All eyes on Wisconsin

INSIDE...

Bielanski Treu, Emerson, Bissen & You! Pages 4-9

La Crosse's Free Press VOLUME 11, NO. 6 | FEBRUARY 24, 2011

Eyes on Wisconsin

PHOTO BY STEVEN LONDRE

For two weeks in the spotlight, This is what we looked like Page 7

PLUS: DIRTY ROTTEN SCOUNDRELS • PAGE 10 | TAPES N' TAPES Q&A • PAGE 11 | THE HOP BOMB • PAGE 13

2// February 24, 2011

Second Supper

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Social Networking

NAME AND AGE: Baby Girl Johnson/Fabry; 6.5 months in the womb

WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Hmmm. Hopefully La Crosse @ Gunderson Lutheran Hospital

Kicking as fast as I can for as long as I can when my mom is trying to have a serious conversation or trying to concentrate, it is sooooooooooo fun!

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST PET PEEVE? Spicy food TELL US A JOKE: Knock knock. Who’s there? Lemme. Lemme who? Lemme outta here!

CURRENT JOB: Unemployed, I hang out with mom all day.

DREAM JOB: President of the U.S.

WHAT'S THE LAST THING YOU BOUGHT? Well, I didn’t buy it but I did trick mom into getting dad to go get some ice cream, gosh, I love that stuff!

LAST THING YOU GOOGLED: I actually can’t type yet, I’m all locked up in here!

WHAT'S IN YOUR POCKET RIGHT NOW?: Amniotic fluid?

IF YOU COULD LIVE ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD, WHERE WOULD IT BE? Some place warm and has a nice community. Don’t get me wrong it's warm in here right now, but there’s no one to really talk to, so I kick a lot. I think I have anger issues.

WHAT IS SOMETHING YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE: For sure be born

WHAT IS YOUR BEVERAGE OF CHOICE? Water and soon to be breast milk

IF A GENIE GRANTED YOU ONE WISH, WHAT WOULD YOU ASK FOR? That I could talk right after my escape out of here, I want people to hear my stories from the “inside”?

WHAT PERSON, DEAD OR ALIVE, WOULD YOU LIKE TO HAVE DINNER WITH? Albert Einstein, I want to know his secrets to success!

FIRST CONCERT YOU WENT TO: I haven’t been to any yet, but I hope there are many in my future!

CELEBRITY CRUSH:

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PART OF SECOND SUPPER? Duh, interviews…..

Stewie from family guy; he’s such a hoot!

WHAT BOOK ARE YOU CURRENTLY READING? I can’t read yet. Mom reads me a lot of chemistry and biology stuff though . .boring!

HOW DO YOU KNOW SHUGGYPOP?

I live inside her belly.

— Compiled by Shuggypop Jackson, shuggypop.jackson@secondsupper.com

WHAT IS YOUR GUILTIEST PLEASURE?

LA CROSSE’S NEWEST & TRUEST PUB & EATERY WITHOUT THE FRANCHISE! Monday: All U Can Eat Wings includes choice of potato, slaw and a $8.99 frosted Pint. 4-9:30

Tuesday: Wisconsin cheese steak sandwich with a frosted Pint. $8.99

Wednesday: Ladies Night, $1 Off All Drinks 4-Cl. Pint-Aritas $3.00 (lime or strawberry)

Thursday:

Karaoke on Thursdays

All U Can Eat Wings includes choice of potato, slaw and a frosted Pint. 4-9:30 $8.99

8 Plasma TV’s • Food & Drink Specials e o

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Bucket and Food Specials For All Badger Buckets and Nascar Races!

400 Lang Drive, La Crosse T HE F

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’S UB

Second Supper

Things To Do Be a kid at heart

The Top 2010 campaign donors 1. US Chamber of Commerce 2. American Action Network 3. American Crossroads 4. Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies 5. SEIU 6. AFSCME 7. American Future Fund Reasons to be excited about the 2011 Milwaukee Brewers 1. No Yost 2. Zack Greinke 3. Prince’s victory lap 4. More Uecker 5. Jon Axford’s moustache 6. Shaun Marcum 7. Beer, sausage (tie)

February 24, 2011 // 3

FIRST THINGS FIRST

Being a little kid is far superior to being an adult (older than 22). The perks: They can run up many stairs without feeling sick. your pants is still acceptable. You get to paint your face, make a mess and yell, yet everyone still thinks you're really cute.

This weekend The Children's Museum is showing off their facilities and highlighting the beauty of being young.

Join them on Feb. 26 from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Climb the stairs instead of using the elevator and buy one admission, get one for half price.

Watch the little ones maffick as they climb Mt. Lekid, play NEOS, get their face painted, wear party hats, play games, and enjoy being young, cute, and crazy. Adults — there will be plenty of information on hand concerning the La Crosse Fitness Festival coming up on April 30 and May 1.

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Be a kid at the La Crosse Center

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Grab the kiddies and head on down to the La Crosse Center on Sunday, Feb. 27 for a day of family fun filled with inflatables, entertainment, food vendors, the National Eagle Center, a blood drive, Best Buy Tech Area and more! All adults receive a 4-pack of Mt. Olympus Water Park passes in Wisconsin Dells. It’s free admission, but a non-perishable food item donated to the Hunger Task Force is greatly appreciated. This event is sponsored by Magic 105, CC106.3 and Altra Credit Union. For more information, visit familyfest.lacrosseradiogroup.net.

Chuck a 'bee

Got the itch to toss a disc? Then head over to Justin Trails Resort, 7452 Kathryn Avenue in Sparta, WI for the Ice Bowl 2011 Disc Golf Tournament from 1-9 p.m. on Saturday Feb. 26. Both day and night disc rounds will be offered and the entry fee is $10 per person with100 percent of the proceeds benefiting the United Way. Check out more information by calling (608) 397-9708 or visit www.justintrails.com.

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Be the walrus

Take a walk down the The Long and Winding Road with Jim Witter as he presents the music of Lennon and McCartney on March 2 at 7:30 p.m. at the Viterbo Fine Arts Center. Witter will take you on a Magical Mystery Tour into the minds of the legendary creators behind the Beatles’ biggest hits.Tickets are $31, $29 or $24 and can be ordered by calling 796-3100.

Taco night!

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Here's an idea ... Get a group of friends together and have a modeling competition. You could call it, “America's Next Top Model.”

Oh, wait. There's already an annoying show on Bravo using that premise. OK, how about you go to the Onalaska American Legion and play “Top Legion.” Think about the possibilities — you guys can make score cards with seven categories and rank your score for tangible and intangibles such as: popcorn, beer selection, clientele, tacos, unexpected perks, service and atmosphere on a three gun scale. According to my math, the Top Legion would receive a 21 gun salute. Come to TACO THURSDAY featuring soft and hard shell tacos AND taco salad!

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4// February 24, 2011

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Letter to the Editor Dear Editor,

614 Main St., La Crosse, WI 54601 Phone: (608) 782-7001 Online: secondsupper.com Publisher: Roger Bartel roger.bartel@secondsupper.com Editor in Chief: Adam Bissen adam.bissen@secondsupper.com Student Editor: Emily Faeth emily.faeth@secondsupper.com Sales: Mike Keith mike.keith@secondsupper.com Sales: Michael Butteris michael.butteris@secondsupper.com Regular Contributors: Amy Alkon, Erich Boldt, Jacob Bielanski, Jenn Bushman, Jason Crider, Ashly Conrad, Ben DeLine, Marcel Dunn, Brett Emerson, Eric Forseth, Shuggypop Jackson, Jonathan Majak, Matt Jones, Briana Rupel, Julie Schneider, Stephanie Schultz, Nate Willer Second Supper is a weekly alternative newspaper published by Bartanese Enterprises LLC, 614 Main St., La Crosse, WI 54601 Letters are encouraged and can be sent to editor@secondsupper.com.

Reminds you to support the retailers, restaurants, taverns and bands that support us. We are funded solely by advertising so if you want to support us, support them!

CONSCIENTIOUS COMMERCE:

Shop Solidarity

I'm writing to thank you for the editorials written by Brett Emerson and Bob Treu in your 2/17/11 edition of your publication regarding our dictator scott walker. I've purposely neglected to capitalize his name out of complete and total disrespect for him and everything that he stands for; I didn't want anyone to think it was a misprint. walker's legislation, if successful, is going to hurt this great state and its future more than anyone can know.

I've paid dues and been involved with a union for nearly 14 years. I would like to comment and make some observations regarding the events happening in Madison involving around our corporate fascist's (walker) total disregard to the workers who serve the him and his state. This entire fiasco is about BIG BUSINESS; don't be fooled otherwise. It would allow BIG BUSINESS to basically destroy the "checks and balances" of power within the labor force. walker's initial intention was to quickly get this legislation passed (within 1 week) and obliterate any and all union worker's rights that have were started MANY DECADES ago; does anything smell fishy here? I personally think it's walker that stinks.

Major union leaders announced that they are willing to accept the financial concessions offered up in walker's legislation but that they will not give up the right to bargaining in the future. This is what unions were crying out for from the start — not the financial concessions, but the right to bargain and negotiate fair contracts in the future. And while this is obviously an awesome show of good faith by union workers in order to try and resolve this mess that walker has created, walker won't hear any part of it and refuses to even discuss it. Is it just me or does this sound fair and just? Is this really democracy in action? I think not.

