Second Supper | Vol. 13, No. 2

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FEBRUARY 2013 | VOLUME 13, NO. 2

the free press A

Digest

of

Coulee

Region

Culture

How Not to Get a Tattoo A journey of permanence, self-discovery, and one particular jellyfish

photo by Sarah O’Neil

[P. 2]

PLUS: SOCIAL NETWORKING [P. 2] | BEER REVIEW [P. 6] | THE ADVICE GODDESS [P. 8]

2// February 1, 2013

Social Networking

COMMUNITY

How not to get a tattoo In which the coffee table became apparent as a suitable metaphor for mortality, and this young reporter’s quarter-life crisis turned out far better that expected.

By Jason Crider

jason.crider@secondsupper.com

NAME AND AGE: Jacque Olson, 24

WHERE WERE YOU BORN? La Crosse, Mighty River, Original, Wisconsin

CURRENT JOB: Intern at the Pump House Regional Arts Center

DREAM JOB: Professional drifter

last thing you googled: “PHOX Unblushing”Try it!

if you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?

Italy what is Something you want to do before you die: Make a friend in every state.

What is your biggest pet peeve?

The your and the you’res, the then and the thans, and excessive use of exclamation marks.

what is your beverage of choice?

Apple juice celebrity crush: Mr. J. Vernon

What book are you currently reading?

Seeking inspiration with “An Anthology to Conceptual Art”

tell us your guiltiest pleasure: Jukeboxes and socks.

If a genie granted you one wish, what would you ask for?

Coordination

What one person alive or dead would you want to have dinner with?

Allan Kaprow

FIRST CONCERT YOU WENT TO: I was the coolest 13-year-old at that Shinedown concert..

what's the last thing you bought?

A textbook and 32 feet of Christmas lights.

what's in your pocket right now?: No pants, no problems.

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

Second Supper | The Free Press

I guess you could say this all started out because I was in a rut. Maybe I’m wrong, but it seems to me that almost everyone has those moments of harrowing clarity, those moments when you become hyperaware of your existence and suddenly everything seems a little bit more concrete than normal. Eventually this leads to palpably real feelings of your looming mortality, and you put everything in your life into a newly aligned perspective that is eclipsed by a sense of impermanence and profound insignificance. The problem with this moment was that it was less of a moment and more of a stretch of several months. Let me clarify by saying this wasn’t a fog of depression, but more of willed inability to experience joy due to the understanding that nothing mattered. No matter what, everything is eventually erased.

I have a really nice coffee table in my apartment. Well, I had a really nice coffee table in my apartment. My best friend George came to visit me a few weeks ago, and after a few beers we were carving all sorts of doodles into it with a pocketknife. It may not have been the most fun I’d had in a long time, but it was without a doubt the happiest I’d felt. He looked up at me between etching the final strokes into the beard of a gnome and said, as if reading my mind, “We should get some more tattoos.”

Neither of us had gotten any work in years, although we were always bouncing ideas off of each other, planning half-sleeves or back pieces, but in that moment I was accosted by a screaming clarity that what I really needed was a tattoo with no planning attached to it.

I needed to live in the moment instead of bemoaning the future. It worked for my coffee table, why shouldn’t it work for me?

A few moments later my friend was carving an elaborate phantom-eyed, squidtentacled doodle monster next to his finished gnome. I had seen him draw these in his notebooks all through high school, a sort of dark, floating character that drifted from the recesses of his brain and onto the page.

I thought that the form of it, particularly the tentacles, would look great on my thigh. But the whole point of this spur of the moment tattoo was to dance around the meaningful and just do something spontaneous, and this dark creature clearly had too much significance glued to it. So I decided on a jellyfish and we walked to the nearest tattoo shop, Blue Line Tattoo, and made an appointment.

The guy that greeted us at the door was nothing short of completely intimidating: tall, huge frame, slicked back black hair, smoking a cigarette and, of course, covered in tattoos — the kind of timeless look that could put him as easily in a 1950s biker gang

as it could in front of the doorstep of a tattoo shop in 2013. He told me he went by E-Rock.

He looked at me intently as I explained what I wanted, never betraying the slightest emotion. I gave him full authority to do essentially whatever he wanted, with one stipulation: I had seen other jellyfish tattoos online that looked a little too phallic, like Salvador Daliinspired penises, and, obviously, wanted to try and avoid that. We booked an appointment for the following Saturday, and as I was leaving he told me that he was sincerely excited to work on it, and I was immediately relieved of an abstract tension that I hadn’t even been aware I had.

I had a week to reflect on my impulsiveness, and, strangely, became more and more in love with the idea day by day. What better representation of my fleeting existence than those totally bizarre and ephemeral electric spirits of the sea? A perfect visual metaphor for mortality. Or so I thought. I ran into Adam Bissen, Second Supper’s editor-inchief, in a bar the night before getting my tattoo. We’d been meaning to do a tattoo cover story for a while, so I explained everything and pitched him the piece. “You know what though, man?” he said, “Some jellyfish can actually live forever.” I looked it up later and he was right, mostly. This probably should have suffocated everything I had convinced myself I was excited for, but strangely, the fact that my impending tattoo had lost what small semblance of meaning I had thrust upon it made it mean even more to me. As if this thigh-dwelling jellyfish simulacrum had any real denotation to begin with.

I walked up to the shop the day of my appointment and was greeted with a cold “hello” from E-Rock and a (much warmer) introduction to Nick, one of the other tattoo artists at Blue Line. We went inside and E-Rock stared at me for a moment, intimidating as ever, and eventually asked, “Well, do you want to see what I drew?” I nodded and he slapped a stencil down on the table. The tentacles were gorgeous, and I could immediately imagine them looking incredible on my leg, but as I looked farther up I noticed that what was supposed to be the jellyfish’s cap looked unmistakably like a stout penis, complete with bulging veins. I tried not to betray my horror as I looked up, but it must have shown because everyone in the shop immediately erupted into laughter.

