Isthmus: May 12-18, 2016 by Isthmus

M AY 1 2 – 1 8 , 2 0 1 6

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VOL. 41 NO. 19

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MADISON, WISCONSIN

Posh student apartments upend Madison housing market

LAURENT HRYBYK

Madison’s first ever Maker Faire comes to Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center on May 14! Maker Faire is the Greatest Show (and Tell) on Earth—a family-friendly showcase of invention, creativity and resourcefulness, and a celebration of the Maker Movement. An all-ages gathering of tech enthusiasts, crafters, educators, tinkerers, engineers, science clubs, artists, students, and commercial exhibitors, “makers” come to Maker Faire to show what they have made and to teach others what they have learned. It’s like Pinterest in person!

OVER 75 Makers! Eepy Bird’s Coke & Mentos Spectacular! Rooftop, 2pm LIVE MUSIC at the Pedal Powered Stage! Black Star Drumline, UW-Madison Electronic Music Club, The Sigourney Weavers, The Fauxtons, Mascot Theory, Lucas Cates Band, and more! Hands-on Workshops! Come, learn, make! Go to makerfairemadison.com to purchase your tickets today! $10/adult • $5/youth 5-11 • Free admission for children under 5 Facebook /makerfairemadison

Twitter @MakerFaireMdsn

ISTHMUS.COM MAY 12–18, 2016

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■ CONTENTS

■ WHAT TO DO

4 SNAPSHOT

THAT’S ENTERTAINMENT!

Marquette’s show choir starts ’em young.

6-11 NEWS

RULES OF THE GAME

New study challenges wildlife management tenets.

GO, DOG, GO

City considers new pooch park policies.

12 TECH

SAY YES TO THE E-DRESS

Get the look you want with fashion app.

MAGGIE BARUFFI

ALLISON GEYER

COVER STORY ALLISON GEYER started at UW-Madison in 2009, right after the opening of Lucky, the only luxury student housing in the campus area at the time. A “picky” and “budget-conscious renter,” she lived in the same Langdon Street two-bedroom apartment with her sister for three years. The rent was $1,000 per month, heat — and silverfish — included. She graduated and worked in La Crosse for a few years. By the time she moved back to Madison in 2015, the market for upscale student housing, the subject of her cover story this week, was booming.

FOOD & DRINK MOST TIMES we get story pitches from writers, but on occasion a fully-formed article lands on our desks. Such was the case with this week’s story on a student-owned Greek food cart. Journalism student Maggie Baruffi wrote it for her Intermediate Reporting class, and now she’ll also get a published clip out of it. And a check. A junior, Baruffi studies reporting and strategic communication.

14 OPINION

UNCIVIL SERVICE

Bill gutting civil service system brings back the bad old days.

17 COVER STORY

LIVING LARGE

Student housing goes upscale.

23-28 FOOD & DRINK

A CO-OP IS BORN

Allied Drive group launches biz plan for new grocery.

Love and war

OPA!

UW students open a Greek food cart.

Sat., May 14, Chazen Museum auditorium, 2 pm

30-31 SPORTS

PACKER POWER

GB strength coach Mark Lovat talks training.

CARRY A BIG STICK

Lacrosse is growing in popularity.

32 BOOKS

UW grad Lynsey Addario, a MacArthur fellow and Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist for The New York Times, National Geographic and Time, discusses her life and work and signs copies of her bestselling memoir, It’s What I Do: A Photographer’s Life of Love and War.

ALTERNATIVE VOICE

Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman tours new book.

34 MUSIC

FREE BIRD

Jayhawks’ Gary Louris returns to musical roots.

36 STAGE

CLASS “ACTS”

New Encore play is sly, hilarious. 38 SCREENS

SCREAM QUEEN AFTER 13 YEARS we decided it was time for a change of printers. You will notice some slight changes to the borders and exterior white space, but nothing has changed with the design or editorial. Same amount of in-depth coverage, just with a quarter-inch less white space.

Marguerite is a sweet story about a talent-free singer.

48 EMPHASIS

NO PLACE LIKE HOME

Even temporary digs deserve a little TLC.

IN EVERY ISSUE 8 8 14 15 15

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

40 49 50 50 51

ISTHMUS PICKS CLASSIFIEDS P.S. MUELLER CROSSWORD SAVAGE LOVE

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 WRITERS Dylan Brogan, Allison Geyer CALENDAR EDITOR Bob Koch ART DIRECTOR Carolyn Fath STAFF ARTISTS David Michael Miller, Tommy Washbush

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.

Go, Vikings!

Flying saucers

Fri.-Sun., May 13-15

Fri., May 13, 7 pm

Syttende Mai commemorates Norway’s Constitution Day, and Stoughton celebrates it big-time, with a Norse canoe race (Fri., 6:30 pm), 20 mile run/ walk (Sat., beginning 6-8 am), a parade (Sun. 1:30 pm) and music all three days.

Madison’s own awardwinning, top-shelf, always exciting Radicals take on the puny, ineffectual Chicago Wildfire in this American Ultimate Disc League match.

Show and tell Sat., May 14, MLK Blvd. and Monona Terrace, 10 am-5 pm

Makers, creators, innovators and spectators will all find something to love at the familyfriendly Madison Mini Maker Faire, with over 75 makers and presenters, an outdoor pedal-powered stage featuring music by the Sigourney Weavers, Black Star Drum Line EEPYBIRD.COM et al., plus aerialists and a rooftop presentation by Eepy Bird (aka the Coke & Mentos Guys!).

FIND MORE ISTHMUS PICKS ON PAGE 40

MAY 12–18, 2016 ISTHMUS.COM

CONTRIBUTORS John W. Barker, Kenneth Burns, Dave Cieslewicz, Nathan J. Comp, Aaron R. Conklin, Ruth Conniff, 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, Steven Potter, 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, Lauren Isely WEB ANALYST Jeri Casper CIRCULATION MANAGER Tom Dehlinger MARKETING DIRECTOR Chris Winterhack EVENT DIRECTORS Kathleen Andreoni, Courtney Lovas ADMINISTRATIVE DIRECTOR Kathy A. Bailey OFFICE MANAGER Julie Butler SYSTEMS MANAGER Thom Jones ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT Carla Dawkins

JEFF BACH

n SNAPSHOT

Showstoppers

ISTHMUS.COM MAY 12–18, 2016

BY ANDY MOORE

PHOTO BY RATAJ-BERARD

While most students at Marquette Elementary School are out enjoying 30 precious minutes of recess, 50 are hard at work in the gymnasium. Marvin Gaye’s “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” blares from a boombox, creating an echo between the wood floor and ceiling. For the Marquette Elementary School Show Choir, this is the last rehearsal before the final show of the year. The choreography is tricky in this sequence. Still, 50 sets of arms spin with the precision of wind turbines in a pasture. The mighty, miniature voices travel out of the gym and down the hall, and pour through open screen windows onto Jenifer Street. Under the direction of fourth-grade teacher and choir founder Carrie “Ms. B.” Beitlich, the troupe has swelled in numbers these past two years, attracting a cross-section of jocks, nerds, artistes and everything in between. The group has performed in programs across the school district. “It really speaks to the power of music bringing different people together,” says Beitlich, who has taught at Marquette since 2005. “When we went on tour, I didn’t have one behavior issue. All the kids were so good. We sang the minute we got on the bus, we’d get off, perform, get back on the bus, and kept singing until we got back to school!”

“Ain’t No Mountain” comes to an end, and the gym goes silent. “Hold it,” Ms. B. directs. “Hold it... and...SMILE! Annnnnnnd good.” The group falls from their pose. Singing and dancing at the same time, shoulder to shoulder on a crowded stage, is hard at any age. Getting in show shape requires teamwork of the highest order. Having the freedom to first fail is mandatory; it builds confidence. “When we’re all together there’s no way to do anything wrong because you can’t really be judged,” says Will Spetz, a sandy-haired fifthgrader. “We’re all trying the same thing.” “You get to learn songs your parents knew,” says fifth-grader Nikia Rowe. Sure enough, the next song in the rehearsal is Cyndi Lauper’s “True Colors.” Ms. B. has woven American sign language into the performance for this number. Ms. B. could be in the teachers lounge right now if she wanted to be. Drinking coffee and getting precious minutes of down time. But rehearsing now ensures that students who might not be able to make after-school practices can participate. Beitlich performed in show choir at Onalaska High School. “It’s a gift that has stayed with me. It opened doors for me that I didn’t know existed.” She’s talking about all the lessons of risk,

teamwork and confidence that come with the experience. But there’s also the development of a singing voice — something that has, indeed, stayed with her. Just ask regular patrons at the High Noon Saloon’s Gomeroke shows. That’s where she belts out “Don’t Stop Believin’” like nobody’s business. The last song of the show is the choir’s version of “Better When I’m Dancing.” Beitlich knows that for all the fun in dancing together, well, sometimes you gotta move your own way. So this number has a flash of freestyle in it. Dancers break out on their own, exploring the beat however it moves them. “We’re all together. But we’re all different, too,” says Nikia. Will adds: “We all have ideas, so freestyle lets you do them. Dances that nobody else can do.” Beitlich says potential can emerge on stage when it’s not always apparent in the classroom. “At a time when we’re trying to close gaps, it seems that music and performance is something that we can use as an engagement tool,” she says. “I believe our little choir could be a model that could get kids of all backgrounds excited about school and being part of something big. Choir members can be leaders in a school, and that confidence can be powerful.” n

Madison elementary schools with show choirs: MARQUETTE, SANDBURG AND MENDOTA. Number of Marquette Show Choir performances in the 2015-16 school year: 7 Number of extra dollars Beitlich is paid for hours devoted to show choir: 0 Marquette Elementary School Show Choir’s final performance of the year: FRIDAY, MAY 13, 6 P.M., AT THE SCHOOL, 1501 JENIFER ST. THE SHOW IS FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.

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■ NEWS

Is hunting really a tool for conservation? A new UW-Madison study challenges central notion about predator management BY JUDITH DAVIDOFF

The findings of a new study co-authored by a UW-Madison researcher upends the conventional wisdom that hunting is an effective tool for the conservation of predators. It could have implications for Wisconsin’s wolf hunt as well as wildlife management efforts around the world. The authors anticipate a backlash. “We understand our results will be controversial because they challenge a dominant paradigm in wildlife conservation,” says Guillaume Chapron, a researcher in Sweden who teamed up with Adrian Treves of UW-Madison. Treves adds that he expects resistance from people with a vested interest in the status quo, including scientists. “We know we are confronting the wildlife establishment but it is our duty to give the public our best scientific assessment of what happened to their wolves.” Chapron and Treves say they have conducted the first rigorous, quantitative test of the hypothesis that poaching — the illegal killing of predators — will decrease if government agents legally kill, or “cull,” the population. They say their findings, which studied changes in wolf populations in Wisconsin and Michigan between 1995 and 2012 — when culling was first banned and then allowed and then banned again, alternating a total of 12 times — showed just the opposite. “On the contrary, killing increases poaching,” says Treves. Their article — “Blood Does Not Buy Goodwill: Allowing Culling Increases Poaching of a Large Carnivore” — was just published in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Chapron also created a short

“They’re saying that unless we give states the flexibility to cull and hunt them, tolerance will decline and poaching will increase,” says Treves. “It’s just not true.”

Researcher Guillaume Chapron created a video (screen shot above) to make the results of the poaching study he co-authored with UW’s Adrian Treves accessible to a general audience.

video to help explain the study’s methodology and implications to the general public. Wisconsin’s gray wolves were legally hunted and trapped in 2012, 2013 and 2014 before a federal court decision put them back under the protection of the Endangered Species Act. But there are ongoing efforts to bring back a hunt. Treves and Chapron did not test the effect of hunting and trapping on poaching, but suspect they would find similar findings if they did so. “If the government lowers the value of wolves with high quotas, low fees and a disrespect for the species, poachers may kill more wolves than they have in the past,” they say in a fact sheet released to reporters. “Moreover, if hunting is designed in a way that facilitates poaching, the government signal will be loud and clear: We are not enforcing anti-poaching laws, and we do not value wolves.”

ISTHMUS.COM MAY 12–18, 2016

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The authors say that much of conservation policy in the United States and such countries as Norway, Sweden and Finland is driven by the notion that the illegal killing of predators will decrease with a legal hunt. The U.S. Department of Agriculture, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources made this claim in a 2006 report, “Final Environmental Assessment for the Management of Wolf Conflicts and Depredating Wolves in Wisconsin.” The report argued that the state should be able to implement “lethal and nonlethal” methods to “protect resources from wolf damage and to promote wolf conservation.” “Wolf mortality due to poaching may decrease with the implementation of the depredation compensation program,” the 2006 report argues. “In the absence of a compensation program, it is more likely that wolves perceived to be causing depredation would be illegally killed. Illegal killing likely would be less selective and may remove more individuals than is necessary to curtail depredation activities.” But Treves says that these theories were never put to a scientific test and in fact are not grounded in science. “It’s not just wrong. The opposite occurs.” DNR spokesman Jim Dick declined comment, noting the agency’s general policy is not to comment on work conducted independently of the DNR. When a reporter noted the research was supported by the DNR and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service under a 2010 cooperative agreement with UW-Madison and Treves, Dick still had no comment: “That agreement expired in September 2015.” Treves and Chapron say their findings are relevant to current conservation debates. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, for instance, argues in its February 2016 proposed rule to delist grizzly bears in Yellowstone Park that allowing bear hunting would promote the conservation of the bears by “minimizing illegal killing” and “promoting tolerance” of the bears.

