a Butterball, stuffing, canned cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie would cut it. Now, we have the likes of Martha Stewart and Sam Sifton to thank for raising our expectations. As the pressure to deliver a pictureperfect, culinarily aware feast mounts, the time available to cook such a meal continues to dwindle. Eating Thanksgiving dinner out should not be considered throwing in the towel. In fact, this way, you don’t have to worry about towels — or aprons, or two ovens, or getting the gravy to thicken.

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The Danes also offer plated turkey dinners with one refill beginning in the early evening (5:45 p.m. at Fitchburg; call Hilldale for time). That’s $15/adults, $9/kids 12 and under. Reservations are “very much suggested,” says Beier. “We save a space in the restaurant for walk-ins, but that usually fills up fast and has a wait for a good portion of the day.” Call 608-442-9000 (Fitchburg) or 608-661-9400 (Hilldale). The Green Owl Cafe will hold its now-traditional untraditional five-course vegan dinner at noon on Thanksgiving, $35/adults, $20/children under 12. A tofu “turkey” with miso glaze and Italian “sausage” dressing will join mashed potatoes and hen-of-the-woods mushroom gravy, salad, carrot soup and more vegetable sides. Reservations via greenowlcafe.com, or call 608-285-5290. Liliana’s in Fitchburg will also have a threecourse vegan Thanksgiving meal, featuring butternut squash soup, seitan turkey, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce and stuffing, as well as pumpkin pie, for $25, but on Tuesday, Nov. 24. Reservations are strongly suggested; 608-442-4444. Twist Bar and Grill at the Radisson, 517 Grand Canyon Drive, will host a buffet on Thanksgiving

from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Unexpected bonus — kids get free pool time until 5 p.m. (though remember to wait an hour after eating before swimming!). In addition to turkey and ham, there will be flank steak, honey butter chicken, pork loin, salmon and all the expected sides, including bread pudding with rum sauce. It’s $24/adults, $16/seniors and $9 for kids ages 5-12. There will be plenty to eat at Samba Brazilian Grill — grilled turkey and Thanksgiving sides will be added to its already lavish grilled meats and buffet spread. It’s open 11 a.m.-8 p.m., $33. Other options? Yes. You are wondering about Quivey’s Grove. It’s open, but at press time, was booked solid. Essen Haus has its family-style dinner with turkey, dressing, mashed potatoes and the rest, 11 a.m.-7 p.m., $22/adults, $8/children 6-10. Reservations: 608-255-4674. The Dorf Haus in Roxbury continues its Thanksgiving buffet tradition of donating 15% of proceeds to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network to honor restaurant founder Betty Maier. 11 a.m.-2 p.m., $17.25/adults; $6/ children 5-l0 and $3 for all other tots. Reservations: 608-643-3980.

The Old Feed Mill in Mazomanie will serve 11 a.m.-4 p.m., $21/adults, $19/seniors, $11/children under 12, with the traditional turkey and sides, joined by bourbonsmoked pork, pot roast, mushroom strudel, kale slaw, pumpkin and apple pie and bread pudding. Reservations at 608-7954909. Lake Windsor Golf Resort’s buffet runs 10 a.m.-2 p.m., with turkey and ham, all the sides, pies and a pastry table. Adults $28, seniors $25, kids 4-10 $12. Reservations: 608-846-4711. Rex’s Innkeeper in Waunakee holds its Thanksgiving buffet 11 a.m.-2 p.m., $16/ adults, $8/children 10 and under. Reservations: 608-849-5011. Fitzgerald’s, 3112 Parmenter St., Middleton, holds a Thanksgiving buffet 11 a.m.3 p.m., $18; a carryout option is $17. Claddagh Irish Pub, Granite City, Tully’s II, Quaker Steak and Lube and Northside Family Restaurant will serve Thanksgiving dinners. And they’ll serve their regular menus as well, so anybody who still wants a cheeseburger will be accommodated. n

NOVEMBER 19–25, 2015 ISTHMUS.COM

The top, the tower of Pisa of area Thanksgiving dinners, is at the Edgewater Hotel. In fact, there’s really two meals here: a four-course prix fixe dinner 2-7 p.m. in the Statehouse restaurant ($65), and a lavish Thanksgiving brunch 10 a.m.-2 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom ($48/adult, $20/children 5-12). And by “brunch” we mean: You will not have to eat again for a month. The brunch stars turkey and ham, with almost countless sides, from made-to-order cinnamon chestnut waffles to beet salad and leek mac ’n’ cheese. The prix fixe dinner includes scallops, quail, “turkey porchetta,” salmon, and some inventive re-creations of conventional sides and pies. (Toasted miso marshmallow on your pumpkin pie, anyone?) Reservations are required and are going fast, according to the hotel; call 608-535-8186. The Capitol Chophouse at the Monona Terrace Hilton is serving a family-style Thanksgiving brunch 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Turkey and prime rib are the centerpieces, with a bread basket from Batch, the expected sides, and apple crisp or pumpkin pie. $35/adults, $11/children aged 8-15; reservations 608-255-0165. The Fitchburg and Hilldale locations of the Great Dane Pub will be open for Thanksgiving buffets 11 a.m.-7 p.m. (last seating at 5:30 p.m.), $25/adults, $10/ children 6-12. Kevin Beier, kitchen manager at Hilldale, says the buffet will start with turkey, garlic mashed potatoes, herbed stuffing, green bean casserole and sweet potatoes. Veggie lovers will have plenty to choose from, too, with squash, glazed carrots, squash ravioli in sage cream sauce, pumpkin bisque and roasted squash soup. Those who prefer a diverse plate will encounter what Beier describes as an “impressive meat carving station with ham, beef, prime rib, herbed mustard-rubbed leg of lamb.”

n FOOD & DRINK

Give me amaro, per favore Cento’s choices are exciting Cento, 122 W. Mifflin St., is particularly strong on amaros, a class of Italian liqueurs produced by macerating herbs and fruit peels in neutral spirit. Often these are quite bitter, ranging from sharp and minty Fernet-Branca to the more easy-drinking Averna, which has notes of chocolate and vanilla. Amaros figure heavily in the restaurant’s cocktails as well, blended with sweet ingredients to provide balance. The combination makes for drinks with more oomph and interest than normal, like when Ramazzotti amaro raises a Moscow Mule out of the ordinary with an herbaceous edge in the Mulo Romano, or again when it takes a New York Sour (whiskey, lemon juice, wine) to exciting, layered heights in the Toscana Sour. The smoky, spicy Negroni di Oaxaca. Cento also features Carpano Antica sweet vermouth on tap. Cocktail PAULIUS MUSTEIKIS hounds love this vermouth — cocoa, fig, dark plum and almond are just a Radler foam. The sweet grapefruit beer few flavors that come to mind. Carpano also appears in the Negroni di Oaxaca, made with provides a citrus lift to the diverse elements tequila instead of gin. House-infused serrano in a winning holiday-meets-spice libation, highlighting Carpano Antica’s nuances. pepper tequila fuels the burn in this smoky — ANDRÉ DARLINGTON cocktail topped with mezcal and Stiegl-

Why do chickens cross the road? ARGENTINIAN WINE DINNER

To get to CLUCK, of course. Original art from regional artists, unique home décor and elegant animal-themed gifts from around the world.

THURSDAY, DEC. 3 6-8 PM

ISTHMUS.COM NOVEMBER 19–25, 2015

Tanya Johnson will be presenting 5 Argentinian wines along with our four course dinner

Spicy Shrimp Kabobs Spinach salad w/ apples, feta cheese Apple-orange stuffed crown roast Limoncello tiramisu

6904 Paoli Road / 608-848-1200 www.cluckthechickenstore.com Four miles south of Verona

Cost $45 • Limited Seating Please RSVP by 11/27

425 N. Frances St. 256-3186

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n FOOD & DRINK

Platters with your platter Madison restaurants and bars are pairing vinyl with dinner BY CHRIS LAY

Wine Released:

DOWNTOWN! Thursday, Nov. 19

The365 first wine ineA YEAR OPEN DAYS of the new harvest. Serving Burgers ‘til 1:30am, Pizza ‘til close!

Available at the Winery Happy Hour, Daily Lunch & Drink Specials and in select stores.

Open M-F at 9am, Sat.produced at 10am, Sun&at Noon Proudly grown, bottled by Wollersheim Winery, 119 W. Main St. Madison • 608-256-2263 Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin www.thenewparadiselounge.com wollersheim.com

Lunch in PARADISE 11:30am-1:30pm

Try our Paradise Burger or one of our Specials! MON - Dollar Off Burgers TUES - Chef’s Choice WED - Meatloaf Dinner THURS - Soft Shell Tacos & Spanish Rice FRI - Fish Fry & Southwestern Baked Cod A Paradise Specialty!

119 W. Main St. Madison • 608-256-2263 www.thenewparadiselounge.com

ISTHMUS.COM NOVEMBER 19–25, 2015

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Vinyl is enjoying a crackling resurgence in pop culture, and for the past couple of years it’s been creeping out of man (and lady) caves and quietly making its way into restaurants and bars of all stripes in Madison. Even though some folks might prefer to carry their tunes around as ones and zeros on their phones during the day, the tactile warmth of black wax and a deluxe gatefold sleeve is just too much to turn down when they’re out on the town. Monroe Street’s Brasserie V is one place where customers can sip on beers while listening to records, and also the first Madison establishment to build a custom listening station into its walls. Owner Matt Van Nest says he based his idea on listening stations from department stores in the 1950s and ’60s, back when 45s used to be stocked right alongside radial tires and ladies’ dresses. He found a few similar setups in European bars, and when Brasserie V expanded, he built an intimate two-person cubby. Two-thirds of the records are from his personal collection, covering every genre from ’60s and ’70s rock ’n’ roll to jazz and R&B, and so far no records have been damaged. Employees bring in records to spin, too, and regulars stop in to try out vinyl they just purchased across the street at Strictly Discs while they sip a Belgian beer. On some special Sunday nights, customers are encouraged to bring their own records to Gib’s Bar, the cozy Willy Street pub opened by Grampa’s Pizzeria owner Gilbert Altschul earlier this year. Altschul says staff members were brainstorming ways to bring customers in on slower evenings when a bartender, Beau Devereaux, suggested folks bring in records to play — something the Willy Street Pub & Grill (aka the Wisco) does sporadically. The evenings are hosted by Gabriel Newstate, aka “The Real Jaguar,” a regular DJ at Natt Spil and host of the WORT program “Who Cooks for You.” If no one brings records in, Jaguar dips into his personal stash. On a recent Sunday, I stopped in and ordered the Beets & Rhymes (a dry and tart cocktail made of vodka, rose water, lemon and cherry). I was bummed that I had just missed hearing whatever it was in that Death Row-emblazoned 12” sleeve clutched by a person heading out the door. The Real Jaguar brought out some of his own 45s — including a pair of Rolling Stones covers (“I’d Much Rather Be With the Boys” by Reigning Sound, and Black Bananas & Kurt Vile’s “Before They Make Me Run”), a Frank Zappa track and Madison’s own Killdozer doing, of all things, a Janet Jackson cover — before someone came in and handed over Exile on Main Street. Another customer passed along a new Beach House album (ensconced in its lush velvet cover) to be put on next. It was a smallish gathering, with six or seven folks hanging out in

the downstairs, but it felt inclusive with an anything-goes vibe — which allowed for something as silly and out of place as the Mission: Impossible theme to get some play. Graft, one of Madison’s most talked-about new restaurants, has also found a great way to bring the warmth of vinyl to its gorgeous dining room. Having taken over the old J. Taylor’s storefront — where antiques, books and rare maps shared a window display with a stuffed lion — owners Lucas Henning and Sam McDaniel and chef Phillip Rodriguez have managed to maintain a bit of the old store’s funky charm.

