Alder wants new downtown Madison library donors to pony up Joe Tarr on Friday 11/06/2009 3:19 pm Ald. Michael Schumacher, in a proposed amendment to the city's capital budget, tried to put the question of whether to fund a new library to the residents in a referendum. The city's Board of Estimates voted down that amendment. Now, Schumacher is trying a new tack. >More
Beer Here: Eisphyre from Capital Brewery Robin Shepard on Friday 11/06/2009 2:00 pm, (2) Comments, (4) Recommendations Just when the gales of November seem to come early, Capital Brewery takes its warm, malty Autumnal Fire to an entirely different level with the special release of a winter-hardy version named Eisphyre. This intensely malty, yet incredibly smooth doppelbock is capable of taking the chill off. >More
Blaska's Blog is brewing up some tea over the Dane County RTA David Blaska on Friday 11/06/2009 12:56 pm, (2) Comments Leave aside estimates that only 5,500 passengers will ride the Dane County commuter train. Forget that each trip will need to be subsidized to the tune of $40+. Never mind that the train doesn’t really go anywhere that buses can’t already take you and more cheaply. It’s the dishonest way it was done. >More
The Week[end]: November 6-8, 2009 on Friday 11/06/2009 6:00 am Feast upon yet another array of fine arts entrees around Madison this weekend The calendar includes: the return of the Tales from Planet Earth film fest; productions of Carmen, Dog Sees God, and All About Eve and a performance of Under the Big Top; live music by the George Maurer Duo, The Sounds, El Ten Eleven, The Mountain Goats, Mount Eerie, the Ancora String Quartet, Ami Saraiya, Ace Frehley, Emancipator, Cursillistas, and Old Crow Medicine Show; and for dessert, Pie Palooza. >More
A Book A Week: Caravaggio's Angel by Ruth Brandon Becky Holmes on Thursday 11/05/2009 6:00 pm I am very picky about writing styles. Have you noticed? I don't like (and won't read) badly written books. I will, however, sometimes read a decently written book with a lousy plot. Ruth Brandon's Caravaggio's Angel fits into this category. I am a sucker for art mysteries and picked this up by chance. >More
Vinyl Cave: Where does all this stuff come from, anyway? Bob Koch on Thursday 11/05/2009 5:00 pm, (3) Recommendations In Madison, we're lucky to still have a wide variety of places where those who want to browse for music can do so the old fashioned way, in person. Occasionally, there's even special events that draw hordes of serious and casual collectors, such as St. Vincent de Paul's annual collectible record sale, which started Thursday and runs through Saturday. >More
Dane County Farmers' Market: Gentle Breeze Honey Get some sweet stuff at the last outdoor market of the season Andrea Parins on Thursday 11/05/2009 3:00 pm Gentle Breeze Honey is a full beekeeping operation and honey-processing farm in the rolling countryside of Mount Horeb. Eugene Woller and family have been selling at the Dane County Farmers' Market for 18 years. >More
Blaska's Blog says Baa, baa, baa David Blaska on Thursday 11/05/2009 2:59 pm, (5) Comments We now have a president who is purely the product of the government sector. As blissfully ignorant of how to create wealth as any Progressive Dane collectivist. That divide is showing up as Obama socializes the American economy while Europe steps back from the enervating socialist experiment. >More
Band to Band Combat field pared to eight, your questions answered! Jason Joyce on Thursday 11/05/2009 9:45 am, (2) Recommendations One week ago, the Band to Band Combat ballot featured 38 songs from 38 bands. That's a lot of music and you're forgiven if you didn't listen to every song. But there's no doubt that eight songs are significantly easier to listen to than 38, especially if you're doing that listening at work. The expectation here is for some informed decision making, voters! >More
An inside look at the Obama visit to Madison Lynn Welch on Wednesday 11/04/2009 6:17 pm "This is a culminating event for them,” Wright librarian Amy Owens said of the visit. "They followed the election last year and have been following his career. This will be something they’ll never forget. Think about what you remember from middle school." >More