My union (as well as any other union) has made many concessions in the past including but not limited to giving up wage increases in order to retain our pensions and health care benefits. There is a terrible misconception by people within the "private sector" that all union worker's make $40,000/year, have a huge and totally free pension, and that we have 100% free medical and dental care. This couldn't be farther from the truth, although this is what your corporate dictator is trying to shove down your throats.

I applaud all of our courageous teachers who took a day off to attend the rallies in Madison in order to retain the rights that affect their lives. I give a big high five to the Democrats that walked out on walker and left the state as a last resort in order to try and slow down walker and get ANY sort of reasonable negotiations started about this legislation. walker is trying to fix the deficit, right? I wonder how much it's costing taxpayers to bring in police and other "public sector" workers from around the state in order to deal with the growing crowds in Mad-town because of walker's arrogance and his total lack of true democracy? Imagine the overtime that he's generating and the costs associated with this, all because he's unwilling to even talk about anything associated with his bill. For him, it's "my way or the highway" and there is no middle ground; he doesn't care as he will continue making his large salary and keep his (unearned) benefits.

My final thought about all this has to do with the quality of services that Wisconsinites will receive if walker's plan gets passed.

Do you think, even for one second, that our quality of education will improve if this happens? How about our elderly, your grandparents, your parents, the disabled who are living in state/county run homes; do you think the quality of nursing care afforded to them will go up (or even remain the same, for that matter) if this law passes? Don't kid yourself.

The quality nurses and teachers that we are extremely lucky to have in this state will go running for the borders in order to find greener pastures, so to speak.

Where will this end? Don't think that the cops and firefighters won't be pulled into this quagmire either. Right now, walker needs them because of the uproar he has created but if this gets passed and after everything settles down (if it ever does), he'll go after them too — just watch. Then who will he target next?

Thank you for letting me vent and please think carefully about all the important issues surrounding this legislation that walker is unwilling to even discuss and is trying to strongarm into law as quickly as possible. Thank you again Second Supper for your support in this issue and against our tyrannical ruler. — Jay Lyngaas 2/17/11

Second Supper

February 24, 2011 // 5

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Round Two: Egyptian Pizza

$1

Our intrepid reporter travels to Madison and finds a new kind of party .........

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hadn’t had much exposure to the unions that support nurses, firemen, and maintenance people. They were there because they were supporting their teachers and the teaching assistant union. They connected with new people and they learned. But what gives me nightmares is the loss of public school teachers’ right to bargain, which is not just about wages. It’s about librarians being able to open students’ minds with good books and being able to select texts that don’t necessarily follow the Right’s propaganda agenda.

If you still think Walker is about balancing the budget, get this: If his bill passes Wisconsin will lose its share of Federal mass transportation dollars, since states must allow collective bargaining to qualify.

So all 14 Democratic Senators, the number required for a quorum, left for Illinois, creating a sort of standoff. Walker then threatened to lay off 1,500 workers if the Dems didn’t come home to vote. Meanwhile the Republican Legislature voted on legislation the Dems find obnoxious, like a voter ID requirement. The standoff became a game of chicken. And in a move that wins the prize for petty, Walker said he will lock the missing senators’ paychecks in their desks, as if they would fold for the money.

After the weekend, on cue, Ohio, Indiana, and New Jersey began their own budgetrepair exercises, with union busting as part of the program. In Michigan, curiously, the Republican governor says they will balance the budget by negotiating with the unions.

And in fact, the Wisconsin unions say they’ll capitulate on the financial cuts, if Walker will leave them their bargaining rights. No dice. Walker spoke to the state last night to explain he had to end bargaining rights so he and future governors would be able to balance the budgets. He called it a fireside chat, in a cruel parody of FDR, the president who said he would balance the budget, but only if it did not cause more suffering.

It’s hard to see how this will all play out in the short run, though I hope to keep on this story for a while. In the long run, the real story is Egyptian pizza, a new worldwide sense of solidarity that is our best chance to preserve democracy and human rights. And that will be a long fight.

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As Friday came and the first round of protests ended, I found myself itching to be in Madison. This wasn’t just a story, it was THE story, especially since the Tea Party was sending a contingent to support Scott Walker’s bill. But would my aging pickup make it that far? How serious were those predictions of a storm rolling in toward midnight? Just then fortune spoke, in the voice of Emily Faeth. She and Rob Clark were about to drive to Madison and would I like to come along?

As you approach Madison from the west, the Capitol is visible from ten miles away. Its Dome is topped with a gold-plated statue, a loosely gowned woman people are fond of calling “Miss Forward,” though her official name is actually “Wisconsin.” In either case she is the embodiment of Wisconsin’s political tradition. She seems to point us toward our collective future. Sometime Saturday afternoon, a young woman, dressed to look like Miss Forward, braved the February cold and climbed up onto one of the Capitol’s balustrades (below the actual dome. A bit of street theatre, yes, but she became the symbol of something else that was going on in Wisconsin last week. A new generation was discovering the progressive tradition that once made this state special.

Inside the Capitol rotunda a party had been going for days, without cessation.

There were drummers scattered throughout, with every sort of drum imaginable, and it would take a better music critic than I to tell if they had ever practiced together. Their pulse was the pulse of the movement, and you felt it in your blood even when you were far out of earshot. It was that, perhaps, which frightened Glenn Beck into seeing the connection between Madison and Cairo, both uprisings approved by President Obama and therefore of the anti-Christ. Then, as if to make Fox go ballistic, an Egyptian trade union used a credit card at Ian’s to buy pizza for the protesters. Reportedly, other countries joined in. There was a lot of pizza.

On MSNBC Rachel Maddow had developed a lovely, almost shameless affection for us. It started last fall when Russ Feingold

appeared on her program during his losing senatorial campaign. She might have lost interest when we elected Walker and Ron Johnson, but then came the Packer Championship and she was on again. Then the final phase of her infatuation: Scott Walker’s “Budget Repair Bill,” a curious misnomer, since the budget didn’t need repair until he gave away the surplus as tax-breaks, and since much of the bill isn’t about the budget at all, but rather the destruction of collective bargaining rights for state workers. This, and the deep, angry reaction it, inspired Maddow to something like poetry. Do you like weekends, she asked? Thank Wisconsin for pioneering the 40-hour week. Do you like the minimum wage law? Unemployment benefits? Those were also Wisconsin contributions.

But that leaves the tough question. Why did Wisconsin put all that in danger by voting for Scott Walker? How do you put Miss Forward in reverse? Part of the answer is money. Lots of money. A torrent of money unleashed by the five Republican Supreme Court members (they have stopped trying to hide their naked partisanship) in the Citizens United decision. It’s no accident that the Koch brothers, who fund the Tea Party, just opened an office in Madison. Union breaking is another part of the story. As private sector unions lose power, the Democratic Party depends more and more on state unions. It is not clear the party will survive without them. The unspoken strategy here is to destroy the Democratic party.

Also, Walker demonizes state workers by pointing to their pensions and healthcare programs. People in the private sector, who have often lost their pensions and their health-care to their bosses, and whose very jobs are threatened by globalization, will naturally resent state workers. Never mind that hating state workers won’t help them.

Still, some of these people are beginning to recognize that organized labor is all that stands between them and the world Dickens describes in Hard Times (Engels describes it even more brutally, but let’s not go there.)

I’d like to say the current Right would stop short of that, but I don’t see the evidence.

Many of the protesters were young and

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By Bob Treu Special to Second Supper

TUESDAYS at 8PM

WEDNESDAYS from 4-11PM

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6// February 24, 2011

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Dispatches from a Polite Insurgency

Eight days on Capital Square

By Jacob Bielanski jacob.bielanski@secondsupper.com Monday, Day Seven

If meteorologists could forecast the weather as a hangover, this is it. An anticipated blizzard alternates between sleet, rain and snow; the temperature almost gets above freezing; everything is slush, haze. When the precipitation stops, the wind picks up to keep a baseline of misery.

But they are still here.

The protesters have fallen into a sustainable pattern — students from the University provide regular bursts of exuberance.

Meanwhile grizzled union reps coordinate the logistics that sustain. People are getting brats, coffee, little bottles of water, cookies, pizza and more. Port-o-potties continue to appear. Buses run from all over the state.

“We’re here ‘til it’s done” I’m told by Ron Kvamme, one of the volunteers serving free bratwurst, “at least until Saturday.”

I could suggest that all the protesters are against the Budget Repair Bill. But, damn, two loops around the Capitol and I cannot find them. Perhaps they had to work.

Of course, retuning to work is part of the awkwardness. Teaching assistants, who only last Thursday left their posts, dutifully attend classes. Another walkout is planned for tomorrow. Only this morning, The Badger Herald reported a story that quoted Teaching Assistant Association (TAA) spokesperson Magda Konieczna. She is a wiry, somewhat nervous Canadian. I know, because she teaches my section of Mass Communication Practices.

Just last week she scolded any members of the Herald for not citing a press release she crafted. Today, she lets the young reporter know that the TAA doesn’t take their next planned teach out, scheduled for tomorrow, lightly.

