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AUGUST 22, 2019 | 3 8/16/19 4:12 PM


::NEWS&VIEWS FEATURES | POLLS | TAKING LIBERTIES | ISSUE OF THE WEEK

Expectations Soar for Solar Energy, But Obstacles Remain ::BY MARY SUSSMAN

uly was a good month for solar energy in Milwaukee and Wisconsin. A new CityCounty task force on climate and economic equity was created, and We Energies’ proposed surcharge for home and business solar customers was abandoned, while more utility-scale solar energy is moving forward. Both the City’s Common Council and the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution to create the Milwaukee City-County Joint Task Force on Climate and Economic Equity. The task force will soon bring together 13 area leaders to make recommendations on how to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 45% from 2010 levels by 2030 and how to net zero gas emissions by 2050. The task force will also recommend strategies for creating more “green” jobs to reduce racial and income inequality. County Supervisor Moore Omokunde, who sponsored the county resolution, says the goals of the task force are in line with many of the Green New Deal’s goals and those set forth by the Paris Accords. The resolution also links the transition to green energy to the creation of new jobs. Omokunde says the task force will recommend ways to address climate change through transitioning to green energy and will also define how to translate the transition to green energy into jobs for the future and long-term employment. The county resolution cites a February 2019 report from the Center on Wisconsin Strategy (COWS) that estimated 100% domestic energy production with renewable sources in Wisconsin could produce a net increase of 162,100 jobs and add almost $14 billion to the state’s GDP. Tyler Huebner, executive director of RENEW Wisconsin, says solar energy has a huge amount of potential way beyond what it is doing now. “If we already have 3,000-4,000 jobs, we can definitely do 10 times as much solar over the next decade or so,” he says. But his estimate for jobs is far lower than the Center of Wisconsin Strategy report. “I’m not predicting we’re going to have 30,000 people working in solar, but I do think it’s a job creator. It’s a big opportunity for us economically, as well as from a clean energy and environmental perspective.”

‘A huge step forward’

“This is a huge step forward for Milwaukee County and the City of Milwaukee, which has always been a leader in calling for climate action,” says Elizabeth Ward, conservation programs coordinator for Sierra Club-Wisconsin. “They are saying that they want 100% clean energy for the city and the community. While helping us reach our climate goals, it uses the

4 | AUGUST 22, 2019

solutions to impending climate catastrophes to solve one of Milwaukee’s greatest and longest problems in terms of the economic inequity in the city, especially with people of color.” Ward sees economic benefits coming from jobs and other forms of economic investment and development and sees opportunities for improving transportation to underserved communities and channeling grants for energy efficiency into “neighborhoods that need it the most and to people that have been historically oppressed.” Ward says the task force will now have, “the very difficult job of figuring out what does this truly look like, and they will have to ensure that whatever plans and programs are put into place ensures economic and racial equity.” The task force will have 13 members made up of elected officials, community members and representatives from various advocacy groups including Citizen Action of Wisconsin, Sierra Club, NAACP and Milwaukee Youth Council. Erick Shambarger, director of environmental sustainability at the City of Milwaukee, says the task force is a complement to the ongoing efforts by the City. “I think it is an opportunity to broaden the conversation of stakeholders to include more folks,” he says, noting that climate change is becoming of greater interest to the public, which wants to see more action from political leaders. “Effort is at the local level because it is the city and local governments that have been taking action on climate change. Cities have been trying to fill the void that we had seen at the state and federal level. I’m glad to see the state now has new leadership in the governor’s

office talking about climate change.” Last week, Gov. Tony Evers signed an executive order establishing a statewide goal to make all energy consumed in Wisconsin carbon free by 2050.

Down with solar surcharge, up with utility-scale solar

In July, on a different solar front, We Energies and RENEW Wisconsin reached a settlement agreement. We Energies agreed it will no longer pursue a solar fixed-cost recovery charge, which would have added $15-$20 per month to the bills of its solar customers. RENEW Wisconsin agrees to support an upcoming We Energies utility-scale solar project. We Energies and Madison Gas and Electric (MGE) are partnering to acquire the remaining 150 megawatts of the Badger Hollow Solar Farm near Dodgeville. We Energies will own 100 megawatts and MGE will own an additional 50 megawatts of the 300-megawatt project. MGE already owns 50 megawatts of the project, and Wisconsin Public Service (WPS), a subsidiary of WEC Energy Group, owns 100 megawatts. “We were able to reach an agreement with We Energies and the Public Service Commission that from our perspective will help grow solar for homeowners, businesses and local governments that want to pursue it, because We Energies has removed what would have been a surcharge on those customers,” RENEW Wisconsin’s Huebner says. “In addition, we’ve agreed to support We Energies moving into utility scale solar to help reduce the usage of coal plants and instead utilize more solar. From our perspective, it’s a win for solar of all sizes.” The parties agree to remain in discussion over the next two years until We Energies goes before the rate commission again. However, the issue of cost recovery for solar customers is not totally settled, according to Brendan Conway, a We Energies spokesperson. “The cost-shifting does not go away just because of the settlement,” he says. “There is a very real cost shift. People who have solar on their homes still rely on our network, yet because the way costs are billed by not paying a percentage of the energy charge, they are not paying their fair share. Those costs don’t disappear. Those costs get shifted to people who don’t have solar.” Solar advocates argue that the surcharge was merely an effort to discourage individual solar customers and potential customers.

Eagle Point Solar sues We Energies

In May, Eagle Point Solar sued We Energies and the Public Service Commission because We Energies refused to hook up solar panels owned by Eagle Point. The City of Milwaukee had contracted with Eagle Point to install solar panels on six city buildings. We Energies maintained that the project was illegal because Eagle Point, which would initially own the installation, was operating as a utility because it would have supplied an existing We Energies’ customer with electricity and would have forced Eagle Point to be regulated like a monopoly utility. A similar suit was brought by Eagle Point Solar in Iowa, where the Supreme Court of Iowa ruled against the utility in 2014. Third-party solar installers can apply for substantial federal tax credits for installing solar, which can be passed along to their customers, whereas government

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Competition, creative financing

RENEW Wisconsin’s Huebner wants to make sure that the utility doesn’t discourage small solar energy enterprises. “We do want to be sure that We Energies is not the only one that is able to offer those kinds of leases and financing deals to customers.” He explains that, in many other states, there are more marketplace opportunities where private enterprises can also offer the kind of deal that We Energies is offering with Solar Now. “Right now, We Energies is relying on a pretty old— I think maybe it’s 100 years old—section of Wisconsin law to say that only the monopoly

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utility is able to offer that kind of financing,” he says. Huebner would like to see a level playing field where the private market can offer the same types of financing mechanisms as Solar Now, which would encourage customers to pursue solar. Transitioning to 100% clean energy will require the cooperation of large utilities such as WE Energies, as well as the innovation and flexibility of small private solar enterprises. “There are a lot of competing and overlapping interests,” Huebner says. “At RENEW Wisconsin, we are focused on growing renewable and clean energy technologies in the state. There are always a lot of complexities as we do this, but, in general, we are finding a lot of success. Those kinds of interests are coming together more and more, but we’ve gotten sticking points like Solar Now versus the third-party ownership. As we still are at the foundational phase of this growing industry, hopefully we can get this resolved and create some clarity that will help all different types and ownership models of solar growth.” As small solar thrives and grows, however, large utilities drag their feet in making the transition to 100% clean energy, largely for financial reasons. Large investments for coal plants can take decades to get off the books and this impedes investment in renewable energy, Huebner says. In Colorado, for example, legislation to help refinance and retire coal plants sooner rather than later has been introduced. Twenty other states have used similar strategies to help close down coal-burning plants. “The concept is creating pathways for the utilities to refinance the big coal-burning power plants,” Huebner says. “A lot of plants when they were built were expected to last 40-50 years. Even a plant that was built 40 or 50 years ago may still have a balance on the books that needs to be addressed. There are number of coal and natural gas plants that are going to need some sort of mechanism to get those more swiftly retired and get to more solar and wind power facilities.” Carbon Tracker, a London-based think tank that analyzes the impact of the transition to renewable energy on capital markets and the potential investment in high-cost, carbon-intensive fossil fuels found in a recent study that 42% of global coal capacity is already unprofitable because of high fuel costs; by 2040, that could reach 72%. Meanwhile, the price of onshore wind and solar power continues to fall. The study found that it costs more to run 35% of coal power plants than to build new renewable generation and that, by 2030, building new renewables will be cheaper than continuing to operate 96% of today’s existing and planned coal plants. In the US, closing fossil fuel operations and replacing them with renewable energy could save $78 billion, while China could save $389 billion and the E.U. $89 billion. Comment at shepherdexpress.com. n

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entities cannot apply for the credit, making third-party financing an attractive option for municipalities. The financing arrangement also does not require a large upfront investment. Shortly after We Energies blocked the Eagle Point installation, We Energies rolled out its Solar Now program, which would allow We Energies to own solar installations and pay lease payments to the host customers. The program could build up to 35 megawatts of solar. Milwaukee decided to stick with Eagle Point for three of its projects and self-finance for three others. When We Energies came out with Solar Now, “What we said was no. We’re good with the projects we had with Eagle Point,” Shambarger says. “We were under contract with them. We couldn’t just walk away. It wasn’t the right thing to do, either. So, we said no. We’d like to get the Eagle Point projects done.” Since that time, the City self-funded three of the projects and installed solar at three libraries: Central, Center Street and Tippecanoe. “The other three projects are still getting challenged at the PSC and in court.” The city, however, is in the process of moving ahead with some Solar Now projects on cityowned brownfields, land that cannot be redeveloped because of contamination. “We’ll see how this all plays out with the rooftop third-party stuff, but that shouldn’t stop us with moving ahead with Solar Now on these city-owned brownfield sites that can’t otherwise be developed,” Shambarger says. “If Eagle Point prevails, there still couldn’t be solar on these brownfield sites. That’s why we feel comfortable moving forward there. It still has to be approved by the Common Council.” Shambarger says that he is encouraged that We Energies pulled back from its solar surcharge and that this would make it more palatable for the Common Council to approve an agreement with We Energies. “Our stance remains the same,” he adds. “We support a robust and competitive rooftop solar market, but we also support the utility taking big steps to transition its supplies to renewable energy. We need both. We want to work on both fronts. We have to do it in a way that preserves the reliability and affordability of the overall electric system.”

AUGUST 22, 2019 | 5


NEWS&VIEWS::FEATURE

AN ENDLESS CYCLE OF TRAUMA, PAROLE AND REVOCATION ::BY BEN TURK

T

housands of people return from prison to Milwaukee every year. Many successfully rebuild their lives despite difficult hurdles. Imagine finding a job with a blank resume and a criminal record, rebuilding or replacing damaged relationships, adapting to social norms and technologies that have changed dramatically after years in isolation. The success stories of people re-entering society after prison can be very inspiring. This isn’t one of those stories. This is the story of someone who maxed out his prison sentence on June 8 and was released from years in solitary confinement in a restrictive housing unit (RHU) at a Wisconsin prison. He doesn’t want his name shared, so I’ll refer to him as John. John had no family, home or money, just an extended supervision sentence that put him under the control of a Division of Community Corrections (DCC) agent. Five weeks later, without committing any crime, this agent re-incarcerated John. Every inspiring story of someone jumping hurdles to regain their footing after prison is matched by more who get pulled back in on crimeless revocations by DCC agents. Prison officials and tough-on-crime politicians blame

Overcrowding the County Jail

That day, after weeks without any counseling, John’s agent signed him up for a treatment program. Trouble is, she scheduled it after the house’s curfew. I asked the agent’s supervisor about the curfew and he said John’s movement was supervised by an electronic ankle monitor and the house wasn’t a TLP, just a house the DCC rents from a private landlord. No one from the DCC would allow me to speak with people who worked there, but John describes extensive exchanges between himself, his agent and staff at the house, who told him that he “didn’t have the hours” to leave for therapy. They said, if he broke curfew, they’d arrest him. The next day, his agent arrested him instead. Failing to attend was a violation of John’ supervision rules. Sudden arrests are common with DCC agents, they’re the first step toward reincar-

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ceration. In Milwaukee alone, DCC-caused incarcerations overflowed the county jail so frequently that Wisconsin built the Milwaukee Secure Detention Facility (MSDF) in 2001 to accommodate them. Then, they started overflowing MSDF. Reasonable excuses, like a death in the family or being in the hospital for emergency treatment, are ignored. DCC agents will also reframe miscommunication as lying to justify revocation and send people back to prison for months or years. Those who manage to evade revocation are still put on “investigation hold” for up to 15 days. All it takes is two or three to cost a person

EVERY INSPIRING STORY OF SOMEONE JUMPING HURDLES TO REGAIN THEIR FOOTING AFTER PRISON IS MATCHED BY MORE WHO GET PULLED BACK IN ON CRIMELESS REVOCATIONS BY DCC AGENTS.

it to cut himself severely. Jail staff responded by putting him in a restraint chair then sending him to a mental health institute, one that failed three inspections last year. There, a social worker talked to him, then sent him back to the jail where he had another breakdown, this time blocking his cell window with toilet paper, arguing with staff and re-opening his wounds. They put John back in the restraint chair for at least 20 hours, forcing him to urinate and defecate on himself. John’s agent was on vacation during much of this ordeal, but she later told me the arrest and incarceration were just an investigation hold, it was John’s conduct in jail that justified revocation. She didn’t explain why John needed to be incarcerated while she investigated her own scheduling error. SHEPHERD STAFF

The Prison System’s Revolving Door

the captives; they paint “recidivists” as incorrigible “habitual offenders” and threats to public safety, a justification for mass incarceration. In reality, John, like many others cycling in and out of prison, was sent back for his mental health disorder, a problem prison only makes worse. John had suffered terribly in the RHU. He harmed himself and attempted suicide repeatedly, coming out of prison on medication for bipolar disorder and iron pills for low red blood cell count. Before release, he’d requested help, especially mental health treatment, but he got none. His agent claims he wouldn’t work with her on a release plan, so she landed him in a house funded by the Department of Corrections (DOC) at a city where he knew no one. John calls the house a temporary lock up (TLP). There, he lived in fear of going back to prison, and his agent stoked those fears. One morning, she had him walk across town with an hour’s notice for an emergency meeting with her about a charge that prosecutors dismissed long ago. She hassled him for smoking cigarettes and keeping a messy room. After years in solitary, John felt uncomfortable leaving his room and preferred storing clothes on his bed. Fortunately, he had an advocate. Peg Swan, the founder of Forum for Understanding Prisons (FFUP) helped him navigate through these conflicts. Then, on July 15, his agent put him in a catch-22.

