Vol. 12. No. 10

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OCTOBER 2012 | VOLUME 12, NO. 10

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Digest

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Welcome Home!

Reed Grimm may be an American Idol, but Shoeless Revolution shows love to its roots

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T H E A D V I C E G O D D E S S [ P. 1 2 ]

2// October 1, 2012

FIRST THINGS FIRST

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Social Networking

www.katesonstate.com

Back by popular demand.

For those of you missing her, Kate will be back in the kitchen the first and third Fridays of the month. Make your reservations early, we’re sure to be booked.

Voted La Crosse’s best fine dinning.

The Top NAME AND AGE: Tim Peterson, 22 WHERE WERE YOU BORN? La Crosse CURRENT JOB: Stylist at Orange Pearl Salon DREAM JOB: Educator/ Floor Artist LAST THING YOU GOOGLED: Dan Savage, It Gets Better campaign IF YOU COULD LIVE ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD, WHERE WOULD IT BE? London, England WHAT IS SOMETHING YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE: Truly change someone's life for the better WHAT IS YOUR BEVERAGE OF CHOICE? Tiramisu Martini CELEBRITY CRUSH: Sam Huntington

From the fine folks who brought you Kate’s on State and Pizza Amore...Try Kate’s Crunch for lunch, dinner or anywhere in between.

Centrally located downtown on 4th and Main.

Join us for artisan sandwiches, unique 1/2 lb. burgers, fabulous salads and soups, an array of dogs, sliders for any appetite and awesome appetizers.

We are recently remodeled into a full restaurant and bar. Come and check us out!

Tuesday - Saturday: 11 a.m. – 9 p.m.

Sunday: 12 a.m. – 8 p.m.

We are open for Oktoberfest so make sure to stop in during our extended hours! www.katescrunch.com

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST PET PEEVE? Unnecessarily unkind behavior WHAT BOOK ARE YOU CURRENTLY READING? "Lies Chelsea Handler Told Me" TELL US YOUR GUILTIEST PLEASURE: Buying overpriced clothing TELL US A JOKE: A grasshopper walks into a bar and asks the bartender for a drink. the bartender responds by saying, 'Funny, we have a drink named after you!' The grasshopper, puzzled, asks 'you have a drink named Steve?'

IF A GENIE GRANTED YOU ONE WISH, WHAT WOULD YOU ASK FOR? The ability to know a person's true intentions WHAT ONE PERSON ALIVE OR DEAD WOULD YOU WANT TO HAVE DINNER WITH? Dan Savage FIRST CONCERT YOU WENT TO: Aqualung in Chicago WHAT'S THE LAST THING YOU BOUGHT? Polito's Pizza WHAT'S IN YOUR POCKET RIGHT NOW?: Pajama pants ... no pockets — Compiled by Shuggypop Jackson, shuggypop.jackson@secondsupper.com

Things you can only say at Oktoberfest 1. Miss Butterfest, looking good!

2. One apple sundae, please 3. Jägermeister and pancakes!

4. Do these lederhosen make me look fat?

5. E-I-E-I-E-I-O 6. La Crosse sure is busy today 7. Fishbowl, that’s a good idea!

Scariest Halloween costumes 1. Scab refs 2. The Zombie 47% 3. Wrongly zoned digital billboard 4. President Biden 5. Paul Ryan’s budget 6. Rick Ross’ undercarriage 7. Clint Eastwood’s dinner party

L'Editor Dear Readers: We'd like to use this space this month to introduce some of our new writers who contributed to this edition.

On Page 4, you will find Kallie Schell's second theater column. Kallie has the difficult task of following in the big footsteps left by Jonathan Majak, who has departed for the Twin Cities.

Andrew Chulyk makes his debut this month with his arts column, The Art Rumba Review, on Page 6. We've long wanted an arts columnist, and we think we finally found (actually, he found us) a good one in Andrew. The city's arts scene certainly warrants the expanded coverage.

Sharing Page 6 with Andrew this month is Dean Robbins, our new television critic. Dean recently finished watching screenings for the 2012-13 season. Two of his previews are included in the column; more will be available online at www.secondsupper.com.

We are always on the lookout for new writers willing to work for next to, and sometimes, nothing, so if you have a passion, let us know, Send your inquiries to editor@secondsupper.com.

Thanks and enjoy the rest of 'fest.

-- Roger Bartel, publisher

Second Supper | The Free Press

October 1, 2012 // 3

POLITICS

Tammy vs. Tommy A test of Wisconsin values

By Bob Treu

Contributing editor The ongoing contest to fill Herb Kohl’s seat in the U.S. Senate is partly about who best represents Wisconsin values: Tommy Thompson, the double-chinned, Harley-riding former governor from Elroy who taught the welfare queens the virtue of work, or Tammy Baldwin, the sandy-blonde liberal from Madtown who dances at GBLT events. That should be a no-brainer. The Harley driver trumps the lesbian every time in the Wisconsin values game.

For one thing, most people think of Wisconsin as a rural place, dominated by farms and small towns. Here Tommy has the clear edge, even though the small town mythology has nearly always been a matter of political convenience. Republicans depend upon making points by attacking Madison as an out-of-control town grown fat on taxpayer money. It’s the place Gov. Walker said would never vote for him because its residents are all on the state dole; it’s the prime breeding place of political evil, next to Washington, of course. In fact Tommy and Eric Hovde, his closest rival in the Republican primary, both live in Madison, though Tommy covers all the bases by having a second home on Lake Wisconsin and a farm near Elroy. He also lived in Washington for years as Secretary of Health and Human Services under George W. Bush, and later as a lobbyist.

The myth of small town virtues forgets that a great many of us, people who have lived in Madison and drank beer at the Pub, watched the Badgers, or walked by the dairy farm on University Avenue, think of Madison as the distillation of Wisconsin values.

In any case, Tammy has made use of the small town mythology by portraying Tommy as the boy from Elroy who lost his innocence in the big city. One of her ads quotes Tommy as saying Washington changed him, a line taken from his narrative of learning the value of negotiation to achieve political goals. Still these ads may well blunt some of the conservative criticism of Baldwin as a Madison liberal.

Of course Tammy is a liberal and doesn’t apologize for it. She had already broken new ground in 1998 by becoming the first woman to represent Wisconsin in the House. She was also the first openly gay non-incumbent elected to Congress in American history. If she wins she will be Wisconsin’s first woman senator and the first openly gay person to serve in the Senate. So if she accomplishes that, will we have voted against our own values? It makes you wonder if the definition of Wisconsin values isn’t just a little vague.

And just how does the issue of gay rights reflect Wisconsin values in the first place? In 1982, we became the first state to

prohibit discrimination based upon sexual orientation. Then, in 2006, 59 percent of us voted in a referendum to ban same-sex marriage. That was followed by a change in the state constitution that allowed lawmakers to do just that, and they did.