Treves is an associate professor of environmental studies and head of the Carnivore Coexistence Lab, which he founded in 2007. The lab conducts interdisciplinary research around the world with a vision to balance “human needs and carnivore conservation.” He worked for 16 years in the field of wildlife policy and management before he started to question the assumption that hunting is an effective tool for the conservation of predators. “The more data collected, the less solid is that assumption,” he says. Treves says he came to his senses in 2012 and now feels an obligation to speak out. “I realized I wasn’t really serving the public,” he says. “I was serving special interests and the government.” For their study on poaching, Treves and Chapron identified the 12 periods from 1995 to 2012 when the federal status of wolves alternated between “delisted” and “relisted” and when culling in Wisconsin and Michigan was alternately allowed and banned. They then studied wolf population growth during those periods with a model that controlled for biological reasons for population slow-downs. They ruled out wolf migration — it’s unlikely wolves would know to leave the state when culling is allowed — and density dependence – the idea that reproduction of wolves slows down as numbers go up. “Each time the state had the authority to cull wolves, we found a decrease in the population growth of wolves,” says Treves, noting the annual average decreased by one-third to 12% annual growth during periods of culling. The researchers infer the cause is poaching as a matter of elimination. “The political message that government sends when wolves are no longer protected is enough to increase poaching,” he adds. Without hard numbers of poaching incidents, the authors know their critics will attack their conclusions. But they are confident in their findings and point to other studies with similar results. Treves, for instance, has also tested the common belief that people will be more tolerant of predators if a legal hunt is allowed. But he found through attitude surveys that Wisconsin’s first public hunting and trapping season for wolves “resulted in lower tolerance for wolves among a large sample of men living in wolf range.” Treves says he and Chapron are not alone among scientists in taking on some of these sacred notions that undergird much of conservation policy. “The traditions in wildlife management are finally being subjected to scientific scrutiny, and we are learning new things that will probably improve coexistence.” ■

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The Mask You Live In Film Screening with special guest appearance from the filmmaker, Jennifer Siebel Newsom Limited seating available: www.abuseintervention.org/ the-mask-you-live-in/

General Admission: $30

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Verona’s City Council votes to close the Epic Systems tax incremental financing (TIF) district. This allows the city to collect more than $21 million in revenue and return the majority of the Epic campus to the tax rolls.

U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Janesville) and presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump trade barbs in the media leading up to a May 12 meeting at the Republican National Committee headquarters.

PREDICTABLE

SURPRISING

MAY 6– 22

The Playhouse at Overture Center TICKETS: ctmtheater.org 608.258.4141 The governing board of Madison College unanimously votes to leave the school’s downtown campus and expand on Madison’s south side.

Cummings Christensen Family Foundation

Wisconsin’s only school aimed at helping students recovering from drug and alcohol addiction is in danger of closing, the Wisconsin State Journal reports. Madison’s Horizon High School needs donations or it could shutter before next school year.

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■ WEEK IN REVIEW THURSDAY, MAY 5

TUESDAY, MAY 10

■ Employees of Wisconsin’s

■ Madison suffers its sixth homidice of 2016 when Darius Haynes, 38, is shot to death at a BP station on Verona Road. Police later say Haynes was “summarily executed” and reveal that he was a friend of Martez Moore, a man fatally shot in April outside O’Grady’s Pub on the far west side. ■ A memo from the Legislative Fiscal Bureau reports that Gov. Scott Walker’s administration deferred a debt payment for the second year in a row. Putting off the payment of $101 million helps balance the budget in the short-term, but costs taxpayers an extra $2.3 million in deferred interest over the next eight years, the bureau says.

notoriously short-staffed prison system are getting $10 million in raises, announces newly confirmed Department of Corrections Secretary Jon Litscher. He hopes the pay bump will help with recruitment, retention and morale.

MONDAY, MAY 9 ■ Members of the Wisconsin

Bed and Breakfast Association are going to war with people who operate unlicensed, untaxed short-term rentals via websites like Airbnb and VRBO, the Wisconsin State Journal reports. Members of the organization have filed 32 complaints against properties since last summer. ■ The Capital Times reports that before a controversial vote on a new tenure policy, UW System President Ray Cross emailed a regent that the debate “has exposed the real value of removing tenure-related policies from statutory language.”

■ Two former

West High School coaches, both African American, accuse the school’s former athletic director, Sandy Botham, of racial discrimination and assault, WISC-TV reports. Botham left her position last week.

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JUNE 17-18 & 22, 2016 MEMORIAL UNION ALL EVENTS ARE FREE (except Joey Alexander)

Fri. June 17

Memorial Union Terrace (rain location - Shannon Hall):

High School All-Stars 4:30pm Ladies Must Swing 6pm Chicago Yestet 8pm Madison Jazz Orchestra 10pm Frederic March Play Circle:

Gregory Klassen, Nature Table, 2015

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GREGORY KLASSEN HELIOTROPISM

MAY 20 - JULY 3, 2016 Reception Friday, May 20, 5:30–7:30pm, with artists’ talks at 6:30pm Thanks to our sponsors

wisconsinacademy.org/gallery

Sat. June 18

Memorial Union Terrace (rain location - Shannon Hall):

Edgewood College Jazz Ensemble 1:30pm UW-Whitewater Jazz Ensemble One 3pm UW-Platteville Jazz One 4:30pm Gerri DiMaggio World Jazz Unit 6pm University of Wisconsin Jazz Orchestra with Sharon Clark 8pm Charanga Agoza 10pm Frederic March Play Circle:

Jazz Performance: JAZZ WITH CLASS Behind the Scene featuring Marilyn Fisher - Paul Hastil Trio 2:15pm Eric Koppa Triple Saxtet 4pm Film: “The Lighthouse” 5:45pm

Wed. June 22

8pm

Shannon Hall, Wisconsin Union Theater

Joey Alexander Trio This performance was supported in part by a grant from the Wisconsin Arts Board with funds from the State of Wisconsin and the National Endowment for the Arts.

www.isthmusjazzfestival.com

MAY 12–18, 2016 ISTHMUS.COM

Third Floor • Overture Center for the Arts

Jazz in the Movies presented by Toni Jakovec 4:45pm JAZZCLASSWITH Gypsy Jazz featuring the Caravan Gypsy Swing Ensemble 6:45pm Afro Latin Music & The Jazz Connection featuring the Nick Moran Quartet 8:30pm

■ NEWS

A er nine months of construction, the Memorial Union Terrace will temporarily reopen May 12-15 for graduation weekend.

Terrace time Memorial Union renovation progress on schedule BY ALLISON GEYER

When UW-Madison’s Memorial Union Terrace closed late last summer for renovations, construction workers had plenty to do: replace the pavement, expand seating areas, build a new food stand and improve the Terrace’s stage. But as construction progressed, the Union added one more task to its list — preserving the stately, decades-old oak trees growing at the center of the Terrace. A plan for saving the trees wasn’t originally included in the renovation project, says Memorial Union director Mark Guthier. But as construction began, officials assessed the health of the trees and decided to take steps to preserve the iconic oaks that have shaded Terrace-goers for generations. “When you see the Union, from 1928 until now, you see those oak trees — they’ve always been there,” Guthier says. “There’s a real love and appreciation for the character they bring.”

Union officials consulted with UW-Madison arborist Bruce Allison to determine how to keep the trees healthy during the renovation and contracted with an outside firm to take on the extra project. The process was meticulous — workers used pressurized air instead of shovels to excavate around the roots and brought in a conveyor belt instead of a bulldozer to move aggregate back onto the Terrace. They used a special type of stone that was “more hospitable” to the oaks to provide a bed for the new pavers and added nutrients throughout the renovation. “We were more than happy to take those extra efforts,” Guthier says. Not all the Terrace trees were so lucky — some had to be removed during the renovation because they were unhealthy, and others came down to accommodate the design of the new Alumni Park that’s replacing the parking lot between the Union and the Red Gym. But in the spirit of sustainability, workers harvest-

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ing yoga classes (land-based and stand-up paddleboard) six days a week, a family-friendly outdoor film series on Sunday nights and art classes from Wheelhouse Studios throughout the summer. Food and beverages will still be available at the brat stand, Der Siftskeller and the Sunset Lounge over the summer, but the remainder of the restaurants won’t be fully operational until next year. A bigger stage and a more powerful sound system will provide a better entertainment venue, says Brian Edwards, director of the Wisconsin Union Directorate music committee. This year’s summer concert series is focused “almost exclusively on Wisconsin talent,” but next year’s lineup is likely to include national touring acts. Says Edwards: “We’re really going to be focusing on bringing the Wisconsin Union in all of its glory in 2017.” ■ Editor’s note: Isthmus publisher Jeff Haupt is an associate trustee of the Wisconsin Union.

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ed the lumber and will incorporate the wood into other parts of the Union — mostly in the new Italian restaurant that opens this fall. The Terrace temporarily reopens this weekend for graduation. Students are invited to pitch in and help set out the sunburst chairs on Thursday, May 12, at 3:30 p.m. The Terrace will close at midnight on May 15 for more construction and will tentatively reopen for the season on May 20. The rest of the interior and exterior remodel project is “roughly” on schedule, with other parts of the Union reopening in the fall of 2016 and completion scheduled for 2017. “There’s a ton of student excitement,” Memorial Union president Jack Comeau says. “It’s a constant topic of conversation.” With construction entering the final phase of the project, the 2016 season is seen as a “soft opening” for much of the space. But Union staff are rolling out a variety of new programming this summer, including morn-

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n TECH

Fashion forward New app combines artificial intelligence and e-commerce BY ALLISON GEYER

Joy Tang spent seven years working in the fastpaced field of high-frequency stock trading after graduating from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. With a background in math, economics and information technology, she thought she would spend her career working on the technical, quantitative side of the finance industry. While Tang was crunching numbers and analyzing complex algorithms, she found that social media became her “only tunnel to the rest of the world.” A lover of clothing and fashion, she shares outfit photos with her friends on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest and follows bloggers for style inspiration. “Deep down in my heart, I’m just like any other girl who likes to dress up and look pretty,” says Tang, 31, who grew up in China. Her intersecting interests in fashion and technology hatched an “invention moment” for Tang. Scrolling through fashion photos is fun, but if you want to add a piece to your own wardrobe, it can be tricky to track down where to buy it. “When I see pretty outfits from my friends, I really want to know where they bought it, but it’s really awkward to ask them — I don’t want to sound like a copycat,” Tang says. “I follow a lot of fashion bloggers and comment on their photos, but they have hundreds of comments, and oftentimes they never have time to respond.” Her desire to be able to “shop any photo” led her to create Markable, which launches this week in the iTunes store. Users snap or download a photo, upload it to the app, and the app finds the exact item or some similar options, which can be sorted by price. Markable is con-

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Markable CEO and 100state member Joy Tang channels her love for high fashion and high tech in a new shopping app that launches this week.

50 suggested products based on a user’s photo, that list is compiled based on millions of calculations made on the back end, Tang says. The deep learning system is trained to instantly analyze color, shape, pattern and texture, but the actual

Markable allows users to “shop any photo” with technology that identifies articles of clothing, sorts by price and facilitates in-app purchases.

grouping and presentation is more subjective. Markable spent nearly a year gathering feedback from users and product data from popular clothing brands. Tang started the company in Chicago in 2014 and now works out of 100state in Madison with a staff of nine full-time and five part-time employees. Dicky Lou, a creative designer, made the move to Madison with Markable after meeting Tang at a tech event in Chicago and joining the team. “Madison is a great city for startups,” says Lou, who also grew up in China. “There are talents and resources, and the people are very focused.” Tang agrees that Madison is an up and coming city for young tech companies, noting that venture capital firms look favorably on Madison because of its reputation for yielding high-performance investments. Cost of living is low, the environment is less competitive, and the presence of UW-Madison and Epic Systems is beneficial. “I think Madison is actually a lucky city for startups,” Tang says. n

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nected to more than 800 brands and stores, and users can make direct, in-app purchases with credit card or PayPal. “This app will really help busy people to buy what they want immediately,” Tang says. The visual search technology is able to identify objects in photos using “deep learning,” a type of machine learning that employs algorithms and hierarchical models to process data. The same technology was used to create AlphaGo, a computer program developed by Google that in 2015 became the first computer to beat a human at Go, a board game more complex than chess. “It’s pretty much in the field of [artificial intelligence],” Tang says. “Lots of people know about this kind of technology, but not many people apply it to fashion — probably because most [people in the field] are men.” So when Markable brings up the top

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n OPINION

The Best Shall Not Serve Civil service destruction means party cronies will run state government BY BRUCE MURPHY Bruce Murphy is editor of Urban Milwaukee.