Verbal Violations?

their job. If a hold comes when rent is due, people might lose their housing. If they’re parked in a short-term space, their car may be towed and impounded. Investigation holds have even cost people custody of their children. For John, the arrest cost his recovery. In the County Jail, he suffered a relapse back to traumatic years in the RHU. He dismantled his ankle monitor and used metal pieces from

Now, John is at Wisconsin’s intake facility, awaiting a revocation hearing. His papers cite eight rules violations, including missing the meeting, breaking rules at the “DOC-funded home,” refusing to take medication (he insists it was not prescribed to him), tampering with his ankle monitor (as though he was trying to abscond while locked in a cell) and breaking the jail’s rules. The revocation also claims he threatened his agent, jailers and “admitted to jail staff that he had threatened to burn down a DOC-funded home.” John denies threatening anyone and says these violations must derive from conversations he had with social workers. In those conversations, John was encouraged to talk about his feelings by someone in a presumably confidential therapeutic role. He says he discussed feeling bullied and having “violent… sensations that made me so mad and uncomfortable that I began to cut and feel suicidal.” He also spoke about staying “up for four days straight losing my mind and voices that were telling me to burn down the TLP because housemates were trying to kill me.” He resisted acting on these feelings and thought talking about them with social workers was a healthy choice, part of transforming destructive thoughts into productive actions. Instead, his feelings were twisted into threats, which is a violation of Supreme Court precedent. If John is revoked, he’ll only cycle through more prison trauma, then be released to try again. Comment at shepherdexpress.com. n

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NEWS&VIEWS::TAKINGLIBERTIES ERIN BLOODGOOD

NEWS&VIEWS::HEROOFTHEWEEK

What’s The Difference Between Tommy Guns and Assault Weapons? ::BY JOEL MCNALLY

Montana Morris

Healthy Food for Everyone VICTORY GARDEN’S MONTANA MORRIS ADVOCATES URBAN FARMING ::BY ERIN BLOODGOOD

M

any of us take for granted what we have available to us when choosing the food we eat. We often try to make healthy choices at the grocery store, telling ourselves to buy more produce and less packaged foods. But what if those fresh vegetables aren’t available? For many people in Milwaukee, grocery stores are hard to come by. The 2015-2016 Milwaukee Community Health Assessment shows people in lower income neighborhoods are nine times more likely to have less access to healthy food choices than those in higher socioeconomic areas. The report defines a “food desert” as a “neighborhood where a high proportion of residents have low access (more than one mile in an urban setting) to a supermarket or large grocery store.” Food deserts are very prevalent in our city. Access is even harder when residents have to rely on public transportation. Their options are corner stores with rotting produce (if there is any produce at all) or a long bus trip to a higher income neighborhood with more grocery stores. Montana Morris, the community programs manager and event coordinator at the Victory Garden Initiative (VGI), sees the answers to these problems in urban farming and food education. For 10 years, the organization has been providing healthy food access to the community through events like their Garden BLITZ, their pay-what-you-can farm stand every Tuesday and their upcoming fifth annual Farmraiser harvest festival on Saturday, Sept. 28, from 4-7:30 p.m. The organization started the Farmraiser to advocate the basic human right for everyone to grow their own food. Since their first year, VGI installed raised beds in yards around the city through their Garden BLITZ event, an annual 15-day event with 300 volunteers installing 500 raised beds. VGI has become deeply rooted in the Harambe neighborhood. On any given day, you may walk into the garden space hidden between bungalow houses to find local kids doing summersaults amongst the crops. It feels like a refuge away from the busy city. Growing our own food is “helping us personally get in touch with the changes of nature, learning how to work with nature and getting something rewarding out of it,” says Morris. Morris regularly works with kids that have never seen food pulled from the ground. Not knowing what a carrot was, one youth told Morris it looks like a Cheeto. Such a profound moment allowed Morris to realize how disconnected people are from their food and how easy it is to overlook what is available to us. “I realized that education was the most important part [of the solution],” she says. Through education on healthy food, VGI puts power in the hands of the people to become self-reliant food sources. Learn more at victorygardeninitiative.org. For more of Erin Bloodgood’s work, visit BloodgoodFoto.com. Comment at shepherdexpress.com. n 8 | AUGUST 22, 2019

H

ere’s an important question for our times: What’s the difference between a Tommy Gun, the submachine gun wielded by gangsters like John Dillinger and Baby Face Nelson roaming Wisconsin in the 1930s, and a military-style assault weapon, today’s weapon of choice routinely used to commit mass murders all over America? The answer, of course, is there’s virtually no difference, except for this: President Franklin Roosevelt and the U.S. Congress succeeded in removing Thompson submachine guns, firing 600 rounds of bullets in a minute, from city streets with the National Firearms Act of 1934, the first serious federal gun safety legislation ever passed to protect American lives. “A machine gun, of course, ought never be in the hands of any private individual,” Roosevelt’s Atty. Gen. Homer Cummings testified to Congress. “There is not the slightest excuse for it, not the least in the world, and we must, if we are going to be successful in this effort to suppress crime in America, take these machine guns out of the hands of the criminal class.” Those precise words apply today to removing assault weapons used by two private individuals in a single weekend to commit mass murders in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio, and regularly before that in cities throughout America. The same goes for the Dayton shooter’s 100-round ammunition drum killing nine people and wounding 27 others in 32 seconds. Ohio banned high capacity magazines until 2015 when Republican legislators were rolling back gun regulations nationwide.

No Political Appetite

But no one even expects government to do anything now to ban assault weapons or high capacity magazines that facilitate mass murder. President Trump says Republicans have “no political appetite” for such bans. Nothing kills politicians’ appetites for protecting American lives like millions of dollars in campaign contributions from the National Rifle Association (NRA). The NRA contributed more than $11 million to Trump’s 2016 campaign and spent another $20 million publicly attacking

Hillary Clinton. It spends tens of millions more on House and Senate races. Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson has received $1.3 million from the NRA as the 17th highest recipient in Congress. The corrupt NRA practice of buying Republican opposition to banning weapons of mass murder is fairly recent. During those 1934 hearings on the nation’s first gun control legislation, Karl Frederick, then president of the NRA, not only supported ending civilian access to submachine guns, but also licensing and restricting handguns. “I have never believed in the general practice of carrying weapons,” Frederick testified. “I seldom carry one. I do not believe in the general promiscuous toting of guns. I think it should be sharply restricted and only under licenses.”

Gangster Guns

The federal machine gun legislation itself was a direct result of a famous shootout at the Little Bohemia Lodge in Manitowish Waters, Wis. A botched FBI raid on the resort where Dillinger, Nelson and their gang were spending a weekend killed a federal agent and an innocent customer and injured four others. Dillinger, Nelson and gang members escaped. Rather than an explicit federal ban on machine guns, the law was designed to tax Tommy Guns out of existence. It required finger printing, licensing and paying a $200 tax to purchase machine guns and sawed-off shotguns, famously used by Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker. That hefty tax, the equivalent of about $3,800 in today’s dollars, was out of reach for most people at a time when the average annual income was about $1,780. Atty. Gen. Cummings told Congress nobody expected gangsters to register their weapons, but anyone caught with an unlicensed weapon would go to prison for tax evasion just as Chicago gangster Al Capone had two years earlier. By 1937, federal officials reported the sale of submachine guns in the U.S. had nearly ceased. In 1939, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the law constitutional. The law so effectively ended the spread and use of submachine guns the federal government didn’t get around to actually banning civilian ownership until 1986. Then 25 years ago, under Democratic President Bill Clinton, Congress banned assault weapons and high capacity magazines after two mass murders in California. The ban lasted a decade until Republicans controlling the Senate refused to vote on renewal in 2004. Republican senators defeated another renewal attempt after the 2012 Christmastime mass murder of 20 first graders and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn. Knowing the history of getting weapons of mass murder off our streets is important. The American people have always supported banning weapons of mass murder far more than NRA-funded politicians. A Morning Consult/ Politico poll after El Paso and Dayton showed 70% of Americans supported banning military assault weapons, including 55% of Republicans. To quote a former U.S. attorney general, such weapons “ought never be in the hands of any private individual. There is not the slightest excuse for it, not the least in the world.” Comment at shepherdexpress.com. n SHEPHERD EXPRESS


::OUTOFMYMIND

‘I Destroy My Enemy When I Make Him My Friend’

“I

::BY PHILIP CHARD

want to be my own master. You know, be in charge of me,” Mark told me. “Who’s in charge of you now?” I asked. “My obsession with money,” he replied. Like Mark, many of us harbor needs, impulses and longings that hijack or do battle for control of our lives. These inner masters, so to speak, can vary from an addiction to drugs, gambling, food or sex to over-the-top psychological needs for approval, fame, success and other “complete me” scenarios. Most often, these desires stem from a mindset best labeled as “if only.” We know the drill. If only I had X, then I’d be happy, fulfilled or whatever. “Tell me about this part of you that’s so into money,” I pressed. “Well, it makes me pursue financial success regardless of the cost in terms of my family and health,” he confessed. “It owns me.” Inside of Mark, there is a mental civil war. That portion of his psyche that brought him to my office feels like it’s at the mercy of another part of him that has an insatiable hunger for the almighty dollar. Some might suggest his better self (that wants more than just money) is morally superior to his base self (that is seemingly consumed with greed). This is a common depiction in which one persona is viewed as righteous and wholesome, while the other is characterized as evil, selfish and fixated on egocentric ambitions. Sadly, this perspective only fuels the inner conflict. “What does money represent to you?” I asked him. “Freedom,” he replied. “That seems like a worthy goal, but the way you’re going about it has produced the opposite result—slavery,” I suggested. Any maniacal need or compulsion renders one an indentured servant, a puppet on the proverbial strings of some inner mental master. But, breaking free is rarely a simple matter, not a mere exercise of will, as some suggest. Why? Because there is no unified, congruent will inside one’s self to be exercised. When the self is separated into warring factions, each “part” attempts to impose its agenda, creating the proverbial house divided. Often, the result is a mental standoff. No winner, no loser—just an endless conflict. “One way to approach this is to transcend the whole master-slave dichotomy,” I recommended to Mark. “Perhaps your antagonistic personas can be partners instead of adversaries.” Making peace between the various competing interests that inhabit one’s psyche is both a spiritual and psychological process. Like bringing together people who are in bitter conflict, healing the divided self requires understanding, acceptance and, ultimately, compassion. “You want me to accept the greedy part of myself?” Mark questioned. “You have to embrace who you are, warts and all, before you can change how you live your life,” I counseled. Accepting your undesirable facets does not mean encouraging the behaviors they generate. As Gandhi stated, “Hate the sin, love the sinner.” The goal is to nurture a kind of “peaceful village” inside the mind where all your diverse personas respect one another and work cooperatively for the common good. So, Mark set about becoming a peacemaker. He journaled daily, sometimes writing from the side of himself that lusted after money, and other times writing from the part wishing to be free of that obsession. Like any respectful dialogue between adversaries focused on mutual understanding, gradually, this contemplative process created a truce of sorts, followed by greater collaboration. He also invested more in his spiritual life and sought the counsel of several mentors. The result? Neither side was master nor servant. Mark continued to pursue financial success but less obsessively, and not at the expense of his family and personal life. In turn, he invested more time and energy in important relationships and plain old fun. Within his mind, he achieved what Lincoln referenced when he said, “I destroy my enemy when I make him my friend.” For more, visit philipchard.com.

::SAVINGOURDEMOCRACY ( AUG. 22 - 28, 2019 ) The 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, August 24

Impact Coalition for Families presents Community Coffee & Conversation @ Wake-Up Program LLC, 3353 N. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.

Join a conversation on black family life with Dr. William Rogers, retired UW-Milwaukee lecturer and current host of The Black Reality Think Tank Radio. Rogers will discuss the historical context of African families, the impact of diaspora life, the restoration of African families and ending family violence. This will give attendees the tools and solutions to stabilize of families thus build stronger communities. Presented by Impact Coalition for Families.

Peace Action of Wisconsin: Stand for Peace @ the corner of 92nd St. and North Ave., 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 after the protest.

CONCEPTUAL TIMELESS SPIRITED THE HATCHETS MILWAU KE E RO CK B AND FU LL A RTICLE AT RA DIO MILWAUKEE.OR G

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AUGUST 22, 2019 | 9


NEWS&VIEWS::POLL

You think Epstein’s co-conspirators will not face charges Last week, we asked if you though any of Epstein’s alleged co-conspirators would ever actually face charges in relation to the crimes associated with Epstein. You said: Yes: 28% No: 72%

Do you believe that the US economy will be in recession come Fall of 2020? Yes No Vote online at shepherdexpress.com. We’ll publish the results of this poll in next week’s issue.

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VIP ACCESS: MILWAUKEE OKTOBERFEST VIP access includes: unlimited samples, free pretzel from Milwaukee Pretzel Company, commemorative stein, single releases, and delicious beers. VIP sampling including special releases and single barrel varietals will be first come first serve while supplies last. VIP ACCESS

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::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.

House of Nutrition and Hemp Rescue ::BY SHEILA JULSON

C

annabidiol (CBD) has become the rock star of the holistic wellness world due to its heralded health benefits, so it was a natural progression for House of Nutrition & Wellness (5824 Sixth Ave., Kenosha) to add CBD to its offerings of vitamins, supplements, essential oils, natural foods and personal care items. Mark Wistar has owned House of Nutrition since 2014. He began carrying CBD about two years ago upon recommendation from a friend who was using Endoca brand CBD oil to help treat skin cancer. “He wanted me to carry it,” Wistar recalls. “I told him I’d get it in, but the laws were a little confusing back then. I heard rumors of health stores being raided and fined [for carrying CBD].” Wisconsin retailers were further confused in April 2018, when then-Attorney General Brad Schimel issued a Department of Justice memo deeming CBD illegal. His announcement resulted in some stores pulling CBD products from their shelves. After immediate backlash from businesses and agricultural leaders, Schimel finally relented and rolled back his stance. Industrial hemp extracts like CBD were later removed from the Controlled Substances Act when the 2018 federal farm bill was signed into law. Wisconsin was a leading hemp producer prior to World War II; however, Wistar notes that Wisconsin now follows rather than leads today’s cannabis resurgence. “Wisconsin used to lead with progressive legislation on different things, but now Illinois has taken the lead. They were the first to go smoke-free in public places, and now Illinois has taken the lead again with legalizing marijuana. They’re paving a path to get their budgets back in the black, and Wisconsin will see that, but now we’re going to be following,” he observes.

Hemp Rescue

House of Nutrition sells CBD as a health care supplement. Because they specialize in natural health products, Wistar says they can recommend other herbs that might complement CBD to best address customers’ symptoms. Their private brand is Hemp Rescue, made by a Green Bay, Wis., company that sources hemp from a farm in Longmont, Colo. Luke Schlag, a representative for Hemp Rescue, emphasizes his company monitors the quality at every single step. They make five different strengths of tinctures, along with body creams and salves. It’s also full-plant/full-spectrum. “It contains cannabinoids found in the entire plant. Some companies use extracts derived from only stalks and stems, which have fewer cannabinoids and other compounds,” Schlag says. Hemp Rescue also has just two ingredients: hemp oil and mediumchain triglyceride (MCT) coconut oil. House of Nutrition manager Kalli Hauter—who is also studying Oriental medicine at the Midwest College of Oriental Medicine—notes that CBD oil (or tincture) is a preferable delivery method to capsules or gummies. “When taken sublingually [under the tongue], it’s absorbed through the system faster. With capsules or gummies, everybody digests at different rates, so some people might not feel the full dose.” She also helps guide customers on how CBD helps balance the body’s endocannabinoid system, which regulates sleep, appetite, mood and other processes. House of Nutrition also carries CBD tinctures and products by Charlotte’s Web, Endoca, Hemp Select (made by Wisconsin-based Terry Naturally supplements), Irwin Naturals CBD line and Hemplucid, another whole-plant CBD oil. Please note that any health claims in this article are intended for informational purposes only and are not to be taken as substitutes for medical advice. Consult with a health care professional before starting any treatment. For more information, visit thenutritionhouse.com and hemprescuecbd.com. Comment at shepherdexpress.com. n 12 | A U G U S T 2 2 , 2 0 1 9

Adult Marijuana Use Soaring, Youth Use Falling ::BY JEAN-GABRIEL FERNANDEZ

T

he National Survey on Drug Use and Health is an annual study gathering data about drug use, including marijuana, led by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Currently, data ranging from 2002 to 2017 is available to the public, and it shows several crucial points:

n Adult Use of Marijuana Is Increasing

In 2017, 14.5% of Americans ages 12 and older had used marijuana in the past year. In 2002, SAMHSA had found that 10.71% of people in the same demographic group used marijuana in the past year; that’s a 35% increase in 15 years. The West Coast is the most potfriendly region, while the South, apparently, has the lowest rates of use. Obviously, states where cannabis is legal have the highest rates. Oregon is leading, with 26.51% of its population using marijuana in the past year, followed by Washington, D.C., and Colorado. Utah is the state with the lowest reported rate of use, but even there, 10.4% of the population consumes pot at least somewhat regularly. Marijuana use has only risen by 2% in Utah since 2002, but it has doubled in Oregon in that same time frame.

n Youth Use Is Declining

The National Survey highlights the massive differences between the different age groups. Americans between the ages of 18 and 25 are by far the largest clientele of marijuana; historically, teenagers are second, followed by people ages 26 and up. This status quo has actually changed in the past few years: adults 26 and older have just surpassed teenagers in rates of regular marijuana use in 2016.

