Second Supper

INSIDE: LA CROSSE COMMUNITY THEATRE PREPARES 'ON GOLDEN POND' • PAGE 9

Meet The Candidates LA CROSSE'S FREE PRESS VOLUME 10, NO. 41 | OCTOBER 28, 2010

Kapanke, Kind Scramble To Nov. 2 Finish Line Page 5

ALSO ...

Dirty Disco Kidz in town Page 12

PLUS: SOCIAL NETWORKING • PAGE 2 | THE ARTS REVIEW • PAGE 10 | THE ADVICE GODDESS • PAGE 15

2// October 28, 2010

Second Supper

Social Networking

614 Main St., La Crosse, WI 54601 Phone: (608) 782-7001 Online: secondsupper.com Publisher: Roger Bartel roger.bartel@secondsupper.com Editor in Chief: Adam Bissen adam.bissen@secondsupper.com Student Editor: Emily Faeth emily.faeth@secondsupper.com Sales: Mike Keith mike.keith@secondsupper.com Sales: Ansel Ericksen ansel.ericksen@secondsupper.com Sales: Michael Butteris michael.butteris@secondsupper.com Regular Contributors: Amy Alkon, Erich Boldt, Nick Cabreza, Mary Catanese, Brett Emerson, Jake Groteuschen, Shuggypop Jackson, Jonathan Majak, Matt Jones, Carolyn Ryan, Julie Schneider, Anna Soldner, Nate Willer Ralph Winrich Cover illustration by Tommy Orrico Second Supper is a weekly alternative newspaper published by Bartanese Enterprises LLC, 614 Main St., La Crosse, WI 54601

L'Editor

NAME AND AGE:

WHAT BOOK ARE YOU CURRENTLY READING?

Nikki Balsamo, 35

"Brain Dance" by Anne Green Gilbert

WHERE WERE YOU BORN?

Apathy

Madison

CURRENT JOB: Dance instructor at Viterbo University and artistic director and instructor at La Crosse Dance Centre.

DREAM JOB: Dance instructor!!!!

LAST THING YOU GOOGLED: Dream Ballet from "Oklahoma"

IF YOU COULD LIVE ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD, WHERE WOULD IT BE? I do love Paris. I also love New York City and Minneapolis.

WHAT IS SOMETHING YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE: Educate many, many people about the benefits of dance education and the importance of movement in our world.

WHAT IS YOUR BEVERAGE OF CHOICE? Diet Mountain Dew

CELEBRITY CRUSH: Jack Black

WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST PET PEEVE? WHAT ONE PERSON ALIVE OR DEAD WOULD YOU WANT TO HAVE DINNER WITH? Isadora Duncan

WHAT'S THE LAST THING YOU BOUGHT? A binder.

WHAT'S IN YOUR POCKET RIGHT NOW?: I don't have pockets right now.

IF A GENIE GRANTED YOU ONE WISH, WHAT WOULD YOU ASK FOR? My wish is that money didn't exist and we all focused on things that are real, like love and joy (and hate and pain).

FIRST CONCERT YOU WENT TO: Gin Blossoms

WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PART OF SECOND SUPPER? The arts coverage.

HOW DO YOU KNOW EMMA (LAST WEEK'S INTERVIEW)?

I'm fortunate enough to teach Emma at La Crosse Dance Centre.

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

Dear Reader:

Under normal circumstances the coming week would contain two of my favorite holidays — Halloween and Election Day — but no matter how hard I try, I just can’t seem to get into the festive spirit. I fear I’m suffering from the dreaded “enthusiasm gap.” It took a soft-money beatdown the likes of which America has never seen, but congratulations contemporary electoral politics, you’ve fi nally crushed the last strands of my idealism. I’m not bitter simply because the tide appears to be turning against my party of choice. I’m exasperated because the fl ood of political advertising has cranked the volume of discourse to obscene levels, while traditional tactics like “debating” the “issues” seem almost quaint. It is into this hypercharged political arena that I proudly submit this week’s cover package: a long-form debate of sorts between Third District congressional candidates Ron Kind and Dan Kapanke. Unlike a lot of the “gotcha” media and distraction politics, I think our Q&As stick strictly to the issues. In that light, I suppose us Coulee Region residents should count our blessings.

While the Kapanke/Kind race has seen the occasional distracting fl are up, for the most part it’s been two qualifi ed candidates presenting ideological claims. It could be a lot worse — as any browsing of cable news will attest — but I hope that come Nov. 3 we can put our differences aside and move toward a calmer future. After all, scare campaigns and masked identities are only fun once a year.

— Adam Bissen

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Second Supper

Things To Do Witness the hauntings at pioneer homestead

The Top Words we never want to hear again 1. Tea Party 2. Mama Grizzly 3. Enthusiasm gap 4. Man up!

5. Failed policies of the Bush administration 6. Obamacare 7. Dabbled in witchcraft Halloween costumes for 2010 1. Snooki 2. Justin Bieber 3. Avatar 4. Don Draper 5. Lady Gaga 6. Brett Favre 7. Chilean miners

October 28, 2010 // 3

FIRST THINGS FIRST

Halloween tricks and treats surround the classic Goulees and Coulees event this year at the Norskedalen Nature and Heritage Center. On Thursday and Friday, Oct. 28-29, don’t miss the unforgettable haunted hike through the woods on a path lined with glowing pumpkins. Spooky apparitions appear along the trail of the pioneer homestead, where you also just might encounter witches around a bubbling cauldron and much more! The haunted hikes are super scary after 7 p.m. The Halloween celebration, one of the most popular in the Coulee Region, also features hot apple cider, storytelling, treats, food concessions, glow items, haunted barn and more! The cost is $8 per body, no matter the age or condition. Advance registrations are required. To register or to obtain more information, call (608) 452‐3424 or visit www.norskedalen. org.

1

Plan now for a visit to 'Deer Camp'

Deer Camp will be presented at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday Nov. 2-3, at Viterbo University’s Fine Arts Main Theatre, 929 Jackson St., as part of Viterbo's NexStar season. The play follows four deer hunters during their annual trip to deer camp. After many years of hunting trips, the guys have yet to bag a single deer, and their wives are getting suspicious. The guys come up with a plan to save their hunting paradise without firing a shot while treating the audience to hilarious songs such as "Mighty Hunters," "River of Brew," and "The Grunt Horn Song." Tickets are $32 for main floor, $30 for lower balcony, and $25 for upper balcony seating.

To reach Viterbo’s box office, call 796-3100.

2

Move your car

Alternate side parking, that much ballyhooed policy, begins Monday and lasts until April 1. To recap the seasonal mantra: Vehicles park on the even-numbered side of the street on even-numbered dates and the odd-numbered side of the street on odd-numbered dates, with enforcement beginning at 1 a.m.

Exceptions to this rule occur in the 40-squareblock “test area” bordered by Main Street, La Crosse Street, West Avenue and 20th Street, where residents are notified of snow emergencies via email, text messages or other modern means. The fine for an alternate-side parking violation is $10 if paid within 10 days. For questions or comments, contact your city council member.

3

Find a costume and support a theatre student

Still deciding on that Halloween costume? Well wipe that sweat off your forehead because UW-La Crosse’s Theatre Arts Department is holding a costume sale from 1 to 5 p.m.

Thursday and Friday, Oct. 28-29, and from 11:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 30. The sale will take place in the lower level of the Center for the Arts; signs will be posted to help the lost find their way to unique costume ideas. All proceeds will go to support theatre student scholarships.

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Head downtown for some treats ... and deals

Head downtown Saturday, Oct. 30, to experience the Historic Downtown La Crosse trick-or-treating extravaganza from 11a.m. to 4 p.m. Visit the downtown merchants with the trick-or-treat poster in their window and receive some tasty treats while shopping. For information, call (608) 781-0440 or visit www. lacrossedowntown.com.

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4// October 28, 2010

Second Supper

COMMENTARY

WisPolitics.com Report THAT'S DEBATABLE

Editor's Note: WisOpinion.com has asked two veterans of Wisconsin policy and politics, Scot Ross of One Wisconsin Now and Brian Fraley of the John K. MacIver Institute for Public Policy, to engage in weekly exchanges on a topic of their choosing. This week they debate "the enthusiasm gap."

power, but with Christine O’Donnell, Rand Paul, Sharron Angle, that Palin person, Carl Paladino and now RoJo as the highprofile faces of “change,” this may not be the change election conservatives and their corporate funders had anticipated.

Ross: We’ve got just days to go until to Election Day, and ... from what I see, the right is working overtime to take back what it had just a short time ago, while the left is digging in and saying no one’s pushing them out of the captain’s chair just yet. Much talk has been made about an alleged enthusiasm gap, but I don’t see it from where I live. People are still talking about how jazzed up students in Madison were after President Obama’s electrifying event with Mayor Barrett and Senator Feingold.

Fraley: Hate to break it to you, Scot, but there aren't enough “libs” to keep the Democrats in power. The Bush fatigue is passe, and since the Oval Office is now occupied by a Democrat, the media isn't focusing on the wars any more. Those two factors drove voter discontent in 2006 and 2008. Now, it's all about the economy and jobs ... and your party doesn't have a leg to stand on there. As for the Tea Partiers peaking ... just wait until you see what 2011 brings.

Fraley: Scot, you live on Madison's Isthmus.

If you saw an enthusiasm gap there, this election would be over before it began. However, a lot can happen between now and Election Day, so conservatives should not count their election night victory eggs before they're hatched. You can't deny, though, that there is an obviously huge gap in the passion of the potential voters in places far more normal than the heart of Madison. Moderates and independents are worried and furious, and the GOP benefits from their activism.