“Here man I’ll show you the real one,” E-Rock said between laughs, finally peeling away his scary façade and slapping down a beautiful outline of a much less Freudian jellyfish. Within 10 minutes I was reclined in a leather chair getting prepped for my tattoo.

He gave me a rough estimation of how long it would take, what he would start with first, as well as making sure I was comfortable and knew I could ask him to stop at any time. He was so calming and friendly once I was in the chair that it completely caught me off guard when he asked, “So, you said you did want the penis-y one, right?” and covered it up with his hand when I instinctively freaked out and tried to peak.

The tattoo took between two and three hours, but the time flew by. The process

Photo by Sarah O'Neil

E-Rock works on a jellyfish tattoo for reporter Jason Crider at Blue Line Tattoo. hardly even hurt; as E-Rock told me with a joking smile, “I’ve been told I’m very gentle.”

He periodically made sure I was comfortable and OK overall, alternating between that and the completely unavoidable penis jokes. He gave me thorough instructions on how to take care of the tattoo, and after five or six days it was almost completely healed. I’m still very happy with the tattoo.

My coffee table has since been completely covered by friends with carvings of everything from Shakespeare sonnets to a caricature of Rick Moranis, and it’s expanding every weekend. It’s a healthy reminder, much like my tattoo, not to take things so seriously, and that although tattoos are most often discussed in terms of their permanence, nothing is forever, and that’s a notion I’m slowly becoming OK with. My tattoo is far from an eternal gesture, and, to give things some real perspective, my coffee table will probably be around long after I’m not.

How to get a tattoo

Some tips from the gentlemen at Blue Line

Although I would absolutely recommend not making a series of decisions like mine (impulsive body modification with zero planning as a means of coping with existential despair), in the end it turned out exceptionally well for me. I was very fortunate to walk into a shop that was very professional and down to earth. Your results may vary. I talked with E-Rock and Nick a few weeks after getting my tattoo, and they gave me some pretty good advice on things you should do and consider before getting any work done.

“Just in terms of being physically prepared,” said E-Rock, “you should get a good night’s rest and eat a good balanced meal a few hours before. And, you know, don’t go out and get really drunk the night of.”

When it came to planning, they were decidedly more vague. I tried to pry some of the juicy “mistake” tattoo stories they were sure to have. But they didn’t really. “We’re never going to tell someone ‘No, that’s dumb, don’t get that,’” said E-Rock, then, laughing a bit, “We may make a professional suggestion or two.” Overall, though, E-Rock and Nick explained that there aren’t a lot of people coming in looking to get ridiculous or outlandishly foolish tattoos. Maybe that’s in the past, something reserved for television sitcoms and bad movies. “In the end I think every tattoo has some meaning to it deep

CONTINUED ON PAGE 7

Second Supper | The Free Press

COMMUNITY

No thanks, Big Brother

By Adam Bissen

adam.bissen@secondsupper.com

Downtown La Crosse isn’t Anycity, USA. Architecturally, it retains the look of a 19th century boom town, and certain frontier values remain amongst the people who call this city home. We’re not Washington, D.C., New York City or Chicago — and we like it that way. Sure, there is plenty we could do to make downtown La Crosse a more vibrant place, but 41 surveillance cameras are not the way to go.

If you hadn’t heard the news, the La Crosse City Vision Foundation recently announced plans to privately raise $475,000 and “donate” an intricate network of surveillance cameras that would cover the entirety of downtown.

There was an initial splash of support from the expected establishment voices. Perhaps you don’t recall being asked if you wanted to live in a place where your every motion could be reviewed by the police. That’s because those establishment voices never bothered to ask us, and if you don’t speak up soon, you may never get the chance.

Now, I’m sure the La Crosse City Vision Foundation — a respected group of downtown business owners and community leaders — has its heart in the right place. Following the recent homicides at May’s Photo, it’s only natural for the community to rally together, and the stated goal for the camera system is certainly public safety.

But if we’re going to be honest with ourselves, La Crosse is not a big city. It’s not rife with crime, it’s not a terrorist target, and mounting video cameras won’t make people feel safer when walking amongst quaint shops and eateries.

And these won’t be inconspicuous video cameras either. Each and every one will have a prominent sign, alerting visitors as they turn every corner in the downtown district that they may be recorded and monitored by the police.

I don’t write this as a pure rabble-rouser or weekend carouser. I lived for four years in downtown La Crosse, in a fl at on Pearl Street and in a loft on Third, and now I reside seven blocks away in the Washburn neighborhood.

Never in my time here have I feared for crime. If anything I was astounded by the sheer number of police offi cers patrolling my neighborhood, where evenings can be a veritable cop car menagerie. But if all that manpower doesn’t prevent drunken louts

The Top

February 1, 2013 // 3

Downtown doesn’t need surveillance cameras.

Try streetlights instead.

from acting a fool, what would be the effect of silent street signs or video cameras that are only monitored retroactively?

The La Crosse City Vision Foundation must see something different in this proposal. The group’s stated goal is to make downtown a more vibrant place, and to those ends, I support their efforts wholeheartedly.

But what I fail to see is why anyone would be happier to stroll the historic downtown while under the constant gaze of cameras, not when there is already so much we could do to visibly improve the neighborhood.

If you want to raise a half-million dollars to make downtown a better place, fantastic!

How about we beautify Fifth Avenue, Cameron Park or the eastern end of Jay Street?

I know that benches and bike racks would be appreciated by visitors. Maybe plant some fl owers, install public art, or extend those classic brick sidewalks that make one-half of downtown a very pleasant place to stroll.

Or perhaps you want video cameras to attack the supposed scourge of graffi ti. Fair enough. Why not do something about the vacant buildings while we’re at it, the empty trash lots and the monochromatic eyesores that invite graffi ti in the fi rst place?

Hey, we all want to prevent crime and create more pleasant places to gather. Maybe instead of investing in video cameras, we could actually install streetlights beyond a few square blocks of commerce and pedestrian corridors. I live just blocks from the city center, and my neighborhood is nearly pitch black at night and the site of the sort of property crimes and assaults that make some people think La Crosse has a crime wave.