ISTHMUS.COM MAY 12–18, 2016

Someone in the Walker administration could see what folly it was to overthrow the state’s civil service system. This mysterious staffer — we don’t know who it was — wrote an unsigned memo last October, 15 days after the bill to end the civil service system was introduced. The writer was one of the experts within the state Division of Personnel Management, the human resources agency created by Gov. Scott Walker and the Legislature last year. The memo, which was uncovered by the Wisconsin State Journal, predicted the proposed law would “increase the number of qualified applicants inadvertently turned away and the number of unqualified applicants who inappropriately reach the interview stage.” In short, it will mean departments throughout state government will be staffed by less qualified workers. As the memo noted, “Changes of such significance have never been made to the civil service system without being preceded by a study.” As state Sen. Jon Erpenbach (D-Middleton) told the State Journal, the fact that the office created to oversee state hiring “is telling you this is a bad bill” was pretty significant. “It should have raised red flags all over the place.” But no red flags were raised because Walker buried the memo and didn’t share it with legislators. The bill passed and was signed into law by the governor in February. Wisconsin was once a leader in this field, the third state to adopt a civil service system in 1905. The goal was to end the old Tammany Hall-style patronage in which politicians rewarded party supporters with jobs and left taxpayers paying for less-qualified employees and second-rate government services. The slogan used in 1905 was that “The Best Shall Serve the State.” The system created an objective process for the hiring, promotion, evaluation and firing of public employees. Positions were filled competitively to get the best possible person. The system worked so well that the next 26 Wisconsin governors, including 17 Republicans, never sought to overturn it. Officials in the Walker administration repeatedly denied they intended to kill civil service, and

DAVID MICHAEL MILLER

all that secrecy was a tipoff they were worried about defending such a huge change. Once the bill was finally introduced, its Republican champions offered little evidence that state departments failed to hire the best people or failed to provide good service. They suggested civil service entrance exams for hiring employees were “flawed,” without explaining how or why the tests couldn’t simply be modified, as they had been in the past as a department’s needs changed. Finally, they argued that the goal was to “modernize” government to make it more like the private sector. But the private sector isn’t run by politicians seeking to get re-elected and looking to build power by hiring all the party loyalists they can. Legislators said the civil service exam would be replaced by a “blindly scored resume process.” But how can someone review a resume without seeing if the applicant has held positions connected to Republican causes, organizations or individuals? “It will be a completely sub-

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jective review,” Troy Bauch, staff representative for AFSCME Council 32 (which represents state employees) predicts. “It’s going to come down to cronyism, nepotism, favoritism, friendships.” It was telling that the new law exempted the Legislative Reference Bureau, Legislative Fiscal Bureau and Legislative Audit Bureau. These highly regarded agencies are crucial servants of the Legislature, and are selected based on merit through the civil ser-

THIS MODERN WORLD

vice system. Legislators wanted the best people to continue serving them, while they created a spoils system for the rest of state government. In the years to come, most new hires in state government must come from the millennial generation, and Republican leaders will be looking to hire candidates likely to be party loyalists. They will be tough to find. Polls show a large majority of millennials support liberal policies like the Affordable Care Act and marriage equality and efforts to reduce carbon emissions, and tilt heavily toward the Democratic Party, while only about 15% are conservatives. The private sector will be fighting to hire the smartest of these workers, whatever their political views, but in Wisconsin, as many as 85% of them may lack the world view required to work in the new Republican spoils system. You don’t hire the best and brightest when your career security depends on maintaining party power. Even before civil service was ended, the Walker administration was aggressively searching for ways to promote people based on party views, according to Bauch. “Well-connected Republicans are ascending, and Democrats are descending,” he told me. “I’ve never seen anything like this in the 21 years I’ve been in this position.” One of the people who descended was the mysterious staffer who tried to warn Walker not to end civil service. Assembly Majority Leader Jim Steineke (R-Kaukauna) told the State Journal he understood this person no longer works with the state Division of Personnel Management. Odds are the new employee hired for this position has the proper Republican views. n

BY TOM TOMORROW

n FEEDBACK

tion. He’s the varmint, not the coyotes that live in my neighborhood. Rich Eggleston (via email)

Fighting words Re “Protest with Sass” article on the Raging Grannies (5/11/2016): “Spry and sassy” strike me as condescending descriptions of older women. I’m almost 75 and I would be insulted by those terms. Judy Fuller Sikora (via Facebook)

Dem dreams Re “Is the Democratic Party of Wisconsin Ready for a Trump Windfall?” (Madland, Isthmus.com, 5/9/2016): It’s the DPW dream come true! They can keep offering bland centrist candidates and uninspiring policies and they can win! Scott Jones (via Facebook)

Join Us Monday, June 27

Correction

THE 22ND ANNUAL

Last week’s news story on potential appointments to the Wisconsin Supreme Court (“Reigning Supreme”) included an incorrect photo of Jim Troupis. The correct photo is below.

Dog hunter Judith Davidoff and most of the Madison media err in referring to Kurt Rausch, who shot and killed two dogs in my hometown on the night of Jan. 22, as a “coyote hunter” (“Dog Slaying Raises Night Hunting Concerns,” 5/5/2016). He is no such thing. He is a dog hunter, and should be referred to as such. Claiming to be a “coyote hunter” should not excuse Rausch from the legal, moral and financial consequences of his ac-

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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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UW-Madison sophomore Charlie Lawrence on the roo op terrace at The Hub, a new upscale student high rise.

Posh student apartments upend Madison housing market BY ALLISON GEYER

TWELVE STORIES ABOVE STATE STREET, a half-moon-shaped infinity pool circulates crystal-clear water over the vanishing edge of a rooftop deck with a panoramic view of downtown Madison and Lake Mendota. Sunbathers recline on poolside lounge chairs, basking in the unseasonably warm spring sunshine. Some are relaxing, but others glance at computer screens and note cards — it’s almost finals week, after all. Billed as a “game-changer” in Madison’s student housing market, The Hub was the most recent and high-profile development in a wave of high-end, amenity-rich student housing complexes that have opened around the campus area over the past few years. Many welcome the new developments because they provide more housing options for students in a tight rental market, but others fear the influx of high-priced properties coupled with the loss of affordable housing will create a socioeconomic divide and push lower-income students farther from campus. “As much as we talk about how tuition is out of control [and] how that’s pricing middleclass, working-class people out of college,

“This isn’t college at all,” UW-Madison sophomore Charlie Lawrence remembers his parents saying when they helped him move into The Hub last fall. A transfer student from the University of Iowa who grew up in Eden Prairie, Minn., Lawrence signed a lease in July when the building was still under construction. He knew The Hub was supposed to be nice, but he was still “pretty taken aback” when he saw all the amenities his new home had to offer. “This is not what I ever expected to be living in for my first apartment,” Lawrence says. “I expected a typical house somewhere, not this nice apartment building that has everything you can ask for.” It all might seem over-the-top, but Lawrence says The Hub is a good value considering everything that’s included with the rent. “Being a student gets to be somewhat overwhelming,” says Lawrence, a biology major with hopes to attend medical school. “Being able to wind down and relax makes a big difference.”

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This is The Hub, a new downtown apartment complex that caters to college students. But these upscale abodes are a far cry from the no-frills student housing many remember from their university days. With an ultramodern design and an amenity package that rivals five-star resorts, The Hub represents a shift toward a trendy new style of living on college campuses — available to those who can pay the hefty price tag. A standard one-bedroom starts at $1,500 a month, with higher prices for more luxurious units, including a “Mansion” level that can come with a hot tub, a pool table and a private terrace.

we’re seeing the same thing happen with the cost of housing,” says Ald. Zach Wood, who represents much of the UW-Madison campus. Wood is concerned about developments with “excessive amenities” that seem to be catering to wealthy, out-of-state students. The Hub exudes luxury and exclusivity. On the second floor, there’s a “spa” with tanning beds, a sauna and a steam room; Moroccan lanterns hang above a hot tub and a “cold plunge” tub. Across the hall, there’s a fitness center with a private yoga studio and a virtual golf swing simulator — bring your own clubs, or check one out from management. Beyond, there’s a movie theater with terraced seating and a common room with arcade games, billiards and foosball tables. Around the corner, there are private study rooms with white boards, computers and free printing — just provide your own paper. For the creative types, there’s a soundproof music studio with a keyboard, a drum set and amplifiers. An outdoor courtyard has gas grills, hammocks and picnic seating surrounding a sand volleyball court — in the wintertime, it turns into an ice skating rink.

n COVER STORY print, is behind the Uncommon apartment towers going up near the Kohl Center. Nick Hill, vice president of new development, sees demand for such properties stemming from affluent, out-of-state and international students who have higher expectations and a “higher living standard” than some Midwesterners. On the supply side, some universities with aging student dormitories have opted to forgo building new on-campus housing to save on construction costs, shifting the students to private residences. “We’ve had universities request that we become part of their student housing,” Hill says, but he notes this has not been the case in Madison. University Housing at UW-Madison is still the city’s largest student housing owner, with about 7,400 students living in 19 residence halls and learning communities. There is no requirement that students live on campus, but about 90% of freshmen choose to live in the dorms each year, according to the university. UW-Madison student housing typically costs between $9,093 and $10,243 an academic year for a double room, including food costs, which equates to about $1,010 to $1,138 per month. While some of the school’s older dormitories like Sellery, Witte and Elizabeth Waters remain popular because of the experience they provide, many of UW-Madison’s newer developments reflect the demand for increased amenities, says Brendon Dybdahl, director of marketing for University Housing. In the last several years, UW housing has added conveniences like air conditioning, wireless internet, carpeting, walk-in closets and more bathrooms. “That’s sort of the expectation,” he says. “It’s the modern standard.”

ISTHMUS.COM MAY 12–18, 2016

NINE YEARS AGO, THE LUCKY apartments

became the first luxury student tower to go up in Madison. The development from Steve Brown Apartments was well-received at the time, but SBA spokeswoman Jennifer Oppriecht recalls that some people felt an initial “hesitation” to embrace the luxury housing. “It’s not that people didn’t like the product,” Oppriecht says. “More like there was some disbelief that this was an option for students because it was so beautiful.” In 2007, the editorial board of UW-Madison student newspaper The Daily Cardinal warned against the “upscale transformation” of the city’s housing stock, citing the rise of Lucky as a harbinger of a large-scale market shift toward luxury developments that could lead to “socioeconomic segregation in housing” among students. “As Madison’s skyline changes, the city’s identity also undergoes a transformation,” the editorial board wrote. “Madison’s eccentric culture is in danger of drowning in a mass of prefabricated housing.” Nearly a decade later, parts of that prediction seem to be coming true. The city has approved a number of high-end apartment towers in the campus and downtown area over the last several years: Grand Central on West Johnson Street, Xo1 on University Avenue, Varsity Quarters at the corner of Monroe and North Randall streets, City View on North Frances Street and The Waterfront on North Henry Street. Closer to the Capitol Square, luxury developments like Ovation 309, The Domain and 306 West have brought more density to the city center, catering to young professionals as well as students. The Bassett Neighborhood, once known for affordable student rentals, is now home to upscale developments like Seven27, Nine Line at the Yards and The Depot. And there are even more projects in the pipeline. The Lux, a 12-story, 160-unit apartment complex, opens this summer on West Johnson Street; Uncommon, a 10-story, 179-unit building on North Bassett Street, opens this fall; and The James, a 12-story, 367-unit complex built by the same developer as The Hub, opens next summer on University Avenue. “People are saying that The Hub is taking over,” says Lauren Klippel, a UW-Madison senior. She’s taken note of “a definite boom” in campus-area housing construction since starting at the university four years ago. Klippel sees the new developments as providing more options for students in a tight rental market, but acknowledges there could be a downside. “I haven’t personally experienced any problems [finding] affordable rentals, but I can see how students would be affected by this,” she says. “Even if students would prefer to live somewhere cheaper, they might feel pressured to live in these nicer and newer apartment buildings.” After stints living in newer developments like Grand Central and one of the townhouse-style apartments on Spring Street, Klippel opted for budget-conscious housing this year, sharing an older apartment with friends on Frances Street near Wando’s — in the shadow of The Hub. At

MADISON’S STUDENT POPULATION

Students living at The Hub have access to some mind-boggling amenities, from a rooftop infinity pool to a game room. Apartments come fully furnished in a modern style.

$570 per person per month, it’s a reasonable price for a highly desirable location, Klippel says. But, she adds, “It’s definitely run-down. At one point our ceiling was falling in.”

STUDENTS WHO ARE WILLING to tolerate a collapsed ceiling to save on rent are not the target market for new luxury high-rise developments. These are places that offer lease-signing incentives like FitBits, PlayStation 4s, hoverboards and GoPro cameras. Developers say there’s a sizeable market of students — and parents — who are willing to pay extra for a special product. “There is plenty of demand for this kind of project all around the country,” says Scott Sproat, director of marketing for Core Campus,

the Chicago-based development firm behind The Hub and The James. Before entering the Madison market, Core Campus built similarly massive, amenity-rich towers near schools like Arizona State, the University of Arizona, the University of Mississippi, the University of South Carolina and the University of Oregon. The Core Campus acquisitions team looks at more than a dozen factors when choosing locations to build its student housing properties, including the availability of affordable land close to campus, enrollment growth at the university, the success of the school’s athletic program and the overall economic health of the city. Chicago-based CA Ventures, another luxury student housing developer with a national foot-

is made up of between 47,000 to 50,000 people attending UW-Madison, Edgewood College, Madison College and other smaller institutions, according to census data. About 40,000 of those are full-time, and the rest part-time, and they represent a variety of ages, income levels, housing needs and priorities. It’s a sizable group with considerable economic influence, but it’s a difficult group to study, particularly when it comes to housing and financials. Students typically have low incomes and live in expensive rentals, making them appear, on paper, to be impoverished or burdened by housing costs. But there’s more to the story. Some students pay for housing with grants or loans, and others get help from parents. Others work full-time jobs to pay the rent. Matt Wachter, the city’s housing initiatives specialist, is working on a comprehensive report analyzing Madison’s student housing market in order to help the city gain a better understanding of the group. That knowledge will in turn help city officials develop housing policies and neighborhood plans. Though still in the early stages of the study, Wachter has identified possible trends, including an increase in the number of students who report choosing their housing based on the convenience of the location and the level of amenities that are included or nearby.

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“That’s why we’re seeing more things like The Hub — there’s demand for that kind of housing,” Wachter says. “That’s a national trend.” For UW-Madison student Aaron Grode, location and convenience were key factors in his decision to live at Grand Central, which is tucked between the Department of Chemistry building and Grainger Hall. He’s paying $600 per month to share a furnished apartment with friends.

