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On the cover, Clockwise from top left ...

Chrishella Roche of Vibez Creative Arts Space, Jared Judge of Book Live, LaMarr Love of Cookie Jar Baking Company, Miles Borghgraef of Birch and Butcher, Kathi Rodgers of Heavenly Hands Photos by Lindsay Stayton Photography SHEPHERD EXPRESS

JANUARY 16, 2020 | 3

::NEWS&VIEWS LINDSAY STAYTON PHOTOGRAPHY

FEATURES | POLLS | TAKING LIBERTIES | ISSUE OF THE WEEK

Coach Lisa Sarnowski with LaMarr Love

Trenise Watson of Asili Naturals

BizStarts: Supporting Entrepreneurs in Underserved Milwaukee ::BY ERIN BERGE

anting to improve the Milwaukee economy and help entrepreneurs succeed, Dan Steininger created BizStarts in 2008 in Milwaukee. While first searching for entrepreneurs that already had resources to develop their business, Steininger realized he was missing the people most in need of assistance. “I thought, who’s serving the ordinary businesses in inner-city Milwaukee who don’t have mothers and fathers who have been in business? Who is taking care of them?” he says.

BizStarts provides one-on-one coaching, mentoring and network connections to help entrepreneurs grow their business free of charge. According to the organization’s 2018 impact report, 61% of the entrepreneurs they helped were people of color, and 35% came from low-income neighborhoods. Patrick Snyder, executive director of BizStarts, also saw the need to provide services to underserved communities in Milwaukee.

“Why don’t we help people in the neighborhoods who really could use the opportunity and literally could do something special? The change [for BizStarts] went from scalable companies in venture capital to people who could just use a hand,” says Snyder.

“It wasn’t the fact that they didn’t have the ability, it was the fact that they weren’t given the chance.”

People like LaMarr Love, who served 22 years in federal prison, became a skilled baker and wanted to start a business. He was an excellent baker, but the most difficult part of a business is selling your product or service. BizStarts connected Love with law firms who purchase cookies for client meetings, cre-

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ating a now-profitable baking business. “He becomes a role model for, as he says, the brothers out on the streets where he came from,” says Steininger.

Creating jobs helps alleviate poverty in Milwaukee, and according to Steininger, most of those jobs come from startups. In 2009, Milwaukee was ranked the fourth-poorest city in the country by the U.S. Census Bureau. Today, Steininger wants to reduce poverty by helping people who have just an idea but no resources for a business. Anyone is welcome to apply.

“There are people who come to us who just have an idea on a napkin,” says Snyder.

Succeeding as an Entrepreneur

“Part of what we do is tough love. We help them understand what it takes to start a business,” says Steininger. Poking holes in an entrepreneur’s idea is important to making a business plan “bullet proof,” according to Snyder.

As the founder of Colorful Connections, Morgan Phelps wanted to increase diversity in the fields of public relations and creative agencies where she had previously worked. By going to BizStarts, Phelps heard feedback that harnessed her skills in a safe environment. “It’s important to meet with people who aren’t telling you what you want to hear when you’re putting together your business,” says Phelps. “Progress and success are very much learned to not happen on a straight line.”

Businesses can fail easily if they don’t have mentoring and resources or keep up with the market, according to Steininger. “Anyone in business knows you have to be able to reach out to smarter people than you are to help you along the way,” he says.

Because the markets are continually changing, and market changes are happening more quickly, entrepreneurs need market analyses for their products and services to succeed and continue to succeed and grow, but many can’t afford it. Steininger wants to provide the analysis and help entrepreneurs avoid having to take out loans, encouraging them to grow their busi-

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nesses organically from the money they earn from their sales.

Emerald Mills, founder of Diverse Dining, says BizStarts helped her monetize her idea. After hearing statistics concerning Milwaukee’s segregation, Mills wanted to create conversations in neighborhoods, schools and organizations to help foster inclusion in the city. Mills also needed to know how to make an income from the business. “Initially, I actually had a different concept on providing marketing and driving customers, but it was very hard to figure out how to monetize it,” she says. That “was the honest feedback I got from BizStarts.”

To succeed, entrepreneurs need a proof of concept, or the proof that a customer will buy a product at a price where the entrepreneur can cover their costs and make a profit, according to Snyder. “There is a lot that goes into success, but it starts with knowing your customer, knowing your margins and your price point, and you got to put the frosting on the cake with the marketing. And then, you’ve got yourself a winner,” he says. Empowering new entrepreneurs with this information helps to build confidence to succeed, even if this means empowering the entrepreneur to move in another direction, according to Snyder.

Starting a business can be exciting and scary, according to founder of Jobs That Help, Ben Hastil. “BizStarts provides support where you otherwise could be alone and a coach who understands what you’re going through,” he says.

According to the impact report, entrepreneurs saw an 88% improvement in ability and confidence after seeking help from BizStarts.

With a background in education, Snyder has many connections within the academic community, which strengthens the feedback and mentoring seen at BizStarts. Professors at Marquette, UW-Milwaukee and UW-Madison all contribute to BizStarts’ learning system.

Beyond the mentorship, Steininger is also able to connect entrepreneurs with individuals like the chief financial officer at HarleyDavidson and the head of operations at Baird.

“I love the fact that we are able to stabilize whatever it is that they are doing as an organizational audit, pass them off to a mentor and also connections to resources,” says Snyder.

With this current structure, BizStarts provides mentoring, coaching and networking for entrepreneurs in the Milwaukee area for the life of someone’s business. But for those who don’t stay in touch, Snyder asks the question: How does BizStarts know an entrepreneur’s business is succeeding after they leave? Snyder wants BizStarts to be “a system of learning in Milwaukee that is best in the world.”

In developing a new system, Snyder wants to have professors look at the current program and poke holes in it. In the long term, Snyder sees BizStarts as the best training program in the country for underserved entrepreneurs,

“and solve the problem of poverty as a result of that,” says Snyder.

Changes to BizStarts going forward could include an eight-week boot camp that provides proper coaching for starting a business, with coaching coming afterwards and expansion within the state. Currently, Steininger says there is a new partnership in Two Rivers and Manitowoc, and he would like to eventually expand the organization beyond the state of Wisconsin.

BizStarts is located at 1555 N. River Center Drive, Suite 210. For more information, call 414-973-2334 or visit bizstarts.com. Comment at sheperdexpress.com n

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JANUARY 16, 2020 | 5

New Ordinance Opens Doors to Minors ALL-AGES SHOWS MAY BECOME MORE COMMON IN MILWAUKEE ::BY DAN SHAW

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n Milwaukee, the recent decision to allow all-ages shows at more venues came from a simple question: If people under the age of 21 could be trusted to not drink at fairly large venues like Turner Hall and Milwaukee Bucks and Brewers games, then why not at smaller places like the Cactus Club and Walker’s Point Music Hall?

The resulting ordinance change, adopted last fall, established a license allowing venues with stages with less than 1,200 square feet of space to sell alcohol at shows with underage people in the audience. Although no license has yet been granted under the new ordinance, the interest in all-ages shows is definitely growing in Milwaukee—much of it driven by the success seen at the X-Ray Arcade liveperformance venue in Cudahy.

Justin Wexler, one of nine owners of XRay Arcade, says a big reason his business partners and he decided to go to Cudahy was the absence of any ordinance in that city banning all-ages shows. With only large venues in Milwaukee opening their doors to minors, Wexler knew there was an untapped market in the greater Milwaukee area. Wexler says sev-

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eral of his fellow owners and he had grown up around Chicago, and many of them had fond memories of attending all-ages shows, “but we came to Milwaukee. Our choice was to go just outside Milwaukee or be a 21-and-up venue,” Wexler says. “At that time, it didn’t look like they were going to change the law.”

X-Ray Arcade immediately began offering all-ages shows upon opening its doors in February 2019, and Wexler says his partners and he have had no reason to regret that decision.

Concertgoers have to produce identification if they want to drink and then are given wristbands marking them as being age 21 or older.

Shows have to stop at 11 p.m., and anyone who is underage is not allowed to stick around for after-parties. Throughout it all, Wexler said, the Cudahy police have been cooperative and have had to intervene in only a handful of minor incidents.

‘We Want People of All Ages to Come Out and Be Part of Something’

One thing all-ages shows haven’t been, Wexler added, is a big money-maker—a development that wasn’t entirely unexpected. In opening the business, Wexler and his partners recognize they’d be making less money from alcohol sales than venues of a similar size.

Charging a cover at the door can help make up lost potential revenue, he said, but making money also isn’t the ultimate goal. Neither Wexler nor any of his partners depend on XRay Arcade for a living.

“We are doing this in large part to support the arts,” he says. “We want people of all ages

to come out and be part of something.”

Although X-Ray Arcade might not have been taking business away from Milwaukee venues, the example it was setting did make local promoters and owners start thinking that they might be missing out on an opportunity.

According to Nik Kovac—the Milwaukee alderman largely responsible for the ordinance change allowing all-ages shows at small venues—X-Ray Arcade was frequently brought up by advocates of the new rules. Kovac says the Milwaukee Licenses Committee, which he chairs, has yet to grant a small venue a license permitting all-ages shows. Interest is strong, though, and it’s only a matter of time before many clubs and performance venues around the city start opening their doors to minors.

The previous ban on all-ages shows at small venues was, itself, not especially old. It came about in 2003, in part in response to local officials’ worries that a perceived loophole in state law would allow strip clubs to become licensed as performing arts centers. The resulting ordinance allowed the simultaneous presence of people under age 21 and alcohol sales only at venues that either had stages with at least 1,200 square feet of space or regular art displays. Some places went so far as to put up permanent art exhibits that complied with the rules; most, though, simply gave up on allages shows.

Kovac said it has since become apparent that the ban was too far reaching. If having proper safeguards could prevent minors from drinking at big venues, then why not also at small venues? “You don’t create the law for law breakers,” he explains. “You create the

law for people who are going to follow it.”

Many event promoters are eager to secure one of the new licenses allowed by the recent ordinance change. Jim Rice, owner of Walker’s Point Music Hall just south of Downtown Milwaukee, said he looks forward to the day when he will no longer have to tell bands that want to play before all-ages audiences they’ll have to seek out a venue in the suburbs. “You have this whole generation of younger artists and younger fans who, until now, had no places, except at school or in a church basement, where they could do shows,” he says.

As far as making money, Rice adds that many venues are trying to see how they fare with non-alcoholic drinks. Juice, tea, coffee drinks and alcohol-free “mocktails” are all becoming common at shows.

Some venues will, no doubt, rely on cover charges, but even this is not a given. “There’s a lot changing in how bands are paid,” Rice says. “A lot of time, they receive a percentage of overall sales. A lot of things are being reevaluated to make sure everyone’s being accommodated.” One thing Rice doesn’t expect to see is cutthroat competition among venues offering all-ages shows. Milwaukee, he said, has enough distinct entertainment districts, performers and concertgoers to make sure everyone can stay busy without having to worry much about what the other guy is up to. “Many places will focus on a specific type of music, which is another reason why there isn’t a great sense of competition,” he says, “because if performers are offering something we don’t feature, we can send them somewhere else.”

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Women’s March Organizes to Defeat Trump and Voter Suppression

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hortly after Donald Trump was elected into office three years ago, Women’s March gathered together in Washington, D.C., to protest. Since then, Women’s March has organized sister marches across the country and will continue their work into 2020.

Women’s March will march in Milwaukee on Saturday, Jan. 18, starting at 11 a.m. at the South Division High School auditorium. The march will also cover voter suppression, an important topic with the upcoming election.

“This year, we’re uniting to defend our democracy, demand that our leaders hold Trump accountable, protect our planet and fight for our rights. In 2020, we are engaging in targeted actions aimed at those who have attempted to impede our rights, and we are building with those who have always stood by our side,” says Sarah Pearson, co-chair of Women’s March Wisconsin, in a press release.

In December 2019, letters notified more than 200,000 voters that they needed to reregister after a judge in Wisconsin had their names removed because voters may have moved. According to Pearson, voter suppression affects people who live in poor communities and communities of color, along with women’s votes, and can affect the outcome of the upcoming election.

‘Unified Front,’ ‘Clear Focus’ to Preserve Democracy

Shauntay Nelson, the Wisconsin state director of All Voting is Local, says, “This flawed decision unfairly strips away the rights of more than 200,000 Wisconsinites, and it threatens to sow confusion into the electoral process and keep eligible voters from making their voices heard. No eligible voter should ever lose the right to vote, regardless of who they are, where they live or whether they move frequently.” All Voting is Local is campaigning through digital ads and text messages, alerting voters to check their registrations.

“It’s important, now more than ever, to really have a united front and clear focus on what we want to do in 2020 to take back our democracy and preserve it for the next generation,” says Pearson.

The Women’s March is a volunteer organization completely led by women. Working together with other organizations, including Youth Climate Action Team, the organization’s mission is to “harness the political power of a diverse group of women and their communities to create transformative change,” says Pearson.

The organization’s goal is to defeat Trump in 2020, and because every vote counts, Women’s March wants to energize the Milwaukee community against voter suppression. By having learning sessions and phone banks at the upcoming event, any individual can get involved.

“We will continue to be doing a lot of the work that it takes to get those folks back on [voter] rolls and making sure people know that there is an election and turn out for it,” says Pearson.

Because Trump has appointed many judges in the court system, there is “a lot at stake” for women in the upcoming election, according to Pearson. Not only to remove Trump from office, but for example, to also ensure that Roe v. Wade is not taken away.

“We need to spend every moment we possibly can organizing to make sure that the mistakes of 2016 aren’t repeated,” says Pearson.

For more information, visit womensmarchwi.com. Comment at sheperdexpress.com. n 8 | JANUARY 16, 2020

NEWS&VIEWS::TAKINGLIBERTIES

The Most Dangerous Day of Trump’s Presidency ::BY JOEL MCNALLY

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elieve it or not, the most dangerous day of Donald Trump’s presidency wasn’t that day last week when he was stumbling toward World War III by threatening to “HIT VERY FAST AND VERY HARD” 52 high-level Iranian targets, including cultural treasures (which would have been an international war crime), if Iran dared strike back at any American assets in response to Trump’s assassination of Iran’s top military commander.

No, with Trump, the most dangerous day of his presidency is always tomorrow. That’s because absolutely no one, including Trump himself, has any idea what an irrational, unpredictable, impulsively erratic U.S. president might do when he wakes up tomorrow. Anyone who claims to believe otherwise—including every Republican intelligent enough to recognize what a frighteningly uncontrollable man they’ve put in command of the nation’s nuclear arsenal—is delusional. Whatever Trump does will be based on his own overheated brain chemistry at any given moment and not on any thoughtful collective wisdom of well-informed diplomatic and military experts who simply do not exist in the White House of a reckless, bullying president whose go-to move when millions of lives hang in the balance is to spew inflammatory, hateful rhetoric.

For the moment, the immediate threat to our lives seems to have eased temporarily, but only because the actions of Iran, a nation we consider our enemy, were far more responsible on the world stage than those of our own president. Instead of continuing escalating, tit-fortat military strikes with the U.S., Iran chose the symbolic retaliation of firing missiles at a U.S. military base in Iraq after advance warning allowed troops to take cover in bunkers.

Absurd Statement That didn’t prevent Trump from reading an absurd statement from the White House falsely claiming credit for ending the threat of widespread war in the Middle East he began by murdering Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike on the same day as a failed U.S. assassination attempt on another Iranian general in Yemen. Surely I wasn’t the only one to notice Trump appeared to be heavily drugged as he read the statement from a teleprompter in a robotic monotone.

Since then, according to U.S. senators and representatives from both parties, administration officials have held closed-door briefings in which they’ve failed to provide any evidence to support claims by Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo that Iran was planning an “imminent” attack on four embassies—or any specific attack at all—justifying the assassination of its military leaders. Trump’s statement also included the total fabrication that former President Barack Obama’s 2016 multi-national agreement halting Iran’s development of nuclear weapons provided the funds Iran used for the missiles it fired at the U.S. military base in Iraq.

In fact, the consequences of Trump’s attacks against Iran’s military were considerably more dangerous, because Trump had effectively freed Iran to resume developing nuclear weapons by withdrawing from the agreement in 2018. Trump’s now begging the other nations that signed the agreement— Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany—to join him in negotiating a new agreement with Iran. Why would Iran negotiate any agreement with Trump after he’s trashed the one negotiated with the U.S. that Iran was abiding by?

Expecting warfare to follow rules of morality may seem like an oxymoron, but under Trump, the U.S. seems to have adopted a new level of savagery we’ve always condemned when ISIS and the Taliban resort to assassinating the leaders of sovereign nations and threatening civilization’s cultural and artistic treasures.