Theory meets practice — in politics, communication, philosophy — and two are now waking up next to each after a wild night, wondering what to do next. Perhaps one will make an honest woman out of the other.

Tom Morello, guitarist for Rage Against the Machine, arrives. Apparently musicians in Los Angeles have a union and he is a proud member.

Sunday, Day Six

I decide it might be a good idea to see what these protests look like early in the morning. It is 7:15 a.m. and yes, two very lonely people are awake and circling the Capitol with their signs. A handful of people with mountaineering backpacks wander away from the Capitol, clearly finished with their political sleepover.

I think about Trevor, a young protester who had been drumming in the Capitol since I spoke to him on Thursday. He’s going

JAIMIE PEACOCK Madison police estimated over 70,000 protesters, both for and against the budget bill, at weekend rallies on Capital Square. But even during the wee hours of the night there was still plenty of activity. home today.

The day is slow, somber. The closest thing to violence came when police were ordered to remove all the signs taped to the wall inside the Capitol. No riot gear necessary.

Saturday, Day Five

This isn’t just civil — it downright resembles a beautiful day at a state fair. My sister from Chicago visits. She and her husband seem apathetic to the protests, and are excited to avoid the crowds.

My mother-in-law, also visiting, seems giddy. She meets up with us regularly, wideeyed and smiling.

There are discrepancies as to how many people are here. The bill supporters and detractors are merely two pulsing points in a miasma of onlookers spilling down the side streets out of every spare inch around the Capitol. Everyone says they know how many there are, no one is willing to say how they came to that number. Former Madison mayor and Vietnam protest organizer Paul Soglin probably had the only accurate number when he told The Nation, “We had some big demonstrations in the sixties, but this is bigger.”

On the ground, one thing is clear — opposition outnumbers support.

There are multitudes, but they are not crowded. People are smiling, talking, and patronizing the many businesses set immediately off the Capitol. We get dinner at the Great Dane Brew Pub; Americans for Prosperity protesters lounge comfortably among a throng of those against the bill. James Kelleher, a Reuters journalist, experienced the same mood just down the street at the Old Fashioned. We may have our differences, it seems, but we all have good beer.

There are people with megaphones throughout the area. Stilt walkers meander

through the crowd wearing outfits such as a garish Uncle Sam and Lady Liberty. The signs are diverse in both their brazenness and stupidity. One sign reads, “If the tea baggers are as hot as the Fox news anchors, then I’m here for the gangbang.” I confirmed with everyone around me that that was, in fact, what the sign said. We were all a little perplexed.

The two sides march and argue their cases. Both are right, of course, because they’re arguing two different things. Yes, we need to balance the budget. Yes, we need protect workers rights. The real enemy, if such a thing exists, is the one fueling the one-or-the-other disparity between the two.

The street vendors have turned it up a notch — saxophone guy plays next door to the Orpheum Theater. An elderly woman, adorned in a plethora of jewelry, stands playing a guitar. The guys who shake the cups for change near State Street Brats didn’t take the day off. I wonder if they have much pity for the unions.

I can’t help but think that these desperate street performers are some kind of allegory for the conservative-loved “private sector.” Take what you can, when you can.

Business must be damn good on this warm Saturday in February. Lord knows if it will be tomorrow.

Lord knows if it will be after public employees start earning significantly less.

Friday, Day Four

Jesse Jackson has, for some reason, showed up to speak to protesters. The circus has truly begun.

Three white guys channel Bob Marley at the mall space next to the Wisconsin Veteran’s museum. They ad-lib Wisconsinappropriate lyrics for “Get Up, Stand Up.” A paltry, if devoted, crowd dances before them.

No cover charge, tonight.

The real concert, however, is in the Capitol. People continue to sensibly pack their way into the halls, chanting at periodic intervals with the help of an impromptu group of drummers. I feel secure in the knowledge that that Trevor is in there, not regretting a thing.

Thursday, Day Three

It was strange to hear that the senators had fled.

In the evening, Scott Walker holds a press conference. They wheel out a television to show it to protesters in the rotunda, but I can’t hear over the massive “Boo’s.” I review it later. He takes credit for showing up for his job today.

Seems like an asshole thing to say. It makes it seem as if our legislators punch a clock, gets two mandated 15-minute breaks, and 30 minutes unpaid for lunch — out the door by 4, unless overtime has been approved.

I stop and talk to three police officers.

They not only assure me that there has been no trouble, but they say the protesters have been “great.” I feel as this could only happen between Wisconsin protesters and Wisconsin police.

Amidst the chants for worker’s rights, a man pushes a garbage can through the Capitol, emptying the wastebaskets. I ask him if he would normally be working. He speaks limited English, and nods. I ask if the protesters are especially messy. I can’t tell if he’s appalled at the suggestion or dumbfounded by the question. He indicates toward an overflowing trash can. I feel stupid, nervously shaking his latex-gloved hand.

People keep telling me about the drum circle that seems to lead the protests in the Capitol. I find them taking a moment of rest as the press conference continues. I expect to talk to “UW-Drum Corps for workers” or

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something. Yet each one points me to someone else. Finally, Trevor talks.

“I took off work until Sunday,” he says, “I hope to at least be here until then.”

Trevor is not Union. He is not a student. He is not from Madison. He is a guy with a drum and a whistle around his head.

He drove nearly three hours from Marshfield. He is alone. At first I furrow my brow at his strange decisions. Then I become somewhat jealous. I imagine that if his car breaks down on the way home, he’ll grab his drum and start a new life at that spot, still with that tired, beaming smile on his face.

Maybe I idealize Trevor too much. But there is a certain melody — beat, if you will — to his simplistic desire to be here.

February 24, 2011 // 7

Wednesday, Day Two

The halls were crammed with hundreds of people registered to speak at the Joint Finance Review committee’s public hearing.

They actually did it. People woke up in the hallways of our state’s Capitol to air their grievances about the Senate bill.

Both the Republicans and the Democrats fanned these political flames — Republicans by virtually rolling their eyes and walking out of the hearing, Democrats by swearing that this was the very soul of democracy itself.

JAIMIE PEACOCK For one week at least, Wisconsin was the biggest news story in America. And it didn't have anything to do with the Packers.

Tuesday, Day One

I came out at 9:30 a.m. It didn’t look like much — a few tables, piles of fresh protest signs. Organizers were easily accessible meandering throughout steadily gathering crowds.

But two blocks away, the buses were parked. People with Ditka-style mustaches, Carhartt work coats and proud union badges stood with unbelievable confidence. This wasn’t the start of the conflict — this is what they are here to do. At some unknown signal, roughly around 11:00, they begin walking filling the area around the Capitol. The National Anthem is sung.

The largest cheer is reserved not for some charismatic speaker, some overblown news network, or some ridiculous stunt. The crowd goes wild when the firefighters show up. Solidarity, indeed.

At seven in the evening, the Student Labor Action Coalition calls for people to “filibuster” by signing up to speak at the Joint Finance Review committee public hearing.

“Bring a pillow, your blanket, toothbrush and favorite teddy bear, its going to be an awesome night!” their e-mail says.

STEVEN LONDRE

JAIMIE PEACOCK A stray sign at the Wisconsin Capitol

Members of a local plumbers union attended a rally at Logger Field intended to sway the vote of Sen. Dan Kapanka

Epilogue (Day Eight)

A lot of great dialog has occurred in this last week. Not just about the issue, but about the nature of dialog itself. What it means, what we have to accept and how — in the midst of seemingly vast differences — we maintain our civility.

One single man has taken it upon himself to shut down a tenant of our democracy that tens of thousands of protesters — on both sides — have agreed upon. “I have nothing to negotiate,” Gov. Walker says, repeatedly, as if it is fact. There is always room for negotiation, for talk, for discussion. His is the attack that hurts the most.

Instead he has drawn up dire consequences that would pit us against each other.

And we’re just too damn polite for that.

STEVEN LONDRE A noon rally last Thursday attracted hundreds of UW-La Crosse students, including the unsatisfied banana peel on our cover, to the campus clock tower for a show of solidarity.

8// February 24, 2011

The Payoff

By Brett Emerson brett.emerson@secondsupper.com

The great thing about cynicism is how sensible it is. The old adage that life sucks and then you die is as truthful as it is cliché.

I’ve long been a resigned believer in Thomas Hobbes’ idea of the State of Nature, in which every living creature is eternally at war with each other. In his philosophy, that war is avoided by becoming a monarchist buttlicker. I only disagree with the last part.

Living creatures may not spend every moment engaged in conflict, but it certainly seems as though it’s our default setting. The history of humanity is essentially one of murdering the hell out of everything in our way, and once all the competition was out of the way, humanity turned on itself. Hobbes may have felt that civilization was the remedy to the war of All against All, but I think civilization is simply the stage for the war’s next evolution. Destruction has just been upgraded to less violent forms of exploitation.

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If Hobbes’ war is to end at our hands, and if humanity’s existence is to serve any positive purpose, humanity must turn its back on its history and instincts. We must replace destruction and exploitation, in all forms, with all their inherent neediness and weakness, with systems that are a little more constructive and self-reliant.

Until that happens, cynicism is smart business.