PAULIUS MUSTEIKIS

At Graft, warm ambiance comes from tunes that customers can choose.

All the music in the restaurant emanates from a turntable next to the bar, and albums are played one side at a time, all the way through, although staffers have veto power. McDaniel says the goal is to set themselves apart from other restaurants that put music on autopilot, using Pandora, paid subscriptions or an iPod. It didn’t take long to see that using records as selected by the staff, and even the occasional bar patron, dovetailed nicely with the mission of the establishment. “With the turntable, when someone asks what you’re playing you actually know, and we can say why,” says McDaniel. “We can say ‘This is Scott the bartender’s favorite album,’ ‘The chef wanted to play this one’ or ‘You, sitting at the table there, you picked it.’” McDaniel says the general quality of the sound often trumps other aesthetic factors. So far, Jimi Hendrix, Spoon and Band of Horses have worked, while one record by Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings didn’t. What’s in the future for Graft’s setup, other than testing out some different Sharon Jones records? “We need to get Pet Sounds,” says McDaniel. “I think that would sound really, really good in here.” n

Four French spots to eat at this week Allons!

Curry Lovers Unite! Y: PESTO CURR

to, Brown rice, cilantro pes , ato tom s, mushroom red curry sauce, and cilantro. Choice of chicken or tofu.

Chez Nanou, 805 Williamson St.

You can’t go wrong with the savory crepes, like the Parisienne, with ham, mushrooms, béchamel, and Swiss cheese wrapped in a buckwheat crepe, or the Savoyarde, with bacon, potato and onion. Or a nice salade Niçoise.

THAI

CUISIN E

Madison

3519 UNIVERSITY AVE

Fitchburg

3050 CAHILL MAIN

curryinthebox.com

Bon appétit La Baguette, 7424 Mineral Point Rd.

The quiche may look simple but the taste is anything but, light and custardy. Another humble favorite is the pain au chocolat.

Robinia Courtyard

Mangez bien

Comme il faut

Brasserie V, 1923 Monroe St.

Sardine, 617 Williamson St.

Admittedly, it’s Belgian. But here’s your classic brasserie meal of steak frites and moules du jour.

More classic brasserie food. Warm duck confit salad, a side of braised French lentils and crème brûlée for dessert. C’est magnifique.

A plummy wee heavy Plumptuous Scotch ale from Next Door Brewing Plumptuous delivers on the promise of being a malt-forward beer; it’s a showcase for Golden Promise malt, a Scottish grain known for being sweet and clean, and a staple in Scotch ale grist. There’s also a touch of de-bittered black malt that adds to the rich bronze color. What may go unnoticed in the beer is Kreiter’s selection of Bramling Cross hops. It’s an understated, rather old variety, first released in the late 1920s, that comes from male hops plants — a contrast to nearly all other commercially grown hops, which come from only female plants. Male plants are usually treated like weeds and removed from fields as soon as they’re found. Plumptuous holds hints of caramel and chocolate along with some bready-earthiness too. Plum and black cherry accent the

ROBIN SHEPARD

background. It finishes strong at 9.5% ABV. It sells in the brewpub for $6/goblet. When it debuts in bottles in early December, it’s expected to sell for around $11-$12/six-pack.

— ROBIN SHEPARD

Coffee, breakfast & lunch. Burgers at night.

Extensive wine list & small dishes.

Southern-style restaurant featuring the flavors of Wistucky.

829 EAST WASHINGTON AVE.

From Madison’s original Little Italy!

FrabonisDeli.com

Panettone . Torrone Pandoro . Amaretti PanForte . Biscotti

Plus hand painted Italian serving bowls & platters!

WEST/CENTRAL: 822 Regent St, Madison 256-0546 • EAST: 108 Owen Rd, Monona 222-6632

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FIND IT LOCALLY AT: FAIR TRADE COFFEEHOUSE, MICHELANGELO’S & WILLY STREET CO-OP.

NOVEMBER 19–25, 2015 ISTHMUS.COM

Holiday Items from Italy Have Arrived!

Macy’s is Hiring! NOW OPEN: KATE SPADE NEW YORK I LUCKY BRAND LUSH COSMETICS I MADEWELL I MES AMIES I MICHAEL KORS SPERRY TOP-SIDER I SUR LA TABLE I WHITE HOUSE-BLACK MARKET BOWL OF HEAVEN I CAFÉ HOLLANDER

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This week at Capitol Centre Market

Betty Crocker FREE

3.7 - 5.2 oz select varieties.

Boxed Potatoes

with $20 purchase

Limit 1 Free Offer per Customer With Separate $20 Purchase. Excludes Postage Stamps, Lottery, Gift Cards, Cigarettes, Liquor, and Bus Passes. Offer good 11/16/15-11/29/15.

ENJOY A HAND-MADE PASTRY OR COOKIE WITH YOUR COFFEE OR HOT CHOCOLATE

WE HAVE ESPRESSO! $2.00 16oz Latte or Cappuccino $2.50 16oz Flavored Latte or Cappuccino 6AM-11AM MONDAY THRU FRIDAY

HAND-MADE PASTRIES Raspberry Danish, Cream Cheese Danish, Croissants, Chocolate Croissants, Muffins, Sweet & Savory Scones AND COOKIES Chocolate Chip, Oatmeal Raisin, Sugar, Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip

ISTHMUS.COM NOVEMBER 19–25, 2015

Open Monday thru Friday 6am-5pm

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gooseberrymadison.com

n FOOD & DRINK

Thai Cuisine

Twice the Thai!

Online Ordering Available! sabaithong.com DINE IN • CARRY OUT DELIVERY • CATERING

2840 University Ave. 238-3100 6802 Odana Rd. 828-9565 Open 7 days a week

CODY BOND

A postmodern Americano A-OK gets third-wave coffee right With a bright blue and yellow geometric floor offset by crisp white walls, gleaming subway tiles and blond wood accents, A-OK has a postmodern cafeteria feel. The coffee shop/hipster diner/beer and cocktail bar, located at 829 E. Washington Ave., opened quietly this fall. There’s no website, save for a Facebook page and an Instagram account, and they’ve done little advertising. But perhaps the best advertising is an excellent product. A-OK serves Kin-Kin coffee and espresso, roasted locally by Gwen and Kyle Johnson of Johnson Public House fame. The beans are small batch and single origin, and the drinks are meticulously prepared — everything third-wave coffee should be.

The barista recommended the pourovers (my date got a Kalita and said it was “pleasant”), but I opted for an Americano — an underrated coffee order, some might argue, and my current favorite thing. It’s a simple beverage — two shots of espresso mixed with hot water. But the result is thicker, richer — and, dare I say? better — than your standard drip brew. A-OK’s version is perfectly, scaldingly hot, sweet like fruit and smooth like chocolate with a crisp, satisfying finish. I didn’t need cream, but I got some anyway — “Sunshine of Your Love” started playing in the background. Nice touch, A-OK.

— ALLISON GEYER

Eats events Beer + books

Saturday, Nov. 21, 9 am-noon

Wednesday, Nov. 25, 5-7 pm

All you really need to know is “Frokost” is Norwegian for “smorgasbord brunch,” though it helps to know that the Idun Lodge, 2262 Winnebago St., will serve smoked salmon, meatballs, herring, sweet fruit soup, and such baked goods as lefse, fried cakes and heart waffles. A bake sale will additionally offer traditional coffee cakes, breads, potato lefse, rosettes, krumkake and sandbakkels. Adults/$13, kids 6-12/$6.50.

Kevin Revolinski will be signing copies of the new edition of his Wisconsin’s Best Beer Guide at House of Brews, 4539 Helgesen Drive. There will be drink specials and snacks, and if you have never checked out House of Brews, what better night than Thanksgiving eve?

MobCraft/HopCat beer dinner Tuesday, Nov. 24, 6:30 pm

A four-course beer pairing dinner featuring the brews of MobCraft including SourBeer, Chi-Town Luau, Batshit Crazy Coffee Ale and Noctis BBA Imperial Stout, at HopCat, 222 W. Gorham St. Tickets ($32.64) through eventbrite.com.

OPEN FOR LUNCH

Tue-Sat: 11am - 2:30pm Sunday: 10am - 2:30pm

THURSDAYS AND SATURDAYS

SERVING DINNER

Thur-Sat: 5pm to 8pm

6857 Paoli Rd, Paoli, WI 53508 • Phone: (608) 848-6261

paolischoolhouseshops.com

Thanks...Giving ✿ Quiche Me ✿ Pie O’ My as in Chocolate Bourbon Pecan and Pumpkin Chiffon ✿ Rolls, rolls, rolls ✿ Stuffing, stuffing, stuffing Warm up with a hot Chaider or Fresh Apple Cider

611 North Sherman Ave. in Lakewood Plaza

608.663.5500 • www.mannacafe.com

NOVEMBER 19–25, 2015 ISTHMUS.COM

Fall Frokost brunch

LIVE MUSIC

n RECREATION

BENN WITT

It only makes sense to get moving on Thanksgiving, before you eat yourself into a stupor.

Burn, baby, burn! A new turkey trot at Vilas Park joins two other pre-feast races BY MICHAEL POPKE

Now Through Jan 24 “One of photography’s shrewdest observers of American life.”

ISTHMUS.COM NOVEMBER 19–25, 2015

— WALL STREET JOURNAL

mam.org Larry Sultan, Woman in Curlers, from the series The Valley, 2002 (detail). © Larry Sultan, courtesy the Estate of Larry Sultan.

