Isthmus: Jan 14-20, 2016

JANUARY 14–20, 2016

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VOL. 41 NO. 2

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MADISON, WISCONSIN

BETWEEN

THE COVERS

Citizen Dave’s picks for winter reading E R I C TA D S E N

2

ISTHMUS.COM JANUARY 14–20, 2016

■ CONTENTS

■ WHAT TO DO

4 SNAPSHOT

IF THE SHOE FITS...

DIY’er picks up the cobbler’s trade.

6-10 NEWS

HIP-HOP CANDIDATE

Rob Dz to challenge for county board seat.

ERIC TADSEN

CRAIG WINZER

DAVE CIESLEWICZ 19 COVER STORY WHEN FORMER MAYOR Dave Cieslewicz began blogging on the city’s website, it was clear he had a knack for the craft.

After leaving office in 2011, we nabbed him, and he’s been blogging as Citizen Dave on Isthmus.com ever since. Now the executive director of the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin, Cieslewicz also contributes opinion pieces to Isthmus as well as the occasional cover story. This week, he offers his top picks for winter reading.

BOOK OF LOVE ISTHMUS HAS BEEN PRINTING Valentine’s Day missives from readers in one format or another for more than three decades.

What began as a feature in 1980 grew to a full supplement; in 1992, the section was officially crowned the Book of Love. We are now accepting submissions (words and pictures) for this year’s Book of Love through Sunday, Feb. 7, at Isthmus. com/Book-of-Love-2016. We will publish a print selection on Feb. 11 and a web slideshow at Isthmus.com.

AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH

Prosecutor/author says Steven Avery documentary is agenda-driven.

12 TECH

GOOD VIBRATIONS

UW scientists grow working vocal cord tissue.

14 SCIENCE

LEARNING BY DOING

UW Space Place gets kids involved in hands-on projects.

16 OPINION

IMPERFECT JUSTICE

Is Penny Brummer case another instance of wrongful conviction?

19 COVER STORY

A WINTER’S TALE

Nine books to stave off the chill.

23-30 FOOD & DRINK

DON’T FEAR THE BEER

Fest to showcase some rare and special brews.

32 SPORTS

LOSS LEADER

Bo’s heir apparent is off to a rough start.

33-34 BOOKS

Honoring Martin Luther King Fri.-Mon., Jan. 15-18, various times and locations Celebrate the life and teachings of one of the greatest civil rights leaders in history with Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebrations throughout the city. Start with the King Coalition’s Free Community Dinner on Friday night and continue on Sunday with the Urban League’s Outstanding Young Person breakfast. On Monday, join the MLK tribute ceremony at noon in the Capitol Rotunda and close with the capstone City-County observance. See Isthmus.com for more details.

BFFS

Two Friends captures a quiet moment between suffragist, abolitionist.

DEVIL’S ADVOCATE

Scott Walker in Hell lampoons you-know-who.

ROBIN SHEPARD 23 FOOD & DRINK ROBIN SHEPARD does the hard work so you don’t have to. This week our indefatigable beer critic has put together a list of some of the extra-special and rare beers to look out for among the hundreds of brews that will be showcased at this Saturday’s seventh annual Isthmus Beer and Cheese Festival at the Alliant Energy Center. Oh, the sacrifice.

36 MUSIC

MOLOTOV!

Celebrating 20 years of killer klezmer.

38 SCREENS

“THE REVENANT”

Everything but waterboarding.

48 EMPHASIS

DAVID MICHAEL MILLER

Sat., Jan. 16, Alliant Energy Center, 2:30-6:30 pm (gen. admission)

TOO MUCH STUFF?

De Queen of Declutter to the rescue.

IN EVERY ISSUE 9 MADISON MATRIX 9WEEK IN REVIEW 16 THIS MODERN WORLD 17 FEEDBACK 17 OFF THE SQUARE

Beer and Cheese are friends

40 ISTHMUS PICKS 49 CLASSIFIEDS 49 P.S. MUELLER 50 CROSSWORD 51 SAVAGE LOVE

They’ll be your best buds too at the Isthmus Beer and Cheese Festival, with more than 400 brews, more than 70 cheeses, plus other comestibles like beer jelly and flavored pretzels. But wait, there’s more — to go along with all the quaffing and nomming, you’ll be entertained by dueling pianos, silent disco and Hammer-schlagen!

Anti-gravity machine Sat., Jan. 17, Barrymore Theatre, 7 pm

How crazy is it to live in a town that has sold out a juggling event for 46 years? Don’t tarry: Get your tickets now for the Madfest Juggling Extravaganza. Expect feats of derring-do, music, comedy and lots of balls.

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 • © 2016 Red Card Media, LLC. All rights reserved.

Wisco multitasking Thurs., Jan. 14, Yahara Bay Distillery, 6 pm

Booze with the literati at “Stories and Spirits,” where you’ll enjoy craft projects (really), drinks and readings by area writers, including newly minted poet laureate Oscar Mireles. A benefit for the Madison Reading Project.

FIND MORE ISTHMUS PICKS ON PAGE 40

JANUARY 14–20, 2016 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 Bushart, 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

3

n SNAPSHOT

Heart and sole

Nathanael Hawthorne, a largely self-taught cobbler, says shoe repair can feel “like I’m sculpting.”

ISTHMUS.COM JANUARY 14–20, 2016

BY ALLISON GEYER n PHOTO BY PAULIUS MUSTEIKIS

4

One of the most cutting insults in the world of professional cooking is to call someone a “shoemaker.”

Slang for a sloppy, untalented chef, the rebuke comes from a stereotype that cobblers are known for shoddy work — even the phrase “cobbled together” implies haste and carelessness in completing a task.

Nathanael Hawthorne worked as a professional chef for seven years in Madison and Hawaii. He was no shoemaker, but he soon grew tired of the “rat race” — long hours, stressful work and strong personalities together in a tight space.

So when someone said, “go make shoes,” he took it literally. He got out of the kitchen and took up the art of leatherworking and shoe repair with the goal of starting his own business. He and his mother, Jillian Jurgens, began making custom shoes and leather bags for family and friends in 2013 and purchased Heel and Sole Connection on Madison’s north side in December of 2014.

The small storefront has been a fixture at 617 N. Sherman Ave. for decades, but had fall-

en on hard times in recent years. “The owner was an older guy who was looking to get out of the business,” Hawthorne says. It was a serendipitous connection — Hawthorne had struggled to find an apprenticeship and says it was difficult to convince master cobblers that he was serious about getting into the trade.

“People from our generation tend not to follow through,” he says.

Hawthorne, 26, is a millennial — part of a generation known for playing a key role in the rise of high-tech industries and cuttingedge startups. But he represents a sub-group of young people who are choosing to unplug and pursue old-fashioned, artisan trades. He taught himself the basics of shoe repair using Internet guides and watching videos.

“When I’m standing at the sander, working on a shoe’s toe or heel, making it look just right, it almost feels like I’m sculpting,” Hawthorne says. “It’s so satisfying — there’s an artistic side to this.”

Standing at his workbench on a Monday afternoon, Hawthorne transforms a pair of tobacco-colored cowboy boots into a West-

ern-inspired wallet for a customer. The boots had sentimental value to the owner, but they were worn out.

“There are hundreds of ways to mess up a pair of shoes,” Hawthorne says. “But master cobblers tend to say, ‘Anything you can mess up, I can fix.’”

Behind him, more shoes awaiting repair are piled high on shelves. The workshop, crowded but tidy, is filled with antique equipment — sanders, grinders, case stitchers and pneumatic presses — some of which date to 1939. Spare parts are sometimes hard to come by, and repairs are expensive, but the machines are built to last.

There are a handful of cobbler shops left in the Madison area, but outside the city the rapid decline of the industry is more apparent. Shops in Beaver Dam and Stevens Point have recently closed, and with many cobblers reaching retirement age, more shops are likely to disappear.

Some customers drive as far as 50 miles to get shoes repaired at Heel and Sole Connection.

“Good shoes deserve to be fixed,” says Hawthorne.

Hawthorne is hopeful the trade is primed for a resurgence. He’s seen a surprising increase in the number of people younger than 30 joining trade groups.

Business is steady; the recent recession forced money-conscious consumers to think about repairing their shoes instead of replacing them. Sometimes, Hawthorne turns down 10 or 15 jobs a day. The demand has caused him to take a brief hiatus from making custom shoes so he can focus on repairs, but he dreams of one day scaling up production. He looks to Allen Edmonds, a famed Wisconsinbased shoemaker, for inspiration.

“The ultimate goal,” he says, “is much bigger than this repair shop.” n Heel and Sole Connection opened in 1989 Custom Cobblers took over in 2014 Number of shoe repair shops in the U.S. 15 years ago: 60,000 Number of shoe repair shops today: 7,000

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n NEWS

On the dotted line Election requirements can trip up political rookies like Rob Dz

BY DYLAN BROGAN

ISTHMUS.COM JANUARY 14–20, 2016

Madison hip-hop artist Rob Dz admits he’s no politician.

“I’m a dude that believes in the truth,” Dz, legally known as Rob Franklin, told supporters when announcing his candidacy for the Dane County Board. “I’m a dude that speaks the truth. I’m a dude that stands up for the truth.”

The local music producer and performer is challenging incumbent Mary Kolar to represent downtown Madison on the board. Dz and fellow challenger Adam Brabender will face Kolar in the Feb. 16 primary. The two top vote getters will then advance to the general election on April 5 (which is also the date of the Wisconsin presidential primary).

Dz is is focusing on three core issues in his bid for county board: crafting a solution for homelessness, increasing living wage jobs and addressing Dane County’s troubling racial disparities with a cultural inclusion plan.

In addition to his music career, Dz has worked with local nonprofits, including the Boys & Girls Club of Dane County, Nehemiah Center for Urban Leadership Development, and Dane County’s Joining Forces for Families program. He is also working for the Madison Public Library’s Bubbler program and teaching audio production and personal branding to young people at the Dane County Juvenile Detention Center.

The rookie candidate almost didn’t make the ballot after problems with several signatures on his nomination papers. On Friday, though, he successfully secured his name on the ballot, joining one of only four competitive races for the 37-seat board. The candidate’s rocky path to getting on the ballot reflects some common pitfalls often faced by political neophytes.

6

To run as an official candidate for the Dane County Board of Supervisors a candidate must collect 50 signatures from people living within the district. The day before the filing deadline, Dz turned in almost 100 signatures, but 56 were ruled invalid by Dane County Clerk Scott McDonell. The vast majority were stricken because the signers did not live in the district.

Kolar had no trouble collecting her signatures, turning in 196 valid ones. Brabender turned in 51 valid signatures.

With 24 hours to find eight valid signatures, Dz’s campaign turned in another 13, but only six of these were ruled valid, leaving the local emcee two short of making it onto the ballot.

McDonell says it’s common for a few signatures to be invalid on nomination papers.

But he typically doesn’t encounter dozens.

“Usually candidates struggle with voter lists and knocking on doors,” he says. “Nomination papers are not usually the hard part.“

Rob Dz will face incumbent Mary Kolar and challenger Adam Brabender in the only primary race for the Board of Supervisors on Feb. 16.

Candidates have three days after the filing deadline to challenge the clerk’s determination on nomination signatures. Typically, challenges are made by opponents to have signatures thrown out, but in this case, Dz’s campaign had to persuade McDonell to reverse his decision on at least two of the signatures.

With the help of longtime Supv. John Hendrick, Dz provided McDonell with affidavits correcting two of the signatures. McDonell also said after further review, “a third signature was deemed compliant, bringing Mr. Franklin’s total to 51, one more than needed to qualify for the ballot.”

A fixture on the local music scene, Dz is a familiar face in downtown Madison. That name recognition worked against him in collecting signatures, Dz says, as he got “overwhelming” support from voters outside his district eager to support his campaign.

Local activist Rowan Viva, who is a consultant for Dz’s campaign and Hendrick’s daughter, complained on social media about the difficulty of identifying voters in the downtown county board district.

She wrote on Facebook: “If the problem is seriously that there were *too many* nomination signatures from outside the district, as I’ve been informed by a source in the County Clerk’s office, someone needs to fix the fucking Dane County website so that people have some way to figure out what County Board district they live in — because right now that’s impossible.”

Now that he has cleared this first campaign hurdle, Dz chalks up the experience to trial by fire.

“Okay, what did we learn from this? Let’s make some adjustments and go forward,” he says. “Evidently it was meant to be because it happened. We got it done.”

Successfully challenging an incumbent politician is no small feat even in local government races. Former Madison council member and political blogger Brenda Konkel says the process can be overwhelming for newcomers.

“You need to rely on others who know how to do this, and if you’re not connected to them, by the time organizations get around to endorsing candidates and lending their support, it’s too late,” she says. “It can be daunting thinking about knocking on thousands of doors in the Wisconsin winter and raising thousands of dollars.”

Now that he is on the ballot, Dz says he’s excited about engaging with downtown voters who may also be new to local politics.

“If we’re going to be a truly progressive community, there needs to be progression for everyone. Not just some,” says Dz. Kolar says if she’s given another term on the board, she’ll continue to push the county to do better on human services issues. “There is a lot of room for improvement in our human services,” says Kolar. “We are constantly asked what are you doing about the homeless, as we should be.”

Kolar also sees expanding transportation options in the county as a means of combating economic and racial disparities.

“I’ve had outstanding feedback from those that live in the district,” says Kolar, who declined to comment on her opponents’ campaigns. “[Voters] are appreciative of what

I have done on the County Board and the expectations of what I will continue to do assuming I’m reelected.”

Thirty-one incumbent supervisors on the 37-member board are running unopposed for another two-year term. Two open seats have only one candidate.

Richard Kilmer is the only candidate on the ballot for the near-west side district currently represented by Kyle Richmond, who is not running for reelection. In Cottage Grove, Danielle Williams is the only candidate running for the seat now held by Cynda K. Solberg, who is also not running.

Although there will only be one primary for the board, there are three other competitive races this year.

Leland Pan, who represents the heavily student populated district including much of the UW-Madison campus, is also stepping down from his seat. Recent UW grad Hayley Young and UW student Angelito Tenorio are both running for it.

Two incumbents face challenges. On Madison’s north side, incumbent Michele Ritt is being challenged by Adam Tobias, formerly of the Wisconsin Reporter, a statewide conservative media outlet.

In the Cross Plains area, incumbent Nikole Jones will square off against challenger John Brixy of Mount Horeb. Even though Jones is the incumbent in the race, she’s never been elected to the board. Last year, she was appointed to the seat following the early retirement of Abigail Wuest. n

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“Guilty” Prosecutor who criticized earlier conviction believes Steven Avery killed Teresa Halbach

BY ALLISON GEYER

ISTHMUS.COM JANUARY 14–20, 2016

Five years before Making a Murderer debuted on Netflix, Manitowoc County prosecutor Michael Griesbach took a deep dive into the the true-crime saga of Steven Avery and published a book exploring Avery’s wrongful conviction, exoneration and the grisly homicide that put Avery behind bars again.

Griesbach, who started working for Manitowoc County in 1991, also serves on the board of the Wisconsin Innocence Project, which helped free Avery in 2003. An advocate for reforms to the criminal justice system, he says he was “pretty ticked off ” at his predecessors for their handling of the first Avery case.

“It was really clear that the police and the prosecutors did some bad stuff — horrible stuff,” says Griesbach, who published an excerpt of his book in Isthmus in 2011. He was so outraged by their conduct that in 2003 he took the case to then-state Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager for review. She declined to bring criminal charges or ethical violations against any of the involved officials.

8

But when Avery was accused and convicted again, this time for the 2005 killing of 25-yearold photographer Teresa Halbach, Griesbach says the criminal justice system got it right — an opinion he maintains, even in the face of renewed scrutiny brought on by Making a Murderer.

“I still firmly believe that Steven Avery is guilty,” he says.

The 10-episode documentary series was an immediate sensation when it began streaming on Netflix last month, earning high praise from critics and engrossing viewers with its depiction of Avery as a man repeatedly targeted by law enforcement and possibly framed by police for Halbach’s murder. More than 300,000 people have signed petitions calling for the release of Avery and his nephew, Brendan Dassey, who was also convicted in the case.

But Griesbach says the documentary presents an “agenda-driven, one-sided narrative” that downplays the severity of Avery’s past run-ins with the law and omits key facts and evidence from the trial, such as the state’s cross-examination and rebuttal.

“It’s pretty disingenuous,” he says.

Making a Murderer presents Avery as a ne’er-do-well with a troubled past — he was cited for burning a cat and for running a woman off the road with his truck and holding her at gunpoint. The documentary characterizes the incident with the cat as accidental, but police reports show that Avery doused the animal in gasoline.

Griesbach says the truck incident is downplayed in the documentary as well. Avery says he confronted the woman, who was the wife of a sheriff’s deputy, after she spread rumors about him. But the police report says that Avery had been watching the woman with binoculars for weeks, sexually gratifying himself as she drove by his house and at one point running out Manitowoc County Assistant District into the road naked.

“It’s weird, but it happened,” Attorney Michael Griesbach (above) says that the Griesbach says. “For [the film- wrongful conviction of Steven Avery (below) was makers] to leave all that out is “an injustice that festered for years.” telling.”

Former Calumet County District Attorney Ken Kratz, who served as the special prosecutor on the second Avery case, agrees, telling The New York Times that the documentary “really presents misinformation.”

Kratz has received death threats from Avery supporters.

The law enforcement community in Manitowoc has also been “bombarded” with threats and criticism since the documentary aired, Griesbach says, with most of the con- But beyond procedural reform to the tact coming from people outside Wisconsin. criminal justice system, Griesbach says “One guy emailed me last week [and the most important factor in preventsaid], ‘I’ve read your book, I’ve watched the ing wrongful convictions is ensuring that Netflix documentary, and I’ve concluded those in positions of power adhere to a that you are either an utter fool, or you’re code of ethics.

And while he doesn’t go so far as to in on it too,’” Griesbach says.

Despite his criticisms of Making a Mur- place blame on the system for Halbach’s derer, Griesbach says the series has played murder, he does wonder how things might an important role in drawing attention to have turned out if Avery had not been failures within the legal system. He was wrongly imprisoned. particularly troubled by the interrogation “[Avery] suffered an injustice that festechniques the police used on Dassey — tered for years,” Griesbach says. “If that an intellectually challenged minor who hadn’t happened, who knows what else was questioned without legal representa- wouldn’t have happened.” tion and confessed to assaulting and help- On Jan. 8, the suburban Chicago-area ing kill Halbach. Dassey later recanted the law firm Kathleen T. Zellner and Associates story, and the documentary presents his announced plans to represent Avery and present new evidence that could vacate his statements as having been coerced.

“I think the courts need to look at inter- conviction. Wisconsin Attorney General rogation techniques,” Griesbach says, add- Brad Schimel told the Wisconsin State Jouring that coerced confessions is a current nal that his office has not received any new topic of interest for the Wisconsin Inno- information regarding the Avery case, but cence Project. “This is an issue that’s really that the state Department of Justice would important to explore.” “certainly take that seriously.” n

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Tim Poehlmann-Tynan was disturbed by the media frenzy that followed Madison police officer Matt Kenny’s fatal shooting of Tony Robinson last March.

Poehlmann-Tynan felt much of the coverage focused on what Robinson did or didn’t do — not just on the night of the shooting, but several months earlier. Reporters dug into his background, uncovering family problems and past trouble with the law, including the fact that he was on probation for connection with a robbery.

“The way he was portrayed only continued to add harm to an already struggling family,” says Poehlmann-Tynan. “It’s victim blaming.”

Now Poehlmann-Tynan is setting out to give his own take on the life and death of Robinson with a documentary film, 19, The Tony Robinson Shooting, A Case of Deadly Bias.