Trump Makes Us Less Safe Beyond morality, there are practical reasons for the U.S. to act decently in the world.

In a new ABC News/Ipsos national poll, 56% of all Americans, including 57% of political independents, disapproved of Trump’s handling of the Iran conflict for a very good reason: 52% of all Americans said they felt they were less safe as a result. Only 43% of Americans approved of Trump’s actions, and only 25% claimed they felt safer.

Trump has encouraged his supporters to attack any American who criticizes his murder and attempted murder of Iranian military leaders as traitors to their country who “mourn the death of terrorists” instead of mourning with Gold Star families who lose loved ones to terrorism. Trump should be ashamed to promote such a twisted, un-American accusation since he’s the only U.S. politician who has ever been vile enough to publicly attack a Muslim American Gold Star family.

Every time Trump justifies his latest reckless act of inhumanity with ALL CAPS mad ravings on Twitter, it should be another reminder to all Americans how urgent it is to replace him with a competent, decent human being. The sooner that happens, the sooner every American can stop worrying that the nation could be plunged into another endless war tomorrow based on an angry whim and explained away by a pack of lies.

Comment at shepherdexpress.com. n SHEPHERD EXPRESS

::OFFTHECUFF Guaranteeing unemployed and underemployed Americans access to Transitional Jobs, so they can have 40 hours of paid work, if that much isn’t available in the regular labor market.

Raising the minimum wage to $10 per hour, then quickly to $12 per hour, with inflation adjustments.

Strengthening our policies for supplementing earnings—the Earned Income Tax Credit and Child Tax Credit— so full-time work always yields an income way above the poverty line.

Making it easier to form unions and bargain collectively.

Other economic security guarantees are also needed.

They include paid leave, excellent childcare and ensuring that adults with disabilities—as well as retired seniors—get benefits well above the poverty line.

And there’s more: Whether health care is a right or not, it’s a necessity. Every American should have affordable and excellent health insurance, as well as long-term care insurance. With this system of broad-based economic security guarantees in place, we should end means-tested welfare programs. We’ll no longer need TANF, SNAP (food stamps), Medicaid and more.

‘THE CASE FOR A NEW DEAL 3.0’

Off the Cuff with community advocate and author David Riemer ::BY LOUIS G. FORTIS

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avid Riemer graduated from Milwaukee’s Riverside High School. After attending Harvard College and Law School, he returned to Wisconsin in 1975 to serve as legal advisor to Gov. Patrick Lucey. He later held positions with U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy, Mayor John Norquist and Gov. Jim Doyle. In 2004, Riemer ran against Scott Walker for Milwaukee county executive. He served as founding director and senior fellow for the Community Advocates Public Policy Institute. His book, Putting Government in its Place: The Case for a New Deal 3.0, appeared this fall. Off the Cuff sat down with Riemer to ask about his provocative proposals for sweeping change in U.S. domestic policy Much of your book deals with economic insecurity. How bad is the problem?

Economic insecurity is bad and getting worse. The official unemployment rate masks a lot of joblessness. Millions who want jobs don’t get counted as unemployed.

Likewise, if you work just a few hours, you’re not counted as unemployed. In neighborhoods like Milwaukee’s Zip Code 53206, unemployment—and its cousin, underemployment remain pervasive.

What is causing economic insecurity to worsen?

The heart of the problem is the labor market’s shortcomings. Compared to the true number of unemployed adults, the supply of vacant jobs is usually inadequate. An equally serious problem: A huge swath of employees—sometimes with two or three jobs—get paid wages so low they cannot escape poverty, much less earn a comfortable living. Unstable positions and volatile hours compound the problem.

When did America stop making progress?

The mid-1970s. Since then, we’ve made no progress in

David Riemer PHOTO BY ELLIE GRAAN

reducing the poverty rate. It’s no surprise. Men’s earnings since the 1970s have been flat. Women’s earnings have not advanced since 2000. For more than four decades, median income has flatlined.

So, what can we do about it?

We need a sharply different approach. I call it a New Deal 3.0. America needs to greatly strengthen two of the “policy clusters” that emerged from the New Deal: broad-based economic security guarantees and market regulation. We should at the same time eliminate the two other “policy clusters” that the New Deal created: means-tested welfare programs and market manipulation.

Can you spell out in more detail what you’re proposing?

To achieve true economic security, we need to focus on making work available—and making work pay. This means.

You also talk about creating an effective market? What do you mean?

Two fundamental reforms are needed. First, stop corporations from “dumping.” Second, end the costly subsidies that distort the market. To begin with, the U.S. government needs to stop denying climate change. Instead, we should become a leader in stopping and reversing it. Americans likewise deserve water that is always safe to drink. In addition, government needs to do better in safeguarding workers, consumers and investors from damage. Ensuring that corporations stop “dumping,” and instead profit due to their creativity and productivity, will make the market far more effective.

A second requirement is to get rid of the hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies that government doles out. Manipulating the market in order to favor politically preferred types of consumption and investment weakens its effectiveness.

All this sounds wonderful. But in a world of gerrymandering and “dark money,” can we actually make the kind of progress you propose?

It won’t be easy. Change will be incremental. But the Bible tells us that we perish without a vision. As we proceed into the 21st century, it is essential to know where we want to head. My book is meant to be a roadmap that shows the path towards the kind of America we should aim to become.

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::SAVINGOURDEMOCRACY ( JAN. 16 - 22, 2020 ) Shepherd Express serves as a clearinghouse for all activities in the greater Milwaukee area that peacefully push back against discriminatory or authoritarian actions and policies of the Donald Trump regime, as well as highlighting activities that promote social and environmental justice. To submit to this column, please send a brief description of your action, including date and time, to savingourdemocracy@shepex.com.

SATURDAY, JAN. 18

Peace Action of Wisconsin: Stand for Peace @ the corner of Hawley Road and Bluemound Road, noon-1 p.m.

Every Saturday from noon-1 p.m., concerned citizens join with Peace Action of Wisconsin to protest war and literally “Stand for Peace.” Signs will be provided for those who need them. Protesters are encouraged to stick around for conversation and coffee the protest.

2020 Women’s March Wisconsin @ South Division High School Auditorium, 11 a.m.

The Women’s March gathered thousands to show resistance against Trump three years ago in Washington, D.C. Show your support in 2020 by joining the march right here in Milwaukee. Keep an eye on the march’s Facebook page for details.

MKE DSA for Bernie Canvass (South Side) @ Colectivo Coffee, noon-2 p.m.

After a brief training on canvassing, Bernie Sanders supporters will canvass the South Side of Milwaukee and then gather at a volunteer’s house for pizza.

MONDAY, JAN. 20

‘Allied in the Fight’—A Community Free Day @ Jewish Museum Milwaukee (1360 N. Prospect Ave.), 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Admission is free for Milwaukee residents to honor Martin Luther King Jr. Day and to celebrate the civil rights movement with the Jewish Museum Milwaukee’s traveling exhibit, “Allied in the Fight: Jews, Blacks and the Struggle for Civil Rights.” (More below.)

Lunch & Learn: How We Can Answer Dr. King’s Call @ Jewish Museum Milwaukee (1360 N. Prospect Ave.), 11:45 a.m.

A multimedia presentation will explore the hard truths of American history and the steps needed for racial repair. This lunchtime event will be led by Nurturing Diversity Partners, a local equity education firm.

King Day @ The Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center (1531 W. Vliet St.), noon-2 p.m.

Celebrate the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. by enjoying presentations and hearing from guest speaker Rev. Joseph Ellwanger.

Liminal Existences and Migrant Resistance Conference @ Marquette University Graduate School (1324 W. Wisconsin Ave., Room 305), 3 p.m.

Under a theme of transnationalism, migrancy and liminality, community members, students and scholars will examine boundaries affecting society.

TUESDAY, JAN. 21

End Prison Slavery @ Milwaukee Public Library (814 W. Wisconsin Ave., Room 2A), 5-6:30 p.m.

Ask questions and get involved with Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee members who will be researching, writing letters and developing ideas for the Wisconsin prison system.

To submit to this column, please send a brief description of your action, including date and time, to savingourdemocracy@shepex.com. Comment at shepherdexpress.com. n 10 | J A N U A R Y 1 6 , 2 0 2 0

::OUTOFMYMIND

Two Mental Operating Systems ::BY PHILIP CHARD

T

HERE’S NO SUCH THING AS A MONOLITHIC VERSION OF THE SELF; ONE HOMOGENOUS “ME.” Rather, identity is an amalgam, a multi-faceted collection of connected but different personas. In their efforts to conceptualize this scenario, psychologists employ a variety of models depicting how one’s various mental “parts” interact with each other. For instance, we often describe internal conflict as arising from discordant relationships between two or more personas, creating what psychoanalyst R. D. Laing called “the divided self.” In my work with clients, I sometimes utilize a model developed by Daniel Kahneman, a Nobel Prize winner who proposed that each of us possesses two “mental operating systems”—the experiencing self and the remembering self.

The experiencing self is the “you” that becomes immersed in the moment, that directly experiences life through happenings and activities. In contrast, the remembering self looks back on these experiences and, with self-talk, “writes” the narrative of what happened. For example, let’s say you have a verbal dispute with a spouse or partner. While it’s occurring, the arguing becomes an all-in experience that consumes your consciousness. Later, reflecting back on this episode, you begin narrating to yourself the sequence, nature and meaning of what took place, composing a new entry in your personal history.

So, what? Well, research shows these two selves often don’t agree. Over time, the remembering self changes its account of what the experiencing self went through, sometimes embellishing certain aspects while downplaying or ignoring others.

And, each time the remembering self revisits what took place, it tends to modify it further, eventually producing an account that deviates significantly from the experience itself. Psychologists call this confabulation, and it constitutes standard operating procedure in the human psyche.

As children, the experiencing self occupies the majority of mental airtime. However, gradually, as self-awareness increases, the remembering self takes up more and more psychological space, a trend that continues throughout adulthood.

Regardless, the nature and relationship of these two selves has a direct impact on mental well-being.

For one, it shapes how most of us make important decisions. The guiding influence in many of our choices is the remembering self’s account of what happened in the past, one that usually fails to accurately describe prior events. So, we formulate decisions more from these personal historical narratives than from the felt-sense of the experiences themselves. In part, this explains the value of intuition as a decision-making resource. Intuitive reasoning incorporates felt-experiences, body memory and what Gestalt therapists refer to as “organismic wisdom,” meaning it largely arises from the experiencing self.

What’s more, folks beset with obsessive worrying, ruminating, neurotic selfabsorption and regrets usually populate most of their mental airtime with the remembering self, crowding out the experiential awareness that helps us feel truly alive. When one spends more time thinking about one’s life than actually living it, mental well-being suffers. Some therapists describe this as “living above one’s neck.”

To drive home this point, I’ve asked some clients to estimate how much time they spend in a day in each of their respective selves—experiencing and remembering.

Many are surprised to discover how much the latter dominates their consciousness.

Given this, one might resolve to devote more time to experiencing, not to mention taking the remembering self’s subsequent narratives with a large grain of salt.

Sounds good, but one mental health expert offers a thought experiment that shows why this proves more challenging than it seems.

The experiment: You can choose between having a perfect dream vacation that you will not remember (pure experience) or having a mostly good getaway that you will recall entirely (experience plus remembering). As you contemplate this decision, you may also ponder which one of you will decide: the experiencing self or the remembering one?

Tough call, but one that reveals which mental operating system usually runs the show.

For more visit philipchard.com.

SHEPHERD EXPRESS

NEWS&VIEWS::POLL

Poll Results: Last week, we asked you how far you believe our Green Bay Packers will get in the NFL Playoffs.

With a 28-23 win over Seattle, they’ve already surpassed the Divisional Round! You said: n 31% Divisional Round n 35% Conference Championship n 34% Super Bowl LIV

What Do You Say? President Donald Trump said he ordered the killing of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani by U.S. forces because Soleimani was plotting an “imminent attack” and that four American embassies were specifically being targeted by Iran. Do you believe Trump? n Yes n No Vote online at shepherdexpress.com. We’ll publish the results of this poll in next week’s issue.

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J A N U A R Y 1 6 , 2 0 2 0 | 11

::CANNABISCONNECTION THE GO-TO SITE FOR EVERYTHING CANNABIS IN WISCONSIN

We will keep you informed each week about the growing availability of legal cannabis products in Milwaukee and what’s happening at the state level with respect to Wisconsin’s movement towards legalization, what’s happening in other states and in the rest of the world.

Meet Legacy Hemp Agronomist Bryan Parr ::BY SHEILA JULSON

B

ryan Parr is a fourth-generation dairy farmer near La Farge, Wis. Parr has a bachelor’s degree in crop and soil science from UW-Platteville.

As an agronomist for Minnesota-based company Legacy Hemp, he educates farmers in all aspects of industrial hemp production for grain and fiber through educational materials, presentations and conferences.

In 2019, Legacy Hemp contracted with farmers in six states, including a couple in Wisconsin, to grow grain and fiber crops or small test crops. Parr recently shared some observations on the challenges and the supply and demand of growing hemp for both industrial grain and cannabidiol (CBD) in Wisconsin.

When asked about the biggest challenges of growing industrial hemp in Wisconsin, Parr doesn’t hesitate. “This crop—whether growing it for grain or fiber or CBD—does not like wet weather,” he says. “That’s unfortunate, because for the two years that we’ve been able to grow this crop in Wisconsin, that’s the type of weather we’ve had to deal with. It’s difficult for farmers, because they cannot get their work done on time, and it created additional challenges such as weeds and diseases.”

Parr adds that CBD crops fared slightly better. “I grew a crop for CBD on my own farm, and I’d absolutely agree that wet weather was a problem for CBD farmers, as well. The impact on CBD is less than on industrial grain; however, a lot of farmers still had to deal with disease and moldy flowers.” He emphasizes that hemp seeds are very delicate, and if wet weather patterns and heavier rains continue, it will be one of the biggest challenges Wisconsin’s hemp famers will face.

Hemp Not Necessarily a Savior

The majority of farmers growing industrial hemp in Wisconsin want to grow it for CBD and not for industrial grain, Parr observes. “We’re already being oversupplied with CBD. At the Farm Bureau meeting a couple of weeks ago, 10 farmers who were growing hemp for CBD came to our booth. Every single person that we talked to has not sold a single pound of their crop yet, because they cannot find a buyer. We are extremely oversaturated with hemp biomass for CBD.” Might some farmers try hemp fiber and grain instead? “I’m not convinced that farmers growing for CBD will make the transition and grow for grain or fiber. We’re seeing such an interest in farmers wanting to grow CBD because it’s so close to growing marijuana; there’s virtually zero differentiation in growing a plant for CBD versus for a marijuana crop. The only differentiation is by a laboratory test that says that crop is below 0.3% THC,” he explains. “I think some farmers are gearing up for when marijuana is going to be state or federally legal, so they can have the knowledge to jump into that market once it’s available.”

Regarding surplus, Parr also notes that many farmers had the idea that, if they got on the hemp bandwagon first, they would be the ones who would make money. “We have to remember that there were other states that got on that bandwagon first. Wisconsin wasn’t able to grow until 2018—four years after the 2014 federal farm bill allowed that to happen. Farmers in other states have already established a market for this demand.”

He also affirms that there are currently no mechanisms in place to regulate hemp supply and demand. “Every place I go to speak, there’s always a group of new farmers wanting to grow CBD. I think we need to step back and think about this and where this crop is concerned, whether it’s for CBD, grain or fiber. It’s unfortunate that legalization of this crop is coinciding with some of the worst economic times farmers have ever had. A lot of farmers, out of desperation, are looking at hemp to be their savior. There is a growing demand, but it’s far too easy for farmers throughout the country to oversupply,” he concludes. “Overall, I’m very optimistic of the hemp industry, both industrial and CBD, but there’s a lot of risk out there we just don’t know about yet.”

Comment at shepherdexpress.com. n 12 | J A N U A R Y 1 6 , 2 0 2 0

Illinois Marijuana Sales Reach Record Highs ::BY JEAN-GABRIEL FERNANDEZ

A

s soon as Illinois legalized recreational marijuana, hundreds of people braved the January weather to wait in line in front of specialized stores.

One of the very first people past the doors on day one was Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, who bought a tin of edible gummies. In the first five days of legal pot sales, dispensaries have sold more than $10.8 million worth of it, the office of Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced, and more than 270,000 individual purchases were recorded. In just the first day, Illinois weed sales had reached $3.2 million.