A few weeks ago, writing in regards to the popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, I once more played the devil’s advocate. In that article, I sniped that it would take a lot for Americans to set aside their toys and gadgets and stand up for their rights in the same way that those impoverished citizens did. I believed in what I wrote.

I’m going to let all of you in on a secret, one probably held by most, if not all, chronic cynics. When I howl about how humanity is a willfully ignorant, spoiled and murderous species that more often than not is unworthy of its existence…

I’M ASKING YOU TO PROVE ME WRONG. Last week, I discussed the two moments when I was embarrassed to be from Wisconsin. Now, let me tell you of the moment when I was the most proud of my homeland.

The way I’ve been explaining the madness of recent Wisconsin politics is as follows: last November, Wisconsin shit the bed, and now it’s trying to clean the sheets. I’m not forgetting that Dubya Walker was elected by the people of Wisconsin, but as I’m a person

who views voting as token liberty it’s probably unsurprising that I feel that democracy doesn’t begin and end with elections.

Last week, thousands of Wisconsinites proved me wrong and stood up against unbridled corporatism. There’s little need to recap the events, but I will say this to the Wisconsin protesters: what you’re doing is everything I’ve ever wanted to see in my fellow man. What you’re doing is the greatest, truest exercise of American liberty in my lifetime. I’ve been waiting my entire life to see this moment, when my perpetually frustrated idealism concerning the potential of my neighbors was finally justified. As a result of the Wisconsin protests, I’ve spent the past week in a state of fixated euphoria. I’m so proud of the brave people of my home state for being the ones who delivered the payoff and started a movement that will become much larger than Wisconsin. I really, really wish that I could have been there to be a part of it.

I hinted at this in last week’s column when I — using logic! — called Scott Walker a motherf****r, but allow me to fully explain my personal stake in the Wisconsin protests.

My mother does not toe a party line, a quality which she passed on to me. She’s usually pretty right-wing and solidly Christian, though in that whole compassionate, Golden Rule style that’s so unpopular among modern conservatives. We disagree on many things, but we can usually find a consensus.

My mom is an education assistant in a Wisconsin public school. She works with the

angry kids in a high school, which essentially boils down to her trying to get them to stop freaking out and do their homework. It’s not easy work by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s a job that gives her the satisfaction of doing something worthwhile. In fact, she gave up a career setting up million dollar contracts with major corporations to do it.

After over a decade, my mom now makes a little over $15 an hour. Not bad, but not exactly aristocratic. Really, the big financial payoff to the job is the benefits package, which includes a pretty reliable medical plan. A reliable medical plan comes in handy when a person develops a degenerative disease in one’s neck and requires periodical injections, delivered via huge goddamn needles, into one’s spine. Which is what is happened to my mom.

Another thing that comes in handy is a stockpile of sick days that one can use if a medical condition — like, say, a degenerative disease in the neck — renders that person unable to work. If Walker has his way, both the reliable health plan and the sick days are gone, and if my mom — who just turned 60 — suffers some medical catastrophe, she may well lose everything she has.

If that happens, Scott Walker will have truly f***ed my mother.

To the Wisconsin protesters: you are fighting for my mother. You are fighting for yourselves. And you are fighting for the better nature of humanity.

Thank you. Don’t give up. And stand up for yourselves more often!

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Second Supper

Shadow Politics

By Adam Bissen adan.bissen@secondsupper.com

Within hours of Gov. Scott Walker unveiling his much contested “budget repair bill” earlier this month, TV commercials began flooding Wisconsin’s airwaves depicting the supposedly lavish benefits afforded to public-sector employees. If these seemed like the same commercials that flooded Wisconsin’s airwaves in the 2010 campaign, that’s because they came from the same shadowy sources, Republican front groups like Americans For Prosperity and the Wisconsin Club for Growth.

Financed largely by out-of-state backers, these deep-pocketed organizations are devastatingly powerful and helped elect a slate of Tea Party and other right-wing candidates across the country — though their pull in Wisconsin was especially strong. But trace the money far enough up the tree, and you’ll find that much of it originates from corporate interests like the billionaire Koch brothers and their profit-first cronies.

The appalling truth is that while the eyes of the nation are focused on the rallies in Madison, the real issue is bigger than Wisconsin alone and in fact represents a widereaching power grab that could forever tip the balance of the nation’s political power.

The right’s spin machine likes to portray Walker’s budget bill as necessary for financial reasons, but it’s become increasingly clear that this is all a smokescreen for unionbusting on a grand scale and dismantling the Democratic Party as we know it.

The ostensible goal of the budget repair bill Republicans recently tried to railroad through Legislature was to cover a temporary shortfall until the next fiscal year begins July 1. Gov. Walker intoned this $137 million stopgap as a “crisis” (never mind that $117 million of it originated in tax cuts for businesses that Walker immediately instituted upon taking office).

Deep in the text of the bill, Walker bans all forms of collective bargaining by publicsector employees. But since union contracts have already been negotiated through June, this would have no immediate fiscal impact — begging the question of why this unprecedented legal policy couldn’t be debated in the light of day.

Yes, public employees will have to make concessions to help cover a $3.6 billion deficit expected the 2011-13 budget, and in fact union leaders have already announced a willingness to compromise. But Walker won’t even hear a debate on the subject and is instead aiming for the outright destruction of public-sector unions and threatening mass layoffs is his only bargaining chip.

These past two weeks have heard a lot of general calls of “union-busting,” but while

COMMUNITY the planned cuts to take-home pay are painful and the curbing of collective bargaining rights antithetical to Wisconsin history, two seemingly minor aspects of the bill represent the most bold grabs for political power.

First, the bill would make Wisconsin a “right to work” state, a particularly Orwellian phrase which means union members are not required to pay dues in order to collect union benefits. While that may sound like a noble idea, in practice it simply drains union treasuries along with their campaign clout.

Second, in order for a union to remain certified, the majority of its members will have to vote every year to retain that union.

You could see where this is all headed.

It’s only a matter of time before all unions in Wisconsin (and every other state that is considering similar legislation) disintegrates into a fraction of their former power. That would certainly have an effect on government budgets, but the political ramifications for the working class run deeper.

Of the top 10 financial contributors to last fall's elections, only three contributed primarily to Democratic candidates — and they were all public workers' unions. The other top donors were umbrella groups for corporate interests, such as the aforementioned Koch brothers.

Big Money and Big Labor have been duking it out in political campaigns for years, but in the post-Citizens United world elections more closely resemble arms races.

That 2010 Supreme Court ruling allows unlimited political advertising by both corporations and unions, which is an ugly reality but at least it squared up the heavyweight fight.

But should the GOP succeed in vanquishing the power of organized labor then the fix will most certainly be on.

If this weren’t so destructive, the chutzpah exhibited by Walker, legislative Republicans and their Big Money money backers would be a sight to behold. Instead, it’s just one more cut against the American worker and their fight for empowerment.

Thanks largely to an embarrassing prank telephone call, David Koch and his billionaire brother have become the face of Big Money politics in the 21st century. Although their energy business is centered in Kansas, the Koch Industries PAC contributed over $43,000 directly to Walker’s campaign in 2010, and their $1 million contribution to the Republican Governors Association funneled even more money to Wisconsin.

I could fill a whole newspaper with the Kochs’ business interests and ulterior motives, but rest assured that their political checks come with strings attached (say, the sale of state-owned power plants or the junking of high-speed rail).

While these quid pro quo politics are embarrassing for Wisconsin, the state that invented collective bargaining and prided itself on clean government, it doesn’t have to be a win for the Big Money machine. Our 14 Democratic senators in exile have allowed the debate to fester under the national microscope, and each day seems to unearth more filth.

The continuing Wisconsin rallies have attracted more people (and slightly less media coverage) than the Tea Party could ever muster, but when you’re fighting against shadow forces your best ally is light.

February 24, 2011 // 9

10// February 24, 2011

6Q

Second Supper

ARTS

with Justin Cooke, star of UW-L's Dirty Rotten Scoundrels

By Jonathan Majak jonathan.majak@secondsupper.com

The UW-La Crosse 2010-2011 theatre season has had a few scoundrels within its ranks — from Judas, Satan and Pontius Pilate of “The Last Days of Iscariot” to the misbehaving servants of “Twelfth Night” — but taking the stage starting this Friday are two “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,” a lively musical adaptation of the hit film. We recently interviewed UW-L student and actor Justin Cooke about his role in the musical, studying theatre and which scoundrel he thinks deserves their own musical.

SS: Explain your role in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels for readers.

JC: I play a character named Freddy Benson.

He is a small-town con artist who is in the French Riviera to try and improve his conning gains.

SS: Being in shows as diverse as “Rent,” “Last Days of Judas Iscariot” and “Twelfth Night,” is it ever a struggle to make those shifts as an actor?

JC: It can be a struggle making the shifts, but I think that’s the beauty of it all. I really enjoy that part of the rehearsal process where you’re able to play around and create a living person to put on the stage and in front of

audiences that is so different from you and from other roles you've played.

SS: A lot of people, when they hear somebody is studying acting in college, just think it's like the collegiate version of Fame.

There’s more to it than that, right?