“I DON’T KNOW OF A GOOD TOOL OR PROGRAM TO ADD AFFORDABLE STUDENT HOUSING.” Matt Wachter

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WITH THE VARIETY OF HOUSING OPTIONS available, it’s difficult to determine the true average cost of student rent in Madison, says Helena Manning, coordinator of UWMadison’s Campus Area Housing resource service. The current construction boom further complicates the calculation. But Campus Area Housing can determine current price ranges using data from its listings. A studio apartment rents for anywhere from $450 to $1,300 per month, a one-bedroom is between $600 to $1,900, and a twobedroom goes for between $900 to $3,500. Manning hasn’t seen any students getting priced out of the campus area just yet. However, she does note that students seem to be increasingly venturing out beyond the

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UW-Madison student Tom Compas’ goal in his housing search was to find the cheapest place as close to campus as possible. He focused his apartment hunt on “crappy places,” looking at small, older rental homes to split with his friends in order to save on costs. He’s paying $350 for a bedroom in a house south of Camp Randall Stadium. “With the cost of tuition, I don’t want to come out of school with a lot of debt,” he says. “This house was a compromise.” There’s also a third trend emerging. Many students are abandoning the older two-flats in places like Miffland, Greenbush and the Bassett Neighborhood in favor of newer high-rises closer to campus. There’s been a softening in the student rental market for older properties that are not directly adjacent to campus. In some cases these older homes have shifted back to being owner-occupied, but Wachter says many former student rentals are also being leased by people who work downtown. “It’s not uncommon to get a house full of Epic people, another full of people working in food service,” he says. “You didn’t see a whole lot of that 10 or 15 years ago.”

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“The Embassy was cheaper, but it’s so far away,” says Grode, referencing to another student high-rise half a mile east on University Avenue. “Grand Central is in the heart of campus. I can just roll out of bed and take the elevator downstairs to class.” But there are students for whom cost is a driving factor. They’re choosing to live farther from campus, settling in areas with concentrations of rental housing, including around Badger Road and near West Towne Mall. There are definite reasons a student might be wise to consider such locations — it’s quieter, rents are cheaper — but “they’re still making a housing decision you wouldn’t necessarily expect,” Wachter says. “That might imply that there are some affordability issues going on.”

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immediate campus area to find housing. “I’m seeing a lot of students living west of campus,” she says, pointing to new housing developments along Campus Drive, Old University Avenue and Monroe Street. “The same kind of thing is happening east of the Capitol.” For some students, the off-campus migration has been even more dramatic. UWMadison senior Jim Payne found he could get “more bang for [his] buck” the farther away from downtown he was willing to move. A year and a half ago, he traded a room in a four-bedroom house he shared with friends on Emerald Street for a onebedroom apartment in Fitchburg. “I knew that I wanted a place all on my own — no friends, no random roommates,” says Payne, who took a three-year hiatus from school in 2010, when he dropped out due to financial and academic struggles. When he decided to resume his studies, he knew that living alone would minimize distractions and give him the best chance for academic success. He also wanted to keep costs as low as possible. A computer science major with a math certificate, he carefully calculated the maximum monthly rent he could afford: $700. But when he looked at housing available downtown at his price point, he couldn’t find anything larger than a studio. “While I’m sure I could have made that work, I quite simply value having space,” he says. When he broadened his search, Payne learned that in Fitchburg, he could rent a spacious, 750-square-foot apartment in a building near a golf course, tennis courts and an outdoor pool. He takes the bus to class and to his on-campus job at the UWExtension Mailing Services, typically staying downtown all day to minimize time commuting. Spending hours on the bus

each week can be frustrating — particularly in the evenings, when the direct line to campus stops running and the commute time is doubled — but Payne says overall he’s pleased with his living situation. “I’ll have to find somewhere again starting this fall, and I can guarantee you it will again be far off campus,” he says. “If I’ve learned anything about the housing market in downtown Madison, it’s just how much campus proximity drives up prices.”

THE ADDITION OF ANY HOUSING STOCK — high-end or otherwise — will ultimately bring down prices due to the law of supply and demand, says Andra Ghent, an associate professor of real estate and urban land development at UW-Madison. But at the same time, the recent surge in luxury rentals isn’t doing anything to make student housing more affordable. As vacancy rates have plummeted to about 2.3%, the market has tightened and rents have gone up, leaving cash-strapped renters with fewer options. “Landlords often set their rents based on comparables — the more people are willing to pay, the more landlords think they can raise their rent,” says Brenda Konkel, executive director of the Tenant Resource Center. “Because there are so few vacancies, landlords can charge whatever they want.” Konkel says she’s seen rents go up “more than usual” in recent years and suggests the hikes could be driven by demand from outof-state students who view Madison’s rents as relatively cheap. “Students not from Wisconsin are paying more and more rent, and it does drive up the market,” she says. “It makes it harder for people who aren’t coming from that higher income bracket.” The UW Board of Regents last fall voted to lift the undergraduate enrollment cap on outof-state and international students at UW-

Madison, raising the limit from 27.5% for the next four years. Officials have said the change will result in the enrollment of 200 to 300 more nonresident students. Everyone seems to agree that students are facing a tough deal. But finding a solution could prove difficult. “I don’t know of a good tool or program to add affordable student housing,” Wachter says. “Our normal toolkit doesn’t necessarily apply to this population.” Tax credits and community development block grants, typically used to make housing affordable, are not designed to help student renters, since students’ true incomes are difficult to measure and their rents are often subsidized by parents and student loans. Since UW-Madison’s campus-area housing extends along the isthmus and bleeds into the downtown area, there’s a real problem with land scarcity. And with city zoning restrictions preventing developers from building past a certain height, there’s a limit to the density that the area can handle. Ghent predicts that housing in Madison’s downtown area could become like New York City’s Manhattan — a “luxury good” that only the wealthiest of the city residents can afford. Lower-income students and others seeking affordable housing may be forced to relocate farther away from campus. But that’s not necessarily a bad thing, she says. If students move away from downtown and into Madison’s neighborhoods, the added density would launch a shift toward making those neighborhoods more accessible to mass transit, and it would eventually take the pressure off the city center. “We need more units,” she says. “And not necessarily downtown.” n

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“Lives depend on it” Grocery group hopes to bring healthy food to Allied Drive BY DYLAN BROGAN

ILLUSTRATION BY ROBERT ZAMMARCHI

the cheapest cab ride is $12,” says Sonko, who sees the dearth of healthy food in her neighborhood as a health crisis. “You can get a lot of food at McDonald’s for $12, so see the problem we face here.” After seeing her kids’ health suffer as well as her own, Sonko began working with Allied Community Cooperative to bring a real grocery store to the area. She is now in her second term as president of the community group. The nonprofit successfully lobbied city officials to join its cause last year. The city initially approved $300,000 to offer aid as

an incentive to an established grocer willing to open a store in the neighborhood. Sonko says they were hoping for a business to come in and save the day. “But there were zero responses. Not from Woodman’s, Walmart, Metcalfe’s, Hy-Vee, Copps, nobody. So that’s when we knew we had to do it ourselves.” Allied Community Cooperative put together its own proposal, and the city awarded the $300,000 to the group to open a communityowned and-operated grocery store. The University of Wisconsin Center for Cooperatives and the Willy Street Co-op are contributing expertise and staff time to the project.

The ambitious proposal changed the city’s thinking on the project, says Mark Woulf, food and alcohol policy director for the city of Madison. “Instead of getting an outside retailer who may or may not respond to the needs of the neighborhood, this is a direct investment in the community,” Woulf says. Next month, the Allied Community Cooperative will begin a market feasibility study and start writing a business plan. By the end of the summer, it hopes to hire a project manager.

CO NTINUE D O N PAG E 26

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MAY 12–18, 2016 ISTHMUS.COM

McDonald’s and a Mobil gas station. These are the only places to buy food in Cassandra Sonko’s neighborhood. Sonko, who lives in the Allied Drive area with her three kids, thinks that’s unacceptable. “Food shouldn’t be a privilege. It’s a right,” she says. The low-income neighborhood on Madison’s southwest side has been without a full-service grocery store since Cub Foods on Verona Road closed its doors in 2009. As a result, healthy foods like fresh fruits and vegetables aren’t readily available. “It takes hours to go to a grocery store on a bus, and

■

■ FOOD & DRINK

For the love of tea Macha Tea Company settles into its cozy new home BY CATHERINE CAPELLARO

Matcha — the namesake of the cozy Macha teahouse— isn’t everyone’s cup of tea. But you are guaranteed to find something you’ll love here. Matcha, a frothy green drink, is created from a powder made from special shade-grown green tea leaves. It has a long history as the basis for the Chinese and Japanese tea ceremony. The folks at Macha take the ritual seriously, using a bamboo whisk to froth up the powder with hot water. You can choose between the thinner usucha ($6) or the “thick tea” called koicha ($8). It’s served in a pottery bowl on a wooden tray with a wagashi (a sweet), which you will want to eat to counteract matcha’s bitterness. It’s an acquired taste, and as a beginner, I opted for the ususha. It was a little bitter for me, but I’ll basically drink anything served by Macha’s friendly tea devotees. Like many people who discovered their gallery and teahouse when it was located on Monroe Street, I was heartbroken to learn they were closing. But last January, Macha reopened, in this smaller space on East Johnson. And I’m thrilled to report that its tea-centric mission and gorgeous aesthetic are firmly in place. The owners, Anthony and Rachel Verbrick, want to keep it simple. They just plain love tea, and Macha is a funky, fun representation of their devotion. The décor (mostly green and brown) is as yummy as the colorful bakery treats in the glass case. It’s hard to choose. I ordered (and devoured) several Thai basil lemon shortbread cookies and a matcha rice crispy treat. And I will go back

Belly up to the bar at Macha and try its frothy namesake brew (top).

for a mango vanilla or jasmine cupcake. The in-house baked goods are often like nothing else in town — you might run into a chiffon cake or cheesecake flavored with matcha, or even a matcha red bean cake. Macha Tea is also a store, with a pretty array of pots, cups and teas, including fancy bricks of tea that are hard to find on this continent. They sell all the implements you’d need to make matcha at home. But I don’t know why you’d want to, when you can come here. The focus here is on tea. But do watch for Macha’s Friday “pop-up” lunches; it’s pretty delicious food. The menu might be a selection of donburi (rice bowls), an impromptu dal vs. tom kha soup contest, a choice of three sandwiches (chicken curry, roasted veggie or a Middle Eastern turkey burger, as it was one day last month) or whatever inspires the kitchen on a given day. Most recently, I had a festive “Seis de Mayo” salad, which had tomato, roasted corn, avocado and seasoned ground turkey, served with a roasted chicken slider. Lunch is served from noon until the food runs out. I look forward to stopping in on a hot summer day to try one of Macha’s ice teas. The selections when I visited included herbal Thai rose, black tea with lemon myrtle, four seasons oolong and white strawberry mint. The shop has a full menu of green and black teas available, and staffers are happy to advise you in your choice. I followed up my matcha with a pot of pu-erh tea, a fermented black tea from China’s Yunnan province. It’s rich and smoky (and highly caffeinated) — totally delicious. After adding a bit of whole milk, I found my cup of tea.

MACHA TEA COMPANY ■ 823 E. Johnson St. ■ 608-238-9286 ■ machateacompany.com Noon-7 pm Wed.-Fri., 11 am-6 -pm Sat., 11 am-5 pm Sun. ■ $4-$12 RACHEL VERBRICK PHOTOS

Three to try Lefse wraps

Lefse breakfast burrito

Varme pølse

The Norske Nook, 100 E. Holum St., DeForest

Schubert’s, 128 E. Main St., Mount Horeb

The Nook has a whole page of lefse wraps, with fillings both Norwegian (salmon, meatballs) and not (Denver omelet, BLT club), in lithe, fresh potato flatbread.

International culinary swap at play! Why not lefse instead of a flour tortilla? The scrambled egg and sausage filling is topped with biscuit gravy for a hint of the American South.

Norwegian Dancer Parents food stand, Main & Division streets, Stoughton, May 14-15

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ISTHMUS.COM MAY 12–18, 2016

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Varme pølse is a hot dog wrapped in lefse, and you can haz during this weekend’s Syttende Mai celebration.

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2016 Mad City Mix-Off Join Madison’s Top Bartenders for an Evening of Debauchery

Head-to-Head Cocktail Competitions

The Mad City Mix-Off is back and bigger than ever! Join us at The Madison Concourse Hotel on June 17th for an evening of craft cocktail debauchery. Delight as Madison’s best bartenders vie for your vote for Madison’s Favorite Cocktail and watch them compete head-to-head for Madison’s Top Bartender.

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MAY 12–18, 2016 ISTHMUS.COM

Door Prizes & Swag Bags

ROBIN SHEPARD

■ FOOD & DRINK

Nick Kocis, co-owner and brewmaster for Dead Bird Brewing.

No sideshow act Dead Bird Brewing’s Strongman IIPA

ISTHMUS.COM MAY 12–18, 2016

Dead Bird Brewing was started by two homebrewing friends, Nick Kocis and Jeremy Hatch. Their latest is Strongman IIPA, a bold imperial IPA that set a House of Brews taproom record for sales when it debuted there a couple weeks ago. It’s made with 3.5 pounds of hops per barrel — a combination of Nugget, Centennial, Cascade and Simcoe. The malt bill (including Pale, Victory and Caramel, with a touch of rye) is as robust as the beer’s name, with 1,000 pounds for a 10-barrel batch. Kocis says the goal was to do a 10/100 brew, meaning a beer that finishes at 10% ABV with an estimated 100 IBUs, and yet “still tastes good,” says Kocis.