The film will show that “Matt Kenny is not a hero, and Tony wasn’t this thug,” says Poehlmann-Tynan, a UW-Madison graduate student who works for Youth on Assignment, a nonprofit that trains youth in media production in order to engage the community.

On March 6, Kenny was investigating a call about someone jumping in and out of traffic who was suspected of battering two others. He found Robinson, who was on psychedelic mushrooms, in a Williamson Street apartment, and the two struggled.

Kenny told investigators Robinson hit him in the head and, fearing he might be knocked unconscious, shot the unarmed Robinson seven times. Kenny is white and Robinson was biracial.

Kenny was cleared of wrongdoing in the shooting by the district attorney and the police department, but anger over the shooting remains. Last year, there were large protests calling on city officials to address the use of force and a perception of racism among law enforcement. These protests mirrored recent rallies in other cities where white officers have also killed unarmed persons of color.

“It was immediately a racial conflict because it was a white officer — so we had an

opportunity to see how the media was going to portray the officer and how the media was going to portray the boy who was shot,” says Poehlmann-Tynan. “[The public] has been duped.”

Poehlmann-Tynan reviewed hours of local and national coverage for the film.

“Initially, a lot of [the coverage] was awful because there was so much misinformation,” he says. “Over time, some local outlets changed their framing — like changing Tony’s picture from his mugshot to his high school graduation picture.”

“The more I learned about the story, the more I learned about the people involved, I realized what a small fraction of the story [the media reports] actually covered,” he adds.

The film will include interviews with prosecutors, Robinson’s family members and community leaders and will focus on Robinson’s life, a detailed account of how he died and the protests over his death.

There will also be new information — albeit from off-the-record sources — about Kenny’s history as an officer, says Poehlmann-Tynan. “We were spoon-fed [information about Kenny] — that’s not the whole story,” he says. “I think people will be surprised at what they see.”

The city attorney’s office has asked the police department not to respond to new questions about the incident due to a pending civil lawsuit over the killing.

Shot with digital cameras, the film is set to be shown around Madison in a month, just before the one-year anniversary of Robinson’s death. It will be accompanied with a multimedia website including documents about the case. Poehlmann-Tynan hopes to show the documentary at a film festival in the fall, but eventually it will be available for streaming.

Jivonte Davis, the film’s assistant director, was a friend of Robinson’s. He says working on the film is helping him heal.

“It’s bringing me some closure because I’m able to talk about it,” he says, adding that he hopes viewers will have empathy for those who knew Robinson. “I want them to understand the pain we’re going through.

No matter what the police department is saying, what happened was wrong.” n

9

n MADISON MATRIX

n WEEK IN REVIEW WEDNESDAY, JAN. 6

BIG CITY

n In the wake of the al-

Madison’s Plan Commission approves development projects that will add 141 units of affordable housing, moving the city closer to its goal of adding 750 new, affordable units in the next five years.

Special-interest groups have spent about $13.2 million on issue ads for state Supreme Court candidates since 2007, according to data compiled by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.

Conservative groups outspent liberals two-to-one.

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SURPRISING

The Verona City Council debates the future of the last remaining house from the city’s original settlement in 1848.

leged abuses at Lincoln Hills School juvenile correctional facility, Sen. Jon Erpenbach (D-Middleton) introduces a package of bills to improve safety at Wisconsin prisons by increasing training, adding guards and making incident reports public records.

THURSDAY, JAN. 7 n City Attorney Michael

May tells the Wisconsin State Journal that city officials are suspending the enforcement of Madison’s controversial panhandling ordinance in response to pressure from the ACLU of Wisconsin.

MONDAY, JAN. 11

Madison children’s book author Kevin Henkes wins a 2016 Caldecott Honor for his book Waiting.

A spike in heroin overdoses in Sauk County could be tied to a batch of drugs laced with an additive.

SMALL TOWN

need and enhancing internship opportunities.

Give the guy credit, these are good ideas.

But Democrats say their (currently stalled) college affordability bills are better. n After an overwhelming response from journalists and citizens, the state Public Records Board votes unanimously to reverse a controversial measure that allowed officials to destroy records that were deemed “transitory.” Score one for open government. n Madison Police Officer Matt Kenny will not return to patrol duties this year, Madison Police Chief Mike Koval tells the State Journal.

n Gov. Scott Walker in-

troduces a set of bills aimed at making college more affordable by deducting all student loan interest from taxes, creating emergency grants for students in

TUESDAY, JAN. 12 n Rep. Bob Gannon (R-Slinger)

flips off Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca (D-Kenosha) during an argument about comments Gannon made regarding crime in Milwaukee. Yes, Gannon is the same guy who said concealed carry permit holders should “clean our society of scum bags.” n Lawmakers do get some work done on their first day back in session, though. The state Assembly lifts a ban on new nuclear power plants and approves a package of bills aimed at targeting the abuse of prescription opiate medications.

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11

n TECH

Raised voices UW team unlocks the secret to growing vocal cords

BY DENISE THORNTON

ISTHMUS.COM JANUARY 14–20, 2016

Dr. Seth Dailey knows it’s hard to underestimate the power of voice.

“Think about the number of people you make judgments about based on their voice,” says Dailey, a UW-Madison surgeon who specializes in vocal disorders. “We do it all the time. It’s part of the perceptual package. It affects how people can do their jobs with altered voice production. Vocal issues are more important than ever before in human history.”

The ability to speak has almost become an economic imperative, he adds. “We live in a society that has changed from largely agrarian to industrial to communicationbased,” says Dailey. “Nowadays about twothirds of the workforce relies on good voice communication.”

People with voice impairments can look forward to an upgrade now that UW scientists have succeeded in growing functional vocal cord tissue in the laboratory.

The work was spearheaded by Dr. Nathan Welham, a speech-language pathologist, who assembled a team of UW scientists knowledgeable about the biochemical pathways and physiology of vocal tissue, its physical properties and the likely immune response.

“Some of my patients have really challenging voice difficulties that we can’t treat because the vocal cord is too severely damaged to be fixed or has been removed because of a lesion or tumor,” Welham says.

The team has been exploring ways to regenerate or create new vocal cords, more accurately called vocal folds, that could restore voice quality.

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It has taken more than six years to get this far. Welham needed to obtain normal, healthy vocal tissue, because the cells of the vocal fold are very specialized. No other tissue in the body needs to vibrate hundreds of times a second.

“We can’t take a sample from a healthy person,” Welham says. “That would create an injury leading to scarring and could result in a voice problem for the donor.” But there are challenges getting cells quickly enough from bodies donated for research. The only other opportunity to get healthy tissue is the rare case where a person needs to have a healthy voice box removed.

Starting with vocal-fold tissue from a cadaver and four patients who had their larynxes removed, Welham’s team grew the cells. They then applied them to a 3-D collagen scaffold, which is similar to how artificial skin is grown in a laboratory.

In about two weeks, the cells formed a pliable, strong tissue that could transmit sound comparable to normal vocal folds when placed inside a larynx and attached to an artificial windpipe.

The team next tested the new tissue to see if it would be rejected by mice engineered to have human immune systems. No host immune reaction was triggered. The team is optimistic about transplantation into a human host.

“Putting a new vocal fold into someone’s body will not make them sound like a different person,” says Welham. “The sound is modified by the shape of the throat, mouth and nose.

Those things won’t change. It’s more like putting a new string on a violin.”

Dr. Nathan Welham led a team of UW scientists that has grown vocal folds, which one day may help restore voices.

JOHN MANIACI

A larynx with a normal vocal fold (left) and an engineered one (lighter color on right) .

Actual human vocal fold transplants are still years away. “The next logical step is to learn how how these tissues behave when they are inside the body for a long time,” says Welham.

“We will need to get permission from the FDA and other regulators to do a trial on humans.”

Dailey is excited about the potential. While people need voices more than ever, vocal cord stress and injury is increasingly common. It’s easy to imagine getting a hockey stick to the front of the neck, but most people are more at

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risk for a breathing tube injury from the 30 million intubations in the U.S. every year.

Cancer, benign tumors of the larynx and vocal cord polyps can also challenge the voice.

“The thing people complain about with vocal cord surface injury is vocal effort,” Dailey says. “The ability to make themselves heard becomes a chore that has consequences of physical fatigue, strain and social isolation — they just won’t bother talking any more, or they will only talk in a quiet environment, or they are completely done in by 3 p.m.”

“What we surgeons have always wanted for people who have been injured is some sort of replacement of the surface,” he adds.

“This is the holy grail of our field.” n

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“My sleep has improved. My mood has improved. I’ve lost weight. I can exercise more without being exhausted. It’s like I have a superpower now; the way I am living now is so different from what I was capable of before.”

“When I first came in, I had zero energy to do anything. Now, it’s night and day. I’m up, I’m able to go grocery shopping by myself, I eat the healthy foods that I want to eat, and I am able to interact with and play with my daughter and teach her little things. It almost feels like I’m starting to live again.”

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n SCIENCE

Seeing stars...and more UW Space Place offers hands-on science activities for children

BY PETER JURICH

In the basement of the Villager Shopping Center on Madison’s south side, eight children are hard at work trying to pick up tiny candy insects and other familiar small sweets meant to mimic seeds. They are wielding popsicle sticks banded together like tweezers to simulate bird beaks.

“I’m seeing a lot of worms and a lot of fish picked up,” says Celine O’Toole, who leads the activity at the UW Space Place.

“What kinds of things were tough to get with this beak?”

A few kids shout, “Sprinkles!”

Their goal today is to answer the question “Can the shape of a bird’s beak affect what they can eat?” O’Toole is a first-time volunteer and a biology student at UWMadison. She’s leading this day’s class as a requirement for her class “Engage Children in Science.” Part of her goal is to infuse the fun, hands-on activities often associated with the arts into science.

The experiment is a part of Saturday Science at the Space Place, a public education center that for the last 25 years has provided free science programs to the public. While the Space Place’s name sounds like it’s all about astronomy, it’s not. The center also hosts programs that focus on physics, biology, engineering, chemistry and other sciences. Saturday Science draws anywhere from a dozen to 70 attendees.

“For a while, we had to limit the attendance and say, ‘First 50 people get in,’” says outreach specialist Kay Kriewald, who’s been with the Space Place for 20 years. “We try to make it really hands-on, so the kids are involved in doing something [specific] and leave with a concept they learned.”

Magic sand is fun, but also demonstrates the difference between substances that repel and attract water.

Kids might learn about hydrogen bonds by playing with “sticky water” and seeing water move up a string. They’ve done experiments with hydrophobic “magic sand” that stays dry in water, designed spaceships and model roller coasters. They’ve even made their own fireworks. “Anything that explodes is really popular,” Kriewald says with a laugh.

The Space Place works closely with surrounding community organizations like the Goodman South Library, the Urban League of Greater Madison and Centro Hispano, but its programs are open to anyone with scientific curiosity and families looking for a fun way to spend time together.

“About four times a year, we go out to different parks around the city and set up telescopes,and talk about what you can see in the night sky,” says Kriewald.

The grant- and university-funded facility offers professional exhibits, a classroom, a lecture room and a sky deck for stargazing.

You don’t always see items like a diffuse X-ray spectrometer (it sorts X-rays by wavelength) and wide-field imaging survey polarimeter (it’s a kind of telescope) in a children’s exhibit, but here they are for kids to touch and learn about.

Kriewald says the center becomes more popular in the winter, when sports leagues end

for the season. But it’s open throughout the year, providing more than 100 activities and lectures for over 10,000 visitors annually.

Saturday Science regular Henry Hill-Gorman is evidence that Space Place’s approach to science works. The 16-year-old has been coming since he was 6.

“When I was about 10 or 11,” he says, “I asked Kay for a job that I didn’t get paid for.

I didn’t know what volunteering was.” He’s been volunteering every Saturday since.

He began by handing out project materials to the other children in his class. Ten years later, he’s running his own workshops.

Just as he was taught at Space Place as a kid, Hill-Gorman enjoys teaching children “to lead with their inquiry and motivation to do the experiments.”

“I think it’s really cool that they’re coming here outside of their school, and they’re learning and they’re engaged,” Hill-Gorman says. “It’s a place where they can pursue their interests and have a sense of self-motivation.”

Upcoming programs at the Space Place include a build-your-own telescope workshop on Jan. 15 at 6 p.m. ($35, email kay@ astro.wisc.edu to register); “Party With the Stars” on Jan. 15 at 7 p.m., an investigation of objects in the night sky with an indoor presentation followed by an outdoor telescope session; and the Saturday Science topic “Egg Bungee Jump” on Jan. 16 at 10 a.m. — the challenge is, “Can you make a bungee-jump so that an egg will stop before it hits the floor?” For more info and other upcoming programs, see spaceplace. wisc.edu. n

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n OPINION

Penny Brummer’s fight for justice The case has all the signs of a wrongful conviction

BY BILL LUEDERS

those who make it their business to care about wrongful convictions.

Yet Brummer sits in prison, with no pending appeals. What can we do about it?

Bill Lueders, formerly news editor of Isthmus, is a Madison writer and associate editor of The Progressive.

By now, thousands of Madisonians have read attorney Bryan Stevenson’s astonishing book Just Mercy, picked as this year’s Go Big Read selection by the UW-Madison and the Madison Public Library. Even local police departments have asked officers to read it.

The book examines the various ways the justice system can become an instrument of injustice. Its central example is the case of Walter McMillian, a black man convicted of murder and sentenced to death by the state of Alabama. Though the evidence of his innocence was overwhelming, he spent six years on death row before his conviction was overturned in 1993.

Stevenson, who fought for this outcome only to find it would not end McMillian’s ordeal (read the book!), relates how he reacted, not just with gratitude but anger.

“Your honor,” he told the court, “it was far too easy to convict this wrongly accused man of murder...and much too hard to win his freedom after proving his innocence.”

The book offers further evidence, if any were needed, of the justice system’s frightening capacity for error. It’s a critical subject in Dane County, which has on more than one occasion put innocent people (Anthony Hicks, Audrey Edmunds, Forest Shomberg) behind bars, and in Wisconsin, which is the subject of national attention due to a new Netflix series on Steven Avery, twice convicted of heinous crimes, at least once wrongfully.

And to those who think such things happen here less often than in places like Alabama, I would argue that the opposite is probably true.

Here players in the justice system are perhaps even more unlikely to acknowledge mistakes, due to their bedrock conviction that they are smarter, better trained and more ethical than their counterparts elsewhere.

All of which raises the burden on the rest of us. An imperfect justice system imposes a

moral obligation on citizens to agitate for just results. We know police and prosecutors don’t always get it right and are resistant to admitting when they may have gotten it wrong. This is the real world, not Blue Bloods on CBS. Which brings us to Penny Brummer, convicted of the March 1994 murder of Sarah Gonstead, the best friend of Penny’s female ex-lover, after a night of barhopping.

The case has all the hallmarks of wrongful conviction: No prior criminal history on Brummer’s part. No physical evidence tying her to the crime. No credible eyewitnesses, and one manifestly non-credible one.

Brummer had a compelling alibi, in recalling an unlisted program she watched on TV several hours before when Gonstead is believed to have died. Police overlooked leads that pointed to another suspect.

Brummer has always maintained her innocence, and her case has long troubled

Last month, Brummer’s supporters announced a $10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of Gonstead’s killer, which is perhaps what it will take to get Brummer out of prison. They have a website (whokilledsarah.com), which lists several ways to “Take Action,” and a hotline number (800-407-1178) for tips.

Nancy Brummer, Penny’s mom, blames her daughter’s conviction on anti-lesbian bias, saying police and prosecutors “concocted a theory about jealousy among lesbians,” something that “would not happen today.”

As far back as 1995, the case drew national attention in The Advocate, a gay and lesbian magazine, for its overtones of anti-gay bigotry. The publication said prosecutors “paint[ed] a picture of a twisted lesbian love triangle.”

According to the 2005 book, Who Killed Sarah?,” the screening questions for potential jurors excluded “only those who held extreme views,” like agreeing that lesbians are more violent than other people. From the book:

THIS MODERN WORLD

“Potential jurors were given a range of answers to describe their attitudes toward homosexuality in general. The most frequent response was ‘tolerant but not accepting.’

Many indicated that they view homosexuality as morally wrong, though some refined that later during individual interviews by drawing a distinction between homosexual orientation and homosexual acts.”

Another juror made the panel despite admitting he was “not a hundred percent positive” he could be impartial because of the extensive pretrial publicity.

In fact, no one has ever advanced a compelling motive for why Penny Brummer would want Sarah Gonstead dead, a void which may have been filled with notions that lesbians do crazy, violent things.

It’s only one of many reasons that Brummer’s conviction merits renewed attention — from a populace that, thanks to Bryan Stevenson and Netflix, understands more than most that the justice system is not always just.

There are opportunities for heroism here. Patrick Fiedler, the judge at Brummer’s trial, overturned his own ruling and set Forest Shomberg free. One of Brummer’s prosecutors, the late Judy Schwaemle, worked to undo the injustice she helped visit on Anthony Hicks. Brummer’s best chance lies in having pressure from outside impact the conscience of those within. Let’s bring that pressure. n

BY TOM TOMORROW

ISTHMUS.COM JANUARY 14–20, 2016

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16

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n FEEDBACK

New low Wow, congratulations on hitting a new low with your Silk porn ad (1/7/2016). Maybe you’ll lose some old readers but pick up some new pedo fans.

Nora Cecchini (via email)

Mistaken identity Regarding the image of the “old” St. Paul’s University Catholic Center (Feedback, 1/7/2016, “Blast from the Past), both the Wisconsin Historical Society’s identification of the building and Isthmus could not be more wrong. The photograph is of the Calvary Lutheran Center, a Missouri Synod church for students that was razed for the also Brutalist (but not as well designed) building occupied by both Calvary Lutheran and the University Book Store.

The original St. Paul’s nave survives behind its new (now old) Brutalist façade. Its interior is new; its exterior still original — at least for the moment. Please, Historical Society, correct your caption!

Jack Holzhueter (via email) Whether or not you enjoy the Brutalist style of the current St. Paul’s, it is clearly a distinctive building. The old Lutheran church [see letter above], with its lovely lawn and gardens, would have been right at home in the English countryside. Why is it that any building on a human scale or with any architectural distinctiveness must be condemned to oblivion? As an out-of-town friend recently

observed after a tour of downtown with its forest of new luxury high-rises, “No place does bland like Madison.”

Gary L. Kriewald (via email)

Difficult conversations Re “The Most Incredible Pain” (1/7/2016), an article on Andrea Irwin, Tony Robinson’s mother: I wish I had the right words. Blessings to you and your entire family.

Donna Terry (via Facebook) Such a strong family. Wishing them peace Faye Borchert (via Facebook)

If a tree falls...

Re East-side Residents Mourn Loss of Trees (Isthmus.com, 1/8/2016): What a loss. I remember lingering in the limited shade on hot days. Why wouldn’t the city provide boundaries for ATC trimming? And monitor large projects like this?

Linda Baldwin (via Facebook)

The University of Wisconsin AsthmaNet group is inviting people to join the SIENA research study.

Participant details

This sucks. If that happened in our neighborhood it would be devastating. The trees are a vital part of our homes. I do not understand the thinking behind this.

Turanga Leela

Correction In last week’s Feedback (“Sins of Commission”), the correct date for Police Chief Noble Wray’s announcement of his resignation should have been Aug. 7, 2013.

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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ISTHMUS.COM JANUARY 14–20, 2016

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n COVER STORY

BY DAVE CIESLEWICZ I JOKE SOMETIMES THAT MY

new life goal is to become a shutin. I’m not serious. Entirely. But when I read about the controversies surrounding solitary confinement, I can’t help thinking that if my cell included a good reading light and an endless supply of books, it might not be that bad.