But what galls me most about this whole surveillance camera “debate” is that there’s been no public discussion at all. Had a mayor or council member proposed spending a half-million dollars on video surveillance — this during a time of slashed social services and neighborhoods that are falling into disrepair —there would likely be at least some opposition in the council chambers. At the very least, we would hold public hearings on the issue, and the citizenry could give its input on the city’s surveillance priorities.

Although this plan is still in its infancy, I haven’t observed any public outreach. Let’s say the La Crosse City Vision Foundation actually does raise $475,000 from private donations to fund a video surveillance system.

Maybe these donors see it as a public good, a business investment, or perhaps a benefi cial tax deduction. Maybe they present it to City Hall with 41 beautiful bows. Very few council

Worst Valentine's Day gifts 1. Ring pop 2. Exercise DVDs 3. Anything from Kwik Trip 4. Dead flowers 5. Taco Bell party pack 6. iTunes gift card 7. Oil change

members would vote against free gifts, and then we would all live under a surveillance system just because some private people thought it would be a good way to govern the rest of us.

Now, I’m not a paranoid, and I don’t typically succumb to the sorts of fearful hyperbole that are sometimes prone to people who share my civil libertarian streak. I don’t even want to have an argument about the very concept of “Big Brother,” but I do want to feel at ease when I walk around my hometown.

I suppose it’s a little ironic, then, that the pro-camera forces are the ones making the arguments of fear and paranoia. Exhibit A is the Petras murders, a truly awful crime but a statistical anomaly that was solved through the help of existing private cameras.

Exhibit B, which La Crosse Tribune editor Chris Hardie cited in a laudatory editorial, was the Coon Creek Riots of 1991.

For those keeping track, that is two noteworthy incidents in 22 years. Otherwise the police department has not been forthcoming about other crimes that would have been solved with more comprehensive video surveillance, and no one has mentioned any that would have been prevented due to a heightened camera presence downtown.

What we have instead are anecdotes and conjectures. Of course, I recognize that we already have several privately monitored video cameras downtown that are occasionally reviewed by police. I just don’t fi nd it particularly comforting that our government would be gifted more monitoring power without anyone giving their consent. I know I’m not the only person that feels this way, but frankly no one’s asked us how we feel.

Hardie concludes his editorial with the most self-serving argument of all: “If you’re concerned about being captured on video in downtown La Crosse, then don’t break the law.” The thing is, you don’t have to break the law in order to be captured on video downtown, nor would you have to give permission before being monitored.

To be sure, La Crosse has its small-town charms and it also has its problems. Yet there are concrete solutions we can implement to fi x them, especially with an innovative private/public partnership with the ambition to raise a half-million-dollar largesse. I would love to see us harness this energy and decide as a community the best ways to improve our most vital neighborhoods. But to me, 41 surveillance cameras sound like a solution in search of a problem.

Things that are hard to find 1. True love 2. Waldo 3. The dang remote control 4. Class of '68 5. Drug-free cyclists 6. Drug-free dubstep fans 7. Manti Te'o's girlfriend

the free press 444 Main St., Suite 310 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 Cover and Ad Design: Jenn Bushman Regular Contributors: Amy Alkon, Erich Boldt, Mary Catanese, Ashly Conrad, Marcel Dunn, Brett Emerson, Shuggypop Jackson, Jonathan Majak, Matt Jones, Nate Willer Second Supper is a monthly alternative newspaper published by Bartanese Enterprises LLC, 444 Main St., Suite 310, La Crosse, WI 54601 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Send your letters to the editor to Second Supper, 444 Main St., , Suite 310, La Crosse, WI 54601 or by e-mail to editor@secondsupper.com.

• La Crosse • Sparta • Richland Center • Prairie du Chien Birth Control Services Annual Exams for Women STD Testing & Treatment for Men and Women Pregnancy Testing Emergency Contraception Call for an appointment today!

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T T W T C D D M

4// February 1, 2013

February

The Month in Preview Feb. 7, 14, 21

Sat., Feb. 9

BECOME A BETTER ARTIST

HIP TO THE HOP

@ ART-4U (Doerflinger’s building)

@ The Warehouse

What better time than the dead of winter

It seems rappers come a dime a dozen

to develop your skills of redefining reality and/or expressing your abstract thoughts via painting and drawing? ART-4U will be holding three classes for adults who want to get in artistic shape. Basic techniques of drawing and acrylic painting will be taught.

Classes are from 6 to 8:30 p.m. and cost $20 per session. All supplies and materials are included, so there’s no need to run to Hobby Lobby. Reservations are a must.

Feb. 8, 15, 22 EXPERIENCE BEER @ The Side Note

it difficult for the really good rappers who deserve the title and the attention. Carnage the Executioner is one of those rappers.

Hailing from Minneapolis (a premier indierap breeding ground), Carnage has it all: machine gun delivery that melds to the beat, sophisticated semi-wacky lyrics, and top-notch beatbox skills to boot. He’ll be busting loose at the Warehouse along with other formidable Minnesota rap groups Duenday and The Roommates. Be there at

not rhyme with alive and inside). Rogers’

tickets (which are limited and available

7:30 p.m. and bring $10 (maybe bring

neighborhood was an extremely loveable

only at Pearl Street) are $50 and include

more $ for a CD or two or three).

fiction, and since we are stuck in reality

all kinds of extra perks like more beer, VIP

it might be a little harder to love ours. In

room access, and complimentary snacks.

regularly held beer tasting sessions act as

LOVE THY NEIGHBORHOOD

in February: Founders Brewery on Feb. 8, Pearl Street Brewery on Feb. 15, and Lazy Monk on Feb. 22. For three hours ( 4 to 7 p.m.) you can gather with others and taste all sorts of beers. And money, it’s no problem — these tasting sessions are free.