Then, in 2009, we decided to grant legal status to domestic partnerships, or same sex unions. In other words, homosexuality has tested our values mightily, and we have resolved the issue with all the grace of the average schizophrenic. To put it another way, Wisconsin has been cautious and deeply divided over this issue, just as we are deeply divided over many other things, like the right of public workers to organize.

Most voters don’t remember that our own congressional district was once represented by a gay politician, a Republican named Steve Gunderson. He just wasn’t open about his sexual preferences. Then, in 1994, he was outed on the floor of the House by a homophobic Californian while speaking his mind on the Defense of Marriage Act. Gunderson had already decided not to run for re-election.

Perhaps we are not so much schizophrenic about our values as involved in a long political evolution in which we discover new values and modify old ones we go on. For example, we have long ago dropped our legal preference for the missionary position to the exclusion of other forms of lovemaking. On the other hand, Wisconsin is one of the few states where it remains a felony to engage in an adulterous love affair. Of course the law isn’t enforced much, and most of us are surprised when we hear it exists. Laws don’t always keep pace with, or even accurately reflect, who we are as a people.

Tommy Thompson has been less than inspiring on the issue of gay rights. Back in 2007 (during Thompson’s short run for the presidency) Chris Matthews asked him if he thought employers should be able to fire gay workers. Thompson said, “I think that is left up to the individual business.

I really sincerely believe that that is an issue that business people have got to make their own determination as to whether or not they should be.” The next day he called Matthews to explain he hadn’t heard the question properly and there should be no discrimination in the workplace. But the subject continues to haunt him. A few weeks ago his campaign spokesman, Brian Nemoir, sent out a snarky e-mail about Baldwin’s “heartland values,” which included a link to a YouTube video showing her dancing at a 2010 gay pride event in Madison. Thompson quickly said the message was a mistake and that sexual orientation is not an issue in this campaign.

We like to think Wisconsin values are mainly about unrestricted free enterprise, religion and the family, but it’s not that sim-

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ple. Many of the immigrants who came here brought with them radical ideas like social security and the banning of capital punishment. Some of them settled in Milwaukee and voted for socialists, and it was a coalition of farm and city that make our reputation for progressive politics. But that never meant progressive ideas were embraced by everyone. Along the way we voted for Joe McCarthy, Scott Walker and the gay marriage ban.

Of course, there are other issues that test our values, and one of them is health care. As governor, Thompson enacted BadgerCare, which protected us from some of the worst injustices of the American health care system. Nonetheless his own party, under Walker, has gutted BadgerCare and derailed the Affordable Care Act in Wisconsin. Also, Thompson initially supported the president’s health care law. After all he made millions working for the pharmaceutical companies that would profit from its passage. Still, when it became a test of loyalty among Republicans to support repeal, Tommy joined in. Tammy, on the other hand, is one of the leading defenders of affordable care.

Thompson’s other signature legislation was the Workfare law, which made welfare dependent upon having a job. That meant that if you lost your job and your unemployment ran out, you were in a hard place. When Bill Clinton became president, he took much of Tommy’s idea and created a national version of Workfare. One would think that would satisfy Tommy’s rightwing critics, but apparently it hasn’t.

Tommy likes to present himself as a “compassionate conservative,” a down home guy given to tough love, but that element of moderation nearly cost him the primary. Like Mitt Romney, he needs to appeal to a Republican base that has moved far to the right since his time as governor, and at the same time appear sane enough to be elected. Like Romney he seems caught in a continually unconvincing shuffle dance.

After being ahead by nine points in August, Thompson has fallen behind in the race. There are wide disparities among the polls, with one putting Baldwin up 9 points and another by a single point. True, Baldwin made a credible speech at the Democratic National Convention, and true, the former governor seems a bit adrift in the murky flow of a party that has turned so far right it can’t quite decide what to make of its old warrior, but it’s unlikely this shift in the polls has much to do with Wisconsin values.

More likely it reflects the nationwide dive that began when the Republican presidential candidate responded to the attack

CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

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, Mary Catanese, Andrew Chulyk, Ashly Conrad, Marcel Dunn, Brett Emerson, Shuggypop Jackson, Jonathan Majak, Matt Jones, Dean Robbins, Kallie Schell, 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.

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4// October 1, 2012

Speak Your Mind

with Jacqui Marcou

What super power would you like to have?

Name: Brad Neumeister Age: 35 Occupation: Owner of It's Electric LLC A. "The ability to freeze people"

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COMMUNITY

Name: Brian Poellinger Age: 32 Occupation: Electrician A. "The ability to have sex for hours and hours"

Name: Joseph Marcou Age: 25 Occupation: Self-employed A. "Wonder Woman's Lasso of Truth"

Name: Erica Neumeister Age: 33 Occupation: Nurse practitioner A. "Invisibility" Name: Alexa Neumeister Age: 8 Occupation: Student A. "Super vision"

The Month in Theater

By Kallie Schell Special to Second Supper

As I sat down in the buzzing La Crosse Community Theatre for a recent performance of “Pirates of Penzance,” I was prepared for a comedic experience, but I got something slightly different.

I got an evening filled with opera that made me laugh, which was so much better than a simple comedy and so much different than the average opera. Every song offered a different quirk that created a ripple of laughter pass through the crowd.

Karla Hughes (Mabel) did an absolutely phenomenal job both singing and incorporating humor flawlessly into her opera.

Her chemistry with Steven Arenz (Frederic) on stage was beautiful as well.

Of course the pirates were the cornerstone of this production, two of the most important being Ruth, played by Jennifer Burchell, and Samuel, played by Scott Rathgaber. Together with the other pirates they offered a constant source of amusement for the crowd.

Finally, Maj. Gen. Stanley (Russel Vaden) and his daughters offered a backdrop to the dramatic yet hilarious piece as they tried to discourage the marriage between Frederic and Mabel. The show was truly a gem and proved just long enough to tell a great story that ended satisfactorily. ***

Feel that chill in the wind? Fall is here, but the theater world is heating up and ready to put on some great shows for you.

UW-L is premiering the play “Mirror of the Invisible World,” an adaptation by Mary Zimmerman. It is a tale of love and story-telling; sometimes dramatic, sometimes humorous,

Values CONTINUED FROM PAGE 3 on our Libyan consulate by criticizing the victims for attempting to calm the situation. We weren’t over that bit of insensitivity when we were treated to a video of a Romney fundraiser where he basically called 47 percent of American voters shiftless losers who depend on the productive members of society for their existence. The upscale diners at Boca Raton loved it. The rest of the country not so much. Ever since then Republican Senate candidates, such as Scott Brown in Massachusetts and Dean Heller in Nevada, have been trying to distance themselves from Romney. Tommy remains unfazed however, and finds Romney’s remarks right on.

So far the Tammy/Tommy race has been quiet, if not below the radar, a small blip on the screen, especially when one realizes control of the Senate may be at stake.