The national holiday traditionally dedicated to gluttony is upon us. So is the national holiday tradition of going on a pre-feast run to burn off a few calories and support a good cause or two. The granddaddy of Thanksgiving Day runs in Madison is the Berbee Derby, now in its 12th year. But there are two other options, including a brand-new race. The inaugural Madison Turkey Trot at Vilas Park is a 5K run/walk/roll that supports United Cerebral Palsy of Greater Dane County. “We don’t believe there can be too many options when promoting good causes, community and physical fitness,” says Colin Pekovitch of Chicago-based All Community Events, which is planning the Madison Turkey Trot. “All [three of] these events can co-exist because they raise funds for different causes, and because Madison has such a great running community.” Pekovitch isn’t sure how many participants to expect. “With this being the inaugural event, we’re just hoping for a good turnout,” he says. The race begins at 9 a.m. on the Lake Wingra side of the zoo. The cost is $37 per person (pre-registration through turkeytrotmadison.com; deadline is Nov. 23, but lastminute registrations on-site can still happen from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m.) Racers get a hoodie and a big gooey cinnamon roll. Over on the east side at Droster Park, 1429 Droster Rd., the Elvehjem Neighborhood Association’s sixth annual Turkey Trot offers a 5K run and two-mile walk that begins at 8:30 a.m. (onsite registration closes at 8:15

a.m., but pre-register via the website at elvehjemneighborhood.org). Technically, the event is free, but a $5 donation to offset expenses is suggested, as is a nonperishable food item that will be donated to the Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin. While the Berbee Derby counted 6,700 participants last year, the Elvehjem Neighborhood’s Turkey Trot doesn’t attract anywhere near that many. And that’s just fine with Tiffani Roltgen, a member of the neighborhood committee that organizes the event. “From a race-management standpoint, 100 participants is the sweet spot for us” she says. “We aren’t looking to host an event for 1,000 people, but rather offer a friendly neighborhood option that entire families can afford to do together on the holiday. The course is challenging, with several hills and often a few icy spots, courtesy of Mother Nature.” The Elvehjem event was established in 2010 to offer a far-east-side race option on Thanksgiving morning. “It’s a way to promote a healthy start to the day without the more extensive time commitment required at some of the area events,” Roltgen adds. “You can arrive at our race at 8 a.m., easily find parking and be on your way to Thanksgiving festivities by 9:15 a.m. — depending on how fast you run.” Madison native Jim Berbee — founder of Berbee Information Networks Corp. in Fitchburg (now owned by CDW) — determined that Madison needed a turkey trot after reading an article about their popularity in The Wall Street Journal. He and then-CEO Paul Shain established the Technology Education Foundation to provide grant opportunities for schools and nonprofit organizations in Dane County, with the idea that the race fees would fund it.

The first Berbee Derby was held in 2004; since then, more than $482,000 in grants have been awarded to the community, according to Jessica Benson. She ran her first Berbee Derby in 2010 and has been the race director since 2014. Additionally, an endowment contains more than $550,000 and is used to fund gifts to the community in perpetuity. This year, 17 grants totaling $83,769 will go to local organizations as diverse as the Urban League of Greater Madison, the DeForest Area Public Library, Brooklyn Elementary School and the Catholic Multicultural Center. “The focus of the [grants] is to help create a technology-savvy community through yearly grants that encourage exploration of new technology boundaries,” Benson says. Founder Jim Berbee is now a clinical assistant professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the UW School of Medicine & Public Health but still helps organize the Berbee Derby. (The event operates as a separate entity, with CDW the presenting sponsor.) With 10K and 5K options, the event is held at CDW headquarters, 5520 Research Park Dr., in Fitchburg. Even now, 100% of all proceeds go to the Technology Education Foundation. The registration fee is $35/person; day-of registration is closed. Online registration is still available through berbeederby.com. The first wave of runners takes off at 9 a.m. Regardless of which event you choose to participate in Thanksgiving morning, it could be the start of a new family tradition. “We know that family on Thanksgiving is important,” says Benson of the Berbee Derby. “I can show my kids what it means to be part of a community.” n

n SPORTS Will Hartland Arrowhead triumph over rival Kimberly this year? It’s worth witnessing.

MARY LANGENFELD

State!

The spirited WIAA football championships BY MICHAEL POPKE

Although Lodi is the only Madison-area high school football team headed to Camp Randall Stadium Nov. 19 and 20 for the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association state championships, that doesn’t mean local sports fans need to stay at home. The WIAA holds statewide competitions in only a handful of cities, including Green Bay, Milwaukee, Wisconsin Rapids and Madison, and we should try to take advantage of the spectating opportunities afforded us when the games are here in the capital city. Lodi, a top seed in its Division 4 bracket, will bring an undefeated record into Camp Randall on Thursday for a 7 p.m. kickoff against Osceola — a team that lost only one game all season. The Lodi Blue Devils plowed through three teams en route to the state final, winning those games by a combined score of 109-34. The team’s biggest test came a couple weeks ago against Columbus, when all the Blue Devils could muster were five

field goals in a narrow 15-14 victory in the state quarterfinals. But then Lodi shut out Omro, 23-0, on Nov. 13 to earn a trip to the championship game. Lodi’s previous three trips to the state semifinals ended in losses; a win at Camp Randall this week would be the school’s first state title. If you’ve never experienced the intensity, spirit and stakes of watching a state competition, I highly recommend it — even if your team’s not playing. At the risk of sounding melodramatic, most of those kids will never come this close to athletic immortality again. And that is worth witnessing. My wife and I took off from work in 2012 to watch our alma mater, Waukesha Catholic Memorial, wallop Waupaca, 42-7, in the Division 3 football title game. This year’s Division 1 football championship matchup Friday at 4 p.m. will be a dandy — and a rematch of last year’s state game: Big Eight Conference nemesis Hartland Arrowhead will meet defending state champion Kimberly, an upstart from the Fox Valley playing only its second year in Division 1.

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NOVEMBER 19–25, 2015 ISTHMUS.COM

4135

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Monday-Friday, Nov. 23-Dec. 23

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n MUSIC

Community Day of Thanks! Concerts

Arctic artistry Inuk throat singer Tanya Tagaq reclaims Nanook of the North BY CATHERINE CAPELLARO

The otherworldly sounds created by Tanya Tagaq tingle the spine and jar the brain. Tagaq’s music — a blend of traditional Inuit throat singing, jazz, electronica and hip-hop — spans generations, genres and even species. Sometimes her haunting vocalizations sound like animals growling and snarling over pulsating grooves. Yet even as she pushes past recognizable boundaries, Tagaq can also deliver soothing sweetness, a blanket of snow drifting onto a jagged ice-covered landscape. Tagaq will appear at the Memorial Union’s Fredric March Play Circle on Nov. 21. Now an international sensation who has toured with Björk and the Kronos Quartet, the Inuk artist (Inuk is the singular form of Inuit) grew up in Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, a Victoria Island outpost in the vast Arctic Archipelago region, a 550,000-square-mile area inhabited by just 14,000 people. Her public persona is rife with Arctic imagery; she appears in photos wrapped in fur and feathers, even wearing antlers — surrounded by wolves, elk and snow. “It’s very cold, ice freezes over, there are no trees,” says Tagaq, describing her homeland. “After traveling around, I realized how unique the landscape is. It’s powerful.” Powerful, too, is Tagaq’s connection with nature. Her most recent album, 2014’s Animism, features song titles such as “Umingmak” (Musk oxen), “Caribou,” “Rabbit,” “Howl,” “Dance Animal Spirits,” “Genetic Memory” and a chilling final track called “Fracking,” in which she vocalizes the sounds of the earth responding to hydraulic fracturing.

Tagaq mixes tradition with experimentation.

IVAN OTIS

Tagaq flips the natural order of things in her songs. “We’re animals and they’re people,” she says. “We’re not special, we’re not the best, we’re not the top. We’re just part of whatever’s going on. I get a little embarrassed about being human. I like to be around animals and think about them and their freedom.” For her Madison appearance, Tagaq will perform with frequent collaborators violinist Jesse Zubot and percussionist Jean Martin. The trio will be improvising a live soundtrack to the 1922 silent film classic, Nanook of the North, commis-

sioned in 2012 by the Toronto International Film Festival. In an interview with the CBC, Tagaq called Nanook a product of its time, noting it contained “a bunch of bullshit happy Eskimo stereotypes.” She says the improvisation project, composed by Derek Charke, is a way to reclaim images of her homeland. No two performances are alike, she adds. “We are lucky because we magically seem to be speaking the same language,” says Tagaq of her collaborators. “We open up musically to ground that hasn’t been covered before.” While continuing to expand musical boundaries, Tagaq is gaining recognition. Animism won the Juno Award for Aboriginal Album of the Year, and it also received the Polaris Prize, the top Canadian music award. Her touring schedule is nonstop; since July, she has performed at Bonnaroo, Toronto, Helsinki, Dublin, Chicago, New York and Iceland. She often brings her children, ages 3 and 12, with her on tour. Like other bold experimenters, such as Yoko Ono or Björk, Tagaq is not trying to please everyone. She says she prefers theaters and ticketed shows to festivals because she’s less worried about “freaking people out.” But she also doesn’t mind if audience members leave her shows. “I don’t want to share with people that don’t want to take it in,” she says. “It’s very intimate. It’s myself. I don’t want people that don’t enjoy it to be present. I feel safer when the people that don’t like it leave.” “I don’t know why anyone would think everyone should like them,” says Tagaq. “I’m just happy and surprised when people like it.” n

Erika Koivunen continued from 23

1021 Spaight Street, Madison

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H O L I D A 20−22 Y ART FAIR

NOVEMBER

Scrappy birds perched alongside Access Community Health Centers.

taking something that’s rusted and old and giving it a new life in an unexpected way.” Koivunen prefers not to over-analyze the process. She just wants to build stuff, and she has everything she needs on hand to keep doing it forever: “We have machines. We have materials. We have ideas.” n

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go out into the world and talk to people,” she says. It seems to be working. Word of mouth keeps her busy with commissioned projects most of the time. In between, she just keeps building stuff at Acme Ironworks, the delightfully cluttered shop off South Park Street she shares with her husband, master blacksmith Aaron Howard. It helps that the materials she works with are cheap, often free. People leave buckets of unwanted metal objects at the workshop. Budget Bicycle calls her when they have a bunch of old chains and other parts to get rid of. It also helps to have admirers in the local business community willing to champion her work. One of those fans is Finn Berge, co-owner of the local wine/coffee chain Barriques. When he wanted somebody to design and build the enormous railing at the West

Washington store, he was unimpressed by what the established welding companies had to offer. “I was up in our mezzanine area during our construction period, and I just called Erika on a lark,” says Berge. “She said she could come up right now, and so she showed up covered with welding dust and a baseball hat on backwards on a small girl’s BMX bike.” Since creating the railing, Koivunen has built something for each of the six Barriques locations, from small accent pieces to a large work hanging on the wall of the Monroe Street store that represents her interpretation of the coffee family tree. Koivunen also has a champion in Lynn Lee, a fellow artist who is president of the Marquette Neighborhood Association and co-owner of Cargo Coffee and Ground Zero. Lee is on a mission to flood the east-side neighborhood with Koivunen’s work. Most recently, he spearheaded the effort to commission one of her sculptures for Willy St. Park at the corner of Williamson and Brearly. “There’s this whole reusing of old materials that I love,” Lee says. “It’s whimsical. Often it’s

Saturday, Nov. 21 at 7pm Sunday, Nov. 22 at 3pm Immanuel Lutheran Church

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n ART

featuring

Madison Area Community Chorus Ringing Badgers Handbell Ensemble Maestro Brass and more!

n STAGE

Bob Moore is perfectly cast as the Hannibal Lecter-esque James.