Ross: I think the Tea gang peaked too soon.

They had the corporate-funded, infrastructure-created mo'. But that time has passed.

And when these races focus on the issues, as opposed to threat-to-liberty sophistry, independents break Democratic. Absolutely, there are electoral challenges for the party in

Ross: I think the right is offering America a whole new glimpse of its wild-eyed side. The Republican Party has always had two constituencies: the shrieking moralists and the profit-counting corporatists. The Tea Party is just a way to channel the raging anti-hormone constituency, the anti-civil libertarians and the string pullers who have always called the shots. Your tent’s not any bigger. It’s just older and angrier, and even less interested in facts.

Fraley: Older and angrier? Pelosi, Reid, Obey, Rangel, Dodd, Frank, Kohl, Feingold, Doyle, Lautenberg, Hoyer...yep that's an amazingly upbeat youth movement you guys got going over there. The wait is almost over.

Victory is not guaranteed, to be sure, but the GOP has absolutely every ounce of momentum going into the home stretch, that cute video of yours notwithstanding.

NEWS IN BRIEF Turnout expected to be 50 percent

State election officials are predicting half the voting age population will turn out to vote Nov. 2, about the same turnout the state saw during the last mid-term election.

Turnout was 50.9 percent in 2006 with the statewide referendum on gay marriage and civil unions on the ballot.

This year, the Government Accountability Board expects 2.18 million people at the polls.

The state record for a non-presidential election since 1960 was 52.4 percent in 1962.

The GAB predicted a turnout of 28 percent for the primary election, but it fell well short at 19.6 percent.

Governor race advertising among heaviest in nation

Wisconsin’s gubernatorial campaign has featured some of the heaviest ad runs in the country, according to a tally from the Wesleyan Media Project.

The group found between Sept. 1 and Oct. 7, an estimated $8.16 million was spent on TV ads in the gubernatorial race with 19,620 spots run. Of those ads, 7,844 were pro-Democrat, while 11,776 were pro-Re-

publican.

California topped the list with an estimated $35 million spent on 51,519 ads over the period.

Walker outraises Barrett in latest reporting period

GOP gubernatorial hopeful Scott Walker outraised and outspent his Democratic rival Tom Barrett over the final reporting period before the Nov. 2 election.

Walker, the Milwaukee County executive, raised almost $2.9 million between Aug. 31 and Oct. 18, spent almost $3.5 million and had $828,164 cash on hand.

Barrett raised almost $1.3 million, spent $3 million and had $799,920 cash on hand.

Budget balance less than expected

The state finished the 2009-10 fiscal year with a gross balance of $71 million, about $265 million less than expected.The Legislative Fiscal Bureau noted departmental revenues dropped $43 million during the fiscal year that ended June 30, while spending rose $222 million. According to the LFB memo, Medical Assistance costs were the main driver behind the increased spending.

STOCK REPORT

RISING Transpo fund protection

After hundreds of millions of dollars in transfers under the Doyle administration, transportation interests get some welcome news when guv hopefuls Tom Barrett and Scott Walker both promise before the Transportation Development Association that they'll take a hands off approach to the road fund. What's more, both say they'd support a constitutional amendment to wall off the money, which Doyle has used to cover general fund spending on things like education during tough budget times.

Walker has also indicated support for taking a portion of the sales tax generated from auto-related sales and putting it into the transportation fund. Meanwhile, the guv convenes the Transportation Projects Commission for the first time during his time in office, and the body recommends enumerating several projects, including an expansion of I-39-90 between the state line and Madison.

MIXED Tourism funding

The Tourism Federation of Wisconsin is calling for a $15 million annual investment in the state budget to support the state’s tourism industry, saying Wisconsin's $12 billion tourism industry could take a hit as neighboring states like Michigan and Illinois spend more on tourism promotion.

The current tourism promotions budget is $13 million annually. In addition to the boost of $2 million, the group is calling for the next governor to emphasize growing the industry by adopting changes to clarify how room taxes can be spent and creating a task force comprised of members from the departments of Tourism, DNR, Commerce and Administration along with other agencies to develop tourism-boosting policies.

FALLING State budget

It took just a few months for the state's budget balance to take a quarter billion dollar hit. A new report shows the state finished the 2009-10 fiscal year with a gross balance of $71 million, about $265 million less than expected. Legislative Fiscal Bureau Director Bob Lang writes in a memo summarizing DOA's Annual Fiscal Report that departmental revenues dropped $43 million, while spending rose $222 million. According to the memo, Medical Assistance costs were the main driver behind the increased spending with $207 million more spent on the program than budgeted in 2009-10.

To some, the report underscores the small margin of error for the state’s finances over the final months of the biennium.

Second Supper

COMMUNITY

October 28, 2010 // 5

Kapanke, Kind scramble toward Nov. 2 finish line Q&A with Kapanke

By Briana Rupel

briana.rupel@secondsupper.com

Dan Kapanke is no stranger to leadership. From being raised on a dairy farm in Coon Valley, to receiving both his Bachelor of Science and Masters of Education at the University of Wisconsin- La Crosse, as well as raising his family on French Island, it seems only natural that Kapanke would pursue leadership positions to serve the people of Western Wisconsin, the area that made him who he is today.

After decades of leadership in the La Crosse business community, Kapanke moved on to serve on the Town of Campbell Board of Supervisors for 13 years, seven of those as Town Chair. That experience led him to seek a seat in Wisconsin’s State Senate in 2004.

After winning the position and getting reelected in 2008, Kapanke now has his eyes on national office.

Second Supper caught up with Kapanke at his campaign headquarters in Downtown La Crosse to talk about why he’s ready to serve the people of Wisconsin’s 3rd District in Congress, and what he plans to do if given the opportunity.

Second Supper: When did you decide to start your public service career?

Dan Kapanke: Back in the early ‘80s as a member of the local Town of Campbell; there was an opening on the board. I majored in Political Science at UW-L, so I always had an interest in it, and we always dabbled in politics in talking baseball out at the farm, so it goes quite a ways back in our family.

[Back then] I had no aspirations to go to be a U.S. Congressman. I just wanted to do public service and I didn’t know how far it would go. I just wanted to take care of business at the time.

SS: So what made you decide to eventually run for Congress?

DK: Well, with the change in administrations in ‘09, I was troubled — as are a lot of people around here — as to the direction of the growing of the government and the role in people’s lives of the U.S. government. There’s concerns amongst the people out here, the electorate, so I started thinking about it then. I really decided that I wanted to be one of many — I hope — that make a difference when you go to congress.

SS: Why should the voters of Western Wisconsin choose you over Ron Kind, who has represented the 3rd District since 1996?

DK: Well, first and foremost, I am a public servant in the truest sense of the word. That’s what these elected positions are; we’re public servants. Whether I’m an elected official or I work with the (La Crosse) Loggers, or I work with seed sales to farmers, it’s all about service to somebody else, and that’s really what this is about. So they would be hiring a true public servant, number one. Number two, with my background in local government, in agriculture, in owning my own business, I’ll bring that perspective to this position as Congressman. Another thing, I’m a proponent of term limits. When I got elected to the State Senate in ‘04 I said — I think even before I was sworn in — that I would only serve two terms if I was re-elected once, and I say the same thing about Congress. If I am elected and re-elected three times, I would not run again.

SS: Why do you think term limit is important?

DK: I just think it’s refreshing to bring new ideas, fresh ideas, into Washington, and you get that with new people. I don’t think our founding fathers ever envisioned that somebody would stay there forty years and that it would be a full-time job. I just don’t believe that. I just think it’s healthy for our government, it’s healthy for the people out here if we have new people with different backgrounds and different ideas. I think it makes us better.

SS: If you were in Congress, would you have voted for the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act? DK: No I would not have. First off I think it’s a huge reach by our federal government into the private sector. Just to illustrate, we just had a doctor from Canada that came down and visited with people at Viterbo University here in La Crosse, and I quote: “United States health care is the best in the world.”

There’s a medical doctor from Canada, that has a system that some people in this country aspire to, saying we have the best. Now, he did say we have some issues with treating elderly and so on, which we all have that — we all have issues; it’s not a perfect system. But the way this thing has passed, the number of months it took to get it passed, and then they had to do Louisiana Purchase and Cornhusker Kickback. They had thirty four, I believe, Democratic Congressmen and -women who did not support it, so they had real problems with that bill. And now they passed it, over the objections of so many people out here.

And as we find out more and more about it, there’s many aspects of that bill that are not good; recently the waivers that are being requested and granted to several businesses and companies and organizations, such as McDonalds. It wasn’t ever ready for primetime, so let’s repeal it and start over.

SS: So how would you propose we increase access to health care at lower costs for Americans?

DK: Again, the delivery of health care services in the United States — as this doctor from

CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

Q&A with Kind

By Adam Bissen

adam.bissen@secondsupper.com

In 1996, Ron Kind won his first ever race for public office, and he’s been a member of the U.S. House of Representatives ever since. This co-chair of the “New Democrat Coalition” still maintains his home on French Island, where he lives with his wife and two sons, and commutes to Washington weekly.

Kind is a son of La Crosse. He attended Logan High School, where he excelled at both football and basketball, and later played quarterback for Harvard University before graduating in 1985. After earning a Master’s degree from the London School of Economics and a Law Degree from the University of Minnesota, Kind worked as a La Crosse assistant district attorney for four years before beginning a career in politics.