To his credit, Thompson has nearly avoided making sexual preference an issue. His harshest ad shows Baldwin in a rage, her

sometimes profound, and sometimes mysterious, this play has something to offer everyone.

The story starts with a king being foretold that he will marry seven different brides. He builds seven different pavilions of seven different colors for them. Each lady tells him a different story.

“Mary really leaves a lot up for interpretation so in the plays the king can either listen to the stories or make himself a part of the stories,” says Mary Anderson, the UW-L director.

Each woman will be from a different culture, and each pavilion will be a different color. The stage setting will be dramatic and ever-changing. The show will be a treat for the senses and the mind — no doubt unforgettable.

When asked about her expectations for the show, Anderson said she hopes that the stories will be a little gift to the audience and that they gain some insight. “I want this to be a night of great theater for the audience”, she says.

There isn’t a doubt in my mind that the play will be a unique treat.

This enchanting show will run Oct. 19-20 and Oct. 25-27 at 7:30 p.m., also Oct. 21 and 28 at 2 p.m. The location is Toland Theater in the Center for the Arts on the UW-L Campus. Cost is $14 for adults, $12 for senior citizens and nonUW-L students, and $4 for UW-L students. Tickets go on sale at 1 p.m. Monday, Oct. 15.

Don’t forget to check out all the other great theater shows coming up in the La Crosse Community!

• At Viterbo: “A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum,” 7 p.m.

Oct. 12-13, 2 p.m. Oct. 14 • At the La Crosse Community The ater: “Bus Stop,” 7:30 p.m. Oct. 26-27 and 2 p.m. Oct. 28.

• At the Muse Theater: “Rocky Horror Show Live,” Oct. 12-13, 19-20, 26-27, 31

lips puckered as she expels a stream of air and the words “You damn right.” That’s a clear violation of the section of Wisconsin values governing niceness. Still it would be good to know more certainly the occasion of her fury.

The questions we face this fall in choosing between Tammy and Tommy are serious ones, not passing political fantasies.

And they are a test of our values. The problem is we haven’t decided what our collective values are, and perhaps we shouldn’t.

There’s always been a bit of smugness hidden in that appeal to Wisconsin values, as if the rest of the country just can’t be trusted.

Some of us want to believe our values are the unchanging ones promulgated by conservative Christians. Others of us believe, like Jefferson, that our democracy grew out of an attempt to throw off the tyranny of monarchies and powerful churches that enslaved Europe for centuries. Some of us believe democracy means discovering and redefining the human soul in ways it has barely learned to express. That, too, is a Wisconsin value. Or at least it has been from time to time.

Second Supper | The Free Press

October 1, 2012 // 5

MUSIC

An American (Idol) Revolution

After going Hollywood, Shoeless Revolution comes home

By Jason Crider jason.crider@secondsupper.com There are many things I’m looking forward to during Oktoberfest, but my most anticipated event will happen Friday, Oct. 5, at the Bier Halle Main Stage at the Southside festgrounds.

Shoeless Revolution, La Crosse’s favorite jamband (as voted by readers of Second Supper), will bring its pop-infused blend of reggae and funk back to town in its largest La Crosse show to date. Although the band has been a staple of our city’s music scene for years, this will be Shoeless Revolution’s first show in La Crosse this year.

So who (or what) is the Shoeless Revolution?

Readers who are perhaps visiting our fine city for the two weeks of drunken debauchery that is Oktoberfest may not have heard of this Revolution, so I’m here to give you the scoop on one of La Crosse’s favorite bands, and its recent brush with Hollywood fame.

“It all started while at UW-L in 2004,” guitarist Jack Sabol-Williams said in a recent

interview. “We all met through jazz band and started playing music together, just as something fun to do on weekends. We played all over town and eventually found our home at the Popcorn Tavern, where we started to cultivate our sound and build our live show.”

The band quickly picked up speed and popularity and began doing occasional tours all over the United States. “We have been as far out as Rhode Island, and fans of ours that have moved from La Crosse will come see us play,” Sabol-Williams said. “Even though we live in the Twin Cities now, we all still call La Crosse our ‘official’ home.”

Shoeless Revolution has released two full-length albums: their debut Speak Up in 2008, and their powerful and professional sophomore release From the Inside Out in 2010. They have kept busy with touring, impressing audiences with their famously energetic and exciting live show, but they always made it back to La Crosse on a frequent basis.

That all changed last year when drummer and lead singer Reed Grimm made it on to season 11 of “American Idol.”

“What a blast that was, in such a super

Drive Away Altra Federal Credit Union recognizes the need in our community and would like to help.

That’s why we’re offering a limited-time Drive Away Hunger Loan Sale.

positive way,” Grimm said, referring to his experience on the show — after enthusiastically screaming “Woooooweeeee” at me several times.

Grimm’s very eclectic personality and gusto was immediately contagious, and I could tell that his experience was as glamorous as television (presumably) makes it out to be. (I say presumably because I have never watched “American Idol.”)

“My official placement was a three-way tie for 14th place,” said Grimm, who performed both “Moves Like Jagger” by Maroon 5 and “Use Me” by Bill Withers on the show in front of 20 million viewers.

“All of those people watched American Idol and saw me perform, but they don’t know who Shoeless Revolution is,” Grimm said, referring to the band’s current “name change” to Reed Grimm and the Shoeless Revolution. “We’re using that exposure to bring in more people to check out not only who [we are], but all the bands we play with as well.”

So where has the Shoeless Revolution been? We haven’t seen them in almost a year. If Shoeless is trying to use all of this newfound exposure to gain publicity, does that mean they’re too good for La Crosse now?

The truth is the exact opposite. Grimm

was being kept very busy with the whole “American Idol” experience, and he has been under contract and unable to perform until very recently. The guys have been practicing, though, and they promised new material at their show in October. The band hit the ground running a few weeks ago with a string of shows at the Minnesota State Fair, and they are excited to be returning to La Crosse.

“It feels really really good to say that we’re coming back,” Sabol-Williams said.

“Everything feels new, and we’ve been rehearsing so extensively, [working] on new covers and everything, so our whole show has a really fresh vibe to it. And we are just so excited to be coming home on October 5th!”

Shoeless Revolution may be sitting on a gold mine with Grimm’s recent popularity, but they’re still showing some love for their roots. But as the band experiences a new surge of popularity, the most important thing to remember is that we were into Reed Grimm and the Shoeless Revolution, ahem, before they were cool.

Reed Grimm and the Shoeless Revolution will performing at the Bier Halle Main Stage on the Oktoberfest grounds from 8 to midnight Oct. 5. You must be 21 or older to enter.

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6// October 1, 2012

Second Supper | The Free Press

ARTS

The Art RuMBa Review

By Andrew Chulyk Special to Second Supper Lisa Ulik’s current exhibition, “Within/Without,” at the Pump House Regional Arts Center is composed of four unique interpretations of how we connect and communicate in today’s world. Through the use of photography, digital media, pastel, printmaking, video and sound installation Ulik explores the boundaries of intimacy, loneliness, isolation and distance that challenge our daily lives.