I am an introvert. Politics was a strange career choice; writing is the perfect one. And I believe it is time for my people to rise up, come out of our closets (literally) and speak up for ourselves. Loud and proud. I imagine a mass rally of introverts in which we all come together and avoid conversation.

ERIC TADSEN

BETWEEN

THE COVERS

➡

JANUARY 14–20, 2016 ISTHMUS.COM

CITIZEN DAVE’S PICKS FOR WINTER READING

Speaking up for the soft-spoken is what Susan Cain’s Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can’t Stop Talking is about.

It’s a particularly interesting topic in an era when uber extrovert Donald Trump is giving the other side a particularly bad name.

Still, as much as I was interested in the subject, Quiet doesn’t make my list of books I’d recommend. A lot of books like it don’t make the cut because they seem to me like topics with enough juice for a good long article in The New Yorker, but not enough for an entire book. Cain seems to be padding her work by doing things like describing the surroundings of people she interviewed. I was enthralled by the first few chapters and then started to lose interest as she seemed to reach harder and harder to make a word count set by her publisher. Get the free sample on your e-reader. It’s all you need.

The best books leave you feeling like they ended too soon, before you had every question answered. They leave you wanting to read more. So, here are nine books I recommend reading from cover to cover.

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n COVER STORY

BEING MORTAL: Medicine and

THE GERMAN WAR:

What Matters in the End

A Nation Under Arms, 1939–1945

ATUL GAWANDE (Metropolitan Books, 2014)

ISTHMUS.COM JANUARY 14–20, 2016

Death and taxes may be the only two certainties in life, but we tend to acknowledge the latter, if grudgingly, while we live mostly in denial of the former. Physician Atul Gawande leads us on several journeys toward the end of life — including that of his own physician-father — and it’s not pretty. He explains how our refusal to confront the odds of beating usually terminal diseases like cancer can lead to horrible and expensively long, slow declines toward the inevitable. He explains how his own profession is wholly unequipped to even talk about, much less actually manage, the end of life.

This may be the most important book of the year as baby boomers start to come to grips with our own mortality. Are we going to bankrupt the system by clinging to every last moment no matter how low its quality for us and those we love, or are we going to find better, happier, healthier and less taxing ways to go out? This book will help you sort out and think through what you want from life and from death.

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NICHOLAS STARGARDT (Basic Books, 2015)

BEING NIXON:

A Man Divided

EVAN THOMAS (Random House, 2015)

This year we could better understand not only what it’s like to be mortal but also what it must have been like to be Richard Nixon. Sometimes even paranoids are right that there are people who are out to get them.

Evan Thomas’ biography of the only American president to resign is more kind and more balanced than most takes on Tricky Dick. Thomas is unsparing in his reporting on Nixon’s vast dark side, but he tries to understand and explain how that darkness developed. Nixon nurtured a deepseated feeling of resentment toward East Coast political elites who sought out his every failing while ignoring the transgressions of those in their own circle.

The biggest example is the 1960 presidential election, which was undeniably stolen by the Kennedys.

Urged by some of his partisans to carry the fight to the courts, Nixon instead fell on his sword for the good of the country. Yet, JFK is a martyred hero while Nixon is a reviled criminal for covering up what was, in fact, a two-bit burglary. That doesn’t excuse Nixon’s crimes, but it does add an important layer of understanding to one of the nation’s most potent political figures. The story resonates today because it is a broader resentment of affluent liberal elites, especially in the media, that is driving the 2016 Republican nominating process.

ONCE IN A GREAT CITY: A Detroit Story DAVID MARANISS (Simon & Schuster, 2015)

Another great journalist has written a powerful book about America’s most down and out city. David Maraniss and his wife spend their summers in a little house off of Monroe Street, where he does some of his writing.

An editor for the Washington Post, Maraniss has written deeply insightful biographies of Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, Vince Lombardi and Roberto Clemente.

Having reason to resent elites is not the same as having justification for genocide. Another sobering yet topical book, The German War, tells the story of World War II from both the perspective of the German homefront and the German soldier. Historian Nicholas Stargardt uses diaries, personal correspondence back home from soldiers behind the front lines and interviews with a few remaining survivors to tell the story. What’s chilling about it is how German attitudes of the time are echoed in the fascist rhetoric of Donald Trump and Ted Cruz.

Much of this book is hard to read because of its depiction of cruelty on a scale that is almost beyond comprehension. It’s the smaller stories that struck me harder. Like the young woman in Berlin who in 1942 gives up her seat on a trolley to an older Jewish woman with swollen feet. Stargardt reports that just a year earlier this kind of small act of kindness would have gone unnoticed. But by 1942 common German attitudes had so hardened that both the elderly Jewish woman and the kind young woman were hounded off the tram.

This book is important because it puts to rest any remaining vestiges of the idea that the Holocaust was all about one evil man or even one political party. The seeds of genocide were in the German soil, and the Nazis just made them grow. Like Philip Roth’s revisionist novel, The Plot Against America, Stargardt’s work brings to mind how contaminated any nation’s soil — even ours — can really be.

In this book he employs a technique he used to great effect in They Marched Into Sunlight, his book about Vietnam and the anti-war protests. Maraniss has figured out how to make a massive topic like Vietnam or Detroit digestible by reducing the story to one manageable period. In Once in a Great City he reports on a brief period in the early 1960s when it seemed Detroit was at the top of its game. The auto industry was humming, the Motown recording empire was on the rise, both John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. tried out themes in speeches there that would

ALL THE TRUTH IS OUT:

The Week Politics Went Tabloid MATT BAI (Vintage, 2015)

One of the best political reporters of our time, Matt Bai, covers an important moment in the history of journalism. The 1988 presidential campaign of liberal U.S. Sen. Gary Hart of Colorado marked a dramatic time when journalism changed from a cozy insider, but somewhat serious and dignified, business to tabloid sensationalism.

Hart was among the smartest and most serious men ever to run for president. He could “see around corners,” as Bai describes him, understanding, for example, long before anyone else, the nature of conflict moving from wars against states to complicated fights against diverse and shifting groups of stateless terrorists. Hart was brought down by an affair that might never have even been consummated.

Bai’s book hasn’t gotten the attention it deserves possibly because he’s committed good journalism. He leaves the reader wondering if it was entirely unfair or wrong for Hart to be brought down by the scandal even while he clearly lays out the decline in journalistic standards that was behind the story. Was it better for the press to look the other way when it came to the personal foibles of our national leaders, and put the focus on substantive policy matters, or does character matter more than policy white papers?

And was this a question of character that had anything to do with doing the job of president, or was it just a prurient story that sold some newspapers?

A book that more forcefully came down on one side or the other probably would have sold better, but good journalists explore issues and respect their readers enough to let them come to their own conclusions.

resonate down through history. And yet the stage had already been set for Detroit’s decline. Only a few years later both JFK and King were dead, the American auto industry was losing market share to better-positioned foreign car manufacturers, and the city exploded in riots over its unresolved racial tensions. Even the glory days of Motown became tarnished by jealousy and greed.

It takes a master storyteller to know when to stop writing.

We know what came next. Maraniss gives us that poignant moment just before darkness fell.

THE QUARTET: Orchestrating the Second

American Revolution, 1783-1789 JOSEPH ELLIS (Knopf, 2015)

BILLION-DOLLAR BALL:

A Journey Through the Big-Money Culture of College Football GILBERT GAUL (Viking, 2015)

very city is named). Ellis argues that they were master politicians, inventing reasons to call a constitutional convention, manipulating the agenda and the debate, and then conning the states into ratifying it. He contends that the story of how America came to be is not about a grassroots revolution but about a handful of very canny politicians who worked at crosspurposes to popular sentiment, which was definitely against any kind of national government.

Ellis is saying that these four men put a wonderful thing over on us. They created a national government, which was very much against the purposes of the revolution. He doesn’t say, but he could have, that today’s tea party is appropriately named because, like the tea partiers in Boston Harbor, these folks don’t just want freedom from foreign rule, they are against any national government whatsoever. The struggle to create and keep a real nation continues down to this very day, and this quartet would have nothing in common with modern-day tea partiers.

DEAD WAKE: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania ERIK LARSON (Crown Publishers, 2015)

My last two books are stories of misery that are just for fun. I can find no particular relevance for today from them, but they’re both great adventure stories. The first is Dead Wake, the story of the Lusitania, the luxury liner whose sinking helped precipitate America’s entry into World War I. Erik Larson, author of the wonderful Devil in the White City, uses the same technique from that book, splicing together seemingly unrelated stories that all weave together eventually.

Larson documents life aboard the passenger liner as carefully as the classic story of the sinking of the Titanic in A Night to Remember.

You can almost smell the diesel fuel as he chronicles the routines of the U-boat that hunted for targets in the North Sea until it stumbled on the Lusitania. Those subject to claustrophobia should avoid these chapters. Winston Churchill even makes an appearance, plotting in a secret room perhaps to set up the ship for its demise as a way of coaxing America into the war. These pages turn themselves.

IN THE KINGDOM OF ICE:

The Grand and Terrible Polar Voyage of the USS Jeannette HAMPTON SIDES (Anchor, 2015)

If the recent cold snap has you down, here’s a way to remember what it’s like to be really, really cold. Hampton Sides’ book chronicles the preparations and voyage of the USS Jeannette. That good ship and its crew set out to find the North Pole or, more accurately, the theoretical Polar Sea, in 1879.

The first part of Sides’ book covers preparations for the voyage: the ambitious newspaper publisher who financed the expedition, the eccentric professor with his theories about a warm open sea at the North Pole, the captain of the ship, an earnest and capable man. The second half tells the story of what happened when the Jeannette became encased in ice. I won’t ruin the story for you, but it’s well worth taking the adventure.

I promise that for those of you who enjoy polar vortexes, this story will keep you cold at night. n

JANUARY 14–20, 2016 ISTHMUS.COM

While UW-Madison athletics is barely mentioned in this book, it’s important to our city because college sports mean so much to our economy and culture.

And, argues journalist Gilbert Gaul, bigtime college sports is a rapidly changing industry with an uncertain future. The reason is money, especially in the 60 or so schools in the biggest five football conferences, of which the Big Ten is one.

There’s so much money in the most successful programs that athletic directors and head coaches are not only much better paid than the college presidents they report to, but they have far more political clout. For example, in 2012 alone, the University of Texas football program brought in $103 million to the university, most of which went back into the athletic program. The University of Texas spends about $261,000 on facilities, coaches and tutors for each of its football players, compared to just $21,000 for the average student. Football also supports the other non-revenue-producing sports, but Gaul reports that schools like Yale, which made a conscious decision not to try to compete in high-stakes college football, actually have more student-athletes overall than Texas and its powerhouse peers do.

Gaul’s meticulously researched book raises important and fundamental questions about the relationship of football programs to the schools whose logos and colors they play under and about the nature of what it means to be a “student-athlete” in an environment awash in so much money. What’s going on in the business of big-time college sports is as interesting as what’s going on on the field, if not more so. This is a story that cries out for more coverage in our local press. A college sports business beat would be just the thing.

This is the fascinating story of the period between the end of the Revolutionary War and the adoption of the U.S. Constitution during which, Joseph Ellis argues, four men made a country out of a quarreling, short-sighted, deadbeat group of colonies intent on remaining virtually separate countries. Those four are George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and James Madison (the man for whom this

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many wet days to come.

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Sahti-sfaction Rare and special brews to look for at this year’s Isthmus Beer and Cheese Fest

BY ROBIN SHEPARD n ILLUSTRATION BY TODD HUBLER

Ale Asylum will offer a taste of its rare 2015 Dissent. This Belgian-style imperial is a bold stout fermented with Belgian yeast and aged for a full year.

Bent Kettle Brewing, new to the festival, will unveil a Bier de Garde called Disregarde and a black IPA called Night Sweat. The latter is made with chipotle peppers for added heat and molasses for a rich body.

Greenview Alt has made a very limited amount of a rum-barrel-aged version of its Rustic Badger farmhouse ale. This big-bodied, sweet beer is, like all of Greenview’s brews, gluten-free.

Hillsboro Brewing Company is a small brewpub in southwest Wisconsin that’s been making beer since 2012; finding any of its beers in Madison is a rare but special delight. It’s bringing four beers to the fest: Hillsboro Pale Ale, Snappy IPA, Leaping Lemur Cream Ale and its flagship dark ale called Joe Beer.

House of Brews debuted its first lager in December. Look for Jailhouse Bock on the brewery’s festival taps.

Hop Haus will feature regular pub favorites along with more limited brews like Plaid Panther Scotch Ale, Lazy Sunday Belgian Dark Strong and Magic Dragon.

Karben4 plans to bring Lady Luck Irish Red, aged in California Cabernet barrels.

Lakefront Brewery will be serving 2015 Black Friday Imperial Stout, aged in bourbon barrels. Other than running into it at only a handful of festivals, to get this beer you’d have to stand in very long lines during its limited release every year on the Friday after Thanksgiving.

MobCraft Beer will debut its newest sour beer called Oud Yahhh.

CONTINUE D ON PAGE 24

➡

JANUARY 14–20, 2016 ISTHMUS.COM

The seventh annual Isthmus Beer and Cheese Festival will be held Jan. 16 at the Alliant Energy Center. “It’s Wisconsin’s two best assets, beer and cheese, in one spot,” says MobCraft Beer founder Henry Schwartz.

The fest is a showcase for more than 400 beers from over 100 breweries. While some festival-goers will doubtless experiment with pairing certain cheeses with specific styles of beer, more will get excited about tasting the latest, sometimes strangest, new beers.

Here are some special beers, including one-offs and trial batches (some so limited they don’t make the fest’s program), to seek out.

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n FOOD & DRINK STOP BY AND

JOIN US

Rare brews

FOR

HAPPY

continued from 23

NEXT DOOR.

Oliphant Brewing from Somerset, Wis., was among the brewery darlings at last year’s fest. This year, look for its Hulk lager made with a single malt and a single hop.

H OU R EVERYDAY 3-6 PM & 9 PM TO CLOSE $4

$3

Red Eye Brewing from Wausau is always a hit with its eclectic, extreme beers. This year’s list includes Hot Mess Version 1.1, a watermelon malt liquor.

PINTS

————————

RAIL DRINKS

———————— $ 1 OFF

Sprecher Brewing will offer its Belgian quadruple XII, rarely seen in Madison.

GLASSES OF WINE ————————

Stillmank Brewing will offer the first taste of a new blonde ale called Tailgater. Also, grab a hit of its Perky Porter, a rich milk chocolate coffee porter that should be quite tasty with a scoop of ice cream from either Sassy Cow Creamery or Calliope Ice Cream.

$5

OFF BOTTLES OF WINE ————————

BUY ONE, GET ONE HALF-OFF APPETIZERS

3 Sheeps Brewing is bringing its rye stout, Cashmere Hammer, on a nitrogen tap. This should be an excellent pairing with the smoked butterkäse from Decatur Dairy of Brodhead.

NEXT DOOR’S

WEEKEND S PE C I A L S :

Vintage Brewing always pulls out a growler of something rare. This year brewmaster Scott Manning is bringing a brettanomycesand lactobacillus-soured creation called Winter Wilder-Land that’s been aged in a wine barrel. Manning describes it as part sahti, part winter warmer.

WE OFFER VEGAN & GLUTEN FREE OPTIONS

FRIDAY FISH FRY: Choose from Perch or Cod ————————

BRUNCH:

Wisconsin Brewing limited releases include Orelia, a strong Belgian ale that’s dry-hopped with Amarillo hops, and Dark Something, a hybridized doppelbock made with candi sugar and dry-hopped with East Kent Goldings. n

Saturday & Sunday: 11am–3pm specials ———————— HOMESTYLE SATURDAY DINNER: Choose from two Homestyle Dinner options: Saturday after 5pm

Pimento cheese: It’s not just for southerners any more.

Blessed are the cheesemakers Pacing yourself with snacking interludes during the Isthmus Beer and Cheese Festival is not only beneficial to your overall well-being, it’s tasty. Over 70 cheeses from more than 20 cheesemakers will be available to sample.

Make a note to try Martha’s Pimento of Milwaukee. Martha’s makes the south’s spreadable favorite with artisanal Wisconsin cheeses. Roth Cheese will be in from Monroe with a special variety called Outside Wall, along with its lovable Buttermilk Blue, among others. Check out Cedar Grove’s Donatello, a nutty aged sheep’s milk cheese, and its hot sriracha cheese, along with the ever-popular squeaky curds.

Hook’s will be part of a “Beer and Cheese School” presented by Metcalfe’s Market and Goose Island Beer.

It’s not just cheese, though. “Stuff Your Face Hole” will bring its flavored pretzels, including Banana Foster and Cake Batter versions. The Looking Glass Bakery will have samples of its banana hefeweizen chocolate cheesecake. Chef K. Clark will bring her popular beer jellies, as well as chili hot chow chow.

(My advice: Buy a jar of this to take home to add to sandwiches, stews, soups or just about anything, to give it extra zip.) What else does the fest have? Chocolates, bread, honey, smoked salmon, sausage and popcorn.

And should you want more than samples, food vendors Freeman Brothers Barbecue, Jakarta Cafe, Slide, the Rigby and Banzo will be selling more substantial lunches in the food court area.

— LINDA FALKENSTEIN

While the premium session has been sold out since mid-November, tickets ($50) remain available for the general session at ISTHMUSBEERCHEESE.COM.

COUPON

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For hours, menus and tap selections visit:

ISTHMUS.COM JANUARY 14–20, 2016

NEXTDOORBREWING.COM

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Next Door Brewing beers are available in 6-packs, bottles and on tap at fine establishments.

2439 Atwood Ave.

Madison, WI 53704

TM

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Eats events Bees

Prix-fixe

Dust of the zombies

Sat., Jan. 16

Sun., Jan. 17-Fri., Jan. 22

Wed., Jan. 20

This Beekeeping for Beginners class through the Dane County Beekeepers Association will be held at the Dane County Extension Building, 5201 Fen Oak Drive, 9 am-4 pm.

Topics include bee biology, swarming, splitting or moving a hive, diseases and, of course, harvesting your honey! To register ($50), contact Jeanne Hansen at 608-244-5094.

Special dishes and deals abound during Madison Restaurant Week with $15 prix-fixe lunches and $25 prix-fixe three-course dinners (with some $30 and $35 dinner options). Over 50 restaurants to choose from; generally, it’s a good idea to make reservations. More including menus at channel3000. com/madison-magazine/restaurant-week.

Craftsman Table & Tap, 6712 Frank Lloyd Wright Ave., Middleton, will host a Three Floyds Tap Takeover starting at 4 pm. The Munster, Ind.-based brewery will bring many of its wellhopped beers, including Zombie Dust, Alpha King, Gumballhead, Alien Porter and Amber Smashed Face. Finally, there will be the Behemoth, a barleywine that finishes at 10.5% ABV.

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JANUARY 14–20, 2016 ISTHMUS.COM

HILLDALE

25

n FOOD & DRINK

East meets Midwest SoHo Gourmet Cuisines specializes in Wisco-fusion

BY ALLISON GEYER

There’s a phrase hidden within the menu at SoHo Gourmet Cuisines that encapsulates the concept of the new Fitchburg restaurant: Wisconsin spicy.

The term is used to describe SoHo’s “Hot Chick” chicken dumplings — a dish already well-known and beloved to fans of the popular SoHo food cart run by proprietor Rocky So for the past several years. But the idea of “Wisconsin spicy” also applies to the new restaurant’s brand of fusion, which adapts traditional Asian flavors and preparations for a hearty Midwestern palate.