Blaska's Blog celebrates a comeback David Blaska on Wednesday 11/04/2009 4:24 pm, (13) Comments What a difference a year makes in American politics! As Tommy G. Thompson would say, "Isn't it great to be a Republican!" And you know what, kids? It really is! You should try it some time. >More
Obama visits Madison: The words on the street Bill Lueders on Wednesday 11/04/2009 1:00 pm, (1) Comment, (1) Recommendation Today's Wisconsin State Journal contains a charming letter from some Madison school boosters toasting the many excellent reasons President Barack Obama decided to visit Wright Middle School in Madison. These include: "Wright is both a successful charter school and has one of the most diverse student bodies in the Madison school district." It's also a security fortress. >More
Madison Etsy explorations: The Fairy Garden Megan Larson on Wednesday 11/04/2009 12:00 pm, (1) Recommendation Halloween may have come and gone but that doesn't mean the little ones have to stop playing dress up. Playing princess has never been easier or more adorable than with a tutu from The Fairy Garden. With only a little tulle and a little sparkle, shop owner Heidi Duss has created an invitation to the magical world of make-believe for your child. >More
Coffee Bytes is a ground-level java stop at University Square Andrea Parins on Tuesday 11/03/2009 1:00 pm Owned and operated by two UW-Madison graduates, Coffee Bytes has students in mind with many study nooks, relaxing recliners, free wifi and great campus location at the still relatively new University Square complex. It is not located in the second-floor food court, but right off the street across from the University Theatre. >More
Win tickets to Dog Sees God, Jill Sobule & Erin McKeown, The Fiery Furnaces, and more! on Tuesday 11/03/2009 12:00 pm The Isthmus Guest List is back with another round of free tickets to amazing concerts, shows and more fun events around Madison. This week's contests include tickets to: Dog Sees God at the Bartell; Band to Band Combat at the Frequency; Jill Sobule & Erin McKeown, Quarantine, Digital Leather, and Haley Bonar at the High Noon; In This Moment at the Annex; The Sounds and The Fiery Furnaces at the Majestic; and more! >More
Blaska's Blog encourages Babs to come clean David Blaska on Monday 11/02/2009 4:33 pm, (11) Comments, (2) Recommendations In my last blog, I opined that Barbara Lawton owes her supporters and her political party an honest reason for her volte face." Absent that, "speculation is bound to continue" for her sudden decision last week to quit the race for governor. >More
Madison Music Scene and Heard: Project Lodge, The Relics, Bach in a Backpack Bob Koch on Monday 11/02/2009 12:00 pm, (2) Recommendations Music/art space the Project Lodge was relatively quiet over the summer after the founders moved back to Portland, Oregon. But a group of new owner-coordinators have worked through the transition process, and the venue's calendar is beginning to fill up. >More
Emily Mills: Welcome to the Monkey House Emily Mills on Monday 11/02/2009 9:36 am, (6) Comments, (11) Recommendations For The Daily Page, however, my goal is pretty simple, and I've created a clever and not at all menacing acronym for it: KILS, or "Keep It Local, Stupid." I want to peel back the many layers of the delicious and sometimes tear-inducing onion that is Madison area politics and culture, and I'd love some company. So if it's got a solid local angle or connection, you can be sure I'll do my best to process, analyze and shake my fist at it. >More
The Week: November 2-5, 2009 on Monday 11/02/2009 6:00 am, (1) Recommendation The arts are well-represented across the board in Madison this first week of November. The calendar includes: a performance of The Rap Canterbury Tales, a readings by Jennifer Chiaverini, and a talk by Dave Eggers with Valentino Achak Deng; a gallery opening featuring Orestes Larios Zaak and Gregorio Perez Escobar and a cabaret performance by Elizabeth Ward Land; and, live music by Bishop Allen, Ghostface Killah, Needtobreathe, Bassnectar, Tiempo Libre, The Bouncing Souls, and White Denim. >More