JC: I wish it was like Fame! Where everybody just busted out into song all the time and there’s jam sessions in a cafeteria, that’d be great! It is actually a lot of work depending on how much you want to study it. It’s easy to say “I want to be an actor” and then take classes and just perform pieces without really learning the techniques and craft of it. But if you are really serious about studying theatre and you treat it like a profession it is a lot of work.

SS: You and the cast of “The Last Days of Judas Iscariot” went to Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. What was that experience like?

JC: It was such a fun experience! I really want to tour with a production some day so it was a fun little taste of what it’s like to take a production on the road and perform it elsewhere. We got really great feedback from audiences and the judges; it was a good feeling to have so many people enjoy and appreciate all the hard work that went into it.

SS: What's the one thing you would like peo-

At A Glance

WHAT: Dirty Rotten Scoundrels WHERE: UW-L's Toland Theatre, 333 N. 16th St WHEN: Feb. 17- March 6 at 7:30 p.m.

(Thursday-Saturday); 2 p.m. on Sunday TICKETS: $14 adults; $12 seniors; $5 UW-L students.

INFO: To reserve tickets call 785-8522

ple to know about Dirty Rotten Scoundrels to get them to come to it?

JC: One thing I’d like people to know about Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is that when they walk through the doors and sit down, be ready to just enjoy the evening. It isn’t a dark comedy or a serious, depressing drama. It’s very comical and slapstick and it is meant to be taken with a light heart. So just be ready to laugh and have fun.

SS: And finally, the pop culture landscape is filled with dirty rotten scoundrels? What scoundrel do you think it would be awesome to see a musical of?

JC: I think it would be entertaining to see a musical made about the Martha Stewart scandal. I don’t know that she’s necessarily a “scoundrel” but I do think it would be a good story to put up on stage.

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Second Supper

The Majak Mixtape

By Jonathan Majak jonathan.majak@secondsupper.com

Oh Democratic state senators, how are you doing? You’re probably reading this while clandestinely traveling across state lines to avoid taking a vote on controversial end-of-collecting-bargaining-bills working their ways in various states. We love road trips here at the Majak Mixtape, even though most of ours were about going to Ikea in the Cities or traveling across country in a van to see if our family would be able to not kill each other after such a prolonged amount of time with one another. We’ve never taken one to avoid taking a vote so that part is just a bit out of our wheelhouse. But we do know is music we’ve decided to put together this mix for all the fleeing folks in what we’re calling “I Will Turn This Car Around and Make You Vote Mixtape.”

First up is “Killing Time” from Bayside’s wonderful new album of the same title.

Democratic state senators from Wisconsin as well as Indiana have disappeared as an effort to kill some time and avoid having the quorum necessary to put the end-of-collectivebargaining bills to a vote. Nobody is actually quite sure where the senators have ended up, turning this into the greatest real life version of “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego?” we’ve ever gotten to witness.

With the senators disappearing, Gover-

February 24, 2011 // 11

MUSIC nor Walker has pretty much left to say, like Jennifer Hudson’s latest single, “Where You At.” Most politicians spend years and years trying to launch themselves onto the national stage. Governor Walker has managed to do so in about two or three weeks which is almost laudable in its efficiency. You turn on MSNBC, Fox News, CNN, Comedy Central, hell we’re pretty sure even Food Network has picked up the story at this point, Wisconsin is all over the place. We’re like the Brad and Angelina of States.

But for all of the tactics to delay the bill, the senators will eventually have to return “Home” like the G. Love song off his new album “Fixin to Die.” We’re not quite sure how all of this going to happen with these bills working their way through various states as this is going to be one of the defining issues of late. There seems to be no wiggle room on either side at this point, but hopefully some resolution will come about that will have the two sides working together almost as good as a “Born This Way”/”Express Yourself” mash-up. If not, be prepared for a lot more extended road trips from our public officials. Hey, why just road trip when you can make like Billy Ocean and sail “Caribbean Queen”? Nothing says “I HATE YOUR BILL” quite like a mean game of shuffle board.

Buy: The Low Anthem’s new album “Smart Flesh”

YouTube: The new Kanye West video “All of the Lights”

Read: Our Twitter feed this Sunday for our coverage of the Oscars http://twitter. com/#!/TheMajakMixtape Get your daily dose of the Majak Mixtape at www.majakkingdom.blogspot.com

Q & A: Tapes N' Tapes

Alert Prince! Minneapolis' favorite cult indie neo-everything band plans its next moves

By Mike Keith mike.keith@secondsupper.com

Vikings jerseys at rock shows because . . . we're not a jock jams band.

I recently exchanged emails with Erik Appelwick, bass guitarist for Tapes N’ Tapes. The band hails from the Twin Cities and will be making a stop on Friday, Feb. 25 in their own backyard, at the First Avenue in Minneapolis. The group just released its third studio album, Outside, in early January following The Loon in 2005 and Walk It Off in 2008. They began gaining mainstream momentum when they were featured on MTV's Human Giant and when they played one of their hits from the Loon (“Insistor”) on Late Night with David Letterman show. Whats to come next from this progressive indie neo-psychedelic cult favorite?

Please read Appelwick's 5-year plan.

SS: What online media source do you think you get the most new Tapes n' Tapes fans?

JM: I'm not sure. Jeremy says Facebook.

SS: Given the shifting environment from dwindling CD sales to more MP3 downloads, do you sell more CDs or downloads?

EA: I don't know for sure bout this. but I'd assume downloads. I could be wrong.

SS: Of the remaining shows in this tour, if you were to travel in a 500 mile radius, what show or venue would you recommend?

EA: Lincoln Hall in Chicago. Arguably best sound in a 500 cap room anywhere in the U.S. SS: In the last 5 years, what tour was the most fun?

EA: Australia. December there is much different than December here.

SS: Tapes singer Josh Grier says their first album was recorded "in the winter time at a cabin in the Wisconsin woods with no running water." What city/area was this?

EA: Northwest Wisconsin. Rural.

in support of his new album So Much Soul: Live and on Tour — much of which was recorded locally at the Root Note.

In 2007, Seem released a short, self-titled album that I’ve recently become pretty

By Jason Crider fond of. It takes a nice new spin on folk, addjason.crider@secondsupper.com ing a more pop flavor to it, but still manages

There are so many guitar-driven, sing- to be a pretty soulful listen. A few of the songs er/songwriter acts out there right now, that are a little too run of the mill for my tastes, at times it becomes just a little bit too much. sounding kind of like something you’d hear It seems to me there are only two ways an right after a breakup scene in some kind of artist in this category sticks out amongst the bad Lifetime movie, but is that necessarily a humdrum; either they are doing something bad thing? Normally the answer is absolutely yes, but Seem seems (see so radically different or Jim Seem what I did there?) to still revolutionary that people be able to pull the songs Self-titled can’t help but notice, or off pretty tastefully. Lifethey are doing what they time soundtrack aside, do with such honesty and passion that it strikes that proverbial chord there are definitely some really solid tracks in your heart and you can’t seem to shake on the album, particularly the delicate closit. Obviously there are a good number of ex- ing track “One Day We Will Have Our Own,” ceptions to this, but sometimes I like to look where Seem displays just how soulful and powerful his voice can be. If you’re into the at the world in black and white.

Well, on Saturday, February 25, Jim singer/songwriter genre, definitely check Seem will be returning to La Crosse to prove this guy out. You will not be disappointed. that he’s a singer/songwriter who fits snugly into the latter category (the honesty/pas- Jim Seem will be returning to the Root Note tomorsion/heart-chord striking one). Although row, February 25 for a night full of guitar driven he currently resides in North Carolina, pop-folk. The show starts at 8:30. Tickets are $5 Seem originally hails from La Crescent, Min- at the door. nesota, and will soon be touring the Midwest

SS: Do you feel any animosity towards people from Wisconsin given the Vikings/Packers rivalry?

EA: I haven't sensed much of a rivalry in the setting of "band playing show at rock club."

If we all were wearing Vikings jerseys at the show I suspect their may be some heckling, but it's not really appropriate for us to wear

SS: When you finish recording an album, where does the strongest song appear?

EA: We have yet to record an album that we unanimously agree has one single best song.

We usually have the sense that a handful of them are the best and then according to the Buddy Miles Formula for song track listing, those songs fall into the 1,3,7,9 positions occasionally showing love to the 2 and 6 positions.

SS: Where do you see Tapes N’ Tapes in 5 years?

EA: We will have written and recorded our sixth album titled "The Iron Tunnel to Jupiter" in which we explore the nuances of prog-flamenco and start a new trend by slicking our hair forward. We will have a studio on a floating island over Lake Minnetonka, and we will broadcast our sessions live over PA speakers so loudly so that Prince will be forced to listen. Matt will have some role in local politics. Jeremy will almost be 30.

Josh will invent a mathematical equation the world cannot live without and I will be breeding horses on a ranch in western South Dakota. It'll be easy to get back and forth to the cities because, you know, we'll have transporters like Star Trek then. Did I mention that Josh is working on a mathematical equation?

Go ahead, link us.