As a seventerm congressman, Kind has risen to a level of prominence as a centrist Midwest Democrat. He serves on the House Ways and Means Committee and the Natural Resources Committee and has been especially active in two issue central to the Coulee Region: health care and agriculture. In advance of his most competitive race for Congress in years, Kind sat down for an interview this month at his downtown La Crosse campaign office.

Second Supper: When did you decide to start a career in public service?

Ron Kind: I cut my political teeth for the very first time interning for Sen. Jim Proxmire between my junior and senior year in college.

So I was in Washington, spent the summer with him, wrote some of his speeches, investigated a lot of his Golden Fleece awards — those are those monthly awards he gave out for the most ridiculous expenditure of taxpayer dollars. And that was fun because Prox was obviously a political icon here in Wisconsin and one of my political heroes growing up in the state.

Spending time out there in Washington was fun, but even then I didn’t think that was going to lead to a path of public service and myself running for office. Then I went to school in London for a couple years and interned with a member of Parliament there, just to see what the parliamentary system was like. That was interesting. But I ultimately returned home, was working as a prosecutor throughout western Wisconsin, enjoyed doing that, met my wife (Tawni) through the court system.

And then Steve Gunderson decided

to retire and quite a few people in the area then approached me and asked if I’d consider running for the open seat. And after some soul searching with Tawni and the family and talking to some other folks in the area and decided to give it a go. It was a five person primary that I won, and faced state senator Jim Harsdorf, who’s the senator up in the St. Croix/Piece County area, and I beat him in the general election.

SS: If you listen to the national media the theme of this election should be an especially strong anti-incumbent streak, the “throw the bums out” attitude. Why should the voters of the 3rd District elect you to your eighth term?

RK: You know, this is going to be a real simple choice that I think people have to make on November 2: whether we continue to move forward and make progress in this country or whether we return to the failed policies that drove us into this ditch to begin with.

Because the other side aren’t offering any new ideas, other than returning to those failed economic policies that they pursued under president Bush. And clearly you’ve got to look at the context of this, because when President Obama took office we were losing 800,000 jobs a month. We already lost $17 trillion of wealth in the stock market. The economy was at a negative 6.5 percent growth. He inherited a $1.5 trillion budget deficit. That was from the moment he said “I do” and took over the leadership of this country.

Since that time we’ve had eight consecutive months of private sector job growth.

We’re going to see more private jobs created this year than in the entire 8 years of the previous administration. As weak and soft as this recovery is, there will still be more private jobs created in this year alone as in the previous 8 years of the Bush administration.

Eight trillion dollars has been returned to the stock market. We’ve revised the budget deficit down by close to $200 billion.

We’ve stabilized the economy. We’ve turned a corner. We’re heading in the right direction. Are we there yet? Clearly not.

More work needs to be done to get this economy on track creating good paying jobs. We’re not going to rest until everyone searching for a good job is going to be able to find a good job in this economy. But we have to continue to keep our eye on the ball, make progress, not go back to those polices that drove us into this ditch to begin with.

SS: Does the U.S. need a second stimulus act?

RK: I don’t think so. I think there’s growth.

Things have stabilized right now. We’re heading in the right direction. What we need to do now is develop a long-term strategy to reduce budget deficits. And I think there are key areas that we have to look to.

The fastest growing area is spending today on the federal, state and local level — and it’s true for business and families alike — is rising health care costs. That’s why health care reform was so important, because if we did nothing we knew what the

CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

6// October 28, 2010

COMMUNITY

Q&A with Kapanke

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CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5 Canada said — is good; we’re the best in the world. At least that’s his opinion. We’re very good, but we do have some issues. I mean, if you walk into the emergency room you have access. They’re not gonna throw you out; they have to take care of you. The real issue is the cost, and “Obamacare” did not address cost of health care. That’s a huge issue. And then the second issue is growing our economy so people have jobs so that through their employer they can afford health care.

We have an unemployment rate that’s close to ten percent, and that’s for those that we know of. Some would guess it’s 15 percent because many people have fallen off; they’re not looking for jobs. But officially it’s almost ten percent. We need to get the economy going. When we get the economy going, then we’ll be able to provide services for people.

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SS: What specific cuts would you propose to the budget to lower federal taxes and deficit spending?

DK: Well, first off we cannot spend money we don’t have. We have a 14.3 trillion dollar debt limit, and we’re approaching that.

We’re at about 13.6 or .7 now. So what I would do is take the stimulus money — which I was against; it has not worked — take the remainder, there’s several hundred billion dollars that we haven’t spent yet, and pay down on our debt to China. There’s some TARP funds out there, they should go to our debt to China. We should get out from under China as being one of our bankers. I proposed in Madison what I call the “Sunshine Budget Legislation” which separates all the various departments and starts building the budget from dollar one, and I think we need to do that in Washington. I’m sure there are programs out there that we can ask ourselves ‘we’re spending x number of dollars here, are we getting any returned?’

SS: So, in your opinion, how effective was the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act? DK: It wasn’t. You know, as I just mentioned, we haven’t lowered unemployment; you can have the long list of where this money went, in fact 1.9 million I think went to study ants.

I mean, come on. Wouldn’t that be better to put towards education or health care or infrastructure on our roads? There’s literally hundreds of examples of money that was spent in that manner. Not acceptable.

EVERY SATURDAY FROM 9PM TO CLOSE

MyEaglesNest.NET

SS: What steps should the federal government take to guide the American economy out of the recession?

DK: As I mentioned earlier, the government has grown, so let’s peel it back. The legislation that has been passed in the last two years, I‘ll just list them: the Financial Reform Act that was passed recently. Right now, it’s just paralyzed the financial world. If I’m a business owner and I want to go get credit, it’s just almost impossible. So how are you going to grow jobs if you can’t get credit?

And that’s again, coming down from federal regulators.

“Obamacare”: The NFIB, which is the National Federation of Independent Business, estimates that we will lose 1.6 million

jobs over the next five years once that’s enacted. And you’re hearing all the stories about companies that are dropping care now and all of that. It’s not good.

Cap and Trade is out there. It’s passed by the House; Ron Kind voted for it. That bill — it’s basically an emissions bill — is going to cost us a lot of money in the Midwest because we’re relying on coal here, and it’s going to cost us jobs.

The last one is the ‘01 and ‘03 tax cuts that this Congress adjourned without addressing. Those four issues right there have caused the business community to be paralyzed, and as a result of that they’re not hiring. So to answer your question, I would go back and repeal “Obamacare”, I would make sure that Cap and Trade in its present form would be killed, I would go back today and call Congress back and say, ‘Look, the people in January have to know what their tax rate is.’ Right now we don’t know because they let those ‘01/‘03 tax cuts expire. And I would take a look at this Financial Reform bill: How is that helping job growth here?

So, clear messages from Washington: We’re done spending money we don’t have, we’re going to get out from under China, and we’re not going to pass legislation that’s detrimental to job growth. Clear messages, and the business community and the consumer community would gain a huge level of confidence in this government, and in this country, and you would see job growth.

SS: Do you think it was in America’s best interest to declare war on Iraq and Afghanistan?

DK: You know, we make decisions based on the best information we have at the time.

That’s what happened in ’01 with President Bush and Congress at that time. It was a bipartisan decision. Hindsight is always 20/20, but I think it’s very important that we have a clear presence in the Middle East, which we have.

SS: You’ve spent a lot of time with farmers in this area. Do you think that the current agricultural model is sustainable?

DK: No, I think that needs to be looked at.

Definitely. Two things we can do for farmers — and I’ve worked with them 25 years. Number one: level the table as far as imports and exports are concerned. We have imports of agricultural products coming into this country that by and large don’t have to meet the same standards of quality that our domestic producers have to meet. Let’s level that playing field. And Number two: Let’s make sure we don’t pass Cap and Trade. Because Cap and Trade would kill dairy farmers and agriculture farmers in general in the Midwest.

SS: How do we bring “green jobs” into the U.S. and specifically western Wisconsin?

DK: Well the green jobs have to make sense.

We have to be economically feasible. If you’re talking about power, we need power to grow our economy and to grow jobs. One thing that’s been overlooked is nuclear and clean energy… . We need to go there as far as a future generation of power.

SS: How do you think the government should encourage the development of alternative energy?

Second Supper DK: I think that we have a great entrepreneur spirit here in the United States. We’ve got people out here who are masters in their areas — geniuses in some areas. I don’t think that we need to have a whole bunch of government subsidies involved in these areas. If it’s going to be a product that’s going to be marketed that people are going to want, the private sector will jump on it, which is much better than having the government push it.

SS: In your eyes, how successful have the democrats been at controlling the White House and both houses of Congress the past two years?

DK: I would say they’ve failed. They’ve failed because they’ve added 3 trillion dollars to our deficit; they’ve failed because unemployment is not lowered even though they spent 800-some billion dollars on a stimulus package they said would lower us to less than 8 percent unemployment which hasn’t happened; they continue to pass legislation like Cap and Trade in the House; they bring forth legislation like Card Check, which is the union vote where they take away the ability to have a private vote. You keep coming down with legislation and policies like that, you’re just killing our economy; you’re killing jobs. I’ve heard through congressmen and -women that when Cap and Trade was passed in ’09, they had talked to businesses who immediately were looking to move offshore because we were the only country in the world doing this. We have to make climate here conducive to jobs and growth in our economy and you’re not going to do it by passing this kind of egregious legislation.

SS: If you were elected this November and Republicans regain control of Congress, what specific issues do you want to see addressed in the next term?