These are the highest sales ever recorded for the launch of legal recreational pot in any state thus far.

The only comparable contender is Oregon, which legalized marijuana through an emergency bill one year earlier than initially planned, allowing medical marijuana dispensaries to sell to everyone instead of limiting sales to licensed recreational retail shops. At the time, there were more than 250 medical marijuana dispensaries running in the state, giving Oregon a sharp advantage over Illinois, which only had 37 stores selling recreational marijuana on legalization day. Despite that edge, Oregon saw slightly lower sales than Illinois, reaching the $10.8 million figure in six days rather than five.

Colorado made about $1 million on the first day of recreational sales, Massachusetts made $400,000 and Michigan made $200,000. Exact figures aren’t available, but we know Nevada averaged $1 million a day in sales for the first few days after legalization, and Washington struggled to get sales off the ground at first, despite being a cannabis powerhouse today with more than $1.3 billion in marijuana sales in the fiscal year 2017 alone.

In Alaska and California, the figures aren’t known, but California might be the only state with first-day sales comparable to the massive movements observed in Illinois and Oregon. The other two states to have legalized recreational pot, Maine and Vermont, haven’t started selling it in retail locations yet. Sales are projected to start in March 2020 in Maine, while Vermont hasn’t made the regulated, commercial sale of recreational marijuana legal—although cultivation, consumption and possession were fully legalized through the state’s legislature.

The resounding success of this first week of sales in Illinois is a milestone for the entire country. It shows that, when a state properly rolls out and regulates adult-use marijuana, it can be a resounding success.

Since Illinois taxes marijuana products from 10% to

25% depending on the THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) content, the high sales represent a potentially massive tax revenue for the state. Part of that revenue will be reinvested to support communities that have been negatively impacted by the so-called “War on Drugs.”

To further serve the social justice goal of the legalization bill, Pritzker pardoned more than 11,000 people who had been convicted for cannabis possession the day before the substance went on sale publicly.

Facing Overwhelming Demand

When marijuana becomes freely available for purchase, the first few days are always a rush. Illinois dispensaries had been anticipating shortages for months and stocked up in advance to efficiently face customers’ expectations on legalization day. But even they were taken aback by the overwhelming demand, which forced several stores to suspend their recreational marijuana sales within days until they could restock.

Browsing Chicago-area stores just a week after the initial rush can be disconcerting: “[We are] suspending recreational sales,” says Midway Dispensary; “Adult-use is SOLD OUT,” warns NuMED; “Sold out (check back soon),” adorns most lines of MOCA’s recreational menu. It’s unclear when the products will be back on the shelves.

One of the reasons why adult-use marijuana went out so fast is because the first retail locations allowed to sell it are also medical marijuana dispensaries. It makes sense from a logistical point of view, as they have the necessary experience to handle the products and existing supply lines. However, they are required to keep enough stock for medical marijuana patients, therefore they cannot sell everything they have.

The Chicago Sun-Times noted that dispensaries set limits as to what any one customer is allowed to purchase in an attempt to ration out their stocks. “Demand will continue to increase for the next year-anda-half or two years at least as people enter the market, get more comfortable, the stigma is removed or they sample products while out with other people,” cannabis analyst Andy Seeger told the Sun-Times. “It’s going to be up to supply to really meet that.”

To meet that need, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation will be giving out an additional 75 adult-use cannabis licenses—a large majority of which will be in the ChicagoNaperville area—before May 2020 in order to unclog the market. Licenses will be awarded according to a point system which favors “social-equity applicants,” who will also pay much smaller fees.

Social equity applicants are businesses owned by (or employing) people who were victims of the War on Drugs—whether they were arrested because of cannabis prohibition, lived in a disproportionately impacted area or are related to people who were victims of past policies. This is another way Illinois is making a stand to defend populations living in poor areas, people of color and lifelong marijuana users in order to avoid handing over a budding market that was proven to be immensely profitable to anyone but the ones who deserve it most.

Comment at shepherdexpress.com. n SHEPHERD EXPRESS

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::DININGOUT

DAVE ZYLSTRA

FEATURE | SHORT ORDER | EAT/DRINK

For more Dining, log onto shepherdexpress.com

Chicken and Waffles and Madame Crunch Sandwich

Wonderland Brings a Fun Ride of Flavors to Riverwest

Scratch-made Food in a Comforting Ambiance

Wonderland greets visitors with warm, vintage décor and fun, diner-esque touches, such as an art piece featuring Elsie the Cow (a cartoon cow developed as a mascot for the Borden Dairy Company in 1936). Krause says it was an old enamel sign that came off the side of a Borden truck, and a local artist added neon accents. The two-sided “DINER” sign above the door, which Krause says came from western Pennsylvania, is another Americana gem. ::BY SHEILA JULSON Krause brought in veteran chefs Matt Mudler and Nick Westphal, both of whom had worked at Comet Café and are he late Anthony Bourdain once said, “Your body is not a temple, it’s Riverwest residents. “They were my right hand and left hand an amusement park. Enjoy the ride.” Entrepreneur Don Krause kept on this project,” Krause notes. They started with 12 diner menu that in mind while crafting the concept for Wonderland, his new diner staples and put their own craft spin on them. “We didn’t want to featuring a diverse menu of scratch-made comfort foods. The name is a be restrained by the diner concept, but we wanted it to be our nod to the former Wonderland Amusement Park that operated in Milfoundation for what comfort food is,” Krause says. waukee during the early 1900s, where Hubbard Park is now located.

He assures that nothing, not even sauces or gravy, comes Many people know Krause from Art*Bar, his successful Riverwest from a box or a can. Meats, such as chicken and ham, are roasted establishment. He always wanted to bring food into the Art*Bar experience, and on site, and burgers are made fresh. Vegan options, like lentil in 2007, he learned the owners of neighboring West Bank Café (where Wonderpatties, are homemade. Krause observes that people are makland is now located) had planned to retire. His vision to buy that building was put ing their way around the menu and trying different things each on hold by the ’08 recession, but by spring 2015, the deal had been completed. time they come in. Hits so far include eggs benedict with pulled Then, the renovations began. ham; biscuits and gravy; and chicken and waffles topped with “It was a daunting experience,” Krause reflects. “The building is more jalapeño strips that balance heat with the sweet, salty, savory than 100 years old, and there were major foundation issues.” Throw in a bad and spicy flavor combinations in the dish. renovation job done during the ’70s, outdated plumbing and electricity and Dinner favorites include meatloaf with mashed potatoes and surprises in the upstairs apartments (such as a dumbwaiter hidden behind gravy; there’s also a vegan lentil version served with mashed podrywall) and Krause had his work cut out for him. tatoes made with coconut milk. Their flavorful mushroom gravy is Today, the Wonderland building boasts a new kitchen, all new electrical work, plumbing, used on both vegan and non-vegan dishes. hardwood floors, LED lighting and two modern luxury apartments above the restaurant. “Every Other popular items include the Dream Burger and the Nashville Hot Chicken Sandwich. Wonderland even makes their own hot square inch was redesigned and redone,” Krause emphasizes. A new side room that joins the sauce from roasted peppers ground in a mortar Art*Bar and Wonderland can be used for restaurant overflow or bar events. and pestle. “It has the right amount of kick,” Krause After four years of construction—along with an arduous process of legally Wonderland remarks. “If you’re going to make something and joining two buildings together for licensing, tax and insurance purposes— 732 E. Burleigh St. call it spicy, you’d better make the person cry a little Krause opened Wonderland’s doors on Tuesday, Oct. 1. “Now it’s done, and 414-372-7880 • $$ bit, otherwise you’re just teasing them.” we can move on with the creative side, which is feeding people.”

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DININGOUT::SHORTORDER

Juana Taco Co.

TACOS AND MORE at JUANA TACO CO. ::BY JAMIE LEE RAKE

One of Milwaukee’s newest places for Mexican street food is the latest vendor at the Crossroads Collective (2238 N. Farwell Ave.). Alongside its namesake fare, Juana Taco Co. offers chips with salsa and pico de gallo or guacamole, quesadillas and a corn, mayonnaise, lime, cheese and pepper combo called elote. As for Juana’s tacos, the ones made for all-day breakfasting are a good place to get an idea of chef Enrique Morales’ creativity. The “No Meat, Please” variation features grilled fajita vegetable strips and potato pieces blanketed in a piquant chipotle sauce on a choice of flour or corn tortilla. On the opposite side of the herbivore-omnivore divide is the “Juanito’s Way” taco: Steak, guacamole, cheese, pico de gallo and fried eggs mingle for a satisfyingly complex combination of flavors and textures in a compact package that equals the meatless morning option. Three-course meals for kids and a bevy of Mexican sodas and horchata may be had as well.

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DININGOUT::EATDRINK COURTESY OF MILTOWN EATS

Miltown Eats Offers a Local, Sustainable Approach to Meal Kits ::BY SHEILA JULSON

M

iltown Eats, which was launched this past October by Yulia Koltun and her friend, Jon Marrone, puts a local spin on meal kit delivery services. Miltown Eats sources ingredients by Milwaukee- and Wisconsin-based businesses and uses reusable, insulated tote bags for delivery, thus eliminating excess cardboard boxes and insulation.

The concept began with Isthmus Eats, a separate entity founded by Marrone in 2018.

Marrone, who loves to cook, had first tried Plated brand meal kit delivery service in 2015.

Although he liked the ease and convenience of meal kits, he had noticed how much excessive packaging was left over. He came up with the concept for Isthmus Eats, which scaled down the service area and handled delivery directly,

Miltown Eats Meal Kit

rather than using Fed Ex or United Parcel Services (UPS). He also created a reusable insulated tote bag with ice packs that are swapped out and reused to deliver meal kits to customers.

Marrone and Koltun, who lives in Milwaukee, became friends when they worked together at a software company in Madison. They discussed Isthmus Eats and knew the concept could also work in Milwaukee. Koltun had also studied nutrition and has an appreciation for local foods.

Miltown Eats menus are leveraged from the recipe data base from Isthmus Eats. Marrone sources recipes from cookbooks, customers submissions and local restaurants. He personally tests each one in his home kitchen before

putting it on the menu. Menus change weekly, recent examples include: jalapeño onion cheeseburger with zucchini fries; collard greens pasta with toasted pine nuts and lemon garlic sauce; or tempeh tacos with tomatoes and serrano pepper. There are three vegetarian options and three meals with meat.

Customers can let Miltown Eats know if they have food allergies or dietary preferences, and ingredients can be swapped out. All ingredients including the food, spices and oils are provided (except for olive oil, salt and pepper). The website displays icons on the recipe selection page that indicate if any special equipment is needed, such as a food processor or an immersion blender.

Most of the meat used in Miltown Eats comes from Kettle Range Meat Company, which sources from their network of local farms that raise grass-fed, antibiotic-free meat. Bread comes from North Shore Boulangerie, and eggs are from a farm in Whitewater, Wis. Koltun hopes to establish partnerships with local produce vendors this coming season.

Customers can go to miltowneats.com or download the app to sign up for service. They are then directed through a simple three-step sign up process. Customers can choose from either two or four serving meal plans and select how many meals they want delivered each week. Meal kits can be delivered to homes or workplaces within Milwaukee County.

“The process itself is similar to a lot of national brands like Hello Fresh, but what we hope we do better is to offer customized meals for folks with allergies or special needs,” Koltun says.

“We really pride ourselves on the fact that we’re local, and we reduce our carbon footprint with reusable totes and hand-deliver them, which also helps us keep prices lower.”

Convenience is one of the biggest factors driving the popularity of meal kits, but Marrone cites other benefits: Meal kits provide nearly all food ingredients that the customer would need, in the exact quantities, so there’s virtually no food waste. It also allows customers to try new ingredients or cuisines. Because customers receive ingredients to make just two or four servings, the kits also offer portion control.

I’ve been a fan of the Shepherd my entire adult

life and have read every issue for 20 years. It is my “go to” source for local news. When I opened my eco-friendly restaurant, I knew that the readers of the Shepherd were like-minded people, so I knew that they would be the right audience. Being on the Riverwest neighborhood page has given me great exposure.

– Michael Allen Owner

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THE SHEPHERD EXPRESS’ FUTURE OPEN LETTER TO OUR SHEPHERD EXPRESS READERS WE WANT YOU TO BE INVOLVED LOUIS G. FORTIS, EDITOR/PUBLISHER Dear Readers, For the past 37 years, the Shepherd Express has provided our community with a free weekly newspaper. We have been accurate, honest, informative and courageous even when it cost us advertisers and distribution locations. We never shied away from taking on difficult and often controversial issues. We always advocated for fairness and social justice.

We view our readers as smart, and we hire writers who write to a smart audience without talking down to anyone. We work to support progressive efforts by our city, county and state, and confront the ridiculous, self-serving, corrupt, or politically motivated actions of our elected officials or corporate leaders. The Shepherd continues to support policies, programs, organizations, and businesses that help Milwaukee shift to a modern, interesting, exciting and forward-looking city.

IMPACT IN MILWAUKEE

Many nonprofit organizations, with their heroic missions, say that their coverage in the Shepherd helped them survive by putting their accomplishments in front of our readers. Many restaurants will tell you that it was a Shepherd review that kept them in business and in some cases enabled them to become Milwaukee institutions. We strongly support our local nonprofit organizations and small businesses because it is those entities that give Milwaukee real character and make it a great place to live, work and play.

Over 30 years ago, for example, the Shepherd was the first to promote LGBTQ personals. This may sound trivial today, but the response we got was swift and nasty with a lot of threatening phone calls, loss of several advertisers, and an even larger number of distribution points. We never backed down. For the past five years, our annual LGBTQ Progress Awards have recognized the courageous individuals who literally risked their lives to fight for LGBTQ social justice back in the day.

TOUGH TIMES

We all know that it’s been tough times for media companies, especially daily newspapers. We have seen the once-locally owned Journal Sentinel sold three times in the past few years. Just recently, Gannett which owns the Journal Sentinel finalized its sale to GateHouse Media, which will manage the newspaper under the Gannett name. Gannett had cut and downsized every aspect of the newspaper and now GateHouse is talking about more dramatic cost savings. This out-of-state corporate ownership has left the Shepherd Express not only Milwaukee’s largest locally owned newspaper, but Wisconsin’s largest. The Journal Sentinel has gone from printing over 300,000 daily papers to what we have been told is now approximately 75,000 for the entire state.

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Years ago, I was a Wisconsin State Representative from Milwaukee and at that time, we had two fine daily newspapers, the Milwaukee Journal, the afternoon paper, and the Milwaukee Sentinel, the morning paper. They competed and as a result, Milwaukeeans were getting good news coverage.

As GateHouse Media takes control of the Journal Sentinel, everyone is bracing themselves for the cuts to come. And last year, after almost 10 years in business, the Wisconsin Gazette closed its doors.

In summary, it’s just a tough world out there for media companies.

WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT TO YOU?

Newspapers are important to a community and play a unique role in building a “sense of community” in the areas they represent. Newspapers are tangible and seen by virtually everyone, everyday whether they are reading it or not. Newspapers have survived the coming of radio, television and now the internet. Facebook and Google have done an amazing job selling the story that “print is dead” and that Facebook and Google are the only way to go for advertising. However, studies show that print is still one of the top two or three most effective vehicles for advertising, but the Facebook/Google myth lives on.

Actions, however, are more genuine than propaganda. When Facebook had to apologize to the public, Mark Zuckerberg took out full page ads in newspapers because he knew they were effective.

When MillerCoors wanted to fight back against the attack ad Budweiser ran on the 2019 Super Bowl Sunday, MillerCoors immediately took out full page newspaper ads. And interestingly, Amazon, the king of online commerce sent out a printed catalog through the U.S. Mail this current holiday season to boost their sales. Finally, the richest guy in the world, Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos, bought a newspaper company and fought to keep the Washington Post in his divorce settlement.

NO PLANS TO QUIT

Despite the complexity of the newspaper world, the Shepherd Express has no plans to quit. Our readership has remained high and stable. We continue to print somewhere between 52,000 and 54,000 depending on whether the universities are in session.

We are distributed in over 1,300 locations in the five-county area. We provide good jobs to Milwaukee by paying fair salaries and providing health insurance and an employer-matched retirement plan.

So how does a locally owned media company survive in the world of Facebook and Google and the predatory corporate media conglomerates? With the help from you, our readers.