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12// February 24, 2011

Second Supper

MUSIC

music directory // February 25 to March 3 FRIDAY,

February 25

just a roadie away Minneapolis

JB'SSPEAKEASY // 717 Rose St. The Steepwater Band (blues, “Deltapsychedelia”) • 10 p.m.

population

387,970

CRYSTAL CASTLES // MARCH 11 First Avenue • $20.75

LEO & LEONA'S // W1436 Hwy. 33 (Bangor) The Waymores with John Smith & Dan Sebranek (Nashville songwriters) • 7 p.m.

BIG WU // MARCH 18 Cabooze • $10

NEUIE'S NORTH STAR // 1732 George St. CODY (rock) • 8 p.m.

DEVOTCHKA // APRIL 1 First Avenue • $23.25

PEARL STREET BREWERY // 1401 St. Andrew St.

THE WOOD BROTHERS // APRIL 3 Fine Line Music Café • $13.50-$76.50

Jason Sebranek (acoustic) • 5 p.m.

PIGGY'S BLUES LOUNGE // 501 Front St. S. Papparoxy (blues) • 8 p.m.

POPCORN TAVERN // 308 S. Fourth St. Roster McCabe, Yamn (funk, jamband; jamtronica) • 10 p.m.

Happy Birthday, Root Note! This Saturday will mark two years since the funky cafe settled into its downtown abode and began stirring up the local arts scene. And to celebrate, they're partying the best way they know how: with a hip and classy little get-together. The day starts with a Kickapoo Coffee sampling at 10 a.m. and builds up to a 5 p.m. dinner show with Root Note favorite Nick Shattuck (pictured) that also coincides with a Pearl Street beer tasting. Decorah’s Andy Juhl and The Bluestem Players will play a folky set on the main stage at 8:30 before a DJ closes out the night.

JB'SSPEAKEASY // 717 Rose St. ThunderSnake, Fuzzy HD, This MaSEVEN BRIDGES // 910 Second Ave. N. B-Squat Woody (songwriter, 12-string chine, Legal Fingers (hard rock) • 9 p.m. guitar) • 7:30 p.m.

NEUIE'S VARSITY CLUB // 1920 Ward Ave. Brat Pack Radio (‘80s experience) • 9 p.m.

THE BODEGA // 122 4th St. Derek Ramnarace & Friends (pop, PIGGY'S BLUES LOUNGE // 501 Front St. S. rock, reggae) • 9 p.m.

Papparoxy (blues) • 8 p.m.

THE JOINT // 324 Jay St. Smokin' Bandits, Moon Boot Posse POPCORN TAVERN // 308 S. Fourth St. New Blues Crew (rock) • 10 p.m.

(Bandit County pre-party) • 10 p.m.

THE ROOT NOTE // 114 4th St. S. Jim Seem (folk) • 8:30 p.m.

SATURDAY,

February 26

ALL STAR LANES // 4735 Mormon Coulee Silver Express (country) • 8 p.m.

BOOT HILL PUB // 1501 St. Andrew St. Jerry Anderson & Neil Duresky (lounge) • 6:30 p.m.

DEWEY'S // 621 St. Paul St. Orrico Bros. (bluegrass) • 8 p.m.

HOWIE'S // 1125 La Crosse St. Geared Under, The Freezers, Pulse 8 (rock) • 7:30 p.m.

RED PINES BAR & GRILL // W7305 Hwy Z Dan Sebranek (songwriter) • 7:30 p.m.

RIVER JACK'S //1835 Rose St. Spin Off (variety) • 8 p.m.

SEVEN BRIDGES // 910 Second Ave. N. B-Squat Woody (songwriter, 12-string guitar) • 7:30 p.m.

THE BODEGA // 122 4th St. Kokopellians, Won on One (jamgrass; loops project) • 9 p.m.

THE JOINT // 324 Jay St. Smokin' Bandits, Nimbus (Bandit County pre-party) • 10 p.m.

BRIGHT EYES // APRIL 4-5 First Avenue • $28.75 ROBERT PLANT // APRIL 12 State Theatre • $51.50-$91.50

THE ROOT NOTE // 114 4th St. S. THE JOINT // 324 Jay St. Second Birthday Party (coffee/beer Adam Palm (acoustic hits) • 6 p.m. tastings, Nick Shattuck, Andy Juhl & The Bluestem Players, Live DJ) • 8:30 p.m. THE WAREHOUSE // 324 Pearl St. Life on Repeat, Divided By Friday, BeTHE WAREHOUSE // 324 Pearl St. fore We Fall (pop punk) • 6 p.m.

Jamestown Story, Kieren Smith, Nate Flynn, I Am Daniel (pop-punk) • 6:45 p.m.

SUNDAY,

February 27

POPCORN TAVERN // 308 S. Fourth St. The Sunday Blend (rock) • 10 p.m.

MONDAY,

February 28

WEDNESDAY,

March 2

BOOT HILL PUB // 1501 St. Andrew St. Jerry Anderson, Neil Duresky (lounge) • 6:30 p.m.

POPCORN TAVERN // 308 S. Fourth St. Paulie (one-man band) • 10 p.m.

DEL’S BAR // 229 Third St. Open Jam • 10 p.m.

RECOVERY ROOM // 901 7th St. S. Kin Pickin' (jam grass) • 10 p.m.

POPCORN TAVERN // 308 S. Fourth St. Shawn's Open jam • 10 p.m.

THURSDAY,

TUESDAY,

March 1

March 3

DEWEY'S // 621 St. Paul St. Randy's Corner (songwriters) • 5 p.m.

POPCORN TAVERN // 308 S. Fourth St. Dave Orr (open jam) • 10 p.m.

POPCORN TAVERN // 308 S. Fourth St. TBA (mystery hits) • 10 p.m.

THE ROOT NOTE // 114 4th St. S. 3rd Relation Jazz Trio (jazz) • 8:30 p.m.

THE STARLITE LOUNGE // 222 Pearl St. Kies and Kompanie (jazz) • 5 p.m.

Second Supper

February 24, 2011 // 13

YOUR GUIDE TO CONSUMPTION

The Beer Review Pliny the Elder Russian River Brewing Company Santa Rosa, California

It took a lot of self-control to write this review. For those that don’t know, Pliny the Elder is widely regarded as among the best beers in America, and my girlfriend and I had the good fortune of being gifted two bottles when we hosted house guests from Santa Rosa last fall. Naturally we cracked open one bottle immediately (from the label: “Drink fresh. Pliny is for savoring, not saving!”), and while it was a damn fine drinking experience, I didn’t think it lived up to its reputation. As a bit of a beer experiment, I saved the second bottle until it

could be compared against another lauded imperial IPA (and my personal favorite beer in America), Bell’s Hopslam.

I do have to give Pliny the Elder its due.

The brew is named for the Roman naturalist who discovered hops, and his eponymous beer is the closest thing I’ve ever found to hop porn. The nose explodes with NorCal goodness, and the mouth puckers with a bitter bombs from every direction. This is the crown jewel of West Coast beer snobs. Could it possibly live up to that hype?

Purchase: Two bottles of Pliny the Elder, gifts from California

Style: Imperial IPA

Strength: 8 percent ABV

Packaging: The label is a simple green with a bold red logo, but the best part are all the anti-aging slogans: “Age your cheese, not

your Pliny! Respect hops, consume fresh!”

(Sorry.)

Appearance: Pliny the Elder pours a yellow-brown color, paler and less orange than most imperial IPAs, with a bubbly white head that coats the glass with amazing lacing.

Aroma: Wafting down from hop heaven, the nose is massive, fresh and bountiful.

This bottle smells more like pine trees than grapefruit, though I remember it being the opposite orientation in November. There are also notes of pear, mint and pale malts.

Taste: One reviewer on BeerAdvocate called Pliny the Elder’s hop presence “artfully chaotic,” and I can’t think of a better descriptor. The flavor seems to encompass the very essence of hops — mint, grapefruit, pineapple, pine sap — but the flavor is multidimensional with different tastes bursting from all

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spots on the tongue. It does have an odd but distinct aspirin flavors in the middle of the tongue and yeast at the back of the throat, yet the aftertaste smolders with the shrapnel of a hop bomb.

Mouthfeel: Very smooth and well-balanced.

Drinkability: Disarmingly drinkable.

There are few clues you’re drinking a double IPA, except for the warmth and buzz I’m feeling as I finish this review.

Ratings: BeerAdvocate readers give this an A+ (and named Pliny the Elder the second best beer in the world), while RateBeer users score it a 100. It’s a good beer, but it’s definitely not perfect. Not like Bell’s Hopslam anyway.

— Adam Bissen

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Wristband Night: AUC2D: $5, 15-cent wings, $1.50 Keystone domestic taps, rail mixers, Long Lights, $1.50 rail mixers; $2.50 call Islands. All specials 9 p.m. to close drinks. 2 For 1 Captains All specials 9 p.m. to close.

107 3rd St. S. 782-1883, www.arenalax.com

BODEGA BREW PUB 122 4th St. 782-0677

BROTHERS 306 Pearl St. 784-0522

CARLIE'S ON THIRD 115 3rd St. S 782-7550

EAGLES NEST

CLOSED

CLOSED $5 domestic pitchers

CLOSED

CLOSED

5 domestic taps for $1; $2 domestic pitchers

SATURDAY

Fish Tacos: 1 / $2.50, 2 / $5.00, 3 / $6.50.