While you’re there, check out all the other rare and cool beverages for sale.

chilly weather | things to do | winter ball

self-proclaim their status as rapper, making

Mon., Feb. 11

problem. Three breweries will be visiting

fine arts | valentine’s day | theater |

someone who is simply a rap fan will also

opened Side Note is here to help. Their a kind of support group for this specific

music | entertainment | super bowl

nowadays. It’s almost to the point where

So many beers, so little time, even less money. Familiar with this? The recently

Second Supper | The Free Press

THE PLANNER

@ Congregation Son’s of Abraham Community Room Very few people love their neighborhood as much as Mr. Rogers did. In fact, he might’ve told us in song that it’s such a good feeling to love your neighborhood, just as it’s such a good feeling to know you’re alive and growing inside (maybe he didn’t sing us this because neighborhood just happens to

light of this, there will be a free social for from 6 to 8 p.m. and will include musical

Feb. 26 & 27

performances, storytelling, kids activities

HOW ABOUT THAT CIRCUS?

us to celebrate our neighborhoods. It runs

and door prizes. Just don’t show too much love for your neighborhood since you might need some for Valentine’s Day.

Sat., Feb. 16 LET’S HAVE A BALL AND A BEER @ Pearl Street Brewery

@ La Crosse Center Unlike the romantic days of the circus train, the Zor Shrine Circus, animals and all, will likely be rolling into La Crosse on eighteen-wheelers, similar to how pallets of televisions roll into the local Targets and/or Walmarts. But you won’t need to think about that when you’re watching the circus in all

Two days after Valentine’s Day, Pearl Street

its overboard entertainment glory. How the

Brewery will be showing a lot of love

circus got here is just as unimportant as

to those who love their beers at the 14th

how the TV got in the living room, right?

annual Winter Ball. Whereas a traditional

Oh, about the circus: there’ll be all kinds

ball would include dancing, the ball on

of crazy things going on: people flipping,

Pearl Street will offer beer, food, and live

elephants balancing, motorcycles riding

performances by Smokin’ Bandits, Nimbus,

in ball cages, tigers tricking and jumping

Big Tree Bonsai, Misha Siegfried, and

through rings, and more. Sounds like

Simple Rogues. Five specialty beers will be

hell, or is it heaven? The show begins at

tapped and served alongside the bacon-

6:30 p.m on both days. Tickets are $14.

inspired dishes of Fat Sam’s, Piggy’s,

Children under 2 are free if they can sit on

Dublin Square, Howie’s, and Pogreba

a lap. Just don’t watch Water for Elephants

Restaurant. The beer will flow as the Winter

before going.

Ball bounces from 2 to 10 p.m. Tickets are $35 and can be bought at The Root Note, Del’s Bar, or Pearl Street’s tasting room. VIP

Second Supper | The Free Press

THE ARTS

The Art RuMBa Review Julia Crozier / "Recent Work" Red Horse Gallery Fountain City, Wisconsin 12-5:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday Through March 1

By Andrew Chulyk Special to Second Supper

Thirty-fi ve miles upriver from La Crosse is Fountain City, a small town nestled against the bluffs that seems a throwback to earlier times. There you will fi nd Julia Crozier’s paintings hanging peacefully in the Red Horse Gallery. Hardly a cosmopolitan mecca, this gallery is a truly unique fi nd and so is Crozier’s work.

Many artists tend to limit themselves to a certain style or medium, but there are those who venture outside the art box. Julia Crozier is one of those adventurers. Her work crosses style and medium boundaries, but the root of her inspiration stays the same, nature and her love for it. But, there are contradictions, the fl ip side being her fascination with the visual elements of small towns and cities.

Most visually soothing are her meditative paintings of natural elements, roots, vines and especially, lotus plants. Many trips to Perrot Park in Trempealeau has given her a library of images to work from, photographs that eventually translate themselves into meticulously detailed paintings. The best and most intense are the Lotus Plant images. Beginning with a black sheet of paper, Crozier uses oil pastels (oil paint in stick form) that she gently shapes and blends to create exotic images of local fauna. The effort is time consuming and exhausting.

“After doing several of them I really need to take a break,” Crozier says. And these breaks manifest themselves in unique ways.

A trip to the Grand Canyon was inspiration for a river painting of racing water following the contours of polished time worn rock that creates a vertigo sensation, where your eye is moved to red scumbled rock textures that hang above the river, to detailed foliage at the water’s edge. Another piece titled, “Subterranean River” is more abstract, a perspective of the river looking down. Washed areas of blue and sand colors interact to create a landscape, but one that seems more refl ective of an inner personal experience than a natural observation.

But, probably the most unique work is represented by her abstracted cityscapes.

Their layering and fragmentation are reminiscent of Marc Chagall with hints of Paul Klee and George Groz. These images always have a river and the buildings are jumbled stacked images that force the viewer to explore a maze like construction in order to fi gure out what’s happening. The colors and forms are loose and playful, but according to Crozier, all is not what it appears to be as in “City Afl ame.” At fi rst glance one sees a pleasant town, but upon closer inspection a darker mystery emerges.

These paintings started out as earlier compositions that weren’t quite right or didn’t work and were painted over and often, repainted again. The artifacts of this process are buried there in the fi nal image creating a kind of visual archeology. Crozier says, “It is freeing to undo an idea, to not treat every creation as precious, to create anew.”

Croziers most playful pieces are two small box-like creations about 8 inches square and 2 inches deep titled “Little House” and “Dragon Invasion.” These are almost childlike in their execution, but are very deliberate, intending to be exactly what they are. This is probably the most diffi cult part of creating art, that idea of intention, to make something seem easy and obvious when it is not.

The RuMBa Beat Ongoing and upcoming art events in the Coulee Region

Art Rumba here, cruising the Coulee Region from Wisconsin to Minnesota looking for the best in art shows and gallery exhibits. So let’s begin.

• Dirk Nelson’s show at the Page Theater, Saint Mary’s University, had a successful opening, well attended with numerous sales.

It continues until Feb. 7th and after that his work can be seen at Vitamin Studios here in La Crosse.

• Julia Crozier’s show continues until

March 1st at the Red Horse Gallery in Fountain City. Her opening was a great success with lots of sales and a huge turnout. Check out Red-Horse Gallery.com for more info.