A magnificent La BohĂ¨me Madison Opera opens season with a classic BY JOHN W. BARKER

A haunting reminder

DAN MYERS

StageQâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Finding Human explores what it means to be alive BY AMANDA FINN

Playwright Dan Myersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; chilling drama about a death row inmateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s final week was so well-received at its January debut it is moving from the cozy Broom Street Theater to the Bartell Theatre. In the new production of Finding Human, which features the same cast and runs through Nov. 28, Bob Moore reprises his role as the Hannibal Lecteresque James. With a signature smirk and stony demeanor, Moore lets his guard down in scenes with the prison chaplain Father Martin (a humble Jim Chiolino), shedding light on the vulnerability of his otherwise stoic character. The unknown drives the drama: Why did James kill that priest? Why wonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t he divulge his motives? Why does he seem so content with his imminent death? Chiolino and Kirk Baumbach, as Sgt. McGovern, the short-tempered prison guard,

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draws out out different aspects of Jamesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; humanity. Father Martin brings out Jamesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; softer side as the priest attempts to save his life (and his soul), while McGovern stokes the prisonerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s disdain for the world with unwarranted inhumane treatment. Stuck in the middle of it all is Jamesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; cellmate, Bill Shaw (a versatile Donnovan Moen). Bill has been moved to Jamesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; cell in an attempt to finally uncover Jamesâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; motives for murdering a priest. Audio clips of newscasts remind audience members how society often denies the humanity of prisoners. Meanwhile, the sound of a heartbeat during scene changes is a subtle reminder of what we share, regardless of our life choices. Myersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; gritty, 90-minute play is not a feel-good show. It is a harsh reminder that we should not pass judgment on others because so often we do not know the whole story. More important, it reminds us of our shared human condition. n

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Madison Opera opened its seasonÂ with a musically and visually superb realization of Pucciniâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;sÂ La BohĂ¨me. The story of love and loss among the poor artists of 19th-century Paris is a surefire hit, but a production like this really brings its beauty and power to fullest life â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a fact recognized by the enthusiastic audience at Overture Hall on Friday, Nov. 13. The cast was a fine assemblage of gifted young singers who looked their parts and sang confidently. The two soprano leads were outstanding. Eleni Calenos suggested the frail Mimi while still projecting vocal power and dramatic color. Emily Birsan, an established Madison favorite, was brilliant as the flirtatious Musetta, showing a warm heart under her tempestuous surface. As Mimiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s lover, Rodolfo, Mackenzie Whitney displayed a high lyric tenor voice of just the right timbre. Baritone Dan Kempson was particularly captivating as Marcello, Musettaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s on-again, off-again lover. Liam Moran and Alan Dunbar created vivid portrayals of their two friends. And Evan Ross created amusing effects in his two small roles, as the artistsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; landlord and Musettaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hapless sugar daddy. Much praise must go to stage director David Lefkowich, in his third service to Madison Opera.Â In the simple and intimate scenes and in the big spectacle in Act II, he devised ingenious and telling movements, including orchestrating wonderful crowd operations in Act II. The vividly evocative set (on loan from the Kansas City Lyric Opera) and the splendid period costumes (provided by the Utah Symphony and Opera) rounded out the visual dimension, providing just the right setting for the range of action that Puccini â&#x20AC;&#x201D; and his hard-working librettists â&#x20AC;&#x201D; so cunningly created out of the

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JAMES GILL

Lovers in Paris: Mima (Eleni Calenos) and Rodolfo (Mackenzie Whitman).

characters in Henri Murgerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s stories about the Paris â&#x20AC;&#x153;Bohemians.â&#x20AC;? (I loved seeing Musetta actuallyÂ danceÂ her Act II waltz song.) Ultimately, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Pucciniâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s compellingly rich and melodious score that has made this opera so beloved for more than a century. Conductor John DeMain knows it well and conveyed it with utter conviction.Â He prepared his pit orchestra to perfection. Once again, using new and rising vocal talents, Madison Opera has shown it can reach performance standards that larger cities would find difficult to match. n

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WOMEN’S HOCKEY vs. LINDENWOOD

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Camp Randall Stadium iÌ Þ ÕÀ Ì V iÌÃ Ü v À Ì i i w > it GET READY FOR THE GAME AT BADGERVILLE Doors open at NOON | UW Field House » Enjoy live entertainment by The 5th Gear » UW Band, Bucky Badger & Spirit Squad » Tailgate fare courtesy of HyVee » Beer, soda & other beverages available FREE ADMISSION!

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n SCREENS

Brie Larson delivers a commanding and authentic performance.

Horror and hope Familial love anchors the claustrophobic thriller Room Alfred Hitchcock went to great lengths to hide the twists and turns in his masterpiece, Psycho, from potential viewers. He purchased almost every copy of the novel that served as the source material so it wouldn’t fall into the public’s hands. He made the cast and crew promise they wouldn’t discuss the plot outside the set, and he ran a clip after the closing credits urging audiences not to divulge any of the film’s secrets. Director Lenny Abrahamson would have been wise to go to similar lengths for his masterful thriller, Room. Based on Emma Donoghue’s 2010 best-selling novel of the same name, Room is one of those mov-

POLISH FILM FESTIVAL

25THANNUAL ISTHMUS.COM NOVEMBER 19–25, 2015

ies that’s best experienced without any prior knowledge of what’s about to unfold. What I do feel comfortable telling you is that the film opens with a mother (Brie Larson) and her young son, Jack (Jacob Tremblay), waking up and going about their morning routine in their cramped living quarters known only as “Room.” They appear to be just like any normal family, but clues scattered throughout the opening sequences — including Larson’s sullen eyes and colorless complexion — hint that their lives are not as normal as they seem. And why does the room have no windows and only a skylight? It doesn’t take long before Room turns into a chilling horror story that will keep your heart racing and leave you squirming on the edge of your seat.

English subtitles

Marquee Theater • Union South • 1308 West Dayton St.

SUNDAY, NOV 22 1 PM

These Daughters of Mine

A touching comedy about family ties

3 PM The

Photographer

Serial-killer thriller in modern-day Moscow

SUNDAY, DEC 6 Gods

1 PM

English subtitles

Dramatic life of a transplant cardiologist

3 PM Warsaw

Love and struggles during the Warsaw Uprising

– English subtitles –

FREE ADMISSION • www.polishfilmfest.com

Larson delivers a commanding and authentic performance. She is asked to display a wide array of emotions, and she does so flawlessly. Larson showed great depth and range in her breakout role in the criminally underseen Short Term 12, but here she is even more impressive. Equally as spectacular is Tremblay, who makes you forget he is only a 9-year-old with little acting experience. The wrong actor could have turned Room into a disaster, but Tremblay

imbues Jack with just the right amount of fear, skepticism and innocence. And Larson and Tremblay play off each other to show the power of familial love. After watching everything these characters have to go though, you might feel like you just finished a 12-round boxing match with Mike Tyson in his prime. It will leave you battered, bruised and exhausted, but it’s unlike any other moviegoing experience you will encounter this year. n

Television Marvel’s Jessica Jones

25THANNUAL

BY ADAM TOBIAS

I’m starting to think Oprah Winfrey is giving away superhero shows like she did cars. “You get a show, you get a show, everybody gets a shooooooow!” Television has Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., The Flash, Arrow, Daredevil, Supergirl and now Marvel’s Jessica Jones (Netflix, premieres Nov. 20). Thankfully, the character Jessica Jones is noticeably different from the rest of the pack, and I hope viewers will take a chance on another superlady besides the perky Supergirl or the sexy Black Widow. Jessica works as a private investigator after her career as a superhero came to an abrupt end (which she’s pretty bitter about), and what I’m most intrigued by is Krysten Ritter (Don’t Trust the B**** in Apartment 23) and her portrayal of the character. I like the dimension and element of “the cool girl” that Ritter can bring to the role: She’s dark, cynical and snarky, a stark contrast to TV’s other female hero, Supergirl. — ALEX CLAIBORNE

Krysten Ritter: Cool and cynical.

The film list

ISTHMUSWELCOMES

New releases

OVERTURE HALL DEC. 1

By the Sea: Romantic drama in which a drifting couple (Brad Pitt, writer/director Angelina Jolie Pitt) travel to France. Creed: Former champion boxer Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) mentors the son of his former rival Apollo Creed (Michael B. Jordan). The Good Dinosaur: Animated story about a world in which dinosaurs never went extinct. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2: Reluctant hero Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) finds herself on the brink of a civil war in the final installment of the series based on the young adult novels. The Night Before: Three friends try to ensure their (possibly) last Christmas Eve reunion is the craziest ever. Secret in Their Eyes: The murder of the daughter of one of a team of investigators has longrange implications.

PUNCH GLEN HANSARD BROTHERS ORPHEUM NOV. 19 SHANNON HALL DEC. 4

Victor Frankenstein: Mary Shelley’s horror story retold from the point of view of Igor.

TOMMY

Recent releases The 33: Drama based on the real-life incident in which 33 workers at a Chilean mine were trapped after a massive rock blocked the only exit, inspiring rescue efforts that drew international attention. Love the Coopers: Family get-togethers every December may be the times that try men’s and women’s souls, but not in the fabricated manner depicted here. Spectre: The newest James Bond film fails to deliver past a thrilling opening sequence. It feels trite and tired, which is a particular disappointment for a franchise that had, until now, avoided that trap.

More film events Boys: A teen is attracted to his relay race teammate. QCinema International screening: OutReach, Nov. 25, 6:30 pm. Heaven Knows What: Uncompromising look at homeless youth in New York City, starring Arielle Holmes and based on her unpublished memoirs. Cinematheque, Nov. 20, 7 pm. Mur Murs & Documenteur: Double feature of 1981 Agnès Varda films. Cinematheque, Nov. 21, 7 & 8:30 pm.

RICHARD

These Daughters of Mine: Despite their mutual dislike, two sisters join forces when faced with a difficult situation. Polish Film Festival screening: Union South Marquee, Nov. 22, 1 pm. Time Bandits: A young boy and some mysterious people who appear in his closet adventure through centuries. Union South Marquee, Nov. 20-21, 11 pm.