While teen use of marijuana started declining rapidly since 2012, adult use of marijuana has been steadily increasing at the same time. Consumption of marijuana in the past month was twice as prevalent among teenagers as it was among adult in 2002 (8.2% and 4%, respectively), but adult use rates doubled while teen use fell by a quarter since. It’s interesting to note that youth usage of cannabis has started its decline precisely when Colorado and Washington legalized recreational cannabis. We can observe a correlation, but we can’t assume causation, though it appears likely that legal cannabis—being inaccessible to minors through legal means and harder to find on the black market of legal states—has participated to this decline.

n Wisconsin Follows the National Trends

Although the total increase in cannabis consumption in Wisconsin is smaller than the national average (only 3%—from 9.8% in 2002 to 12.7% in 2017), we follow the trends of public acceptance and use of the substance. Marijuana use has nearly doubled among older people and was cut by a third among teenagers. In 2017, SAMHSA found that 30.13% of young adults (ages 18-25) in Wisconsin consumed cannabis in the past year; nearly a third of the age group. Although it places our state solidly in the average when it comes to pot’s popularity among young adults, states like Vermont and Oregon, where 50.08% and 47.57% of that age group use cannabis regularly, respectively, are still far ahead. Within Wisconsin, Milwaukee seems to always be the leading area, hovering between two and four percentage points above the state average. Northern Wisconsin lags far behind.

n Perceptions of Marijuana Are Changing Fast

SAMHSA polled people on their perceptions of the risks of smoking marijuana once a month. In 2002, 39.3% of Americans believed it carried a “great risk,” which fell to only 26.91% of Americans 15 years later. Nowadays, the percentage of young adults who fear marijuana falls into the single digits in some states; for example, only 6.83% of Vermonters ages 18-25 think smoking weed is dangerous. Wisconsin is also one of the states with the lowest fear of marijuana (below the national average). Interestingly enough, nearly one in two Americans consider that binge drinking regularly carries a great risk; nearly double what was found for concerns about regular marijuana use. Wisconsin distinguishes itself by being one of three states—along with Iowa and Montana—to fear alcohol use the least. It appears that Wisconsinites just don’t fear the consequences of drug use, be it alcohol or marijuana. Comment at shepherdexpress.com. n SHEPHERD EXPRESS


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::DININGOUT

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For more Dining, log onto shepherdexpress.com

Great Food at Downtown’s Charming Swingin’ Door Tavern

make the veggie melt ($9.50), grilled on multigrain with tomato, avocado, onions, mushrooms, bell pepper, cucumber and cheese, better than your average token vegetarian sandwich option. Other melts, like the grilled Russian ($11.50) with roast beef, slaw and cheeses, are grilled on a soft marble rye. A patty melt ($10) is one of the best renditions in the city, on that same rye with grilled, chopped onions, plenty of cheese and a grilled, hand-pattied and wellseasoned half-pound burger patty. Or get a burger ($8.50) on a substantial, sesame seed-studded bun. They cook it to your requested temp, so if you like your burgers rare, you’ll love it here. Order it cowboy style ($2.50) to add cheddar, homemade ::BY LACEY MUSZYNSKI sweet and tangy barbecue sauce and smokey bacon. If that’s not big enough for you, the Big KC burger ($12.50) with cheeses, grilled onions, roast beef, bacon and mayo, n a city full of bar food, Downtown’s Swingin’ Door Exchange manages might be calling your name. to stand out. They are maybe not as well-known as some of their suburban All sandwiches come with a choice of side, and they cannot be overlooked counterparts that have amenities like free parking and more square footage, here. The standout is the spicy vermouth carrots, which are shaved thinly and but the food and atmosphere are worth seeking out in this charming tavern. have a nice char to them. They’re only mildly spicy in a black pepper sort of way, There’s been a bar at this site officially since 1933 when Prohibition ended, but the vermouth gives them a little bit of a boozy bite. Homemade potato but unofficially, it’s not hard to imagine there was a speakeasy operating here chips, grilled beets and coleslaw are all solid, but the fries are one of the few before then. It doesn’t feel like much has changed inside the bar since, with its frozen items here, so choose wisely. dark wood paneling and back bar, vintage beer memorabilia and huge, red, The half dozen or so entrées make the white tablecloths on the dining room stained-glass window that casts a deep glow over the bar in such a way that it’s side of the tavern feel like they belong. Baby back ribs ($16-$23) fall off the impossible not to imagine it as a surreptitious speakeasy. bone too easily, but that’s probably a good thing when they’re not smoked. Ahi What has changed is the food. When owners K.C. Swan and Shelly Sincere tuna steak ($14-$21) is served rare or blackened, and the one steak option is a bought the bar in 2010, they started making almost everything on the menu 10-ounce New York strip ($20). from scratch, right down to the salad dressings, potato chips and soups. Like many bars, daily specials are popular here, especially with the office The menu is made up of mostly sandwiches, plus appetizers, burgworker crowd at lunch. Mondays are hot dog days, for example, with $3 Chiers, substantial salads and a few entrées. One of the best things on the cago style, Western or chili cheese dogs. (The homemade meaty chili, available menu, the ultra-crunchy, cornflake-crusted chicken breast, shows up almost every day along with one or two other soups, has a brothy tomato base in a number of items, including an appetizer of chicken sliders ($5-$9) and the with celery and peppers.) Fridays are reserved for fish fry, of course, with perch, 4 Cs salad ($10) with the chicken sliced on top of a spring green mix with a pile cod and shrimp, plus hash brown-like potato pancakes. of pepper jack cheese and a mildly spiced Cajun ranch. The The bar at Swingin’ Door is a great place to relax whether crunchy chicken sandwich ($10.50) is where it really shines you’re just stopping in before an event or watching a game after though, with at least three (sometimes four or five) flat piecSwingin’ Door work. Even if you’re not planning to eat, with specials like three es of chicken barely contained on a sesame roll. It’s huge, Exchange for $5 cans of PBR and Hamm’s, it might just be a good idea to difficult to bite into and perfect for crunch lovers. get something to eat anyway. You know it’ll be good. 219 E. Michigan Ave. Deli-style sandwiches like Shelly’s tuna salad ($8.50) and a 414-276-8150 • CC club ($10.50) with shaved ham or turkey and bacon, come on 4C’s Salad, Bistro Burger, Shelly’s Grilled Marinated Beets lightly toasted bread with veggies that are always fresh. They swingindoorexchange.com

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Unique Servings at Taqueria El Cabrito

Twisted Plants Vegan Food Truck

Cabrito means young goat, a clue to one of the specialties at Taqueria El Cabrito (1100 S. 11th St.). Under its breakfast menu, the description of Desayuno El Cabrito lists steak as its animal protein, but pulled goat can be had as a substitute. Finding a boneless preparation of that meat in its own juice is quite a find in Milwaukee, all the more when it is served with eggs (scrambled with meat in omelet-like folds) and refried beans sprinkled with chihuahua cheese. Then, there’s the cactus meal. A walloping heap of strips of firm, vaguely citrus-tasting cactus is mingled with onion strands and garnished with whole green onions and a lengthwise-halved jalapeùo, served with beans, a thick avocado slice and a lettuce-cucumber-tomato salad. Save for the fat likely used in the beans, this nopales dinner would make for a vegetarian banquet. Whatever one gets here, the pickled onion, carrot and cauliflower on each table makes for a piquant appetite wetter.

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COURTESY OF TAQUERIA EL CABRITO

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Twisted Plants Food Truck

::BY JAMIE LEE RAKE

Breakfast at Taqueria El Cabrito

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::BY SHEILA JULSON

randon Hawthorne had once sold Italian ice, hot dogs and hamburgers from food carts. But these days, his wife, Arielle, and he have embarked upon a completely different food venture. This past spring, they launched Twisted Plants, a food truck that offers vegan foods exclusively. Arielle switched to a plant-based diet after a health scare in 2016. She began as a vegetarian and then went to vegan foods. The couple experimented with recipes in their home kitchen and tested creations like vegan Creamy Mac & Cheeze with friends and relatives. Brandon notes that some people couldn’t tell the difference between traditional macaroni and cheese and their vegan version. Brandon also adopted a vegetarian diet and got the idea to start a vegan food truck. The couple operates Twisted Plants around Brandon’s full-time job as a truck driver and while raising two young daughters. Just in their ďŹ rst season, Brandon says they’ve developed a following with not only vegans and vegetarians, but with people who want to eat healthier and help reduce the environmental impact of commercial livestock farming. “It’s a small niche, but it’s gaining a lot of popularity,â€? he says. Twisted Plants offers a mix of comfort foods and American classics like burgers. They began using the plant-based Impossible Burger, but due to supply issues, they’ve since switched to Beyond Meat or Lightlife patties. Customers can choose from burgers such as the Up In Smoke, in which the patty is topped with vegan ingredients like cheddar cheese, smoky tempeh bacon, crispy onions and mayonnaise. The Superbad patty has queso cheese, jalapeĂąo peppers, house chipotle mayonnaise and grilled onions. The vegan drumsticks are shipped from a vegan market in New York and topped with Brandon and Arielle’s house-made sauce. Sandwiches include How High, which mimics barbecued pulled pork and is made with jackfruit—the latest rock star of the vegan world. Jackfruit is nutrient-dense, low in calories and comes from the jack tree, a species of tree in the ďŹ g and mulberry family that grows in India and parts of Southeast Asia. The trees are known to need little water and produce high yields. “We use jackfruit for the pulled pork sandwich, as well as the loaded fries (wafe fries with barbecued jackfruit, queso, barbecue sauce, chipotle mayonnaise and jalapeĂąos),â€? Brandon says. “It’s marinated for ďŹ ve hours to become tender and absorb the seasonings, and you can’t tell the difference whether it’s jackfruit, pork or shredded chicken.â€? Arielle adds that jackfruit is very versatile and takes on the avor of whatever you’re cooking it with. “It deďŹ nitely looks a little unusual. Ripe jackfruit is sweet, but when you’re cooking jackfruit, you want to use young, green jackfruit that hasn’t fully ripened yet and doesn’t have a sweet taste, so it takes on whatever avor you add to it,â€? she explains. Customers can also get sides of wafe fries or vegan mozzarella sticks, which look and taste like the dairy version of the pub favorite. There’s also fresh-squeezed strawberry lemonade. Twisted Plants appears at N. 53rd St. and W. Fond du Lac Ave. and at the Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Division on Watertown Plank Road. They do weekend events such as the West Allis Farmers Market Food Truck Fridays and Zocalo Food Park. They also participate in Fooda OfďŹ ce Lunch Service that brings different food vendors to workplaces, and they offer catering for parties and events. Locations and menu specials can be found by visiting facebook.com/twistedplantsmke.

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::A&E

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FEATURE | FILM | THEATRE | ART | BOOKS | CLASSICAL MUSIC | DANCE

Br!NK Brings New Plays to Life

Developing New Plays, Bringing Them to the Public with Br!NK

ILLUSTRATION BY SLOTH ASTRONAUT

::BY JEAN-GABRIEL FERNANDEZ

or the sixth consecutive year, Midwestern female playwrights are getting a chance to get their voices heard thanks to Renaissance Theaterworks’ initiative: the Br!NK New Play Festival. Renaissance Theaterworks (RTW), which produces theater by women (and enjoyable by everyone), calls for female authors living in the Midwest to submit their scripts for review, either full-length plays or shorter, 10-minute ones (called Br!efs). Two full plays and half-a-dozen Br!efs are then chosen, and RTW’s team stages readings of the scripts to the public during the annual New Play Festival. “It’s difficult for playwrights to get that first production, to get their work seen. It can be really helpful to have other theater professionals help you develop your work,” RTW’s artistic director Suzan Fete explained. This year, the two staged plays are Inna Tsyrlin’s Stitched with a Sickle and a Hammer and Karen Saari’s ’Rain on Fire. The former is inspired by a real historical event, when U.S. Vice President Henry Wallace visited a Soviet labor camp and was deceived as the prisoners were made to perform a play, pretending to be free. In that context, Stitched with a Sickle and a Hammer tells the fictional story of Aleksandra, sent to the gulag for reading a Western magazine and forced to choose between playing along with the scheme or sacrificing everything to unveil the horrors of the Soviet camps. ’Rain on Fire takes place in a Midwestern town ravaged by the present-day opiate crisis. The script focuses on a failed musician coming home for the funeral of her pill-addict mother, Lorraine; there, she discovers that her mother, under the pen name of ’Rain, was a poet and wanted her to turn one of her poems into a song to perform at the funeral.

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The week-long Br!NK New Play Festival will initially be touring the region Sept. 3-6, visiting Arts @ Large, UWWhitewater, UW-Parkside and Woodland Pattern Book Center in Milwaukee’s Riverwest neighborhood. It will eventually settle at Nō Studios on Saturday, Sept. 7, and Sunday, Sept. 8, where Br!efs, Stitched with a Sickle and a Hammer and ’Rain on Fire will be presented to the public. Br!NK is, first and foremost, a chance for winners to develop their scripts, as each playwright spends a week workshopping their play with a director, a cast and a dramaturge. “We are the midwives, and it is the playwright’s baby,” Fete said. “When playwrights send us their plays, they also tell us what they’re interested in working on. We choose two plays from the submissions, then we focus that week-long workshop on whatever it is the playwrights want to do.”They also bring in theater professionals with expertise in things like set design to help the playwrights see how their plays could best be brought to life. To go even further, the festival offers the chance to try scripts in front of a live audience, who are then encouraged to meet the playwrights and share opinions during talkbacks. To be eligible for next year’s festival, playwrights need to be female, living in the Midwest (between and including North Dakota, Kansas and Ohio), and they must submit their scripts before the given deadline. “We solicit submissions beginning on Thursday, Aug. 15, and we will get plays sent to us through December,” according to Fete.

Previous Br!NK Plays Keep On Living

“It has been one of the most exciting things about Br!NK: The playwrights are starting to get some success with the works that they did for us,” Fete enthused. The objective of Br!NK was always to give opportunities to women playwrights, which is starting to become reality. For example, Philana Omorotionmwan’s entry to Br!NK in 2016, Before Evening Comes, set a resounding precedent by being named in The Kilroys List—an annual, national list of the 100 most producible plays by women. The following year, Amanda Petefish-Schrag’s The Endurance of Light won Br!NK, and its staged reading was directed by Fete, herself. The play, which focuses on science and religion in the event of a miscarriage, was just produced by Milwaukee’s Acacia Theatre Company in July. 2017 was an exceptional year for Br!NK laureates, as the second winner, Reina Hardy’s Annie Jump and the Library of Heaven, was also produced earlier this year. Renaissance Theaterworks was the first to produce it, but it was also picked up by theater companies in Washington, D.C., Texas and Connecticut. The charmBr!NK ing story—which introduces audiences to a New Play small-town science genius contacted by an intergalactic supercomputer to lead humanFestival ity to the stars—garnered national attenTouring tion thanks to its humor, drama and quirky Sept. 3-6 characters. Nō Studios The trend continues as one of the Br!NK Sept. 7-8 Br!efs chosen last year—Alayna Jacqueline’s All of the Everything—made its mark in the Samuel French Off Off Broadway Festival. “They’re producing it in New York right before Br!NK,” Fete said. “I’m really thrilled that we were able to help the playwright create this relationship with Samuel French!” The Br!NK New Play Festival will be touring Sept. 3-6 and at Nō Studios Sept. 7-8. For more information, visit r-t-w. com or community.nostudios.com.