In “Shared Landscapes,” artists and photographers used cell phone cameras to record special places or landscapes and forwarded the images to Ulik, who used charcoal, pastels and printmaking techniques to transform them into original works of art.

The cell phone images appear as little miniatures when juxtaposed against the larger interpretations, with the larger art pieces taking on a totally different character. The hard edges are softened, areas blurred, details omitted or enhanced in an attempt to bring emotion to the image, to give the viewer something to feel rather than just see. We now live in a very public world where photos are the new coin of the realm.

They fly all around us and intrude into every aspect of our lives. Perhaps Ulik needs to answer the question: How does one separate and protect the intimate and personal from mainstream exhibitionism?

One senses an emotional under-current in Ulik’s work, but in “Marginal Girls” it is a bit difficult to feel. Ulik used a printing process called Chine Cole, where thin paper is laid or glued onto the paper before pressing to create a series of six etchings exploring various feminine issues. Spare and minimally colored, they depict sketched images of small figures in various poses surrounding and interacting with a larger

female portrait. They appear as improvised maps of another secret world. With titles such as “Extant,” “Pretty Baby,” “Vogue” and “Google Data,” the etchings tease us with their mystery, but are really intimate explorations regarding woman’s role and treatment in society.

For example, “Extant,” meaning actually existing, was based on a trip Ulik took to Chicago. There she observed people and randomly photographed them trying to capture simple gestures and poses that indicated loneliness and disconnect. The etching shows small overlapping, but not necessarily interacting figures dominated by a large self-portrait seeming emotionless and unaffected by the world she was observing.

“Google Data,” my favorite in the show, is composed of overlapping images Ulik Googled from the Internet. Layers of sparely drawn figures interact and build a density that becomes more and more abstract. It is a fitting commentary on informational assault and overload.

In the third part, “Telling,” Ulik explores, via filmed interviews, how people react to and connect with their social environment. The interviewees were asked a series of questions aimed at trying to understand their points of view, identity, acceptance within the La Crosse community and the response they got to the new cultural ideas, customs and values they brought with them.

I had the honor of being one of the interviewees, but found it a little disconcerting to see myself projected larger than life on a gallery wall.

The fourth part, “I Want You To Say This…,” is an intriguing audio installation that truly removes all boundaries of privacy and redefines intimacy. A microphone is mounted on a small podium and connected to a pair of outside speakers. A transcript of the video interviews rests on the podium. Individuals are encouraged to read

excerpts from the transcript to passers-by.

When you go to the show just remember that the microphone is always on and can pick up conversation within the gallery.

“Within/Without” is an ambitious undertaking and Lisa Ulik is an exceptional contemporary artist. The show is an intimate look into Ulik’s world, one that is subtle, mysterious and full of surprises.

I LiKe to Watch

By Dean Robbins Special to Second Supper Emily Owens, M.D. Premiering Tuesday, Oct. 16, 8 p.m. (CW) On Emily Owens, M.D., Mamie Gummer plays a young doctor just starting out at a Denver hospital. Emily still bears the scars of being a high school nerd, and she’s dismayed to learn that hospitals are the grownup equivalent of high school. There are the cute guys who don’t notice you, the mean girls out to get you, and the hundreds of others judging your every move. An interior monologue puts us in Emily’s head as she constantly reminds herself, “Don’t spazz out!”

In other words, Emily is the shy-yetbeautiful, anxious-yet-competent heroine familiar from many career-woman series. But there’s a difference here: Mamie Gummer.

Meryl Streep’s kid has inherited the fam-

SHOP SMALL

ily talent, with a face that can express 1,001 shades of fear, sympathy, regret, intelligence and self-loathing. She makes Emily’s insecurity feel real, touching the 16-year-old misfit in all of us.

The above-average script gives Emily plenty of bad qualities, as if daring Gummer to be likable. Somehow, she is. Let’s enjoy this amazing actress on series TV before some movie producer turns her into…well, the next Meryl Streep.

“You must think I’m incredibly self-absorbed,” Emily babbles to a handsome doctor.

“No,” he replies, “just human.”

I couldn’t have put it better myself.

Masterpiece Premiering Sunday, Oct. 7, 8 p.m. (PBS) The new season of “Upstairs Downstairs” begins in 1938, with a British radio broadcaster saying, “It is hoped that an agreement can be reached regarding Herr Hitler’s attempt to….”

We all know where this is heading, and we’ve headed there many times before in British drama. But “Upstairs Downstairs” does a marvelous job of balancing the domestic sphere and the geopolitical sphere, to the point where it could easily be retitled “Inside Outside.”

At 165 Eaton Place, the servants still scramble when the bell rings, while the masters retain their aristocratic bearing. When the world shifts beneath their feet, however, the social relations shift as well. Masters and servants must work together to prepare for war, since poison gas doesn’t really respect class distinctions.

“We come and go through different doors, and we eat our meals at different tables,” says Lady Agnes (Keeley Hawes). “But we all give 165 Eaton Place as our address.

That means we are on the same side.”

Maybe England does have a chance of beating this Herr Hitler after all.

SHOP LOCAL

The following area businesses, all winners in the 2012 Best of La Crosse contest, extend a warm welcome to our Oktoberfest visitors. Please support these small businesses, which are committed to the community and its guests. www.dublinsquarepub.com

shopkickshoes.com

We put the Social in Socialite.

Don’t like us, love us.

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Stop in today and see why we were voted BEST BURGER IN LA CROSSE La Crosse’s most decorated establishment!

-Runner Up Favorite International Cuisine-Runner Up Best Outdoor Dining-Runner Up Best Bloody Mary(visit our Bloody Mary bar on Sunday!)

-3rd Place for Favorite Bartender - Amy Fellenz103 N. 3rd Street, La Crosse, WI 54601

Second Supper | The Free Press

October 1, 2012 // 7

8// October 1, 2012

October

The Month in Preview Thur./Fri., Oct. 4 & 5 INVESTIGATE INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM @ Centennial Hall, UW-L Most people like to hear secrets, are incensed by fraud and prefer truth to lies. Brian Deer, investigative journalist for The London Times, will discuss his work revealing the truth and lies regarding concerns that vaccines cause autism. In his lecture, “An Elaborate Fraud: The MMR Vaccine & Autism,” Deer will explain how and why the scare came about and who is behind it. Deer has twice won Great Britain’s top journalism award among many other awards. The lecture is free and will be held Oct. 4 in Centennial Hall, Room 1309, at 5:30 pm. On Oct. 5, students, faculty and reporters are invited back at 3:30 p.m. to hear Deer go into detail on how he exposed the scare.

Fri., Oct. 5 THE MOST PROST! @ Southside Festgrounds Be sure to save room in your stomach and bloodstream for some quality brew Oct. 5.