BARRYMORE DEC. 4

DOOMTREE BARRYMORE DEC. 5

Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension

Bridge of Spies Goosebumps Inside Out

The Peanuts Movie Steve Jobs

The Martian

Straight Outta Compton

Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials

A Walk in the Woods

Suffragette

MAJESTIC DEC. 5

THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY - PART 2 NO PASSES - CC & DESCRIPTIVE NARRATION Fri & Sat: (1:15, 4:05),

6:55, 9:45; Sun: (11:00 AM, 2:00, 5:00), 8:00; Mon & Tue: (2:00, 5:00), 8:00 CC & DESCRIPTIVE NARRATION Fri: (1:40, 4:10), 7:10, 9:40; Sat: (11:10 AM, 1:40, 4:10), 7:10, 9:40; Sun: (11:10 AM, 1:40, 4:10), 7:45; Mon & Tue: (2:20, 4:55), 7:45

ROOM

BY THE SEA

NO PASSES - CC & DESCRIPTIVE NARRATION

Fri: (1:35, 4:15), 6:50, 9:35; Sat: (11:00 AM, 1:35, 4:15), 6:50, 9:35; Sun: (11:00 AM, 1:35, 4:15), 8:15; Mon & Tue: (2:15, 5:15), 8:15 SPECTRE CC & DESCRIPTIVE NARRATION Fri & Sat: (1:00, 4:00), 7:00, 10:00; Sun: (11:05 AM, 2:05, 5:05), 8:05; Mon & Tue: (2:05, 5:05), 8:05

THE MARTIAN

CC & DESCRIPTIVE NARRATION

Fri & Sat: (1:05, 3:55), 6:55, 9:45; Sun: (11:05 AM, 2:05, 5:05), 8:05; Mon & Tue: (2:05, 5:05), 8:05

BRIDGE OF SPIES

CC & DESCRIPTIVE NARRATION

Fri & Sat: (1:20), 7:05; Sun to Tue: (2:10), 8:10

SUFFRAGETTE

CC & DESCRIPTIVE NARRATION

Fri & Sat: (4:15), 9:50; Sun: (11:10 AM, 5:10); Mon & Tue: (5:10 PM)

ORPHEUM DEC. 18

Amenity Fees Vary With Schedule - ( ) = Mats. www.sundancecinemas.com/choose LOCATED AT HILLDALE MALL 608.316.6900 www.sundancecinemas.com Gift Cards Available at Box Office

Showtimes subject to change. Visit website to confirm Closed captioning and descriptive narrative available for select films

Showtimes for November 20 - November 26

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❏ ISTHMUS MOVIE TIMES All the movies, all the times

NOVEMBER 19–25, 2015 ISTHMUS.COM

Pan

STARTS FRIDAY CREED and BROOKLYN OPEN ON WED 11/25

MAD MEN HOLIDAY SOIREE

Also in theaters Black Mass

The perfect gift for the Movie Lover on you List! Gift cards available at the Box Office

TRIO

Weekend: Jean-Luc Godard’s unforgettable masterpiece follows a bickering, homicidal couple on holiday through the worst traffic jam ever and interactions with cannibal revolutionaries. Chazen Museum of Art, Nov. 22, 2 pm.

Ant-Man

EMMANUEL

THOMPSON

Phoenix: A World War II concentration camp survivor — unrecognizable after facial surgery — searches for her husband, who may have given her up to the Nazis. Union South Marquee, Nov. 20 (5:45 pm) and Nov. 21 (9 pm). The Photographer: A serial killer leaves numbered items at crime scenes. Polish Film Festival screening: Union South Marquee, Nov. 22, 3 pm.

Up to 6 rentals at a time One of each pair may be a new arrival Expires 12/3/2015

thu nov 19 MU S I C Alchemy Cafe: The Pine Travelers, free, 10 pm. Bos Meadery: Stillhouse Six, free, 6 pm. Brink Lounge: Madison Jazz Orchestra, 7:30 pm. Buck and Honey’s, Sun Prairie: Robert J, free, 6:30 pm. Cardinal Bar: DJ Jo-Z, Latin, 10 pm. Claddagh, Middleton: Slipjig, Celtic, free, 6 pm. Club Tavern, Middleton: Pat McCurdy, free, 9 pm. Essen Haus: Big Wes Turner’s Trio, free, 9 pm. The Frequency: Yung Saint, J Capone, A Profit, Evolusion, DJ Pain 1, hip-hop, 10 pm. Good Style Shop: Tom Carter, Conjuror, Taralie Peterson, Patrick Best, psych/drone, 8 pm. Harmony Bar: Backroom Harmony Band, Craig Baumann, Americana, 8 pm.

Elle King Friday, Nov. 20, Majestic Theatre, 9 pm Entertainment is in Elle King’s blood. The singer became an overnight sensation this year thanks to her dangerously catchy single “Ex’s & Oh’s.” She’s also the daughter of comedic actor Rob Schneider, but King’s not riding on anyone’s coattails. The 26-year-old started gigging in New York City a decade ago, using a fake ID to play shows and honing her skills by busking around the city. With Horse Thief.

High Noon Saloon: Great Lake Swimmers, Building on Buildings, 8 pm. Ivory Room: Josh Dupont, Michael Massey, 9 pm. Majestic: Rod Tuffcurls & the Bench Press, free, 8:30 pm.

picks

Mickey’s Tavern: Mal-O-Dua, French swing, free, 5:30 pm; DJ Evan Woodward, free, 10 pm.

The Clean House: Madison Theatre Guild production of Sarah Ruhl’s look at class, comedy and love, 7:30 pm on 11/19-20 and 2 pm, 11/21, Bartell Theatre. $20. 661-9696.

Orpheum: Glen Hansard, Aoife O’Donovan, 7:30 pm. Paoli Schoolhouse: Greg Thornburg, free, 6 pm. The Red Zone: City of the Weak, Young Medicine, Hired Rivals, Almost Nothing, rock, 8 pm. Ski’s Saloon, Sun Prairie: Katie Scullin, free, 7:30 pm. Stoughton Opera House: Jeff Daniels with the Ben Daniels Band, blues/folk, 7:30 pm. Tip Top Tavern: American Feedbag, free, 9:30 pm. UW Memorial Union-Fredric March Play Circle: UW Black Music Ensemble, free, 8:30 pm. UW Old Music Hall: UW Opera Workshop, free, 8 pm.

COM EDY

PICK OF THE WEEK

T HE AT E R & DANCE

WKRP Turkey Tribute Thursday, Nov. 19, Brink Lounge, 7:30 pm

Madison’s own Broken Dart Players breathe new life into classic sitcoms by staging them live with all-star casts. This special edition includes two episodes of the ’70s comedy WKRP in Cincinnati — the show’s pilot and the iconic “Turkeys Away” episode. Special bonus: as a hat tip to Jimmy Fallon’s “Kid Theater” segments, director Karen Saari restages her 1985 Thanksgiving play. ALSO: Friday, Nov. 20, 7:30 pm.

The Crucible: Edgewood College Theater production of Arthur Miller’s Tony-winning drama, 7:30 pm, 11/19-21, Diane Ballweg Theatre. $12. 663-6710. Finding Human: StageQ production of drama by local playwright Dan Myers, 8 pm on 11/19-21 & 27 and 2 pm, 11/22 & 28, Bartell Theatre. $20/$15. 661-9696.

Ravel’s Valses Nobles et Sentimentales. Saint-Saëns’ Cello Concert No. 1 features cello virtuoso Sara Sant’Ambrogio, and Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique will offer darker, stormier fare laced with levity and dance. ALSO: Saturday (8 pm) and Sunday (2:30 pm), Nov. 21-22.

fri nov 20 M USIC

Mirror Fears + Night Grinder Friday, Nov. 20, The Wisco, 9 pm

Chad Daniels

Jim Erickson, Jane Reynolds, Dave Stoler, Joan Wildman

ISTHMUS.COM NOVEMBER 19–25, 2015

Thursday, Nov. 19, Comedy Club on State, 8:30 pm

Like Louis C.K. before him, Chad Daniels is a comic’s comic. He was named Artist of the Year by the Twin Cities’ alt-weekly City Pages in 2009 and has performed multiple times on Conan and The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. You can watch his fantastically funny special, As Is, for free on YouTube. With Jonah Jurkens, Nick Ledesma. ALSO: Friday and Saturday (8 & 10:30 pm), Nov. 20-21.

FACING Home: Love & Redemption

SP EC TATO R S P O RTS

Silent Sky: Forward Theater Company, 7:30 pm on 11/1920, 2 & 7:30 pm on 11/21 and 2 pm, 11/22, Overture Center-Playhouse; pre-show talks Thursdays and Sundays. $45-$37. 258-4141.

WIAA State High School Football Championships: Division 7 at 10 am, Div. 6 at 1 pm, Div. 5 at 4 pm, Div. 4 at 7 pm on 11/19; Div. 3 at 10 am, Div. 2 at 1 pm, Div. 1 at 4 pm, 11/20, Camp Randall. $8/game ($30/all). 715-344-8580.

Thursday, Nov. 19, UW Lathrop Hall, 8 pm

Chris Walker, a Jamaican-born dancer and associate professor in the UW dance department, explores homophobia in West Indian culture in this concert featuring the reggae music of Bob Marley. It’s a collaboration with UW dance students and Kevin Ormsby of Toronto-based KasheDance. ALSO: Friday (8 pm) and Saturday (2:30 pm), Nov. 20-21.

The Game of Love and Chance: Through 11/22, APT, Spring Green. $74-$45. americanplayers.org. 588-2361.

Friday, Nov. 20, Memorial Union Play Circle, 7:30 pm

Madison’s thriving jazz scene would not be the same without the four veteran pianists showcased in this final installment of InDIGenous jazz, sponsored by the jazz aficionados at Greater Madison Jazz Consortium and the Madison Music Collective. Each player will first perform a solo; the second set features two duets and two quartets on grand pianos.

Madison Symphony Orchestra Friday, Nov. 20, Overture Hall, 7:30 pm

The MSO, under the direction of John DeMain, has gained a sizable reputation for its rich, warm soundscapes. But this concert will feature a lighter touch in

Denver’s Kate Warner (pictured) makes unnerving electronic pop as Mirror Fears, casting heavy waves of ever-transforming synths on top of glitchy beats and reverbladen vocals. Dark, political and eerily catchy, Mirror Fears is joined by fellow Denverite Brad Schumacher’s solo project Night Grinder, a noisy instrumental act built on industrial beats and alternatingly grating and chilled-out soundscapes. With Capitol Swizzle Credit, Glassmen.

Lera Lynn Friday, Nov. 20, High Noon Saloon, 9:30 pm

The best part of this year’s True Detective was Nashville singer-songwriter Lera Lynn, who worked with T Bone Burnett on music for the HBO anthology series and parlayed it into a recurring on-air gig soundtracking Colin Farrell and Vince Vaughn’s barroom meetups. With Dylan LeBlanc.

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THE MAMBO JAZZ ROARING TWENTIES PARTY

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JAZZ JAM w/ THE NEW BREED 9PM • FREE

MA DI SO N ’ S C L A S S IC DA N C E B A R

BUY TICKETS NOW! Concerts Sell Out.