FILLING THE GAPS

Our goal is to continue to grow the Shepherd, and to try to fill some of the gaps left by the cut backs of the corporate owned daily paper. The Shepherd is a Milwaukee institution and it plays a vital role in our community. I hear that every day from different individuals—loyal readers, advertisers, business owners and nonprofit directors saying how the Shepherd has helped them and helps Milwaukee. Now is an opportunity for you to directly help the Shepherd Express better serve Milwaukee. We love this city and all the people and institutions that make it great.

Let me assure you that we have not been sitting on our hands. Like all other successful news weeklies from around the U.S., the Shepherd Express has diversified its income stream. For example, we have quadrupled the resources we put into our website to build one of the most dynamic, effective, user friendly and fastest growing news websites in Wisconsin. We have also followed the trend of our sister alternative weeklies by building an events division that hosts a dozen popular events each year. And like other successful news weeklies, we are now launching a membership group, the Friends of the Shepherd Express, to actively involve and engage our supportive readers. Together a locally owned, community focused, media company can and will continue to grow.

WHAT THE MEMBERSHIP ENABLES

Your memberships will enable us to hire additional reporters, take on more complex investigative projects and most importantly do much more neighborhood news coverage. But more importantly, your membership will help keep a locally owned, independent, free newspaper speaking truth to power.

Thomas Jefferson’s famous quote says it all, if he had to choose between, “a government without newspapers or newspapers without government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter”.

So, if you believe it is important to have a local voice holding institutions and the powerful accountable, please join the Friends of the Shepherd Express.

We also want your input to help us keep the Shepherd Express one of the country’s top news weeklies and the indefatigable voice of progressive social and cultural perspectives in the Milwaukee area. Be part of one of the institutions that makes our community great. Please join us in this endeavor.

Sincerely,

Editor/Publisher

SHEPHERD EXPRESS

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::A&E

Brought to you by The Milwaukee Art Museum

FEATURE | FILM | THEATRE | ART | BOOKS | CLASSICAL MUSIC | DANCE Though some of these museums will be closed on Monday, Jan. 20 (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day), the Wisconsin Black Historical Society-Museum will be open with free admission to celebrate “King Fest” from noon-4 p.m. There are plenty of other events planned as well. The Harley-Davidson Museum will also be open on the 20th, offering free admission for those 18 and under with the purchase of an adult ticket, according to the museum’s Tim McCormack.

On Tuesday, Jan. 21, there will be a special program at the Harley-Davidson Museum that’s included with the price of admission. It’s called “Museum Mystory: Dial M for Motorcycle,” says McCormack, which he describes as “an interactive adventure story inside the museum” where visitors can then “follow cryptic clues, solve puzzles and uncover a mystery through this fun hunt through museum galleries.”

If you’re looking for something that involves storytelling and actual drawing, the Milwaukee Art Museum (MAM) has just the event. “On Jan. 18 and 25, we will be hosting Story Time in the galleries, where kids and families can hear a story related to a work of art in the museum and then make a drawing inspired by what they have seen and heard,” explains Alana Andrysczyk, MAM’s manager of visitor services. Those looking to get in some physical relaxation during Milwaukee Museum Week can come to MAM for yoga on Saturday, Jan. 25, at 8:15 a.m.

DAVE ZYLSTRA

Milwaukee Museum Week Opens Doors to Tours, Workshops and More ::BY HARRY CHERKINIAN

ith winter finally deciding to show up, now is a good time to consider indoor activities such as visiting museums. Perhaps the weather is good timing for Milwaukee Museum Week, which is now in its second year.

The citywide event continues to grow with more participants and events.

“One of the biggest changes to the week is that it’s two weekends long,” says Mame McCully, executive director of the Milwaukee County Historical Society and “organizer-in-chief of the event.”“This is our version of a week, so there are two more days of Museum Week fun this year,” she says.

The fun includes numerous activities at the 17 participating museums, which feature programs, tours, workshops, new exhibits and collaborations among them. The museums featured this year are as follows: Jewish Museum Milwaukee Milwaukee Art Museum Milwaukee County Historical Society Milwaukee Public Museum Mitchell Park Domes North Point Lighthouse Pabst Mansion Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum Wisconsin Black Historical Society-Museum

‘A Gentle Kick in the Pants to Get Out and Explore’

PHOTOS COURTESY OF MILWAUKEE MUSEUM WEEK

Betty Brinn Children’s Museum Brew City MKE Beer Museum Charles Allis Art Museum Chudnow Museum of Yesteryear Discovery World Grohmann Museum Haggerty Museum of Art at Marquette University Harley-Davidson Museum

Betty Brinn Children’s Museum

Jewish Museum Milwaukee

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Discovery World

One of the biggest benefits of Milwaukee Museum Week is the Member Swap Day, where visitors who are members of designated participating museums can visit free of charge on Sunday, Jan. 26. Just show your membership card and a photo ID at the admissions desk.

Museums participating in Member Swap Day include the Milwaukee Public Museum, Betty Brinn Children’s Museum, Charles Allis Art Museum and Villa Terrace Art Museum.

Harley-Davidson Museum’s McCormack notes that a number of new visitors attended last year’s inaugural event which then contributed to an increase in museums collaborating with one another this past year; it also saw more locals visiting as well.

“Milwaukeeans often take for granted the many worldclass institutions that are found in our own backyard,” McCormack says, adding, “so we hope that Milwaukee Museum Week provides a gentle kick in the pants to get out and explore a new museum, gallery or other participating organization that you haven’t visited or maybe haven’t visited in some time.”

McCully echoes similar sentiments. “Milwaukee’s museums are places for the entire community, and there is something to interest everyone. Our hope is that people come out, learn about museums they didn’t know before or visit ones they haven’t been to in a while.”

With two weekends bookending Milwaukee Museum Week 2020, there’s even more time to see more museums—and thereby to learn more about Milwaukee’s past, present and future.

Milwaukee Museum Week runs Jan. 18-26 at 17 participating museums. Events are open to all ages. For more information, call 414-403-4344 or visit: mkemuseumweek.org.

SHEPHERD EXPRESS

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::PERFORMINGARTSWEEK For More to Do, visit shepherdexpress.com

THEATRE

Chasin’ Dem Blues: Untold Story of Paramount Records

This revival of a Milwaukee Repertory Theater premiere (previously titled Grafton City Blues) explores the inspiring story of the founding of Paramount Records—a label associated with jazz and R&B—in the unlikeliest of places: tiny, white-bread Grafton, Wis. For a few brief, bright years at the height of the jazz and blues age, Paramount Records was the leading label for recording artists of color in the Midwest, and the label broke down small-town racial barriers along the way. Artists such as Louis Armstrong, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Alberta Hunter and Ma Rainey all recorded there. This exuberant musical celebration of some of the greatest jazz and blues music features four quadruplethreat performers guiding the journey through story and song. This musical—written, choreographed and directed by Kevin Ramsay—features Brandin Jay as Blue, Maiesha McQueen as Queen, Eric Noden as Harp and James Scheider as Professor. (John Jahn) Jan. 17-Mar. 22 in the Stackner Cabaret of the Patty & Jay Baker Theater Complex, 108 E. Wells St. For tickets, call 414-224-9490 or visit milwaukeerep.com.

The Marvelous Wonderettes

It’s Springfield High School’s 1958 prom where we meet Betty Jean, Cindy Lou, Missy and Suzy—four girls with hopes and dreams as big as their crinoline skirts. As we learn about their lives and loves, the girls break into classic ’50s and early ’60s pop hits, including “Lollipop,”“Dream Lover,”“Stupid Cupid” and “Lipstick on Your Collar.” In its second act, we find the Wonderettes reuniting to take the stage and perform at their 10-year high school reunion.

Originating at the Milwaukee Repertory Theater, this nostalgic jukebox musical has entertained audiences off-Broadway and around the country for 20 years; it hereby makes its Sunset Playhouse debut in a production directed by Becky Spice and with musical direction by Paula Foley Tillen. For those old enough, it promises to be a musical trip down memory lane; for those who didn’t live through the era, it’s a history lesson in the sights, sounds and milieu their parents or grandparents enjoyed. (John Jahn) Jan. 16-Feb. 1 in Furlan Auditorium, 700 Wall St., Elm Grove, Wisc. For tickets, call 262-7824430 or visit sunsetplayhouse.com.

CLASSICALMUSIC

“Happy 250th Birthday, Beethoven!”

The next Wisconsin Philharmonic concert, billed a “Janboree Family Concert,” pays homage to the fact that 2020 marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of Ludwig van Beethoven, one of classical music’s giants (and my personal favorite, incidentally). The concert is presented as one of many events in this year’s Waukesha Janboree, billed as “Wisconsin’s premier winter festival” (for more information, visit janboree.org). it’s a decidedly family friendly affair, with the concert offering free admission to children, an instrument petting zoo and other fun pre-concert activities, as well as post-concert birthday cake.

The all-Beethoven program includes his Sonata for Piano and French Horn (viola transcription), featuring violist Fitz Gary, and the Septet in E-Flat Major, Op.70. “This will be a special performance of the Beethoven Septet, inspired by Arturo Toscanini’s arrangement of the work which uses an extended string section, as well as the addition of flute, oboe and trumpet parts,” explains the Philharmonic’s Ashley Rewolinski. (John Jahn) Saturday, Jan. 18, at 3 p.m. in St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, 300 Carroll St., Waukesha. For tickets, call 262-547-1858 or visit wisphil.org.

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SHEPHERD EXPRESS

PAUL RUFFOLO

A&E::INREVIEW

‘Arnie, the Doughnut’ Is a Treat for the Whole Family ::BY JEAN-GABRIEL FERNANDEZ

First Stage’s ‘The Snowy Day’

Snowballs and Snow Angels at First Stage ::BY ANNE SIEGEL

A

S MILWAUKEE DRIFTS BACK INTO WINTER MODE, with snow in the forecast for many days ahead, First Stage reminds us of how glorious a winter day can be for young children.

The company’s production of The Snowy Day and Other Stories, based on the 1963 Caldecott Medalwinning book by acclaimed author and illustrator Ezra Jack Keats, opened last weekend in the Milwaukee Youth Center. The books’ stage adaptation was written by Jerome Hairston.

The play is aimed at very young audiences (ages 3-7) who will no doubt identify with Peter (Carson Presley in the Plow cast). Peter is eager to zip into his snowsuit and explore the great outdoors. The tale begins with throwing snowballs, making snow angels,

building a snowman, and Peter crunching fresh snow beneath his boots. The story follows him as he grows older and, eventually, learns to whistle for his dog.

Ultimately, Peter writes an invitation to Amy (Avana Kelly) to his upcoming birthday party. His main companion is Archie (John W. Daniels IV), who provides some of the show’s more comic moments.

The adults in the cast (doubling in several roles) include Krystal Drake and Austin Nelson Jr. Working under the harmonious direction of Samantha Montgomery and Kat Wodtke, the cast offers an excellent introduction to theater for young audiences, as First Steps productions are geared to do.

Keats not only wrote enchanting tales, but he’s also remembered for being among the first to introduce children of color as main characters in children’s literature. The play certainly captivated the young audience members observed by this reviewer with its blend of live action, singing and shadow puppetry. Fifty minutes long with no intermission, Snowy Day is timed for the attention span of its audience, and it makes adults wish that they were kids again—to go out and enjoy the wonder that snow brings to our world.

Through Feb. 9 in the Milwaukee Youth Arts Center, 325 W. Walnut St.

O

ne more weekend is left in the run of Marquette Theatre’s kids-friendly play, Arnie, the Doughnut. In one hour without intermission, Marquette student actors put on a dancing and singing show that feels as if it stepped right out of the pages of a children’s book; everything is age-appropriate and cartoony in nature. Performances start at 2:30 p.m. on weekend days and tickets cost $12 to make this an affordable afternoon outing with the kids and a perfect introduction to the performing arts.

Arnie, the Doughnut is adapted from Laurie Keller’s book of the same name, which tells the adorably whimsical story of a freshly baked, chocolate-glazed doughnut with rainbow sprinkles named Arnie. Joining his cohorts of powdered doughnuts, jelly treats and French pastries, Arnie is overflowing with candor, only wishing to become the best doughnut he can possibly be. When he is bought by the kind and cautious Mr. Bing (Will Knox), whose life is ruled by the tyrannical, unpleasant Mrs. Plute (Agnes Connolly), it is up to Arnie to teach the residents of the Cozy Confines Condo Community how to have fun.

The first thing one notices when seeing Arnie, the Doughnut are the costumes: rotund doughnuts worn over a black outfit to signify the characters are actual, sentient foodstuff. Despite the cumbersome-looking costumes, Kaden Moss, who plays Arnie, is a light-footed dancer who will certainly wow the children in attendance with his acrobatics; he is so nimble, he looks like he doesn’t weigh anything at all. Katie Dickey and Johannah Lee round out the cast as additional doughnuts, as human neighbors and even as doughnut holes—cute, little balls of fuzz who sing the choral parts of the half-dozen musical numbers of the play.

The cast may be small, but it manages to feel like a crowd inhabiting the colorful universe where Arnie takes place.

In the end, this bite-sized show is a real treat. It is a healthy blend of important lessons for the kids, with music and dance baked into a wholesome story enjoyable by all, parents included. When the final song comes to an end, bringing a whole new meaning to “playing with your food,” the audience is left craving more of the sunshiny goodness this play is made of.

Through Jan. 18-19 at 2:30 p.m. at Helfaer Theatre, 1304 W. Clybourn St.

G

::BY RUSS BICKERSTAFF

lossy glam metal melds with musical theater onstage as Greendale Community Theatre presents Rock of Ages. A band of five backs up a large-cast tribute to ’80s rock ’n’ roll that was given a marathon workout on pop radio over the course of the decade. A fast-moving period drama is wallpapered by a big array of screens in a stage fusion with music video visuals set in Hollywood at the end of an era. The aggressive, pounding pulse of heavy pop rock muffles-out in a splashy, campy musical theater format.

Under the direction of Brian Bzdawka, passionate rock energy is shot into the production by an ensemble featuring beautiful badass Rae Elizabeth Paré, technically precise Stephanie Staszak and plenty of other attitude around the edges of the action.

Briana Lipor is endearing as a small-town girl living in a lonely world. As the story opens, she takes a midnight train to Los Angeles. There, she runs into an aspiring rocker named Drew, who gets her a job at the bar where he works. Eric Bergendahl has a humble, earthy, rock-and-roll quality as a city boy born and raised in South Detroit. The central romance between Lipor and Bergendahl is simple and sweet. The two go through minor complications and misunderstandings that twist through old, familiar rock hits that are capably brought to the stage. A subplot involving a rock venue threatened with closure adds a little bit to the drama of that romance. Justin Spanbauer periodically brings music and story together as a witty, somewhat addled, fourth-wall-breaking narrator.

Through Jan. 18 at Greendale High School’s Reiman Family Arts Wing, 6801 Southway.

SHEPHERD EXPRESS

HAYLEE BAILY

‘Rock of Ages’a Tribute to ’80s Attitude

Greendale Community Theatre’s ‘Rock of Ages’

J A N U A R Y 1 6 , 2 0 2 0 | 25

A&E::VISUALART

SPONSORED BY

OPENINGS: January Gallery Night & Day Jan. 17-18 • Various locations

Gallery Night & Day is the principal art event in Milwaukee for gallery hopping and art viewing, showcasing some 50 venues throughout the city’s thriving neighborhoods and buzzing Downtown. As the event’s website states: “This free, two-day art event offers you the opportunity to buy original art, dine in outstanding restaurants and shop in unique boutiques.” For more information—including a complete list of participating venues—visit gallerynightmke.com.

“On the Nature of Wisconsin”

Jan. 17-Mar. 20 The Warehouse • 1635 W. St. Paul Ave.

Installation views of “Playing House” at St. Kate

Two Artists ‘Playing House’ at the St. Kate ::BY SHANE MCADAMS

C

uratorial decision-making often goes unnoticed in the endeavor of art appreciation. As much as artists would sometimes like it to be otherwise, how one feels about a work of art is inevitably dependent on external variables and relationships. Keeping all these variables and the work itself in a healthy state of equilibrium is difficult.

Which is why the current exhibition at St. Kate—The Arts Hotel, “Playing House,” is so compelling—compliments to St. Kate’s curator, Maureen Ragalie. It’s a modest show, with only 10 pieces in the small gallery, but it feels bigger than the space it’s in. The show pairs the work of Michelle Grabner and Lois Bielefeld, who each maintain sophisticated and mature studio practices. Any assortment of either’s work would be illuminating, but in tandem, they slingshot each other into another dimension.

Using very different artistic strategies, Grabner and Bielefeld ply the conceptual territory of domestic activity.