• UW-La Crosse is having a faculty ex hibit on the fi rst fl oor of the Center for the Arts through Feb. 20. Go see the show.

• Lanesboro Art Center is showing the

work of jewelry makers Liz Bucheit and Michael Seiler with an opening Feb. 9, from 6-8 p.m. The show runs through March 31.

Check out Lanesboroarts.org for more info.

For jewelry lovers, this is a must-see show.

Liz’s fi ligree work is extraordinary.

• Mary Solberg and Andrew Chulyk are

having a two-person show at Studio Gallery 1311 located at 1311 Market St. here in La Crosse. This will be a unique experience for art lovers of the more offbeat. It opens Feb. 16, from 6-9 p.m., and continues through March. I will be reviewing Solberg’s work in the March issue of Second Supper. To learn more about Studio Gallery 1311, go to www. sg1311.blogspot.com.

• State Street Gallery, 1804 State St., La

Crosse, continues to show a wonderful mix of local, regional and national artists covering all mediums and styles. If you like an intimate environment to explore your artistic tastes, this is it.

Enjoy the art and support the artists!

Art Rumba!

February 1, 2013 // 5 its credit, it gets under your skin with ideas and atmosphere rather than with shock effects and gore.

I Like to Watch

By Dean Robbins Special to Second Supper

We’ve seen many dramas about married couples living a lie in the suburbs, with tensions cracking the cheery façade. The lie in The Americans, however, is bigger than most. Philip (Matthew Rhys) and Elizabeth (Keri Russell) are KGB agents passing as a normal American couple during the Reagan era, with two normal kids. The kids, in fact, really are normal, having been born in the U.S. and knowing nothing about their parents’ real identities. Elizabeth is troubled that they’re growing up without socialist values, but she would never blow her cover by telling them the truth. Philip, on the other hand, is beginning to wonder why the two of them don’t just fl ip to the American side and live happily ever after, sans murder and kidnapping.

The Americans (Wednesday, Feb. 6, 9 p.m., FX) dares us to sympathize with the most unsympathetic of protagonists as they try to undermine our way of life. Sympathy is possible only because Philip and Elizabeth emerge as believable human beings, with doubts and fears and backstories. Besides the logistical problems of their lifestyle – including a snoopy FBI agent who’s moved in next door – they’re not quite an actual couple.

The KGB arranged their marriage for the purpose of this mission, so they’re ambivalent about one another even after a decadeplus together.

Indeed, ambivalence is the keynote of The Americans. I can’t wait to work out my own mixed feelings about it over the course of the season.

Cult Tuesday, Feb. 19, 8 p.m. (CW)

Cult offers one of the 2012-13 season’s most intriguing concepts. It’s about a TV series, itself named “Cult.” The show-withinthe-show portrays a creepy cult run by a psycho who kidnaps and brainwashes his followers. “Cult” has inspired a legion of fans, some of whom go off the deep end in their obsession with clues and code words they detect in each episode. Is the cult depicted in “Cult” the real deal, fi nding new members among the show’s fans? It sounds crazy to a reporter named Jeff (Matt Davis) until his brother – one of those obsessed fans – disappears after becoming a raging paranoiac. Jeff sets out to investigate along with a “Cult” crew member (Jessica Lucas), who wonders why the show’s producer is a mystery man never seen in public.

Cult is a wonderfully eerie creation, from the script to the score to the acting. To

American Masters Friday, Feb. 22, 11 p.m. (PBS)

A portrait of the mid-century gospel singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe dubs her “The Godmother of Rock and Roll.” If that sounds like a stretch, wait until you see the fi rst archival clip, in which Sister Rosetta plays twangy Chuck Berry-style electric guitar before Chuck Berry himself ever did. Her gutsy singing also infl uenced such rockers as Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan, who called her “a powerful force of nature.”

Amen. In her day, Sister Rosetta was a star in both the pop and gospel fi elds, helping break down the barriers between the secular and the sacred. According to one commentator, her early gospel hit “Rock Me” sounds like “an invitation, and not to the altar.” Truly, for all devotion to the Lord, Sister Rosetta had a rebellious streak, and she became gospel music’s fi rst superstar on her own terms.

The documentary’s highlight is a clip of Sister Rosetta in her last recorded appearance, shortly before her death in 1973. Ailing and depressed, she sings “Precious Lord, Take My Hand” with a combination of hope and despair that forces you to refl ect on the sublimity of the human soul. If the performance doesn’t make your knees go weak, you’re made of sterner stuff than I am.

Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God Monday, Feb. 4, 8 p.m. (HBO)

Over a creepy, ominous soundtrack, this documentary digs into the Catholic Church’s decades-long attempt to silence victims of sexual abuse. We’ve heard parts of this story before, but Mea Maxima Culpa distinguishes itself by focusing on the fi rst known public protest against clerical abuse in the U.S. It was lodged by students at a Milwaukee school for the deaf, who had been sexually assaulted by the sinister Father Lawrence Murphy. Now grown, these men powerfully sign their testimony onscreen, with actors such as Ethan Hawke and Chris Cooper fi lling in the audio. They shed light on a coverup that stretches all the way to future pope Joseph Ratzinger. Never has a creepy, ominous soundtrack been so justifi ed.

Justified Tuesday, Feb. 5, 9 p.m. (FX)

If you haven’t started watching the fourth season, what are you waiting for? Justifi ed remains a droll portrait of a deputy U.S. marshal chasing the bad guys in Harlan, Kentucky. In the latest installments, low-key Raylan Givens (Timothy Olyphant) digs into a cold case with connections to his childhood and his criminal father. Raylan goes about his business with a deadpan sense of humor, befi tting the series’ source in Elmore Leonard’s writing. The Dixie-fried dialogue has the ring of authenticity, as does the portrait of small-town Southern life. Best of all are the lovingly detailed characters.

When you fi nd yourself enjoying time spent with murderers, thieves, drug addicts and snake charmers, you know you’re in the presence of master fi lmmakers.

6// February 1, 2013

Second Supper | The Free Press

DIVERSIONS

The Beer Review

"It takes a village" Feeling a little blue?