Wristband Night: AUC2D, Domestic $1 Bazooka Joes, $2 Cherry Bombs, $1 Bazooka Joes, $2 Cherry Bombs, taps, rail mixers and Long Islands. $3 Long Islands, $3 3 Olives Mixers $3 Long Islands, $3 Bacardi Mixers $2.50 SoCo & Jack.

All specials 9 to close.

All specials 9 to close.

All specials 9 to close. $2 domestic pints and $2 rail mixers; $1 shots of Doctor (3 flavors);

$3 Long Islands; $2 domestic pints; $1 shots of Tequila

$3 Bacardi mixers; $3 Three Olives vocka mixers (8 flavors); $2 domestic pints and $2 rail mixers

$1.50 domestic taps and rail drinks, Bird Brain Trivia 8 p.m.; $1.50 do- Wing Night - 25-cent wings (dine- $1.50 domestic bottles and rail 4 p.m. to close mestic bottles and rails 4 p.m. to in only); $1 Miller High Life silos and drinks, $2 craft bottles, 4 p.m. to close PBR silos; $1.50 taps and rail drinks; close $2 craft taps. All specials 4 to close.

Happy Hour: 2 for 1 domestic bottles Karaoke 9 p.m. to close and rail drinks, 3 p.m. to 9 p.m.

FEATURES

Free Beer: 5:30-6:30 p.m.

Free Wings: 6:30-7:30 p.m.

Free Bowling: After 9 p.m.

Taco buffet 11-2; $1 Pabst bottles and $1 bowling after 9

All you care to eat pizza buffet, 11-2 (Holmen)

All you care to eat fish fry 4-10; un- Prime rib dinner 4-10; limited Glow-N-Bowl $9.99 unlimited Glow-N-Bowl $9.99

FLIPSIDE PUB & GRILL

All you can eat wings, includes a Wisconsin cheese steak sandwich choice of potatoe, slaw and a frosted with a pint of beer, $8.99 pint, 4-9:30 p.m., $8.99

Ladies Night, $1 off all drinks, 4 to All you can eat boneless wings, inclose; Pint-Aritas $3 (lime or straw- cludes a choice of potatoe, slaw and berry) a frosted pint, 4-9:30 p.m., $8.99

1914 Campbell Road 782-7764

W3923 State Highway 16 786-9000 400 Lang Drive 784-2242

HOWIE’S 1125 La Crosse St. 784-7400

IMPULSE

214 Main St. 782-6010 www.impulseoflacrosse.com

JB’S SPEAKEASY 717 Rose St. 796-1161

SCHMIDTY’S 3119 State Road 788-5110

SLOOPY'S ALMA MATER

Happy hour 4 to 9 p.m.; 9 p.m. to 9 p.m. to close: $3.50 domestic 9 p.m. to close: $1 rails, $2.50 pitch- $5 all you can drink close: Night Before Class - $3 pitch- pitchers ers, beer pong ers of the beast CLOSED

CLOSED

$1.75 domestic bottles, $1.75 Dom Monday Madness: $1.75 domestics bottles and rails, $2.50 Bombs and rails, $2.50 Bombs, $1 off all top shelf and specialty beers $1.79 burger (after 8 p.m.)

Breakfast 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

$5 AUC2D wristbands: domestic taps, rail mixers, Long Islands, 9 p.m. to close; ($7 after 11p.m.): karaoke 10 p.m. to close

$5 AUC2D wristbands: domestic taps, rail mixers, Long Islands, 9 p.m. to close; ($7 after 11p.m.): karaoke 10 p.m. to close

Tuesday Boozeday $1 off all liquor Happy Hour 5 to 7 p.m. drinks and 50 cents off all shots, $2 Bombs

9 p.m. to close: $1.25 rails, $1.75 bottles/cans

9 p.m. to close: $2 Captain mixers, $2 bottles/cans, $3 Jager bombs

9 p.m. to close: $2 Bacardi mixers, $2 domestic pints, $1.50 shots blackberry brandy

Free Wing Night (while supplies last); $5 AUC2D wristbands: domestic taps, rail mixers, Long Islands, 9 p.m. to close ($7 after 11p.m.):; live DJ

$5 AUC2D Wristbands 9 p.m. to close ($10 after 11p.m.): Domestic Taps, Rail Mixers, Long Islands; Live DJ, Dancing 9 p.m. to close

$5 AUC2D Wristbands 9 p.m. to close ($10 after 11p.m.): Domestic Taps, Rail Mixers, Long Islands; Live DJ, Dancing 9 p.m. to close

Happy Hour 5 to 7 p.m.

Happy Hour 5 to 7 p.m.

Happy Hour 5 to 7 p.m.

Hat Night: Buy 1 drink, get 1 free w/ Rail drinks $2 (4:30 to close); Buckets of beer $10, Boston Bobby's Margaritas $4 (Straw, rasp, mango, hat (4:30 to close); $1.50 chili dogs After 8 p.m. specials: $5 skewer of drummies 10 for $2 (4:30 to close), peach and reg); After 8 p.m. specials: (after 8 p.m.) shrimp,l $1.79 burger, $1.50 chili dogs $1.79 burger (after 8 p.m.) $5 skewer of shrimp, $1.79 burger $1.89 hamburger + toppings Ladies Fish Dinner Special-$7.89 night, 2 for 1 drinks (6-close), Happy Hour 2 to 6 p.m.

Happy Hour 2 to 6 p.m.

$1.50 Tacos, $4.99 nachos; $11 buckets during pro and college football games.

Wristband night, $2 cherry bombs, $3 Bacardi mixers & $4 wristbands 50¢ shots (3 flavors); $2.50 Tuaca, after midnight Jack Daniel's & SoCo Mixers

$3 Three Olives Mixers & $4 wristbands after midnight

$5 Pitchers/$2 bottles of Miller prod- $1.75 Miller/Bud Light Taps, $2.25 $1.75 Rails, $1.50 Domestic Taps, $2 domestic bottles, $2.50 Skyy/ ucts (11-4pm) $2 Corona Bottles, $2 MIcro/Craft Taps, $2.50 Cherry $3.50 Jager Bombs Absolut mixers, $2 Dr. shots (7-1 Kilo Kai Mixers , $3 Bloodys (7-1 a.m.) Bombs (7-1 a.m.)

(7-1 a.m.) a.m.)

5 Domestic Bottles for $10, $5 $2 Captain Mixers, $2. Long Island Micro/Import Bottles $11.50, $7 Mixers, $3 Effen Vodka Mixers (7-1 Micro/Craft Pitchers (7-1 a.m.) a.m.)

$5 Miller/Bud Light Pitchers, $2.25 Leinies Bottles (7-1 a.m.)

POPCORN TAVERN

$2.50 Captain mixers $2 16oz Old Style & Lost Lake cans

$1.75 PBR Bottles $2.50 Captain mixers $2 16oz Old Style & Lost Lake cans

$2.50 Captain mixers $2 16oz Old Style & Lost Lake cans

$2.50 Captain mixers $2 Grain Belt

$2 Coors & Coors Light Bottles, $2.50 $2 16oz Old Style & Lost Lake cans Skyy mixers, $2.50 Captain mixers $2 16oz Old Style & Lost Lake cans

$2 16oz Old Style & Lost Lake cans

WHO'S ON THIRD

Happy Hour until 10 p.m. $1.50 domestic taps, $2 rails from 10 to close

$1 taps of PBR, $1 rails

$3 call doubles, $2 Bud products

Ladies' Night: $2 top shelf, $1 Pink $8.50 Fish Bowls, $2 Miller products $1 off Three Olives, $2 domestic taps Tacos; Everyone: $2.50 bombs, $2 taps, $3 Jack/Captain doubles

163 Copeland Ave. 785-0245

THE LIBRARY 123 3rd St. 784-8020

TOP SHOTS 137 4th St. 782-6622 308 4th St. S. 782-9069

126 3rd St. N. 782-9467

$1.50 Tacos, $4.99 nachos;: $11 Tacos: $11 buckets during pro and 12-inch pizza $8.99 buckets during pro and college foot- college football games. Happy Hour Happy Hour 2 to 6 p.m. ball games.

2 to 6 p.m.; $2 pints all day $1 Taps & Rails during the game ; $6 wristbands starting at 7pm.

14-inch pizza, $2 off; Wings Happy Hour 2 to 6 p.m.

Breakfast 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.; lunch buffet 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., $6.99

Half price tequilla, $1 domestic taps K$2 Double rails and all bottles; $3 and rails Double call drinks

14// February 24, 2011

Maze Efflux

Second Supper

DIVERSIONS "Mix Masters" They'll get the party going

By Erich Boldt

By Matt Jones

The Gamer Game: Darksiders (2010) Developer: Vigil Games System: PS3, Xbox 360 and PC Price: $27.99

It seems you can almost hear the thundering hoofs of the four horsemen of the apocalypse whenever you turn on the news these days. With the unrest in the Middle East and the impending oligarchy in Wisconsin, I needed to take out some unrest of my own via my PS3 and the game Darksiders.

Vigil Games, the developer of Darksiders takes the story of the apocalypse in a new direction.