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OPERA

Carmen Brew City Opera presents Georges Bizet’s immortal tale of doomed love, Carmen, as their inaugural production. As they explain it: “Brew City Opera is a new company with a mission to bring classic operas to people who would never otherwise see an opera with grounded, traveling productions which bring opera throughout southeastern Wisconsin.” It was formed “to bring more opportunities for the communities of Wisconsin to experience the great works of the operatic canon,” and Brew City Opera chose Carmen as their first show “because it exemplifies the things that drive this company: passion, great vocal art and emotional performances.” The cast includes Erin Sura, Tim Rebers, Jason Martin, Shelly Meléndez, Ryan White, Cameron Smith and Kristin Knutson; piano accompaniment will be provided by Ruben Piirainen. (John Jahn) Aug. 23-25 at Inspiration Studios, 1500 S. 73rd St. For tickets, visit inspirationstudiosgallery.com.

I just want to say…

Following the rich tradition of similar such events around the world, the Milwaukee Fringe Festival is a showcase of a diverse collection of artists that call Milwaukee home. From theatrical actors to painters, musicians to tap dancers and performance artists to playwrights, MKE Fringe is a joyous celebration of what makes Milwaukee’s culture vibrant and extraordinary. At 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 24, Theatre Gigante’s co-artistic director Mark Anderson presents his latest monologue at the Todd Wehr Theater (123 E. State St.). Anderson has been writing and performing such pieces for more than three decades, playfully and poetically examining the anxieties and harmonic tremors of modern living. In I just want to say…, he combines excerpts from three of his witty monologues: Eighty Words for Snow, Who and White Clown. For tickets and more information about the Fringe Festival, visit mkefringe.com. (John Jahn)

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PHOTOS BY LIZ LAUREN

A&E::INREVIEW

APT’s ‘The Book of Will’

Life Without Shakespeare in APT’s ‘The Book of Will’ ::BY MICHAEL MUCKIAN

W

hat would the arts be like if William Shakespeare had never existed? Worse yet, if he had existed but no one in his time thought to preserve his collected brilliance for posterity? Saving Shakespeare’s legacy lies at the heart of Lauren Gunderson’s The Book of Will, which played Saturday, Aug. 17, in the Hill Theatre on American Players Theatre’s Spring Green campus. From so heady a theme comes one of the company’s funniest and most poignant plays of the season. Aging actors Henry Condell (Jim DeVita) and John Heminges

(James Ridge), members of the King’s Men acting troupe of which Shakespeare was originally a member, bemoan the inaccuracies and inconsistencies in current productions of their late colleague’s plays. Plagued by little money, no experience and incomplete and missing copies of the plays themselves, the pair set about in 1623 to publish what is now known as “The First Folio,” the first published compendium of Shakespeare’s works. The task is monumental, but Gunderson mines this arcane bit of literary history with full doses of humor and heart, playing Condell’s energetic enthusiasm and Heminges’ overly cautious angst against a colorful cadre of 17th-century English characters. The play features one of APT’s largest casts and showcases some of its most seasoned actors, many performing at the top of their game. Condell’s nervous energy is kept in check by wife Elizabeth (Colleen Madden), while Heminges’ hesitant inaction is lovingly overridden by wife Rebecca (Tracy Michelle Arnold) and daughter Alice (Melisa Pereyra). The five together form the play’s emotional nucleus around which outrageous antics like those of bombastic actor Richard Burbage (La Shawn Banks) and raging drunken poet Ben Jonson (David Daniel) help swirl the narrative to a fevered pitch. Director Tim Ocel, in turn, keeps everyone masterfully on track and moving ahead to a sublime conclusion in this excellent end-of-season production. Through Oct. 5 at APT’s Hill Theatre. For tickets, visit americanplayers.org.

M I N DF U L NE S S I N E VE RY D AY L I F E 11 Wednesdays, 6:30-8:30 pm or Saturdays, 9:30-11:30am

Fall 2019

Sep 7/11 Beginning Mindfulness Practice Sep 14/18 Sitting and Walking Meditation Sep 21/25 Mindfulness of Body Sep 28/Oct 2 Mindfulness of Feelings Oct 5/9 Mindfulness of Thought Oct 12/16* Mindfulness of the World

*NO T E ONE W EEK GA P IN S AT UR DAY CL A SS

Oct 23/26 Four Noble Truths Oct 30/Nov 2 Lovingkindness Nov 6/9 Compassion Nov 13/16 Sympathetic Joy Nov 20/23 Equanimity / Graduation 20 | A U G U S T 2 2 , 2 0 1 9

The Intravaganza is led by Paul Norton, M.D., Order of Interbeing

Milwaukee Mindfulness Practice Center South 3333 S. 27th st. Suite 500

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To register: Mail to Mindfulness Center 1922 East Park Place, Milwaukee, WI 53211 or E-Mail milwmindful@gmail.com or Call 414-962-8678 or online at www.milwaukeemindfulness.com

Your Success is our Mission! What do we do? Grow Your Business Develop Your Career Engage Your Community

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‘A Doll’s House’ Still one of the World’s Greatest Dramas ::BY KEVIN LYNCH

H

enrik Ibsen’s spectacles probably steamed up while he wrote A Doll’s House, but his brain surely boiled as well. One of classic theater’s sexiest plays also provided American Players Theatre’s audience witness to one of the world’s greatest dramas, which was published in 78 languages and inspired countless performances and adaptations. It’s a woman’s personal odyssey, somewhat comparable to Hawthorne’s The Scarlet Letter. But Hawthorne was a prude compared to this Scandinavian and lacked Ibsen’s genius for dramatic, even explosive story craft. Yet, there’s nary a gun nor blade visible. Psychological suspense intensifies. A Doll’s House opens with grabby bourgeois husband, Torvald, treating his young wife Nora like a doll, or “my little hamster.” Initially, nothing but “gold-digger” shines in Nora’s slightly manic eyes. Swift plot turns bring a man to her doorstep with a secret, held over her like the sword of Damocles, and an old girlfriend who may help her survive. She endures dark nights of the soul, and actor Kelsey Brennan dominates the stage with her radiance and increasingly tortured being. Her closing-scene transformation is breathtaking, but it feels inevitable—as does the shattering demise of Nate Burger’s Torvald. Nora must finally dance a gypsy tarantella for her fantasizing husband. But she pirouettes along a cliff and, somewhere between salvation and damnation, lies her humanity, a quivering lifeline in the “#MeToo” era. Through Oct. 6, in APT’s Touchstone Theater. For tickets, visit americanplayers.org. SHEPHERD EXPRESS


SHEPHERD EXPRESS

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A&E

::VISUALART SPONSORED BY

OPENINGS: “MKE Generations” Aug. 26-Sept. 13 Union Art Gallery, UW-Milwaukee 2200 E. Kenwood Blvd., Union W199 For the first time ever, UWM alumnus Michael Davidson and his father, Willie G., are presenting artworks in a side-by-side gallery exhibition that showcases their mutual lifelong devotion to painting. Willie G. helped shape 50 years of legendary and iconic designs as vice president of styling at Harley-Davidson Motorcycles, but it was his watercolor practice that inspired his son’s childhood interest in painting. This fascination eventually led Michael to study at UWM before venturing into the art world of New York City. Although these two artists have explored a variety of styles and subjects independently throughout the decades, the elegant directness of paper, paint and brush has guided their continued commitment to the expressive possibilities of their first love: abstract watercolors. Please join the UWM Union Art Gallery as we

A&E::BOOKS

BOOK|REVIEWS

The Roots of Rock and Rap

(and David Bowie’s Life on Earth) ::BY DAVID LUHRSSEN

Everybody’s Doin’ It: Sex, Music, and Dance in New York, 1840-1917 (W.W. NORTON), BY DALE COCKRELL

Jazz and blues emerged from the intersection of liquor, dancing and sex—often commercialized sex when considering the role of brothels in New Orleans. But what were the thrill seekers of that northern metropolis, New York, hearing when they stepped out before 1917, the year jazz reached the city? As Dale Cockrell profoundly observes in Everybody’s Doin’ It, “dance is music made manifest” and dancing occurred in hundreds (thousands?) of steamy joints in New York where drink and sex were proffered. The challenge Cockrell faced in reconstructing the early vernacular musical history of the Big Apple is that everybody at the time was writing about the dance steps—most of them considered shocking—while descriptions of the music were often vague. The situation became clearer by the end of the 19th century when ragtime was all the rage—we know what that sounded like—but before then it’s guesswork. Educated guesswork in Cockrell’s case. The earlier music of New York’s demimonde seems derived from jigs and reels; the blackface acts of some performers drew from a notion of African American culture; the surviving sheet music gives us some idea of the barroom repertoire but not how it was performed. Some accounts of small combos pounding away on piano, string bass and a motley assortment of percussion—and references to the players’ “vigorous execution”—suggest something like rock ’n’ roll. Everybody’s Doin’ It is also a lively social history of race mixing and segregation, the barrooms of Old New York and the changing milieu of the sex trade. Crackdowns on bordellos and cheap hotels forced prostitution into the streets, and technology—the advent of the telephone—opened new possibilities. Cockrell doesn’t romanticize the lives of sex workers, pointing out that the profession was sustained by poverty and lack of opportunity.

Bowie: An Illustrated Life (UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS PRESS), BY MARÍA HESSE AND FRAN RUIZ David Bowie made artifice artful over the course of his career. He was as much an actor as a musician, playing a sequence of self-invented roles. María Hesse and Fran Ruiz composed a beautifully illustrated book of his life—not a “graphic biography” but something more imaginative. Written from Bowie’s perspective, the narrative begins with his arrival on “Planet Earth” and includes fantastical elements. Hit in the eye by a meteorite at age 15? Well, Bowie often played with science-fiction themes. Finally, in 2016, “My stay in this world reaches its end. I became dust and stars once again.” In between, as the writers aptly have Bowie say, “By the time you think you’ve glimpsed what’s hiding behind my silhouette, I’ll have transformed into something else.”

Cruel to be Kind: The Life and Music of Nick Lowe (DA CAPO), BY WILL BIRCH British writer-musician Will Birch isn’t the first to make the argument that Nick Lowe is the only rock star who is better in his 60s than he was in his 20s. He “celebrates advancing age with style and panache,” his range continually shifting without aping contemporary trends, relying instead on his already eclectic roots in American music for guidance. Although Lowe isn’t recognized beyond the cognoscenti in America (but the cognoscenti includes many musicians), he is something of a local hero in the U.K. Birch’s claims are modest, yet his entertaining semi-authorized biography makes a case for exploring the discography of an artist who holds his own in a triangle defined by rock, country and soul. But as Lowe says, “As you get older, it’s more fun to sing the blues. It cheers you up.”

present this pioneering exhibition of recent work by father and son, Willie G. and Michael Davidson. An opening reception takes place on Saturday, Aug. 31, 5-7 p.m. “MKE Generations” is free and open to the public. 22 | A U G U S T 2 2 , 2 0 1 9

Ruffhouse: From the Streets of Philly to the Top of the ’90s Hip-hop Charts (DIVERSION), BY CHRIS SCHWARTZ

Sometime in the mid-1980s, Chris Schwartz discovered the future. “I felt I knew something a lot of people had yet to realize: you could sell hip-hop to white kids.” Schwartz got into the music business when he discerned the affinity for his music, early German electronica, with the beat-driven backing tracks of hiphop. As founder of Ruffhouse Records, Schwartz helped launch the success of the Fugees, Nas and Cypress Hill. Ruffhouse is his memoir, a collection of entertaining streetwise stories from the ’90s—back when the music industry sold physical product, indie labels were on the rise and a smart young guy with an ear for new music and a head for business could charge onto the Billboard charts. SHEPHERD EXPRESS


::OFFTHECUFF

Art and Activism in Racine Off the Cuff with Poet Laureate and Rapper Nick Ramsey ::BY JENNY MAUER

R

acine has become an artistic hub with galleries, shows and art fairs. One of the most well-known founders and figures in this scene is poet and rapper Nick Ramsey. Along with his group, Family Power Music, Ramsey has hosted open mic events, arranged artistic and musical celebrations and supported budding artists. One of his biggest accomplishments is organizing the Family Reunion Music Festival, which recently celebrated its 11th year. This festival honors Ramsey’s late friend, Daniel Robert Conner, with music, poetry, food and donations to charitable causes. Ramsey has also served as the Racine’s poet laureate and volunteers at the Racine Literacy Council. He recently took time out of his busy schedule to discuss how he combines art with activism and what Racine means to him. What inspired you to become a poet and performance artist? I was influenced by my older cousin when I was 13 or 15. I’d hang out with him and his friends. They had those fancy cars with big sound systems, and we would go down by the lake in Kenosha [listening] to freestyle rap. I would listen and get inspired by them and would secretly practice doing that at home. A little later, I worked with my cousin’s best friend, and we would practice freestyling. How did working in the artistic scene lead to community volunteering? It’s due to how hip-hop is looked at in a negative light. I found it very hard to locate a place where I could share my creative talents with others. I would look for open mic opportunities; I would go all over the place. What I found was that there’s a whole underground community of artists sharing that same space of wanting to be with other artists and showcasing their talents. That inspired me to run an open mic at Carthage College in order to provide a space. Actually, [fellow poet and Carthage student] Nick Demske and I went to Carthage at the same time, and I met him because he ran an open mic. When he graduated, he asked if I wanted to take it over, and I said yes. From there, we built a community in the Kenosha-Racine area, and I was also going to Milwaukee for work, attending open mics at different places. That’s also how Family Power Music came to be, because there SHEPHERD EXPRESS

Nick Ramsey PHOTO COURTESY OF BELLE CITY MAGAZINE

was an open mic at the Mosaic Piano Bar in Milwaukee called The Rising Tides. That’s where I met my Family Power Music business partners—Joshua Gill-Sutton and Anthony Mackovec. All that really led to the realization that tons of artists are around and that we need to provide a safe and welcoming space for them. That’s how we got into the community stuff; not only is there a community of artists, but there’s also a community of people supporting those artists.

Call & Response Gathering artists and audiences who share a commitment to the Black imagination. Re-examine the past. Imagine a better future.

How does art play a role in your advocacy? I know that when I first started going to different venues, I realized that many people were not paying their artists; they were just asking them to do it for exposure. For me, an artist can’t survive on exposure alone, so one of our missions is to pay our performers. Whenever a venue comes up, I ask if they have an operating budget, because I want to pay the artists. That’s where the advocacy comes in; you advocate for artists. What do you think makes Racine’s community unique? It’s smaller than our adjacent neighboring communities. I also love that everybody here is really proud of their community, and when they start getting involved, they start realizing how much they can make an impact. When you’re in a bigger city, it’s harder to make such a ripple. I think Racine has this stoicism and the smallness but also all the natural resources that any of the bigger areas have. The artists, for instance, seek each other out and realize there is a community here for art. That’s how you get to know the visual artists, the performing artists, the literary artists. And, next thing you know, we’re all hanging together. It’s a very tight knit community. What else would you like Racine to know about you? My goal moving forward is to advocate for more artists, get more artists paid and build our company up to the point where it’s sustainable to support basic living. Like a person working a nine-to-five job, I want the same type of acknowledgement and credit given to artists in our community. They should be making a living just like the people working those nine-to-five jobs.