By Matt Jones

Answers on Page 7

Dirty Bastard Founders Brewery Grand Rapids, Michigan

By Adam Bissen adam.bissen@secondsupper.com

ACROSS 1 That is, to Nero 6 "All-American Girl" Margaret 9 Elite U.S. Navy squad 14 It's struck from a book 15 "Whadja say?"

16 2005 "Survivor" locale 17 Big book of stories 19 Sean of the "Lord of the Rings" series 20 He's always dropping

dishes?

22 Peppermint Pattie brand 23 Gargantuan Brit. lexicon 24 Uneventful 26 Nick at ___ 29 "Sands of ___ Jima" 32 Komodo dragon or Tasmanian devil 36 Ore-___ (tater tots brand) 37 Bedroom area that's useful to have around?

Soduku

Answers on Page 7

39 ___ Wafers 41 Constrictive critter 42 Sci-fi author Asimov 43 He has a corny sense of humor?

46 Deadlock 47 Dutch beer 48 ID-assigning org.

49 Chip's pal 50 "The Kids in the Hall" bit 52 Blue ball on the table 54 Fashion legend Christian 57 Guy who trimmed Dad's beard?

63 Texas A&M athlete 65 Doesn't lose it 66 Crosses (a river) 67 One of seven: abbr.

68 A few extra pounds 69 Pecan and walnut 70 Torn of "Men in Black" 71 It follows either word in the four long answers DOWN 1 Apple on a desk 2 Short name for Boone or Webster 3 Query to Brutus 4 Average fool 5 Things out of reach?

6 Neapolitan layer, for short 7 Laurie on "House" 8 "I just remembered..."

9 Detoxifying place 10 Top vs. bottom-seed shutouts, for instance 11 Low choral part 12 Grizzly's hangout

13 Destroyed a destroyer 18 Actress/model/socialite ___ Hearst-Shaw 21 Griff and D's Public Enemy cohort 25 Recording studio sign 26 Silent killer?

27 Turn of phrase 28 Peace conference events 30 Liberty's org.

31 Reasons for insoles 33 Mazda model 34 "Garfield: ___ of Two Kitties" 35 School for French students 37 She portrayed Kahlo 38 Thanksgiving items 40 Biker's exit line 44 Go berserk 45 Date on some food packaging 49 The back, in medical textbooks 51 Weapon often seen on "24" 53 Nest residents 54 Nutty 55 Composer Stravinsky 56 Shrek, e.g.

58 Spittoon noise 59 Org. for seniors 60 "On & On" singer Erykah 61 MIT grad, maybe 62 Hazard for a hull 64 Ending for heir or host ©2012 Jonesin' Crosswords

At the present moment it’s four degrees outside, I’m huddled next to my wall heater, and January is blowing so fiercely against my windows that hearing the actual wind chill might stifle my will to live. I swear I’m not thinking about my friends who left for Puerto Rico yesterday or my parents, whom I hope are heartily enjoying their vacation in Florida. Originally I had planned to spend the evening at their house, parking my Malibu in their nice heated garage, but my car didn’t feel like turning over tonight, so now I’m wearing a sweatshirt and a stocking cap and thinking about warming beer.

Had I possessed any foresight or a willingness to walk three blocks to the store, I would have grabbed a seasonally appropriate brew — perhaps an imperial stout or New Glarus’ Winter Warmer, which I’ve never tried but am pining for in the strangest way.

Thankfully (beer burglar alert!) I always have a few warming brews stashed around my apartment. That includes a half-dozen barleywines that are one- to three-years-old, but it seems a trifle overindulgent for just one person. But huzzah! — in the rear corner of my fridge, sitting around since who knows when, is one of my favorite high gravity Midwestern beers: Founders Dirty Bastard

Purchase: At least one bottle of Dirty Bastard, from some place at sometime

Style: “Wee Heavy” Scotch Ale

Strength: 8.5 percent ABV

Packaging: Printed on a plaid label, the Dirty Bastard is depicted as a ghostly, scowling Scotsman with thick sideburns and the blurred patina of a long night on the town.

Appearance: The beer pours a nearly opaque copper-brown color with a thin brown head.

Aroma: The Founders Web site claims this beer is produced with seven distinct malts, and all of them are on sweet display here with caramel, molasses, raisins, and plums wafting over some pretty hefty alcohol.

Taste: The maelstrom of malts serves up a complex taste whose flavors swirl on the tongue. There’s a heavy peat bouquet, bitter chocolate, faint coffee, burnt brown sugar, and some strands of grassy hops that do a superb job of masking the “Wee Heavy” alcohol.

Mouthfeel: Relatively thick for the style, chewy, and with an excellent aftertaste that lingers.

Drinkability: At the moment the drinkability is stupendous, but this is a seasonal taste for me. Frankly, I don’t even like most Scotch ales, but once the thermometer starts its long march towards negative numbers, few beverages would top this.

Ratings: BeerAdvocate grades this a 91, while RateBeer gives it an even more superlative 98. In the overbearing arena of Scotch ales, I’d say those ratings are justified — though I rarely encounter people around town who sing this beer’s praises. It could be that the brand just isn’t that hyped, or maybe the setting is particular. Because outside of a tropical beach, heated blanket or roaring fireplace, that are few things I’d prefer beside me than this old Dirty Bastard.

The Month in Theatre

By Kallie Schell Special to Second Supper

Jonathan Lamb has been a longtime participant in the local theater scene. Since a child he has appeared in plays at the La Crosse Community Theatre and has slowly progressed to someone who directs and choreographs at area high schools and theaters. Furthermore, he recently began The Behling Company, his own theater company, which is a dream come true for him.

This month at the Pump House, Lamb’s Behling Company will be premiering "I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change." This play was originally an off-Broadway musical that ran from 1996-2008 and has been done once before in the area by the La Crosse Community Theatre.

The base line of "I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change", Lamb said, is people trying to connect. The show plays out more like a "Saturday Night Live" episode than the standard play; something with a little flavor and fun musical numbers as people try to find their way through the quirks of dating and love.

