Beer Here: Terminal Gravity from the Great Dane Robin Shepard on Friday 05/25/2012 2:00 pm As the Great Dane family of brewpubs has grown to four Madison locations, three of which have their own brewery operations, company V.P. and brewmaster Rob LoBreglio hasn't been able to be in the brewhaus as much as he likes. While each Dane has its own brewer, LoBreglio oversees the team. So when he does stand over the brew kettle himself, the Madison beer community can expect something special. >MoreJoin our panelists for a Wisconsin recall debate live blog on Friday night Isthmus Staff on Friday 05/25/2012 4:00 pm Please join Isthmus contributors Dave Cieslewicz and Larry Kaufmann here on Friday night at 8 p.m. (CDT) for the first of two debates between Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett in advance of the historic recall election on June 5. The debate will be televised in Madison on WKOW, Channel 27, and we urge you to keep at least one eye on this blog while you watch it. >More
If elected in recall, Tom Barrett would take office by late June A speedy transition, hypothetically Seth Jovaag on Thursday 05/24/2012, (1) Comment Let's play a game of hypothetical recall. If Tom Barrett beats Gov. Scott Walker in the June 5 election, then what? Under "normal" circumstances, a governor-elect has two months between the November election and inauguration day to take office. If Barrett wins June 5, he'll move in after a maximum of 18 days, the time allotted for the state Government Accountability Board to certify results from special elections, says GAB spokesman Reid Magney. >MoreNo do-overs in umping Jason Joyce on Thursday 05/24/2012, (1) Comment There are few trees at Pioneer Park in rural Middleton, certainly none shading the baseball field from last Sunday's intense sunshine. Each gust of wind deposits gritty dust in my mouth, ears, even the corners of my eyes. I'm hot, thirsty and I have just punched out my 13-year old son. >More
Authentic, hidden and full of soul: Melly Mel's is worth tracking down André Darlington on Thursday 05/24/2012 Good luck finding Melly Mel's. If you get lost, their digits are 608-270-9512. Write that down now because the number online is incorrect. I visited Carmell "Melly" Jackson, proprietor and cook, the first time with friends who knew her, had scouted for the location before, and still couldn't find her south-side restaurant. Then we got very specific, if disconcerting, directions to the Genesis Enterprise Center over the phone: "Park around the side of the building next to the red van. Enter through the metal door and come downstairs." >MoreQuince & Apple experiments with cocktail syrups Just the right amount of sweet Marcelle Richards on Thursday 05/24/2012 Call me the patron saint of Quince & Apple's Door County Tart Cherry Grenadine because it's a blessing I can't help but pass on. The "soft release" of the Madison jam company's grenadine happened mostly via bartenders, with a public release in the Chicago market on May 13 and, two days later, in Madison at retail locations including Fromagination, Steve's Wine and Liquor, and Natt Spil. >More
Summer food pilgrimages, where dinner is more than an afterthought A different kind of foraging Isthmus Staff on Thursday 05/24/2012 You know the place. The dockside ice cream shop, the root beer stand still painted orange, the bar with the terrific sunset. These are the places we love returning to summer after summer, for a special meal that is equal parts deliciousness, nostalgia and seize-the-day. >MoreA guide to splashing away the day at the pool Laps, slides, and Creamscicles Sari Judge on Thursday 05/24/2012 Perhaps I'm part Wicked Witch. It doesn't matter if it's the ocean, a thunderstorm or even the shower -- I'm just not crazy about getting wet. So when my children were younger, any pool-going desires they had needed to be satisfied by the backyard, blow-up variety. But by the time my oldest was 5, it became perfectly clear a green plastic tub shaped like a turtle, even when coupled with a Slip 'N Slide, was no longer going to cut it as our family's aquatic center. >More
Old-school trappings go as Club 5 gets a makeover as Five Nightclub Bye-bye porn Katjusa Cisar on Thursday 05/24/2012 The south-side venue rechristened last week as Five Nightclub & Showbar, formerly Club 5, has a new dance floor, stage and sound system. That's not all: Totally dismantled is the Barracks, a backroom leather bar that for years played porn on six screens and served as a refuge for gay men behind boarded-up windows. >MorePunk, metal and surf bands keep Madison rock steady Brute-force fun Scott Gordon on Thursday 05/24/2012 It's a convenient fib that the hard, crude side of rock 'n' roll disappears every so often, only to be rescued in time for a slate of rock-magazine photo shoots. But there are always plenty of bands, somewhere, focusing on the gratifying metal riff, the primal rockabilly beat, the simple chord pattern. Still, every so often, a few bands give us extra reason to coalesce around the basics. Meet four Madison acts whose work in punk, metal and surf rock is doing just that. >More
Retirees make a home at The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel Strangers in a strange land Marjorie Baumgarten on Thursday 05/24/2012 In a fluid opening montage, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel introduces seven aging Brits who, for one reason or another, have decided to move to Jaipur, India, and take up residence in what is being advertised as a newly restored retirement home. The first of the film's many predictable surprises is that the hotel is a fixer-upper, a dilapidated shell of its former glory and hardly anything that qualifies to be called the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. >MoreA workplace romance unfolds in Delicacy Love with a dweeb Kenneth Burns on Thursday 05/24/2012 Watching the French romance Delicacy, I thought of the Seinfeld episode in which Jerry can't follow a movie plot. Who's that guy? What just happened? There's a randomness to Delicacy that reminds me of irksome American indie comedies like Gigantic and The Good Heart, which ask us to laugh when characters drolly act in ways that don't resemble actual human behavior. That makes me antsy, and I was ready to give up on Delicacy. But I was smiling by the time it was over. >More
Join our panelists for a Wisconsin recall debate live blog on Friday night Isthmus Staff on Friday 05/25/2012 4:00 pm Please join Isthmus contributors Dave Cieslewicz and Larry Kaufmann here on Friday night at 8 p.m. (CDT) for the first of two debates between Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett in advance of the historic recall election on June 5. The debate will be televised in Madison on WKOW, Channel 27, and we urge you to keep at least one eye on this blog while you watch it. >MoreDo endorsements matter in the Wisconsin recall? Nora G. Hertel on Friday 05/25/2012 10:55 am In the primaries, endorsements help voters choose among candidates because the groups or individuals reflect a candidate's qualifications and affiliations, not just
their party. But only a few endorsements will carry weight in a general election as polarized as the upcoming recall. Public safety unions' endorsements have an impact, because they are not inherently tied to either party. >MoreLooking for the undecided voter in the Wisconsin recall The 3% who can't make up their minds could decide the election Christian Schneider on Thursday 05/24/2012, (1) Comment Former University of Wisconsin-Madison political science professor Ken Goldstein loves to tell of the time he went out hunting for undecided voters in Wisconsin. It was in the midst of the 2004 presidential election, and a public radio station asked him to talk to voters who couldn't decide between President George W. Bush and Sen. John Kerry. The only problem was, they couldn't find any undecideds. They searched the state far and wide, and virtually everyone had made up their mind. >MoreMORE >>
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