To be clear, this is not culinary Americanization in the same vein as General Tso’s chicken or chop suey. It’s more of a meatand-potatoes approach to traditional panAsian dishes and street foods. The protein is familiar, the portions are generous and the spice levels are toned down.

The brick-and-mortar offshoot of the SoHo food cart opened quietly in October at 2990 Cahill Main, where it’s tucked away in a strip mall between a nail salon and a pizza joint. There is room to seat about 25, and the interior is bright and casual, with much of the space dominated by an open kitchen behind the ordering counter.

The menu, displayed on two big-screen televisions, might seem limited to people who are used to Asian restaurants offering page after page of numbered and lettered specials. But with a few kinds of dumplings, an array of rice plates, some interesting salads and a few fried appetizers, it pretty much hits all the bases, plus there are rotating daily specials to keep things interesting.

As expected, the dumplings are great — steamed tender, fried crisp and filled with either beef, pork, chicken, or mac and cheese, available in orders of six or 10. Diners would be remiss not to add them to a dinner order, and there’s a combo available during lunch

The rice plates are where it’s at, as with this Korean-style beef version.

that adds three dumplings to a rice plate. The mac and cheese, which my date accurately described as an “Ian’s pizza roll,” is a fun twist on a classic, but the meat fillings, which are mixed with carrot and cilantro, have much more going on in the flavor department.

But the real focus at SoHo is on the rice plates. There are five options, each with a different protein — chargrilled beef, pork and chicken, braised pork belly and fried tofu. In addition to a generous mound of steamed white rice, each dish comes with fun accoutrements — a ginger scallion chutney with the grilled pork and chicken, vinegar mushroom sauce with the braised pork belly, and with the steak a hot pepper relish made locally in Oregon along with some of the best spicy kimchi I’ve had. It’s store-bought, but it’s the good stuff, imported from Korea.

The Korean beef comes sliced thin and charred to about medium-well, but even someone who prefers her steaks bloody would likely find this preparation appealing. It’s a flavorful cut, slightly tough with a bit of crunchiness, but in a good way.

The dish is made better by adding the hot peppers and a bit of the tangy soy vinegar provided for dipping. It’s not quite the spicy-sweet bulgogi you’d find on the streets of Seoul, but it works.

The Wisco-fusion aspect really comes through in SoHo’s deceptively named Hong Kong curry, which features deep-fried potatoes (think American fries) and roasted carrots in a fragrant yellow curry sauce. The flavor is mild and lands somewhere between Thai and Indian. The tofu is done in the best way possible — slightly crisp on the outside and silky on the inside. The dish is a little heavy on the starch, especially when the rice gets involved, but then again, it’s comfort food.

On special recently was congee — a thick rice soup with chicken, mushrooms and ginger. A popular breakfast food in China, it’s also an interesting addition to dinner (probably because I didn’t know exactly what I was ordering). It was tasty enough, in a bland sort of way — kind of like a savory oatmeal. But it’s more of that comfort food.

A sleeper hit on the menu was an order of fried buns, another special last week. Basically a Chinese doughnut, the buns were fluffy inside with a crisp, sweet exterior and served with a condensed milk glaze on the side.

SoHo earns high marks for its good service, good value and carefully prepared food. It’s an endearing mashup — two seemingly incompatible culinary identities that end up having more in common than one might think. n

ISTHMUS.COM JANUARY 14–20, 2016

SOHO GOURMET CUISINES n 2990 Cahill Main, Fitchburg n 608-960-4011, uwsoho.com n 11 am-9 pm Mon.-Fri., 10:30 am-9 pm Sat., 10:30 am 8 pm Sun. n $6-$11

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Thai Cuisine

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Taqueria Family Owned Authentic Mexican Food

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Mon-Thu 4-7 pm

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1318 S Midvale Blvd, Madison • 608-709-1345 Family Owned Authentic Mexican Food

BEER & CHEESE SCHOOL PRESENTED BY: AND PHOTO CHRIS KRONSER

Learn to pair the perfect cheese with your favorite beer at Beer & Cheese School! Free pairing classes will be held twice an hour throughout the fest, taught by beer and cheese experts Jeanne Carpenter of Metcalfe’s Market and Suzanne Wolcott of Goose Island Brewing Co.

DON’T MISS LIVE CHEESE CARVING BY TROY LANDWEHR WITH CHEESE PROVIDED BY HOOK’S CHEESE CO. INC.

TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE at ISTHMUSBEERCHEESE.COM ALLIANT ENERGY CENTER • JAN. 16 • 2:30-6:30 pm LAST CLASS BEGINS AT 5:30 pm AWARD WINNING BREWERY

SEE WHAT WE HAVE

BREWING RESTAURANT & PIZZERIA

12 BEERS ON TAP 105 South 2nd St. Mt. Horeb, WI

brewpub 608.437.2739 pizzeria 608.437.2741

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Small plates from the kitchen of Chef Mooney.

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Extensive wine list featuring 25 varietals by the glass.

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Sweet indulgence Bespoke coffee drinks at the new Atwood Barriques

This week at Capitol Centre Market

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Limit 1 Free Offer per Customer With Separate $20 Purchase. Excludes Postage Stamps, Lottery, Gift Cards, Cigarettes, Liquor, and Bus Passes. Offer good 1/11/16-1/17/16.

The seventh Barriques wine and coffee shop opened just after Thanksgiving at 2166 Atwood Ave., in the first-floor retail space of the new Cornerstone apartments.

It’s visually interesting, with high ceilings and exposed ductwork, bare bulb light fixtures, vibrant green accent walls and reclaimed wood furniture.

The cafe is divided into three seating areas: One has a rounded booth and opens to the front counter, another is separated by an interior wall of white-paned windows, and a third features a fireplace and roll-up garage door. Most tables have an easily accessible outlet, encouraging patrons to plug in as they savor their coffee and enjoy free Wi-Fi. Sweet indulgences abound, from a Mexican hot chocolate spiced with cinnamon,

cayenne and vanilla, to a baby grasshopper mocha made with rich cocoa powder and refreshing frosted mint syrup.

The seasonal menu is noteworthy. Employees are encouraged to craft their own special espresso drinks. A gingerbread latte evokes the classic Christmas cookie through gingerbread syrup blended with ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon. Ginger is also a key ingredient in fall’s honeycrisp apple latte. The maplescotch latte is enhanced with Monin’s toffee nut syrup.

Another bonus: Having your limitededition drink prepared by the barista who designed it.

Maybe you can even get an autograph on your cup.

— MELISSA MCGRAW

It’s quad season

ISTHMUS.COM JANUARY 14–20, 2016

Sprecher’s XII does the style proud

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If you like Belgian quads, the Malt House is having a special quad tasting that will feature Sprecher XII and four others on Jan. 15 at 5 p.m. The Parched Eagle will debut a version called Stella on Friday night at the brewpub in Westport. And the Great Dane just brewed a quadruple and is expected to release it in mid-February. Yes, it’s the season for quads, the strongest of the Belgian trappist ales.

Brewmaster Craig Burge makes Sprecher’s XII with a lengthy list of European malts. To that he adds Belgian candi sugar to boost the beer’s strength, which ends up at 10.5% ABV. The beer is aged for six months; five of those are with bourbon-soaked oak spirals. It has smooth, dark-roasted maltiness and lots of spicy plum and raisin sweetness, with background notes of plums, figs, and molasses.

ROBIN SHEPARD

The beer is sold in four-packs for around $11. Sprecher turned out only about 80 barrels, and about half of that amount was packaged in four-packs, with the rest going into kegs for draught distribution. While it’s been somewhat problematic to find 12-ounce bottles in Madison, you should still watch for it in the city’s craft beer taphouses.

You can also find it at Sprecher’s Restaurant and Pub in Middleton in bottles. I got my four-pack at Riley’s Wines of the World.

— ROBIN SHEPARD

Y COME SEE US AT BEER AND CHEESE! Y

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n FOOD & DRINK The world’s first cocktail!

Three to try Beef, it’s what’s for lunch The Baha Philly Mid Town Pub, 2405 Allen Blvd., Middleton

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This spicy variation on a cheesesteak caps off its shaved prime rib with a corn pico de gallo, chunks of avocado and a chipotle aioli.

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Lange Farms of Platteville is the source of this sandwich’s organic roast beef. The balsamic comes from sweet balsamic onions. White cheddar, greens and — crucial! — horseradish mayo finish this stunner on wholegrain bread.

Balsamic beef sandwich Crema Cafe, 4124 Monona Dr.

3 Course Dinners $25 Entrée Selections

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425 N. Frances St. • 256-3186 – Reservations Recommended –

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Paisan’s

Italian Restaurant

PAULIUS MUSTEIKIS

Subterranean homesick booze The Sazerac at the Greenbush Bar, 914 Regent St., isn’t a particularly “crafty” drink — not in the modern sense of the word, at least.

Invented in New Orleans in the 1800s and believed to be the world’s very first cocktail, the Sazerac has only three essential ingredients: rye whiskey, Peychaud’s Bitters and a light rinse of absinthe that gives the drink its spicy anise flavor.

Greenbush actually spritzes the absinthe into the glass — a technique I’ve not seen before. Like many bars, they also make their Sazerac with a sugar cube, Angostura bitters and a twist of lemon.

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Entrée Selections

ISTHMUS.COM JANUARY 14–20, 2016

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View menus online: Paisansrestaurant.biz

131 W. Wilson St. 257-3832

What better place to enjoy a short glass of delicately-flavored rye whiskey in the wintertime than this warm basement restaurant, with its low ceilings, dim lighting, and homey comfort food? Greenbush is a historic, familyfriendly neighborhood fixture. It serves great pizza and great wine.

For many, Greenbush is known as a bourbon bar. No surprise, then, that the Sazerac is one of its most popular cocktails. For people who don’t like the flavor of anise, Greenbush serves plenty of other classic drinks. Its Old Fashioned, for example, is strong, not too sweet and never drowning in soda. Let’s hear it for the old-fashioned drinks.

@Isthmus — ERIN CLUNE

Madison’s Twitter source for news,

@Isthmus Madison’s Twitter source for news,

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31

n SPORTS

On Gard

New basketball coach’s future hangs in the balance

DAVID STLUKA/UW ATHLETICS

Interim head coach Greg Gard has good reason to be on pins and needles.

BY MICHAEL POPKE

Enjoy $1 drafts in the Beer Garden from 6 p.m. until the end of the first intermission!

ISTHMUS.COM JANUARY 14–20, 2016

Watch the Green Bay football game in the Ice Zone while the Capitols take on the Gamblers!

32

Meet Darth Vader and Storm Troopers as we celebrate DC Eagle’s Second Birthday! Bring your skates for the post-game skate with the Capitols players!

To purchase tickets, visit the Box Office at the Alliant Energy Center, or contact the Capitols Front Office!

608-257-CAPS (2277) ~ www.MadCapsHockey.com

The sudden retirement of Bo Ryan and subsequent naming of his longtime assistant Greg Gard as interim head coach of the UW men’s basketball team has turned an already frustrating Badgers season into a game-bygame do-or-die situation.

Wisconsin fell to No. 3 Maryland on Jan. 9 at the Kohl Center in what could have been the first signature victory of the Gard era.

But then Maryland sophomore Melo Trimble sank a three-pointer with 1.2 seconds left to lift the Terps past the Badgers, 63-60.

The loss dropped the Badgers’ overall record to 9-8 (1-3 in the Big Ten and 2-3 in the Gard era).

This 2015-16 Badgers team — which lost five key players from previous back-to-back Final Four seasons — is really two different teams. One team couldn’t make a bucket even if you gave players a clear lane and a ladder, while the other team seemingly scores at will.

That disparity was abundantly clear when the Badgers blew that one-point lead over Maryland by scoring only three points during a stretch of nearly eight and a half minutes. Then they turned around and scored 11 points in 74 seconds.

The Maryland game was the fifth this season that the Badgers lost by three or fewer points, and it was the second game in

a row decided within the final minute.

“It’s pretty disheartening,” junior guard Bronson Koenig — the guy who kick-started that 11-point run against Maryland — told reporters after the game. “Our margin of error is microscopic. We’ve just got to find ways to win, not find ways to lose.”

In other words, the Badgers need to get going, especially if they want UW athletic director Barry Alvarez to make Gard the official head coach after this season. All of the players appear to like Gard, but not everything is clicking yet. The blame for that usually falls on the head coach, so Gard’s future depends on how these guys play between now and March.

The Badgers have the talent to be better than their record indicates — Koenig, junior Nigel Hayes and redshirt freshman Ethan Happ each averages double digits in points per game, with UW outscoring opponents by an average of five points per game. And even though Gard, who uses more of his bench players than Ryan ever did, has no prior head coaching experience, he spent 23 seasons at Ryan’s side and learned from one of the best in the business.

For 14 consecutive years — the entire Bo Ryan era — the Badgers extended their season into the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. That streak has never seemed more in jeopardy than it does now. n

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33

n BOOKS

The guv down under A chat with the author/ illustrator of Scott Walker in Hell and Other Delights

BY JAY RATH

Despite publishing setbacks, former Isthmus editor Dean Robbins is out with his first children’s book.

Titans having tea Two Friends captures an important friendship

ISTHMUS.COM JANUARY 14–20, 2016

BY CATHERINE CAPELLARO

34

Snow falls gently outside. A fire crackles in the fireplace. And two pioneers for justice are having tea.

The only characters in the new children’s picture book Two Friends (Scholastic Publishing) are women’s rights activist Susan B. Anthony and her neighbor, abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

They were two of the most outspoken and forward-thinking figures of the 19th century, and the former slave and suffragist did regularly share tea in Anthony’s parlor in Rochester, N.Y., as author Dean Robbins discovered on a family trip in 2008. After touring Anthony’s house and seeing a nearby statue commemorating the friendship, Robbins realized the story was something worth sharing with young readers. “It was really just a blessed moment of serenity before they headed out once again to face adversity and change the world,” say Robbins, a longtime Isthmus editor who now works as a communications specialist for the UW. The book is aimed at ages 4-10, and its spare text and evocative illustrations create a world where ideas and words matter and where two people, alternately scorned and revered by the public, come together for a quiet moment.

Robbins succeeds beautifully at creating a mood, and we get the sense that these two fiery figures found strength and renewal in each other’s presence. “It’s hard to find the right language for little kids about slavery or women’s rights,” says Robbins.

“To kids as young as 4, how do you explain that? So I left a lot of that to the artists, who did such a great job of conveying what happened when these two get together.”

The masterful illustrations by husbandwife team Sean Qualls and Selina Alko, who are based in Brooklyn, N.Y., capture the setting and the warmth and energy of the two characters. “They did a nice job of picking up on the mood in the text, which is so spare, and just evoking it beautifully,” says Robbins. “They’ve picked up on a theme where Susan and Frederick were constantly reading and writing and talking about their ideas regarding freedom and equality. The illustrations show in a poetic way that their words were spreading everywhere — you see them in the road, in people’s clothes, in trees, in steam coming out of a cup of tea.”

Although he has made his living as a writer and editor for decades, Robbins took a roundabout journey to become a children’s book author. “I love going to places that are associated with my heroes,” says Robbins.

“I’ve dragged my family along to abandoned shacks in Mississippi and obscure cornfields in Illinois that were associated with Abraham Lincoln or the bluesman Robert Johnson, so they grudgingly put up with this.”

But it wasn’t until a conversation with a friend about 10 years ago that Robbins thought about translating his passion for history into books. “I was reading a biography about Babe Ruth — another one of my childhood crushes — and a friend came over and I was telling her this story from the book with just way too much intensity, arms waving and eyes bugging out. And she suggested that I channel my crazy hero worship into writing a kids’ book on the subject,” say Robbins.

Robbins wrote that first manuscript, and soon after, it was snatched up by

Harcourt Publishing, which also contracted with Robbins to write biographies about Jackie Robinson and Louis Armstrong.

“As a journalist I was used to the long, hard slog of trying to get articles placed in national publications, where they usually send you a rejection notice or they never get back to you. But this seemed incredibly easy. And I thought, ‘Is this too good to be true?’ Well, in fact it was,” says Robbins. In 2007, Houghton-Mifflin gobbled up Harcourt, and the people who championed his books were let go. The economy tanked in 2008 and the books were abandoned.

But Robbins persevered. “I was having too much fun writing children’s books to stop. So I reverted to my long, hard slog,” he says. Robbins dedicated himself to finding an agent, wrote more manuscripts and piled up rejection notices.

In 2011, his agent placed the manuscript about Anthony and Douglass with Scholastic. Since then, Robbins has sold two other manuscripts to a different publisher.

Early reviews are superlative, and Robbins seems tickled that the story of his heroes will now be shared with children around the world.

“Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass are not musty figures from the past,” says Robbins.

“I think they’re really relevant right now. I don’t understand why they’re not on Mount Rushmore because I think they are about the best America’s ever produced.” n Dean Robbins will appear at Mystery to Me on Saturday, Feb. 6, at 10 am and at Arcadia Books in Spring Green on Thursday, Feb. 11, at 6:30 pm.

Life often imitates art. Jerry Belland hopes the afterlife does, too. Scott Walker in Hell and Other Delights, published in October by Rust Bowl Press, is the Racinearea artist’s collected cartoon commentary on The Great Polarizer.

The book is made up of Belland’s humorous — and sometimes savage — watercolors, depicting various scenes Gov. Walker could face in hell. Highlights include the governor about to undergo a transvaginal ultrasound (in reference to his support for a law that requires women seeking an abortion to first have an ultrasound) and Satan offering to return Walker to earth “with a minimum-wage job, three kids, one of them mentally challenged, and a drinking problem. And you’re a single parent who finally figured out that he’s gay.” (Walker asks to remain in hell.)

Although the author credits early Mad magazine for inspiration, his style is also reminiscent of satirical printmaker Warrington Colescott, who taught him at UW-Madison, where he graduated in 1970. Belland’s work, including the Walker cartoons, has been exhibited regionally, and the current project began with a 2012 fellowship from the Racine Art Museum.

Belland spoke with Isthmus about the ideas behind the series.

JERRY BELLAND

Why cartoons, of all art forms?

At that time I was very disillusioned with the art world, and still am. I didn’t want to go around the arty track making stuff. I just wanted to make some cartoons. That sounds like a cavalier attitude, but it really took a lot of guts.

What was the reaction?

I posted them on Facebook, and the crowd went wild. People loved them — and the

generally buy you a cup of jack squat. But people were interested. The response was so overwhelming.

art community loved them. This was the big shock. I felt that I was doing a service to the liberals in the state who were being torn a new one every other day by what Scott Walker was doing; at least they could laugh about it.

There was controversy when some of the cartoons were exhibited at UW-Parkside.

Nothing came of it, but it was kind of nice to be noticed. If you’re in the art world, out there in dreamy-dreamland, where I’ve been for many years, you can take your fine feelings and your artiness and it will

Have you heard anything from the governor’s office?

No. No. (laughs) People ask me that. “Oh, you must be quaking in your boots. Scott Walker’s henchmen are soon to be knocking at your door.” All I can say is that artists are invisible for the most part.

What have you been up to since the book came out?

I posted a series of cartoons to Facebook after [Walker] dropped out of the presidential race, and I think they’re among the very best, really. The devil is shown being unfaithful to Scott after he shows more interest in Trump. n

JERRY BELLAND

How did the Scott Walker cartoon project begin?

The first one I made was Bettie Page torturing Scott Walker in hell. A large number of people that I ran into didn’t know who [1950s pinup model] Bettie Page was, so I had to switch it to Marilyn Monroe. I was just sort of playing around. I just kept on getting more ideas for them. He’s the gift that keeps giving, as far as satire goes.

Belland’s work can be viewed on his Facebook page and at jerrybellandart.net. Scott Walker in Hell and Other Delights is available at Create Space and Amazon, and will soon be available at A Room of One’s Own and other Madison stores.