The first act opens up with a cantata of

a first date, depicting the nerves and anxiety, which I’m sure many of us can level with.

That’s just a sneak peek of a show that is sure to be full of funny, heart-warming, and often very real moments of the ups-and-downs of relationships.

"I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change" will run Feb. 8-9 and Feb. 15-16 at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $15 in advance and $21 the day of the show.

Also coming up this month in theater:

Where: Muse Theater What: Eve Ensler’s "The Vagina Monologues" When: 7:30 p.m. Feb. 1-2 Cost: $25 general public, $10 students, $50 V.I.P. V.I.P includes front row seats and champagne chocolates "The Vagina Monologues" is about female empowerment. Stories cover topics such as sex, love, rape, birth and orgasm. "The Vagina Monologues" has raised $75 million for women’s anti-violence efforts. Although the monologues are sometimes seen as absurd, outrageous, and uncomfortable, they ultimately emphasize the female experience.

This is certainly not a show to miss.

Second Supper | The Free Press

Music Directory Featured Shows Friday, February 1st Pearl Street Brewery – The Mayfield Experience • 6 p.m.

Freight House – Dan Sebranek • 7 p.m.

Root Note – The May North • 8 p.m.

Leo and Leona’s – Coulee Uke Band • 7:30 p.m.

Bottoms Up – Hard Hat • 9 p.m.

Saturday, February 2nd Freight House – Dan Sebranek • 7:30 p.m.

Root Note – Kristy Larson Honkey Tonk Trio • 8 p.m.

Starlite Lounge – Third Charles • 8 p.m.

Trempealeau Hotel – Copper Box’s Fat Friday Show (rock) • 8 p.m.

Friday, February 8th Pearl Street Brewery – Adam Palm • 6 p.m.

Freight House – Muddy Flatsand & The Hepcats • 7 p.m.

Warehouse – Wolves, Fail to Delay, Reaping Asmodeia, The Contour Line (metal) • 6:30 p.m Leo and Leona’s – Bill Miller and Dan Sebranek • 7:30 p.m. ($15) Bottoms Up – Hallowed Ground • 9 p.m.

Saturday, February 9th Root Note – The Ericksons, Raleway • 8 p.m.

Freight House – Muddy Flatsand & The Hepcats • 7:30 p.m.

Trempealeau Hotel – Galynne Goodwill (singer songwriter)• 7:30 p.m.

Leo and Leona’s – Bill Miller and Dan Sebranek • 7:30 p.m.

Warehouse – Carnage, Duenday, Roommates (indie rap) • 7:30 p.m.

Pearl Street Brewery – Simple Rogues • 6 p.m.

Freight House – Jim Hodvet • 7 p.m.

Bottoms Up – Indecision • 9 p.m.

Saturday, February 16th Freight House – Jim Hodvet • 7 p.m.

Root Note – We Are the Willows • 8 p.m.

Leo and Leona’s – Eric Lambert and Dan Sebranek • 7:30 p.m.

Trempealeau Hotel – Jeff White (alt-country) • 8 p.m.

Friday, February 22nd Pearl Street Brewery – Stacy C. • 6 p.m.

Freight House – Buddy Brown • 7 p.m.

Leo and Leona’s – Foghorn Stringband, Horseshoes & Hangrenades (bluegrass) 7 p.m.

Root Note – William Taylor Jr. (poetry reading) • 8 p.m.

Bottoms Up – Road to Abilene • 9 p.m.

Warehouse – Serianna, Cleobury (metal) • 6:30 p.m.

Saturday, February 23rd Root Note – Dax Odom & Mary Ogelsby • 8 p.m.

Freight House – Buddy Brown • 7 p.m.

Pump House – Prairie Smoke • 7:30 p.m.

Trempealeau Hotel – Mark & Mel (singer songwriters) • 8 p.m.

Tuesday Popcorn – Paulie • 10:00 p.m.

Root Note – 3rd Relation Jazz • 8 p.m.

Thursday, February 14th Warehouse – Volumes, Narrow Hearts, Miss August • 6 p.m. ($14) Root Note – Firefly Forest • 10 p.m.

Thursday Starlight – Kies & Kompanie (jazz) • 5:00 p.m.

Root Note – Open Mic • 8:00 p.m.

Popcorn – Dave Orr’s Blues jam • 10:00 p.m.

down, you know, whether it’s a memorial tattoo or just something laid back. Everyone’s tastes are different. We’re just about making it look good.”

In terms of the design, E-Rock was a little more concrete. “You don’t have to have a picture or sketch or whatever, but it is cool to have a reference point with you just so we have some direction.”

Ultimately, Nick explained, the design is

By Kevin Sommerfeld Special to Second Supper

La Crosse natives (and sisters) Bethany and Jennifer, collectively known as The Ericksons, have just released their third fulllength album, The Wild, which continues the folk and bluegrass legacy of their last two releases in a delicately rich manner.

“Gone Blind,” is the standout first track, with its strong, somber vocals, falling guitar melody, and melancholy drums. It acts as a kind of prologue to the album and introduces the undercurrent of loss that emanates throughout.

But loss is just one of the themes here.

Recovery from and overcoming that loss is the broader message of The Wild. The last words from “Tail Lights,” the final track, are a fitting way to describe the album’s essence: “It has been a long night.” Taking these words into consideration, the record as a whole is like the cool, partly sunny morning that follows a long night

The songs that follow “Gone Blind” move the album forward in an almost storylike fashion. The slow rhythm and more joyful guitar strumming on “Little Bird” gives the song a comforting lullaby qual-

ity. “Where Do You Dwell” ups the hopeful tone with a winding guitar/slide guitar and a quick knee-slapping railroad rhythm reminiscent of classic folk songs.

“Six Feet Under,” probably the most outstanding track on The Wild, alternates between a simple strumming rhythm, a jolting flourish of chords, and a lamenting howl-like slide guitar. Along with the soulful harmony of the vocals, this song provokes a steady range of emotion.