Sufjan Stevens, Osso and DM Stith explore wild things and concrete jungles at Project Lodge Halloween eve gathering topped off with screening of The BQE Jessica Steinhoff on Saturday 10/31/2009 10:51 am, (8) Recommendations People often joke that the Midwest is a few years behind the coasts when it comes to adopting the newest cultural trends, overlooking that many of these innovations stem from the Midwest in the first place. A fine example is the work of Sufjan Stevens, who visited the Project Lodge Friday night to share his film about the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. >More
Religion is a drag in StageQ's charming, irreverent The Stops Jennifer A. Smith on Saturday 10/31/2009 10:18 am, (9) Recommendations Meet Ginny, Euglena and their friend Rose in StageQ's latest production, The Stops, directed by John-Stuart Fauquet. It's a giddy musical blend of drag show and church-lady comedy à la Church Basement Ladies. >More
A Book A Week: The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff Becky Holmes on Friday 10/30/2009 6:00 pm Some books just take longer than a week to read. David Ebershoff's The 19th Wife took more than two weeks, partly because it's long, and partly because some of it is a slog. Nevertheless it's an interesting book and worth reading for the 85% non-sloggish bits. >More
Beer Here: Spetsnaz Stout from the Grumpy Troll Robin Shepard on Friday 10/30/2009 1:00 pm, (5) Recommendations For the past several weeks I've found myself on a malt quest -- searching for that perfect pint of flavor with tones of caramel and chocolate. These beers are often deep golden, brown or even stark black. Last weekend, in my desire to explore the tastes of the season, I ended up in Mount Horeb with a dark and rich, sweet and silky stout in hand. >More
The frights are funny in Strollers Theatre's Musical Comedy Murders of 1940 Jennifer A. Smith on Friday 10/30/2009 11:15 am, (3) Recommendations Halloween weekend seems like a fitting time for a local theater group to open a mystery like The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940. Like the holiday itself, the Strollers Theatre production of this whodunit is more about fun than fear. As the German maid Helsa is throttled and dragged off in the first scene, what ensues are giggles, not gasps. >More
The Week[end]: October 30 - November 1, 2009 on Friday 10/30/2009 6:00 am Halloween and Madison are nigh synonymous, with the big shindigs like Freakfest, Dane101's Freakin' Halloweekend, Night of the Dead, HalloQueen, the Halloween Mustache Masquerade, and the Frequency Halloween Party only scratching the surface of celebration. This weekend offers much more, though, including: productions of Thaïs, The Stops, The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940, and Drakula; a James Gill exhibit at the Chazen, a Ron Dayne book signing, and Opera Up Close; and, a monster lineup of live music by Ben Folds, Ludacris, the Pro Arte Quartet, the Lucas Cates Band, Mad Trucker Gone Mad, and Downtown Brown. >More
"POTUS tells Wisconsin: "It's time to make education America's national mission'" Eric Horng @ ABC
Obama "urged the students and teachers at Wright to aim higher, saying an education is 'a prerequisite for success'" in talk at Wright Middle School Eve Zibel @ Fox News
"Remarks by the President on strengthening America's education system" delivered at Wright Middle School The White House
"Remarks by The President and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan in discussion with students" at Wright Middle School The White House
"Too bad we can't get the yokel developers around here to understand how badly people want interactive, community-oriented spaces integrated with their abodes" Michael Barrett
"The good news is that the parking lot is almost always jammed with cars in every available space" Peter Patau
A review of The Greening of Southie, screening at Tales from Planet Earth 2009 Steve Furay @ Dane101
An "almost complete" recap of the Madison Common Council meeting on WYOU funding, a student ALRC member, liquor in gas stations, and more Brenda Konkel
"A proposed reorganization of the Graduate School will be slowed down until university administrators have responded to an upcoming review of the plan" UW Comm.
"When, if ever, has a president of the United States inserted himself as directly into a legislative issue in Wisconsin as President Barack Obama is doing by visiting Madison on Wednesday?" Alan J. Borsuk @ Marquette Law School
"A year after historic election, students stay involved in politics" UW Comm.