It might help to make sure your capacity for judging taste is at its fullest, too. This year’s Oktoberfest Craft Beer Night will feature 96 brews from 40 different breweries of

Second Supper | The Free Press

THE PLANNER

U.S., Canadian and German origin. And there’s plenty to go around -- you’ll have full command of what beers you try and unlimited sampling abilities. There are two types of wristbands: A VIP wristband ($65 pre-sale, $70 day of event) allows you to sample unlimited specialty and aged brews along with first-class food from Howie’s. A general admission wristband ($35 pre-sale, $40 day of event) gets you endless sampling of general admission brews. Either way, you’ll take away a free commemorative glass.

Tasting starts at 4 p.m. and runs till 8 p.m. on the Southside Festgrounds in the Festzelt. And when your stomach and liver are full, stick to see Shoeless Revolution rock the house.

Fri., Oct. 5 HEY, HOPPY LADIES! @ The Cavalier Lounge Attention ladies with taste: The Cavalier Lounge will host a monthly craft beer night for refined drinkers of the fairer sex. Bartenders and homebrewers will share their vast knowledge of beer while offering samplings of several highlighted brews. It’s an opportunity to expand your beer palate, whether you’re a novice who finds the craft beer world intimidating or an advanced beer drinker who is looking for a fun twist on a girls’ night out.

Light appetizers will be provided. Drinking starts at 6 p.m. Cost is $10.

music | entertainment | theater | fine arts oktoberfest | things to do | halloween | beer brats | autumn | recreation | cheers |

Sat., Oct. 6 RUN AMUCK IN MUD @ Myrick Park Don’t bring your best running shoes for this one. For that matter, don’t wear anything that you might consider your best because it’s going to get messy and muddy. The third annual Big Muddy Run on Oct. 6 promises a sloppy good time. Choose either the 5k- or the 1-mile route; both will have slippery obstacles and mud pits. Better yet, the reason for the run is squeaky clean fun: proceeds support the Children’s Museum of La Crosse. Awards will be given out to winners, and everyone gets a free shirt and a drawstring bag with goodies, including an Oktoberfest button. Register ASAP since space is limited. Event starts at 10:45 a.m. Cost is $100 per person, $75 for college students, and $50 for ages 7-15. Sign up as a team of four and save $50! For more info, visit bigmuddyrun.org.

team (most likely called The Squirrels), but it’s only a semi-perfect world so they’ll be playing the Memphis Grizzlies. Game starts at 7 pm. on Thursday, Oct. 18. Tickets are $12, $22, $30, $40, $55 or $95, depending on how bad your vision is.

Sun., Oct. 14 HOLD SOME MUSIC IN YOUR HANDS @ All-Star Lanes Banquet Hall There’s only so much music that can be accessed on the Internet, so stop by the La Crosse Music Expo on Oct. 14. There will be tons of music in its physical form (CD, tape, vinyl) along with music collectibles from dealers across the Midwest. The sale runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $3 (or get a dollar off if you bring two cans of food). Exclusive early admission at 8:30 a.m. is $10. The earlier you come means a better chance of leaving with the rarest of gems.

Thur., Oct. 18 NBA COMING TO LA CROSSE! @ The La Crosse Center Two questions. Is it basketball season already?

And why are the Milwaukee Bucks playing in La Crosse? Answers. No, it’s not basketball season yet (though disguntled NFL fans may wish it was). The Bucks are coming here to play a preseason game. In a perfect world they would be playing La Crosse’s own NBA

Sat., Oct. 27 RUN WITH PUMPKINS @ Hixon Forest Celebrate the last Saturday of October by joining other pumpkinheads in a 5k run/walk through the Hixon Forest. The Great Pumpkin Chase is a completely off-road trek through the colorful late October scenery. Proceeds from the event go to the Wisconsin Youth Conservation Corps Inc. (WisCorps). Awards will be given to the top three pumpkin chasers in each age division. An additional award goes to the overall male and female champions. After the chase enjoy Perkins’ pumpkin pie, Jules’ coffee, People’s Food Co-op organic fruit, and music by Andy of T.U.G.G. Register quickly!

The first 250 to register receive a shirt. All who register will be entered in a drawing for a free Premier Fitness annual membership as well as 3RO winter rentals. The chase begins at 9 a.m. at the Hixon Forest parking lot. Registration is $20 pre-event, $25 day of event. Oh yeah, wear a costume, too.

Second Supper | The Free Press

How to do Oktoberfest II Editor's Note: With Oktoberfest straddling our September and October issues, we are reprinting the timely portions of this guide, which ran in our September edition, for anyone who might have missed it.

What’s the best part of La Crosse in the fall? The changing color of the leaves? The cool breeze blowing off the Mississippi? The Packers on the big screen at Glory Days? Students returning to campus? The possibility that election season might actually end in La Crosse? Nope, it’s Oktoberfest. And here at Second Supper it’s our job to give you the rundown of a few of our favorite, can’t-miss events so you can plan your festivities accordingly. So raise your steins, don your dirndls and join us out here for the best party of the year.

1. Brats — Throughout You cannot talk about Oktoberfest without talking about bratwursts. These sausages serve two vital functions at the fest. First and foremost they quell even the largest of appetites (we once heard about this guy eating seven in one sitting), and they give the nonbeer-drinkers something to look forward to.

No matter where you are at the fest, you are bound to find at least one person munching on a delicious German bratwurst smothered in sauerkraut and spicy mustard. That could be you.

2. The Torchlight Parade — Oct. 4, 7 p.m.

A casual, shorter, more fun version of the original parade? You don’t say. You certainly cannot go wrong with an evening parade full of glow sticks, Sousaphones covered in Christmas lights and the usual rabble that comes with a parade. A majority of the acts are repeats from the Maple Leaf, but they are not forced to walk over three miles and put up with drunken shenanigans. If you Torchlight when everyone else Maple Leafs, you’re going to have a good time.

3. Traditional German Clothing — Throughout You know it’s the time for Oktoberfest

The BLuFF

A Bit of Satire

Lottery ticket buyer hopes to become next job creator Alan Raymond, a third-shift forklift driver for a small packaging firm in Biloxi, Miss., stepped into the shop of Joe’s Gas N’ Go and purchased his daily Mega Millions lottery ticket, hoping that this time Lady Luck would smile upon him and make him America’s next job creator.

Playing his daily numbers, which include his high school football jersey and his favorite track number of his copy of The Ozark Mountain Daredevil’s It’ll Shine When It Shines album, Alan hoped that he would soon strike it rich so he could in turn

October 1, 2012 // 9

THE PLANNER

MuSic Directory FEATURED SHOWS

Popcorn — Terrapin Shells (jam) • 10 p.m.

Tuesday, Oct. 2 Southside Fest Grounds — Gideon’s Radio • 5 p.m., String Ties • 8:30 p.m.

Northside Fest Grounds — Screaming Eagles Marching Band • 7:30 p.m.

Thursday, Oct. 18 Fat Sam’s — Nici Peper (from Firefly) • 8 p.m.