Given all the hops and the massive amount of malt, the beer avoids the alcohol burn you might expect. The Cascade and Centennial hops lend citrus aroma and solid flavor, while the piney Simcoe and the rye malt create a spicy finish, giving Strongman a little West Coast hop personality. This might sound like a palate-wrecker, but it isn’t. It’s modestly balanced for an IIPA, very drinkable and approachable for a range of hoppy beer lovers. Strongman IIPA is currently found on draught at House of Brews, and it will appear in local taverns through May and June. It’s also available in 22-ounce bomber bottles. — ROBIN SHEPARD

Allied Drive continued from 23

The cooperative is expected to need an additional $700,000 before breaking ground on a new neighborhood food market. If all goes according to plan, the store will open in 2018. “This is difficult work, but the community is very committed to making this happen,” says Woulf. Mayor Paul Soglin is optimistic about the project. “Its success means an opportunity to locally solve the food security challenge in other parts of Madison,” says Soglin. He is also looking forward to the jobs that the co-op will create. Stephanie Rearick, founder of the Dane County TimeBank, a volunteer network for individuals and organizations, has also been working with the Allied Community Cooperative in its organizing efforts. “There are a lot of demands on neighborhood leaders to volunteer time, to make up for deficits in the neighborhood that they are not responsible for. They have great skill sets and are extremely dedicated,” says Rearick. “But

Residents like Cassandra Sonko never expected to be opening their own grocery store.

there aren’t a lot of retired accountants and lawyers with free time to start a complicated business organization.” She says donations of both time and money from outside the neighborhood will be essential to making the new store a reality. Sonko is undaunted by the obstacles that lie ahead: “We didn’t set out to be grocers, but we have to do it. Our lives depend on it.” ■

MAY 12â&#x20AC;&#x201C;18, 2016 ISTHMUS.COM

From left: Jack Kemnitz, Andy Gould, Dennis Mistrioty, Griffin Lynch.

Let’s open a cart A novel entrepreneurial extracurricular at UW BY MAGGIE BARUFFI

Dennis Mistrioty has been cooking Greek food with his grandfather since he had to use a stool to reach the counter. Now a junior at UW-Madison, Mistrioty and his three roommates have turned an old family business into Greek Street, a fully student-owned and -operated food cart and catering service. Mistrioty got the catering business rolling first, with cooking equipment and recipes he got after his grandfather, a Greek immigrant, closed his restaurant in Milwaukee. Shortly thereafter, he and his roommates got the idea to start a food cart when walking through Library Mall. Mistrioty says his roommates, who are also longtime friends, have always wanted to be entrepreneurs. “We wanted to leave college and start the next Facebook,” says Mistrioty. Once they settled on the idea, the roommates began developing their business. Mistrioty taught his friends to prepare everything from gyros to Greek salads. Also on the menu are chicken and pork souvlaki, as well as a veggie gyro.

Food news

Eats events

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DYLAN BROGAN

JOSH ROMAKER

n FOOD & DRINK

They each pitched in funds for the new Greekinspired cart, which was crafted specifically for them by Caged Crow Fabrication, a cart designing and building business in St. Germain, Wis. To earn a spot on Library Mall, they entered the city of Madison’s food cart evaluation process, which takes place each fall. Greek Street placed 29th out of 52 carts and gained its spot on the Library Mall. It’s believed to be the first student-owned and -operated cart to gain a coveted Mall-Concourse spot from the city. Co-owner Griffin Lynch says it’s been challenging to balance school with running the business. Many people run food carts as their jobs, but for the roommates, Greek Street has to come second to school. Mistrioty is not sure what lies in Greek Street’s future, but he hopes it will continue past college: “I don’t think it would be a long shot to say that Greek Street could expand to cities beyond Madison.” Greek Street can be found Saturdays at the Dane County Farmers’ Market on the Capitol Square or weekdays, 11 a.m.-3 p.m., on Library Mall. n

Fountain Express, 122 State St. Located in the storefront adjacent to the Fountain bar and restaurant, the small eatery is open until 3:30 a.m. Friday and Saturday nights. D. Scott Nelson, general manager for the Fountain, says there is demand downtown for late-night food that “isn’t pizza or Qdoba.” The Express serves all-beef hot dogs, sloppy joes and Italian beef sandwiches. Coleslaw and potato salad are made on-site daily. A baker has also been hired to make buns exclusively for the restaurant. Lupe’s Taqueria, 6719 Frank Lloyd Wright Ave., Middleton The new Mexican spot replaces Palmyra Mediterranean restaurant, which shut down in 2013.

Try a smorgasbord of gluten-free foods at this celiac-friendly fair. The two-day event also includes a presentation, “Is Gluten-Free for Me?” and experts will be on hand to answer questions. At Metcalfe’s Market Hilldale, 726 N. Midvale Blvd., and West Towne, 7455 Mineral Point Rd., 11 am-3 pm. More info on Metcalfe’s Facebook page.

Family Food Fest Sunday, May 15

This all-ages festival is organized by the REAP Food Group to encourage healthy eating and active living. Over 25 exhibitors including Chef in the Classroom, Fizzeology, Monty’s Blue Plate Diner and the Dane County Beekeepers Association will be on hand at Lincoln Elementary School, 911 Sequoia Trail, noon-3 pm. Free. Info at reapfoodgroup.org.

Closed Forever Yogurt, 506 State St. The Chicago-based chain has closed its only store in the state. Contrary to the frozen yogurt shop’s moniker, the store had been open on State Street only since 2012.

Booze beat Osaka House, 505 State St., has been denied a license to sell beer, wine and liquor by the Madison Common Council. The Japanese sushi restaurant had operated a small bar on its second floor. The Alcohol License Review Committee recommended the denial because of the “health, safety and wellness of the community.”

— DYLAN BROGAN

Cheese tasting and panel discussion Thursday, May 19

Master cheesemakers will be discussing the long-lasting influence of Swiss settlers on the Wisconsin cheese industry. A variety of Swiss cheeses will be available to sample. It’s at the Wisconsin Historical Museum, 30 N. Carroll St., 7-9 pm. Tickets ($15); register by May 18 through the Wisconsin Historical Society, 608-264-6555.

Market fresh

SAMANTHA EGELHOFF

ISTHMUS.COM MAY 12–18, 2016

Estrellón’s G&T #3 As summer approaches, cocktail menus increasingly resemble salads. If that sounds gross to you because you inexplicably hate salad, remember that most cocktails are just fermented grains or vegetables mixed with fruit. Craft cocktail menus kick that formula up a few notches, infusing a spirit with local garden vegetables, mixing it with a tart fruit syrup and maybe muddling in some fragrant herbs. The spring menu at Estrellón, 313 W. Johnson St., demonstrates this salad theory perfectly. New drinks contain apple-rhubarb shrub, rosemary syrup, orange blossom water,

even radishes. I chose the G & T #3 for one simple reason: The first word in its menu description was beet. Infused into St. George Dry Rye Gin with a pinch of salt and a few days of room-temperature cryovacking — the vacuum-packing method also known as sous vide — the beets give the drink a rosy hue, a down-to-earth sweetness and just enough flavor (combined with fresh lemon) to stand up to the rye. Jack Rudy tonic syrup, mixed with soda in-house, also sweetens the blend. Beet-infused gin is a menu bombshell, but my favorite ingredients were actually farther

down the list. First, the gin is paired with Linie Aquavit, an aromatic spirit distilled in Scandinavia with flavors like caraway and dill, then matured in sherry casks over the course of several months at sea. I couldn’t actually taste it, but that’s a great story. And more importantly, the flavor profile made sense, especially because the Collins glass was also bursting with fresh dill. Beets and dill? Basically, sipping this drink is like standing in a garden. As far as I’m concerned, it qualifies as a health food.

— ERIN CLUNE

The DOWNTOWN The DOWNTOWN neighborhood bar neighborhood bar

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■ SPORTS

Jack Wollaeger (right) of the Westside Crusaders in a game against Sun Prairie in April.

Out of the cradle Lacrosse is a growing sport in Wisconsin

ISTHMUS.COM MAY 12–18, 2016

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SINCE 1908

BY MICHAEL POPKE

For the third straight year, teenage members of the Westside Lacrosse Club— a co-op, co-ed organization for four high schools and several youth teams — are volunteering to work the Color Run on Saturday, May 21, at the Alliant Energy Center. It’s all a way to raise money to cover the club’s expenses. (Volunteers are paid for their time.) Lacrosse, a tough and demanding game that dates back to ancient times and involves using long-handled sticks with nets to catch, cradle and pass a small rubber ball downfield and into the opponent’s goal, has become one of the fastestgrowing sports in Wisconsin. And competition levels are increasing steadily. “While not at the level of the East Coast and other more established areas in the United States, Wisconsin is beginning to create scholarship players at the NCAA DII and DIII levels and at the college club level,” says Steve Johnson, president of the Westside Lacrosse Club. He hopes the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association will sanction the sport within the next four years. (For the record, state associations in neighboring Minnesota and Michigan already do.)

Oregon High School boys’ lacrosse coach David Kean recently told WKOW the sport’s growth makes it a prime candidate for WIAA recognition. “That is definitely the long-term goal,” he said. “I think it’s sooner rather than later.” Many high schools in the Madison area offer lacrosse as a varsity sport or organized club sport, Johnson adds, and there now are at least 14 organizations that collectively offer more than 100 youth teams for boys and girls between ages 8 and 15. Last year, the Wisconsin Lacrosse Federation and US Lacrosse reported there were 5,882 lacrosse players, both boys and girls, in the state, not including college players. The Color Run is expanding, too. This year’s theme is “Tropicolor,” and participants (who should arrive at the race wearing white) will be sprayed with vivid colors (colored powder, made of food-grade cornstarch) as they pass through different “color zones” during the five-kilometer, untimed run. Pre-register for Madison’s Color Run at thecolorrun.com ($45). Registration is also open on race day until 9 a.m., which is when the run begins. ■

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Mark Lovat focuses on sleep, hydration and nutrition as well as sets and reps.

Holistic conditioning Packers strength coach Mark Lovat on new training techniques BY MICHAEL POPKE AND MARK TAUSCHER

Mark Lovat joined the Green Bay Packers full-time in 1999, eventually working under three strength and conditioning coordinators. He’s been the head strength coach now for six years. Over the years he’s seen a lot of changes in training techniques in the NFL. He could not get into great detail about his own strategy without giving away the Packers’ secrets, but was able to share with Isthmus his thoughts on how training has evolved for professional football players.

When did you start to notice the shift to a more holistic approach? In the early 2000s. During that time, I went over to Australia. The rugby teams over there are very sports-science-oriented, and I visited a number of them. They were early adopters of GPS tracking; they almost made the team environment lab-like. They’ve tried to dial it back now, because they felt like they lost some of the grit that the sport requires. How has coach Mike McCarthy, who arrived in Green Bay in 2006, embraced what you’re doing? He’s been awesome. He’s very forward thinking and cutting edge, but he doesn’t lose sight of the game. First and foremost, Coach McCarthy’s always looking for an edge, so he wants information. But we give him that information in digestible bites — maybe one little nugget that has an easy-to-see connection. He can make an adjustment with a player and see a result right away. Just like with anything else, it’s a progression.

From the players’ standpoint, have you had any pushback? In the end, this is all about their performance and their career. So it’s a pretty easy sell when we tell a player, “We want to look at your sleep patterns and help you evaluate them so you can improve your game.” Nobody’s going to get cut because they don’t sleep well. Can you give an example of what you’re doing to improve player performance? We test hydration team-wide and post the results within an hour. Everybody can see where they are in terms of being properly hydrated — and they can address that immediately. By the time they get to the practice field, they’re in a better zone. So we’ve improved clarity, acuity, reaction time and muscle elasticity. We’ve done a whole lot of things that are indisputable positive effects of hydration. It’s powerful stuff, and it doesn’t have to be rocket science. But it is science... I think the word science gets misused. We’re not scientists. That’s an insult to the field of science for me to call myself a scientist. But I use the work of scientists and look at their research and take the time to find out how their work might fit into our culture. That’s what the trip to Australia was all about it. And then we’ve got to have a guy like Coach McCarthy, who is receptive and says, “Hey, man, let’s keep pushing this envelope and try to improve every day.” n

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HILLDALE WEST TOWNE

MAY 12–18, 2016 ISTHMUS.COM

What’s the biggest difference between when you started in 1999 and now? When I started, strength coaches were really about the weight room, pumping iron — not unlike what we do today. But it was almost done in isolation from the rest of the program. I wasn’t actively involved in practice planning or schedule making. We were worried about sets and reps and hoping we were preparing players for whatever got thrown at them in a game. Now, my job is about workload management and considering all the stressors and factors in players’ lives. How are we scheduling sleep? How are we scheduling nutrition? How are we scheduling for recovery? How is all of this working into the process of what we’re doing with athletes from the day they arrive as rookies? Are we accounting for everything we can? We look at things more holistically now.

Those early years sound almost prehistoric... Yes, but that’s not the case. You can’t say, ‘We’re cutting edge’ and completely forsake the history of this game, and the attitude and type of person it takes to play this game, because those things never change. The trick is to take all of the measurable data available and use it, not let it dictate what you’re doing.