DK: All those issues we just talked about.

Stop spending, get out from under China as a banker, lower our debt and get the economy going. The best thing that government can do is just get out of the way and let the private sector go. Rules, regulations, and tax increases…we need to peel those back. The last thing I would add that hasn’t been addressed is immigration, because this administration and past administrations, although President (George W.) Bush tried to but Congress was unwilling, we need to address that. We have a huge problem in this country with immigration and nobody has the will to address it.

SS: So you’ve held a lot of elected positions, this is your first run for national office. After all of the attack ads, fundraising, and media scrutiny, have your thoughts on the electoral process changed?

DK: No, no. Whether I’m running for town board in Campbell, or the State Senate, or the U.S. Congress, it’s all about serving people, and you do that one to one. That doesn’t change no matter where you are. You know, it’s just a bigger area, and the bigger the stage, the more people you get to serve, the more people you get to meet, and the more people you get potentially to help. And that’s a great thing.

Second Supper

Q&A with Kind CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5

SS: You voted for both the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. After seeing how those played out, do you regret either of those votes?

RK: Afghanistan, I believe, was necessary.

That was the safe haven that Al Qaida was operating out of. We tried working with the Taliban to have them hand them over to us; they refused. And it was intolerable that they would keep that safe haven for Bin Laden and Al Qaida to launch further attacks on us. The international community agreed, and they went in with us.

But I did disagree with President Bush and his decision to send troops into Iraq when he did and how he did it. I felt it was important that there was some pressure hanging over Saddam Hussein's head so that we could get weapons inspection teams back in Iraq. We accomplished that with the resolution that I supported. And when in-

spection teams went in I sent a letter to president Bush signed by 150 of my colleagues telling them to give them time to do their job. Because guess what? They weren’t fi nding weapons of mass destruction. But instead of President Bush listening to us and getting the inspection teams the time to look over the country and see if there were WMDs, which there weren’t, he ordered them out and sent the troops in. I think that was a strategic mistake because it took the eye off the ball, which was Al Qaida and the real threat that we faced. And it cost out country greatly in lives and treasure, going in to Iraq, a country that didn’t pose an eminent threat to the United State, wasn’t involved in 9/11, had no association with Al Qaida.

SS: Representing Western Wisconsin, you’ve been very involved in agricultural issues. Is our current agricultural model, one that relies heavy on government subsidies, a sustainable model?

RK: It isn’t, and that’s why I’ve been, in the last two farm bills, leading the effort to change those programs. Huge taxpayers subsidies going to large agribusiness. In fact close to 75 percent of the agriculture taxpayer subsidies are going to less than 10 percent of the producers. It distorts things, and it doesn’t help our family farmers. It makes it easier for these bigger entities to gobble up the small farms around them, drive up land prices, make it very diffi cult for new beginning farmers to enter the occupation. And we need that now, because the average age of a farmer in Wisconsin is roughly 57, 58-yearsold. We need that next generation to step in and take over those family farm operations so we maintain diversifi ed production agriculture and, as importantly, sustainable production practices.

SS: You’ve been a member of the so-called Blue Dog Democrats.

RK: Uh, New Democratic Coalition, not Blue Dogs. That’s a different entity.

SS: Alright. Well, you represent perhaps some of the more centrist elements of the Democratic Party. This past term was the fi rst time in your legislative career where Democrats controlled the House and the Senate and the Oval Offi ce. How would you rate your party’s performance during that time?

RK: There were certain things that we needed to address because they were long overdue. The reform of Wall Street and the fi nancial rules, because clearly the referees were taken off the fi eld, and they weren’t doing proper oversight with these large Wall Street banks. They ended up acting like casinos, as opposed to banks helping to grow our economy. So we had to move on Wall Street reform, fi nancial reform, create a consumer fi nancial protection agency. So for the very fi rst time we created an entity whose sole function is to look after the interests of the American consumer and not for large banks, not for powerful special interests in Washington, but for folks back home here. I’m proud that we were able to accomplish that.

We also passed historic health care reform so that 33 million more Americans will be able to obtain health care coverage, so those costs aren’t passed on to people

CONTINUED ON PAGE 8

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consequences would bring. Higher costs for everyone, more uninsured, businesses large and small less able to compete, budget defi cits continuing to explode because of rising health care costs.

So I worked heard on the health care reform bill on something I think is crucial to bringing those costs under control, and that’s changing the way we pay for health care. So we pay for the value of care, not the volume of care, and if we can accomplish that one thing that gives us the greatest opportunity of improving the health care of all Americans but at substantially lower costs.

Two, we gotta look at the way we acquire our weapons systems for the military.

Current weapons systems in the pipeline are $300 billion over budget. This blank check that defense contractors expect from the American taxpayers gotta end. And this administration with Secretary Gates and the Department of Defense understand it, and is starting to reign in the excessive overcharges that the American people are being charged in order to make sure our military has the tools that they need.

Three, I’m going to continue my effort on farm bill reform. Now these huge taxpayer subsidies going to large agribusinesses got to end. It doesn’t help family back home here, distorts the market and leads to greater consolidation in production agriculture and less sustainable agricultural practices I believe. And I’ve been one of the leaders in Washington to reform these farm bills so it’s fair to family farmers.

And then fi nally I’ve been leading the effort with my friend Jeff Flake from Arizona on earmark reform, the pork barrel spending that’s going on. I’m not requesting earmarks for this congressional district. I’ve been leading the effort to reign in that excessive abuse that both parties are guilty of.

But those are specifi c proposals that I am talking about to reign in the defi cits.

What I want to hear from the other side is what ideas they have in order to reduce spending. I mean it’s awfully easy to run on “I hate the government. We have to stop spending and get the budgets under balance.” But what specifi c proposals do they have to do it?

I haven’t been hearing anything so far.

October 28, 2010 // 7

COMMUNITY

8// October 28, 2010

Second Supper

COMMUNITY

Q&A with Kind CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7

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

CONSCIENTIOUS COMMERCE:

elect to do it

who do have health care. Including in that is allowing young adults up to age 26 to be able to stay on their parents’ plan. [We also passed] health insurance reform, to do away with the pre-existing condition exclusion or this policy of rescission where health insurance companies would drop people when they do get sick or injured, and that was driving too many people into bankruptcy, making our businesses less competitive. So we had to move on health care reform, because the status quo was unsustainable.

And I think we had to take certain steps in order to stabilize the economy that was in an absolute freefall. When you inherit an economy losing 800,000 jobs a month, you’re not going to turn that around on a dime. But we’ve made progress. I wish there was more bipartisan cooperation, unfortunately the other side felt “No” was a good short-term political strategy in order to get elected. But what I’m getting tired of is people who are rooting for the failure of the American economy, talking down the American economy and creating doubt and fear in people’s minds. What we need now is for everyone to put their shoulder into it and start pulling their own weight to get this economy back on track creating good paying jobs.

SS: After 13 years in Washington, have your thoughts on the lawmaking process in this country changed at all?

RK: I believed going in, and I still believe to-

day that democracy was never meant to be easy. There’s a lot of checks and balances and things can get kind of rough from time to time. We’re going through one of those periods right now. But I also subscribe to Winston’s Churchill’s analysis of all this, that democracy is the worst form of government in the entire world — except for all the others. And it does require a lot of work, not only from those of us in office, but also all of us as citizens to be informed and to, as Kennedy said so eloquently, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” We need that mindset again, this element of shared sacrifice is the only way we’re going to be able to get through this tough economic time. …

That’s’ what I hope that we will eventually return to, some period of reconciliation that brings us together again as Americans rather than dividing between Democrats, Republicans, independents.

One of the things I’m very proud of, I’ve always been an independent voice for western Wisconsin in Washington. If I’ve disagreed with my leadership, I’ve told them and I’ve voted the other way. And that’s true for the other side.That’s why one recent survey that came out analyzing our entire voting records in Congress in the last session, I was determined to be the fifth most independent voter out of 435. I think that’s what people expected from me in western Wisconsin, a voice for them, an independent mind who will take a look at the issues before us, see how it’s going to affect people living here in western Wisconsin and vote accordingly. I believe that I’ve lived up to that standard.

The School of Arts and Communication is excited to invite the community to join us at these special events hosted by the UW-L Departments of Art & Music.

Fall Art Event

Project Girl Project Girl is a ground-breaking, girl-led arts-based initiative created to enable girls to become better informed critical consumers of mass media, advertising, and entertainment.

Adolescent girl advisors, leading scholars, educators, media activists, health experts and artists all helped create the Project Girl media literacy curriculum, and traveling Art Exhibition. Learn more at www.projectgirl.org.

Art Gallery UW-L Center for the Arts Running until November 8th, 2010 Gallery Hours Monday—Thursday: noon—8 pm Friday & Saturday: noon—5 pm Sunday & Holidays: closed Cost: Free

Fall Music Events

October 19th: 7:30pm Annett Recital Hall Concert Choir/Männerchor Fall Concert October 22nd: 7:30pm Annett Recital Hall Chamber Choir/Women’s Chorus Fall Concert October 24th: 2:00pm Annett Recital Hall Wind Ensemble Concert October 26th: 7:30pm Valhalla, Cartwright Center Ensembles Fall Concert November 9th-11th: 7:30pm Annett Recital Hall New Music Festival November 21st: 2:00pm Valhalla, Cartwright Center Orchestra Concert December 4th: 7:30pm Valhalla, Cartwright Center Jazz Ensembles Swinging Yuletide December 5th: 7:30pm Cathedral of St. Joseph the Woodman Choral Union December 11th: 3:00pm Valhalla, Cartwright Center Festival of Carols All events are free except Swinging Yuletide For tickets, information and to request disability accommodations call 785.8415

Second Supper

6Q

October 28, 2010 // 9

ARTS with David Kilpatrick, La Crosse Community Theatre director of 'On Golden Pond'

By Jonathan Majak jonathan.majak@secondsupper.com

to be a part of their team. I’m grateful that they picked me

With the leaves piling up on the ground, and the weather turning chilly, there is no time like the present to take a mental vacation to a warmer climate. Thankfully, La Crosse Community Theatre is providing such an excursion when they put on On Golden Pond, opening Friday. The family dramedy following the happenings at a summer cabin is probably most famous for its Oscar winning adaptation starring Henry and Jane Fonda as well Katherine Hepburn.