M A D I S O N S Y M P H O N Y O R C H E S T R A presents

An Organ Three-for-All with Organists

Bruce Bengtson, Gary Lewis and Samuel Hutchison

RECOLLECTIONS DEBBIE KUPINSKY MEET ALLISON, AN AMERICAN GIRL ALLISON WELCH

Saturday, January 23, 2016 7:30pm Overture Hall

JANUARY 15 – MARCH 6

Reception Friday, January 15, 5:30-7:30pm, with artists’ talks at 6:30pm

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New Hours: W-Th 12-5, Fr-Sa 12-8, Su 12-5. Also open by chance or appointment.

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Major funding provided by Friends of the Overture Concert Organ

JANUARY 14–20, 2016 ISTHMUS.COM

Allison Welch, “The four sisters shared Mama’s fan and shawl and only brought them out on very special occasions,” from Happy Birthday, Josefina!, 2013. Digital print, 30 x 36 in.

35

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)"1 6,2/

INNER ARTIST

,21

8

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ISTHMUS.COM JANUARY 14â&#x20AC;&#x201C;20, 2016

!,

36

UNION.WISC.EDU/WHEELHOUSE

A WISCONSIN UNION EXPERIENCE

Todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s band (from left): Matt Appleby, Daithi Wolfe, David Spies, Greg Smith, Geoff Brady and Kia Karlen.

Mazel tov!

Yid Vicious founder reflects on the bandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s 20th anniversary

BY BOB JACOBSON

I canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t remember whether Sun Prairie Jimmy saw his shadow on Groundhog Day 1996, but I guarantee he froze his ass off looking for it. The temperature in Madison plummeted to -27°F that night. But that didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t stop 50 or so lunatics from ditching their blanket piles to attend the debut performance of Yid Vicious at Mother Foolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Coffeehouse on Willy Street. Madisonâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s preeminent klezmer ensemble has reconvened each year around this time for a show at Mother Foolâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s to commemorate that maiden outing, usually joined by a gaggle of former members, occasional subs and other special guests. This yearâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s edition, marking the 20th anniversary of that first gig, is set for Friday, Jan 22.

I had just started playing klezmer â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the dance music of Yiddish-speaking culture â&#x20AC;&#x201D; a few months before I moved to Madison from Chicago in the summer of 1995, and wanted to start a klezmer group here right away. I called my only Madison friend, fiddler Daithi Wolfe, and asked him if he had time for another band. His answer was, â&#x20AC;&#x153;No, but Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ll do it anyway.â&#x20AC;?

The next challenge, finding a clarinetist, turned out to be just as easy. On about my third day as a Madisonian, I heard a damn good clarinet player practicing somewhere nearby. It turned out to be our next-door neighbor, Christina Baade. When we met in person out on the sidewalk the next day, she mentioned that sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;d been thinking about getting involved in something non-classical, maybe klezmer. I said, â&#x20AC;&#x153;Funny you should mention that....â&#x20AC;?

Next, I popped over to St. Vinnyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s to look for a baritone horn. Amazingly, they had one, a no-name $50 clunker. The guy who sold it to me turned out to be a guitar

player, Mike Pollay, who became the fourth band member of the band.

After we brought on Matt Appleby, a friend of Christinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s from the UW music school, as our bassist, we decided to add a drummer. Wacky fate intervened once again.

I was at Dane County Regional Airport with my tiny kids waiting for my parents to arrive on a flight that ended up getting canceled. I struck up a conversation with a fellow dad trying to keep his own tiny kid entertained while waiting for the same ill-fated flight.

That dad, Jon Pollack, turned out to be not only a drummer but a Ph.D. student who knew a lot about Jewish cultural history.

A lot of other musicians â&#x20AC;&#x201D; too many to list here without blowing my word limit â&#x20AC;&#x201D; have done time in the Yid Vicious lineup since then. Wolfe and Appleby are the only

Author Bob Jacobson (center) with the original Yid Vicious lineup, circa 1996.

original members left. I generally get credited as being the â&#x20AC;&#x153;founderâ&#x20AC;? of Yid Vicious, but by now the band has existed for three times as long without me as it did with me (though I still get called in as a sub from time to time). I was long gone by the time they toured Chiba Prefecture, Japan, in 2006; or performed at an international klezmer festival in Argentina in 2009; or provided live accompaniment â&#x20AC;&#x201D; composed by Yid Vicious percussionist Geoff Brady â&#x20AC;&#x201D; to the 1920 silent film The Golem at James Madison Park in 2011. My klezmer baby has grown up and accomplished more than its dad ever envisioned.

Klezmer, the traditional party music of Yiddish-speaking Jews, evolved in the shtetls of Eastern Europe, making its way across the Atlantic with Jewish immigrants in the early decades of the 20th century. But by the 1950s it was on its way to extinction. Then, in the 1980s, a cohort of young, hip Jews started taking interest in their Yiddish roots, which helped spawn renewed interest in klezmer nationally and abroad. By the time Yid Vicious launched, the klezmer revival was peaking. New bands, Jewish and not, with cute pun-based names were popping up all over the world, even in places where few Jews lived.

Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s behind Yid Viciousâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; longevity?

It could have something to do with its multigenerational appeal. â&#x20AC;&#x153;My favorite audiences tend to be really young kids and older people,â&#x20AC;? says Brady. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Both have a way of immersing themselves in the experience in a total and real way.â&#x20AC;?

Horn player/accordionist Kia Karlen, who has played with Yid since 2002, attributes it to the bandâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s community orientation. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Of all of the musical projects Iâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;m involved with, Yid Vicious is uniquely knit into the Madison community,â&#x20AC;? she says. â&#x20AC;&#x153;It really opened my eyes to the way music can support community well-being.â&#x20AC;? n

n COMEDY

Kondabolu touches on his experience as the child of Indian immigrants.

Politically charged Hari Kondabolu’s standup is hard-hitting

BY ALAN TALAGA

Hari Kondabolu’s comedy heavily draws on issues of race and social justice, and he has actual activist cred to back it up. The Queens, N.Y., native has a master’s degree in human rights from the London School of Economics and worked on immigrant rights issues in Seattle.

The 33-year-old’s standup touches on his experiences as the child of Indian immigrants and what it was like to grow up in a country where the most prominent representation of Indian culture was Apu, the convenience store owner on The Simpsons. Kondabolu released his debut album, Waiting for 2042, two years ago; the title is a reference to when white Americans are projected to become a statistical minority.

Hari is also known for his work as a writer and correspondent for FX’s unfortunately shortlived Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell, the rare talk show not dominated by white male writers.

Illness forced Kondabolu to cancel a scheduled Madison show last year, but he’ll finally make it to town on Jan. 17 to perform at Majestic Theatre. He spoke with Isthmus about his current tour and progress on a follow-up album.

Can you share one of these works in progress?

There’s this bit about how to get Donald Trump out of office if he wins. It’s about getting One Direction to reunite but adding in a Muslim member of the band. Trump won’t let One Direction into the country,

Totally Biased was only on the air for two seasons, but it still has a loyal following.

Why do you think that showed connected so deeply with some people?

It was earnest in the best of ways. It wasn’t heavy on snark. We were saying that it was okay to be passionate and funny about things. I feel like we were about a year ahead of our time. If we could have covered the transgender discussions or the Black Lives Matter protests, I think we would have gotten a lot more attention.

A lot of your material covers very serious topics but you also do bits about how creepy it is to go to a modern day Weezer concert.

Because that’s me too. I’ve been obsessed with Weezer for longer than I’ve been into any of these other topics. I’ve met activists who only want to talk about activism.

You still need other things in your life.

That’s how you relate to others. I can talk with somebody who disagrees with me on everything else, but we can at least agree that Weezer started sucking around 2001.

I’ve got to ask one more thing: Why is your high school’s mascot named after you?

In my senior year, there was this sophomore named Mark who wanted our school to have a mascot. He raised a bunch of money to get a giant red hawk costume, and they let him name it. Meanwhile, I was starting a comedy night at our school. Mark thought that was cool so he named it after me: Hari the Hawk. Which is absurd. I mean, Jonas Salk went to our high school. The guy who cured polio. Salk the Hawk works just as easily. Put a lab coat on the hawk. But Mark gave me a legacy at 17, and everything I’m doing now is trying to live up to it. n

JANUARY 14–20, 2016 ISTHMUS.COM

How far along is the new album?

It feels like three-fourths is pretty set. The issue is that I have too much material, which is a good thing. I’ve written a lot of stuff that digs into the upcoming election. I have to figure out what jokes are still going to be interesting down the line. I want it to be evergreen. There are also some jokes that aren’t working yet that I refuse to give up on. I keep hoping for some miraculous punchline that’s going to save them.

which mobilizes an army of angry teenage girls. I’ve tried it a few times, but I’ve never gotten the wording quite right.

37

n SCREENS

Against all odds The Revenant is a brutal and punishing story Leonardo DiCaprio (center) plays a survivor bent on revenge.

ISTHMUS.COM JANUARY 14–20, 2016

BY MARJORIE BAUMGARTEN

38

The most punishing movie of 2015, The Revenant, is almost as brutal an experience for the viewer to watch as it is for its title character Hugh Glass (Leonardo DiCaprio) to undergo. That’s not meant as a knock, but rather as a warning that the film may leave you as near-speechless and single-minded as its battered returnee from the dead. Not since Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ have we witnessed a film’s central character endure so many mortifications of the flesh and austere self-abnegation. Hugh Glass is no Christ figure, however; he is an obsessed father who lives to track down and exact revenge on the man who murdered his son.

Alejandro González Iñárritu’s followup to his multi-award-winning Birdman unfolds in an entirely different tone and setting, although The Revenant’s heartless cruelty may recall imagery from some of Iñárritu’s earlier films, such as Amores Perros and 21 Grams. Set during the 1820s in the unsettled America west of the Missouri River (the future North Dakota or Montana), The Revenant tells the survival story of frontiersman, explorer and fur trapper Hugh Glass, who was a real person about whom not much is known.

The film is based in part on the novel

by Michael Punke, and opens with magnificently choreographed and filmed action sequences during which the furtrapping party is forced to beat a hasty escape after a deadly surprise attack by Arikara warriors. (The Revenant was shot

by Emmanuel Lubezki, winner of the last two Academy Awards for cinematography — 2014’s Birdman and 2013’s Gravity — and his contributions to this 2015 Western cannot be underestimated.) While out hunting for provisions for their overland trek to the nearest fort, Glass is viciously mauled by a mother bear protecting her cubs (and, despite rumors, DiCaprio is in no way, shape, or form raped by the animal). Captain Henry (Domhnall Gleeson), the organizer of the trapping party, whose numbers are now severely diminished from their original 100, decides to leave behind Glass and his mixed-heritage son Hawk (Forrest Goodluck), to be watched over by two trappers, John Fitzgerald (Tom Hardy) and Jim Bridger (Will Poulter), who will presumably bury the unconscious Glass once he dies. But Fitzgerald is a particularly impatient, ill-mannered and racist individual, and before long, Glass is abandoned in the harsh, snowcovered wilderness without provisions, weapons or his son. But Glass regains

consciousness, and the rest of the film is a slow crawl toward recovery and revenge for Hawk’s murder.

Wrapped in a putrid bearskin, Glass’ solo trek back to the fort is marked by numerous indelible sequences (perhaps the most memorable being his gutting of a dead horse and climbing inside to sleep amid the warmth of its bowels). Visceral moments like this are one of the hallmarks of Iñárritu’s cinema, and his talent for fashioning these unforgettable gutpunches seems more acute than his overarching ability to weave together a continuous narrative. Many of his previous films have blended together or contrasted collections of characters or short stories rather than presenting one fluid narrative. DiCaprio is always fully engaging to watch, even when there aren’t many plot details to focus on other than the progression of the character’s bodily damage. It’s a heroic performance; Tom Hardy, who is almost unrecognizable in the supporting role, is no slouch either. Nevertheless, at 156 minutes, Iñárritu’s film seems like there could have been room for thematic flourishes more provocative than basic survival and revenge. Dare we say that in this Western, Iñárritu sometimes loses the forest for the trees — mighty though those trees are. n

The title character is a breakout role for Rashida Jones.

Television Angie Tribeca Angie Tribeca comes from producers Steve Carell and Nancy Walls, two talented people who just happen to be married to one another. Starring Rashida Jones as the title character, this program is a satire of police procedural dramas. TBS will initially air its 10 episodes on a loop Jan. 17 in a 25-hour marathon, a smart marketing move considering the success Netflix and Hulu have had with the binge-watch format. Angie Tribeca looks pretty good, and TBS must think so too since the show has already been renewed for a second season. Jones often gets stuck playing the straight woman (Parks and Recreation, The Office), but she’s capable of much more. I think Angie Tribeca may be the vehicle to assert herself as a comedy powerhouse.

— ALEX CLAIBORNE

The film list New releases 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi: Director Michael Bay jumps into turbid political waters with this Chuck Hogan-penned take on what happened in the 2012 embassy attack.

Norm of the North: Animated adventure featuring a polar bear and lemming buddies in New York City.

Ride Along 2: James and Ben (Ice Cube and Kevin Hart) go after a Miami drug dealer.

Soggade Chinni Nayana: Telugu-language fantasy.

Recent releases Carol: In this 1950s period piece, Therese Belivet (Rooney Mara), a vaguely bored shopgirl in the toy department of a Manhattan department store, has her torpor punctured by the arrival of Carol (Cate Blanchett), an elegant blond woman in a fur coat. All the elements dovetail perfectly to create a movie as irresistible as its title character, and the leads deliver some of the finest work of this or any year.

The Danish Girl: Oscar-winning actor Eddie Redmayne delivers another physically transformational performance as one of the first patients to undergo sexual reassignment surgery. The film’s compositions are lovely to look at, and the performances engaging. However, a sense of remoteness hangs over the project, as though we are watching characters through a pinhole diorama.

The Forest: A woman searching for her twin confronts unknown forces.

The Hateful Eight: Quentin Tarantino’s gritty drama about several snowbound characters trying to survive treachery at a remote general store/ tavern in post-Civil War Wyoming feels more superficial than the director’s other work. Sure, Q’s got a few salient things to say about cleaning up the legacy of American racism; it’s just harder than usual to hear them this time through the Fbombs, gunfire blasts and howls of pain.

The Screening Room Calendar Returns

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Dreamgirls: Bill Condon’s adaptation of the Broadway musical about the Supremes is lively, even dazzling, but the performers (Beyoncé Knowles, Eddie Murphy, Jennifer Hudson) can’t match the brilliance of the legends they’re invoking. Palace & Point, Jan. 17 (noon), 18 & 20 (7 pm).

A Streetcar Named Desire: Blanche DuBois (Vivien Leigh) moves in with her sister (Kim Hunter)...and Stanley (Marlon Brando). Lakeview Library, Jan. 15, 5:30 pm.

The Wicker Man: In Neil LaBute’s inadvertently silly remake of the 1973 horror classic, a sheriff (Nicolas Cage) discovers a neo-pagan community on a small island. Cage gives the role his all but is overwhelmed by the increasingly muddled theocratic themes. Central Library, Jan. 21, 6:30 pm.

Also in theaters

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Joy

Ant-Man

The Peanuts Movie

The Big Short Bridge of Spies Concussion Daddy’s Home The Good Dinosaur The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 2 Inside Out

The Martian Room Sisters Spectre Spotlight Star Wars: The Force Awakens

Fri & Sat: (1:15, 4:00), 6:45, 9:30; Sun: (11:25 AM, 2:10, 4:55), 7:40; Mon to Thu: (2:10, 4:55), 7:40

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CC & DESCRIPTIVE NARRATION Fri: (1:35, 4:15), 6:55, 9:35; Sat: (11:00 AM, 1:35, 4:15), 6:55, 9:35; Sun: (11:00 AM, 1:35, 4:15), 7:30; Mon to Thu: (1:35, 4:15), 7:30 CAROL CC & DESCRIPTIVE NARRATION Fri: (1:40, 4:20), 6:50, 9:25; Sat: (4:20), 6:50, 9:25; Sun: (11:05 AM, 1:40, 4:20), 7:45; Mon to Thu: (1:40, 4:20), 7:45

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The winning story will be published in Madison Magazine. Top finalists will receive awards from contest sponsors.

WRITING CONTEST DEADLINE:

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JANUARY 14–20, 2016 ISTHMUS.COM

Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Road Chip

STARTS FRIDAY THE REVENANT GOLDEN GLOBE WINNER - NO PASSES - CC & DESCRIPTIVE NARRATION Fri to Thu: (1:50, 5:00), 8:15 THE BIG SHORT CC & DESCRIPTIVE NARRATION

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More film events Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid: Fastdraws and wild rides, train and bank robberies, a torrid love affair and a new lease on outlaw life in faraway Bolivia, channeled by Redford & Newman. Palace & Point, Jan. 17 (2 pm; also 7 pm at Point) and Jan. 18 (2 & 7 pm).

• 2016 Oscar Shorts – 1/29 • Perfect Shorts – 2/12 • Mustang – 2/19 • Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict – 2/26 • Viva – 3/4 • Hitchcock/Truffaut – 3/11 • Embrace of the Serpent – 3/18

39

Beauty and the Beast Thursday, Jan. 14, Overture Hall, 7:30 pm Disney’s classic movie Beauty and the Beast got the Broadway treatment three years after its theatrical release, debuting in New York in 1994 to critical acclaim. Nearly 22 years later, the production is still vital, bringing Belle and the beast’s tangled story of imprisonment and love to audiences across the country. Bonus: UW grad Christiaan Smith-Kotlarek plays the dastardly Gaston. ALSO: Friday (8 pm), Saturday (11 am, 3:30 & 8 pm) and Sunday (1 & 6:30 pm), Jan. 15-17.

picks PICK OF THE WEEK

thu jan 14 MU S I C

Badger Bowl: Jim Munns Band, 8:15 pm.

COM EDY

The Bayou: Johnny Chimes, free, 5:30 pm Thursdays.

Kyle Kinane

Brink Lounge: Alison Margaret Quintet, jazz, free, 8 pm.

Cardinal Bar: DJ Chamo, Latin, 10 pm.

Christy’s Landing: Open Mic, free, 8 pm Thursdays.

Club Tavern, Middleton: Madpolecats, free, 9 pm.

Essen Haus: Old Soul Society, free, 9 pm.

The Frequency: Oxbow & Moor, The Malodies, The Emmylous, folk, 8 pm.

Great Dane-Downtown: DJ Mike Carlson, free, 10 pm.

Ivory Room: Vince Strong, Nicky Jordan, piano, 9 pm.

Torres Thursday, Jan. 14, High Noon Saloon, 8 pm

ISTHMUS.COM JANUARY 14–20, 2016

FRZN Fest returns for a three-night run, carrying on its tradition of bringing some of indie rock’s best young acts to Madison. Torres spent last year shattering the expectations she set with her 2013 self-titled debut. Her sophomore release, Sprinter, finds the singer-songwriter successfully dabbling in a bit of everything — tearjerkers, headbobbers and all-out rockers — and her poignant lyrics make for an especially memorable listen. With shimmering indie-rock trio Eternal Summers as well as American Wrestlers and Palehound, both of whom released fantastic, unexpectedly mature debut LPs in 2015.

40

Wisconsin Pop Fest Thursday, Jan. 14, Majestic Theatre, 8 pm

A go-to dance act in this part of the Dairy State, headliner GGOOLLDD is a glittery, shimmering Milwaukee six-piece with a penchant for synthpop. The bill also features pop-rockers the Living Statues (who were recently named 88nine Radio Milwaukee’s Band of the Year) and Madison’s own Oh My Love, Modern Mod and Tarpaulin.