Wednesday, Oct. 3 Southside Fest Grounds — Don Harvey • 11:30 a.m., Ultrasonic Duo • 5 p.m., Julica Rose Band • 5 p.m.

Popcorn — 300+ (rock)

when the Lederhosen and Dirndls get broken out, and we’re glad to see them year every year. Is there better way to celebrate Oktoberfest than by donning your favorite (usually tight-fitting) German garb? No, there isn’t.

4. The Music — Throughout Whether it’s doing the polka in the street during the parades or catching the Shoeless Revolution show on the fest’s second weekend, Oktoberfest never fails to bring in some solid music like Brat Pack Radio, T.U.G.G., Moon Boot Posse, the Dewbs, and so many more. And when the lights go down at the fest grounds, downtown clubs host bands for the biggest party of the year.

5. The Rest of the Fest This festival isn’t just about Beer, Brats, Parades, Music and Fancy Clothes. It’s about celebrating fall, German heritage and the annual harvest. There is really something for everyone at the great La Crosse get together. Kids day at the fest, rides for the kids and teens, dance competitions, heritage festivals, Laff Olympics, scavenger hunts, photo contests, races (Big Muddy and Maple Leaf Run), Cornhole Tournament. You won’t be disappointed you did any of these things on our list, but take a walk around the festgrounds and you will find so much more. Let the good times roll. Gemütlichkeit!

create new opportunities for millions of unemployed Americans.

“I’m a driver, I’m a winner. Things are going to change, I can feel it,” a smiling Alan said. “This is going to be the big day.

This will finally be the day that I can finally use my newfound fortune to spontaneously hire anybody I want to. You wanna job?

Poof! You’ve got it baby!”

When asked how suddenly becoming millions of dollars richer would lower the rate of unemployment in his county, Alan shrugged his shoulders and proceeded to babble about using his soon to be riches to purchase a lifetime supply of Skoal.

At press time, it was reported that Alan himself was now unemployed, as he had been laid off for using his forklift for wheelies and burnouts on the warehouse floor.

Thursday, Oct. 4 Southside Fest Grounds — At Large • 5 p.m., Pat McCurdy • 8:30 p.m., Hairball • 10 p.m.

Northside Fest Grounds — Grand River Singers • 5:30 p.m., NEON • 9 p.m.

Fat Sam’s — Ben Tomandl (from The 50/50 Band) • 8 p.m.

Friday, Oct. 5 Freight House — Michael Patrick (acoustic) • 6:30 p.m.

Root Down Yoga Studio — Ellis (folk) • 7 p.m.

Root Note — Ida Joe (folk) • 8 p.m.

Piggy’s — Blue Vibe (blues) • 8 p.m.

Southside Fest Grounds — Sunspot • 5 p.m., Studebaker 7 • 7 p.m., Reed Grimm and the Shoeless Revolution • 8 p.m.

Bottoms Up — Altered Vision (country rock) • 9 p.m.

Saturday, Oct. 6 Southside Fest Grounds — The Executives • 11:30 a.m., T.U.G.G • 3 p.m., El Caminos • 5 p.m., The Pinsetters • 7 p.m., Last Call • 8 p.m.

Warehouse — Modern Day Escape (hard rock) • 6 p.m.

Root Note — The Marvins (folk) • 8 p.m.

Tuesday, Oct. 9 Cavalier — Ring Toss Twins, Talking Computron (indie electronic) • 10 p.m.

Wednesday, Oct. 10 Popcorn — Andy and Joe’s Jam • Thursday, Oct. 11 Warehouse — We the Gathered (hardcore) • 6 p.m.

Cavalier — Casey Virok (from Porcupine) • 8 p.m.

Fat Sam’s — Don Harvey (acoustic) • 8 p.m.

Friday, Oct. 12 Root Note — Evergreen Grass Band (jam grass) • 8 p.m.

Cavalier — The Homeland Conspiracy (rock) • 11 p.m.

Popcorn — Buddy Brown (jam rock) • 10 p.m.

Saturday, Oct. 13 Popcorn — Pear’s 40th Anniversary Party (free beer, snacks and live music) Wednesday, Oct. 17 Root Note — Kill County (alt-folk) • 8 p.m.

Friday, Oct. 19 Root Note — Joel Kachel (folk) • 8 p.m.

Popcorn — The Sound of Urchin (rawk!) • 10 p.m.

Saturday, Oct. 20 Root Note — Fox Holes (folk) • 8 p.m.

Popcorn — The Sound of Urchin (rawk!) • 10 p.m.

Sunday, Oct. 21 Root Note — We are the Willows (folk) • 6 p.m.

Monday, Oct. 22 Warehouse — Deviant UK (industrial electronic) • 7:30 p.m.

Thursday, Oct. 25 Fat Sam’s — Andy Nelson • 8 p.m.

Friday, Oct. 26 Root Note — Charlie Parr (folk) • 8 p.m.

Warehouse — Something to Do (Ska night) • 6 p.m.

Popcorn — Howard Luedtke and Dave Rogers (blues) • 10 p.m.

Saturday, Oct. 27 Warehouse — Guardian (rock) • 6:30 p.m.

Root Note — The Pines and The Ericksons (folk) • 8 p.m.

WEEKLY SHOWS Sunday La Crosse Queen — The Journeymen (dinner cruise) • 6 p.m.

Popcorn — Innocuous Voodoo (funk) • 10 p.m.

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

Del’s — Cheech’s Open Jam • 10 p.m.

Tuesday Popcorn — Paulie • 10 p.m.

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

Thursday Starlight — Kies & Kompanie (jazz) • 5 p.m.

Root Note — Open Mic *8 p.m.

Popcorn — Dave Orr’s Blues jam • 10 p.m.

Friday La Crosse Queen — The Journeymen (dinner cruise) • 7:30 p.m.

Saturday La Crosse Queen — The Journeymen (dinner cruise) • 6 p.m.

10// October 1, 2012

The Beer Review

"Adjusted to fit your screen" What the flip is going on?

By Matt Jones

ACROSS 1 Big letters, for short (and what your answers must be written in to understand the theme) 5 Hiking path 10 "Which came first?" choice 13 Clapton or Cartman 14 "The Freshmaker" candy 16 Stuff to fix a squeaky hinge 17 Aligned correctly 19 Pompous attribute 20 Stun gun relative 21 Jewel 22 Amy Winehouse hit 24 Complainer's sounds 26 1980s hairstyle that may have involved a kit 27 Donut shop quantities 30 Cop show with the line "Just the facts, ma'am" 33 Cupid's Greek counterpart 34 Wire-___ (like some terriers' coats) 37 Rowboat propeller 38 Send a document

Second Supper | The Free Press

CONSUMPTION

over phone lines 39 Devices that, when turned, adjust themselves (just like the theme answers) 40 Greek vowel 41 Biblical verb suffix 42 Audrey Tautou's quirky title role of 2001 43 Stay away from 44 Changed an area of town from residential to commercial, e.g.