Images: Rosemary Ollison, Sperm and Egg, #2, 2018 (detail); portrait of Rosemary Ollison by Lois Bielefeld.

Rosemary Ollison Prosperity in a Million Scraps Through December 8 Beyond Fashion: A Fashion Show August 24

lynden.art/callandresponse2019 414.446.8794 2145 W. Brown Deer Rd. | Milwaukee, WI

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David Crosby Remembers the ’60s (and the Lost Years Afterward) ::BY DAVID LUHRSSEN

D

avid Crosby is the first to admit that he shouldn’t be alive. Yet, here he is, telling his story on camera. David Crosby: Remember My Name is a running dialogue between the singersongwriter and director A.J. Eaton with stops on the way for places from the past. At the same time, Crosby prepares to go on tour, a dangerous undertaking for a man with diabetes and eight stents in his heart. Pivotal in ’60s rock, Crosby’s voice and

songs were integral to The Byrds and essential to Crosby, Stills & Nash (and, soon enough, Young). He released a hauntingly beautiful album on his own, If I Could Only Remember My Name (1971), but is the only member of CSNY who never had a solo hit single. In the documentary, Crosby rues the years lost to addiction; notoriously, he was imprisoned in the ’80s, became a fugitive and finally cleaned up with the encouragement of the David woman he eventually Crosby: married, Jan Dance. Some of Remember Remember My Name was filmed at My Name Crosby’s home, a palDirected by ace of memory whose A.J. Eaton walls are covered with photographs of time Rated R past. He met The Beatles and knew most everyone. He was Joni Mitchell’s lover and Bob Dylan’s friend. But don’t get him started on Jim Morrison. He’s still irked at the Lizard King 50 years on. But nowadays, with his white walrus mustache and matching mane of hair, Crosby is an amiable old fellow in suspenders. He’s become a raconteur, recalling much of his past with healthy good humor—except regarding cocaine and, more so, heroin. That first taste was an exultation. And what followed were years of groping for a high that can never be regained. Nowadays, Crosby is afraid to die

SONY PICTURES CLASSCIS

A&E::FILM

David Crosby: Remember My Name

and “I’m close,” he confesses. “I’d like to have time—a lot more time.” The archival footage is revealing. In concert, The Byrds pounded out a raving punk take on “Hey Joe”—before Crosby launched into JFK assassination conspiracy theories. In home movies of Crosby, Stills & Nash’s first rehearsal (August 1969), the personal chemis-

try is already unstable. Crosby was never an easy partner. Given his past reputation for being insufferable, Remember My Name presents Crosby as surprisingly lucid, even disarmingly charming. It’s an enjoyable two hours for anyone interested in the ’60s rock scene.

Passes and packages available now! mkefilm.org/tickets

24 | A U G U S T 2 2 , 2 0 1 9

SHEPHERD EXPRESS


[ FILM CLIPS ] Angel Has Fallen R

The savior of the U.S. president (Morgan Freeman), Mike Banning (Gerard Butler), is framed for attempting to assassinate his boss—the president. Banning is arrested, but escapes in order to clear his name, protect his family and prevent the killers from finishing the job. Regular folks like us can’t hope for job security when Banning, who saved the president’s life twice, so easily becomes disposable. The film’s $80 million dollar budget represents a raise over earlier chapters. Expect huge pyrotechnics and explosions, not to mention wrecking all manner of expensive sets as Butler races the clock to remain our favorite action hero. (Lisa Miller)

Overcomer PG

Made for a minuscule $5 million dollars, this is the sixth faith-based movie by Kendrick brothers Alex and Stephen. Here, both write and star, while Alex also directs and plays the lead role of high school coach John Harrison. When his cross-country team attracts just one student, and she’s battling asthma (Aryn Wright-Thompson), Harrison sees no point in continuing. However, the girl’s desire to try, along with an administrator’s encouragement and a friend’s advice to give God’s plan a chance, change Harrison’s mind. With this set up, we can guess that miracles can and do occur. (L.M.)

Ready or Not R

Grace (Samara Weaving) is excited to join the wildly wealthy, eccentric Le Domas family when she marries Alex (Mark O’Brien). However, following their nuptials, Grace must play a midnight game of hide and seek to gain the family’s acceptance. This means hiding in the patriarch’s (Henry Czerny) cavernous mansion. Still clad in her billowy white wedding dress, Grace learns that being “found” before dawn is a death sentence. Fortunately, at his own peril, Alex seeks to help Grace survive the night. Kooky characters and macabre satire mix tension with equal parts comedy. So... if asked whether you want to see it, feel free to say, “I do.” (L.M.)

Where’d You Go, Bernadette? PG-13

This film adaptation of Maria Semple’s best-selling 2012 novel casts Cate Blanchett as Bernadette. Secretly agoraphobic, the thought of a planned family vacation makes her queasy. Equally upsetting, her ongoing feud with a neighbor (Kristen Wiig) has drawn interest from the Feds. Soon after the FBI arrives, Bernadette disappears. Her husband, Elgie (Billy Crudup), feels helpless while her daughter Bee (Emma Nelson) receives a little help investigating Bernadette’s past, which she finds hold surprises. Exploring the boundaries of what constitutes our identity, this lighthearted mystery looks at the unintended consequences of our choices. (L.M.)

[ HOME MOVIES / NOW STREAMING ] n Charlie Says They appear so childlike: Leslie Van Houten (Hannah Murray), Patricia Krenwinkel (Sosie Bacon) and Susan Atkins (Marianne Rendón) singing together on California’s Death Row. Devoted members of the “family,” they embraced Charles Manson as the guiding light they never had. They would do anything he told them and when answering any question, they offer the same preface: “Charlie says…” Directed by Mary Harron (American Psycho), Charlie Says (2018) is a factbased dramatization focused on three of “Charlie’s girls” who took part in the murder of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca shortly after the more notorious killing of Sharon Tate. Matt Smith’s performance as Manson is magnetically evil and gets the essence of his countercultural charisma. Many hippies spouted similar lines about “killing the ego,” a dangerous practice when substituting someone else’s ego for your own. Damn, if everything doesn’t look a lot like Quentin Tarantino’s take on the Spahn Ranch.

n Ash Is Purest White

Qiao (Zhao Tao) becomes a girlfriend to a mob boss in the jianghu (Chinese underworld) and will do anything, even prison time, for her man. The latest film by writer-director Jia Zhangke (Mountains May Depart) gradually gains compelling momentum—in large part through Zhao’s pregnant silences, meaningful eyes and restrained pain. Jia excels at directing actors, drawing low-key performances and finding pockets of silence and conspiracy in a noisy, crowded and highly organized society of contemporary China.

n Butley

The celebrated playwright Harold Pinter added a rare item to his curriculum vitae by directing a work for the screen by a contemporary. Simon Gray’s Butley (1974) is a cinematically stage-bound but savagely sharp-tongued satire of academia. The title character is a cynical, careless English professor at a second-rate college. He teaches books he’s never read, barely puts up with students and engages in bitchy backbiting with colleagues. Alan Bates (King of Hearts) stars as Butley. —David Luhrssen

Celebrate LOVE! Join us on the lakefront for the grand unveiling of Robert Indiana’s iconic The American LOVE sculpture. September 5, 5:30–8 p.m. Robert Indiana, The American LOVE, 1966–99. Polychrome aluminum. Anonymous gift through the Greater Milwaukee Foundation (acquired from Sculpture Milwaukee 2018). Photo by Kevin J. Miyazaki.

SHEPHERD EXPRESS

mam.org A U G U S T 2 2 , 2 0 1 9 | 25


::HEARMEOUT ASK RUTHIE | UPCOMING EVENTS | PAUL MASTERSON

::ASKRUTHIE SPONSORED BY

WINNER OF THE JEWELERS OF AMERICA’S 2019 CASE AWARD

No Age Limit on Pride Dear Ruthie,

My grandma came out recently, and I’m freaking the fuck out. My grandmother and I have always been close, so this news is just really upsetting me. I like to think of myself as a liberal college student, but maybe I’m not as far on the left as I thought I was. What should I do?

Thanks, Super-Scared Sara

Dear Sara,

Step One: Stop freaking the fuck out. Step Two: Repeat step one. Believe it or not, grandmas have sexual orientations and... hold your breath... they have sex. Your granny is no exception. You don’t mention a grandpa or a husband in your grandma’s life, and you also don’t state whether or not granny has a female love. That said, I’m going to assume she’s a single gal, looking to dip her toe in the lady pond. Support her! Your grandma has obviously been hiding and denying her true self for quite some time, so celebrate her coming out. Encourage her to be who she was meant to be and embrace this opportunity to show her your love and support. After all, your grandmother surely has been supporting you and your endeavors for many years. Now, it’s your turn to return the favor. Let grandma know you’re proud of her and that you love her just as much as you ever have.

Shepherd Express Annual

Fall Arts Guide coming in the

September 5 issue 26 | A U G U S T 2 2 , 2 0 1 9

::RUTHIE’SSOCIALCALENDAR Aug. 21—Screening of ‘A League of Their Own’ at Avalon Atmospheric Theater (2473 S. Kinnickinnic Ave.): The teams at Milwaukee Record and Lakefront Brewery team up for a screening of this sports comedy that quickly became an icon for the LGBTQ community. If you’ve haven’t seen this baseball-themed movie on the big screen, now is your chance! Directed by the late, great Penny Marshall and starring Madonna, Rosie O’Donnell, Geena Davis and Tom Hanks, the hilariously touching film about friendship and teamwork involves a $5 ticket. Batter up and celebrate Hump Day! Aug. 22—Coffee Connection at MalamaDoe Coworking Community for Women (4465 N. Oakland Ave., Suite 201): Make a connection with likeminded business owners and professionals, new friends and old faces when you swing by this 8-9 a.m. caffeinated happy hour. Grab a free cup of coffee on your way to work and show your support for local businesses and the Wisconsin Chamber of Commerce overall. Aug. 22—Margarita Fest at The Ivy House (906 S. Barclay St.): The incorrigible team at Shepherd Express hosts this third-annual salute to an all-time classic beverage. Get your margarita on from 5-9 p.m., where you’ll sample the city’s top margs (is that a thing? “Margs?”). Then, you can vote for your favorites! Stop by shepherdtickets.com and nab your passes today! Aug. 24—Miss Club Wisconsin Pageant at FIVE Nightclub (5 Applegate Court, Madison): One of the hottest, most exciting pageants is back on the boards! Get ready to be wowed as contestants from across the state show why they deserve the crown. The 8 p.m. competition includes a $5 door charge, but see the “Miss Club Wisconsin” Facebook page for information and prices on table reservations. Aug. 25—Divas Sunday Brunch at Hamburger Mary’s (730 S. Fifth St.): Swing by one of the city’s

favorite burger spots for their weekly all-you-can-eat brunch buffet, bottomless mimosas and two great drag shows (hosted by me!). Yep, this brunch has become so popular there are now two shows—11 a.m. and 1 p.m.; doors open at 10. Call 414-488-2555 for reservations, and I’ll see you there! Aug. 25—Sunday Funday on Brady Street (at various locations on Brady Street): Join the fun at this noon street fest that offers music, art, farmers market, cocktails, shopping and much more. The family friendly fun ends at 4 p.m., so make an early afternoon of it. Aug. 25—Miss Gay Wisconsin America at Hamburger Mary’s (730 S. Fifth St.): It’s baaaack! The Miss Gay Wisconsin America pageant started in 1972, and after a bit of a break, the pageant returns to the city! Winners will compete with the cream-of-the-crop entertainers from across the country, so dairy state girls are sure to show up and show out! Nab your $10 ticket at gaywisamerica.bpt.me, and don’t forget to call Hamburger Mary’s at 414-488-2555 to hold your table, too! Aug. 28—Art Tour at Saint Kate Arts Hotel (139 E. Kilbourn Ave.): If you haven’t checked out the new Saint Kate hotel in Downtown Milwaukee, this 45-minute art tour is a great way to do it! Meet your docent at the horse sculpture in the lobby at 10 a.m. for a lovely walking tour of the incredible pieces on display. Only 15 guests are allowed on the tour at a time (first come, first served), and those lucky folks will also receive a $5 coupon redeemable at any of the hotel’s food or beverage spots. Ask Ruthie a question or share your events with her at dearruthie@shepex.com. Follow her on Instagram @ ruthiekeester and Facebook at Dear Ruthie. Watch, like, subscribe and share her reality show, “Camp Wannakiki, Season Two,” on YouTube today! Comment at shepherdexpress.com. n

The all-inclusive guide features coverage of the arts scene in the greater Milwaukee area. Want to be a part of it? contact your Account Executive for details or Jackie at jackie@shepex.com SHEPHERD EXPRESS


::MYLGBTQPoint of View

Gay Republicans Endorse You Know Who… ::BY PAUL MASTERSON

S

ometimes, it’s awkward to be gay. It has nothing to do with LGBTQness as such, but rather with the peculiar and indecent fetish practices by some of our own. Last week, we heard the embarrassing news that the Log Cabin Republicans, the gay right wing, endorsed you know who. It shouldn’t have come as a surprise—gay Republicans have an unflinchingly dogmatic and masochistic belief their money and privilege trump their (and our) greater good. They explained their endorsement with a lauding litany of the reasons why, over a year before the 2020 presidential election, they had already pronounced their groveling fealty to the regime.

They mentioned its leader had fulfilled his promises to the LGBTQ community. Yet, one would be hard-pressed to find proof of that among a cabinet of homophobes, the dozens of anti-LGBTQ bills before municipal, state and federal governmental bodies, the appointment of dozens of anti-LGBTQ federal judges, the full-throttled advance of religious freedom laws that allow discrimination against LGBTQs (and, in some cases, Jews and Catholics) and its support of homophobic regimes like Russia and Saudi Arabia. Granted, the gay right does crinkle its nose at the regime’s strident anti-trans campaign, but they can boast about the gay man appointed ambassador to Germany (who instantly offended his host country by supporting Europe’s right-wing extremists). One often wonders why there is even such thing as gay Republicans. I presume most were raised in wealthy, white, Christian, Republican “family value” households where parents complained about taxes, regulations and evil liberals at dinner table conversations; or perhaps they were raised in working class families in which a loud and toxic “show us your titties” masculinity pervaded. Both environments must have been hellish for the budding LGBTQ member of the family. Some, I’m sure, subscribed to the “if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em” Stockholm syndrome

strategy of survival and became exemplary GOP tiki-torch bearers hoping for a quid pro quo of love and acceptance. It rarely works. One gay Republican I know inadvertently outed himself to his parents while in college. Decades later, when he told his mother he had a surprise to share, she replied, “you’re finally seeing a therapist?” Thanks, mom. Anyway, the local Log Cabin Republican cell is admittedly small, but its actions are still exasperating. To each their own, of course, but is it really necessary to donate to politicians whose records are so blatantly anti-LGBTQ? I suppose they rationalize giving $100 here, $1,000 there, if the payback could be lower taxes or a better stock return. They also rallied around Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Rebecca Bradley, whose virulently homophobic writings as a Marquette student should have disqualified her from receiving any LGBTQ support when she ran for office. It appears gay Republicans had high hopes for some financial benefit, even if it meant throwing everyone else under the bus. Now, with another homophobic conservative Justice, Brian Hagedorn, on the bench, positive outcomes for LGBTQ issues before the court seem unlikely. One can take some solace in the fact the regime has yet to officially acknowledge the endorsement. Apparently, it’s as perplexing to them as it is to us.