Grabner, a painter and sculptor, looks to process, material transformation and symbolic form, while Bielefeld’s work is rooted in narrative, cinematic photography. A large arrangement of 18 of Grabner’s grid-like paintings initially seems interested in abstract geometries. They could very easily read as a group of autonomous paintings. Those possibilities end quickly, however, as one absorbs Bielefeld’s wonderful photographs of American domesticity nearby. When this takes place, Grabner’s checked imagery identifies itself as gingham patterning rather than hermetic geometry, and it lurches from the neo-Platonic plasma right onto the paleo-modern picnic table. It also underscores the painterliness and materiality of her canvases, or burlaps, as it were. They possess something 26 | S AT U R D AY 1 6 , 2 0 2 0

of Agnes Martin’s within-the-lines skewedness, which invests them with unexpected presence. Each painting employs an ever-so-slightly different color palette, and the bands of color are soft-edged and anti-mechanical.

This handmade quality suggests (and becomes an analog for) traditional notions of female domestic labor, such as stitching, embroidery and sewing.

Mysterious and Complex Bielefeld’s photographs are more than foils for Grabner’s paintings; they are mysterious and complex compositions that consider rituals, roles, identity and performance.

They also deconstruct the act of image-making itself. It is somewhat unclear initially whether her photographic scenes are documentary snapshots or staged events. But clues soon emerge. In a work titled Jackie, Lydia, and Lois, the artist makes a cameo, cooking in a gingham shirt while Lydia and Jackie vacuum and schlep laundry. Alone, each individual character appears natural enough, but as a group, they seem a little out of sequence. In fact, this scene is staged for the sake of art, and in doing so, it connects dramatic to social role playing and ritual to performance.

Naya, Darell, and Annie, another photograph set in a kitchen, also features three figures frozen in domestic action. One is preparing to walk a dog, another tends to an electric mixer, and a third, the only man, carries groceries though a door. One giveaway that this is fiction is the discreteness of each individual’s role. As in many of the photographs, the acts performed are categorically distinct and identifiable by name, which stands as a measure and a statement about their social conventionality.

Filling out the exhibition, Grabner offers several untitled bronzed objects that bridge the gap between cinematic narrative and abstract motif. Casting an egg carton and a baking pan in a historically elevated alloy exults those mundane objects traditionally associated with subordinated roles and labor. It’s such a simple and elegant way to invert the meaning freighted by such symbolic objects. The decision to pair Grabner and Bielefeld’s work is also simple and elegant… and admirable: It’s a rare and restrained curatorial decision to ensure the whole exceeds the sum of the individual artists’ work without sacrificing individual moments or spot-lighting the organizing hand behind the scenes.

“On the Nature of Wisconsin” is The Warehouse’s first art exhibition to feature only artists who were either born in or have spent significant portions of their lives in our state. The exhibition’s opening reception features guest educators from the Schlitz Audubon Nature Center, as well as sculptor Bill Reid with a pop-up exhibition. Featuring works from the gallery’s permanent collection, “On the Nature of Wisconsin” celebrates our artists and their relationship with the natural world of the Badger State. For more information, call 414-2520677 or visit thewarehousemke.org.

“Toward the Texture of Knowing”

Jan. 17-May 24 Haggerty Museum of Art • 1234 W. Tory Hill St.

“Toward the Texture of Knowing” exhibits artists, including Felix Gonzales-Torres and Rachel Rose, who have engaged in slow and intentional examinations of everyday points of contact—with people, emotions, time and the world—as sites of curiosity and impact.

Several different programs will be presented throughout the coming months in conjunction with “Toward the Texture of Knowing,” thereby making the museum a place for reflection, contemplative practice and mindfulness. Best of all, every program is free, open to the public and takes place in a single location: the Haggerty Museum of Art. For more information, call 414288-1669 or visit marquette.edu/haggerty.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day Gallery Talk with Dr. Cedric Burrows

Monday, Jan. 20, at 2 p.m.

Haggerty Museum of Art • 1234 W. Tory Hill St.

During Milwaukee Museum Week, the Haggerty is exhibiting Joel Sternfeld’s photograph, The National Civil Rights Museum, formerly the Lorrain Motel, 450 Mulberry St., Memphis, Tenn., August 1993. On hand will be Dr. Cedric Burrows to discuss this photograph in the context of Martin Luther King Jr.’s legacy. Burrows is an assistant professor of English at Marquette University; his dissertation, “(Re)Reading Readers: The Construction of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X in Composition Textbooks,” investigated how both King and Malcolm X have been anthologized in first-year writing textbooks. For more information, call 414-2881669 or visit marquette.edu/haggerty.

SHEPHERD EXPRESS

2020 Wisconsin Artists

Biennial

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Opening Party Saturday, January 25

By Madeleine L’Engle, adapted by John Glore

View a juried selection of 42

A Wrinkle in Time is produced by special arrangement with Crosswicks, Ltd. and Stage Partners. (www.yourstagepartners.com)

works by 39 contemporary Wisconsin artists.

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle © 1962 Crosswicks, Ltd. All rights Reserved.

JANUARY 24 – FEBRUARY 23, 2020 SUGGESTED FOR FAMILIES WITH YOUNG PEOPLE AGES 8 – 17+

FirstStage.org/wrinkle

205 Veterans Avenue, West Bend | wisconsinart.org/biennial

Sponsored by:

Martha J. Coaty, Geometry, Photograph, 2019

OPENING EVENT JANUARY 23 · 7PM

© the Galicia Jewish Museum

presentation by the Director of the Galicia Jewish Museum

U.S.

PREMIERE

Thank you to our generous major donors:

Koret Foundation, Anonymous Individual, Bader Philanthropies, Harri Hoffmann Family Foundation SHEPHERD EXPRESS

January 24 – May 17, 2020 Created by the Galicia Jewish Museum Kraków, Poland

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COURTESY OF UNIVERSAL

A&E::FILM

‘1917’

‘1917’ a Long Shot in No Man’s Land

W

AN EVENING THAT SOUNDS AS GOOD AS IT TASTES

FEBRUARY 6TH

THE IVY HOUSE

TICKETS AT RADIOMILWAUKEE.ORG/SOUNDBITES 28 | J A N U A R Y 1 6 , 2 0 2 0

::BY DAVID LUHRSSEN

ar is never pleasant, but advance toward the camera in the opening scene, war was seldom bloodi- passing through their encampment and stepping er than the conflict that down into trenches reinforced by timber and dragged on across both sandbags. Schofield and Blake turn at an interends of Europe from section in the network of trenches and the cam1914 to 1918. World War I was a stubborn era follows into a dark dugout where the general struggle of national egotism with morally blind hands them their orders. The camera races ahead leaders playing chess with millions of lives. The and then moves alongside as they carry out his trench warfare on the Western Front was espe- instructions, scrambling over the high top of a cially appalling. Both the Allies and the Germans trench and into the nightmare of No Man’s Land.

The apocalyptic landscape is exceptionwere willing to lose tens of thousands of men to ally well detailed. Flies swarm over horses gain 10 yards of mud.

Writer-director Sam Mendes (Skyfall) was with twisted Guernica mouths, dead men inspired to make the Golden Globe-winning are impaled on barbed wire, fat rats scamper 1917 by the war stories told by his grandfather. through an abandoned enemy dugout, and In 1917, two British soldiers, Schofield (George lurid fires burn at night. Embedded in the MacKay) and Blake (Dean-Charles Chapman), hardened dirt walls of the shell craters are the are dispatched on a dangerous mission. Their faces of the dead, buried alive. Sounds are task is to deliver an order to a frontline regiment acutely handled—the slosh of boots on slippoised to attack the ostensibly retreating Ger- pery mud surfaces and the dull clunk of heavy mans. However, aerial reconnaissance reveals rifles and kits at close quarters.

Eventually, the realism is that the Germans have set a trap. dampened by too many adThe order: Cancel the attack!

1917 ventures in No Man’s Land.

The clock is ticking, and zero Halfway through, 1917 starts to hour is only a day away.

George MacKay resemble a video game whose During World War I, radios Dean-Charles avatars must find their way out were rare and telephone lines Chapman of a labyrinth where a new danwere easily cut. Runners reDirected by ger lurks at every turn. ally did deliver orders by hand to Sam Mendes Unlike, say, the guys in Savforward positions, but few mesRated R ing Private Ryan, Schofield and sengers were as hard pressed as Blake don’t have time for sentiSchofield and Blake. They emmental soliloquies. And yet, as bark on an odyssey across No Man’s Land, trying to reach their destination be- the odyssey continues, just enough of their character and back story emerges. Visually, they look fore it’s too late and more lives are squandered.

1917 contains some of the most graphically like figures from a century-old motion picture realistic depictions of the Western Front ever shot during the war. The cynicism, anger, detercommitted to a feature film. Part of the audi- mination and camaraderie of frontline soldiers is ence’s immersion results from Mendes’ decision caught in many small scenes, It’s a testimony to Mendes’ reputation that to film 1917 as if in in one long, continuous shot.

With the edits between scenes invisible, 1917 ap- Colin Firth and Benedict Cumberbatch agreed to pears to unfold in real time. Schofield and Blake play cameo parts as British officers.

SHEPHERD EXPRESS

[ FILM CLIPS ] Bad Boys for Life R Set 17 years after the previous Bad Boys, Detective Mike Lowrey (Will Smith) recklessly maneuvers his sports car while his partner and passenger, Inspector Marcus Burnett (Martin Lawrence), loudly objects and claims his impending retirement can’t come soon enough. However, he’s forced to postpone leaving after the pair is targeted for assassination by the brother of an arch enemy. Constant bickering between their characters ratchets up the comic friction supporting this franchise. Can the magic continue for these middle-aged cops? Famously directing the original and its sequel, Michael Bay said this one’s $90 million budget precluded his customary salary. However, if number three makes bank, he’ll come out of retirement for number four. (Lisa Miller)

Dolittle PG In the wake of his wife’s death, Dr. Dolittle (Robert Downey Jr.) has become a recluse, holing up in his country cottage with a menagerie of animals—all of whom he converses with. Then, the doctor is summoned by a critically ill Queen Victoria (Jessie Buckley), who begs him to collect a rare medicine located on a faraway, exotic island. The melancholy doctor undertakes this lifesaving journey with several of his best animal friends and a human youngster (Harry Collett), in tow. They help the doctor regain his mojo. Too bad the film suffers from a ridiculous case of serious-itis. Once filming wrapped, frantic rewrites required 21 days of re-shoots that have done little to improve the outcome, including a batch of unconvincing CGI animals and flaws enhanced in IMAX. (L.M.)

Underwater PG-13 A crew of oceanographers travel seven miles into the depths for a drilling expedition. Soon, their massive underwater dwelling and workstation is attacked by creatures unknown. Unable to escape in their wrecked pods, the crew suits up for a nearly impossible walk across the ocean floor, hoping to reach the nearest station. You may not recognize Kristen Stewart, who opted for a bleached blonde, crew-cut hairdo, calling it a practical hair style for the ship’s mechanical engineer she plays. (L.M.)

[ HOME MOVIES / NOW STREAMING ] n The Limits of Control (ARROW ACADEMY)

The unnamed assassin (Isaac de Bankolé) is unblinking and unmoved by anything except paintings (he visits museums) and music (he listens).

Writer-director Jim Jarmusch’s The Limits of Control (2009) is an enigmatic composition in color, sound and silence. Cinematic and philosophical allusions abound in a film that’s more about perception than assassination.

As one character says, “Reflection is more present than the thing being reflected.” The cast includes Tilda Swinton, Bill Murray and John Hurt.

n Voice of the Eagle: The Enigma of Robbie Basho (MVD VISUAL)

Guitarist Robbie Basho didn’t fit with the folkies for his raga-like tunings; wasn’t comfortable with the hippies; when he went Native American the Natives weren’t impressed with his music; he ended in the New Age bin without finding an audience. Voice of the Eagle explores the life of a brilliant, spiritual, troubled musician who sought his own way. Pete Townshend and other interviewees describe him as a man out of time. His best recordings are transcendent.

n Slaughterhouse-Five (ARROW VIDEO) Nowadays we’d diagnose Billy Pilgrim as having post-traumatic stress disorder. However, Pilgrim (Michael Sacks) endures the unique symptom of being unstuck in time and space, detouring backward as a World War II POW and forward to an alien planet. Director George Roy Hill brings easy sophistication to most scenes and segues in his 1972 adaptation of Kurt Vonnegut’s novel. War’s absurdity is well represented within the sciencefiction frame. Best recommendation: Vonnegut liked the film. n Joan the Maid (COHEN FILM COLLECTION)

Joan of Arc endures as a legendary subject for filmmakers—and not only in France but Hollywood and elsewhere. French New Wave director Jacques Rivette’s Joan the Maid (1994), released on a two-disc Blu-ray, is a sparsely written yet detailed chronicle, epic in scale yet focused on small moments. The beautiful cinematography is arranged in meaningful compositions as if in a sequence of paintings. Sandrine Bonnaire plays Joan like an earnest college student on a mission.

—David Luhrssen

SHEPHERD EXPRESS

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A&E::BOOKS

BOOK|PREVIEW

When the ‘Green Book’ was Vital for Black Travelers ::BY JENNI HERRICK

R

oad tripping in America has not been easy for all Americans.

For African American travelers, the Green Book was a vital resource that allowed them to pass safely across America and avoid dangerous racial hatred and violence. The Green Book (also known as The Negro Motorist Green Book and The Negro Travelers’ Green Book) was published annually from 1936-1966 to assist black travelers in identifying welcoming accommodations, restaurants, and local businesses in otherwise hostile Jim Crow communities and the thousands of “sundown” communities across America that restricted African Americans after sundown.

It took courage for businesses to list their establishments in the Green Book and visual artist Candacy Taylor celebrates these brave proprietors in her aptly titled new book, Overground Railroad: The Green Book and the Roots of Black Travel in America. Taylor is a multidisciplinary cultural documentarian whose research on the Green Book exists not only in captivating book form but also as a Smithsonian traveling exhibit that will be on display across the United States for the next three years. Taylor has been researching the Green Book since 2013 and has cataloged nearly 10,000 Green Book listings and photographed more than 170 Green Book properties, many of which are included in this fascinating collection.

Milwaukee will mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day by welcoming the award-winning artist Candacy Taylor to America’s Black Holocaust Museum (401 W. North Ave.) on Monday, Jan. 20 at 5:30 p.m. Her talk, which is co-sponsored by Boswell Book Co., is free and open to the public but pre-registration is requested. Attendees have the option of upgrading their registration to include a hardcover copy of Overground Railroad at a special price.

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SHEPHERD EXPRESS

::HEARMEOUT ASK RUTHIE | UPCOMING EVENTS | PAUL MASTERSON

::ASKRUTHIE SPONSORED BY

WINNER OF THE JEWELERS OF AMERICA’S 2019 CASE AWARD

LISTEN TO YOUR GUT Dear Ruthie,

I’ve having sexual fantasies where I’m being somewhat abused by a group of men. I’m getting close to making this fantasy a reality, but I can’t shake the feeling that, in doing so, I’m putting myself in danger. Should I suck it up and make the fantasy come true and hope that nothing harmful will happen to me, or am I acting crazy and truly putting myself at risk to be hurt, robbed, etc.?

What Do You Think?

Gary Gang Banger

Dear Slut,

Your message doesn’t go into specifics where your fantasy is concerned, but I think I got the general picture (and it’s a messy one). That said, I can’t truly assess the harm you may be putting yourself in; however, you might want to pump the breaks on this for a bit.

You have an intuition for a reason, honey.

If your gut is telling you this isn’t a good idea, that’s a good sign to rethink your plans. I noticed that you didn’t say the fantasy made you feel nervous, self-conscious or guilty. You

said it made you feel as though you were “in danger,” and that’s not a good sign. Listen to your gut here, doll face. When your gut is telling you that something is “off” or that it’s a bad situation to be in, then go with that feeling and listen to what your body is telling you.

Remember that fantasies are just that. They are not all meant to come true, particularly when they might lead to harming someone— including you! This isn’t to say that, eventually, you may find a safe, healthy way to make your naughty dreams come true, but for now, listen to your gut, sugar.

Dear Ruthie, My husband and I are recent empty nesters. I want to downsize, sell our large house and move into something smaller. He does not. How can we meet in the middle?

Have a Good Day, Mamma Hen Dear Mom, I’m not sure how you can meet in the middle but start by going shopping—house shopping!

Decide what your budget would be for a new home, then spend a day seeing what your money would buy (and where). You might be surprised (i.e. disappointed) at your options, or you might be excited by the new possibilities. Ask him to give this exercise a shot. If nothing else, it will lead to a discussion about moving and could reset everyone’s ideas about the future.