Checking out the new Hy-Vee supermarket on East Wash TDPF
"As a matter of fact, I think the Edgewater will bolster historic preservation, not detract from it" Dave Cieslewicz
"The is the first time in recent history that a sitting president has made a call on the city, and security will be paramount during Mr. Obama's time in Madison" MPD
The Expanding Your Horizons conference marks "fifty years of expanding girlsâ horizons in science, math" UW Comm.
"A proposed reorganization of the Graduate School will be slowed down until university administrators have responded to an upcoming review of the plan" UW Comm.
"In the aftermath of the homecoming festivities and road trip to Detroit, the vehicle team members are settling into their work on the Bucky Wagon" UW-Madison Bucky Wagon Project
A Tuesday roundup of commentary on the Edgewater and more Brenda Konkel
A review of Garbage Dreams, screening at Tales from Planet Earth 2009 Steve Furay @ Dane101
"Oral arguments were heard before the Wisconsin Supreme Court on the Wisconsin gay marriage case, William C. McConkey v. J. B. Van Hollen, that could overturn Wisconsin's gay marriage ban" Michael Leon
"Classical music etiquette: Kick 'texters' out of concerts, plays, movies" Jacob Stockinger
"My beef(s) with the county budget process!" Brenda Konkel
The Dane County Board holds its final discussions on its 2010 budgets Brenda Konkel
Madison school board members comment on the upcoming visit by President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan to Wright Middle School Jim Zellmer @ SIS
"Dane County Supervisor David de Felice (District 16) is looking at the possibility of primary-ing Tammy Baldwin for her District 2 Congressional seat" Lukas Diaz
"Madison is a fantastic college town and Camp Randall Stadium was one of the most accommodating places I have ever watched a football game" "BoilerTMill" @ Hammer & Rails
An ordinance proposal by Ald. Bryon Eagon "will add an alder and a citizen to the ALRC with a recommendation to the mayor that the citizen be a student" Jack Craver
Beer Here: Hopscotch from the Great Dane Fitchburg Robin Shepard on Friday 10/23/2009 10:00 am, (6) Recommendations Hopscotch offers some big malty flavor, much like the current offering of fall Oktoberfests, only it has an assertive, bitter personality, making for a taste that you shouldn't, well, skip. >MoreThe Green Owl brings vegetarian dining back to Madison Linda Falkenstein on Thursday 10/22/2009 1:25 pm, (3) Comments, (6) Recommendations Jennie Capellaro started cooking "just out of necessity." Soon, she'll spin that necessity into a brave venture: The Green Owl, Madison's first vegetarian restaurant since Peacemeal closed about five years ago. It's been hard for vegetarians in Madison -- well known as a place that loves its farmers' markets, food coop and CSAs, yet has been unable to sustain a dedicated vegetarian restaurant. >More
Dane County Farmers' Market: Green's Pleasant Springs Orchard Stoughton growers share recipe for apple crisp Andrea Parins on Thursday 10/08/2009 10:00 am Green's Pleasant Springs Orchard offers fresh apples, apple cider, lettuce, and tomatoes this fall in its 29th year at the Dane County Farmers' Market. >MoreMadame Fromage: Menage from Carr Valley Cheese Tenaya Darlington on Wednesday 10/07/2009 3:00 pm, (1) Recommendation Lately, I've been on a quest for the perfect desk cheese. That's right, a cheese I can eat at work when I'm lunching with email -- a cheese that goes with apples and pretzels or whatever's handy, a cheese that won't stink up the mini-fridge but that isn't bland. Well, here's my star: Carr Valley's Menage. >More