We talked with David Kilpatrick, LCT executive director and director of the production, to discuss the show, his various jobs, and what famous family would make for a good stage show.

SS: As director of On Golden Pond, how do you balance the audience's expectations based on the famous film versus your artistic vision for it?

DK: The struggle for this play is that the movie is considerably different than the play. In the movie, so much more is present in terms of the story, the transformations of the characters and the action. Where for the play, much of the story in an undercurrent without actually being spoken. As for the audience’s expectations, I address that in my director’s notes, the audience’s imagination will provide the lake and the loons. In terms of performances, I hope I’m giving you our version of the story, rather than our version of the movie’s version of the story. Theatre and film are so different, it is a shame the terminology is the same.

SS: So do you feel settled into your role as executive director of the Community Theatre?

DK: It is amazing how easy it was to step into the role of executive director. The support of the board and the staff has been outstanding. The ease of communication, the shared vision, and the aesthetic sensibilities really seem to be in sync. During my interview process I said to the staff that they seem to be working well together and they needed to decide who they wanted to invite to the table

Medium: Literature Stimulus: Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan – The Fall Anno: 2010

The second book in this new vampire trilogy is so much better than the first. While The Strain eventually found its legs, it suffered from a horribly awkward introduction, where the authors ham-fisted the world together with overbearing explanations. Luckily, The Fall hits the ground running and allows the reader to catch up in its own time.

As its title blatantly suggests, this book chronicles the time when everything goes to Hell. The Strain’s tale of creeping contagion bursts into full-scale disorder, yet the powers that be, for various reasons, do nothing. The heroes of the first book are first ignored and later vilified, as tends to happen in stories like this, and they must fight the story’s rogue vampire lord and unravel all mysteries on their own. All pretty typical, but an interesting element comes in the intervention of the rest of the king bloodsuckers, who aren’t pleased that their brother is scaring the straights. One of the story’s main characters is recruited by these ancients, assisted by a vampire-hunting vampire, and he draws together a hunting team comprised of street thugs and an old ex-luchador reminiscent of El Santo (by far the book’s best new addition).

The Fall’s greatest strength is its char-

SS: The relationship between Norman and Ethel is potentially a tricky thing. Young, new love is very different than established relationships. How, as a director, do you help foster the chemistry between actors so it feels authentic and lived-in for the audience?

DK: We spent two weeks in rehearsal exploring the script and the relationships. We did acterization. Del Toro and Hogan have hit their stride in keeping out of the narrative and filling this failing world with believable, well-fleshed people. This is especially true in the chapters detailing characters who don’t become a part of the greater struggle, who fall prey to the rampage in short order. To put so much background into doomed characters, and then to off them, creates a great sense of tension and uncertainty. So when the next character comes along, and the details of his or her life are given, one can’t help but become skeptical about that person’s chances. And then someone surprises the reader and triumphs.

With the already established characters, del Toro and Hogan guarantee nothing.

While they don’t come anywhere close to clearing the slate, every character is placed in a position in which certain doom seems imminent. The authors’ skill is shown in how the humans handle these scrapes; there are no magical, unexplained escapes, but rather instances of dumb luck that shine faintly through the terror. The fact that a character survived one onslaught doesn’t mean that another one isn’t coming around the corner.

Not everything is sparkling; there’s a weird subplot thrown in involving nuclear reactors and a sappy message stating that a mother’s love is stronger than vampirism.

But most of it works.

This vampire trilogy may have started rough, but its midpoint indicates that it’s only going to get better. The Fall is a quick and dirty vampire story that cuts out all the crap and leaves nothing but monsters and mayhem. Old school nastiness at its best.

— Brett Emerson

some theatre games, improvs and general playing around in hopes of establishing a relationship. More importantly, Michael Hartigan (Norman) and Suzanne Young (Ethel) are incredibly talented actors who worked very hard to make it happen. It is also nice that both of them have experience with long relationships, so I was not trying to explain something they weren’t already familiar with.

SS: In a lot of ways, On Golden Pond is a love story of the romantic and familial variety. What's been the most interesting part of crafting a family together with the cast?

DK: Actually, the challenge is that during the early part of the rehearsal process, we worked so disjointedly, that the family unit really didn’t come together until later in the schedule. Fortunately, there is a lot of time offstage, where the actors can visit and really get to know each other. As each of the actors have families or spouses of their own, they were able to pull a lot of information from their own personal experiences and put this into their characters.

SS: You're not only executive director of LCT and directing this play, but you are also doing the lighting design. What are some ways you're achieving that sort of summer-atthe-cabin feel for the show?

DK: I always joke that as the director and lighting designer, I have one less person to argue with about what I want. Of course

that’s not really true. First of all, creating theatre is not about arguing but about what is in the best interest of the play, and as artists (sets, lights, costume, sound and props) we each have a perspective and a responsibility to our particular medium. However, we all want to work together to create something that we couldn’t do by ourselves. Secondly, I argue with myself all the time. Is it bright enough, is it colorful enough, does it look good, why does the actor have to stand there, I can’t light them right, etc. For this particular show, the lighting is dictated as much by the set. I was looking for a balance of warm and cool, using subtle shifts to help define the emotion of the scene.

SS: Finally On Golden Pond, the film adaptation, is famous for Jane and Henry Fonda working together. What's a famous family you think deserves a play/musical?

DK: You mean someone other than the Partridge Family? I imagine the Bushes would make an interesting musical full of intrigue, challenges with children, struggles between brothers (the drunk that jumps past the good son), mom and her daughters-in-law.

Just a family with all of the same struggles other families have, yet in much higher places and with a lot more money. As for show business families, Martin Sheen and his two sons would be an interesting story about competition and success.

Visit us online at www.secondsupper.com

10// October 28, 2010

The Arts Review Bizarro Masterpiece Theatre Medium: Video The music videos of Army of Lovers Director: Fredrik Boklund

I’m going to do something very different in this week’s Bizarro, and I’m going to discuss a series of music videos that, quite honestly, scare the crap out of me. My weirdo street cred is well established, yet Army of Lovers, an avant-garde Swedish electropop group that adheres to a screw anything that moves school of libertine sexuality, is one of the most disturbingly alluring entities I’ve ever encountered. The more I think about the group’s dynamic, the more convinced I am that Army of Lovers is what would happen if the B-52s grew up listening to Soft Cell, Boney M, and Bach.

Though all the Army of Lovers videos are fantastically strange, what follows are the cream of the crop, those clips so deranged that they may induce nightmares.

Even the least bizarre of these is fright-

Second Supper

ARTS ening. In “King Midas,” vocalist and lecherous creep Jean-Pierre Barda cruises the streets with a five o’clock shadow, eventually hitting the club and acting all rough trade.

He’s greeted in the lot by a buxom cop, and soon he’s harassing the kitchen staff, molesting dudes in the bathroom, and pissing on his own shoes. It’s also implied that his lovely assistant may have sodomized the janitor/ bartender with her nightstick. After that, however, it descends to bodies writhing together and becomes just another night out at the fetish bar.

If the gold-plated prancing that comprises “Give My Life” is stranger, it’s mainly because of the few moments when Barda scampers around a labyrinth sporting a three-foot gold boner. Jesus. “Israelism” is the most bizarre celebration of Judaism I’ve ever seen.

But the all time champ of the Army of Lovers catalogue is “Crucified,” which shows the group in all its baroque glory. I first saw this gem years ago on Beavis and Butt-head, and the pair reacted to it in the appropriate way — with terror and bewildered attraction. One moment they cheered a close-up of big boobs; the next they cringed as Barda writhed around half-nude in yet another bathtub. (“Drain the tub!” Butt-head shouted at the latter.)

The atmosphere is all ascots, corsets and frilly nightrobes. The cast twitches around like drug addicts from some French erotica, sword fighting, waving flags, batting at a tiny piano, playing a violin with a loaf of bread, and staring into the camera as though the viewer was a canvas for sex

crime. Barda, of course, is the video’s lead creep, chaining himself to a caged bed, prancing around, and most of all despairing — while gyrating. It’s pretty awesome.

I vastly appreciate anything that can horrify me, and in this Army of Lovers has succeeded magnificently. I salute you, you epic perverts!

For more explanation, and terrifying visual evidence, go to ymarksthespot.org.

— Brett Emerson

The Screening Room Medium: Film Hereafter (2010) Director: Clint Eastwood Cast: Matt Damon, Cecile De France, Frankie McLaren Writer: Peter Morgan

Chances are good that a film with multiple, intersecting storylines will have at least one thread that's far less interesting than the rest. In Clint Eastwood's Hereafter, the weakest link centers on a French TV news reporter (Cecile De France) who begins obsessing over death and the afterlife when she nearly drowns in a tsunami. Her story, and the film as a whole, pulls a bait and switch by opening with the tsunami — disaster porn that's mostly a showcase for some nifty special effects — and then settling down and focusing not on the immeasurable tragedy and loss of life, but on De France's search to

understand the eerie visions she experiences while drowning. It hardly seems worth killing hundreds of thousands of people just to get one character to question what happens to us when we die.