::RUTHIE’SSOCIALCALENDAR Jan. 16—Opening Night of ‘The Marvelous Wonderettes’ at Sunset Playhouse (700 Wall St., Elm Grove): When four girlfriends prepare for their 1958 prom, we get to enjoy their antics with this delightful jukebox musical. Celebrate several hits of the ’50s and ’60s, in addition the magic of girl groups, during the 14-performance run. Grab your crinoline skirts, tease your hair and nab your tickets at sunsetplayhoues.com.

Jan. 18—‘Dining with the Divas’ at Hamburger Mary’s (730 S. Fifth St.): See why these drag revues are consistently rated best in Brew Town when you attend one of two fast and fun shows. Enjoy the 7:30 p.m. all-ages show or swing by the 21+ only performance at 9:30 p.m. (or stay for both!). Call early, as the gals usually sell out both performances (414-4882555).

Jan. 19—Sunday Funday Bar Crawl at This Is It! (418 E. Wells St.): Make it a Sunday SHEPHERD EXPRESS

Funday for the books when you hop aboard the This Is It party bus! Purchase your $15 ticket at thisisitbar.ticketleap.com then arrive at the bar by 1 p.m. The bus leaves sharply at 1:30 p.m., before stopping at five Downtown Milwaukee watering holes.

Tickets include a T-shirt, free drinks, drink specials and more.

Jan. 19—Drag Queen Storytime at Colectivo (2301 S. Kinnickinnic Ave.): Grab the kiddies and treat them to a 2 p.m. hour of fun when the city’s favorite drag queens read books about empowerment, equality and compassion. The afternoon is free to attend, but 10% of all food and beverage purchases will go toward local LGBTQ charities.

Jan. 20—‘Loud & Queer: Kevin Kantor Poetry’ at Nō Studios Gallery (1037 W. McKinley Ave.): Meet actor Kevin Kantor (The Legend of Georgia McBride) for a 6 p.m. presentation of poetry and song. Joined by

::MYLGBTQ

Point of View

From the Barricades to Wedding Expos: A Look at LGBTQ Marriage Equality ::BY PAUL MASTERSON

B

ack in 1996, an episode of the sitcom “Friends” featured the character Phoebe possessed by the spirit of a little old Jewish lady, Mrs. Adelman. Apparently, she refused to leave the earthly realm until she had “seen everything.” Phoebe and friends then attend a lesbian wedding and, inevitably, Mrs. Adelman blurts out, “Now I’ve seen everything!” and disappears.

A decade later, Wisconsin battled with its conscience over the definition of marriage. With less than 50% of Wisconsinites supporting marriage equality, voters passed a referendum to amend the state constitution to define marriage as a union of one man and one woman. It also made illegal any other approximation of that union.

In reaction, a photo show portraying committed same-sex couples was supposed to serve as a campaign to depict LGBTQ people as just as mundane as straight people when it came to living up to American family values. The study in sameness set its subjects on patios, in gardens, on tidy suburban streets and in the Wisconsin prairie. Most featured the couples with babies, pets and extended families, while others stood against

musician Matt Rodin, Kantor offers an evening of inspirational art free to the public.

Drinks and food are available for purchase.

Visit community.nostudios.com for more information.

Jan. 21—Best of Milwaukee 2019 Party at Potawatomi Hotel & Casino (1721 W. Canal St.): Shepherd Express awards the best the city has to offer in food, service, entertainment and more with this annual celebration. Mix and mingle with the finalists during this 5-8 p.m. bash that keeps the city talking for many months. Cash bars and food vendors add to the fun, in addition to live music, free appetizers and more. Tickets are not available at the door, so be sure to swing by shepherdtickets.com for you $25 pass now!

Ask Ruthie a question or share your events with her at dearruthie@shepex.com. Follow her on Instagram @ruthiekeester and Facebook at Dear Ruthie. Enjoy her campy reality show, Camp Wannakiki, Season Two, on YouTube. Comment at shepherdexpress.com. n

backgrounds of a church or a patriotic flag. It was too little, too late. Cream City Foundation, as well as Diverse & Resilient, would lobby for the LGBTQ cause with their respective Gay Neighbors and Acceptance Journeys campaigns. Still, it would take several more years for the U.S. Supreme Court to finally establish same-sex marriage as a constitutional right in 2014.

Law of the Land

Since then, marriage equality became the law of the land. In Wisconsin, the vast majority now support it. Save for Republicans and other random rabid zealots still throwing up obstacles to the pursuit of LGBTQ marital happiness, the institution is well established. In fact, Milwaukee’s annual wedding expo, “Love is Love: An LGBT and Allies Wedding Showcase,” is just around the corner. It takes place on Thursday, Jan. 23, and will feature a wide array of vendors catering to the matrimonial needs of same-sex couples.

The first event of its kind took place in November 2014, just a month after marriage equality was made law. At the time, several dozen businesses set up to pitch their services to couples with matrimony on their minds. Projections were that the same-sex wedding industry would generate $34 million annually.

It caught on. According to the 2010 Census, there were more than 9,000 married LGBTQ couples in Wisconsin. Of those, 20% had children younger than 18. No doubt that number has increased accordingly. It should be reflected in the 2020 Census (providing questions regarding the LGBTQ population are included).

Meanwhile, for most married LGBTQs, life is as typical as that of straights. Social media provides a window into their daily joys and frustrations that are far from those “now I’ve seen everything” moments—like coping with the ritual of dropping the kids off at school and the impatience with the parent (straight or otherwise) who manages to discombobulate the process.

To accommodate the needs of the LGBTQ people who are married with children, there’s Miltown LGBT Families; and Cream City Foundation is hosting a “Healthy Families, Healthy Communities” conference on Friday, Jan. 31.

This was not the stuff of LGBTQ conversation just a decade ago.

Comment at shepherdexpress.com. n

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J A N U A R Y 1 6 , 2 0 2 0 | 31

::MUSIC

For more MUSIC, log onto shepherdexpress.com

FEATURE | ALBUM REVIEWS | CONCERT REVIEWS | LOCAL MUSIC

Return to the Studio

Jon Langford and Sally Timms

Red Alert!

Mekon Members in Walker’s Point

::BY ANDY TURNER

id you hear the one about two Mekons coming to Milwaukee? That’s right. Jon Langford and Sally Timms, Chicago residents and members of the legendary English post-punk group, are headed to town as a duo.

Langford says the smaller configuration makes “economic sense for us” especially considering the Mekons are an eight-piece collective living all over the world. Listening to their work together outside the Mekons, you’ll find it also makes artistic sense.

They paired most prominently on 2000’s Songs of False Values and High Hopes, a well-received EP that appeared on Chicago’s Bloodshot Records and Shock Records in Australia. The effort leads off with the lovely, Timms sung “Horses,” a song cowritten by Timms and Langford along with auxiliary Mekon Brendan Croker that has also been recorded by Will Oldham, Chris Mills and others.

Timms’ last solo album, 2004’s In the World of Him on Touch & Go, featured mostly songs written by men and sung from men’s perspectives, including the memorable dark lead-off track, “Sentimental Marching Song,” penned by Langford.

AllMusic’s Thom Jurek called the album Timms’ masterpiece: “skeletal, slightly out of kilter, timeless, eerie, and utterly beautiful.”

Yet another notable Timms/Langford pairing is on The Executioner’s Last Songs, a collection of murder ballads by the Pine Valley Cosmonauts, on which they team to tear up Lonesome Bob’s deadly “The Plans We Made.”

For their shows together, the duo will be joined by guitarist John Szymanski, who also performs with Langford as part of the Four Lost Souls, a Chicago-based group that also includes Tawny Newsome and Bethany Thomas, and one that plans to record a new album in March, says Langford. Szymanski’s presence will be very helpful, says Langford. “Sally doesn’t play an instrument, and I play guitar like a drummer,” he says.

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The Mekons returned to action in 2019 after an eight-year absence from the studio. Deserted, the group’s 22nd album, recorded in a studio outside of the Joshua Tree National Park, received great notice far and wide. Timms’ filmmaking talents are displayed on the fantastically atmospheric video for one of the album’s standout tracks, “How Many Stars?”

“It was a no-budget video,” Langford says. “We like those.”

It’s quite likely the Mekons’ next effort will take much less time to appear. The band plans to meet up in Valencia, Spain, in April to record—and vacation, one benefit of band members living far apart.

“We are all on different continents, so it doesn’t matter where we get together,” Langford says.

A 2013 documentary about the band, Revenge of the Mekons, was the start of a “regeneration” for the Mekons, according to Langford. The documentary by Joe Angio covered the history of the band from the Mekons’ start in 1977 in Leeds, England.

Even though he didn’t really enjoy being documented, Langford says it’s a great introduction to the band. The documentary is not pointless, he explained, but one that shows a band’s rise and fall amid forays into debauchery.

“It’s more of a road map of a band with a different way of working,” he says. “One that doesn’t play by the rules or cow down to the industry.”

The documentary continues to win the group new fans and has life beyond its initial release; Langford says he was invited in 2019 to attend of a showing of Revenge of the Mekons at a film festival in Holland.

Langford recently participated on Bloodshot’s 25th anniversary compilation, Too Late to Pray: Defiant Chicago Roots, with Jon Langford’s Hillbilly Lovechild, which included Steve Albini.

He used the same moniJon ker for Bloodshot’s very Langford first release, For a Life of and Sin, in 1994 on his classic “Over the Cliff.”

Sally Tims For the recent compilaSaturday, tion, Langford’s “I’m a Big Jan. 18, 8 p.m.

Town” pays tribute to his Anodyne adopted hometown of Coffee Chicago. It was a song he had been unable to finish for some time, but Hillbilly Lovechild brought it to life with a “noise-punk meet country” approach. “Once I thought about it in that context, it made sense,” he says.

Langford’s other longtime musical partner, Dean “Deano” Schlabowske, a West Allis resident and fellow Waco Brother, will also perform at the show.

Jon Langford and Sally Timms with Deano Schlabowske perform at Anodyne Coffee Walker’s Point Roastery, 224 W. Bruce St., on Saturday, Jan. 18, at 8 p.m.

SHEPHERD EXPRESS

::THISWEEKINMILWAUKEE

THURSDAY, JAN. 16

Armillaria w/ Tony Catania Trio @ Woodland Pattern Book Center, 7 p.m.

Formations is a monthly music series dedicated to fostering the growth of new and improvised music. Armillaria (Eli Smith and Lonnie Martin) started playing freely improvised music, slowly accumulating instruments like autoharp, experimentally tuned acoustic guitars, found objects and cello. The nature of their music is continually in flux, orbiting between warped psych-folk implosions, ethereal vocal dialogues, colorific atonal diffusions and droning ambient sounds. The Tony Catania Trio includes Catania on tenor sax, bassist Barry Clark and drummer Devin Drobka.

Rhonda Jean—Unplugged @ Rock Country MKE, 7 p.m.

Rhonda Jean’s debut unplugged show at Rock Country MKE features the music of this seasoned singer-songwriter and member of That’s What She Said.

1/16 RB Vic 1/23 Nile Nile

FRIDAY, JAN. 17

The Nightinjails, Roxie Beane and Ted Hajnasiewicz @ Riverwest Public House Cooperative, 6 p.m.

A triple bill of talent featuring Milwaukee duo the Nightinjails, the acoustic funk-rock of Roxie Beane and Americana sounds of Minneapolis singer-songwriter Ted Hajnasiewicz.

Sally Rogers and Claudia Schmidt @ Unitarian Church, 7:30 p.m.

Sally Rogers performs traditional, contemporary and original ballads and songs interwoven with stories taken from her life as a performer, a wife and a mother. Much of the material performed by Sally includes compositions of her own, many of which are considered classics of the folk and popular genres.

“Creative noisemaker” Claudia Schmidt may be from Michigan, but anyone who has experienced one of her live performances knows that the stage is her natural habitat. Claudia has recorded 14 albums, participated in the delightful Les Blank movie, Gap-Toothed Women, performed on Public Radio International’s “A Prairie Home Companion,” but her craft is at its best in live performances where she mines the humor and poignancy of our lives and shapes it into a one-woman revitalization movement. Expect anything at a Schmidt concert: a hymn, poem, bawdy verse, torch song, satire and the gamut of emotions.

Garcia Peoples w/ Kendra Amalie @ The Back Room at Colectivo, 8 p.m.

A pleasant surprise at last year’s Milwaukee Psych Fest, consider Garcia Peoples to be your heady, friendly reminder that it’s Garcia Peoples BY ETHAN COVEY alright to let the sunshine in. The band’s latest album, Natural Facts, is an emerging conversation, with songs and structures drawing from musicians who cross Garcia Peoples’ collective transom. The classic rock guitarists of yore might be obvious subsequent touchstones, but bend your ear and newer colors emerge.

SATURDAY, JAN. 18

Bobby Broom Trio @ The Jazz Estate, 8 p.m.

In a career spanning three decades, guitarist Bobby Broom has embodied the truism that it’s the player, not the tune, that makes for a memorable performance in jazz. After years as an elite sideman with the likes of Sonny Rollins, Stanley Turrentine and Dr. John, Broom reintroduced himself to the jazz world with Stand! (2001), a brilliant foray into the pop music he grew up hearing in the 1960s and ’70s. Subsequent releases demonstrate a keen ear for rarely played material, a gift for composing evocative tunes and impressive facility with the knotty rhythmic puzzles of Thelonious Monk, which is what makes his album, My Shining Hour, such an unexpected revelation.

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C E L E B R AT E M I LWA U K E E ’ S S E CO N D A N N U A L M U S E U M W E E K

JANUARY 18-26

2020

Immerse yourself in art, science, technology and history as you explore some of Milwaukee’s greatest cultural assets – our museums.

MORE THAN 100 PROGRAMS/EVENTS WILL BE OFFERED PARTICIPATING MUSEUMS:

Betty Brinn Museum • Charles Allis Art Museum Chudnow Museum of Yesteryear Discovery World • Grohmann Museum Haggerty Museum of Art at Marquette University Harley-Davidson Museum • Jewish Museum Milwaukee Milwaukee Art Museum • Milwaukee County Historical Society Milwaukee Public Museum • Mitchell Park Domes • The Pabst Mansion North Point Lighthouse • Villa Terrace Decorative Arts Museum The Warehouse • Wisconsin Black Historical Society/ Museum S E E A F U L L S C H E D U L E O F AC T I V I T I E S AT M K E M U S E U M W E E K .O R G

SHEPHERD EXPRESS

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::NATIONALACT

::CONCERTREVIEW

L

BLAINE SCHULTZ

‘Yesterday and Today’ Puts A Personal Twist on Beatles Tribute

::BY MICHAEL PFLUGHOEFT

ast year, Elton John, Bob Seger and we’ll be playing on any given night,” Billy McGuigan Fleetwood Mac played to capacity crowds says. “We randomly pick three songs to get the show at the Fiserv Forum. Paul McCartney did rolling and put the rest in a basket. We can do any songs the same at the Kohl Center and Lambeau from any era at any time—we will do something off the Field. There’s an almost insatiable demand White Album, then play ‘Love Me Do’ and then play among music fans, both old and new, to see live per- their most obscure song—all with personal connections formances from the classic artists that shaped the rock to the audience attached.”

Those personal connections to the songs drive the landscape from the ’60s through the ’80s. Unfortunately, show. many of those artists can’t or don’t play live anymore.

“I’ll pull a name and then ask the person to share the So, as the most transcendent artists of the past few generations settle into retirement, professional tribute reason behind why they love a particular song, so it’s bands are working to meet that demand. There are hun- about more than how well we play the music or what we dreds of talented musicians touring the country offering look like,” McGuigan says.

“When someone shares a very personal story as to live concert experiences for fans of bands that no longer exist or no longer tour. From ABBA, Pink Floyd and why they love a particular song—it kind of brings evQueen to Genesis and Led Zeppelin—many of these erybody together. You begin to celebrate whatever that tribute bands have earned respect by providing high- person’s reason is—whether it be funny or poignant— quality live experiences that draw large crowds from and that takes place throughout the whole night. It’s the existing fan bases and from younger fans that never had coolest thing.”

Not only does the format make for an interesting way the opportunity to see the original bands in their heyday.