Kathie Rasmussen Women's Theatre stages strong debut Smart Women Project is as smart as its name Josh Wimmer on Saturday 10/17/2009 9:00 am, (2) Comments, (8) Recommendations As debuts go, The Smart Women Project -- the first-ever production from the new Kathie Rasmussen Women's Theatre company -- is, well, awfully smart. The production's nine short plays run the gamut from sober realism to out-there experiments to frenetic zaniness, and while some work better than others, all of them work, and none talk down to the audience. >MoreBawdy laughs in Bricks Theatre debut An Adult Evening with Shel Silverstein Jennifer A. Smith on Thursday 10/15/2009 10:21 am, (6) Recommendations I approached the Bricks Theatre's first-ever production, An Adult Evening with Shel Silverstein, with two questions: Would it tarnish my innocent childhood memories? And more important, would it be funny? The answers are "no" and "yes," respectively. >More
A Book A Week: Mother on Fire by Sandra Tsing Loh Becky Holmes on Friday 10/09/2009 6:00 pm Sandra Tsing Loh is a writer, performance artist and public radio commentator. I don't hear her much on radio but I do read her pieces in the Atlantic. I’ve also never seen any of her one-woman shows but would sure like to. In 2008 she published Mother on Fire, a memoir about her life in Los Angeles, framed around her search for an appropriate school for her kindergarten-age daughter. >MoreMadison Etsy explorations: A Handmade Portland Shopping locally online Megan Larson on Wednesday 10/07/2009 12:00 pm, (2) Recommendations I have a fairly large jewelry collection; consequently if I am going to expand my collection the piece needs to be unusual. Ordinary just won't do. Classic hoops are not going to excite me, neither are plain gold studs. Luckily, Etsy is ripe with unique shops and A Handmade Portland is no exception. >More
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MADISON MUSIC PROJECT
MadTracks: 'We Will Bury You' by Optometri Bob Koch on Tuesday 10/20/2009 4:00 pm, (2) Recommendations Part of the fun of being in a band is developing a stage presence, be it slightly different or wildly divergent from one's usual personality. Madison's been graced with many performers dedicated to onstage antics and fanciful band back stories; currently one of the most developed "biographies" surfaces on stage a few times a year in the form of Optometri. >MoreVinyl Cave: Tiptoe Past the Dragon by Marlin Greene Bob Koch on Saturday 10/17/2009 8:00 am On a recent long-delayed field trip to Fox Music Company in Watertown to dig through the store's thousands of 45s, disappointment reigned upon learning that they had sold the whole works to someone in Michigan just a few weeks previously. So I settled for digging through the thousands of LPs, and uncovered several obscure items to take a flyer on. >More
Wilmington on DVD: Monsoon Wedding, Dusan Makavejev, Transformers 2, Cheri Mike Wilmington on Wednesday 10/21/2009 10:00 am Monsoon Wedding, Mira Nair's joyous movie about a wedding in Delhi -- constantly disrupted by family squabbles, sudden crises, covert romantic interludes, cultural clashes among the guests, dark buried secrets erupting to the surface and finally, a full-blown monsoon rainfall, not to mention a musical climax that outdoes Bollywood -- is both her most popular film and her best. >MoreWilmington on DVD: Natural Born Killers, Drag Me to Hell, Gaumont, The Proposal Mike Wilmington on Wednesday 10/14/2009 10:00 am Natural Born Killers, Oliver Stone's mad-dog-violent "love on the run" neo-noir, one of the most controversial movies of the '90s, may get better and better every time you see it in a new release. But that doesn't mean it still couldn't use some improvement. >More
Hilldale Target receives mixed reaction from neighbors Joe Tarr on Tuesday 10/20/2009 12:22 pm, (4) Comments, (5) Recommendations Monday night, Target executives presented their plan for a 155,000-square-foot "raised single level" store at the corner of North Midvale Boulevard and University Avenue. The store would be on top of about 450 parking spaces and employ 150 to 200 people. >MoreMadison media launch All Together Now with collaborative reporting project on health care Bill Lueders on Monday 10/19/2009 12:01 pm, (5) Recommendations When our jobs were secure, it was easier for reporters and media organizations to bicker with each other. Now we are more inclined to see that we’re all in this together. >More
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