Knuckle Down Saloon: Blues Jam, 8 pm Thursdays.

Liliana’s Restaurant, Fitchburg: Ken Wheaton, fingerstyle guitar, free, 5:30 pm Thursdays.

Louisianne’s, Middleton: Jim Erickson, 6 pm Thursdays.

Merchant: The Melon Heads, free, 10:30 pm.

Mickey’s Tavern: Mal-O-Dua, French swing. 5:30 pm.

Mr. Robert’s: Compact Deluxe, The Smells, free, 10 pm.

Natt Spil: DJ Radish, free, 10 pm.

North and South Seafood & Smokehouse: Jerry & Nora, classic rock/country, free, 5 pm Thursdays.

Plan B: DJs Brook, Lizzy T, 9 pm Thursdays.

The Red Zone: Acideon, 9 pm.

Tip Top Tavern: Anna Hill, folk, free, 9:30 pm.

Thursday, Jan. 14, Comedy Club on State, 8:30 pm

Although this Illinois-raised standup has performed his comedy everywhere from Conan to Jimmy Fallon, he’s still best known for his voice. As a frequent podcast contributor and the on-air announcer for Comedy Central since 2011, he’s honed his signature delivery into a can’t-miss show. With Drew Michael, Sammy Arechar. ALSO: Friday and Saturday (8 & 10:30 pm), Jan. 15-16.

LGBT Senior Alliance Winter Dinner: 5-8 pm, 1/14, Madison Senior Center, with talk by Ricardo Gonzalez.

255-8582.

LECTURES & SEM INARS RSVP for Mess Night at the Museum: Dinner program, “War on the Great Lakes,” 6 pm, 1/28, Wisconsin Veterans Museum. $30. RSVP by 1/14: vistor.curator@dva. wisconsin.gov. 264-7663.

FOOD & DRINK Free Samples & Tours: 5-10 pm Thursdays, Yahara Bay Distillery. 275-1050.

Tricia’s Country Corners, McFarland: Frank James & Bobby Briggs, country, free, 8 pm Thursdays.

P UBLIC M EETINGS

World of Beer, Middleton: David Hecht, 7 pm.

T HE AT E R & DANCE The 800th Annual Salvation Swing-Off: Purgatory dwellers compete in a dance-off to make it to heaven, 1/8-30, Broom Street Theater, at 8 pm ThursdaysSaturdays. $11. 244-8338.

S POKE N WORD Stories & Spirits: Madison Reading Project fundraiser, 6 pm, 1/14, Yahara Bay Distillery, with readings by Ann Garvin, Ann Imig, Dana Maya, Katrin Talbot, Oscar Mireles, craft projects, appetizers, drinks. $40. RSVP: madison-reading-project.ticketleap.com.

MUS I C

LGBT

Tofflers, New Glarus: Electric Blue, free, 8 pm.

Up North Pub: Catfish Stephenson, free, 9 pm Thursdays.

fri jan 15

Listening Session on Natural Hazards in Dane County: Public input sought for revision of natural hazard mitigation plan, 6-8 pm, 1/14, Westport Town Hall; 6-8 pm, 1/20, Montrose Town Hall. 266-4114.

ARTS NOTICES Bus Lines Call For Poetry: Madison Metro invites submissions from elementary school ages to adults through 1/31 for the annual competition for display on Metro buses: cityofmadison.com/metro/poetry. 266-4466.

Wisconsin Writers Awards Nominations: Council of Wisconsin Writers invites submissions of 2015 work through 2/1: www.wiswriters.org.

A Celebration of the Life and Music of Charlie Brooks Friday, Jan. 15, Knuckle Down Saloon, 8 pm

Madison’s consummate bluesman Charlie Brooks, frontman for The Way It Is, passed away on Jan. 2, and his family and friends are hosting a memorial and musical tribute.

Expect an all-star lineup featuring legions of players he shared the stage with and mentored. Charlie would have wanted a party.

Tobacco Friday, Jan. 15, High Noon Saloon, 8 pm

Tobacco’s records are a master blend of eerie and sublime synth songs, but the best way to consume him is in a live setting — at his freshest, strangest and most willing to push pop boundaries. Also performing on FRZN Fest’s second night are hard-rocking blues band All Them Witches, psychedelic synthpop outfit Mild High Club (which released its charming debut, Timeline, in October) and Baltimore’s shoegazy Wildhoney.

➡

WISCONSIN FESTS AT

THURSDAY

JAN 14

POP FEST

GGOOLLDD | THE LIVING STATUES OH MY LOVE | MODERN MOD TARPAULIN FRIDAY

JAN 15

PUNK FEST

TENEMENT | THE HUSSY | ZEBRAS THE MOGULS | THE AMERICAN DEAD SATURDAY

JAN 16

BLUEGRASS FEST

115 KING STREET, MADISON, WI GET TICKETS AND INFO AT MAJESTICMADISON.COM

WITH TACOS FROM

JANUARY 14–20, 2016 ISTHMUS.COM

DEAD HORSES | JOSEPH HUBER DIG DEEP | THEM COULEE BOYS

41

R HARD DOR RIC DO BIN N

n ISTHMUS PICKS : JAN 15 Rex’s Innkeeper, Waunakee: Nine Thirty Standard, free, 8:30 pm.

Ruth’s Chris Steak House, Middleton: John Widdicombe & Cliff Frederiksen, jazz, 6 pm.

Tip Top Tavern: Compact Deluxe, free, 10 pm.

Tuvalu Coffee, Verona: Stephen Lee Rich, free, 7 pm.

Up North Pub: The Apollo Affair, free, 8 pm.

VFW-Cottage Grove Road: Back 40, 7:30 pm.

Wisconsin Punk Fest Friday, Jan. 15, Majestic Theatre, 8 pm

PETE SEEGER: THE STORM KING SAT, JAN 23 | 8 PM

In Predatory Headlights, Appleton-based trio Tenement (pictured) created one of the best-reviewed albums of 2015. So what better way for the band to start 2016 than to headline what’s poised to be their home state’s premier punk show? Support will come from Madison-area acts the Hussy, Zebras (who also have roots in Milwaukee), the Moguls and the American Dead.

As a bonus, the El Grito Taqueria cart will be parked outside all night, so you can temper all that Pabst with delicious tacos.

Evocative multi-media tribute, featuring Seeger’s recorded spoken word with live music by Grammy winner Jeff Haynes.

JAN 13–17 JAN 23 JAN 28–29

Vocalosity: The Aca-Perfect Concert Experience

JAN 30

Overture’s Frostiball

FEB 2–7

The Sound of Music

FEB 11–14 FEB 21

FEB 27 FEB 27

ISTHMUS.COM JANUARY 14–20, 2016

42

These two longtime staples of the Madison music scene will perform at the Harmony to celebrate the friendly Atwood neighborhood institution’s 26th anniversary.

Badger Bowl: Rat Sass, 9:15 pm.

The Bayou: DJ Chamo, Latin, free, 10 pm Fridays.

MadCity Sessions: The Gomers

Cardinal Bar: Mideast Salsa, free, 5:30 pm; DJ Whodie Guthrie, 9 pm.

Duck Soup Cinema: Speedy Motown The Musical

MAR 6

Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood LIVE!

MAR 11

Friday, Jan. 15, Harmony Bar, 9 pm

MUMMENSCHANZ The Musicians of Silence

MAR 1–6

MAR 8

The Jimmys + the People Brothers Band (pictured)

STOMP

Trinity Irish Dance Co.

National Geographic Live: Stranger in a Strange Land Ahn-Core Ahn Trio!

MadCity Sessions: The Jimmys

MAR 24 FREE |

OVERTURECENTER.ORG | 608.258.4141

Opera and Literature: Free “Opera Novice” talk by Kathryn Smith, 6 pm, 1/15, Madison Opera Center.

238-8085.

A RT EXH I B I TS & EV EN TS

Friday, Jan. 15, James Watrous Gallery at Overture Center, 5:30-7:30 pm (reception)

Bandung: Jeff Alexander & Anapaula Strader, The Oudist Colony, Brazilian/Middle Eastern, free, 9 pm.

FEB 25 FREE |

T H EAT ER & DA N C E

Debbie Kupinsky + Allison Welch

Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Pete Seeger: The Storm King

Wil-Mar Center: Dave Schindele, John Max Jacobs, Joe Snare Vosen, Wild Hog in the Woods, 8 pm.

Brink Lounge: Bill Roberts Combo, jazz/blues, 9 pm.

Brocach-Square: The Currach, free, 5:30 pm Fridays.

Chief’s Tavern: Frankie Lee, Tim Haub & Doug DeRosa, blues/old-timey, 6:30 pm.

Club Tavern, Middleton: Universal Sound, free, 9 pm.

Essen Haus: David Austin Band, 8:30 pm Fri.-Sat. First Congregational United Church of Christ: con vivo!, “Noah’s Ark,” chamber music, 7:30 pm.

First Unitarian Society: Noon Musicale: Steve Waugh, guitar, free, 12:15 pm.

Fountain: Richard Shaten, piano, free, 8 pm Fridays.

The Frequency: 2nd Strings, Armchair Boogie, Flowpoetry, 10 pm.

Great Dane-Hilldale: DJ Landology, 9 pm.

Ivory Room: Peter Hernet, Vince Strong, Kevin Gale, dueling pianos, 8 pm.

Liquid: DJ Britt, 10 pm.

Louisianne’s, Middleton: Johnny Chimes, New Orleans piano, free, 6:30 pm Fri.-Sat. Merchant: DJ Phil Money, 10:30 pm.

Mr. Robert’s: The Revelators, Honor Monsters, Linda, free, 10 pm.

Natt Spil: DJ Nick Nice, free, 10 pm.

The Red Zone: Ultrea, Piranha, Aterra Tale, Almost Nothing, 8 pm.

Debbie Kupinsky’s sculptural installation “Recollections” combines slip-cast representations in chalky-white clay of “mundane” objects from nature and everyday life, along with other found objects, to investigate the relationships of materiality, memory and identity. Allison Welch delves into the American Girl series of books, imagery, costumes and settings to show the photographic interplay of autobiography and fictional worlds. On display through March 6.

Fresh Perspective Friday, Jan. 15, Overture Center’s Playhouse Gallery, 6-8 pm (reception)

The Fresh Perspective Arts Collective challenges negative stereotypes of black men with positive works by established and emerging visual and performing artists. Live performance pieces will be featured on the Rotunda Stage. On display through Feb. 28.

Iron Creek Natr. Paint: In Collaboration with Nature Friday, Jan. 15, Capitol Lakes Grand Hall, 7-8:30 pm (artist talk and reception)

Patrick JB Flynn, art director for the cutting-edge publication The Baffler, is a Madison-based artist/illustrator who’s made his mark nationally. This exhibit features art formed from exquisite photography, closeups from the natural world merged with Flynn’s offbeat sensibility.

On display through Feb. 27 at the Capitol Lakes Atrium and Henry Street Galleries.

Overture Center: Kent Williams, Gabe StraderBrown & Jo Scheder: “(im)material,” Gallery I; Spooky Boobs Collective: “The Patterns’ Vicious Influence,” Gallery II; Artworking: “33 con·ver·sa·tions,” Gallery III, through 3/6 (reception 6-8 pm, 1/15).

258-4169.

➡

YONDER MOUNTAIN STRING BAND

THURSDAYS H 8:30PM H FREE

BLUES Tate’s JAM FRI, JAN 15 8PM FREE

H H A Celebration of the Life and Music of

Charlie Brooks Join us for a memorial gathering and musical tribute to Charlie, featuring his long time band

The Way It Is and a who’s who of musicians

he played with and mentored.

SAT, JAN 16 H 9PM H $7 Album Release Party:

ROUGH NECK BLUES

Paul Filipowicz

SUNDAY, JAN. 17 8PM

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“A Powerhouse of Electric Blues Guitar”

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w/ The Backroom Harmony Band featuring EVAN MURDOCK, TEDDY DAVENPORT, DEREK PRITZL & COREY MATHEW HART

Frzn Fest

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

Tobacco / All Them Witches Mild High Club / Wildhoney

wed jan

20 thu jan

21

8pm $15 18+

Cajun Strangers

Red Rose Chachuba The Green Banditos

3-6pm $7 sug. don.

8:30 $5 adv, $8 dos 18+

Ignite Madison presents "Getting Away"

6:30pm $9 adv, $14 dos

The Tone Cluster: A Live Podcast

Thomas Wincek + Samarah Live!

5:30pm FREE

ROCKSTAR GOMEROKE live band karaoke 9pm FREE

NERD NITE 8pm FREE

MODERN MOD (Last Show!)

Surgeons In Heat / Post Social Trophy Dad / 8pm $7 18+

ON SALE 1/15 AT 10AM

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Frzn Fest

Wild Belle / John Mark Nelson Charly Bliss / Julien Baker

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FRIDAY 1/15 LIVE HAPPY HOUR

MIDEAST SALSA

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APR 6 APR 20

w/ DJs

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SUN

JAN 17 with DJ

FERNANDO 9PM ____________________

SUNDAY 1/17

JAN WHEATON TRIO DARREN STERUD ORCHESTRA EL CLAN____________________ DESTINO 6PM-Midnight EVERY TUESDAY

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

HARI KONDABOLU WITH GREG BACH

FRI

SORRY FOR PARTYING 2 WITH

SAT

BACK 2 SCHOOL BANGER WITH

JAN 22 JAN 23

ROD TUFFCURLS & THE BENCH PRESS CHILL HARRIS, ILLENIUM, AFFAIR

WED

RYAN BINGHAM

FRI

WHITEY MORGAN & CODY JINKS

TUE

TRUMP VS. BERNIE: THE DEBATE! STARRING

JAN 27 JAN 29 FEB 2

JAMES ADOMIAN & ANTHONY ATAMANUIK

TICKETS AVAILABLE AT MAJESTICMADISON.COM M AD I S O N ’S C L A S S IC DA N C E B A R

JANUARY 14–20, 2016 ISTHMUS.COM

19

TICKETS AVAILABLE AT MADISONORHEUM.COM YONDERMOUNTAIN.COM @YONDERMOUNTAIN

ANNIVERSARY PARTY!

8pm $15 18+

sat jan

SAT. JAN. 23 ORPHEUM THEATER WINTER TOUR 2016

THUR. JAN. 21 8-10:15 pm $7 sugg. don.

Frzn Fest

Torres / Eternal Summers 14 Palehound / American Wrestlers fri jan

2201 Atwood Ave.

43

n ISTHMUS PICKS : JAN 15 - 16 Amber Sowards: “Captured,” photographs of incarcerated youth, through 1/15, Arts & Literature Laboratory (panel discussion 6:30 pm, 1/15). allgallery.org.

NOW LEASING

Ingrid Dohm & Tina Duemler: “Moments Impressed,” paintings, through 3/4, Gallery Marzen. 709-1454.

SP ECTATOR SP ORTS Madison Capitols: USHL vs. Chicago, 7:05 pm, 1/15; vs. Green Bay, 7:05 pm, 1/16; vs. Cedar Rapids, 4:05 pm, 1/17 Alliant Energy Center-Coliseum. $20.50-$12.50. 267-3955.

UW Wrestling: vs. Iowa, 8 pm, 1/15, Field House. $5.

262-1440.

SP ECIAL EV ENTS Well Expo: Annual health & wellness event, 3-8 pm on 1/15 and 9 am-4 pm, 1/16, Monona Terrace, with speakers, seminars, spa services, fitness classes & exhibitors. $5 (free with two food donations for River Food Pantry). wellexpomadison.com.

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Events: Free community dinner, 4:30-7 pm, 1/15, UW Gordon Dining & Event Center. 213-7907.

sat jan 16 M USIC

Downtown Living. Elevated.

APPAREL & FOOTWEAR XC SKI & SNOWSHOES DOWNHILL SKI & SNOWBOARD

ISTHMUS.COM JANUARY 14–20, 2016

44

SELECT WINTER APPAREL & EQUIPMENT

• The North Face • Keen • Patagonia • Mountain Hardwear • Burton • Columbia • K2 • Fischer • Salomon

Gray’s Tied House, Verona: Brian McLaughlin, 8:30 pm.

Harlem Renaissance Museum: The Dalton Gang, jazz, 8:30 pm.

Ivory Room: Peter Hernet, Michael Massey, Kevin Gale, dueling pianos, 8 pm.

Knuckle Down Saloon: Paul Filipowicz, blues, 9 pm.

Lakeside Street Coffee: Northern Comfort, 7 pm.

Lazy Oaf Lounge: The Northern Hooks, 10 pm.

Liliana’s Restaurant, Fitchburg: John Widdicombe & Larry Stout, jazz, free, 6:30 pm.

Liquid: DJ Nick Magic, EDM, 10 pm.

Merchant: DJ Mike Carlson, free, 10:30 pm.

Mezze: Charlie Painter & Friends, jazz, free, 9 pm.

Mickey’s Tavern: KaBOOM!Box DJs, Open Mic, David Bowie tribute, free, 10 pm.

Mr. Robert’s: Ghost Socket, Various Small Fires, Known to Wander, free, 10 pm.

Natt Spil: DJ Ted Offensive, free, 10 pm.

Oakwood Village-University Woods Center for Arts & Education: Oakwood Chamber Players, “Fairy Tales & Other Stories,” 7 pm. Also: 1:30 pm, 1/17.

The Red Zone: Order Of The Jackal, Samyaza, 40 oz.

Fist, Grave Remains, Cold Black River, metal, 8 pm.

Rex’s, Waunakee: Nine Thirty Standard, free, 8:30 pm.

Tricia’s Country Corners, McFarland: Drive By Night, classic rock, 9 pm.

.com

WINTER SALE! 50%

Crystal Corner Bar: Gold Dust Women (Fleetwood Mac tribute), Beat of Burden (Rolling Stones), The BJ Experience (Billy Joel), 9:30 pm.

Tip Top Tavern: Miguel McQuade Trio, free, 10 pm.

Tuvalu Coffee, Verona: Greg McMonagle, free, 7 pm.

Tyranena Brewing Co., Lake Mills: The Dang-Its, honky tonk, free, 7 pm.

open house thu 4-7 & sat 10-4 or by appt | 306 w main st | corner of main & henry

Suapvtoe

Come Back In: The Sparks Band, ‘60s rock. free, 9 pm.

A RTS N OT I C ES

Wisconsin Bluegrass Fest Saturday, Jan. 16, Majestic Theatre, 8 pm

The last of this year’s Isthmus-sponsored Wisconsin music festivals puts the state’s top bluegrass artists on display. Milwaukee’s Dead Horses (pictured) headlines after a transformative year that included lineup changes, sonic alterations and a recording session in Nashville with former Wilco and Uncle Tupelo drummer Ken Coomer. Also playing: Former .357 String Band member Joseph Huber brings his solo chops, Stevens Point stompers Dig Deep show off dexterous playing and husky voices, and Hixton’s Them Coulee Boys mix it up with a more folky rock-influenced sound.

Wild Belle Saturday, Jan. 16, High Noon Saloon, 8 pm

DOWNTOWN:

216 N. Henry St. M-S 10-8 608.257.5043 SUN 11-6

WEST:

231 Junction Rd. M-S 10-9 608.833.9191 SUN 10-7

www.FontanaSports.com

The final night of FRZN Fest features a headlining set from Wild Belle, a pair of Chicago siblings whose brand of pop music is influenced by ska, funk, reggae and psychedelics. Support comes from John Mark Nelson, a Minnesotabased guitar popper who sounds like a Midwestern version of Gotye; Charly Bliss, a self-described “bubblegrunge” quartet from New York; and Julien Baker, a 20-year-old Tennessean who plays songs as haunting as they are beautiful.