Many tribute acts not only do their best to sound like to engage the audience, it keeps the band on their toes the band—but work to look just like the band they are as well. “Over thousands of performances, we’ve never come close to playing the same show twice. paying tribute to. Not so with “Yesterday We’re never in a rut—we’re invigorated,” and Today—The Interactive Beatles ExperiMcGuigan says. ence,” which stops at Vogel Hall in the MarBilly “We’ll play any Beatles song on the cus Performing Arts Center on Saturday, McGuigan spot—the setlists are unbelievable—they’re Jan. 25. all over the place. We get requests for everyYesterday Billy McGuigan and his brother Matthew thing, from the obscure like ‘You Know My started playing Beatles songs as kids and and Today Name, (Look Up the Number)’ to ‘Yellow have turned their love of the Fab Four’s muSaturday, Submarine,’ ‘Her Majesty,’ ‘Hey Bulldog’ sic into a career. This is their 12th year doing Jan. 25, and everything in between.” a Beatles tribute, one that takes a slightly dif7:30 p.m.

That musical variety and the interactive ferent approach to a tribute show.

Vogel Hall personal connection component of their No wigs, no accents—the brothers and shows sets Yesterday and Today apart. the rest of the band do not try to imperson“Over the past 12 years, we’ve fought ate John, Paul, George and Ringo, but rather, honor the music and memories that people have attached through people telling us ‘we want the people in the wigs,’ but what this show has shown us and why it’s to the legendary songs.

Yesterday and Today takes audience requests (on growing in popularity is that there’s a heart to it that cards) before the show and at intermission, which deter- those other shows just can’t get, because they’re tied to mine the setlist; no two shows are ever the same. And it’s costumes.”

7:30 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 25, at the Marcus Center for more than just a request. They ask the requestor to share their personal connection to the song they’d like to hear. the Performing Arts’s Vogel Hall, 929 N. Water St. For “We love the high-wire nature of not knowing what tickets, visit marcuscenter.org or call 414-273-7206.

The Hi-Jivers

The Hi-Jivers Reward Fans Braving the Weather ::BY BLAINE SCHULTZ

COURTESY OF MCPAMARKETING

W

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ithout so much as a word of introduction, the Hi-Jivers launched into their first tune Saturday night at the Pabst Milwaukee Brewery & Taproom. Dawna Zahn’ s “don’t mess with me” vocals set the tone for a blast furnace of a performance and got the crowd moving and dancing, while the winter snowstorm canceled other shows around town.

The Nashville quartet’s set offered a master-level class in the music that turned into what came to be known as rock ’n’ roll. Mixed among original tunes, they covered Wynonie Harris and Howlin’ Wolf.

Building on a rhythm section not afraid to swing (upright bassist Hank Miles and the very musical Jason Smay on drums and maracas), guitarist Austin John subtly displayed a cupboard overflowing with a vocabulary of R&B and vintage blues licks from Buddy Guy to Hubert Sumlin. John’s tasteful solos were here and gone, fitting the songs like a glove.

Zahn’s growling vocals on “Get My Way” found the sonic sweet spot between bass and guitar. The band also acknowledged their influences with a slinky, imaginative, Latin-tinged take on Big Joe Williams’ “Baby, Please Don’t Go” that could have been an Otis Rush outtake.

Grooves ranged from the good-time sound of Slim Harpo’s “Shake Your Hips,” to the clear-eyed moan of “Death Letter Blues” by Son House, the latter of which includes the lyric: “I grabbed up my suitcase, and I took off down the road, but when I got there, she was already layin’ on a coolin’ board.” Toward the end of the evening, Zahn sang “I’m Gonna Miss You Like the Devil.” The mid-tempo burner served as an invitation for the band to return to Milwaukee.

Openers The Grovelers set the bar high with a collection of songs that wallowed in the outré regions of rockabilly.

SHEPHERD EXPRESS

MUSIC::LISTINGS To list your event, go to shepherdexpress.com/events and click submit an event

THURSDAY, JANUARY 16

Cafe Carpe (Fort Atkinson), New Pioneers Caroline’s Jazz Club, Milwaukee Hot Club Clarke Hotel (Waukesha), Ginni & JoAnna Marie (6pm) County Clare Irish Inn & Pub, Acoustic Irish Folk w/Barry Dodd Jazz Estate, Eric Jacobson Trio: The Music of Herbie Hancock “Fingerpaintings” Kochanski’s Concertina Beer Hall, Roadhouse Rave-Up Open Jam Linneman’s Riverwest Inn, Acoustic Open Stage w/feature (sign-up 7:30pm, start 8pm) Mason Street Grill, Mark Thierfelder Jazz Trio (5:30pm) McAuliffe’s On The Square (Racine), Open Mic Night O’Donoghues Irish Pub (Elm Grove), The AllStar SuperBand (6pm) Potawatomi Hotel & Casino, In Bar 360: Woodland Groove Rock Country MKE, Rhonda Jean - Unplugged Rounding Third Bar and Grill, World’s Funniest Free Comedy Show Sazzy B (Kenosha), Gypsy Jazz Sheryl’s Club 175 (Slinger), Acoustic Jam w/ Milwaukee Mike & Downtown Julius The Packing House, Barbara Stephan & Peter Mac (6pm) Transfer Pizzeria Café, Martini Jazz Lounge: Manty Ellis Trio Turner Hall Ballroom, Doughboys Podcast Up & Under, No Vacancy Comedy Open Mic Nite

FRIDAY, JANUARY 17

American Legion Post #399 (Okauchee), Danny Moore Boogie Woogie Flu American Legion Post #449 (Brookfield), Larry Lynne Band (6:30pm) Blu Milwaukee, Paul Silbergleit Bremen Cafe, DubNDoom Cactus Club, JORDY Cafe Carpe (Fort Atkinson), Rachel Kilgour Caroline’s Jazz Club, Sam Belton Jazz Experience Circle-A Cafe, Alive at Eight: CRLSS w/Cabin Essence (8pm), DJ: DJ Dolls (10pm) ComedySportz, ComedySportz Milwaukee!

Company Brewing, The First Wave County Clare Irish Inn & Pub, Traditional Irish Ceilidh Session Crush Wine Bar (Waukesha), Kirsten Grace Iron Mike’s (Franklin), Friday Jam Session w/ Steve Nitros & the Liquor Salesmen J&B’s Blue Ribbon Bar and Grill, Pat McCurdy Jazz Estate, Bonifas Electric Band Kim’s Lakeside (Pewaukee), Sleepy Andy & the Nite Shift Band Lakefront Brewery, Brewhaus Polka Kings (5:30pm) Los Mariachis Mexican Restaurant, The Jammers Mamie’s, Stone Jam Band Mason Street Grill, Phil Seed Trio (6pm) Nice Ash Cigar Bar (Waukesha), Jude and The Acousti-Dudes Orson’s Saloon (Cudahy), Open Mic Cudahy w/Sunday Drivers Pabst Theater, Black Pumas w/Seratones Potawatomi Hotel & Casino, In Bar 360: Rudy ’N Vee Red Rock Saloon, Martin McDaniel SHEPHERD EXPRESS

Riverside Theater, Criss Angel RAW - The Mindfreak Unplugged Riverwest Public House Cooperative, The Nightinjails w/Roxie Beane & Ted Hajnasiewicz Rock Country MKE, Brecken Miles Shank Hall, Lil’ Ed and the Blues Imperials The Back Room @ Colectivo, Garcia Peoples w/Kendra Amalie The Laughing Tap, Chastity Washington The Packing House, Carmen Nickerson & The Carmen Sutra Trio (6:30pm) Unitarian Church North, Wisconsin Singer/ Songwriter Series presents: Claudia Scmidt & Sally Rogers Up & Under, Tacoma WA Weekday Club w/ Whiskey and the Devil

SATURDAY, JANUARY 18

American Legion Post #449 (Brookfield), The Ricochettes Anodyne Coffee Roasting Co. (Walker’s Point), Jon Langford and Sally Timms w/Deano Schlabowske (Waco Brothers) Cactus Club, Poetry Happy Hour w/host Bethany Price & art by Liv (3pm) Caroline’s Jazz Club, The Paul Spencer Band Circle-A Cafe, Alive at Eight: Brat Sounds w/ Man Random (8pm), DJ: WarLock (10pm) Club Garibaldi’s, Modern Day Coma Cd release show ComedySportz, ComedySportz Milwaukee!

County Clare Inn and Pub, Ian Gould Crush Wine Bar (Muskego), David “Harmonica” Miller Quartet w/Joe Turano, Mike Cascio & Hal Miller Cue Club of Wisconsin (Waukesha), Crossfire Delavan Lake Store, Aaron Kelly Jazz Estate, Bobby Broom Trio (8pm), Late Night Session: Neil Davis Trio (11:30pm) Linneman’s Riverwest Inn, The Jack Reed Group w/The Young Revelators MOTOR Bar & Restaurant, Bulleit Bourbon Presents BBQ & Blues: The Incorruptibles (5:30pm) Mason Street Grill, Jonathan Wade Trio (6pm) Matty’s Bar & Grille (New Berlin), Joe Kadlec Pabst Milwaukee Brewery & Taproom, Easy Like Saturday Afternoons w/Eoin McCarthy (2pm) Pistol Pete’s, Mt. Olive Potawatomi Hotel & Casino, In Bar 360: Xeno & Joe Red, White and Brews, Matt MF Tyner Reefpoint Brew House (Racine), Steve Watts Riverside Theater, The Princess Bride: An Inconceivable Evening with Cary Elwes Rock Country MKE, Category X Shank Hall, Animation (A Tribute to RUSH), In The Flesh (Pink Floyd tribute) The Back Room @ Colectivo, Chris Fleming The Cheel / The Baaree (Thiensville), Mighty Miss Erica & The Sound Production The Coffee House, Lil Rev w/Ally Borchardt (R05ARY) The Laughing Tap, Chastity Washington The Rustic Pub (Delavan), Karen Shook Up & Under, Soulfoot Mombits

SUNDAY, JANUARY 19

Cactus Club, Armon Hassan w/Day Tvvo, Oriisdead, Nik Voyn, Midsummer & Blind

::ALBUMS Circle-A Cafe, Alive at Eight: Flood Trio w/J.P. Spencer (8pm), DJ: John Riepenhoff & Sara Caron (10pm) Iron Mike’s (Franklin), Sunday Jam w/Rockbound (4pm) J&B’s Blue Ribbon Bar and Grill, The Players Jam Roma’s Ristorante & Lounge (East Troy), Tom Sorce Rounding Third Bar and Grill, The Dangerously Strong Comedy Open Mic Union Park Tavern (Kenosha), Cy’s Piano Jam (4pm)

MONDAY, JANUARY 20

Linneman’s Riverwest Inn, Poet’s Monday w/ host Timothy Kloss & featured reader Jorge Vallentine (sign-up 7:30pm, 8-11pm) Mason Street Grill, Joel Burt Duo (5:30pm) Paulie’s Pub and Eatery, Open Jam w/hosts Josh Becker, Annie Buege, Ally Hart or Marr’lo Parada Up & Under, Open Mic

TUESDAY, JANUARY 21

Brewtown Eatery, Blues & Jazz Jam w/Jeff Stoll, Joe Zarcone & David “Harmonica” Miller (6pm) JC’S Pub, Open Mic w/host Audio is Rehab Jazz Estate, Funk Night with Jack Reed Jazz Gallery Center for the Arts / Riverwest Artists Association, Tuesday Night Jazz Jam Kochanski’s Concertina Beer Hall, Throwing Spaghetti w/Rich Hoffman Mamie’s, Open Blues Jam w/Marvelous Mack Mason Street Grill, Jamie Breiwick Group (5:30pm) McAuliffe’s (Racine), The Parkside Reunion Big Band Potawatomi Hotel & Casino, In Bar 360: Al White (4pm) Station No. 6, The Last Stop Comedy Show Transfer Pizzeria Café, Transfer House Band w/Lee Cooper Blues Set

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 22

Caroline’s Jazz Club, Ryan Meisel QuArtet Iron Mike’s (Franklin), B Lee Nelson & KZ Acoustic Jam Jazz Estate, Gypsy Jazz: Scott Hlavenka & Friends Kochanski’s Concertina Beer Hall, Polka Open Jam Linneman’s Riverwest Inn, Acoustic Open Stage w/feature (sign-up 7:30pm, start 8pm) Mason Street Grill, Jamie Breiwick Group (5:30pm) Mezcalero Restaurant, Larry Lynne Trio Morton’s (Cedarburg), The Blues Disciples (6:30pm) Pabst Milwaukee Brewery & Taproom, Swing Jazz Wednesday w/The Sweet Sheiks Pabst Theater, ABBA Mania Paulie’s Field Trip, Wednesday Night Afterparty w/Dave Wacker & guests Potawatomi Hotel & Casino, In Bar 360: Al White Rave / Eagles Club, RAW Premiere (ages 18plus, 7pm) The Packing House, Carmen Nickerson & Kostia Efimov (6pm) Union Park Tavern (Kenosha), Open Mic with host Mark Paffrath

Dan Lepien EP If nostalgia runs in cycles of 20 to 25 years, could Pewaukee country singer Dan Lepien be any timelier? His four-song debut, EP, sounds like the lost singles of a “hat act” vying with Garth Brooks and Alan Jackson for mid-’90s radio spins. But Lepien moves that era’s influences in directions suiting his own lyrical and musical prerogatives. A stab at high beats-perminute line dance fare reflects on how his hometown “ain’t that bad” after he’s seen sights far afield. Conversely, he deigns to exclude drums entirely from an ode of gratitude to a beleaguered diner waitress; its interplay between banjo and acoustic and steel guitars leaves it no less rich for its absence of percussion.

Elsewhere, Lepien brings his own touch to Clint Black’s sense of reasonable reflection on honky-tonkin’ romantic dejection and Gary Allen’s sensitive machismo. With commercial country’s current—if slow— reembrace of the genre’s traditional sonic elements, Lepien’s solid songwriting, just glossy enough production and distinct but familiar vocal phrasing put him in serious contention for national attention if he chooses to pursue it. Here’s trusting a full album furthers the promise of what he offers here.

—Jamie Lee Rake J A N U A R Y 1 6 , 2 0 2 0 | 35

THEME CROSSWORD

PREPOSITIONS MATTER

By James Barrick

Complete the grid so that every row, column and 3x3 box contains every digit from 1 to 9 inclusively.

© 2020 United Feature Syndicate, Dist. by Andrews McMeel Syndication

76. Stopping or specifying?: 5 wds.

81. Pother 82. Apportion 83. Sets sights on 84. Old Norse poems 85. Place for playtime 87. Downturn 89. Injure a certain way 91. Reiner and Lowe 92. Outpouring 93. Renewal target 94. Insipid 97. Kettle’s handle 98. The Genoese 102. Eyeing or improving?: 5 wds.

107. — meridiem 108. Sew loosely 109. British measure 110. Pisa’s river 111. Drones 112. Noted racecourse 113. Some mollusks 114. Endure DOWN 1. — Hari 2. Name in a palindrome 3. Money in Bangladesh 4. “Ocean’s —” 5. Birds 6. Scarf 7. Yegg’s target 8. Magical being 9. Upperclassman: Abbr.

10. Tangled 11. Behaved 12. 500 sheets 13. Annoy 14. — -Wan Kenobi 15. Market employee 16. Celebes buffalo 17. Scantling 18. Lids

24. Tidings 25. Bone: Prefix 26. Kind of essential oil 31. Pours 32. Greek contest 33. Like a boggy region 34. Curling or climbing 35. Commedia dell’— 36. If looks — kill 37. Malediction 38. Make indistinct 39. Den 40. Fire in a fireplace 41. More faithful 42. Yelps 44. Eyed 45. Reckless act 48. “Love Boat” bartender 49. — Dame 50. Shakespeare tragedy 51. Ordeal 52. John — Garner 58. Light pancakes 59. Cut 60. Diner fare 61. Lt. Ford in “Stargate Atlantis” 63. Produce 64. Materials for potters 65. Name in fashion 66. A synthetic

67. Crusoe’s creator 68. Impression 69. Mary Richards’ pal 70. — Arabia 71. “Gil —” 72. Surveys 73. Something viscous 75. Getz or Musial 77. City in Italia 78. Smooth-spoken 79. Stiff 80. In early development 86. Ducks and — 87. Piano 88. French composer 89. Satisfies, as thirst 90. Hungarian sheepdog 92. — Domingo 93. Tempest 94. Go on and on 95. Tops: Hyph.

96. Observe 97. Variety of pear 98. Jot 99. Taj Mahal site 100. Sisters 101. Spy 103. Sports org.

104. Fuel 105. Cable network 106. — Abner

1/9 Solution

WORD FIND This is a theme puzzle with the subject stated below. Find the listed words in the grid. (They may run in any direction but always in a straight line. Some letters are used more than once.) Ring each word as you find it and when you have completed the puzzle, there will be 25 letters left over. They spell out the alternative theme of the puzzle.