The other two threads — one about a reclusive, legitimate psychic (Damon), and the other about a British boy (McLaren) whose twin brother dies in a car accident — aren't much more interesting. Damon's story feels out of place because it brings a gimmicky supernatural power into an otherwise stone-serious movie, and the twins' story is just gratuitous heart string tugging.

This is a curious yet largely uneventful picture. We may feel varying degrees of connection to some or all of these characters, but their plights never gain much momentum. Perhaps Hereafter's fatal flaw is that its ambition is too muted, making its minor effectiveness as a modern neo-melodrama just a case of simple miscommunication. Some viewers might find it sweet, even inspiring.

Others might see it as a dare from the filmmakers to not fall asleep.

— Nick Cabreza

Writers Wanted Second Supper is looking to add freelance writers to write community features. Send letter of introduction, topic ideas and 500-word sample(s) to editor@secondsupper.com.

MUSIC MUSIC

Second Supper

October 28, 2010 // 11

music directory // October 29 to November 4 FRIDAY,

October 29

Madison

BOOT HILL PUB // 1501 St. Andrew St. Studebaker 7 (oldies) • 6 p.m.

population

MATTHEW DEAR, NICK NICE // NOV. 14 The Frequency • $10

JB'SSPEAKEASY // 717 Rose St. Moonboot Posse, Sack Blabath (psychedelic rock) • 10 p.m.

MIKE GORDON // NOV. 17 Barrymore Theatre • $20

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

PEARL STREET BREWERY // 1401 St. Andrew St.

Kin Pickin (jam grass) • 5 p.m.

208,054

LOTUS, MUX MOOL // NOV. 13 Orpheum Theatre • $20

COACHES // N5833 Hwy. 35 Str8Up (rock) • 9 p.m.

NORTH SIDE OASIS // 620 Gillette St. Hallowed Ground (hard rock) • 9 p.m.

just a roadie away

SOULIVE, PHAT PUNKTION // NOV. 20 Orpheum Theatre • $25 This calendar is loaded with a smattering of “Halloween” concerts, most of them occurring on Friday and Saturday, but for the true All Hallow’s Eve, may we recommend a party for a purpose at the French Slough? “The Slough” is a quaint place tucked into the backwaters of French Island at 1311 La Crescent Pl. It takes its name from the nearby river, which flooded with the recent deluge of rain and destroyed the bar’s dock. To help build a new one, several local musicians scheduled to perform at Spookin’ the Slough on Sunday beginning at 2 p.m. The artist lineup, in order of appearance, is: Cheech & Luke, Dave Orr and Friends, Kokopelians (pictured), Nick Shattuck and Kin’ Pickin, and the night will close with a group jam at 7 p.m. There will be a $5 minimum donation and costume contest, whose winner will be announced at 7:30 p.m.

PERT NEAR SANDSTONE // DEC. 3 High Noon Saloon • $10 TRAMPLED BY TURTLES // DEC. 9-10 High Noon Saloon • $15

November 2

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

JB'SSPEAKEASY // 717 Rose St. "One" (Montreal hard rock) • 10 p.m.

THE WATERFRONT TAVERN // 328 Front St. Chris Bucheit, Steve Meger (jazz) • 8 p.m.

POPCORN TAVERN // 308 S. Fourth St. King Everything (classic rock) • 10 p.m.

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

SUNDAY,

THE JOINT // 324 Jay St. The Deedles (rock, bluegrass) • 9 p.m.

NEUIE'S VARSITY CLUB // 1920 Ward Ave. Moon Boot Posse (Halloween) • 9 p.m.

FRENCH SLOUGH // 1311 La Crescent St. THE ROOT NOTE // 114 4th St. S. The Kokopellians, Cheech, Dave Orr, 3rd Relation Jazz Trio (jazz) • 8:30 p.m.

Nick Shattuck, Kin Pickin' (“Spookin’ the Slough” benefit) • 2 p.m.

THE ROOT NOTE // 114 4th St. S. NORTH SIDE OASIS // 620 Gillette St. Dirty Disco Kidz, Witness, Another Ex- Carpe Noctem, Abbey Lane, The Back oneration (“Stoplight party”) • 8:30 p.m. Bone (w/ costume contest) • 9 p.m.

THE WATERFRONT TAVERN // 328 Front St. PEARL STREET BREWERY // 1401 St. Andrew St. Chris Bucheit, Steve Meger (jazz) • 8 p.m. Kin Pickin (Halloween party) • 5 p.m.

SATURDAY,

October 30

ALPINE INN // W5717 Bliss Rd. Pat Mc Curdy (costume contest) • 10 p.m.

FLIPSIDE PUB AND GRILL // 400 Lang Drive King Friday (acoustic rock) • 6 p.m.

FREIGHT HOUSE // 107 Vine St. Dan Sebranek (songwriter) • 6 p.m.

HOWIE'S // 1125 La Crosse St. Flashback (‘80s Halloween) • 9 p.m.

HUCK FINN'S // 127 Marina Dr T.U.G.G. ("Halloween Harvest") • 8 p.m.

POPCORN TAVERN // 308 S. Fourth St. Super Deece Band (rock) • 10 p.m.

RIVER JACK'S //1835 Rose St. Double Take (classic rock) • 8:30 p.m.

THE JOINT // 324 Jay St. Monkey Wrench (hard rock) • 10 p.m.

THE ROOT NOTE // 114 4th St. S. Michael Kac (banjo star) • 8:30 p.m.

THE WAREHOUSE // 324 Pearl St. Havok, Armed for Apocalypse, Reaping Asmodeia (hard rock) • 6:30 p.m.

October 31

POPCORN TAVERN // 308 S. Fourth St. Som'n Jazz (jazz) • 10 p.m.

TUESDAY,

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

WEDNESDAY,

November 3

NIGHTHAWKS TAP // 401 S. Third St. Bad Axe Jam (gear provided) • 10 p.m.

THE JOINT // 324 Jay St. Frank-n-stein (Frank Utecht Memo- POPCORN TAVERN // 308 S. Fourth St. rial Jam) • 10 p.m.

Open Jam • 10 p.m.

THE WAREHOUSE // 324 Pearl St. RECOVERY ROOM // 901 7th St. S. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (crowd Kin Pickin' (open jam) • 10 p.m. participation encouraged) • 7 p.m.

MONDAY,

November 1

THURSDAY,

November 4

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

NIGHTHAWKS TAP // 401 S. Third St. Dave Orr's Damn Jam • 10 p.m.

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

POPCORN TAVERN // 308 S. Fourth St. New Blues Crew (rock)• 10 p.m.

THE ROOT NOTE // 114 4th St. S. Christopher Bell (folk) • Noon

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

12// October 28, 2010

MUSIC

Second Supper

Dirty Disco Kidz headline Halloween party at Root Note

By Jason Crider jason.crider@secondsupper.com

This Friday, the Root Note is having a Halloween Spotlight Party featuring special guests Dirty Disco Kidz from Madison, as well as Minneapolis hip-hop artist Witness’ CD release and music from local rap/hiphop artists Another Exoneration.

The Dirty Disco Kidz are a self-described “intricate blend of electro, house, glitch, hiphop and dubstep” whose recent remixes and mashups have received national and international exposure. Just last week the group was

a featured act in one of the largest electronic/dance arena shows in Wisconsin history, alongside electro/house artists deadmau5 and Skrillex at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison.

The three-man group boasts high-energy, good-time live performances, which implement both live production and live video. As DJ and producer Chris Miedaner (aka Mr Physix) puts it, “Our live show is like a rollercoaster that is unpredictable and in the dark. We use a four-turntable set with outboard effects and sample pads. There are also live visuals being sequenced and mixed

into our set.”

Miedaner went on to express the group’s excitement for this weekend: “We are super stoked to throw down in La Crosse.” When asked what people should anticipate at the Root Note show, DJ Vinnie Toma replied, “people should expect to party. Professionally.”

This is defi nitely one of the biggest electronic acts to play the La Crosse area in a long time. The Madison trio left me with

The MaJaK MiXtaPe

By Jonathan Majak jonathan.majak@secondsupper.com

Oh Halloween, here you come again.

We’ve always enjoyed the holiday, especially as an adult since there is nothing quite like having a bunch of strong booze and a Kit Kat bar as a stir stick. Anyway, with the economy what it is, meaning total and absolute shit, we don’t have the money to necessarily splurge on a full-tilt extravaganza of an outfi t this year. But being the wise and economical folks that we are here at the Mixtape, we’ve put together a few budget friendly ideas for pop star costumes.

First up, what’s an easier costume than boozy ass Ke$ha? Think about it. You pretty much just have to stop showering from now until Halloween, roll yourself around in some glitter and just try to avoid getting alcohol poisoning. The toothbrush and the bottle of Jack will probably be the most expensive part of the get-up. And while you apply glitter with an unsteady hand, you might as well listen to the new The Go! Team song “T.O.R.N.A.D.O.,” which is a great slice of dance-infl uenced hipster rock and will help offset having to tell people you’re not, in fact, going as a homeless person.

some ominous words: “La Crosse, we look forward to being in you.”