War, one of the four horsemen, believes he was answering the call of the apocalypse and descends upon earth to find it in total chaos. Only after an epic opening battle does War find out that his brothers — Conquest, Famine and Death — are nowhere to be found. And his actions unleashed the forces of heaven and hell onto earth.

Darksiders gives you third person control of War. In the opening sequence War battles hordes of demons battling with angels all while most of the humans just run and scream in terror. But really what else would you do if you encountered one of the four horsemen battling both angels and demons in the middle of downtown?

Vigil Games made Darksiders a rampage of fun by allowing you dispatch the servants of both heaven and hell with War’s massive sword and a disappointingly small number of combos. Though throughout the game you can collect new weapons and you can use collected souls to purchase new

moves, weapon upgrades and items.

The graphics are excellent and the shots of a scorched earth are well done.

There are some issues at times with character movements looking bulky, but War is a bulky character when compared to most other third person adventure game characters.

However, it sort of adds to the experience of the game play rather than taking away from it.

That is one thing that I really enjoyed about the game. War is drawn as a huge character. He has the ability to pick up cars and telephone poles, but it seemed natural for him to be able do so because he was the size of a car. This paired well with the controls too. The developers did a great job incorporating all the buttons in useable ways to perform the combos and maneuver War through the platforming puzzles.

Darksiders has relatively few cut scenes, which is nice because that means you are playing the game more than you are watching it. Which helps keep the player more involved in the game. There is almost no online content or any multiplayer but THQ the games publisher (think movie producer) said that they are considering adding more horsemen and a multiplayer to a possible sequel.

Overall Darksiders is a fantastic third person action adventure game. It could use some multiplayer help and the inclusion of the rest of the horsemen would be a fanboy’s dream come true but for now we’ll settle for War. Get out and grab yourself a copy of Darksiders or a protest sign and unleash some pent up unrest.

— Nate Willer

ACROSS 1 Magic spirit 7 Mrs., in Munich 11 Electrical unit 14 Some belly buttons 15 He clashed with O'Brien 16 Hip-hop's ___-AFella Records 17 Currency in the Horn of Africa 20 Seahawks safety ___ Scott 21 Salary limit 22 Sleep aid once advertised to "help you get your Z's" 23 ___-OZN (1980s group with the hit "AEIOU, Sometimes Y") 24 "Reach for the ___!"

25 Seminole leader

27 Carve in marble 29 Hard to hold 31 Flee the premises 32 Took a break 34 Prefix meaning "times one trillion" 36 Speck in la mer 37 Star of "Amistad" and "The Tempest" 41 "Sprechen ___ Englisch?"

42 Second word of many fairy tales 43 Kissing in front of everyone, e.g.

44 Table scrap 45 Steven Tyler's show, to fans 47 "That's hilarious," in Internet-speak 50 Settled 53 Hairy beast 55 Lutelike instrument

Answers to Feb. 17 puzzle "The Big 500" — In honor of my 500th Jonesin' puzzle

57 Snaggable fabric 58 Crocodile's dinner, often 59 Paper towel roll leftover 60 Pioneering "hot" jazz guitarist 64 Colin Hanks, to Tom Hanks 65 Settled 66 Yom follower 67 Award bestowed by The Queen, for short 68 Go fast 69 Squeezable African drum DOWN 1 Ram maker 2 Fruity concession stand bit 3 Contradicting phrase 4 Pen ends 5 New beginning?

6 Self-defeating words 7 Go nuts 8 "The Crying Game" star 9 Curry of "Today" 10 Home of the Tar Heels, as sometimes abbreviated 11 Handel work 12 State capital that means "sheltered bay" 13 "Die Hard" main character John 18 Actor Diggs 19 Deli bread 24 SeaWorld star attraction

25 Bread spread 26 Coffeehouse additive 28 CBS show that sometimes features weird fetishes 30 Prefix before musicologist 33 Subject of debate 35 Late "Giant" wrestler 37 Someone's gotta do it, it's said 38 One way to leave, in song 39 Lymphatic mass 40 ___ Paulo, Brazil 41 Enemy to remain nameless 46 Clinton nominee Guinier 48 Time for afternoon tea 49 Heartbeat noise 51 One billion years 52 One of the deadly sins 54 Ashton Kutcher show 56 Raison ___ 58 It may be spliced 59 Cassette 61 Fertility clinic stock 62 DVR button 63 K leadup ©2011 Jonesin' Crosswords (editor@ jonesincrosswords. com)

Second Supper

February 24, 2011 // 15

THE LAST WORD

The Advice Goddess

By Amy Alkon amy.alkon@secondsupper.com With this ring I thee dump

One year ago, I was engaged to a wonderful man I’d been with for four years. I loved him deeply, he was everything I thought I wanted, and his family was my family. Two months before our wedding, a dear male friend of mine confessed his love for me. When I realized I felt more than friendship for him, I thought I just had cold feet. After much soul-searching, I called my wedding off, figuring that such a strong emotional connection to another man indicated that I needed something I wasn’t getting from my fiance. I have been with my new man ever since and have never been so happy, but I’m consumed by guilt. My ex-fiance and I spent many hours planning our future. It haunts me to think how badly I’ve hurt him and his family. I wake up at night picturing him alone in his bed crying, and I imagine family holidays with his young nieces asking, “Where's Auntie?”

— Racked With Guilt

You didn’t plot to make the guy love you and want a life with you just so you could really stick it to him four years later: “Let’s role-play! You be the baby seal, and I’ll be the fur trader!”

It now seems that those hours he spent planning a future with you would have been better invested in playing “Killzone 2” or balancing a ball on his nose. Oops. Love, like hang gliding, comes with some risks.

Those who aren’t up for them are free to stay home alone watching infomercials with the cat.

You got so swept up in the momentum of building a life with this guy that you didn’t realize what you were missing — until it came along and said, “Whoa, you’re not actually going to marry him.” The thing is, when something doesn’t feel wrong, it’s easy to believe it’s right. And sometimes, you see most clearly by comparison — and then come to the sinking realization that you've got to inform a very sweet guy that his bachelor party will be more of a perpetual bachelor party.

Going all “Da Vinci Code” crazed albino monk and locking yourself in a room to self-flagellate doesn’t do a thing for the guy you left, and it sure isn’t helping you or your current boyfriend. In fact, by focusing all this energy on your jilted ex, it’s like you’re still in a relationship with him. It’s right to feel sympathy for him, but guilt?

Feeling guilt would be legitimate if there had been something you could’ve done to prevent his pain — like willing yourself to

be wiser faster or going back in time to the moment he hit on you and giving him the wrong number.

Your ex might be weeping into his pillow — or he might be out playing tennis or in bed with your replacement. I’m sure you’re a great girl, but life goes on. Since you left the guy so you could be happy, the least you could do is enjoy yourself. You also might give yourself some props for not doing what far too many people do: marry somebody they know is wrong for them because, well, they were already in the marriage trajectory and they paid good money to send out 300 magnetic save the dates. They forge right ahead with that “Princess Bride”-themed walk down the aisle — which, in a few months or years, tends to have them walking down a more “Judgment at Nuremberg”-themed aisle: “You may now kiss the bailiff.”

you could probably run the entire enterprise off an old PC in somebody’s garage. Until you get serious with somebody, all he needs to know is that you “have other plans,” not that you're “going out with Jason tonight, and he’s a foot and a half taller than you and makes lots more money.” Keeping mum about the details isn’t dishonesty; it’s tact.

Anybody emotionally healthy and socially intelligent gets that you aren’t going to be his one and only by the third date. The only information you do owe him is whether you might give him another shot — or cause him to need one to eliminate painful urination, night sweats, and weeping sores.

Dater processing

I’m casually dating multiple people and stressing about what to do when a man wants to see me again but I already have a date. Do I lie and say I’m hanging with a friend? I’m looking to have a serious relationship, and it seems bad to have it based in dishonesty from the start.

— Busy Woman

Because we can all disseminate massive quantities of information about ourselves doesn’t mean we should. In fact, if you took all the utterly inane revelations off Twitter,

top shots joke of the week Food

A pork chop goes into a bar.

Check out our new Beers on Tap!

The bartender took one look and said, "Sorry, we don't serve food here."

Good People, Good Drinks, Good Times

SUNDAY

$5 Pitchers $2 Bottles of Miller Products (11-4 pm) $2 Corona Bottles $2 Kilo Kai Mixers $3 Bloody’s (7-1am)

MONDAY

$1.75 - Miller/Bud Taps $2.25 Micro/Craft Taps $2.50 Cherry Bombs (7-1am)

TUESDAY

$1.75 Rails $1.50 Domestic Taps $3.50 Jager Bombs (7-1am)

SATURDAY

WEDNESDAY

$2 Domestic Bottles $2.50 Skyy/Absolute Mixers $2 Dr. Shots (7-1am)

THURSDAY

5 Domestic Bottles 4 $10 $5 Micro/Import Bottles $11.50, $7 Micro/Craft Pitchers (7-1am)

$5 Miller Lite/Bud Light Pitchers $2.25 Leinies Bottles (7-1am)

FRIDAY

$2 Captain Mixers $2 Long Islands $3 Effen Vodka Mixers (7-1am)

16// February 24, 2011

Second Supper

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