It's magic Solution: 25 Letters

© 2020 Australian Word Games Dist. by Creators Syndicate Inc.

ACROSS 1. First gospel: Abbr.

5. Letters 10. Andretti or Puzo 15. Party 19. First wife of Esau 20. “It is — — told...”

21. Caustic 22. Supporting structure 23. Departing or dating?: 5 wds.

27. Sour cherry 28. Pipe part 29. Minced oath 30. Too dainty 31. Judged 33. Entrap 35. Right of entry 38. Like some pets 39. Campus club 43. Libertine 44. Hodgepodge 45. Seat of a kind 46. New Deal org.

47. Activating or appearing?: 5 wds.

53. Railways 54. Alone on stage 55. Mr. Monk’s wife 56. Beers 57. Argued 59. Like a chrome bumper 60. Wicker artisan 62. Fat 63. Swindle 64. Modish 65. Concern of bargain hunters 67. Whimsically funny 68. Pint-size burgers 71. Grain husk 72. Something nacreous 73. Hackneyed 74. Holds

Solution to last week’s puzzle

Actor Ad lib Aisle Aria Aside Audition Bravo Cabaret Cast Chorus Circle Comedy Curtain Dance

Delight Events Exit Fantasy Farce Foyer Front of house Gags Humour Lyric Mask Music Opera Orchestra

Parts Poster Prompt corner Quiet Revues Scene Script Sound Stage Tune Unit Wigs

36 | J A N UA RY 1 6 , 2 0 2 0

1/9 Solution: Room to move in the golden west SHEPHERD EXPRESS

Solution: Live theatre is spellbinding

Creators Syndicate 737 3rd Street • Hermosa Beach, CA 90254 310-337-7003 • info@creators.com

Date: 1/16/20

::FREEWILLASTROLOGY ::BY ROB BREZSNY CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): “I love to be surprised by something I have never thought of,” declares Capricorn actor Ralph Fiennes. According to my analysis of the astrological aspects, you’ll be wise to make that one of your top mottoes in 2020. Why? First, life is likely to bring to your attention a steady stream of things you’ve never imagined. And second, your ability to make good use of surprises will be at an all-time high. Here’s further advice to help ensure that the vast majority of your surprises will be welcome, even fun: Set aside as many of your dogmas and expectations as possible, so that you can be abundantly receptive to things you’ve never thought of.

AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): “I love fools’ experiments. I am always making them.” So said one of the most famous and influential scientists who ever lived, Aquarian-born naturalist Charles Darwin. In accordance with upcoming astrological factors, I invite you to draw inspiration from his approach. Allow yourself to explore playfully as you conduct fun research. Just assume that you have a mandate to drum up educational experiences, and that a good way to do that is to amuse yourself with improvisational adventures.

PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): “How do you get your main pleasure in life?” That question was posed to Scorpio author Evelyn Waugh and Piscean social reformer William Beveridge. Waugh said, “I get mine spreading alarm and despondency.” Beveridge said, “I get mine trying to leave the world a better place than I found it.” I hope you will favor Beveridge’s approach over Waugh’s in 2020, Pisces—for two reasons. First, the world already has plenty of alarm and despondency; it doesn’t need even a tiny bit more. Second, aspiring to be like Beveridge will be the best possible strategy for fostering your mental and physical health.

ARIES (March 21-April 19): Comedian John Cleese has an insight I hope you’ll consider.

He says, “It’s easier to do trivial things that are urgent than it is to do important things that are not urgent. It’s also easier to do little things we know we can do than to start on big things that we’re not so sure about.” I hope you’ll make this advice a priority in the coming weeks. You’ll be wise to prioritize important tasks, even those that aren’t urgent, as you de-emphasize trivial matters that tempt you to think they’re crucial. Focus on big things that are challenging rather than on little things that are a snap.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20): Author Honoré de Balzac (1799–1850) was born with sun and Mercury in Taurus and in the tenth house. Astrologers might hypothesize from these placements that he was ambitious, productive, tenacious, diligent, realistic and willful. The evidence supporting this theory is strong. Balzac wrote more than 80 novels that displayed a profound and nuanced understanding of the human comedy. I predict that 2020 will be a year when you could make dramatic progress in cultivating a Balzac-like approach in your own sphere. But here’s a caveat: Balzac didn’t take good care of his body. He drank far too much coffee and had a careless approach to eating and sleeping.

My hope is that as you hone your drive for success, you’ll be impeccable in tending to your health.

GEMINI (May 21-June 20): Before he was 21 years old, William Shakespeare and his wife had birthed three kids. When he was 25, while the brood was still young, he started churning out literary masterpieces. By the time Will became a grandfather at age 43, he had written many of the works that ultimately made him one of history’s most illustrious authors. From this evidence, we might speculate that being a parent and husband heightened his creative flow. I bring this to your attention because I want to ask you: What role will commitment and duty and devotion play in your life during the coming months? (I suspect it’ll be a good one.)

CANCER (June 21-July 22): Cancerianborn painter Stanley Spencer (1891–1959) didn’t align himself with any artistic movement. Early on, his work was an odd blend of French Post-Impressionism and 14th-century Italian painting. I appreciate his stylistic independence, and suggest you draw inspiration from it in 2020.

Another unique aspect of Spencer’s art was its mix of eroticism and religiosity. I think you’ll enjoy explorSHEPHERD EXPRESS

ing that blend yourself in the coming months. Your spiritual and sexual longings could be quite synergistic. There’s one part of Spencer’s quirky nature I don’t recommend you imitate, however. He often wore pajamas beneath his clothes, even to formal occasions. Doing that wouldn’t serve your interests. (But it will be healthy for you to be somewhat indifferent to people’s opinions.)

LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in the 1440s.

In subsequent decades, millions of massproduced books became available for the first time, making their contents available to a far wider audience than ever before. The printing press caused other changes, too—some not as positive. For instance, people who worked as scribes found it harder to get work. In our era, big culture-wide shifts are impacting our personal lives. Climate change, the internet, smart phones, automation and human-like robots are just a few examples. What are you doing to adjust to the many innovations? And what will you do in the future? Now is an excellent time to meditate on these issues.

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): You’re skilled at the art of self-editing. When bright new ideas well up in you, you understand they are not yet ready for prime time but will need to be honed and finessed. When your creativity overflows, tantalizing you with fresh perspectives and novel approaches, you know that you’ll have to harness the raw surge. However, it’s also true that sometimes you go too far in your efforts to refine your imagination’s breakthroughs; you over-think and over-polish. But I have a good feeling about the coming weeks, Virgo.

I suspect you’ll find the sweet spot, self-editing with just the right touch.

LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Thomas Love Peacock was a Libran author whose specialty was writing satirical novels that featured people sitting around tables arguing about opinions and ideas. He was not renowned for cheerful optimism. And yet he did appreciate sheer beauty. “There is nothing perfect in this world,” he said, “except Mozart.” So much did Peacock love Mozart’s music that during one several-month stretch he attended six performances of the genius’s opera Don Giovanni. In this spirit, Libra, and in accordance with astrological indicators, I encourage you to make a list of your own perfect things—and spend extra time communing with them in the coming weeks.

SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): Jean-Michel Basquiat started his career as a graffiti artist. When he evolved into being a full-time painter, he incorporated words amidst his images. On many occasions, he’d draw lines through the words.

Why? “I cross out words so you will see them more,” he said. “The fact that they are obscured makes you want to read them.” In the coming weeks, you might benefit from discreetly using this strategy in your own life. In other words, draw attention to the things you want to emphasize by downplaying them or being mysterious about them or suggesting they are secret. Reverse psychology can be an asset for you.

SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): Because of the onslaught of the internet and social media, lots of people no longer read books.

But in 2020, I highly recommend that you not be one of that crowd. In my astrological opinion, you need more of the slow, deep wisdom that comes from reading books. You will also benefit from other acts of rebellion against the Short Attention Span Era. Crucial blessings will flow in your direction as you honor the gradual, incremental approach to everything.

Homework: How will you create the story of your life in 2020? RealAstrology.com.

Go to realastrology.com to check out Rob Brezsny’s Expanded Weekly Audio Horoscopes and Daily Text Message Horoscopes. The audio horoscopes are also available by phone at 877873-4888 or 900-950-7700.

::NEWS OF THE WEIRD ::BY THE EDITORS OF ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION

Clearly Murder

C

olleagues of 35-year-old paramedic Joshua Hunsucker told investigators in Mount Holly, N.C., they were surprised at how quickly he had another girlfriend following the death of his wife in September 2018, and when Stacy Hunsucker’s mother shared her suspicions, pointing to the $200,000 in life insurance Joshua had collected, agents of the North Carolina Department of Insurance began an investigation that led to Joshua’s arrest last month on charges of first-degree murder for poisoning his wife with Visine. Stacy Hunsucker, 32 at her death, had suffered from heart problems, the Gaston Gazette reported, and a test of her blood revealed tetrahydrozoline, a chemical found in eye drops and nasal sprays, at levels 30 to 40 times the recommended dose, an amount insurance fraud attorney Jordan Green told the court would have had “a dramatic effect on her heart, which would cause heart stoppage in a short amount of time.” The Gazette also noted the wide news coverage given two weeks before Stacy’s death to a woman arrested in York, S.C., for putting eye drops in her husband’s water, causing a seizure and cardiac arrest. A Gaston County grand jury on Monday, Jan. 6, additionally indicted Hunsucker on charges of insurance fraud.

Calling Norman Bates After Dona Schiave failed her driver’s license test three times in the Novo Mutum Parana district of Brazil, her son, Heitor Marcio Schiave, 43, decided to take matters into his own hands. On Tuesday, Dec. 10, he donned a stuffed bra, skirt and makeup and showed up at the State Department of Traffic, claiming to be his mother, ready to take the test again.

Aline Mendoca, the examiner, became suspicious and summoned the military police. “I thought she was drunk at first,” she told globo. com. “When I realized that the student was actually a man, I decided to proceed normally” and wait for officers. “I think he pitied his mother for failing three times.” Schiave was arrested for fraudulent misrepresentation and released; he may face a fine.

Squirrely Visitor Kari and Dustin Drees bought their first home in Atlanta’s Buckhead district in December and shortly thereafter left on vacation to visit family. While they were gone, an alarm went off, and friends reported nothing was amiss, but when the Dreeses returned home, they discovered an uninvited visitor had moved in: a squirrel. The animal had apparently fallen down the chimney and became trapped inside, where it did a lot of damage—defecating, scratching floors, chewing baseboards and building a nest in the couch.

No worries, the couple thought: “This is why you have homeowner’s insurance,” Kari told the Associated Press. But, this is also where insurance companies point to the fine print, too. The couple’s insurance “explicitly stated” it doesn’t cover damage done by rodents, and a squirrel is a rodent.

‘Winning’ Losers Odis Latham, 47, and Russell Sparks, 48, of Columbus, Miss., were arrested on Monday, Jan. 6, after they allegedly hatched a cockamamie scheme to “win” the lottery, WLBT reported. The two arrived at the Mississippi Lottery Corp. in Flowood and presented a losing $100,000 ticket, upon which they had glued the winning numbers, according to authorities.

Flowood police arrested the pair, who were charged with conspiracy to commit a felony and uttering a counterfeit instrument of more than $1,000. They were held without bond.

Green Is Big This Year…

Well, Every Year Finally, lizard owners who want to dress like their reptilian companions have a source for trendy looks: Fashion Brand Company of Los Angeles has been making clothes for lizards for a while, but now you can match your bearded dragon. The current collection, according to OK Whatever, includes little lizard velvet jumpsuits and Western fringe jackets that come with tiny white cowboy hats. The clothes are handmade and go for up to $125— and that doesn’t include whatever you order for yourself so you can match the exact outfit your scaly friend is sporting. Founder Penelope Gazin says the ideas “come to me in my dreams,” adding that lizards need clothes, because “their bodies are disgusting and should be covered up.” (Gazin doesn’t own a lizard herself; “I dislike lizards,” she admits.) © 2020 ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION J A N U A R Y 1 6 , 2 0 2 0 | 37

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A Vintage Tape Dick ::BY ART KUMBALEK

I

’m Art Kumbalek and man oh manischewitz what a world, ain’a? So listen, what with all the impeachment hullabaloo going around and nothing better to do the other Thursday, I thought I’d check out what purports to be news these days and discovered that disgraced and potty-mouthed former nearly impeached President Richard M. Nixon “would’ve been” 107 years old that very day, what the fock.

I put quotes around “would’ve been” ’cause I’m telling you’s, if some True Believer would ever get around to pulling the stake out of ol’ Dick’s heart, the news would’ve said that “Richard Nixon is celebrating his 102nd birthday today,” I kid you not.

I would imagine that there are those who have tried to remove the Nixon heart stake, but with a heart that infinitesimal, how the hell would you locate a stake the size of a teeny splinter? Not everybody has access to that Hubble whatchamacallit periscope, I’m guessing.

Anyways, you history buffs know that the Watergate-tape mystery of the missing 18 1/2 minutes from a recording of a conversation on June 20, 1972 between Milhous and his chief of staff, H.R. “Bob” Haldeman, has never been solved.

But what you don’t know is that I possess a partial transcript of that conversation, thanks to a secret source from years ago. So without further ado, direct from the Old Executive Office Building in our nation’s capital, please give it up, America, for the conversational stylings of an ex-president and his top toady: Dick: Yeah, Bob, I will. And a little less goddamn water this time, goddamn it. Are you sure you showed Rose Mary which button to push to stop this tape machine?

H.R. “Bob”: Yes, Mr. President.

Dick: Cut the “Mr. President” crap for christ sakes, Bob. How many times do you have to see me naked before you’ll allow “Dick” to pass from your lips?

H.R. “Bob”: Yes sir. Here’s your cocktail.

Dick: Thank you, Bob. Tall and frosty—just the way I like my men. Oh yeah, that’s good. Hey, Liddy told me a good one the other day. Here: An Italian guy, a Spanish guy and a black guy—do we call them “blacks” now, Bob? H.R. “Bob”: Sometimes, sir.

Dick: Jesus Christ. So anyways, an Italian guy,

a Spanish guy and a black guy are riding in a car.

Who’s driving?

H.R. “Bob”: I don’t have enough information to make a judgment, sir.

Dick: The cop, Bob. The focking cop’s driving.

Get it? Goddamn it, and people say I don’t have a sense of humor. I’ll show them. Next time I got to give a crime speech, tell Safire to put that one in there, would you?

H.R. “Bob”: I’ll make a note of it, sir.

Dick: People don’t realize how I’ve softened since I’ve been in office—’nother cocktail, Bob. Take this Watergate thing, breaking into the Democratic headquarters just to see if they had some secret plan to push a draft for Teddy at the convention ’cause they and I both know this McGovern homo is a focking loser. And so, if they were going to draft Kennedy, I was going to have the boys pull a couple, three dirty tricks on him, maybe somehow get him caught shacking up with some 16-year-old prostitute, like what’s-her-name.

H.R. “Bob”: Trudy, sir.

Dick: Yeah, Trudy. Never did catch her name.

Goddamn it, Bob, my glass is empty again. I’ve mellowed, Bob, but nobody cares. So, this time I plan to get a Kennedy out of the way by spreading a little dirt on him instead of having the dirt spread over him and now look at the deep shit I’m in. What was his name again?

H.R. “Bob”: Who, sir?

Dick: That little camel jockey Gordon hired for us in ’68.

H.R. “Bob”: Sirhan Sirhan, sir.

Dick: Jesus H. Christ, what the hell kind of name is that. What’s wrong with those people.

So, I continued my half-hearted perusal of the news last Friday, and now, here into the new year, I got to say that, betweenst you and me, if not for the bullshit that organized religion and its goddamn followers spew out all the time like crap through a goose—you betcha we could have “peace on Earth” sooner rather than later.

On this topic (and speaking of iconic figures) allow me to quote crooner-as-god Mr. Frank Sinatra (The Chairman of the Board, or depending on your gender, “Chairman of the Broad”) from a 1963 Playboy interview—words, if taken to heart, that just might calm down the hullabaloo in the Middle East for starters: “I’ve always had a theory that whenever guys and gals start swinging, they begin to lose interest in conquering the world. They just want a comfortable pad and stereo and wheels, and their thoughts turn to the good things of life—not to war. They loosen up, they live and they’re more apt to let live. Dig?” “Dig” I do, Ol’ Blue Eyes, ’cause I’m Art Kumbalek, and I told you so.

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