46 They're collected in passports 48 Coffee dispensers 49 Cartoonist Guisewite, or her comic strip 51 Faith that emphasizes the oneness of humanity 53 Rapper ___ Def 54 Walkway on an airplane 58 Bullfighting cheer 59 Neil Armstrong went on one 62 Homer's outburst 63 It's tossed after a wedding 64 Charity benefit, say 65 View

Answers on Page 11

66 Doesn't eat for a while 67 Bridge's length DOWN 1 Like some checks: abbr.

2 Opera solo 3 Sty dwellers 4 Crafty plans 5 Symbols after brand names 6 Rule over a kingdom 7 South American mountain range 8 Checklist component 9 Rawls of R&B 10 "Land sakes alive that's awesome!"

11 Prefix for byte meaning "one billion" 12 Amorphous clump 15 Jam, margarine and cream cheese 18 Sci-fi film set inside a computer 23 Exercise machine unit 25 Makes embarrassed 26 Class warmup before a big exam 27 Postpone

28 Make big speeches 29 Do the "I am not a crook" thing with the double V-signs, for example?

30 Three, in Germany 31 Completely devour 32 ___ fatty acids 35 Troy's friend on "Community" 36 Under the weather 39 ___ salon 43 Well-known quotations 45 "Are you a man ___ mouse?"

47 Warm up after being in the freezer 49 Amounts on a bill 50 Liability counterpart 51 Physiques, casually 52 Lotion ingredient 53 Actress Sorvino 55 Dove or Ivory 56 Hit for the Kinks 57 Actor McGregor 60 Clumsy sort 61 Org. that provides W-2 forms ©2012 Jonesin' Crosswords

wE have moved!

444 main St., Suite 310, La Crosse, WI 54601

the free press

Office hours by appointment only

Purple Gang Pilsner Atwater Block Brewing Company Detroit, Michigan

The state of Michigan may evoke many images in the hearts and livers of America.

Some may picture it as a bucolic rural playground, the kind of place where Hemingway was born, Rockefellers would summer or Ted Nugent could inspire a militia. Equally common is an image of urban despair, one that rarely escapes the stigma “post-industrial.” Michigan does contain these elements, but it also houses something greater, arguably the most thriving craft beer culture in the world. Many of my favorite breweries — Bells, Founders, Dark Horse, New Holland, and Jolly Pumpkin among them — hail from that bucolic zone, where cheap land and clean water allow beer to flow like Model Ts off an assembly line.

And then there’s the urban Michigan, mainly Detroit, which is considered a modern ghost town, but is actually quite a thriving place. I vacationed there this summer and enjoyed myself thoroughly. We lived like homesteaders, and some time between the free range chicken, local honey and fresh garden greens, we drank lots of Detroit beer, the Atwater Block Brewing Company being my favorite. When I left the D., I thought its beer would be a memory — like the 80 square miles of rolling grasslands and the wild pheasants that populate it — but last month I spotted a huge stock of Atwater on the shelves of Woodman’s. They presently carry five flavors — including a delectable chocolate ale and a reasonable imperial IPA — but the one I keep returning to is this easy-drinking lager named after Detroit’s feared bootleggers, the Purple Gang Pilsner.

Purchase: 6-pack of Purple Gang Pil sner from Woodman's, $7.99

Style: Czech Pilsner

Strength: 5.5 percent ABV

Packaging: Appropriately, this pilsner has a purple and white label depicting the Detroit skyline, grand as it once was, with a March 2012 bottling date marked on the label.

Appearance: The beer pours a rather translucent straw color with racing carbonation and a fluffy white head that leaves fine lacing.

Aroma: This has a malty base of cornstalks and sweetbread, less hoppy than my favorite pilsners, but with a full aroma.

Taste: Much like the smell, the taste comes on sweet before a light herbal bitterness spreads across the tongue. There are more notes of sweetbread and a dose of ripe pears, but just when the earthy hops seem poised to cut through the malts, sweetness seeps out at the end, leaving an underwhelming finish.

Mouthfeel: Thin-to-medium-bodied.

Drinkability: This is a sessionable beer, like most pilsners, but the absence of a strong hop kick limits its all-day appeal. It pairs well with food, though.

Ratings: Although we’re well stocked in La Crosse, evidently word — or Atwater delivery trucks — hasn’t gotten out among the greater beer community. With only three reviews, it scores an N/A on BeerAdvocate, and the 11 people on RateBeer give it a cumulative score of 28. This isn’t the first time Michigan’s been overlooked, but as evidenced by its veritable beer cornucopia, it should never be counted out.

— Adam Bissen

Beer Directory THE CASINO 304 Pearl St. Beer list Wittekerke Franziskaner Hacker-Pschorr Weiss Weihenstephan Kristall 16.9 oz Delirium Tremens 750 ml Melange A Trois Reserve 750 ml Pearl Street Pale Ale Paddy Pale Ale Moon Man Crooked Tree Hopslayer Centennial Hop Stoopid 22oz LambickX 750 ml Petrus Aged Pale 750 ml Goudenband 750 ml Smuttynose Farmhouse 22 oz Spotted Cow Prima Pils Golden Pheasant 16.9oz Brew Farm Select Lager Grain Belt Nordeast Lost Lake Light Rhinelander Export-7 oz La Crosse Lager La Crosse Light Spaten Optimator Huber Bock Doppel Weizen 22oz

Downtown Brown Hobgoblin Founder's Porter Cappuccino Stout 22oz Founders Breakfast Stout Matacabras Dark Ale Gouden Carolus 750 ml Achel Trappist Extra 750ml Kasteel Donker 750ml PEARL STREET BREWERY TASTING ROOM 1401 St. Andrew St. Beer list D.T.B Pale Ale El Hefe That's What I'm Talkin' 'Bout Stout Rubber Mills Pils Tambois Raspberry Framboise Java Lava Dankenstein Double IP KATE'S CRUNCH 333 Main St. Beer list Domestic Beers: Alaskan Amber Anchor Steam Beer Bitter Woman IPA Pabst Blue Ribbon Premium Grainbelt

Red Bridge (Gluten Free) Sam Adams Boston Lager Blue Moon (Tap) Coors Light (Tap) Sam Adams Summer Ale (Tap) Sierra Nevada Summit On Wisconsin: New Glarus: Fat Squirrel Moon Man Road Slush Spotted Cow (Tap) Totally Naked Pearl Street Brewery: Dankenstein IPA Downtown Brown (Tap) El Hefe Pale Ale (Tap) Coming soon: Stout Oktoberfest Ciders: Angry Orchard (Gluten Free) Strongbow Around the World: Amstel Light (Belgium) Dos Equis XX (Mexico) Guinness (Ireland) Hacker Pschorr (Germany) Smithwicks (Ireland) St. Pauli Girl (Non-Alcoholic)

Second Supper | The Free Press

CONSUMPTION

October 1, 2012 // 11

Dining Out

Photo by .Jacqui Marcou

The fare at Stolpa's Stein Haus is definitely German, including more than 40 varieties of bratwurst.