The songs that follow seem to trail off from the storyesque structure and act more like footnotes or commentary to the previous songs. It would have been nice to have the whole album fit into an overall arc like the first six do.

But this is not to say these songs are of any less quality just because they don’t especially help the overall structure of what the album might’ve had. Each of these 11 songs furthers The Wild’s generous vocal, instrumental, and lyrical variety in a way that still makes this record so passionate and compelling. Anyone that thinks themselves lovers of folk, blues, bluegrass and old country western, will find The Ericksons’ latest a blessing.

The Ericksons will be playing a CD release show at The Root Note on February 9 at 8 p.m. Raleway opens.

Puzzle Answers

Sunday Popcorn – Innocuous Voodoo (funk) • 10 p.m.

Wednesday, February 13th Robins Nest – Dan Berger’s Songwriters Corner • 6 p.m.

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2

The Wild The Ericksons

Weekly Gigs

Monday, February 11th Root Note – Jack Klatt • 8 p.m.

TATTOO

CD Review

Thursday, February 28th Warehouse – Phinehas, The Paramedic (metal) • 6 p.m. ($10)

Monday Popcorn – Grant’s Open Jam • 10 p.m.

Del’s – Cheech’s Open Jam • 10 p.m.

Friday, February 15th

February 1, 2013 // 7

MUSIC

eat fresh! eat local! go co-op!

up to you and the artist, but the meaning is completely up to you. “It’s not our job to dictate what you get; it’s our job to make it look as good as it can.”

Where to get a tattoo

• Blue Line Tattoo, 523 Main St., 784-1290 • Mind Altering Tattoos, 327 Main St.,7828287 • Paradigm Tattoo, 2344 State Road 16, 7910123 • Proper Pokes, 318 Main St.,, 782-7879 • 3rd Street Ink, 1206 3rd St., 519-2465 • Twisted Skull Tattoo, 204 4th St., 785-8200 • Inkubator, 719 State St., 359-9679

315 Fifth Ave. So. La Crosse, WI tel. 784.5798 www.pfc.coop open daily 7 am–10 pm

all are welcome

8// February 1, 2013

THE LAST WORD

The Advice Goddess

By Amy Alkon amy.alkon@secondsupper.com Vroom with a view

I’m a 34-year-old woman, dating a 27-year-old guy for three months. We have a great time together, but he’s balking at making an official commitment, meaning he doesn’t want to call us boyfriend and girlfriend. He says he feels we have long-term potential and doesn’t want to date anyone else, but needs time to be sure about us so he doesn’t get hurt again (as he did by his last girlfriend, whom he felt sure was “the one”). That makes sense, but the other day, he told me he loves me. How can he feel that way and still not consider us boyfriend/girlfriend?

I’m in my 30s, and my friends are getting married, and I get down on myself sometimes for being single. Am I selling myself short by waiting?

— On Hold

An impulsive relationship is something to have with a pack of mini-cupcakes in the supermarket checkout line. If they aren’t all they seemed to be, you’ll probably complain a little — that you wasted 79 cents, not the “best years of your life” and the last of your viable eggs.

OK, it’s a little weird that a guy who blurts out “I love you” is squeamish about the B- and G-words, but keep in mind that the last woman he gave his heart to slammed it in the hurt locker. Also, people hate to fail and resist having their failures formalized. If he doesn’t call you his girlfriend, maybe those won’t be real tears you’ll cry if you break up, and he won’t have screwed up another relationship; he’ll just have dated somebody awhile and moved on. But, even if he is driven by fear, his insistence on taking it slow is a good thing: It suggests he learns from his mistakes (an important quality to have in a B-word) and means he won’t be that guy who calls you his girlfriend pronto and then treats you more and more like some woman he passed on his way to the men’s room at the corner bar.

Because you can’t know how long his holding-back period will last until he stops holding back, you can start to think the worst — that he’s just toying with you or, even worse, that you’ll have a mortgage and three kids together and he’ll still be

introducing you as “my lady friend.” To allay your fears, mark a deadline in your head — perhaps two or three months from now — to see whether the relationship’s progressed to a point you’re more comfortable with and to bail if it hasn’t. During that time, try not to be so goal-focused that you forget to look critically at how compatible you two actually are and explore your own motivations. For any “offi cial commitment” to last, you have to want him, specifi cally.

It can’t just be that he’s your last chance to experience having everyone turn and gasp as you walk down the aisle — that is, unless you’re in such a rush to get to church one Sunday that you put on stockings but forget to follow up by putting on pants.

Life in the fastened-to-her lane

Every woman I’ve ever had a relationship with has freaked over my friendships with other women. Even a relationship with someone I really loved ended because she couldn’t stand my talking to and occasionally meeting up with female friends. There’s nothing romantic going on with any of these friends, nor do I have any interest in anything ever happening, but explaining that is always hopeless.

— Maligned

“Love is all you need,” lied the Beatles.

Sure, it might start out seeming that way.

You meet that special someone, butterfl ies

Second Supper | The Free Press

whirl, Disney woodland animals break into song, and you fall into bed and see no one but each other for three to six months.

Eventually, however, you start to long for contact with other humans — not because your scruples are on the blink but because you’ve heard all of each other’s most hilarious stories at least twice.

Most couples keep sexytime activities on the restricted list, but there will be many other interests you share with friends and not each other. Hanging with these friends doesn’t threaten your relationship; it enhances it, making you more interesting to each other because you aren’t each other’s sole mental, social, and emotional watering hole.

It takes a secure woman to understand this — one who needs you because she loves you and not because she skipped over building a self and is using you to cover up the empty slot.

A secure woman accepts that there’s always a risk you’ll leave her but understands that the best way to guarantee you will is to make you feel bonded to her — like a fl y writhing out its last remaining hours on a strip of fl ypaper. (c) 2011, Amy Alkon, all rights reserved.

Got a problem? Write Amy Alkon at AdviceAmy@ aol.com (www.advicegoddess.com).

Our March edition of Second Supper | The Free Press publishes March. 1. Our advertising deadline is Feb. 25. For information, email roger.bartel@secondsupper.com.

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