As far as the spotlight element is concerned, wear red if you’re taken, yellow if it’s complicated and green if you’re single.

Prizes will be awarded for best costume.

This all-ages party starts at 8:30, so pick your color and head on over. Tickets are $7 at the door or $5 in advanc. They can be purchased at the Root Note and Deaf Ear Records.

Or you can go as Willow Smith, the daughter of Will and Jada Smith and YouTube sensation du jour. All you have to do is locate a long wig, maybe some bobby pins and a completely unfounded and unearned sense of swagger and you’ve gotten the essential essence of the 9-year-old. While waiting on the phone with a chiropractor after you’ve whipped your hair and neck out of sorts, feel free to listen to the Kingdom Remix of Sleigh Bells’ “Tell Em” in honor of a year from now when you look back at photos and have to “tell ’em” who the hell Willow Smith even was. See also: Dodson, Antoine.

Here are another bevy of pop stars you can go as that will take no time and little money to put together: Get a fedora hat and a small plastic bags fi lled with white sugar and you can go as Bruno Mars. Get a nice black wig with bangs and stuff your bra and you can go as either Zooey Deschanel or Katy Perry, depending on where the neckline falls. For a Nicki Minaj costume, just fi nd an old Lil’ Kim costume on eBay. Our favorite costume idea we’ve heard of is a friend going as a cow wearing Lady GaGa as revenge for her meat dress from the VMAs.

From the Majak Mixtape, we wish you a happy Halloween!

Buy: Ray Charles, Rare Genius: The Undiscovered Masters YouTube: Kanye West’s “Runaway” music video/fi lm Read: Feral Party Kids, www.feralpartykids.com Get your mixtape on every weekday at the Majak Kingdom blog along with weekly recaps of Glee and the Real Housewives of Atlanta, all at www.majakkingdom.blogspot.com

Second Supper

October 28, 2010 // 13

YOUR GUIDE TO CONSUMPTION

The Beer Review Pumpkin Beer O'Fallon Brewing O'Fallon, Missouri

For a certain segment of the beerdrinking population, fall doesn’t truly arrive until the first appearance of pumpkin beers.

These “Pumpkinheads,” as I affectionately call them, have a truly cultish obsession toward this most seasonal beer style, and every year brings a fevered debate over which brewery produces the best gourd-based beverage.

I can’t knock their passion. A good pumpkin beer is spiced to evoke grandma’s pie with a thick mouthfeel that channels the fruit’s slimy texture. And while there are hundreds of pumpkin options on the national market — from pumpkin lagers to imperial ales to

a mass-produced line from Coors — these beers aren’t usually my cup of chai. But heck, it’s Halloween week and there’s no better beer to review.

My original plan was to write up Dogfish Head’s much lauded Punkin Ale, which I tried a few weeks ago and thought was a good representation of the style, but when I returned to Woodman’s this afternoon it looked like it was all sold out. (I should’ve known better than to test the patience of fiending Pumpkinheads!) Instead, I grabbed this offering from the O’Fallon Brewery, which I wasn’t initially familiar with but later discovered to be a St. Louis-area microbrewery that also bottles in Stevens Point. But after popping one open, I must report that this O’Fallon reinforces almost everything I dislike about pumpkin beers.

Purchase: O’Fallon Pumpkin Beer

6-pack from Woodmans, $7.99

Style: Pumpkin beer

Strength: 5.5 percent ABV

Packaging: This simple label features a shakily carved jack-o-lantern printed boldly on a black label. There are also some subtle brown leaves that give a nod to its seasonal production.

Appearance: It appears a hearty orange hue when poured in a dark environment. But hold it to the light and this pumpkin beer looks clear, watery and yellow with some racing carbonation bubbles. The head is white but short lived and with minimal lacing.

Aroma: The aroma is by far the best part of this beer, with big whiffs of clove, cinnamon and nutmeg. Considering the brewery used 136 pounds of real pumpkins in the mash, there is true fruit smell in there as well, along with a hint of maple syrup and abso-

The Best Food & Drink Specials in Town

lutely no hops.

Taste: All the promise of the aroma dissipates when this Pumpkin Beer hits the tongue with odd notes of lemon zest and spreads like water through the mouth. There are solid clove flavors and a nice dash of nutmeg, but this beer is inoffensive at best with a cheap, cloying aftertaste that evokes another St. Louis brewery.

Mouthfeel: The most watery beer I’ve tried in a while, very un-pumpkinlike.

Drinkability: Sure it’s watery, but I can barely finish my second bottle. Too bad I have four more to go.

Ratings: BeerAdvocate grades this Pumpkin Beer a B, while RateBeer scores it a 60 out of 100. I’m more inclined to side with the second score, as I don’t plan to drink any more of my 6-pack. Hey, trick-or-treaters!

— Adam Bissen

LOCATION

SUNDAY

MONDAY

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

ARENA

Text "Arena" to 83361 for Specials

Texas Hold 'Em Poker

Pool and dart leagues

Wyld Wednesday: $2 jumbo UV mixers, $2 Coronas

Ladies Night: Ladies drink free 9-11 $1 Cherry Bombs, $1 Keystone Light p.m. or all night with $5 wristband, silos including all UV Vodkas & XXX; $5 Long island pitchers

$2 BBQ Pork Sliders

2-Fers, Buy any regularly priced food item and get one of equal or lesser value for free

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

BODEGA BREW PUB 122 4th St. 782-0677

FRIDAY

SATURDAY $1 Cherry Bombs, $1 Keystone Light silos

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

BROTHERS

$2.50 Bud Light bottles, $3 Witches Brew and Scary Shot Specials

$2.50 Coors vs. Keystone pitchers. All specials 9 p.m. to close

AUC2D: $5, domestic taps, rail mix- 10-cent wings, $1 Miller High Life ers, Long Islands. All specials 9 p.m. bottles, $1.50 rail mixers; $2.50 call to close drinks. All specials 9 p.m. to close.

EAGLES NEST

$5 domestic pitchers

$1.50 domestic taps and rail drinks, 4 p.m. to close

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

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

Karaoke 9 p.m. to close

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

All you care to eat pizza buffet, 11-2

All you care to eat fish fry 4-10; unlimited Glow-N-Bowl $9.99

Prime rib dinner 4-10; unlimited Glow-N-Bowl $9.99

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

Ladies Night, $1 off all drinks, 4 to All you can eat boneless wings, inclose; Pint-Aritas $3 (lime or straw- cludes a choice of potatoe, slaw and berry) a frosted pint, 4-9:30 p.m., $8.99 9 p.m. to close: $2 Captain mixers, $2 bottles/cans, $3 Jager bombs

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

306 Pearl St. 784-0522

1914 Campbell Road 782-7764

FEATURES

W3923 State Highway 16 786-9000

FLIPSIDE PUB & GRILL 400 Lang Drive 784-2242

HOWIE’S

AUC2D, $5 domestic taps, rail mixers $2.50 Bud Light bottles, $3 Witches and Long Islands. Wristband Night: Brew and Scary Shot Specials $2.50 SoCo & Jack. 50-cent shots (two flavors). All specials 9 to close.

$2.50 Bud Light bottles, $3 Witches Brew and Scary Shot Specials

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

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

IMPULSE

$5 AUC2D wristbands: domestic taps, rail mixers, Long Islands, 9 p.m. to close; live DJ, dancing 9 p.m. to close

Alcohol-free night, 7 p.m. to 2 a.m., $5 AUC2D wristbands: domestic for ages 25 and younger; live DJ, taps, rail mixers, Long Islands, 9 p.m. dancing, giveaways, AUC2D soda, to close; karaoke 9 p.m. to close $10 cover

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

$5 wristband happy hour, 5 to 9 p.m; live DJ, dancing 9 p.m. to close

JB’S SPEAKEASY

$1.75 domestic bottles, $1.75 Dom bottles and rails, $2.50 Bombs

Monday Madness: $1.75 domestics Tuesday Boozeday $1 off all liquor Happy Hour 5 to 7 p.m. and rails, $2.50 Bombs, $1 off all top drinks and 50 cents off all shots, $2 shelf and specialty beers Bombs

Happy Hour 5 to 7 p.m.

Happy Hour 5 to 7 p.m.

$1.79 burger (after 8 p.m.)

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

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

1125 La Crosse St. 784-7400 214 Main St. 782-6010

717 Rose St. 796-1161

SCHMIDTY’S 3119 State Road 788-5110

SLOOPY'S ALMA MATER

$5 AUC2D wristbands: domestic taps, rail mixers, Long Islands, 9 p.m. to close; karaoke 9 p.m. to close

163 Copeland Ave. 785-0245

Tacos: $11 buckets during pro and Tacos: $11 buckets during pro and college football games. college football games.

Happy Hour 2 to 6 p.m.

12-inch pizza $8.99 Happy Hour 2 to 6 p.m.

THE LIBRARY

Wristband Night

Half price tequilla, $1 domestic taps Karaoke, $2 Double rails and all Beer Pong Tourney and $2 U Call Its 9 p.m. to close and rails bottles; $3 Double call drinks wristband night, $2 cherry bombs, 50¢ shots (3 flavors)

123 3rd St. 784-8020

TOP SHOTS

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

Happy Hour 5 to 7 p.m.

Ladies night, 2 for 1 drinks (6-close), Happy Hour 2 to 6 p.m.

Happy Hour 2 to 6 p.m.