Mickey’s: Neens, Bod, Cowboy Winter, free, 10 pm.

sat nov 21 MUS I C

UW Memorial Union-Der Rathskeller: Ben Ferris Quintet, jazz, free, 5 pm; Shannon Hall: Wisconsin Singers, 8 pm. Also: 8 pm, 11/21.

SPICY SATURDAYS with DJ RUMBA

Edgewood College-Washburn Heritage Room: Jaraner@ Community, Jarochican@s, 6:30 pm.

St. John’s Lutheran Church: Mona Augustin, Camp Mozayik (Haiti) fundraiser, with art sales, 7 pm.

with Les Cougars 9PM ____________________

____________________

Brink Lounge: Mad City Funk, R&B, 9 pm.

The Frequency: Mr. Gnome, 9:30 pm.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 5:30PM FREE

SATURDAY 11/21

FRIDAY - NOVEMBER 27

n ISTHMUS PICKS : NOV 20 – 21

madisonsymphony.org , the Overture Center Box Office or (608) 258-4141.

THEATER & DANCE

The Beaux’ Stratagem Friday, Nov. 20, UW Mitchell Theatre, 7:30 pm

In George Farquhar’s comic romp, originally produced in 1707, two penniless cads from London flee to the country to escape their debts. They decide that to return to the high life, one of them must marry for money. This University Theatre production should give a large cast of students the opportunity to have fun with a classic. ALSO: Thursday and Saturday (7:30 pm), Sunday (2 pm), Nov. 19-22. Through Dec. 13.

Jamey Johnson Saturday, Nov. 21, Orpheum Theater, 8 pm

For all the recent talk of the resurgence of real county, one name seems to be left out: Jamey Johnson. The Alabama native has been cranking out quality country hits for the past decade, including co-written singles for Trace Adkins and George Strait.

An Evening with Shakespeare: Madison Country Day School student production, 7 pm on 11/20-21 and 2 pm, 11/22, Madison College-Truax Campus Mitby Theater. $7 ($5 students). 243-4000. Peter Pan: Musical adaptation, 7 pm on 11/20-21 and 2 pm, 11/22, Sun Prairie High School. $14 ($12 adv.; $8/$6 students). 834-6848.

COM EDY

Joe Rogan Friday, Nov. 20, Orpheum Theater, 8 pm

If you only know Joe Rogan as the former host of Fear Factor, well, that’s frightening. A successful standup comedian for more than two decades, Rogan has released four hour-long specials, hosts the Joe Rogan Experience podcast and is a commentator for Ultimate Fighting Championship.

December 4, 5, 6

ART EXHIBITS & EV ENTS

OVERTURE HALL

The Pines Saturday, Nov. 21, High Noon Saloon, 7 pm

Though they’re not yet household names, the Pines are well on their way. The self-described “transcendental folk” and “country noir” band from Minneapolisvia-Moonrise, Iowa, has released three albums to rave reviews and shared stages with the likes of Bon Iver and Arcade Fire. With Whiskey Myers.

A family fa fri friendly ien endl dlyy celebration cele lebr brat atio ion n to ssend end en d yo you your ur spi spirits piri rits ts soaring ng

MADISON SYMPHONY CHORUS Beverly Taylor, Director

MADISON YOUTH CHOIRS

Michael Ross, Artistic Director

Emily Fons, Mezzo-Soprano

Holiday Art Fair David Govertsen, Bass-Baritone

MT. ZION GOSPEL CHOIR ISTHMUS.COM NOVEMBER 19–25, 2015

Tamera and Leotha Stanley, Directors

John DeMain, Conductor

MAJOR FUNDING PROVIDED BY: American Printing • Nedrebo’s Formalwear • John W. Thompson and Jane A. Bartell • BMO Private Bank Maurice and Arlene Reese Family Foundation • Hooper Foundation/General Heating & Air Conditioning Two Anonymous Friends ADDITIONAL FUNDING PROVIDED BY: National Guardian Life Insurance Company • Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren s.c. Hans and Mary Lang Sollinger • Wisconsin Arts Board

Friday, Nov. 20, Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, 2:30-7 pm

This 45th annual fundraiser — almost as old as Charlie Brown and Rudolph’s yuletide TV traditions — helps keep MMoCA galleries free to the public. It also offers live music and delicious foods for sale while celebrating the arts and crafts of about 90 exhibiting vendors. Among the original works to visit while revving up your holiday spirit are Paul Eshelman’s earthy ceramics and Charlotte Fung Miller’s delicate Chinese brushwork on hand-made rice paper. ALSO: Saturday (10 am-5 pm) and Sunday (10 am-3 pm), Nov. 21-22. Sophia Voelker: Black Butterfly Studio reception, 5-9 pm, 11/20, Fat City Emporium. 422-5128.

BoDeans Saturday, Nov. 21, Stoughton Opera House, 7:30 pm

BoDeans are one of the quintessential Wisconsin bands. Formed in Waukesha in 1983, the group has released 12 albums (including this year’s I Can’t Stop) and written one of the most beloved rock hits of the ’90s (“Closer to Free,” the theme from Party of Five); it also has a permanent installation in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Your move, Steve Miller.

Tanya Tagaq Saturday, Nov. 21, Memorial Union Play Circle, 8 pm

This throat singer’s blend of aboriginal music and heavy electronic atmo-

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NOVEMBER 19–25, 2015 ISTHMUS.COM

n ISTHMUS PICKS : NOV 21 – 22

Turn Your Passion into Your Career

spherics is powerful. Her latest album, Animism, turned heads when it won her the 2014 Canadian Polaris Music Prize, beating out Arcade Fire, Drake and every other Canadian. (See page 35.)

Moon Taxi Saturday, Nov. 21, Majestic Theatre, 9 pm

One of the world’s premier jam bands, this Nashville quintet combines elements of folk, hip-hop and electronic into a progressive sound that stands out among the genre’s more noodly guitar-based acts. The group’s most recent album, Daybreaker, was released in October.

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Saturday, Nov. 21, Capitol Theater, 11 am

Peter and his fellow garden creatures are brought to life in this whimsical production from Enchantment Theatre. The magic of beloved childhood tales comes alive with masks, puppets and music, celebrating Beatrix Potter’s 150th birthday anniversary.

Madison Circus Gala Saturday, Nov. 21, Barrymore Theatre, 7:30 pm

Madison’s growing circus community hosts a variety show featuring juggling, German wheel, hoop dancing, comedy and live music by Yid Vicious. It all benefits the awesome Madison Circus Space, a haven for folks who like to clown around.

From Our House To Yours: Annual holiday sale of fine art & handmade gifts, 9 am-5 pm on 11/21 & noon-5 pm, 11/22, 166 N. Prospect Ave., with music by Michael Butkus-Bomier. facebook.com/fohty.

CONTROL Saturday, Nov. 21, Crystal Corner Bar, 9:30 pm

Call for more information or to apply today!

Peter Rabbit Tales

A RT EXH I B I TS & EV EN TS

n n

T H EAT ER & DA N C E

Beyond having one of the best band names in town, Madison’s CONTROL have quite the command over their craft as well, playing heavy, instrumental rock with repetitive, mathy tendencies. With local mainstays Tyranny is Tyranny, Chicago post-punks Haymarket Riot.

S PEC I A L EV EN TS Community Day of Thanks: Hymn festival & pie reception, 7 pm on 11/21 and 3 pm, 11/22, Immanuel Lutheran Church, with Madison Area Community Chorus, Ringing Badgers Handbells Ensemble, Maestro Brass Quintet. $12 (bring nonperishable food donations). maestroproductions.org. 845-3952. Madison Women’s Expo: Annual Brava Magazine event, 10 am-4 pm, 11/21-22, Alliant Energy CenterExhibition Hall, with speakers, music, interactive exhibits on health, food, fashion, fitness, careers & crafts. madisonwomensexpo.com. 848-6705.

sun nov 22 MUS I C

WEDNESDAYS H 8:30pm H FREE

Open Rock Jam w/ Devil’s Share & Big Third Down H THURSDAYS H

Tate’s BLUES JAM FRI, NOV 20 H 9PM H $7

SAT, NOV 14 9PM H $7

Harpo John

Low Down & Dirty Boogie Blues SAT, NOV 21 H 9PM H $7

ISTHMUS.COM NOVEMBER 19–25, 2015

Westside Andy

2X GRAMMY WINNER

Billy Flynn

FRI, NOV. 27 Mad City Funk

2513 Seiferth Rd., Madison

222-7800

KnuckleDownSaloon.com

The Multiple Cat Saturday, Nov. 21, Mickey’s Tavern, 10 pm

A fantastic bunch of scrambling, emotive musicians formed the Multiple Cat in Iowa in 1994, releasing three LPs and two EPs before going on hiatus, leaving lead songwriter Patrick Stolley to co-found the now massive live session music website Daytrotter. The Multiple Cat returned to recording in 2013 and tours the Midwest this fall. With Wood Chickens, the Pollinators. Brink Lounge: Moondance, rock, 8 pm. The Frequency: Seasaw, The Fattenin’ Frogs, Evan Murdock & the Imperfect Strangers, 7 pm; Cold Black River, Subatomic Atalla, 11 pm. Harmony Bar: Jillian Rae, 9:45 pm. High Noon Saloon: The Last Waltz (The Band tribute), Warm Wet Rag (Ween), 10 pm. Knuckle Down: Westside Andy & Billy Flynn, 9 pm. Lazy Oaf Lounge: Ryan McGrath Band, free, 10 pm. Tempest: No Name String Band, free, 9:30 pm. Tricia’s Country Corners, McFarland: Rewind, 9 pm. UW Humanities Bldg-Mills Hall: UW Chorale, 8 pm.

ODESZA Sunday, Nov. 22, Orpheum Theater, 8 pm

Downtempo electronic duo ODESZA may be named after a sunken ship, but in the year that’s passed since they last graced a Madison stage, they’ve toured the globe in ascendant fashion. Aside from honing their impeccable light-assisted live show, the group has recently rereleased their 2014 album In Return and launched a mobile app. With RÜFÜS DU SOL, Jai Wolf. Cardinal Bar: Los Chechos, free, 8 pm. Edgewood College: Edgewood Campus-Community Choir, Chamber Singers, Women’s Choir, Guitar Ensemble, 7 pm. Grumpy Troll Brew Pub, Mount Horeb: Pat & Brigid Doty (CD release), 4 pm.

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BUCKCHERRY WITH SAVING ABEL

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DEC 12

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MAD MEN HOLIDAY SOIREE

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DEC 5

NOV 27

THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW

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ATER

RIFF RAFF CHRISTMAS BREW ’N VIEW

ELF

WINTERSONG AT THE BARRYMORE

COMING TO THE FREQUENCY

TICKETS AVAILABLE AT MAJESTICMADISON.COM

Madison’s finest holiday tradition!