MAY 14-15 11am-3pm

■ BOOKS

A curious collaboration The authors of A Well-Made Bed discuss their unconventional novel BY MICHAEL POPKE

What if two longtime friends wrote a novel together? That’s the question Oshkosh writer Abby Frucht posed one fine day in May 2010 to fellow novelist Laurie Alberts, who lives off the grid in rural Vermont. Six years later, their first collaborative effort, A WellMade Bed (Red Hen Press) is earning praise from former Madison author Jacquelyn Mitchard, who calls the book a “modern parable” that “will make you laugh and shudder and identify, whether you want to or not.” A Well-Made Bed chronicles the messy lives of Jaycee Emory and Noor Khan — two disparate (and desperate) women united by a childhood tragedy and, years later, thrust into a world of greed, murder and illicit drugs. Frucht will read from the book at A Room of One’s Own, 315 W. Gorham St., on Tuesday, May 17, at 6 p.m.

for me to handle. Inventing all of this with Laurie turned a lot of work into a lot of fun. Also, the heavier parts of the novel, like the questions it raises about how far people go to get what they want and how they change who they are in the process, might have remained abstract if I had asked them by myself. Together, Laurie and I were able to turn the questions into stories. What was the collaboration process like? Did one of you write from Noor’s perspective and the other from Jaycee’s? Alberts: I took Noor and Abby took Jaycee. But as we wrote, other characters evolved, and we began by splitting them up and then switching who wrote which characters, so that each of us had written drafts from all points of view. And every chapter has input from both of us, right down to the sentence level. We don’t remember who wrote what. Abby, what influence does living in Wisconsin have on your writing? Frucht: A review of A Well-Made Bed refers to the “pastoral” Vermont setting and the wily, formidable strength of Vermonters. My deep appreciation for the rural landscape and the frankness of the people who work it comes from having lived in Wisconsin for nearly two and a half decades.

How did you two meet? Laurie Alberts: We met at Vermont College of Fine Arts’ MFA in Writing program, where we both taught for many years. In fact, we set our novel in Montpelier because it is the only place we both know well. Would you have written A Well-Made Bed on your own? Abby Frucht: I would never have had the guts, not to mention the ability, to write A Well-Made Bed alone. The story — about two women who come into possession of a large amount of [cocaine], decide to sell it and then experience the consequences — struck me as being too big

What were the challenges of working with someone half a country away? Alberts: The challenges were not caused by distance but by differences in personality, writing style, even composition process. My habit has always been to write a very loose, rough first

Co-authors Laurie Alberts (le ) and Abby Frucht met in an MFA program in Vermont.

draft to get the story down, and then develop and polish later. But Abby, I learned, discovers events and characters by playing with sentences and word choice as she goes along. I had to concede to her process because she couldn’t bear mine. Frucht: I raised the question of writing with [Laurie] just a month after I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Although I had surgery and radiation burns, I never felt afraid, and it seems to me that maybe part of the reason is not only

that I was absorbed in a creative project but that my writing partner was a woman who understands what it’s like to go through hard things, and how much it means just to trust (or to be) the presence on the other end of the phone and at the far side of the email. Would you do another book together? Alberts: If I ever collaborate on a novel again, it would be with Abby. We’ve talked about a sequel. ■

Radio revolution Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman returns to Madison for book tour

ISTHMUS.COM MAY 12–18, 2016

BY DYLAN BROGAN

Amy Goodman is no stranger to Madison. When nearly 200,000 people filled the Capitol Square to protest Gov. Scott Walker’s union-busting bill in 2011, Goodman, the host of Democracy Now!, was there, offering her characteristic, almost deadpan, coverage and analysis. Goodman recalled the scene during a recent book tour stop at Pitzer College in California: “I’ve never seen anything like it. You had kids with dreadlocks down their backs, they were drumming on anything in front of the governor’s office, and the police were rocking out next to them.” Goodman will be back in Madison on May 18, sharing stories from her new book,

Democracy Now!: Twenty Years Covering the Movements Changing America, which she cowrote with her brother, David Goodman, and journalist Denis Moynihan. In addition to revisiting her experiences covering the “Wisconsin Uprising,” the book also chronicles the street clashes at the World Trade Organization Conference in 1999 (“the Battle in Seattle”) and the Occupy Wall Street encampment in New York City’s Zuccotti Park. Goodman’s stop at the Barrymore Theatre is part of a 100-city tour celebrating the 20th year of her internationally syndicated news program, Democracy Now! The event will benefit WORT 89.9 FM, which has aired the radio program since the beginning. “We first started airing [Democracy Now!] during the presidential con-

ventions in 1996,” says Norm Stockwell, operations coordinator at WORT. The loyalty has been mutual. “Amy Goodman has always been incredibly supportive of the station and very generous with her time coming to town for benefit events like this one,” adds Stockwell. Since its humble start on the small, independent radio station WBAI in New York City, Democracy Now! has grown into a public media powerhouse; it currently broadcasts on 1,400 television and radio stations as well as on the internet. “From the very beginning, Goodman has seen her role as giving voice to the unrepresented and underrepresented issues of our time,” says Stockwell. The event at the Barrymore begins at 7:30 p.m. and will open with music from Newsical

Goodman’s new book chronicles two decades of activist journalism.

Muse with Ken Lonnquist and Dave Adler. The program is being presented by the Wisconsin Book Festival in partnership with A Room of One’s Own and WORT. ■

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MAY 12–18, 2016 ISTHMUS.COM

KING SUNNY ADE AND HIS AFRICAN BEATS

■ MUSIC

Comeback kid The Jayhawks’ Gary Louris gets back to his musical roots BY AARON R. CONKLIN

READING BY

WENDY HOLDEN Born Survivors tells the story of three young women who, in the final days of World War II, gave birth in a Nazi death camp. Two special guests join Holden for the event: local physician Dr. Mark Olsky (one of the three “babies”) and Larry Koskiek of Lake Geneva, whose father is the American GI who found the camp.

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Gary Louris doesn’t really check himself when he’s asked for his reaction to the recent wave of stories noting that the Jayhawks, the legendary Minneapolis band he co-formed and co-fronted for nearly four decades, have left their roots-rock twang behind. In fact, he pauses less than a second before unleashing a long and loud hurray! As Louris talks about re-forming the Jayhawks (the band plays the Barrymore Theatre on May 13) and last month’s release of their ninth studio album, it’s clear he’s feeling a strong sense of liberation — from the Jayhawks’ weighty and storied history, from his own destructive personal demons and from his often-tumultuous relationship with co-founder and longtime collaborator Mark Olson, the ex-Jayhawk who was always happier steering the band into alt-country territory. Olson and Louris endured a second acrimonious split in 2012, just a year after reuniting to record and tour the return-toglory album Mockingbird Time. BOOKS NEW & USED “I think we’ve typecast a bit,” Louris 315 W. Gorham St. been • (608) 257-7888 www.roomofonesown.com muses of the band’s history. “I know who I Mon.–Sat. Sun. 12–5 am, but a lot of10–8, it comes down to some lazy categorization. A lot of what we’ve done is not roots-rock.” That most definitely includes the new album, Paging Mr. Proust, a strong 12-pack of songs that banishes the steel guitars in favor of a pop-rock, synthesizer-based sound. Including the title, the album’s sprinkled with literary name-drops (think David Foster Wallace and Robert Frost), thoughtful takes on love and loss, and at least one song (“Lies

Louris (second from right) is feeling liberated.

VIVIAN JOHNSON

in Black and White”) that could be interpreted as a shot at his former bandmate. To Louris, Proust is really more about trying to get back to his own musical roots. “I grew up listening to Yes, Genesis, the Who, the Kinks and Roxy Music,” says Louris. “I knew who Alan Parsons was well before Gram Parsons. I preferred prog rock over country rock. The latter is part of me, but it’s a small part of me.” Proust was an “interesting” record to make, Louris says, in part because it allowed him to musically address his experiences with drug rehab and, as he puts it, “my newfound appreciation for what I have versus what I don’t have.” He spent a lot of time alone in his home studio, pulling together influences and things that inspired him. He culled what felt like the most “Jayhawkian” of his compositions together and spent months jamming with the band’s other current members — keyboardist Karen Grotberg, longtime drummer Tim O’Reagan and original

dbassist Marc Perlman — to make them into Jayhawks songs. The album also features a few new musical collaborators; the list of producers includes R.E.M.’s Peter Buck. “It took me a long time to feel comfortable collaborating with anyone but Olson,” Louris says. “But whenever we play these new songs, they feel stronger than anything in our back catalogue. It’s one of those records that just fell into place.” For the tour, the band’s also added guitarist Chet Lyster. “He’s gonna push me musically,” says Louris. At 61, Louris’ musical and world view is now shaped by a lifetime of experience, and he’s more than happy to just embrace it. “I thought it was uncool to have longevity, but now I’m really proud of it,” he says. “I don’t have a fear of failure anymore. I’m just confident in what I do. You can take me or leave me.” ■

Hiatus for the Gomers, “Madison’s House Band” The Gomers have made countless Madisonians into rock stars. Some people work up their courage to sing one song. Others are addicted to the experience, showing up week after week to get their names on the list for “Rockstar Gomeroke” — a 12-year tradition of liveband karaoke that takes place Tuesdays and every other Friday at the High Noon Saloon. That’s partly what makes the band’s announcement that it is going on “hiatus” after July unsettling. Who’s going to back us up now? The Gomers have played together for nearly 31 years, and it was a profound personal and professional blow to the band when bassist Gordon Ranney died of cancer on Feb. 28. His star-studded memorial concert, “Love in the Key of G,” rocked the High Noon on April 12. High Noon owner Cathy Dethmers recalls that the club was under construction 12 years ago when she got a visit from Biff Blumfumgagnge (guitar, violin) proposing

a new concept for a residency. The idea was live-band karaoke, which was already happening in New York. She jumped at the chance to make it happen here. Calling the Gomers “ground zero for a scene of musicians who collaborate on all kinds of artistic projects,” Dethmers says she knows Madisonians will continue to enjoy members of the Gomers playing in other bands. Even though many of us think of the last decade as the era of Gomeroke — where the band members submerged their own identities into making everyone into rock stars — the Gomers continued to branch out all over the place, writing crazy Frank Zappa-esque theatrical punk tunes and putting out award-winning albums and videos. They also play numerous benefits in the community, like the annual Stand Up (and Sing) for Kids, sponsored by Dane County Court Appointed Special Advocates. For the youngsters who flock to “Kiddyoke” events (the next one is the Madison Children’s Museum Summer Palooza on June 11), it’s likely the first time they’ve sung into a microphone.

ERIC TADSEN

Who knows how many future careers were started with a shy kid stepping up to the mic to sing “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star.” Anyway, Gomers, take your hiatus. You deserve it. We sure hope you decide to come back. As Joni Mitchell put it, “You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone.”

— CATHERINE CAPELLARO

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A beautiful classic Children’s Theater of Madison keeps Mockingbird relevant BY GWENDOLYN RICE

Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird is a beloved American classic, focusing on a girl nicknamed Scout and her family’s experiences with racism and injustice in a small town in the deep South. A difficult and important work that is as relevant now as it was when it was published in 1960, Mockingbird is a wonderful choice for Children’s Theater of Madison, which is closing its 50th anniversary season with a beautiful production, directed by Roseann Sheridan. The play, which runs through May 22 in the Playhouse at Overture Center, has three young people at its center: Jean Louise “Scout” Finch, her older brother, Jem, and their odd but delightful friend Charles Baker Harris, known as Dill, who is visiting their small town of Maycomb, Ala., for the summer. Scout and Jem’s father, Atticus, is hard at work preparing the legal defense of Tom Robinson, an African American man accused of raping a white woman. Tensions rise as the town quickly takes sides along racial lines. The trial and the violence that ultimately follow give Scout and Jem a profound appreciation for the work their father does. It also awakens them to the staggering prejudice in their community, and how that prejudice could lead to a gross miscarriage of justice. Because some of the language of the play is historically accurate but offensive to many modern audience members, the show begins with a short discussion led by Theola

Carter and the other African American members of the cast. Her warnings about the content transition into a call to action and a rousing rendition of “Keep Your Eyes on the Prize,” a folk song sung during the civil rights movement of the 1950s and ’60s. Humming the song’s refrain, the first character we meet is an adult version of Scout (played elegantly by Liz Cassarino), who sets the scene and acts as a guide, watching her younger self struggle with the events that unfolded in that summer of 1935. The young performers who play Scout, Jem, and Dill are natural and confident onstage, and their portrayal of a loss of innocence compounds the tragedy of the story. Dill is played with great charm by sixth-grader Trygve Gunderson. High school junior Rizvan Moe captures Jem’s frustration with a father who doesn’t behave like the other dads. As Scout, sixth-grader Julia Amann is every inch an inquisitive tomboy — dressed in overalls, a plaid shirt and sneakers, her hair in braids, she is always asking questions. Steve Koehler brings an easy cadence to his role as Atticus, using a gentle but firm hand to counsel his children and to defuse an angry lynch mob. As Tom Robinson, Terence Sims gives a standout performance as the wrongly accused man. And Theola Carter’s rich, strong voice leads a chorus in singing spirituals between scenes, adding great texture to the play. There are uneven spots in the large cast where characters slip into caricature, but overall this production is an excellent introduction to Harper Lee’s groundbreaking novel — or a chance to revisit an important masterwork. n

TOM KLINGELE

Loss of innocence: Scout (Julia Amann) with her father, Atticus (Steve Koehler).