Stolpa's Stein Haus 324 Jay St., La Crosse 608- 519-2421

By Marcel Dunn Special to Second Supper

A German bar and grill in La Crosse?

It’s about damn time. Many of my fondest drinking memories (those that I can remember anyways) took place during college at a wonderful German bar in Des Moines called the Hessenhaus, so my excitement level for Stolpa’s was somewhere between free money and morning sex. And so it was that I found myself with a mug of Hacker-Pschorr in hand, on a lovely September afternoon, struggling to find any adult reasons for not having two or five or ten. Fortunately, my eyes found the menu and cooler heads prevailed.

Second Supper’s own resident beer connoisseur Adam Bissen had the right of it when he visited the Stein Haus earlier this summer. This is first and foremost a German bar that celebrates the wonderful world of German brewing. If you walk into Stolpa’s with a hunger in your stomach that can’t be sated with more than brats, soup and a giant pretzel, then you should check your stomach at the door and fill up on beer instead. But if you have a free afternoon and you simply can’t be bothered with taboos like drinking before 5 p.m., then you can’t go wrong with any one of the many offered beers and a good brat.

At Stolpa’s the menu is rather simple; over 40 varieties of bratwurst on one page and soup, potato salad and condiments on the other. They do offer rotating daily specials outside the bratwurst family but if you want to keep it simple, I recommend trying the Cajun, beer and Munich brats for starters. Like the rest of the offered brats, they were served on toasted wheat buns with options for toppings such as cheese, sauerkraut, jalapenos, etc. And lo and behold, they were just as tasty as sausages in toasted buns can be. The brats themselves were well-

cooked, crispy on the outside and juicy on the inside. Though the beer brat did little to discern itself from others of its ilk, the Cajun brat offered a spicy sweetness that can be likened to andouille sausage and the Munich brat offered hints of lemon, parsley and pepper. I passed on the kraut because that stuff has never sat well with me, but other patrons have said it’s quite good.

I would love it if Stolpa’s could one day expand into a full German restaurant, but for now I can’t think of a single reason why you shouldn’t stop in. The food is simple but tasty and it all pairs well with the many beers they offer. And if enjoying a good German beer and brat on a crisp fall day is wrong, then I don’t want to be right.

Corn maze open

A 5-acre corn maze has been added to the Norskedalen Heritage Site, E4465 US Hwy 14, Coon Valley. The corn maze is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays and 12-5 p.m. Sundays through Oct. 28. Flashlight nights will be held from 5-9 p.m. Oct. 19 and Oct. 20. Admission is $5 per person.

eat fresh! eat local! go co-op!

Crossword Answer

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

all are welcome

Visit us online at www.secondsupper.com

12// October 1, 2012

Second Supper | The Free Press

THE LAST WORD

The ADvice GoDDeSS

By Amy Alkon amy.alkon@secondsupper.com The tweakest link

I met this man, and it was instant attraction. I’m a 40-year-old woman with my own place, a car and a good job, and he’s an exconvict who served four years in prison for selling meth. He’s very loving, but he has no car or driver’s license (it expired during prison), has a minimum-wage job, and is too needy — always checking up on me and doubting where I am.

I pay for our meals, etc., and drive him everywhere. It’s like I’m taking care of a child. I’m trying my best to forget about the material things and just base this on love.

— Weary It’s a good thing you think the guy’s hot, or you might try to trade up to a serial

murderer with a driver’s license.

It must’ve been a kick to get it on with a real bad boy instead of the kind who pulls up on a Harley wearing a leather jacket he bought at the mall. But, assuming you don’t have all the conscience of a dirt clod, how could you make this more than a onenighter? Sure, officially, he’s “paid his debt to society,” but he wasn’t in prison for growing pot, the gateway drug to lying in a beanbag chair and reinventing the wheel. He was selling snortable slow suicide, complete with rotting teeth and a “meth mite” bonus — nonexistent but seemingly real crawly bugs that users try to dig out from under their skin with their fingernails or sharp objects, leaving some really sexy open sores.

Beyond what he’s done to make a buck, he’s now about as independent as one of Paris Hilton’s purse dogs (although he probably asks his “mommy” to buy him a cheaper class of sweater). You can’t possibly respect him, and if you can’t respect him, you can’t love him. You’ve just been calling this “love” to cover for a bad decision that you let give birth to a whole litter of bad decisions. You did have help — the flawed machine known as the human brain. When we do something dumb, our brain encourages us to ignore evidence we’ve made a mistake so we can hang on to our shiny image of ourselves as smart people making

wise choices. This feels good in the moment but can, say, leave a person working hard to convince herself that she’s shallow and materialistic to want her equal.

If you can accept making mistakes as a normal, expected part of being human, you can put your braying ego on mute, critically assess all your decisions, and admit your mistakes instead of getting into a committed relationship with them. (There’s no time like the present to start.) As wonderful as it is to feel needed by a man, it’s best if it’s simply because he loves being around you, not because without you he’d have to eat raw hotdogs out of the package and take two buses to make the meeting with his parole officer.

All tied up in hots

I persuaded my friend and his ex-girlfriend to get back together, as I’d never seen a more loving couple. The problem is, I started finding her sexy.

She and my friend are now inseparable whenever they’re not at work, and I’m racked with guilt for looking at her like a sexual object. (I’m not in love with her; I just want to sleep with her.) Hanging out with them has become awkward, to say the least.

— The Creep You aren’t attracted to her because you’re a horrible person but because you’re

a man, not in a coma, and you probably find it dangerous and inconvenient to go around blindfolded. Like breathing or digesting a burrito, attraction is involuntary. (Whether you drool on her shoe or refer to her as “Hey, sex puppet!” is up to you.)

As for why you feel so guilty, men are told it’s a thought crime to ever view women as sex objects. Of course, that’s exactly how women think of themselves when they’re dressing to attract a man. Oh, did you think women wear plunging necklines and a little gold charm dangling in their cleavage to frighten away mosquitoes?

As annoying as it is to want what you can’t have, assuming you have no plans to leave your friend pinned under a tree in bear country, what’s the problem? Keep reminding yourself that his girlfriend’s a no-go, and seek a woman you can have. If you can’t be around these two without your eyeballs crawling all over her, you might pare back your time with them. Otherwise, consider their utter inseparability your best defense against bad acts. It’s not like your friend’s going to turn to you and say, “Hey, man, I’m right in the middle of something.

Mind toweling off my girlfriend?” (c) 2011, Amy Alkon, all rights reserved.

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

Our next edition of Second Supper | The Free Press publishes Nov. 1. Our advertising deadline is Oct. 26. For information, email roger.bartel@secondsupper.com.

Check out our new bottled beer selection!

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 Mixers (7-1am)