Breakfast 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.; lunch buffet 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., $6.99 Tacos: $11 buckets during pro and college football games. $2.50 Bud Light, $3 Swamp Waters, costume contest

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

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

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

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

POPCORN TAVERN

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

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

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

$2.50 Captain mixers $2 Grain Belt

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

$2 16oz Old Style & Lost Lake cans

WHO'S ON THIRD

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

$1 taps of PBR, $1 rails

$3 call doubles, $2 Bud products

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

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

126 3rd St. N. 782-9467

14// October 28, 2010

Maze Efflux

Second Supper

DIVERSIONS "Have you lost weight?"

Why, yes, yes I have

By Erich Boldt

By Matt Jones

The Gamer Game: Flower (2009) Developer: thatgamecompany System: PS3 Price: $9.99

Peaceful and tranquil are words not often used to describe video games. Flower is a peaceful and tranquil game for the PS3, and it is unlike any other game I have every played.

The developers of the game, thatgamecompany, wanted to produce a new type of video game: one that focuses on stimulating the player on a more emotional level.

Flower gives the player control of the wind, and the object of the game is to float a flower petal past other flowers or into certain objects to cause changes to the environment.

With each new flower opened, a new petal is sent in motion, so that by the end of each level you are sailing hundreds of petals around the map. As more of your flowers blossom, gray areas of the map come alive with plants and vibrant colors..

Sony’s PS3 controller is motion sensitive. To control the direction of the wind you simply tilt the controller one way or another, similar to the way a young child plays with a toy airplane. The controls are not perfect.

At times the flower petals get stuck and it can be difficult trying to get them out, but for the most part the controls are responsive and easy to use.

The highlight of Flower is the music.

Vincent Diamante, who has worked with designer Chen before, composed the music.

Diamante worked closely with the graphics development team to make sure the music was in perfect sync with flower placement.

A new tone plays when each new flower is opened and, in areas where you rapidly open flowers, the music swells and flows. This creates a rich dynamic between the gameplay, graphics and music. No game does that as well as Flower.

The graphics are simple; each level consists mainly of outdoor landscapes speckled with trees, mountains and the occasional manmade structure. The levels are mostly open, enabling the player, with few exceptions, to send petals in multiple directions.

The creators put an enormous amount of effort into the colors and details. The scenery looks amazingly real, even if it is mostly plants.

To unlock more colors and credits, players collect letters of the developers’ names as they appear over flowers.

Flower has only six levels and playable credits, but the length adds to, rather than detracts, from the game. It was not developed for serious gamers to sit down and finish in a day. It was meant to relax and emotionally stimulate the player for short gaming sessions spread over time. Flower delivers on this promise.

I highly recommend this game to anyone with $10 and a PS3. You will not be disappointed. It is a refreshing gaming experience. I love playing action games as much as the next person, but once and a while it is nice to put down the gun and pick up a flower.

— Nate Willer

ACROSS 1 Croatia's capital 7 Special effects used in "Avatar," e.g.

10 Deck quartet 14 "The Little Mermaid" villain 15 That ship 16 Battery unit 17 Goes for some quick lunch 19 Gold medal runner Zatopek 20 Go back and forth 21 Hosp. scanner 22 Prefix meaning "notion" 25 Less likely to catch on 27 Bite with tiny teeth 30 ___ Carta 32 Greek cheeses 33 "Am ___!"

34 2010 "SNL" host Poehler 35 Bourbon measures

37 Summer hrs., in South Carolina 38 Treasure hunt need 39 Clock setting for most of TX 40 Cobb and Pennington 42 Slowing, in music: abbr.

43 Guinness Book suffix 44 Phrase often followed with "it's nothing" 46 Compass pt.

47 Vail runner 48 Lerner's musical partner 49 Head-scratching question 51 Org. that gives out 9-digit IDs 52 Not mourned (for) 54 ___-bitsy 55 Pester 57 Kind of view 59 Oval segments

Answers to Oct. 21 puzzle Grab some cash — Four hidden sources of it

61 He hosts "Good Eats" 65 Tackle box item 66 Bullfighting cheer 67 "Lost" actor M.C. 68 Does something 69 Hallucinatory stuff 70 Most worldly-wise DOWN 1 ___ Island (industrial area of Detroit) 2 Abbr. at the top of sheet music 3 Former name of a cookie-selling org.

4 Applies, like ointment 5 "Who ___ wants a piece of me?"

6 Made some sheepish noises 7 Kitschy growable gift 8 "Stay away from amateurs!"?

9 Pique condition?

10 State with firmness 11 Fascination with a certain URL ending?

12 Yale alumnus 13 Cardinals insignia 18 Removal of totally false graffiti?

21 ___ Butterworth's syrup 22 "Let me clean up first..."

23 Patterned fabrics 24 Basic Cairo bed?

26 "Rocks for Jocks" type of class 28 Disinfecting solutions 29 Craft where things get fired up 31 16 NFL teams 36 "But ___ realized..."

41 NASCAR-sponsoring additive 45 Posted in the center of the action, perhaps 48 Schlep 50 Gulf of Mexico structure 53 Metallic sounds 56 Pops the question 58 Quatrain rhyme scheme 59 "So that's your game!"

60 ___-A-Fella Records 61 Co. founded by Steve Case 62 Inseparable 63 "Fantastic Mr. Fox" director Anderson 64 Major paper, for short For answers, call (900) 226-2800, 99 cents per minute. Or to bill to a credit card, call (800) 655-6549. Reference puzzle #0489.

Visit us online at www.secondsupper.com

Second Supper

October 28, 2010 // 15

THE LAST WORD

The ADviCe GODDess

By Amy Alkon amy.alkon@secondsupper.com Giving her paws

I've been dating a great guy for three years.

I occasionally get invited to work functions, and I’d like to take him, but I can’t trust him to act appropriately (not grope me in front of my co-workers, make inappropriate small talk, etc.). The thought of bringing him makes me so anxious that I go by myself. Recently, we went to two concerts he wanted to see, and I kept having to pry his hands off my breasts in the middle of a crowd. It was humiliating. Last week, he tried to grope me in line at the ice cream store in front of a bunch of families. I'm starting to think he has a social anxiety disorder. Asking him to be a supportive partner and accompany me to the occasional work event doesn’t seem like that big of a burden, especially since I entertain his friends and go see bands I don’t like for him. I don't want to sound like a prig, but I’m advancing in my career, and I should soon be attending more work-

related events. Am I being unreasonable?

— Groped

Some social conventions are such a bore, like the expectation that when your boss extends his hand, your boyfriend will reach out and shake it, not grab both of your breasts and cop a feel.

Usually, when they talk about a guy having manners from another time, they mean he’s polite like they were back in the ’50s, not when the Neanderthals were running around. It’s normal to sometimes have to make excuses for your partner, but excuses like “He’s actually a vegetarian,” not “Believe it or not, he was raised by a pack of wild animals after his parents died in a freak canoeing accident.”

Wildly inappropriate PDA is generally a sign that you’re 14 and lack boundaries or a way for a highly insecure partner to mark his territory. It can also be a way of hiding shyness by overcompensating. Whatever it is, it sure isn’t loving behavior. It’s bad enough that he embarrasses you at concerts and the ice cream store, but offi ce parties are not parties; they’re work meetings with alcohol and land mines. When you bring your boyfriend, he should do his best to support you, and not in the way a Wonderbra would.

You get the relationship you put up with. Three years in, you have no idea why your boyfriend acts like he just broke out of the monkey house. Maybe it’s a social anxiety disorder, maybe it’s itchy hair follicles, or maybe he’s trying to sabotage you because

he’s jealous of your success. The fi rst or second time he got all Mr. Gropeypants was your cue to let him know where his hands go when he’s with you in public. What stopped you then, and what’s stopping you now?

Fear of confrontation? Fear of losing him?

Lockjaw? Speaking up might’ve had you well on your way to a solution years ago — or to a boyfriend who not only knows better than to French you under the mistletoe at the company Christmas party but gets that dry humping you under it is a big no-go, too.

the easy access — a sort of high technology fee. In the future, assume everyone’s lying and be pleasantly surprised when someone isn’t. To keep your emotional costs down, try to get women to meet you as soon as possible for a quick drink instead of carrying on at length by phone and e-mail. This should help keep you from getting attached while spending weeks learning everything about them and then fi nding yourself on a date unable to ask the one thing you’re really dying to know: “So…when was your picture taken? And of whom?”

As fat would have it

I’ve been on about 20 dates with girls I met online, and 15 of them were much heavier than they were in their photos. I’m getting a little tired of this. Is there some acceptable way to ask a woman how much she weighs before you meet up?

— Narrowing ‘Em Down

There’s that saying, “The camera adds 10 pounds.” Well, the Internet often subtracts 50. (Not to worry, all that weight will be back in place before you can say “Starbucks at 3?”) But, sorry, you cannot ask a woman how much she weighs — or even poke around in that direction: “So … what’s the most candy you’ve ever eaten at one sitting? And, are you sitting on any candy right now?”

Internet dating has its pluses — instant access to loads of potential partners — and its plus-sized minuses: those big surprises you’ve encountered on three out of four dates. Just think of them as a price you have to pay for

Downtown La Crosse, above Fayzes - 782-6622

top shots joke of the week Why did the vampire take out an ad in Second Supper?

He heard it had great circulation Check out our new Beers on Tap!

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 TUESDAY

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

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

$2.00 - 1 Player, $3.00 - 2 Players 50 Cents Off Drinks, $1 Off Pitchers

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

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

$5 Miller Lite/Bud Light Pitchers

SATURDAY $2.25 Leinies Bottles (7-1am)

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

16// October 28, 2010

Second Supper

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