Belly shakers Acts to Grind pokes fun at elections and living with disabilities

ISTHMUS.COM MAY 12–18, 2016

BY LAURA JONES

I could tell you to see Acts to Grind, the newest show by Encore Studio for the Performing Arts, because it was created by Wisconsin’s only professional theater company for people with disabilities. But, in the spirit of Encore and its exceptional players, screw that: See it because this series of vignettes is political, dynamic and laugh-out-loud funny. I can’t remember the last time I experienced so many consistent belly shakers in one show and at such a quick pace, too. Just when you think you get to the bottom of the dark humor and sly punchlines, Encore’s cast throws one more, a sucker punch that leaves the audience reeling. Encore is just a little smarter and a little faster than we are. Acts to Grind, which runs through May 21 at the Mary Dupont Wahlers Theatre (1480 Martin St.), includes performances by

KELSYANNE SCHOENHAAR

Jenny Kopp (left) and Nick Kaprelian face off in “New Election.”

disabled and non-disabled actors, and the company often rotates cast members. One highlight is a three-act intermezzo called “A New Election,” written by the company’s founder, Kelsy-

Anne Schoenhaar. Julie (played on May 7 by the delightful Malissa Petterson) is angered by a Republican pamphleteer who wants her vote for Joyce Humphries (Wendy Prosise), a Sarah Pal-

in-type character. Julie’s friend April (Connie Alsum) encourages her to run against Humphries, reminding her that as a person with disabilities she has an important voice to add to the election. But Julie remains unmoved — until April entices her with the possibility of sleeping with “younger, hotter guys.” Hey, politics are serious, but let’s not underestimate the appeal of younger, hotter sex partners. I can think of at least a few politicians motivated by similar concerns. Encore never settles for what’s easy or expected in its portrayals of living with disabilities. I admire them for bringing sharp wit to every story and also for illuminating the fact that no matter what mental or physical challenges we face, we’re all human, sharing many of the same underlying concerns. If you think you know everything Encore has to teach you, you couldn’t be more wrong. See Acts to Grind and you are bound to discover many hilarious, unexpected truths. n

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Weekend Events on the Water FRIDAY, MAY 13 | 4 – 9 PM WISCONSIN FISH FRY + CRAFT BEER ‘OPENING CELEBRATION’ ON THE WATER • 4-6pm | The Edgewater Plaza | ESPN Radio kicks off the festivities with Fridays on the Water • 5-8pm | The Edgewater Plaza | No Name String Band (Bluegrass) performs live! • Brewgrass Fridays with Door County Brewing Company | Free and open to the public

SATURDAY, MAY 14 | 10AM – 10PM LAKESIDE SOIREE ON THE PLAZA

• 2-8pm | Live music featuring Nuggernaut at 2:30pm, and Megan Bobo & The Luxe at 6pm • No reservations, just come as you are and stay as long as you’d like • Enjoy a luxe Champagne bar, craft beers from Wisconsin Brewing Company and more!

• Reservations required | Reserve online or call 608 535 8167 • The Graduation Celebration Dinner features tableside seafood displays, Wisconsin favorites and fabulous food stations.

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MAY 12–18, 2016 ISTHMUS.COM

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■ SCREENS

Driven by ambition In Marguerite, a wealthy singer has it all — except talent BY KENNETH BURNS

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If you have no talent but want to make music, or at least pretend to, you have options. You can sing karaoke or play video games like Guitar Hero. Or you can be very rich and surround yourself with cowards. That’s the approach taken by the heroine of the marvelous French comedy-drama Marguerite. She has everything she needs to succeed as an opera singer — the drive, the knowledge, the connections. Everything, that is, except the ability to sing. Catherine Frot is luminous as Marguerite Dumont, a woman whose passion to create art can’t be diminished by an utter lack of artistic skill. In the opening scene, well-dressed patrons gather in Marguerite’s sprawling mansion. The year is 1920, and she is staging a musical benefit for war orphans. After guest vocalists perform, Marguerite sings “Queen of the Night” from The Magic Flute. She is terrible. The musicians share knowing looks, but the audience members listen blandly. When she finishes, she is rewarded with a standing ovation. Marguerite’s commitment to opera is total. She has acquired a manuscript of Tosca with Puccini’s handwriting on it. She collects operatic scenery, as well as costumes she wears in photographs taken by a curiously loyal servant (Denis Mpunga). But in a premise that recalls “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” no one tells Marguerite she can’t sing. Some of her enablers are probably just humoring her. Others have more complex motivations — including her husband, Georges (André Marcon), who encourages her by secretly ordering the flowers she as-

Marguerite (Catherine Frot) rehearses with her vocal coach, Pezzini (Michel Fau).

sumes are congratulatory gifts from fans. Director and co-writer Xavier Giannoli draws on the story of Florence Foster Jenkins (1868-1944), the American heiress whose bad singing inspired several plays, and who is portrayed by Meryl Streep in a biopic due out later this year. Relocating the story to 1920s France lets Giannoli examine interesting themes, including the changing nature of art in the aftermath of World War I and especially the advent of jazz. The people playing and listening to jazz seem to be having a much better time than the snooty socialites of the classical music world. In addition to the invited guests, attendees at Marguerite’s benefit concert include a couple of gatecrashers, poet/artist Kyrill (Aubert Fenoy) and jaded newspaper journalist Lucien (Sylvain Dieuaide). After the party, Lucien

inspires Marguerite by writing a cynically positive review, and Kyrill invites her to sing at his avant-garde art event. The show is a disaster, but the public exposure gratifies Marguerite and prompts her to stage a solo performance. She hires a hilariously decadent vocal coach named Pezzini (Michel Fau) and prepares, even as Georges worries about her being publicly humiliated. The scenes of Marguerite rehearsing are a comic delight. Pezzini’s techniques include stacking books on Marguerite’s stomach and having her stare at a room-sized black rectangle. Marguerite is a beautifully designed film that explores fascinating questions about ambition, loyalty and creativity. It’s a gem, and you’ve never seen a movie this good with so much bad singing. ■

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Dysfunctional theater Children of performance artists struggle in The Family Fang BY STEVE DAVIS

An atonal chorus of “Kill all parents!,” fervently sung by two adolescent siblings eager to please their mom and dad, reverberates throughout the tonally shifting dramedy The Family Fang. Based on Kevin Wilson’s darkly comic 2011 novel, the film balances precariously on an outlandish premise: Husbandand-wife performance artists Caleb and Camille Fang (Christopher Walken and Maryann Plunkett) stage and film livingtheater pieces that conceptually manipulate reality in everyday settings, such as an engineered high school production of Romeo and Juliet pairing brother and sister as the starcrossed lovers. But the ultimate ick factor in these experimental art pieces is the required participation of their two young offspring,

Annie and Baxter, otherwise objectively referred to as “Child A” and “Child B.” It’s a childhood tailor-made for an adult life on the therapist’s couch, as the grownup Annie (Nicole Kidman) and Baxter (Jason Bateman, who also directs) struggle in their own fashion with the psychic wounds of an unorthodox upbringing. For most of the film, Bateman manages to bring out the two principals’ anguish without resorting to sentimentality, until the last quarter of the film, when things get gooey as an empowered brother and sister literally walk hand-in-hand in emotional solidarity. But in a scene in which their characters engage in a quiet, tear-filled conversation about the futility of changing the past through the present, Bateman and Kidman connect beautifully. For the siblings, it’s a moment of clarity in a lifetime of familial dysfunction. ■

Jason Bateman and Nicole Kidman connect beautifully.

The film list New releases The Darkness: A vacationing family innocently brings home a supernatural force that preys on their fears and vulnerabilities. Money Monster: A financial TV host (George Clooney) and his producer (Julia Roberts) are put in an extreme situation when their show is hijacked on-air by an investor who lost everything.

Recent releases 24: Tamil-language sci-fi thriller in which a scientist’s new invention attracts the attention of his evil brother. Captain America: Civil War: This sequel hinges on a public outcry for accountability and oversight, as Tony Stark (aka Iron Man) sides with UN officials wanting to register and rein in the superheroes, while Cap’s suspicion of authority and his uber-patriotic defense of civil liberties compels him to defy orders. The spectacle that gets asses in seats never feels perfunctory, but you get the feeling the filmmakers’ hearts thump hardest for the spy-intrigue in between the fight scenes.

37TH A N N U

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Green Room: Writer/director Jeremy Saulnier has crafted a gleefully merciless update on Deliverance, except instead of city folk vs. hillbillies, it’s punk rockers vs. neo-Nazis, and it is one of the most brutal, visceral films to come along in quite some time.

CANOE, KAYAK OR SUP.

STUDENT OF LIFE WEDNESDAYS

Keanu: Key and Peele pose as murderous drug dealers to rescue the kidnapped titular tabby from a life of crime. It’s refreshingly silly, an unabashed mix of humor and violence topped off with a big dollop of cuteness.

Education I.D. Required - Students/Teachers/Staff

Sing Street: A 15-year-old student at an Irish Jesuit school starts a band, navigating safe passage through the financial and emotional woes of the 1980s. It’s an endearing toe-tapper from John Carney, the writer/director of Once, whose films celebrate the ecstasy of musical collaboration.

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Wolf Totem: A Chinese student sent to live with Mongolian herders adopts a wolf cub. Hawthorne Library, May 13, 7 pm.

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A Hologram for the King

Zootopia

The Jungle Book

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Ratchet & Clank Star Wars: The Force Awakens

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‘15

The Huntsman: Winter’s War

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Eye in the Sky

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MAY 12–18, 2016 ISTHMUS.COM

My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2

CC & DESCRIPTIVE NARRATION

Showtimes for May 13 - May19

Deadpool

Sun: (11:00 AM, 2:00, 5:00), 8:00, 9:00; Mon to Thu: (2:00, 5:00), 8:00, 9:00

THE FAMILY FANG

Fri & Sat: (1:30, 4:30), 9:25; Sun: (11:00 AM, 1:30, 4:30), 9:05; Mon to Thu: (1:30, 4:30), 9:05

Also in theaters

Mother’s Day

CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR NO PASSES - CC & DESCRIPTIVE NARRATION Fri & Sat: (1:00, 4:00), 7:00, 10:00;

A HOLOGRAM FOR THE KING

Y NATION NATT

The Boss

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Fri: (1:35), 7:05; Sat: (11:05 AM, 1:35), 7:05; Sun to Thu: (1:35), 6:50 EYE IN THE SKY CLOSED CAPTIONED Fri: (4:20), 6:55, 9:10; Sat: (11:20 AM, 4:20), 6:55, 9:10; Sun: (11:20 AM, 4:20), 6:55; Mon to Thu: (4:20), 6:55

The Abolitionists: A former Homeland Security special agent forms an organization dedicated to rescuing children from child sex tourism. Point, May 16, 7:30 pm.

10 Cloverfield Lane

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Fri: (1:45, 4:15), 7:00, 9:15; Sat & Sun: (11:00 AM, 1:45, 4:15), 7:00, 9:15; Mon to Thu: (1:45, 4:15), 7:00, 9:15

BEER, FOOD AND A DAY OF SUP DEMOS ARE IN SIGHT.

I Hope You Dance: The Power and Spirit of Song: Documentary about the effects of the crossover country-pop hit written by Mark Sanders and Tia Sillers. Point, May 16, 2 & 7 pm.

D D L The Lady in Athe Van

STARTS FRIDAY

MONEY MONSTER

Wanda: Written, directed and starring Barbara Loden as a woman adrift in Pennsylvania coal mining country who hooks up with a petty criminal. Cinematheque, May 14, 7 pm.

34 TH

*except bucket size

CARRY YOUR CANOE OR KAYAK. SUPS CAN CARRY, CART, CAR OR WHATEVER.

Nashville: An extraordinary movie set on a sultry weekend in the capital of C&W with a vast, Brueghelian cast of the great, the near-great, the also-rans and the totally obscure. Robert Altman crafted a real American masterpiece that’s bursting with life and ideas and full of richly satiric, skewed observations on America. Cinematheque, May 13, 7 pm.

Mommie Dearest: Hell hath no fury like a daughter scorned — or Mildred Pierced. Central Library, May 19, 6:30 pm.

No Amenity Fee!

Joe Bonamassa Friday, May 13, Orpheum Theater, 8 pm Joe Bonamassa may be the hardestworking man in blues. The 39-year-old singer and blistering guitar slinger tours incessantly, often overseas, and has released a dozen studio albums. At age 12, he opened for B.B. King, and has since jammed with the likes of Eric Clapton, Steve Winwood and Buddy Guy. He’s also co-founder and chairman of the Keeping the Blues Alive Foundation, which promotes the blues heritage, funds music scholarships and supplements the loss of music education in public schools. With Bonamassa around, the blues are definitely still alive.

picks

thu may 12

PICK OF THE WEEK MARTY MOFFATT

THEATER & DANCE

Joe List

MU S I C

The English Beat Thursday, May 12, High Noon Saloon, 8 pm

One of the most beloved bands of ska’s second wave, the English Beat (or simply the Beat in their native country) returns to Madison with original singer and guitarist Dave Wakeling at the helm. With Something to Do.

Thursday, May 12, Comedy Club on State, 8:30 pm

Muuy Biien

The Tempest

Thursday, May 12, The Frequency, 8:30 pm

Thursday, May 12, Bartell Theatre, 7:30 pm

Fans of wild frontmen and dark, atmospheric rock should take note — this Athens, Ga., band is helping to redefine how punk sounds in 2016. With Dusk, Dimwaves.

Shipwrecks, desert islands, sprites and monsters all make appearances in Shakespeare’s classic exploration of love, identity and power. The venerable Madison Theatre Guild closes out its 70th season with an all-star cast. ALSO: Friday (7:30 pm) and Saturday (2 pm), May 13-14.