Alchemy Cafe: DJs Trichrome, Vilas Park Sniper, 10 pm.

Badger Bowl: Red Hot Horn Dawgs, 9:15 pm.

Cardinal Bar: DJ Fernando, 9 pm.

Club Tavern, Middleton: Eddie Butts Band, free, 9 pm.

Double Reed Day: Oboe & bassoon players of all ages gather for classes & rehearsal, 1-6:30 pm, 1/16, UW Humanities Bldg.-Mills Hall ($20 includes dinner); concert follows at 7 pm (free; all welcome).

RSVP: vallon@wisc.edu. 263-1900.

S PO K EN WO RD Madison Story Slam: All welcome to share “humiliation” themed stories, with host Adam Rostad, 7 pm, 1/16, Wil-Mar Center. 395-4095.

Urban Spoken Word: Poetry slam, with music by MTrane Plus, $5, 7 pm, 1/16, Genna’s Lounge.

332-4643.

S PEC I A L EV EN TS Isthmus Beer & Cheese Fest: Annual event, 2:306:30 pm, 1/16, Alliant Energy Center-Exhibition Hall, with samples, pairing presentations, music by Piano Fondue. $50 adv.; 21+ only. isthmusbeercheese.com.

251-5627.

Bald Eagle Watching Days: Annual free event, 7 pm on 1/15 and 8 am-4 pm, 1/16, River Arts Center, Prairie du Sac (and other locations), plus eagle watching tours along the Wisconsin River, kids activities & more. ferrybluffeaglecouncil.org. 800-683-2453.

Southern Wisconsin Trout Unlimited Icebreaker: Annual event, 9 am-4 pm, 1/16, American Family Insurance Headquarters, with speakers including Jeff Currier, demos, kids’ activities including “Stream Explorers” workshop 9 am-noon, raffle, food. $10 (free ages under 12). swtu.org.

Steinway & Sons Grand Re-opening: Renovated piano store, 2-6:30 pm, 1/16, 6629 Mineral Point Road, with piano storytime for kids by author Adam Dachman 3:30 pm, New Muse Chamber Ensemble 5:30 pm, refreshments. Free. 237-7373.

Madfest Juggling Festival: Annual extravaganza variety show 7 pm, 1/16, Barrymore Theatre ($25; $20 adv.; 241-8633). Also: Free open juggling, vendors & more, 7 pm-midnight, 1/15, Patrick Marsh Middle School, Sun Prairie; and 10 am-5 pm, 1/16-17, Cardinal Heights Upper Middle School, Sun Prairie. madjugglers.com.

➡

ISTHMUSWELCOMES

YONDER MOUNTAIN

ISTHMUS

WISCONSIN FESTS

STRING BAND

ORPHEUM JAN. 23

BARRYMORE

THEATRE

2090 Atwood Ave. (608) 241-8864

SAT. JAN. 16 - 7PM

SOLD OUT LAST 46 YEARS! __________________________________________________

MADISON AREA JUGGLERS PRESENT WELCOME

B

THE 4 7 TH A N N U A L

b

MADFEST

MAJESTIC JAN. 14-16

JUGGLING

EXTRAVAGANZA B b WITH EMCEE

RYAN BINGHAM MAJESTIC JAN. 27

JOSH RITTER

MARKHAYWARD

__________________________________________________

Tickets $20 advance, $25 d.o.s.

BARRYMORE JAN. 28

presents

ISTHMUS FROSTIBALL

O.A.R.

ORPHEUM FEB. 13

BARRYMORE FEB. 20

OVERTURE JAN. 30

AFTER PARTY SHANNON HALL FEB. 2

Leo Kottke with very special guest

CLOUD CULT WIN TICKETS ISTHMUS.COM/PROMOTIONS

Steve Forbert Tickets $36 advance

Tickets 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.

JANUARY 14–20, 2016 ISTHMUS.COM

METRIC

SAT. JAN. 30 - 8PM

45

n ISTHMUS PICKS : JAN 16 - 21

TREX ELECTRONIC NIGHT THURS JAN 14 . 9PM

S PECTATOR SP ORTS UWBar Track·&Bar Field:&vs.Grill Notre·Dame, 11 am, 1/16, Camp Sports Event Venue Randall Memorial Sports Center. Free. 262-1440.

Funk’s Pub, Fitchburg: Open Jam, free, 8 pm Sundays.

RECRE ATION & GAM ES

Grace Episcopal Church: Madison Sacred Harp Singers, Shape-note singing (all invited to sing), 3 pm.

Free Fishing Weekend: No license required for fishing in all Wisconsin lakes & streams, 1/16-17. dnr.wi.gov. 888-936-7463.

High Noon Saloon: Cajun Strangers, 3 pm; Red Rose, Chachuba, The Green Banditos, 8:30 pm.

ULTREA. LIVE WELCOME FRI JAN 15 8PM BACK .

Piranha Aterra Tale Almost Nothing . 3Pence STUDENTS

ss

PM

also with

s

Dairyland Walkers: 5/10K indoor walk at East Towne Mall, register 7:45 am-10 am, 1/16, Firestone. $2 $3 with volkssport credit). 849-5702.

erhive

M

also with

LEAGUE TRIVIA

Thur - TriviaBallroom 8-10pm USA Dance-Madison: dance, 7:45-10 pm, Mon. 6:30-7:45 PM Thurs. 8 PM 1/16, Prairie Athletic Club, Sun Prairie. $12 (lesson 1212 REGENT ST. 608-251-6766 12127 REGENT ST. 608-251-6766 pm). 836-4004.

THEREDZONEMADISON.COM THEREDZONEMADISON.COM KI D S & FAM ILY

WIN

FREE STUFF FROM

Kids in the Rotunda: Magic Morgan & Liliana, 9:30 & 11 am and 1 pm, 1/16, Overture CenterRotunda Stage. 258-4141.

Madison Waldorf School Open House: Meet teachers & parents, kids’ activities, 10 am-noon, 1/16, 6510 Schroeder Rd. 270-9005.

Day at the Cabin: Drop-in games, crafts & stories for ages 4-12, 10 am-2 pm, 1/16, Wisconsin Historical Museum. Free. 264-6555.

Kids Zumba: 10 am-1 pm, 1/16, DreamBank. RSVP: dreamfearlessly.com/dreambank. 286-3150.

WISCONSIN’S BEST

BEER GUIDE

BY KEVIN REVOLINSKI

2016 FROSTIBALL

ISTHMUS

Meet the Musician: Olga Draguieva, violin, 11 am, 1/16, Madison Children’s Museum. $8 admission.

256-6445.

Brocach Irish Pub-Square: Open Mic with Andy Richard, free, 8:30 pm Tuesdays.

Cardinal Bar: New Breed Jazz Jam, 9 pm Tuesdays.

Crystal Corner Bar: David Hecht & the Who Dat, R&B/reggae, 9 pm.

COM EDY

Hari Kondabolu Sunday, Jan. 17, Majestic Theatre, 8 pm

Essen Haus: Brian Erickson, free, 6:30 pm Tue.-Wed. Free House Pub, Middleton: The Westerlies, Irish, free, 7:30 pm Tuesdays.

The Frequency: The Apollo Affair, Karen Wheelock, Danny Fox, 8:30 pm.

High Noon Saloon: Rock Star Gomeroke, free, 9 pm.

With the presidential election less than a year away, political comics like Hari Kondabolu have to be salivating at all of the material that the candidates are providing. Kondabolu is a sharp, human rights-focused talent whose musings on race, stereotypes and the environment have made him a go-to critic in today’s sociopolitical circus. (See page 37.) With Greg Bach.

Ivory Room: Josh Dupont, free, 9 pm Tuesdays.

SP OKEN WORD

Up North Pub: Paul Matushek, free, 8 pm.

Winter Festival of Poetry: Readings by Andrea Musher, Alex Harwood, Beth Turner, Araceli Esparza, Brent Christianson, Sandy Stark, 2 pm, 1/17, Fountain. 242-7340.

S PEC I A L EV EN TS

RECREATION & GAM ES Shoe the Zoo: Snowshoe lessons, 11 am & 1 pm, 1/17, Vilas Park. $20 (half donated to zoo). RSVP: fontanasports.com.

SP ECTATOR SP ORTS

Kid Disco: With DJ Nick Nice, 11 am, 1/16, Great Dane-Hilldale. $5 ($15/family). 661-9400.

UW Men’s Basketball: vs. Michigan State, 12:30 pm, 1/17, Kohl Center. $41-$26. 262-1440.

POL I T I CS & ACTIV ISM

SP ECIAL EV ENTS

Where Money Matters in Congress: League of Women Voters of Dane County Lively Issues Forum, 1 pm, 1/16, Capitol Lakes-Grand Hall. 232-9447.

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Events: Urban League’s Youth Recognition Breakfast, 8 am, 1/17, Edgewood High School. $10; ulgm.org. 213-7907.

sun jan 17

mon jan 18

MUS I C

M USIC

Liliana’s Restaurant, Fitchburg: John Vitale, Marilyn Fisher & Ken Kuehl, jazz, free, 5:30 pm Tuesdays.

Louisianne’s, Middleton: Johnny Chimes, New Orleans piano, free, 6 pm Tue.-Wed. Mason Lounge: Five Points Jazz Collective, free, 9 pm Tuesdays.

Natt Spil: DJ WangZoom, free, 10 pm.

Neighborhood House: Bluegrass Jam, 7 pm Tuesdays.

Ignite Madison: “Getting Away” presentations, 6:30 pm, 1/19, High Noon Saloon, with DJ Mike Carlson, raffle. $14 ($9 adv.) benefits Arts Wisconsin. ignitemadison.org.

L EC T URES & S EMI N A RS History Sandwiched In: Brown-bag lunch program, “The Christmas Tree Ship: Rouse Simmons,” by Tamara Thomsen, 12:15 pm, 1/19, Wisconsin Historical Museum. $3 donation. 264-6555.

Live from Antarctica! (En Vivo Desde Antártida!): Lecture (in English/Spanish) by PolarTREC researcher Juan Botella, 6 pm, 1/19, Aldo Leopold Nature Center, Monona. 221-0404.

wed jan 20 MUS I C

Alchemy Cafe: DJ Samroc, free, 10 pm Mondays.

Cold Fusion, Middleton: Bluegrass Jam, free, 6:30 pm Mondays (new venue).

AFTERPARTY JAN 30

Alchemy Cafe: Ted Keys Trio, free, 10 pm Tuesdays.

Come Back In: WheelHouse, free, 5 pm Tuesdays.

Tip Top Tavern: Open Mic, free, 9 pm Sundays.

Park Community Recreation Center. $7. 692-3394.

MUS I C

Maduro: DJ Nick Nice, free, 10 pm Sundays.

Dairyland Cowboys & Cowgirls: Two-steps/line dancing, 6-10 pm, 1/16, Five Nightclub. 255-9131.

Wisconsin Tango Milonga: 816pm-midnight, 1/16, *Burger with 2 free toppings, oz Miller Light

tue jan 19

Liliana’s: Cliff Frederiksen, jazz, free, 10:30 am Sundays.

Natt Spil: DJ Prince of Ravens, free, 10 pm.

Tempo Ballroom & Latin Dance Studio. $10 (beginner lesson 7 pm). 622-7697.

Samyaza . Grave Remains BREAKFAST Sat-Sun 10am-1pm Contra Dance: Music by Chuck Hornemann, Hans .

40ozfist Cold Black River Verick, caller-Carol Orrmand, 6:30 7-10 pm, 1/16, Warner Mon Zumba!

ZUMBA FITNESS

Java Cat: Nick Matthews, free, 9:30 am Sundays; Jeff Larsen, fingerstyle guitar, free, 1 pm.

DAN CI NG

Burger, Fries, Beer* $7 ORDER OF THE JACKALS Mon-Fri 6-9pm . .

FRI JAN 16 8 PM $7

Farley’s House of Pianos: Alessio Bax & Lucille Chung, piano, 4 pm.

The Frequency: Summer Underground, 8:30 pm.

Mr. Robert’s: Open Jam, free, 9:30 pm Mondays.

OVERTURE CENTER

Natt Spil: DJ SiLas Be, free, 10 pm.

Up North Pub: The Wang Show, free, 7 pm.

SP ECIAL EV ENTS

ISTHMUS.COM/PROMOTIONS

Jazz Fest

ISTHMUS.COM JANUARY 14–20, 2016

Sunday, Jan. 17, Cardinal Bar, 6 pm

46

@IsthmusMadison follow for fun photos :)

The lineup for the Greater Madison Jazz Consortium’s second annual fundraiser is a diverse who’s who of the local scene.

Performers include jazz vocalist Jan Wheaton (pictured) (accompanied by Jim Erickson and Laurie Lang), the Darren Sterud Orchestra and El Clan Destino.

Donation proceeds will be split evenly between performers and the Consortium.

Bourbon Street Grille, Monona: Madison Jazz Jam, free (all ages), 4 pm.

Brocach-Square: McFadden’s Fancy, free, 4:30 pm.

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Events: State observance noon, 1/18, Capitol Rotunda, with guest speaker Aja Brown, music by Tremper High School Band, University of Illinois Black Chorus. Freedom songs singin 5 pm & annual city-county observance, 6 pm, 1/18, Overture Center-Capitol Theater, with keynote by Ernest Green, King Humanitarian Award presentation, performance by MLK Community Choir. 213-7907.

RECREATION & GAM ES MLK Skate Day: Open skate fundraiser for Dane County Humane Society, 12:30-2:30 pm, 1/18, Hartmeyer Ice Arena. $4 ($3 youth). 838-0413 ext. 118.

KIDS & FAM ILY Adventures with Aldo: Vacation day program for ages 5-12, 9 am-4 pm, 1/18, Aldo Leopold Nature Center, Monona. $55 ($71 extended day). RSVP: 221-0404.

Mutts Wednesday, Jan. 20, The Frequency, 8 pm

Mutts call Chicago home, but they are rarely there, choosing instead to fill up their calendars with hundreds of shows on the road; they’ve become a staple of Madison’s live music scene with repeated visits. This solo show by frontman Mike Maimone features his gravelly vocals and theatrical piano playing, delivering grungy, bluesy, drunken rock ’n’ roll that’s sure to be a treat. With Pony Bradshaw.

Brink Lounge: Aaron Williams & the Hoodoo, blues, free, 8 pm.

Cardinal Bar: DJs Brook, Siberia, fetish night, 9 pm.

Ivory Room: Jim Ripp, Nicky Jordan, pianos, 9 pm.

The Frequency: Mutts, Pony Bradshaw, We Are the Wild Things, 8 pm.

Kiki’s House: High Plains Jamboree, house concert (RSVP: righteousmusicmgmt@gmail.com), 8 pm.

High Noon Saloon: Tone Cluster podcast recording with Thomas Wincek, Samarah, free, 5:30 pm.

Merchant: Old Soul Society, free, 10 pm.

Ivory Room: Michael Massey, piano, free, 9 pm.

Luther Memorial Church: Organ Recital, Bruce Bengtson, organ recital, free, noon Wednesdays.

DO YOU HAVE ASTHMA? Participate in The Well-Being Study!

Mickey’s Tavern: DJ Evan Woodward, free, 10 pm.

T HE AT E R & DANCE

Natt Spil: DJ Umi, free, 10 pm.

Opus Lounge: Teddy Davenport, free, 9 pm.

Up North Pub: MoonHouse, free, 8 pm.

SP OKEN WO R D Nerd Nite: Free social gathering/informal presentations, 8 pm, 1/20, High Noon Saloon. 268-1122.

A RT EX H I B I TS & E VE N TS Wisconsin Regional Art Program: 1/20-3/4, River Arts Center Gallery, Spring Green. 643-5215.

Rafael Francisco Salas, Catharine Wall, Isabel Rafferty: Various media, 1/20-2/21, Edgewood CollegeThe Stream Gallery. 663-3252.

SP ECTATO R S P O RTS UW Women’s Basketball: vs. Maryland, 7 pm, 1/20, Kohl Center. $7. 262-1440.

FU NDRA I S ER S Briarpatch Fundraiser: JBC Coffee Roasters coffee or hot chocolate in exchange for donations to Briarpatch Youth Services, 6:30 am-noon, 1/20, Rosie’s Coffee Bar & Bakery. briarpatch.org.

thu jan 21 MU SI C

ONE: an evening of solos Thursday, Jan. 21, Gates of Heaven, 7:30 pm

Liz Sexe doesn’t just have the best name; she’s a mover and shaker in Madison’s independent dance scene. For this event, she’s presenting an intimate performance showcasing works by choreographers Janelle Bentley, Alyce Finwall (performed

by Sexe), Maureen Janson (performed

by Jessica Hoyt), Abbey Laufenberg, Olivia Rivard, Susan Douglas Roberts (performed by Collette Stewart) and Sexe (performed by Lauren Gibbs). For dance lovers, it’s bound to be heaven.

Confessions of a Wannabe Soccer Mom: An Unconventional Journey Into Womanhood: One-woman show by Dina Nina Martinez, 7:30 pm on 1/21 and 8 pm, 1/22, Brink Lounge, plus stand-up by Stephanie Riedel. $20. dinaninamartinez.com. 661-8599.

COME DY

The Center for Investigating Healthy Minds at the Waisman Center is looking for participants for a research study on the impact of health wellness classes on the brain and body.

If enrolled, participants complete up to 20 lab visits over 10 months.

All participants will receive a Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) class.

Must be 18-65 years old with a current diagnosis of asthma.

Participants may receive up to $1575 upon completion of the study.

Lab visits will include asthma testing, EEG and MRI studies.

If you are interested in participating, please visit go.wisc.edu/asthma to see if you qualify.

If you have any questions about the study, please email study staff at wellbeingstudy@bi.wisc.edu or call 608-263-0803.

WIN ISTHMUS’ W W II N N II S ST TH HM MU US S ’’

U LT LT II M M AT AT E E U Modern Mod Thursday, Jan. 21, High Noon Saloon, 8 pm

In their five-year existence, Modern Mod have become Madison’s most beloved bedroom-pop band, releasing one fulllength album and landing a gig with Matt & Kim along the way. The teenage group has a knack for infusing pop-rock with a splash of sun and a handful of hooks. They’ll take the stage for the last time here, and will surely be missed. They’ll be joined by Surgeons in Heat, Post Social and Trophy Dad. Alchemy Cafe: Pine Travelers, Americana, free, 10 pm.

Badger Bowl: Scott Wilcox, Duncan Peterson, 8 pm.

Cafe Carpe, Fort Atkinson: Tricia Alexander, 7 pm.

Club Tavern, Middleton: Pat McCurdy, free, 9 pm.

Essen Haus: Big Wes Turner’s Trio, Americana, 9 pm.

Frequency: Alex Kostka, Spell, Christopher Gold, 9 pm.

Great Dane-Downtown: Beat Chefs, free, 10 pm.

Harmony Bar: Backroom Harmony Band with Evan Murdock, Teddy Davenport, Derek Pritzl, Corey Mathew Hart, Americana, 8 pm.

Thursday, Jan. 21, Comedy Club on State, 8:30 pm

You might not recognize this standup comic’s name, but you’ve probably seen his face. He’s performed on Conan, had a role in The Wolf of Wall Street and has appeared in Taco Bell, Honda and Miller Lite commercials. Rothbart was named one of Variety’s “10 Comics to Watch” in 2013.

With Danny Solomon, Fritz. ALSO: Friday and Saturday (8 & 10:30 pm), Jan. 22-23.

ART E XHI BITS & EV ENTS TetraPAKMAN (aka Victor Castro): “The Point of No Return,” 1/21-3/4, Madison College-Downtown Gallery 211 (reception 4-6 pm, 1/21). 258-2437.