DECEMBER 12–23 Capitol Theater at Overture Center

TICKETS: ctmtheater.org 608.258.4141

NOVEMBER 19–25, 2015 ISTHMUS.COM

WILDHONEY • NE-HI + CARSEAT HEADREST KEEP SHELLY IN ATHENS • G HERBO

A CHRISTMAS CAROL

n ISTHMUS PICKS : NOV 23 – 24 Harmony Bar: Ritt Deitz, 7 pm. High Noon Saloon: Intronaut, Bereft, The Faith Hills Have Eyes, 8 pm. Up North Pub: Gin Mill Hollow, Cornfield, 6 pm. UW Memorial Union-Fredric March Play Circle: John McCutcheon, “Joe Hill’s Last Will,” 7:30 pm.

BOOKS James Renner: Discussing “The Great Forgetting,” 2 pm, 11/22, A Room of One’s Own. 257-7888.

ART EXHIBITS & EV ENTS Oh, how I hate myself for falling SWAP: Trade, donate or buy used/usable art in love! Was there ever a more Re-Art & craft supplies, 10 am-4 pm, 11/22, UW Humanities pathetic creature on this earth Building-Room 6111. 347-0267. than a man in love? I think not. RECREATION & GAM ES You can tell such a man at

Skate with the Badgers: Open skate with UW men’s hockey team, 4:30-6:30 pm, 11/22, Kohl Center. Free; bring skates. 262-1440. Madison Bike Winter Fashion Show: Learn about winter gear, 5 pm, 11/22, Machinery Row Bicycles. madbikewinter.org. 294-9505.

mon nov 23

WISCONSIN UNION THEATER

M USIC

TANYA TAGAQ

STARRING JOHN MCCUTCHEON

Baltimore has produced a slew of moody, atmospheric rock acts over the past decade, with Beach House, Lower Dens, Wye Oak and Future Islands headlining huge tours and making viral latenight TV appearances. The city’s next breakout band may be Wildhoney, a group that makes hazy hi-fi pop with reverb-soaked vocals and thick guitars. With Dusk, the Momotarōs. Up North Pub: Derek Ramnarace, free, 7 pm.

tue nov 24 Andy Fitzpatrick and Rob Lundberg Tuesday, Nov. 24, Mickey’s Tavern, 10 pm

Funky Monday Happy Hour Monday, Nov. 23, High Noon Saloon, 6 pm

JOE HILL’S LAST WILL

Monday, Nov. 23, The Frequency, 8:30 pm

MUS I C

11.21.15 Inuit throat singing extravaganza

Wildhoney

Madison mainstay and original “funky drummer” Clyde Stubblefield is bringing back his Funky Monday gig as a monthly series, featuring his former bandmates from James Brown’s group as well as some of the finest funk, soul, blues and rock musicians around.

Experimental and eclectic, this three-act bill brings together multiple sides of the avant-garde music spectrum as electronic musician Andy Fitzpatrick (Noxroy) joins forces with composer Rob Lundberg (bassist for JOBS) for a duo set; Luke Bassuener brings his loop-based, beatheavy pop as Asumaya; and Brooklyn’s Jonah Parzen-Johnson flaunts his twisted solo saxophone and analog synth pieces. The Frequency: Diode Millampere, The Laohu, Wizard Magic, 8 pm. High Noon Saloon: Cork ‘n Bottle String Band, 6 pm.

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11.22.15 701 East Washington Ave. 608-661-8599

TRAVEL ADVENTURE SERIES

OUR NATIONAL PARKS: SUNRISE TO SUNSET

NOVEMBER HIGHLIGHTS FRI. NOV. 20 .

ISTHMUS.COM NOVEMBER 19–25, 2015

A BENEFIT FOR THE MADISON CIRCUS SPACE

MAD CIRCUS Gala

The Anonymous Fund

608.265.ARTS

Evjue Foundation

9pm / $5

Mad City Funk

11.23.15 & 11.24.15

UNIONTHEATER.WISC.EDU

Open Tue-Sat 4pm - close

SAT. NOV. 21. 8pm / $5 ANNUAL DEER HUNTERS’ WIDOW’S BALL featuring

A Circus Arts Variety Show featuring National and Local Talent - Aerialists, German Wheel, Juggling & More

Moondance

SAT. NOV. 21 - 7:30 PM BARRYMORE THEATRE

WED. NOV. 25. 8pm / $5

$18 adv, $20 dos, $10 kids 12 & under, on sale at Sugar Shack, Star Liquor, MadCity Music, B-Side, Frugal Muse, Strictly Discs, the Barrymore, online at barrymorelive.com or call & charge at (608) 241-8633. www.madcircusgala.com

Distant Cuzins See our full event calendar at:

www.thebrinklounge.com

Traditional Thanksgiving Dinner

Essen Haus

Thur, Nov. 26 11am – 7pm

514 E. Wilson St. Madison, WI 608.255.4674 essen-haus.com

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Roast Turkey Dinner with all the trimmings Carve it as you would at home! Includes: dressing, mashed potatoes & gravy, yams, cranberry sauce, mixed vegetables, dinner rolls, assorted desserts and the choice of coffee, tea, milk or soda... and you take the leftover turkey home!

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THERE IS SUCH A THING AS THE PERFECT FAMILY.

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NOVEMBER 19–25, 2015 ISTHMUS.COM

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n ISTHMUS PICKS : NOV 24 - 25 B O O KS 2201 Atwood Ave.

star liquor

(608) 249-4333 THUR. NOV. 19 8-10 pm $7 sugg. don.

w/____________________________________ The Backroom Harmony Band feat. CRAIG BAUMANN SAT. NOV. 21

9:45 pm $7

Jillian Rae

Doug Bradley & Craig Werner: Discussing “We Gotta Get Out of This Place: Soundtrack of the Vietnam War,” with Doug Moe, 7 pm, 11/24, Mystery to Me. 283-9332.

wed nov 25 MUS I C

beer, wine, liquor, thanks.

____________________________________

SUN. NOV. 22 7-9 pm $5 sugg. don.

Ritt Deitz

Come watch Bucky and the Pack on our 6 HD TVs!

1209 williamson st.

www.harmonybarandgrill.com

•

255-8041

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•

Damsel Trash Wednesday, Nov. 25, The Wisco, 10 pm

Building On Buildings

Meghan Rose, the frontwoman of Madison hellraisers Damsel Trash, might soon be leaving our fair city for New York, so you’d best check out her ass-kicking queercore punk band while you still can. Plus, it’s only five bucks, so your excuse is invalid, cheapskate. With local folk rockers SheShe and Los Angeles natives Campfire Cassettes.

8pm $15

Alchemy Cafe: Jon Hoel Trio, jazz, free, 10 pm.

701A E. Washington Ave. 268-1122 www.high-noon.com

thu nov

GREAT LAKE SWIMMERS

TYTICKET R : PDARINK W E ES

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INC

Babe’s Restaurant: Undercover, rock, 8:30 pm.

LERA fri HAPPYOKE LYNN nov Rock Star

Gomeroke

mon nov

Heritage Tavern: Mal-O-Dua, free, 8:30 pm. High Noon Saloon: Wayland, DAS, 7 Seasons Deep, Go Play God, 8 pm.

9:30PM $15 18+

THE

PINES

$20 Max per family

Cardinal: DJs Wyatt Agard, Dub Borski, 9 pm.

Dylan LeBlanc

5pm $7

Winter sat Family nov Hoedown! 21 11am $5

sun nov

Badger Bowl: Cherry Pie, 9:15 pm.

7pm $15

A tribute to

Lazy Oaf Lounge: Saturday Morning Cartel, 10 pm.

THE LAST WALTZ Warm Wet Rag

Majestic: Grupo Candela, Tony Castaneda Latin Jazz Band, Orquesta Salsoul Del Mad, 8 pm. Mickey’s Tavern: Simply Saucer, free, 10 pm.

(Ween Tribute) 10pm $10 $8 w/ food item

Monona Terrace: Little Vito & the Torpedoes, ‘50s-’60s, free, 5:30 pm.

INTRONAUT

Opus Lounge: Teddy Davenport, free, 9 pm. Tricia’s Country Corners: Universal Sound, 8 pm.

Bereft / The Faith Hills Have Eyes

CO MEDY

8pm $10 adv, $12 dos

Funky Mondays Happy Hour feat. THE

CLYDE STUBBLEFIELD ALL-STAR BAND

HOLIDAY CONCERT & AFTER PARTY WITH MADISON’S YOUNG PROFESSIONALS FRIDAY, DECEMBER 4, 2015

6pm $7

tue nov

Cork n’ Bottle String Band

ISTHMUS.COM NOVEMBER 19–25, 2015

6pm $5

wed nov

ROCKSTAR GOMEROKE live band karaoke 9pm FREE

WAYLAND DAS / 7 Seasons Deep Go Play God 8pm $10 adv, $15 dos

8th Annual Black Friday Show

fri nov

NATTY NATION The Mustache / Fatbook DJ Trichrome 9pm $10 adv, $15 dos 18+

7:30 PM

CONCERT

BUY TICKETS AND LEARN MORE: madisonsymphony.org/club201

AFTER PARTY TICKETS

After the concert in Overture Center’s exclusive Promenade Lounge

#madisonsymphony Partners:

$45 (Includes admission to the concert, after party and one drink ticket. Oﬀer saves 50%.)

CLASSICAL MUSIC

•

FOOD

•

NETWORKING

Kevin Bozeman Wednesday, Nov. 25, Comedy Club on State, 8 pm

Kevin Bozeman began his standup career in Madison, so it only makes sense that he returns home at least once a year. This will be the 11th incarnation of his annual Thanksgiving Eve show, where Bozeman brings out nationally touring (and very, very funny) friends for a healthy dose of laughter before an unhealthy dose of turkey.

BATTLE OF THE BORDERS

SAT. NOV. 21

INSIDE THE NOLEN GALLERY

AT THE EDGEWATER UW BADGER FOOTBALL VS. NORTHWESTERN

PRE-GAME TAILGATE PARTY

featuring the flavors and sounds of Chicago and Wisconsin, complete with live music from the RYAN MCGRATH BAND

Coors Light and Blue Moon on tap, plus Specialty Cocktails featuring Travis Hasse Distillery

SHUTTLE BUS

$10 round trip to and from Camp Randall Hourly covered parking available onsite

800.922.5512 • 1001 WISCONSIN PLACE • MADISON, WI 53703 • ADMISSION FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC • THEEDGEWATER.COM

free glass GET ONE (1) .3L GLASS WITH THE PURCHASE OF ONE (1) 6 PACK OF PERONI

two (2) free glasses GET TWO (2) .3L GLASSES WITH THE PURCHASE OF ONE (1) 12 PACK OF PERONI

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available at the following locations Woodman’s West, East & Sun Prairie Hy-Vee Westgate, Fitchburg & East Steve’s Liquor University & Fitchburg Riley’s Wines of the World

Trixie’s Liquor Whole Foods Sadhana Wine Shop Metcalfe’s Hilldale

NOVEMBER 19–25, 2015 ISTHMUS.COM

*WHILE SUPPLIES LAST

n EMPHASIS

Marcia Field experiments with less traditional mounts, as with this coyote.