Brink Lounge: Mike Massey & Francie Phelps, 7 pm. Capital Brewery, Middleton: Dan Law & the Mannish Boys, free, 6 pm. Cardinal Bar: DJ Fernando, 10 pm. Club Tavern, Middleton: Madpolecats, free, 9 pm. Essen Haus: WheelHouse, free, 9 pm. Fountain: Mal-O-Dua, blues/rock, free, 8 pm. Gates of Heaven: Nick Zoulek & Alek Tengesdal, Rob Lundberg & Brian Grimm, 7;30 pm. High Noon Saloon: Lou Shields, free (patio), 6 pm.

ISTHMUS.COM MAY 12–18, 2016

Hop Haus, Verona: Bluegrass TeA & Company, 7 pm.

Ivory Room: Nicky Jordan, Josh Dupont, 9 pm. Merchant: Gin Mill Hollow, Americana, free, 10:30 pm.

Hippo Campus

CO MEDY

Mr. Robert’s: Western Settings, Bashford, free, 10 pm. Sprecher’s Restaurant and Pub: Sam Lyons, 6 pm.

Thursday, May 12, Majestic Theatre, 8:30 pm

Tip Top Tavern: Jeffrey James, folk, free, 9:30 pm.

The two EPs by this young Twin Cities fourpiece are full of poppy, laid-back rock and recall Vampire Weekend and Phoenix in equal measure. With Riothorse Royale, Disq.

Tricia’s Country Corners, McFarland: Frank James & Bobby Briggs, country, free, 8 pm Thursdays. Up North Pub: Catfish Stephenson, 9 pm Thursdays. World of Beer, Middleton: David Hecht, 7 pm.

Joe List began his comedy career right out of high school in 2000 and finally caught his break last year when he was a finalist on NBC’s Last Comic Standing. That it took so long was disappointing, but not surprising: List’s delivery is hilariously unassuming, making his jokes sound more like afterthoughts than punchlines. With Mike Cronin, Deon Green. ALSO: Friday and Saturday (8 & 10:30 pm), May 13-14.

A RT EXH I B I TS & EV EN TS

The Lion King: Musical, 5/10-6/5, Overture CenterOverture Hall, at 7:30 pm Tuesdays-Thursdays, 8 pm Fridays, 2 & 8 pm Saturdays and 1 & 6:30 pm Sundays (1 pm only 6/5), plus 2 pm, 6/3. $145-$35. 258-4141. Blithe Spirit: Noel Coward comedy by Strollers Theatre, 4/29-5/21, Bartell Theatre, 7:30 pm Thursdays-Saturdays (2 pm on 5/21) & 5/11. $20. 661-9696. That’s What She Said: Faith: Bricks Theatre original stories from local raconteurs, 7:30 pm on 5/12 and 8 pm, 5/13, Brink Lounge. $15. 358-9609. Ben Franklin & Baron von Steuben vs. the Paine County School Board: A conservative small town is visited by two of the founding fathers, 7:30 pm, 5/12-14 & 20-21, TAPIT/new works. $20. 244-2938.

BOOKS James Campbell: Discussing “Braving It,” his new book, 7 pm, 5/12, A Room of One’s Own. 257-7888. Michael Norton: Discussing “Happy Money,” his new book, 7 pm, 5/12, Central Library. 266-6300.

Frank Stella Prints: A Retrospective Exhibited through Sunday, May 22, Madison Museum of Contemporary Art

This is a major exhibit of more than 100 prints by acclaimed painter and printmaker Frank Stella, who turned 80 this week and continues to work in New York. His exuberant use of color and geometric and freeflowing forms feels contemporary, futuristic and brightly retro all at the same time.

➡

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CAPITOL THEATER

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MAY 12–18, 2016 ISTHMUS.COM

JUNE 27

THURSDAYS ★ 8PM ★ FREE

Tate’s

BLUES JAM

FRI, MAY 13 ★ 8PM ★ $7

David Deon and The Soul Inspirations FUNK, SOUL, R&B

SAT, MAY 14 ★ 9PM ★ $8

Ross Kleiner & The Thrill Red Hot ROCKABILLY from the Twin Cities FRI. MAY 20 James Armstrong

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5:00pm / Susan Hofer and Friends 6:00pm / Mal-O-Dua

TOOT + KATE’S WINEBAR. 5:30-7:30PM 5:30pm / Barley Wine 6:30pm / Marilyn Fisher and John Vitale

ISTHMUS.COM MAY 12–18, 2016

HOP HAUS BREWING CO. 7-9PM

7:00pm / The Rand Moore Trio 8:00pm / The Miguel McQuade Trio featuring Pawan Benjamin

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Friday, May 13, Barrymore Theatre, 8 pm

The Jayhawks aren’t just staples of alternative country — they practically invented it. Since the mid-1980s, the Twin Cities quartet has released nine full-length albums, including this year’s Paging Mr. Proust, which was produced by indie superproducer Tucker Martine and former R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck. Though the band is entering its fourth decade, they aren’t slowing down. See page 34. With Folk Uke.

Bos Meadery: The Werewolverine, Ryan Holweger, Leopard Hound, Noah Lange, rock, free, 6 pm. Brink Lounge: Jeremy Porter & the Tucos, Dana Perry & the Imaginary Watermelon, 9:30 pm. Cardinal Bar: Nathan Gerlach, free, 5:30 pm; DJs Shady P, Brian Gillespie, Glynis, 10 pm. Cargo Coffee-East Washington: County Highway PD, Americana, free, 7:30 pm. Central Library: Alison Margaret Jazz Quintet, 7:30 pm. First Unitarian Society: Noon Musicale: Kathleen Otterson, Jamie Schmidt, Ben Ferris, free, 12:15 pm. The Frequency: You Won’t, Seasaw, 8 pm. Harmony: Megan Bobo & the Lux, Big Payback, 9:45 pm. High Noon: Corey Mathew Hart, Korby Lenker, 5:30 pm. Ivory Room: Peter Hernet, Leslie Cao, Jim Ripp, 8 pm. Knuckle Down Saloon: The Soul Inspirations, 8 pm. Lothlorien Co-op: 3rd Dimension, Sincere Life, K.I.N.G. Kronos, Ice, Jovy Bagz, Mic Kellogg, Riel Prophet, Odyssey Project fundraiser, 7 pm. Mickey’s Tavern: Karaoke Underground, free, 10 pm. Mother Fool’s Coffeehouse: Ellie & Cam, 8 pm. Mr. Robert’s: Jaden James & the Hunger, free, 10 pm. Orpheum Theater: Joe Bonamassa, 8 pm. See page 40. Steinway & Sons: Sound Out Loud, free, 7:30 pm. Tempest Oyster Bar: Richard Hildner, free, 9:30 pm. Tip Top Tavern: Nutrio, jazz, free, 10 pm. Up North Pub: Shelley Faith, free, 8 pm.

Friday, May 13, Majestic Theatre, 9 pm

The son of famed guitarist Ted Broussard, Marc broke into the national music scene in 2004 with the soulful, Southern percussiondriven single “Home” from his major-label debut, Carencro. In the nearly 12 years since, the husky-voiced singer has toured with greats like Willie Nelson and Bonnie Raitt while releasing four more albums filled with funky R&B-flavored tunes. With Baby Bee.

Friday, May 13, High Noon Saloon, 9:30 pm This Twin Cities-based bluegrass band has shared its energetic, folk-based songs on stages with Steve Martin and Wilco, as well as with contemporaries like Trampled by Turtles and Charlie Parr. With Whiskey Shivers.

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The Jayhawks

Badger Bowl: The Velveetatones, blues, 9:15 pm.

UW Memorial Union-Terrace: Sixteen Candles, 9 pm. Wil-Mar Center: February Sky, 8 pm. Wisconsin Brewing Company, Verona: Reverend Raven & the Chain Smokin’ Altar Boys, free, 6 pm.

T H EAT ER & DA N C E

Pert Near Sandstone

VERONA

AVANTI ITALIAN RESTAURANT. 5-7PM

M USIC

Marc Broussard

2513 Seiferth Rd., Madison

4:30pm / Milestone Quartet (West High) 5:00pm / Smoother than Butter (West High) 5:30pm / Amos Egleston Quartet (Memorial High)

fri may 13

Excludes Birkenstock and Hunter. In-stock merchandise only. All sales final.

$2 OFF COVER w/ VALID COLLEGE ID ALL SHOWS 21+

FRIDAY MAY 20 HOMETOWN JUNCTION PARK. [STUDENT STAGE] 4:30-6:00PM

■ ISTHMUS PICKS : MAY 13

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The Old Apartment Friday, May 13, Merc Lab (930 N. Fair Oaks Ave.), 7:30 pm

Appropriately staged in a renovated garage, The Old Apartment is a world premiere by playwright Ned O’Reilly, who was inspired by the Barenaked Ladies song of the same name. This Left of Left Center production takes the audiences into four different homes with four very different householders, giving a glimpse of their dreams, memories and motivations. ALSO: Saturday and Tuesday (7:30 pm), May 14 & 17. Through May 22.

Trevor Stephenson: Circa 1855 Bösendorfer Grand Piano

Acts to Grind

Friday, May 13, First Unitarian Society (900 University Bay Dr.), 7 pm Stephenson is artistic director of Madison Bach Musicians, and he also restores and plays historical instruments. He debuts his latest, a remarkable Bösendorfer grand piano, with a lecture (7 pm) and concert (7:30 pm), performing works by Chopin, Beethoven, Brahms, Debussy, Fauré, Schubert and others.

A series of sly and laugh-out-loud funny vignettes about elections and life with disabilities created by Encore Studio for the Performing Arts, Wisconsin’s only professional theater company for people with disabilities. See page 36. ALSO: Saturday, May 14 (2 & 8 pm). Through May 21.

Friday, May 13, Mary Dupont Wahlers Theatre (1480 Martin St.), 8 pm

➡

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OVER

■ ISTHMUS PICKS : MAY 13 - 15 BOOKS

Parched Eagle Brewpub: The Tiny Band, free, 7:30 pm.

Ramzi Fawaz, Lori Kido Lopez, Kate Vieira, Timothy Yu: UW faculty discussing new books, 6 pm, 5/13, A Room of One’s Own. 257-7888.

Sprecher’s Restaurant: East Wash Jukes, 7 pm.

SP ECTATOR SP ORTS

UW Memorial Union-Terrace: Gin, Chocolate & Bottle Rockets, free, 9 pm.

Madison Radicals: vs Chicago Wildfire, 7 pm, 5/13, Breese Stevens. $7 ($6 adv.). radicalsultimate.com.

FAIRS & F ESTIVALS BBQ Festival: Annual Madison Magazine event, 5-11 pm on 5/13 and noon-11 pm, 5/14, Meyer Oak Grove Park, Sauk City, with Kansas City Barbecue Society & amateur competitions, demos, kids’ activities, music. Free admission. madmagbbqfest.com.

sat may 14 M USIC

Tempest Oyster Bar: Tony Barba Trio, free, 9:30 pm. Tip Top Tavern: Charlie Painter Trio, jazz, 10 pm.

Willy Street Pub/The Wisco: Ghost Socket, Pistachio, Where’s My Sandwich?, Nadia Geiger, 9 pm.

S PEC I A L EV EN TS Hullabrew: Outdoor craft brew celebration, noon5 pm, 5/14, High Noon Saloon & Brass Ring, with music by The Mascot Theory, Christopher Gold & the New Old Things, Pine Barrens, games. $20. 268-1122. Beer & Bluegrass: Fundraiser, noon-6 pm, 5/14, Schumacher Farm Park, music by Truman’s Ridge, Spare Time, Milkhouse Radio, Soggy Prairie Boys, Down from the Hills and Northern Comfort. $20. schumacherfarmpark.org. 849-4559. Madison Mini Maker Faire: Showcase of creators, 10 am-5 pm, 5/14, Monona Terrace, with two entertainment stages. $10 admission. makerfairemadison.com.

T H EAT ER & DA N C E To Kill a Mockingbird: Children’s Theater of Madison, 5/6-22, Overture Center-Playhouse, at 2:30 & 7 pm Saturdays and 2:30 pm Sundays, plus 7 pm, 5/20. $35 ($23 ages 12 & under). 258-4141.

Ian’s Open Mic Every Tuesday 5PM

Every Thursday 5PM at

The Forum

Lisa Link Peace Park

Starts in JUNE

Starts THUR, MAY 12!

nity nings,

Pursuit: The story of a young woman’s journey to enlightenment, 7 pm, 5/14, Monona Grove High School, with music by Lo Marie, 1nvisibleman & Melanie Joy, contemporary dance by Valerie Homburg, Kallie Tierney & Ariel (AJ) Juarez. $15. lomariemusic.com.

Dungen Saturday, May 14, High Noon Saloon, 9:30 pm

Swedish band Dungen makes some of the most expertly crafted, technically complex psych rock out there, penning melodic ’70s-esque tunes that are both precise and trippy. In another era and another language, Dungen might be one of the world’s biggest bands. Their tom sound is impeccable, they incorporate jazz, folk and prog styles, and frontman Gustav Ejstes’ high but crooning voice is reminiscent of the great rock singers of the past. With Boogarins.

sun may 15 MUS I C

1855 Saloon, Cottage Grove: Robert J, free, 7 pm. Alchemy Cafe: No Name String Band, free, 10 pm. Asbury United Methodist Church: Madison Area Concert Handbells, “Postcards from France,” 7:30 pm. Also: 3 pm, 5/15, First Congregational Church.

Badger Bowl: Kings of Radio, rock, 9:15 pm.

Downtown Culinary Tours!

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1st & 3rd Thursday of Month

ISTHMUS.COM MAY 12–18, 2016

11AM - 2PM at State & Capitol Square

Downtown Instagram Scavenger Hunt!

Aug. 11 - 14 ALL OVER DOWNTOWN

www.VisitDowntownMadison.com

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