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::MUSIC

TODD CHRIS OW YOUNG

FEATURE | ALBUM REVIEWS | CONCERT REVIEWS | LOCAL MUSIC

For more MUSIC, log onto shepherdexpress.com

Hootie & the Blowfish

Hootie & the Blowfish on the Road Again

Singer Darius Rucker reflects on the past, plans for the future ::BY ALAN SCULLEY ootie & the Blowfish could easily have made their return after a decade-long hiatus with a tour on which they simply played their hits and fanfavorite album cuts from the five albums the group made during their initial 20-year run. Instead, the group will have a new studio album to go with this summer’s reunion tour. Singer Darius Rucker said the need for new music to accompany the return of Hootie & the Blowfish was obvious to the band. “I think the main reason for the album was for all those people who are really, really diehard fans who just loved the music and just want something new,” Rucker says. “They don’t want us to play 15 new songs in the set, you know, but they want some new music—and for us, for ourselves, for our sanity of doing something new. We haven’t made a new record in 15 years. So I think it’s for us too, just to play something new.” The Hootie reunion has been anticipated for some time. Even as Rucker’s country career took off, he said in multiple interviews that the band would one day tour again and make another album. It was after the touring cycle for Rucker’s most recent country album, When Was the Last Time (2017), that things went into motion for Hootie’s return. Timing played a key role in the choice of 2019 for the big reunion. “The main reason is this is the 25th anniversary of Cracked Rear View,” Rucker says, mentioning the blockbuster 1994 Hootie & the Blowfish major label debut album. “That was reason enough to get back and go out on tour for a year and do the record. And we knew we wanted to do it. We just knew we wanted to do it when the time was right. When we stopped playing, we were putting 8,000 people in a 12,000 seater. And that’s cool and that’s a money maker, but that’s not selling out. So we wanted to do it when it mattered.” If you were a music fan in the ’90s, you know the band’s story. In 1994, Cracked Rear View became as ubiquitous as any album in rock history, selling an astonishing 16 million copies as earnest and tuneful hits like “Hold My Hand,”“Let Her Cry” and “Only Wanna Be With You” were played incessantly on FM radio and became a staple on college campuses nationwide.

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The band’s solid follow-up album, Fairweather Johnson, did reasonably well, moving 2.3 million units. But by then a backlash had started to gain steam, and before long Hootie & the Blowfish were getting branded as the most uncool band going. The group soldiered on, releasing three more albums, while doing decent business on tours until the 2008 hiatus. Rucker said Hootie & the Blowfish, which includes Rucker (vocals/guitar), Mark Bryan (guitar/piano), Dean Felber (bass/piano) and Jim Sonefeld (drums), will vary their set lists on tour, generally deciding what songs to play on the day of each show. The new Hootie & the Blowfish album, produced by Jeff Trott (songwriter/ producer credits include Sheryl Crow, Stevie Nicks and Joe Cocker), came together quite seamlessly from the sound of things, with the band choosing from 80 songs that were in play for the album. Rucker noted that even though the group had gone a decade and a half since making new music, the four band members settled right back into their collaborative writing routine. Hootie & the “It’s so funny for us,” he says. “We can go forever, and Blowfish when we get in a room together, we’re back in that same Alpine Valley dynamic we had since we were 19. So it’s the same thing for Music Theatre us. We write the way we write.” The band members also wrote with outside songwritFriday, Aug. 23 ers. One notable artist who joined in the writing was Ed 7:30 p.m. Sheeran, who co-wrote a pair of songs with Rucker for the new Hootie album and a third song that Rucker may record on his next country album. Rucker and Sheeran met well before the latter became a household name to music fans. Although Rucker plans to focus on his country career in 2020, he hints that this year’s Hootie reunion won’t be a one-time event. But the band will have to pick its spots for tours and making more music. “We can’t do Hootie & the Blowfish every summer. If we’re going to do this, then do it the right way,” he says. “We have to do it like other bands do it. Bands that are at our level and where we are in our career don’t go out every summer. Go out every four years, every five years. Then you do what we just did, sell out every show you play.” Hootie & the Blowfish perform at Alpine Valley Music Theatre on Friday, Aug. 23, at 7:30 p.m. For tickets, visit alpinevalleymusictheatre.org.

SHEPHERD EXPRESS


::CONCERTREVIEW

::BY HARRY CHERKINIAN

W

atching Ben Harper and his three-piece band, The Innocent Criminals, on Aug. 16 at the Riverside Theater is being in the presence of an artist doing some of the best work in his career. At 49, Harper is clearly an undisputed living master of the slide guitar and the devoted crowd saw his masterful skills at work with a band that has been with him for more than 25 years—Juan Nelson on bass, Leon Mobley on percussion and Oliver Charles on drums. That intangible bond between the foursome showed throughout the 90 minutes of music that, at times, brought about shock and awe at the level of Harper’s inherent talent and sonic range. He is an accomplished songwriter and many of his originals were sparkled throughout, like the opener “Gold to Me,” to the intimate love song, “Diamonds on the Inside. “Fight for Your Mind” with its trippy blues vibe moved on to more weighty issues as well as the show’s closer, the anthemic, “Better Way,” which makes the case for standing up for your own beliefs—a ’60s-era consciousness performer in a 21st-century time warp. But it was some of the covers that really took center stage early on, like Harper’s segue into the Stevie Wonder classic “Superstition,” which took on a whole new vibe with his percolating slide work to the ambient reverb guitar moans emanating out of “Whipping Boy” by Chris Darrow (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band). Its haunting, swampy bayou feel only heightened the plaintive pleas of tortured love. And there’s Harper just standing at the mic by himself playing a solo acoustic guitar to “Walk Away.” Striking in its simplicity, resounding in the might of his playing. A musician for our times— and all times. And after the 70-minute incredible performance by supporting act Trombone Shorty, only one question remains: is there anything this multi-talented, multi-faceted performer can’t do? He sings, he dances, he plays a variety of instruments, he even raps—and he does it all extremely well. And all at the ripe old age of 33. TS definitely put his native New Orleans influences into a hybrid spin of jazz, funk, blues, rock and whatever else he could conjure into the mix. With his nine-piece Orleans Avenue band, he quickly got the joint jumpin’ with a nine-minute intro of “Where It At?” He played the trombone like an extension of his body, while constantly on the move about the stage. He even threw in some comic relief on the Allen Touissant cover, “On the Way Down.” But he was just getting started. “Can we keep the party goin’, Milwaukee?” He asked the audience. But Trombone Shorty already knew the answer. Party on—all night long.

SHEPHERD EXPRESS

Foo Fighters’ Guitarist Chris Shiflett Cranks Up the Volume

BRANTLEY GUTIERREZ

BEN HARPER REACHES THE HIGHEST LEVELS AT RIVERSIDE CONCERT

::NATIONALACTS

::BY JOSHUA MILLER

W

hen Dave Cobb gives you a bit of advice, it’s best to take heed and listen. The Grammy-Award-winning producer has worked with many of the biggest names in music today, including Chris Stapleton, Brandi Carlile and John Prine. Foo Fighters lead guitarist Chris Shiflett can attest to Cobb’s wisdom after working on his 2017 countryleaning solo album debut, West Coast Town. So, when they reunited to work on what would become Shiflett’s sophomore album, Hard Lessons, the guitarist didn’t doubt Cobb’s advice to crank up the volume and go in a different direction. “He said, ‘You should be playing a Les Paul through a Marshall on this record, cranked up loud rock and roll guitar. That’s what you are, you’re a rock and roll guitar player, so let’s do that,’” recalls Shiflett of Cobb’s advice. “That kind of became the rallying cry for the record.” As a result, the album has more of a rock ’n’ roll feel compared to its predecessor. “I never think of the records I make as being straight up-country records or anything, but this one certainly leans a lot more rock and roll,” Shiflett says. “It definitely has more loud crunchy guitars and that sort of thing. I like making records that are fun to go out and play live.” Getting to work with Cobb and many of the same musicians for a second time gave Shiflett a boost of confidence, which led to a dynamic and lively sound on the album. “It was comfortable playing with everybody that I was working with out there,” he says. “If you’re comfortable in the studio, then confidence follows.” Shiflett wrote most of the album’s songs during breaks in a recent Foo Fighters tour. He said his songwriting process is different with every song. “Sometimes a line just kind of pops into your head, and sometimes it’s aligned with a melody, and then I grab a guitar and sit down and try to flesh it out a little bit,” he says. “I wind up recording little bits and pieces of solid ideas on my phone a lot and then kind of going back later, and rummaging through them, and seeing what kind of makes your ear buzz and hits you in the gut a little bit.” There are also times when he’s scribbling lyrics in the hotel room, which later turn into songs. “It’s kind of always evolving,” he says. One of his favorite moments in creating the album was writing “The One You Go Home To” with singersongwriter Elizabeth Cook. “I was just stoked that we actually pulled that off,” says Shiflett. “I’d asked her a while before I made the record if she would sing

Chris Shiflett

a duet with me, and she said yeah. Then when I got out there to make the record, me, Elizabeth, and my friend Aaron [Raitiere] got together and wrote the song, and then when we tracked it we actually sang live together on the same mic, which was fun and kind of an old school thing to do.” Shiflett is excited to play the album live. Trading the rock arenas for smaller intimate venues, is nothing new for him. Before joining the Foo Fighters on 2002’s One by One, he spent much of his time playing smaller venues. His music career started in the punk rock scene, Chris with him playing with bands such as Shiflett Lost Kittenz, No Use for a Name and Me First and The Gimme Gimmes. The Back “It’s never really something I got Room @ away from because through all the Colectivo years I’ve always done little bands, Tuesday, and projects, and tours, and things Sept. 3, on the side, and it’s always been in 8 p.m. little bars, and little clubs, and that sort of thing,” he says. “It’s what I’ve spent so much of my musical life when I was younger playing in little bars and stuff. So, it’s a comfortable environment.” With the ability to jump between one of the biggest rock bands in the world and his own projects, Shiflett feels very fortunate. “I’m really lucky that I get to do all kinds of things,” he says. “I get to work on various music things big and small and everything in between. All I ever wanted was to be a working musician. I don’t take it lightly that that’s what I get to do. It’s a wonderful life, and I dig it.” Chris Shiflett plays The Back Room @ Colectivo on Tuesday, Sept. 3, at 8 p.m.

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COURTESY OF THE TEMP AGENCY

Daikaiju

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22 Daikaiju w/ Direct Hit, Telethon and Mush @ X-Ray Arcade, 7 p.m.

The high-energy instrumental psych-punk-metal surf rock collective Daikaiju puts on an unforgettable show. Milwaukee’s Direct Hit opens with punk flare. Telethon will showcase their newest album, promising wild Midwest energy. Mush hopes to keep it real and make the songs they want to hear. It will be a marathon of intense energy in an intimate space. (Genevieve Vahl)

Kenny Wayne Shepherd @ The Riverside Theater, 7 p.m.

Louisiana native Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s newest album, The Traveler, showcases his multiple talents as a world-class blues guitarist, songwriter and performer. The Traveler pays tribute to his influences, offering a scintillating balance of finesse and firepower. (G.V.)

Indie Night No. 4 @ The Miramar Theatre, 6:30 p.m.

Throughout this year, the Miramar Theatre holds a night each month to showcase different Milwaukee pop bands. In this month’s rotation are Immortal Girlfriend, LO/ ST, Endless Era and MIDSUMMER. These acts revolve around electronics, dance and synth sounds. (Ethan Duran)

::THISWEEKINMILWAUKEE

FRIDAY, AUGUST 23

The Quebe Sisters @ The Back Room at Colectivo, 8 p.m.

The Quebe Sisters have delighted audiences with their take on western swing for 15 years. Centered around real-life sisters Grace, Sophia, and Hulda Quebe, the band is well-loved for glowing harmonies and Americana influences, but the group is never afraid of branching out and building on its roots. Their fourth album is due next month. (G.V.)

Nickel&Rose European Tour Kick-Off w/ Ernest Brusubardis IV, SistaStrings, Abdou Khadre Kambaye, Klassik and more @ Cactus Club, 8 p.m.

Nickel&Rose is an American folk-music duo made up of upright bassist Johanna Rose and guitarist Carl Nichols. Their Southwest sound suggests dusty roads and cactuses. Nichols’ background includes West African music and blues while Johanna brings bluegrass, folk and jazz for an eclectic range that coalesces into a unique sound. (G.V.)

Black Flag @ Turner Hall Ballroom, 8 p.m.

The influential hardcore punk band Black Flag has been touring with its sole continuous guitarist and songwriter Greg Ginn since the late 1980s; he is now accompanied by singer Mike Vallely, who joined in 2014. Since their 2013 revival, the band has been the center of controversy with arguments among other former Black Flag members and their poorly received album What The… (E.D.)

SATURDAY, AUGUST 24 WMSE’s 10th Annual Backyard BBQ @ Humboldt Park, Noon-8 p.m.

WMSE’s annual event will be presented by Colectivo Coffee, Comet Café and Lakefront Brewery in Bay View’s backyard, Humboldt Park, this Saturday afternoon. The Grovelers, Horseshoes and Handgrenades and LowDown Brass Band are a few of the names on the musical lineup that day. (E.D.)

Chords & Curds Festival @ Fiserv Forum

The Chords & Curds Festival is an all-day event on the Fiserv Forum plaza featuring plenty of local music, food and artisans. Doors open at 11: 30 a.m. followed by a noon performance by the Milwaukee Public Schools Community Gospel. The Festival also features guest DJs as part of Hip-Hop Week MKE, Aug. 19-25. For more information, visit; www. FiservForum.com. (Harry Cherkinian)

MONDAY, AUGUST 26 SistaStrings at Musical Mondays @ Lake Park Summer Stage, 6:30 p.m.

From Milwaukee’s North Side, SistaStrings—sisters Monique (cello) and Chauntee Ross, (violin)—offer classically trained string instrument talent. The girls began singing and playing in church and were soon invited to churches all over the Midwest. They perform original music, classics from Bach and improvise on popular hymns. Jazz, soul, gospel, blues, hip-hop can all be heard in their heartfelt performances. (G.V.)

TUESDAY, AUGUST 27 #FestFeedMKE

Help us feed our community!

Join us on Friday, August 23 from noon to 3:00 p.m. and donate cans of peaches & pears. Visit hungertaskforce.org for more details. Proceeds will benefit the Hunger Task Force.

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Buffalo Gospel and Shonn Hinton w/ Steve Beguhn at Chill on The Hill @ Humboldt Park Band Chalet, 6 p.m.