RENÉE GREGORY PHOTOS

Angela Webster creates dioramas like “On Deadline.”

The new taxidermy It’s more than a deer head mounted on oak Dan’s Taxidermy also does more traditional work for homes.

ISTHMUS.COM NOVEMBER 19–25, 2015

BY RENÉE GREGORY

Taxidermy has long been a popular form of home decor for hunters, but it’s enjoying a renaissance with a boost from the art world. In 2004, artists Sarina Brewer, Scott Bibus and Robert Marbury founded the Minnesota Association of Rogue Taxidermists. Their pieces consisted of found or purchased animals; Brewer sometimes mixed animals together to create absurd hybrid creatures. Bibus used traditional taxidermy mounts to create dioramas showcasing the gory side of death. Angela Webster and Marcia Field, two taxidermy apprentices at Dan’s Taxidermy and Wildlife Art in Madison, are also pushing the envelope regarding traditional taxidermy. Webster creates miniature anthropomorphic vignettes out of mice that she purchases, already dead, from local pet stores. One of her tableaus, called “On Deadline,” features a white mouse in a tiny white cage, seated before a miniature piano, with musical scores flung all around. Another piece, entitled “Lost Marbles,” shows a mouse in a solitary confinement cell wearing a straitjacket, searching for the handful of tiny marbles scattered around the floor of the cell. The scenes are incredibly detailed — and time-consuming to make, says Webster. Field has done traditional hunting mounts at Dan’s and also experimented with modern

elements via her own studio, Exquisite Corpse Surreal Taxidermy. One of her pieces features a serious-looking coyote head mounted on a rustic metal bowl and surrounded by twisted jewel-covered vines. Another shows a fawn head with soft pink nostrils protruding from a shattered gilded mirror. She says she began doing taxidermy because of a fascination with the ability “to restore and reanimate an animal to its natural and living form.” Dan Gartner, owner and lead taxidermist at Dan’s Taxidermy, says he sees more people wanting bones, “oddity mounts” and smaller pieces for decoration. Shawn Smith, owner and lead taxidermist at Shawn Smith Taxidermy Art in Waunakee, confirms he’s seen an increase in requests for European skull mounts, where the entire skull of an animal is bleached and mounted, instead of just the antlers. He’s also noticed an increase in requests for fish reproductions in the last few years. Anglers will photograph the fish, take its length and weight, and then release it. Smith works to reproduce an exact likeness of the fish. Dan Gartner says that people call the shop about birds they’ve found dead in their back-

yards or larger animals found on the sides of the road. Both Gartner and Smith say that they are happy to work on any of these animals, as long as they have their proper DNR tags. Always contact the DNR to get a tag to harvest a found animal — even birds. Another option that’s becoming more popular, Gartner says, is to have an animal’s bones bleached and mounted or hydro-dipped. Hydrodipping is a process that preserves the bones and covers them in a thin layer of plastic that displays a decorative pattern or design on the surface of, say, a skull. Others prefer their animal-based decor to be less, well, dead. Mount Horeb artist Shoshanah Marohn creates faux taxidermy mounts from the leftover fleece from her small herd of “goofy-looking” Jacob sheep. Marohn collects the fur and felts it, to create whimsical animal heads with twisted horns and mustaches. Most of her faux taxidermied heads are made to order. Marohn’s “a little surprised by their popularity.” As she writes in the description at her Etsy shop, “I spend a lot of time looking at my sheep, and I wonder about their inner lives.... This series I’m doing of mustachioed sheep-like heads is a direct result of my spending so much time with sheep.” n

Marcia Field, at work in the studio. MARCIA FIELD exquisitecorpsetaxidermy.com ANGELA WEBSTER 608-249-5854 DAN’S TAXIDERMY AND WILDLIFE 5522 Fieldstone Lane, Madison 608-249-5854 n danstaxidermy.com SHAWN SMITH TAXIDERMY ART 5851 Woodland Dr., Waunakee 608-206-3866 n shawnsmithtaxidermy.com SHOSHANAH MAROHN etsy.com/shop/ShoshanahArt

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Housing Dazzling Lake DuBay Views! Irreplaceable 1.5 Acre Waterfront property at 1003 Wambold Dr with Southern exposure and well-maintained 3BR/2.5BA home. The IDEAL location, just 2 hrs from Madison! Reduced to $559,900— Contact Natalie at Lakeland Real Estate for more info at 715-451-9500. 4015 Empire Drive, Windsor. MLS 1749634. Solid value for this spacious home & lot offering- 4 beds, 2.5 baths with over 3,000 finished sq ft on .91 acre double lot! Quiet country subdivision with easy drive to Madison & Sun Prairie. NEW PRICE $342,900. Peter Falk, Stark Company Realtors 608-698-0900 CONVERTED ‘20s SCHOOL HOUSE MLS 1758676 $245,000 Rarely does one have an opportunity to purchase an historic all brick school house with east facing bank of windows, high ceilings, hardwood floors, attached garage. Wonderful recent addition with master suite and second floor library (or guest bedroom) great views of the horse farm across the road! Fruit bearing trees, established organic garden plot on acre hillside lot. Currently house is full of antiques and artwork; estate sale in March. PAT WHYTE 608-513-2200 2819 Dewey Ct. MLS 1761533. Middleton WATERFRONT value! Access to Lake Mendota. Custom 4 bed, 3 bath soft contemporary with 72’ of channel frontage across from Pheasant Branch Conservancy. Huge master suite, 2 fireplaces, open floor plan & much more! $640,000- Also available for rent. Peter Falk, Stark Company Realtors 608-698-0900 11 Farley Avenue, Madison Classic vintage home with stunning architectural details. Lg selection of comfortable living spaces including sunny 3rd floor space. Close to University, shops & restaurants. $375,000.00 Robin Taylor, Restaino & Associates 608-576-6097 Stoughton - 200 Brickson St. Charming 2 bedroom, 1 bath close to downtown. Almost 100 ft of Yahara River frontage. Canoe, kayak or fish out your front door. MLS#1755161 $164,800 Judy Spiegel, 608-575-7330 Stark Company Realtors

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Local & National Artists Perform in the Isthmus Office

performances by:

RHETT MILLER OF OLD '97 s

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November 27 at Overture Hall

December 6 at Fredric March Play Circle

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ACROSS

1 Comedian dubbed “The Entertainer” 7 Label in a folder 15 Singer Grande 16 Better than usual 17 Meter reader of sorts 18 Makeover, perhaps 19 Houdini, notably 21 Hall & Oates, e.g. 22 Dodeca-, quartered 23 “In ___ of flowers ...” 27 “Ugly Betty” actor Michael 29 They go through a slicer 34 Bike turners 37 Lucy Lawless TV role 38 Apprehend, as a criminal 39 Jupiter and Mars, among others 42 Great respect

45 “___ Your Enthusiasm” 46 Required 50 Show sadness 53 Work with a meter 54 “Twin Peaks” actor MacLachlan 55 Easter candy shape 58 Body scan, for short 59 Pie feature, or feature of this puzzle’s other four longest answers 65 Estate 68 More conceited 69 Tableware 70 Make public 71 Artists’ boards 72 Riata loops DOWN

1 Confined 2 “A Little Respect” band

3 Round and flat in shape 4 Rendezvous With ___” (Arthur C. Clarke book) 5 Hardly fitting 6 Certain chairmaker 7 “M*A*S*H” actor Jamie 8 “Like that’ll ever happen” 9 California city in a Creedence song 10 Two important ones are a week apart in December 11 Big name in chocolate 12 Bee-related prefix 13 Off-the-rack purchase, for short? 14 Suffix for north or south 20 Give help to 24 McKellen of the “Hobbit” films 25 Frat house H

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NOVEMBER 19–25, 2015 ISTHMUS.COM

JOE PUG

“Easy As Pie”— if you have the inside info.

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The slow fade BY DAN SAVAGE

I’m a 27-year-old straight woman. I’ve spent this last year back on the dating market, and it’s HORRIBLE. I have a reasonably pretty face, I’m fit, and I take care of myself. I have my life together — friends, interests, job — and I’m emotionally stable. I go out, I enjoy meeting people, I’m on Tinder. And I keep hearing that with a huge influx of young dudes, Seattle is an easy place to date as a woman. So why am I finding it so hard? I can get casual sex, and that’s fun. But as far as finding a relationship beyond just fuck buddies, it’s depressingly predictable: Guy acts interested, texts me all the time, but eventually starts fading away. I’ve asked close friends to be honest with me; I even had a heart-to-heart with an ex-boyfriend. Everyone says I’m not doing anything wrong. Are they all lying to me? I’m currently seeing someone I really like. When we’re together, it seems like he likes me a lot. But now he’s starting to do the fade. I’m really sad and anxious. It’s killing my soul to be rejected constantly. Bummed About Dating

You’ve been “back on the dating market” for one year, BAD. Twelve measly months! And in that time, you’ve dated/fucked a handful of men and nothing panned out. That sounds pretty normal. If you expected to be back in a committed relationship within weeks, BAD, then your unrealistic expectations are the source of your grief, not your thoroughly typical dating/mating/ fading experiences. There are worse things than being single for a year or two in your 20s. Get out there and meet men, pursue those non-men interests, and throw yourself into your work. Being single is not an aggressive cancer — there’s no immediate need for a cure — and panicking about being single isn’t the secret to romantic success. (And being single means being miserable only if you convince yourself that single = miserable.) So here’s what you can do: Chill the fuck out; listen to your friends, your ex and your advice columnist. And stop melting down about what sounds like a thoroughly normal love life, BAD, not an unfolding catastrophe.

ISTHMUS.COM NOVEMBER 19–25, 2015

EVERY HOME GAME THIS SEASON

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CRAIG WINZER

This is NGAA, the guy you advised to make a gay friend and listen to some musicals with him. I didn’t find a gay friend, but I did buy recordings of the shows you suggested and I’ve been listening to the songs you recommended. I don’t know them by heart yet, so I have more listening to do. But Mr. Stephen Sondheim’s message seems to be that I need to quietly move on. Thanks for your answer, Dan. It really helped. No Good At Acronyms

Thank you for writing back, NGAA, and for listening to the shows I recommended: Company, Follies and A Little Night Music. My advice for you made a lot of my other readers angry — really angry. They accused me of blowing you off and not answering your question and failing at this whole advice column thing. But I didn’t blow you off. I directed you, as I’ve directed many other readers, to the expert I thought could help you. In your case, NGAA, that person was Mr. Stephen Sondheim. Email Dan at mail@savagelove.net or find him on Twitter at @fakedansavage.

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