L ECT URE S & SEM INARS The Busch-Reisinger Museum at Harvard University Art Museums: A Legacy Reimagined: UW Department of Art History lecture by curator Lynette Roth, 7:30 pm, 1/21, Elvehjem Bldg-Room L140. 263-2340.

SEARCH THE FULL CALENDAR OF EVENTS AT ISTHMUS.COM

EX XP PE ER R II E EN NC CE E E EXPERIENCE S AT, J A N 3 0

S AT,2 J0A1 6 N 30 GSAAT, LA 1 1 3P0M J8A1-6 N 20 G A L A2 081- 61 1 P M GALA 8-11 PM

ISTHMUS A FITSETRH M P AURST Y A 1F1ITSP ETM RH-M P2AUARSM TY A 1F1T PE M R -P2AAR M TY 11 PM-2 AM

PAC K AG E I N C L U D E S PAC K AG E I N C L U D E S PAC K AG E I N C L U D E S

2 FROSTIBALL TICKETS 2 FROSTIBALL TICKETS ONE NIGHT STAY AT THE CONCOURSE 2 FROSTIBALL TICKETS ONE NIGHT STAY AT DINNER FORSTAY TWOAT ATTHE AN CONCOURSE ONE NIGHT THE CONCOURSE DINNER FOR TWO AT AN $150 MEAL AT CENTO UPSCALE DOWNTOWN RESTAURANT DINNER FOR TWO AT AN UPSCALE DOWNTOWN RESTAURANT Find out how to DOWNTOWN enter at UPSCALE RESTAURANT Find out how to enter at isthmus.com/ultimatefrostiballexperience Find out how to enter at

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JANUARY 14–20, 2016 ISTHMUS.COM

Cardinal Bar: DJ Fernando, 10 pm.

Barry Rothbart

47

n EMPHASIS

A local decluttering consultant weighs in

BY CANDICE WAGENER

So you’ve made it through the holidays, only to look around and wonder, “What do I do with all this new stuff?”

Claire Peters, who calls herself “De Queen of Declutter,” says this time of year can be especially hard, because people have emotional attachments to items given as gifts. She suggests people assess what they don’t use or don’t even like and get it out of their house by donating it so others can get some enjoyment out of it.

Peters’ job is to help people manage their clutter. She began her organizing advice business in 2014, just about the same time that Marie Kondo’s wildly popular book The LifeChanging Magic of Tidying Up was published.

“People are more motivated to tidy up now than ever before,” says Peters. “I almost feel as

if clutter has become the new smoking in some ways. Decluttering has become the thing to do.”

People can “think more clearly, be more productive and be happier when they have less clutter,” she says.

Do people really need help in getting stuff out of their living spaces? “It can be very difficult to let go of things, and having someone there to help with that can be really beneficial,” says Peters.

With a master’s degree in counseling from the UW-Madison and a day job for the past 15 years as a career counselor at her alma mater, Peters approaches her clients in a kind, nonjudgmental way.

“I would never presume to know what someone needs to get rid of,” says Peters.

dequeenofdeclutter.com 608-620-3510

“It’s really about listening and empathy.”

When a potential client contacts Peters, she does an initial assessment of their needs over the phone or by email. Next, she visits the client’s space, preferably in person, although sometimes she continues the process over the phone or via Skype if the client prefers.

For $150, Peters offers the “Three-Hour Jump Start,” helping clients decide where to start — be it a kitchen cabinet or corner of a closet. She gently guides the process of choosing what stays and what goes. She’ll also provide tips to keep the clutter at bay when she leaves, and even make the haul to the donation center of your choice for you.

Developing a system of organization that works for you is crucial in managing the clutter,

HOLLY WHITTLEF

The tidy-up craze

CLAIRE PETERS, DE QUEEN OF DECLUTTER

says Peters. It doesn’t have to be elaborate; it just has to keep the mess under control. One rule of thumb: Everything has a place, and it should always be put back in that place when you’re done with it, she says.

Go through both objects and papers on a set schedule — weekly, monthly, whatever works for you — and toss, recycle or shred whatever you don’t need. Don’t pile stuff up indefinitely on your dining room table, which is something Peters sees a lot of.

After all, she asks, “What do you actually want to use your furniture for?” n

ISTHMUS.COM JANUARY 14–20, 2016

Bins ’n’ stuff

48

If you absolutely, positively can’t bear to throw things away, you should at least keep your space tidy by hiding objects in something pretty.

BARN RED FABRIC DRAWER from Martha Stewart Living/Home Depot CANVAS BASKET from Crate & Barrel AUBURN WICKER BASKET from Crate & Barrel

It’s quite possible you’ll feel better throwing out what you no longer need if you use a pretty trash bag.

If the bags themselves are taking over your life, organize those.

DECORATIVE GINGHAM TRASH BAGS from partytrashbags.com

AXIS OVERCABINET GROCERY BAG HOLDER from the Container Store

n CLASSIFIEDS

Housing Open House this Sunday, January 17th from 1-3, 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. $373,000.00 Robin Taylor, Restaino & Associates 608-576-6097

Buy-Sell-Exchange Matching people and property for over 20 years. Achieve your goals! Free consult. www.andystebnitz.com.

Andy Stebnitz 608-692-8866 Restaino & Associates Realtors BADGER CHIMNEY LLC Fireplace & Chimney Sweeping and Repair Call (608) CHI-MNEY (244-6639)

LAKESHORE/MANSION HILL 1 bdrm, $800 incl util. Available Immediately.

Quiet - security - laundry - private pier.

No pets. 608-256 8525.

UW • EDGEWOOD • ST MARY’S Quiet and smoke-free 1 & 2 bedroom apartments starting at $775. Newer kitchens with dishwashers & microwaves. FREE HEAT, WATER, STORAGE. No pets. On-site office with package service. All calls answered 24/7. Intercom entry.

Indoor bicycle parking. Close to bus, grocery, restaurants, and bike trail. Shenandoah Apartments, 1331 South Street, 608-256-4747, ShenandoahApartments@gmail.com SHORT-TERM RENTALS Luxury furnished apt with resort hotel services, everything incl in rent. “All you need is your toothbrush.”

1, 2, 3 bdrms from $375+/wk or $1495+/mo.

Countryside Apartments. 608-271-0101, open daily! www.countrysidemadison.com ALL AREAS ROOMMATES.COM. Lonely?

Bored? Broke? Find the perfect roommate to complement your personality and lifestyle at Roommates.com! (AAN CAN)

Jobs MADCAT seeks full/part-time service rockstars, must have retail experience, strong work ethic, love people and pets.

Love cats? Awesome. Can you lift and carry at least 50lbs? Good. Can you be friendly and attentive to multiple clients at the same time?

Rock on.

Detailed and personalized cover-letters and resumes accepted at all locations. No phone calls, please.

Pay: $10-$15

Vent dependent male in downtown Madison area looking for energetic RNs/LPNs to join our team. Part-time 8 hour night shifts available. RN rate is $32.69/hr. LPN rate is $21.79/hr. If interested, please reply to mrderickp@charter.net.

Man with disability needs high level of care with health issues. Multiple shifts available. $11.66/hr. Contact Tina at (608) 630-4369 for more information.

Volunteer with UNITED WAY Volunteer Center Call 246-4380 or visit volunteeryourtime.org to learn about opportunities Event staff is needed for the Urban League’s 32nd Annual Martin Luther King Jr. Youth Recognition Breakfast on Sun, Jan 18. Volunteer tasks include seating guests, coffee servers, food servers, food runners, and clean-up.

Literacy Network is looking for a fantastic volunteer available Jan-Apr to oversee planning and implementation of the annual Busking for Books fundraiser. During this event musicians “busk” (perform for money) throughout State Street, donating collected money to support Literacy Network programs helping local adults struggling with low-literacy.

The United Way Volunteer Center is seeking an organized person to serve as a Website Assistant. This volunteer will be responsible for updating and maintaining the listings of agencies and volunteer opportunities on VolunteerYourTime.org. Must pay attention to detail, be proficient in using internet and general computer skills, and possess friendly phone etiquette.

the 2016 Isthmus

Book of Love send us your lovely words and pretty pictures

Services & Sales PREGNANT? THINKING OF ADOPTION? Talk with caring agency specializing in matching Birthmothers with Families Nationwide.

LIVING EXPENSES PAID. Call 24/7 Abby’s One True Gift Adoptions. 866-413-6293. Void in Illinois/New Mexico/Indiana (AAN CAN) CHECK OUT THE FOUNDRY FOR MUSIC LESSONS & REHEARSAL STUDIOS & THE NEW BLAST HOUSE STUDIO FOR RECORDING! 608-270-2660, madisonmusicfoundry.com CASH FOR CARS: We Buy Any Condition Vehicle, 2002 and Newer. Nationwide Free Pick Up! Call Now: 1-888-420-3808 www.cash4car.com (AAN CAN)

Happenings NEW YEAR, NEW AIRLINE CAREERS – Get training as FAA certified Aviation Technician.

Financial aid for qualified students. Career placement assistance. Call Aviation Institute of Maintenance 800-725-1563 (AAN CAN)

The Isthmus Book of Love online entry is now open, accepting your words and pictures ’til midnight Sunday, Feb. 7.

Isthmus will publish a selection in print Thursday, Feb. 11, with a web slideshow to follow in plenty of time for Valentine’s Day.

Upload your words and pictures online

isthmus.com/book-of-love-2016 PRESENTED BY

SHOW SOME LOVE FOR OUR SPONSOR!

JANUARY 14–20, 2016 ISTHMUS.COM

Normal business hours require weeknight and weekend availability. Position requires a selfstarter with a drive to provide relentless service. Learn about companion animal nutrition and behavior and use your communication skills to help clients make informed decisions concerning their pets well-being.

Call 608-301-0309 (leave message) about a job that provides good pay, great hours, and high satisfaction. I’m an easy going disabled man living near MATC East seeking a personal care assistant eight overnights per month at $1000/month. No experience needed. Don’t pass this one by!

49

GET TICKETS FOR THESE EVENTS!

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Health & Wellness Swedish Massage For Men, providing immediate Stress, Tension and Pain Relief. Seven days a week by appt.—same day appointments available.

Contact Steve, CMT at: ph/ text 608.277.9789 or acupleasur@aol.com.

Gift certificates available for any reason or season @ ABC Massage Studio!

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WITH FEATURED SPIRITS & COCKTAILS FROM TWISTED PATH DISTILLERY

Sunday, January 17 at 6pm

ISTHMUS CLASSIFIEDS

GIB’S BAR

Call 608-251-5627 to place an ad. isthmus.com/classifieds

MAD ROLLIN’ DOLLS SEASON 12 GAME 2:

“NEW YEARS BRUISE-O-LUTIONS”

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Order now! 844-244-7149 (M-F 9am-8pm central) (AAN CAN) Learn new ways of responding to conflict with others and eliminate our painful feelings.

KMC Madison, 1825 S Park St., Madison, 608-661-3211, meditationinmadison.org

JONESIN’ “Worst of Pop Culture, 2015”--a year to remember.

Saturday, January 23 at 3:30pm ALLIANT ENERGY CENTER EXHIBITION HALL

CLEAN LAKES ALLIANCE

FROZEN ASSETS

FUNDRAISER Saturday, February 6 at 8pm THE EDGEWATER

A CELEBRATION OF

AMERICAN DISTILLING Saturday, February 20 at 5pm

ISTHMUS.COM JANUARY 14–20, 2016

THE EDGEWATER

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AMERICAN FAMILY INSURANCE CHAMPIONSHIP Friday, June 24 - Sunday, June 26 UNIVERSITY RIDGE GOLF COURSE DO YOUR TICKETING WITH ISTHMUS AND LIST YOUR EVENT HERE. INTERESTED? EMAIL CWINTERHACK@ISTHMUS.COM

ISTHMUSTICKETS.COM

ACROSS

1 Muppet with an orange nose 5 Certain physical measurement, for short 8 “___ first you don’t succeed ...”

1 2Short, shrill sound 13 ___ fro 15 “___ arigato, Mr. Roboto” 16 Poultry herb 17 Nomadic mob 18 Class with graphs, for short 19 2015 superhero film reboot with a 9% score on Rotten Tomatoes 22 Iggy Azalea/Britney Spears collaboration, listed on Entertainment Weekly’s Worst Singles of 2015 23 “Mission: Impossible” character Hunt

25 26 29 31 32 33

“Full,” at a theater Hatha and bikram, for two Weather map lines Get hold of again Feline tooth President who’s thanked a lot?

37 College in New Rochelle, New York 38 “Oh, yeah!”

39 Santa-tracking defense gp.

40 Paper wounds 41 Canadian vocal tics that aren’t as commonplace as Americans think 42 Doesn’t say outright 44 Little ___ (“Languages for Kids” learning series) 45 Short-lived Rainn Wilson cop show, listed on Yahoo’s Worst TV Shows of 2015 47 Change places with one’s wrestling teammate

50 ___ of Sauron 51 Seafood selections 55 Power shake need 57 Rooster’s morning perch 59 Choir 60 Mix it up (var.)

61 2015 Adam Sandler movie that got an epic ten-minute review/rant from “MovieBob Reviews” on YouTube 62 Much-maligned 2015 reality show which put contestant couples in the titular enclosure (later to be interviewed by therapists)

6 Sacrificial figure 7 Part of Roy G. Biv 8 Visionary 9 Market research panel 10 Love, in Xochimilco 11 Massive quantity 13 “Yeah, about ___ ...”

14 Prefix meaning “one-tenth” 20 It’s designed to stay up all night 21 “Punky Brewster” star Soleil Moon ___ 23 Trinket in “The Hunger Games” 24 Totally destroy 27 “___ a stinker?” (Bugs Bunny catchphrase) 28 Back twinge 30 Hedgehog of Sega fame 31 “M*A*S*H” character 34 Nutsoid 35 Like craft shows 36 High degree 42 “Messiah” composer 43 In the future 45 Go nuts with a whole season, e.g.

46 “Fantastic” character in a Roald Dahl novel 47 1/16 of a cup, briefly 48 Et ___ (and others) 49 Baby boomer followers 52 Get from ___ (make progress) 53 Doofus 54 Glasses, in comic book ads 56 Hosp. locations 58 Cries of surprise LAST WEEK’S ANSWERS

DOWN

1 2 3 4 5

Some CDs Nissan hybrid Cones of non-silence?

Cattle site Gives a leg up to

#762 By Matt Jones ©2016 Jonesin’ Crosswords

n SAVAGE LOVE

Racist preferences

BY DAN SAVAGE

As a queer man of color — I’m Asian—I feel wounded whenever I am exposed to gay men in New York City, Toronto or any city where white gay men dominate. Gay men, mostly whites and Asians, reject me because of my race, and no one admits to their sexual racism. I understand that sexual attraction is subconscious for many people. But it is unfair for a gay Asian like myself to be constantly marginalized and rejected. I fight for gay rights, too.

I believe in equality, too. I had the same pain of being gay in high school and the same fears when coming out. Why is there no acceptance, no space, no welcome for me in this white-painted gay community?

I’m six-foot-one, 160 pounds, fit and very good-looking. What can I do? I might as well be a sexless monk.

Enraged Dude Details Infuriating Experience “I relate to a lot of what EDDIE is feeling here,” says Joel Kim Booster, a Brooklyn writer and comedian. “The double-edged sword of living in a city with a large gay community is that the community gets so large that we finally have the opportunity to marginalize people within it.”

Jeff Chu, a writer who also lives in Brooklyn, can relate: “Racism still thrives in the gay community, just as in broader society,” says Chu. “Many of us who are Asian American come out of the closet and walk into this weird bamboo cage, where we’re either fetishized or ignored. Many times I’d go into a gay bar and see guys playing

out some gross interracial porno in their heads — with me playing the part of their Chinese pocket gay. Others (the ones I was interested in, to be candid) would act as if I were wearing an invisibility cheongsam.”

Chu feels there’s plenty of blame to go around for this sad state of affairs. “It’s the gay media,” says Chu. “It’s Hollywood. It’s that LGBT-rights organizations still haven’t diversified enough, especially in their leadership. And it’s all of us, when we’re lazy and don’t confront our own prejudices.”

Booster and Chu are right: Racism is a problem in the gay community, some people within are unfairly and cruelly marginalized, and we all need to confront our own prejudices.

Even you, EDDIE. You cite your height (tall!), weight (slim!), and looks (VGL!) as proof you’ve faced sexual rejection based solely on your race. But short, heavy, average-looking/unconventionally attractive guys face rejection for not being tall, lean or conventionally hot, just as you’ve faced rejection for not being white. (The cultural baggage and biases that inform a preference for, say, tall guys is a lot less toxic than the cultural baggage and biases that inform a preference for white guys — duh, obviously.)

“As a stereotypically short Chinese guy, my first reaction to reading EDDIE’s letter?

Damn, he’s six-foot-one! I’m jealous,” says

CRAIG WINZER

Chu. “And that’s also part of the problem. I, like many others, have internalized an ideal: tall, gym-perfected, blah blah blah — and, above all, white.”

Booster was also struck by your stats. “It’s hard for me to wrap my head around any sixfoot-one, fit, VGL guy having trouble getting laid,” says Booster. “On paper, this is the gay ideal! I don’t really consider myself any of those things — and I have a perfectly respectable amount of sex.”

Booster, who somehow manages to have plenty of sex in New York’s “white-painted gay community,” had some practical tips for you.

“EDDIE should stay away from the apps if the experience becomes too negative,” Booster says. “If logging on to a hookup app bums him out, take a break. Being a double minority can be isolating, but living in a big city can be great. There are meet-ups and clubs and ac-

tivities for all stripes. Join a gay volleyball league — truly where gay Asian men thrive — or find one of the many gay Asian nights at one of the gay bars around the city.”

Chu has also managed to find romantic success in New York. “I’ve been where EDDIE is, except shorter, less fit and less good-looking, and somehow I found a husband,” says Chu. “The monastery wasn’t my calling, and I suspect it’s not EDDIE’s either.”

A quick word to gay white men: It’s fine to have “preferences.” But we need to examine our preferences and give some thought to the cultural forces that may have shaped them. It’s a good idea to make sure your preferences are actually yours and not some limited and limiting racist crap pounded into your head by TV, movies and porn. But while preferences are allowed (and gay men of color have them, too), there’s no excuse for littering Grindr or Tinder or Recon — or your conversations in bars — with dehumanizing garbage like “no Asians,” “no blacks,” “no femmes,” “no fatties,” etc. n Email Dan at mail@savagelove.net, or reach him on Twitter at @fakedansavage.

n P.S. MUELLER

JANUARY 14–20, 2016 ISTHMUS.COM

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“Working together, we can harness the power of new technologies to reduce our collective energy usage—and costs—to create a better, more sustainable future for our community.”

— Gary Wolter, MGE Chairman, President and CEO

Under Energy 2030, MGE will: • Transition toward supplying 30% of retail energy sales with renewable resources by 2030. As a milestone goal, we will supply 25% of retail energy sales with renewable resources by 2025.

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m or e: le ar n

ISTHMUS.COM JANUARY 14–20, 2016

m ge .c om /E ne rg y2 03 0

• Work with customers to reduce our community’s carbon dioxide emissions by 40% from 2005 levels by 2030.

• ,QFUHDVH HQJDJHPHQW DURXQG HQHUJ\ HIï FLHQF\ and conservation to reduce our community’s overall energy and peak electric use to reduce long-term costs for everyone.

• Create a more dynamic, integrated electric grid that supports and integrates new technology.

• Develop and test new products and services to offer customers more control over their energy use.

• Deepen our engagement with customers to chart our next steps and determine over time, as technologies evolve, how best to meet customer needs and accomplish our long-term goals.