As a part of Bay View’s Chill on the Hill lineup, Milwaukee alt-country band Buffalo Gospel and R&B artist Shonn Hinton will step up to the music shell. Called “Milwaukee’s best kept secret” by some critics, Buffalo Gospel plays 1970s-style country music that reminds its listeners of big rigs and AM radio stations. On the other hand, Shonn Hinton plays a soulful, funky guitar to a rolling drum beat to make a sound fit for any relaxing outing. (E.D.) SHEPHERD EXPRESS


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

THURSDAY, AUGUST 22

411 East Wisconsin Center, Tunes@Noon: Alison Helf (12pm) Anodyne Coffee Roasting Co., Rosie Flores w/Sam Llanas Band, and Bruce Humphries & The Rockabilly Rebels (6:30pm) Bremen Cafe, Garvin the Martian w/Mountains on the Moon & Stormy Chromer Caroline’s Jazz Club, The Group w/Eddie Butts Cathedral Square Park, Jazz in the Park: Abby Anderson- Jazz Goes Country with FM106.1 (6pm) Colectivo Coffee (Lakefront), Musica del Lago County Clare Irish Inn & Pub, Acoustic Irish Folk w/ Barry Dodd Jazz Estate, Scott Currier Trio Marcus Center For The Performing Arts, Live @ Peck Pavilion: Ladies First: A Tribute to the Women of Classic Hip Hop & R&B (7pm) Marcus Center For The Performing Arts, Live @ Peck Pavilion: Nickel&Rose with SistaStrings (12pm) Mason Street Grill, Mark Thierfelder Jazz Trio (5:30pm) Matty’s Bar & Grille (New Berlin), Smokin’ Live & Local: AM Radio (5pm) McAuliffe’s On The Square, Open Mic Night Mequon Public Market at Spur 16, Dine and Dance Summer Concert Series: Hot & Dirty Brass Band Mezcalero Restaurant, Open Jam w/host Abracadabra Jam Band O’Donoghue’s Irish Pub, The All-Star SUPERband (6pm) On The Bayou, Open Mic Comedy w/host The Original Darryl Hill Pabst Theater, Rival Sons w/Crown Lands Potawatomi Hotel & Casino, In Bar 360: Rudy ’N Vee Rave / Eagles Club, Megan Thee Stallion w/Doe Boy (all-ages, 8pm) Riverside Theater, Buddy Guy & Kenny Wayne Shepherd Band Rounding Third Bar and Grill, World’s Funniest Free Comedy Show South Milwaukee Downtown Market, Reverend Raven & the Chain Smokin’ Altar Boys w/West Side Andy (5pm) The Cheel / The Baaree (Thiensville), Thursday Grooves: Seth Hoffman (6pm) The Miramar Theatre, Indie Night No 4: Immortal Girlfriend, LO/ST, Endless Era & Midsummer (all-ages, 6:30pm) The Packing House, Barbara Stephan & Peter Mac (6pm) Transfer Pizzeria Café, Latin Sessions: Carlos Adames Turner Hall Ballroom, The War and Treaty w/Philippe Bronchtein Up & Under, No Vacancy Comedy Open Mic Nite X-Ray Arcade (Cudahy), Daikaiju w/Direct Hit, Telethon and Mush

FRIDAY, AUGUST 23

American Legion Post #399 (Okauchee), Danny Miller Band American Legion Post #449 (Brookfield), Close Enuf Band w/Acoustic Blu Duo (6:30pm) Angelo’s Piano Lounge, Julie’s Piano Karaoke Blu Milwaukee, Anne Davis Cactus Club, Nickel&Rose European Tour Kick-Off w// Friends (Ernest Brusubardis IV, SistaStrings, Abdou Khadre, Klassik) & Yellow-Bellied Sapsuckers Caroline’s Jazz Club, The Paul Spencer Band w/James Sodke, Cody Longreen, Michael Ritter & Aaron Gardner Circle-A, Alive at Eight: Pink Avalanche w/Haunter (8pm); DJ: Fazio (10pm) Clarke Hotel (Waukesha), Dick Eliot Jazz Guitar (6pm) Comedy Sportz, ComedySportz Milwaukee! County Clare Irish Inn & Pub, Traditional Irish Ceilidh Session Curly’s Waterfront Pub & Grill (Pewaukee), Joey Halbur Five O’Clock Steakhouse, Ali & Doug Duo Iron Mike’s, Jam Session w/Steve Nitros & the Liquor Salesmen Jazz Estate, Steve Einerson Quartet (8pm), Late Night Session: Gramma Matrix Late Night Vinyl (11:30pm) Kochanski’s Concertina Beer Hall, Bright-Eyed & Blind w/FUZEE Lakefront Brewery, Brewhaus Polka Kings (5:30pm) Linneman’s Riverwest Inn, Courier w/Guilty & Erin Ganz Main Hub (Racine), 3 Floors Up Band (6pm) Mamie’s, Robert Allen Jr. Band Mason Street Grill, Phil Seed Trio (6pm) Milwaukee Burger Company (Franklin), Coventry Jones (5pm)

SHEPHERD EXPRESS

Monument Square (Racine), Music on the Monument: High Stakes Band (4pm) Pizzeria Piccola, Texas Dave Trio (6pm) Potawatomi Hotel & Casino, In Bar 360: Gabriel V2 Rave / Eagles Club, The Hip-Hop Legacy Concert & Awards Show: Scarface, Mystikal, Bun B, Devin The Dude, Do Or Die, Coo Coo Cal & Benny The Butcher (all-ages, 7pm) Riverside Theater, King Gizzard And The Lizard Wizard w/Stonefield & ORB Route 20, Mixed Company w/Left Of Reason & The Almas (ages 18-plus, 8pm) Saint Kate, the Arts Hotel, Jack Grassel Solo The Back Room @ Colectivo, The Quebe Sisters The Cheel / The Baaree (Thiensville), Friday Night Live: Sawdust Symphony (6pm) The Miramar Theatre, Blunts & Blondes (all-ages, 9pm) The Packing House, Tracy Hanneman Group (6:30pm) Third Space Brewing, Rambler Fest: Grace Weber, Life in a Tree, The Whiskey Farm & DJ Bradford Bradford (6pm) Turner Hall Ballroom, Black Flag Twisted Fisherman, Five Card Studs Up & Under, Endless Era w/Tommy Gerlach Music X-Ray Arcade (Cudahy), Negative/Positive w/Golden Grenades and Solaris

SATURDAY, AUGUST 24

Blu Milwaukee, Brian Dale Bremen Cafe, Atheists & Airplanes w/Beaker, Hi/Jack, Rhetoric Vendetta, The First Rule & Vexnation Cactus Club, Breaking And Entering: Hip Hop Week Showcase: Twan Mack, Larry Bull, Jaecar, Mudy • Nile & DJ Phoenix (9pm) Cactus Club, Negative/Positive w/90’sdreamboy & Cherry Punch! (all-ages, 3pm) Caroline’s Jazz Club, The Paul Spencer Band w/ James Sodke, Warren Wiegratz, Michael Ritter & Victor Campbell Circle-A Cafe, Alive at Eight: The Thriftones (8pm); DJ: Quixotic Control (10pm) Comedy Sportz, ComedySportz Milwaukee! Curly’s Waterfront Pub & Grill (Pewaukee), Charlie Wiggins Fireman’s Park (Richfield), Vinyl Road (3pm) Fiserv Forum, Chords & Curds Festival Five O’Clock Steakhouse, Kirk Tatnall Fox Point Farmers’ Market, Frogwater (10am) Greenfield Park, Traveling Beer Garden: Polish Moon Trio (5pm) Jazz Estate, Tony Barba Quartet (8pm), Late Night Session: Cody Longreen (11:30pm) Juneau Park, Traveling Beer Garden: Jan Leman Band (5pm) Kochanski’s Concertina Beer Hall, JJ Fall Train w/The Sweet Drippins Quartet

Linneman’s Riverwest Inn, Gram Parsons Gilded Palace of Sin @50: The Chris Haise Band, Alex Ballard & Sugarfoot, The Raglanders, Tangled Lines, Dan Whitaker & the Shinebenders, and guests Marcus Center For The Performing Arts, Taste Of Islands 2019 - Free Admission! Mason Street Grill, Jonathan Wade Trio (6pm) Mezcalero Restaurant, Drive With Horns Monument Square (Racine), Saturday Sounds on the Square: Bull Frog (4pm) Pabst Milwaukee Brewery & Taproom, Porter Road Jug Band (2pm) Potawatomi Hotel & Casino, In Bar 360: Brecken Miles Duo Racine Brewing Company, Mitchell Proctor Rave / Eagles Club, Kevin Gates (all-ages, 8pm) South Milwaukee Yacht Club, Larry Lynne Trio The Back Room @ Colectivo, Castlecomer The Cheel / The Baaree (Thiensville), The Bel Airs w/ The Blues Disciples (6pm) The Packing House, Joe Jordan & The Soul Trio (6:30pm) The Rock Sports Complex, In the Umbrella Bar: 5 Card Studs (6:30pm) Twisted Fisherman, Gizzae Reggae Up & Under, Unscripted and Friends Whitnall Beer Garden, Mambo Surfers (5pm)

SUNDAY, AUGUST 25

Angelo’s Piano Lounge, Live Karaoke w/Julie Brandenburg Bilda’s Friess Lake Pub (Hubertus), Scotch and Soda (3pm) Bremen Cafe, Blankat w/Julia Julian & CRLSS Cathedral Square Park, Jazz in the Park: The Claudettes (6pm) Circle-A Cafe, Alive at Eight: Derek Pritzl & Friends (8pm); DJ: Sextor (10pm) County Clare Irish Inn & Pub, Dick Eliot Jazz Guitar (5:30pm) Fireman’s Park (Richfield), Larry Lynne Revue (1pm) J&B’s Blue Ribbon Bar and Grill, The Players Jam Lakefront Brewery, Rhonda Jean on the Patio (12pm) Matty’s Bar & Grille (New Berlin), Summer Concert w/ Ian Gould (3pm) Riverwest Gardeners Market, Texas Dave Trio (12pm) Rounding Third Bar and Grill, The Dangerously Strong Comedy Open Mic Route 20, Red (ages 18-plus, 8pm) St. Charles Borromeo Parish, Close Enuf Band (3pm) The Back Room @ Colectivo, Hovvdy & Lomelda w/ Ghost Orchard

MONDAY, AUGUST 26

Bremen Cafe, Comedy Open Mic (8pm), Music Open Mic (10pm) Cactus Club, Ben Dickey w/Long Mama Jazz Estate, Blues Night w/Misha Siegfried

Lake Park Summer Stage, Musical Mondays: SistaStrings (6:30pm) Linneman’s Riverwest Inn, Poet’s Monday w/host Timothy Kloss & featured reader Ally Fay (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 Up & Under, Open Mic w/Marshall McGhee and the Wanderers

TUESDAY, AUGUST 27

Brewtown Eatery, Blues & Jazz Jam w/Jeff Stoll, Joe Zarcone & David “Harmonica” Miller (6pm) Cactus Club, Lisa Vazquez & E-Turn w/Soul Reflect, The Collective: 1125 & Ms Lotus Fankh Chill On the Hill (Humboldt Park), Buffalo Gospel w/ Shonn Hinton & Shotgun, and Steve Beguhn (6pm) Jazz Estate, The Erotic Adventures of the Static Chicken Jazz Gallery Center for the Arts / Riverwest Artists Association, Tuesday Night Jazz Jam Mamie’s, Open Blues Jam w/Marvelous Mack Mason Street Grill, Jamie Breiwick Group (5:30pm) Potawatomi Hotel & Casino, In Bar 360: Al White (4pm) The Cheel / The Baaree (Thiensville), Alive After 5 : Tritonics (6pm) The Ivy House, Sourced: Betsy Ade & The Well-Known Strangers Transfer Pizzeria Cafe, Transfer House Band w/Dennis Fermenich

WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 28

Bud Pavilion - Wisconsin State Fair Park, Wednesday Night Live: The Now (6pm) Caroline’s Jazz Club, Tommy Vega Latin Jazz Deer District, Beer Garden: Jack Warne (5pm) Hubbard Park (Shorewood), Summer Sounds: FM Rodeo (6pm) Iron Mike’s, B Lee Nelson & KZ Acoustic Jam Jazz Estate, Pocket Change Kochanski’s Concertina Beer Hall, Polka Open Jam Linneman’s Riverwest Inn, Acoustic Open Stage w/ feature April Dejon (sign-up 7:30pm, start 8pm) Mason Street Grill, Jamie Breiwick Group (5:30pm) Paulie’s Field Trip, Wednesday Night Afterparty w/Dave Wacker & guests Pere Marquette Park, River Rhythms: 5 Card Studs (6:30pm) Potawatomi Hotel & Casino, In Bar 360: Al White Red, White and Brews, Open Acoustic Sessions w/ Ricky Orta Jr. Shank Hall, Jocelyn & Chris Arndt Tally’s Tap & Eatery (Waukesha), Tomm Lehnigk The Cheel / The Baaree (Thiensville), Erin Krebs Jazz Duo (6:30pm) The Packing House, Carmen Nickerson & Kostia Efimov (6pm)

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8/22 Armstrong Ransome 8/30 Dashcam

A U G U S T 2 2 , 2 0 1 9 | 31


LISTEN UP!

THEME CROSSWORD

By James Barrick

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

© 2019 United Feature Syndicate, Dist. by Andrews McMeel Syndication

73. Diving bird 74. According to — 75. Workaday 76. Gray wolf 77. Bird of prey 78. Thumb piano 80. Some greenbacks 81. Intensified 83. Calendar abbr. 84. “— Jacques” 85. Sticks 86. Bishop’s headdress 88. Feral 90. Abductors of legend 93. Milky beverage 94. Of an eastern landmass 98. Underworld queen 100. Percussion instrument 102. First: Abbr. 103. Assistant 104. Stop! 105. “— — a tale told...” 106. Not bad: Hyph. 107. — -foot oil 108. Philippines island 109. Buds DOWN 1. Criticism 2. Lois of “Superman” 3. Importune 4. Only approximate 5. Table bird 6. Enlightened one, in Buddhism 7. Lampblack 8. Serv. branch 9. Dessert favored by Bilbo Baggins: 2 wds. 10. Car 11. Walker or Howard 12. Sway 13. Fitting

14. Place rich in earthy fuel 15. Papeete’s island 16. In a frenzy 17. Clear square 18. “— a Lady” 24. Greek weight 26. Demonstrate 29. Nerve network 32. Kind of heater 33. Gin flavorings 34. Ike’s first lady 35. Torment 36. Bass oboe 37. Ships 38. Rock or Farley 39. The harp or zither, e.g. 40. Recidivate 41. Powerful ruler: Var. 43. Ubiquitous emoticon 44. Boluses 45. Got, in a way 46. Scholarly work 51. Yurts 53. Falter 54. Metric unit 55. Dry ink for copiers 57. Nobleman 58. Engine type 59. Concluding event 61. Routine

62. Heavyweight 63. Like some silk 64. What’s what 65. Trifled (with) 66. Colorful mineral 67. Earth pigment 68. Loop 70. Some fruits 71. Assyrian deity 74. Approximate measure 75. Disturbance 76. Peer’s title 78. Sierra — 79. Palindromic name 82. Direction in music 84. To-do 86. Renoir contemporary 87. Workers in a bakery 88. Sausage 89. Steamed 90. Bee genus 91. Kind of weave 92. Rainbow 93. Musical passage 94. Auction site 95. Least little bit 96. Indigo dye 97. Promontory 99. Hurry 101. Common contraction

8/15 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 29 letters left over. They spell out the alternative theme of the puzzle.

City living Solution: 29 Letters

© 2019 Australian Word Games Dist. by Creators Syndicate Inc.

ACROSS 1. Make a mess of 5. — fortuitus 10. Scuffle 15. Makes use of 19. Pasternak character 20. Developed 21. Steal away 22. Eastern servant 23. English-speaking 25. Old office machine 27. Vessel with freight 28. Quaffed 30. Three-wheelers 31. — l’Eveque 32. Potpourri quality 33. Position 34. Taj — 37. Young bivalve 38. Long bone 42. Golden- — 43. Hands-free device 47. Emoting actor 48. Fake 49. Do a cook’s job 50. Kind of seal 51. Drink too much 52. Sign 53. Dorian Gray’s creator 54. Upholstery textile 55. Laconic 56. Scrutinizes 58. Dunderheads 59. More affectionate 60. Washes against 61. Eatery 62. Red wine from Spain 63. Fish hawk 65. Direction 66. Developed in detail 69. Olympian’s blood 70. Aplomb 71. Southern constellation 72. Med. plan

Solution to last week’s puzzle

Bank Bus Cafe Car Crowds Delays Entertainment Expressway Fashion Flats Footpath Fun Gangs Inns

Jobs Lanes Lonely Lord mayor Lost Markets Migrant News Poor Port Queues Rich Roads Rush

Shopping mall Shrine Siren Slum Smog Temple Tolls Traffic Uni Work Zoo

32 | A U G U S T 2 2 , 2 0 1 9

8/15 Solution: Especially around public holidays SHEPHERD EXPRESS

Solution: Great coffee but noisy neighbours

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

Date: 8/22/19


::NEWS OF THE WEIRD

::FREEWILLASTROLOGY ::BY ROB BREZSNY LEO (July 23-Aug. 22): The American idiom “stay in your lane” has come to mean “mind your own business,” and usually has a pejorative sense. But I’d like to expand it and soften it for your use in the coming weeks. Let’s define it as meaning “stick to what you’re good at and know about,” or “don’t try to operate outside your area of expertise,” or “express yourself in ways that you have earned the right to do.” Author Zadie Smith says that this is good advice for writers. “You have to work out what it is you can’t do, obscure it, and focus on what works,” she attests. Apply that counsel to your own sphere or field, Leo. VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Yisrael Kristal was a Polish Jew born under the sign of Virgo in 1903. His father was a scholar of the Torah, and he began studying Judaism and learning Hebrew at age three. He lived a long life and had many adventures, working as a candle-maker and a candymaker. When the Red Army liberated the Auschwitz concentration camp in 1945, Kristal emerged as one of the survivors. He went on to live to the age of 113. Because of the chaos of World War I, he had never gotten to do his bar mitzvah when he’d turned 13. So he did it much later, in his old age. I foresee a comparable event coming up soon in your life, Virgo. You will claim a reward or observe a milestone or collect a blessing you weren’t able to enjoy earlier. LIBRA (Sept. 23-Oct. 22): Sailors have used compasses to navigate since the 11th century. But that tool wasn’t enough to guide them. A thorough knowledge of the night sky’s stars was a crucial aid. Skill at reading the ever-changing ocean currents always proved valuable. Another helpful trick was to take birds on the ships as collaborators. While at sea, if the birds flew off and returned, the sailors knew there was no land close by. If the birds didn’t return, chances were good that land was near. I bring this to your attention, Libra, because I think it’s an excellent time to gather a number of different navigational tools for your upcoming quest. One won’t be enough. SCORPIO (Oct. 23-Nov. 21): What do you want from the allies who aren’t your lovers? What feelings do you most enjoy while you’re in the company of your interesting, nonromantic companions? For instance, maybe you like to be respected and appreciated. Or perhaps what’s most important to you is to experience the fun of being challenged and stimulated. Maybe your favorite feeling is the spirit of collaboration and comradeship. Or maybe all of the above. In any case, Scorpio, I urge you to get clear about what you want—and then make it your priority to foster it. In the coming weeks, you’ll have the power to generate an abundance of your favorite kind of non-sexual togetherness. SAGITTARIUS (Nov. 22-Dec. 21): As the CEO of the clothes company Zappos, Sagittarius entrepreneur Tony Hsieh is worth almost a billion dollars. If he chose, he could live in a mansion by the sea. Yet his home is a 200-square-foot, $48,000 trailer in Las Vegas, where he also keeps his pet alpaca. To be clear, he owns the entire trailer park, which consists of 30 other trailers, all of which are immaculate hotbeds of high-tech media technology where interesting people live. He loves the community he has created, which is more important to him than status and privilege. “For me, experiences are more meaningful than stuff,” he says. “I have way more experiences here.” I’d love to see you reaffirm your commitment to priorities like his in the coming weeks, Sagittarius. It’ll be a favorable time to do so. CAPRICORN (Dec. 22-Jan. 19): Medical researcher Jonas Salk developed a successful polio vaccine, so he had a strong rational mind. Here’s how he described his relationship with his non-rational way of knowing. He said, “It is always with excitement that I wake up in the morning wondering what my intuition will toss up to me, like gifts from the sea. I work with it and rely on it. It’s my partner.” I bring this up, Capricorn, because the coming weeks will be a favorable time to celebrate and cultivate your own intuition. You may generate amazing results as you learn to trust it more and figure out how to deepen your relationship with it. AQUARIUS (Jan. 20-Feb. 18): Aquarian environmentalist Edward Abbey once formu-

SHEPHERD EXPRESS

lated a concise list of his requirements for living well. “One must be reasonable in one’s demands on life,” he wrote. “For myself, all that I ask is: 1. accurate information; 2. coherent knowledge; 3. deep understanding; 4. infinite loving wisdom; 5. no more kidney stones, please.” According to my analysis of the astrological omens, now would be an excellent time for you to create your own tally of the Five Crucial Provisions. Be bold and precise as you inform life about your needs. PISCES (Feb. 19-March 20): “We may be surprised at whom God sends to answer our prayers,” wrote author Janette Oke. I suspect that observation will apply to you in the coming weeks. If you’re an atheist or agnostic, I’ll rephrase her formulation for you: “We may be surprised at whom Life sends to answer our entreaties.” There’s only one important thing you have to do to cooperate with this experience: set aside your expectations about how help and blessings might appear. ARIES (March 21-April 19): It’s not cost-efficient to recycle plastic. Sorting and processing the used materials to make them available for fresh stuff is at least as expensive as creating new plastic items from scratch. On the other hand, sending used plastic to a recycling center makes it far less likely that it will end up in the oceans and waterways, harming living creatures. So in this case, the short-term financial argument in favor of recycling is insubstantial, whereas the moral argument is strong. I invite you to apply a similar perspective to your upcoming decisions. TAURUS (April 20-May 20): African American slaves suffered many horrendous deprivations. For example, it was illegal for them to learn to read. Their oppressors feared that educated slaves would be better equipped to agitate for freedom, and took extreme measures to keep them illiterate. Frederick Douglass was one slave who managed to beat the ban. As he secretly mastered the art of reading and writing, he came upon literature that ultimately emboldened him to escape his “owners” and flee to safety. He became one of the 19th century’s most powerful abolitionists, producing reams of influential writing and speeches. I propose that we make Douglass your inspiring role model for the coming months. I think you’re ready to break the hold of a certain curse—and go on to achieve a gritty success that the curse had prevented you from accomplishing. GEMINI (May 21-June 20): For 25 years, businessman Don Thompson worked for the McDonald’s fast food company, including three years as its CEO. During that time, he oversaw the sale and consumption of millions of hamburgers. But in 2015, he left McDonald’s and became part of Beyond Meat, a company that sells vegan alternatives to meat. I could see you undergoing an equally dramatic shift in the coming months, Gemini: a transition into a new role that resembles, but is also very different from, a role you’ve been playing. I urge you to step up your fantasies about what that change might entail. CANCER (June 21-July 22): “The learning process is something you can incite, literally incite, like a riot,” wrote author Audre Lorde. As an astrologer, I would add this nuance: although what Lorde says is true, some phases of your life are more favorable than others to seek deep and rapid education. For example, the coming weeks will bring you especially rich teachings if you incite the learning process now. Homework: Poet Muriel Rukeyser said, “The world is made of stories, not atoms.” I’d add, “You are made of stories, too.” What’s your favorite story that you’re made of? Freewillastrology.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.

::BY THE EDITORS OF ANDREWS MCMEEL SYNDICATION

Thank You, I Think?

T

he Richmond Times-Dispatch reported on Aug. 11 that in the overnight hours, more than 50 old-style television sets had been deposited on the front porches of homes in Henrico County, Va. Henrico Police Lt. Matt Pecka said the culprits were caught on several doorbell cameras, with one of the videos showing a person wearing TVshaped headgear while dropping off the TV. Even more puzzling, a similar phenomenon happened last year in nearby Glen Allen where 20 sets were left on porches. Pecka said the only crime that might have been committed is illegal dumping: “We don’t believe there’s any reason for the community to be alarmed.”

Bright Idea A Twitter user known only as “Dorothy,” 15, was banned from her phone by her mom in early August after becoming distracted while cooking and starting a fire, but that didn’t stop her, reported The Guardian. First, she tweeted from a Nintendo 3DS gaming device, but Mom caught on quickly and posted that the account would be shut down. The next day, Dorothy tweeted from her Wii U, assuring followers that while Mom was at work, she’d be looking for her phone. Finally, on Aug. 8, with no other options left, Dorothy reached out to Twitter from an unlikely source: her family’s LG smart refrigerator. “I am talking to my fridge what the heck my Mom confiscated all of my electronics again,” she posted. The post went viral, even prompting LG to tweet about it with the hashtag #FreeDorothy.

Least Competent Criminal Larry Adams, 61, of Daytona Beach, Fla., came out swinging late on Aug. 12, complaining that neighbors were playing their music too loudly in the parking lot of their apartment complex. Adams emerged from his apartment threatening to shoot them and brandishing nunchucks, which he then hit himself in the head with. Police officers, responding to a 911 call, told WOLF-Fox 35 that Adams also sprayed everyone with roach repellent, causing them to cough and their skin to burn. “We not even roaches, so why are we getting sprayed with roach spray for?” wondered neighbor Cici Sylvester. Adams, sporting a goose egg on his forehead, was

charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon.

Oops! A Gwinnett County (Georgia) medical examiner has resigned after wildly misinterpreting the cause of death for 61-year-old Ray Neal of Lawrenceville, who died on July 21. Despite reports by police and witnesses of large amounts of blood on the floor and walls at the scene, investigator Shannon Byers initially ruled Neal had died of natural causes. But when his body arrived at the funeral home, employees discovered a hole in his neck, Fox 5 News reported, and Neal was returned to the morgue for an autopsy, which revealed he had been stabbed several times. Police are now investigating the death as a murder.

The Devil Is in the Details Was there or was there not a clown? And what exactly is “fancy dress”? In the early hours of July 26, The Guardian reported, a “mass brawl” broke out in a buffet area of the P&O cruise ship Britannia, which was bound from Bergen, Norway, to Southampton, England. Witnesses told staff that the fight started when one passenger became angry that another was wearing a clown outfit, because they had specifically booked a cruise with no fancy dress. Another witness said the clown had crashed a black-tie party. But P&O later said in a statement there was no clown, and Hampshire police confirmed: “There is no information to suggest that a clown or anyone wearing fancy dress was involved in this incident.” A number of passengers were injured in the brawl by flying furniture and plates, and two passengers were arrested, then later released.

Compelling Explanation Fanny Alida Beerepoot and her brother, Rembertus Cornelis Beerepoot, Christian missionaries in Tasmania, were ordered by the supreme court there to pay $2.3 million to the Australian Taxation Office on July 17 after failing to remit the estimated $930,000 in income taxes and other charges they owed in 2017. The Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported the dispute stems from the Beerepoots’ contention that taxation “goes against God’s will.” Representing themselves, the siblings explained they had paid income taxes prior to 2011, but then came to realize that “the law of Almighty God is the supreme law of this land,” and “transferring our allegiance from God to the Commonwealth would mean rebelling against God.” Also in 2017, the family’s property in Mole Creek was seized after they refused to pay property taxes on it for seven years. © 2019 ANDREWS SYNDICATION

MCMEEL

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HELP WANTED

Dogged Days ::BY ART KUMBALEK

I

’m Art Kumbalek and man oh manischewitz what a world, ain’a? So, what with the football season and a new school year starting up again, I think it’s time for a nice little story: A teacher up there in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, asks her young students if they were Vikings fans. All of the hands go up except for one kid. Teacher says, “OK, Bobby. What team are you a fan of?” And Bobby says, “The Packers, duhh!” And the teacher asks why that would be so. Bobby says, “My parents are both Packers fans, so I’m a Packers fan too.” The teacher says, “That’s not a very good answer, Bobby. For example, if your parents were both morons, would you be a moron too?” Bobby says, “No ma’am. That would make me a Vikings fan!” Ba-ding! Anyways, it’s come to my attention that with the recent 50-year anniversary of the Woodstock and a documentary about it on PBS, plus the Q. Tarantino sort-of Chuck Manson movie out and about, there’s been a lot of yak about the ’60s of late, what the fock. But I’m here to tell you’s that the ’60s weren’t the only decade contained in the last century known as the 20th. Hey, people like Top Ten lists, so here’s my brief look at the top 10 decades of the previous century

Artie’s Choice for the Best Top Ten Decades of the Passed Century

10) ’60s: Hey man, if the ’60s finish at the bottom, just how suck-butt can the decades be that don’t even make the Top Ten? Seems to me today the sad legacy of the Swinging Sixties is half-baked notions of lifestyle, and the escalation of salary for musicians who can’t read music. Right on? Write off. 9) The Naughts: The beginnings of weird-ass art plus no radio, no TV, no movies. No thank you. 8) ’30s: Too many bums looking for a handout and too many European guys hankering for crisp goosestepping uniforms to rate better than eighth place. 7) ’70s: Dick Nixon, Arabs with oil, disco, Ron Reagan laying presidential pipe and too many boringass movies where people just sat around yakking. A bottom-feeding decade. 6) The Teens: Should rank higher because the Titanic sank during this decade, which made possible for one of the biggest blockbusting movies of all time

and rekindled hope for more large-scale action pictures; but a World War is a decided bring-down. 5) ’40s: Yeah, another World War, but how ’bout those big bands, not to mention Rita Hayworth? 4) ’90s: A lot of too much weepy psychotherapy going on, but it did look like Commie butt was finally kicked for focking good. 3): ’80s: Way too heavy on Republicans in the White House, but how you going to beat cable TV? 2): ’20s: Babe Ruth single-handedly transforms a kids’ game into the greatest sport in the world to this day. Buster Keaton. Charlie Chaplin. Louis Armstrong. All genius. 1): ’50s: The coolest-looking cars in the history of the recorded universe plus Marilyn Monroe, to boot. Numero uno all the way, baby. So I don’t have much more to say, except I was on the phone with my buddy Little Jimmy Iodine the other day, and he was complaining about this Downtown condo fad and people with dogs moving down here by the boatload. And I had to agree. Cripes, The reason I live Downtown is to get away from that kind of suburban pet/dog crap. As I’ve said before, dogs are stupid and we already got enough of that Downtown, what the fock. To the point: Why the hell do these idiot canines go berserk every goddamn time the doorbell rings? Do they actually imagine inside that peach-pit brain that this time it be something or someone come for them? Hey, they don’t go yelping nuts when the phone rings, do they? No. At least a dog is smart enough to know that no way in a million years is that call for them. Even if it was, they know they’ve got not a damn thing to say, even to another dog. What the hell would they discuss with Fido, Rover or Bailey down the block: How much they’d like to tear the mailman a new one? (Yes, “Bailey,” or “Madison,” or “Levi”; today’s young, youngish, not-young-anymore, urban professionals have taken to naming their focking dogs such as they would children, if they deigned to have any, which they won’t, since a dog is maybe a 12-year commitment with no teacher-parent conferences involved while a child would be a lifetime emotional and financial commitment with visits to the orthodontist and inconvenient weekly cartage to the youngster’s private clarinet teacher to boot, and what sensible urban professional has the time and true heart for that?) Anyways, focking dogs. “Man’s best friend” for only two reasons that I can see: They’ll never tell you how to drive, and never ever wake you up in the middle of the night to “talk” about something, ’cause I’m Art Kumbalek and I told you so. SHEPHERD EXPRESS


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