Noir Black Belgian Barleywine Style Ale from Sand Creek Brewing Robin Shepard on Friday 02/03/2012 3:00 pm Sand Creek Brewing just released a dark and dangerous new brew. It's named Noir, the French word for black that is often associated with a genre of crime literature featuring tough characters and risky, bleak situations. This black Belgian barley wine is indeed a mysterious contradiction with hard-to-explain flavors: sweet, bitter, roasted and spicy. Its creator, lead brewer Nate Peck, describes its complexity as simply "a beer with a lot going on." Noir just hit local shelves in the past couple of weeks. >MoreCitizen Dave: The Week in Review, from Mitt dissing the rich to Walker’s secret router to Christo running the river wrappeds Dave Cieslewicz on Friday 02/03/2012 3:22 pm, (3) Comments The big news this week is that, feeling his oats after winning big in the Florida primary, Mitt Romney came out swinging against the rich. In a CNN interview on Wednesday morning, Mitt said, "I'm not concerned about the very rich." (To balance his statement he also said, "I'm not concerned about the very poor." But this is not news. We already knew that.) >More
The Vanguard Jazz Orchestra keeps an essential American sound alive Big band, big dreams Stuart Levitan on Thursday 02/02/2012 The most influential big band in contemporary jazz is bringing a bit of Greenwich Village to Madison, just days before it celebrates an anniversary. As great art often does, the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra began in disappointment, when jazz giant Count Basie commissioned Thad Jones, his band's cornetist, to write a full album's worth of material in 1965. Basie rejected the seven compositions Jones presented, saying they didn't sound like his band and might be too hard for his musicians to play. >MoreTrouble in Barryland Jason Joyce on Thursday 02/02/2012 The troubling news involving allegations of sexual assault at a pre-Rose Bowl party by resigned UW-Madison associate athletic director John Chadima brings back something former UW history professor and athletic board member Jeremi Suri told me in an interview four years ago. >More
Season of the noodle: Slurp nine of Madison's best bowls André Darlington on Thursday 02/02/2012 This time of year, when the ground is frozen and the Farmers' Market is reduced to selling mostly hope, there is a surprise culinary bright spot -- the noodle bowl. This is its season. Whether you're returning hungry from skiing or sick and in need of a little love in a ladle, no food is more comforting or better for reviving the senses than noodles in steaming broth or stock. Here are a few of the best slurps among Madison's ever-expanding options. >MoreBeer Here: Wild Buckwheat Red from Sweet Mullets Brewery & Pub Robin Shepard on Friday 01/27/2012 2:00 pm One of the most memorable discoveries to emerge from a full afternoon of tasting at the Isthmus Beer & Cheese Fest last weekend was from one of state's newest breweries -- Sweet Mullets Brewery & Pub, set to open next month in Oconomowoc. Owner and brewmaster Mark Duchow is no stranger to southern Wisconsin beer enthusiasts. >More
Stagehands' union in the spotlight: IATSE Local 251 turns 100 Jay Rath on Thursday 02/02/2012, (1) Comment They project our films, transform Overture Center's bare stages and even change the Kohl Center from a basketball court to a hockey rink. After 100 years of literally shining the spotlight on Madison's arts, it's time for the spotlight to shine on IATSE Local 251, the stagehands union. >More
Deleted Scenes craft poppy art rock from stark themes Love, death and amphetamines Jessica Steinhoff on Thursday 02/02/2012 Washington, D.C.'s Deleted Scenes make art rock from a broad palette of sonic colors, painting their soundscapes with sunny shades of surf rock and smudges of dark, alluring funk. >MoreMostly flamboyant, sometimes subdued, Patti Lupone delights in Overture Hall Kenneth Burns on Thursday 02/02/2012 12:02 pm Patti LuPone is a Broadway baby, and Broadway isn't famous for subtlety. Wednesday night in Overture Hall, LuPone presented a few gentle interludes, but mainly the performance was one gigantic climax after another. That could have been exhausting to watch, but she threw in a lot of self-deprecating shtick, which helped make the show just the right size. It was a delight. >More
Daniel Radcliffe never ignites in spooky The Woman in Black House of horror Marjorie Baumgarten on Thursday 02/02/2012 Oh, where's that boy wizard from Hogwarts when you need him? It turns out that Daniel Radcliffe did not bring his sorcerer's wand with him when he graduated to his first adult film role since the conclusion of the Harry Potter series. Too bad. Magic powers would have come in handy when dealing with the malevolent ghost that haunts The Woman in Black, the first film in 35 years to be shot in Great Britain under the venerable Hammer banner. >MoreWith great power comes great irresponsibility in telekinesis tale Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten on Thursday 02/02/2012 From out of left field comes Chronicle, a PG-13 thriller breathing new life into the found-footage formula that has become so popular in the dozen or so years since The Blair Witch Project. Like a marriage of Cloverfield and Carrie, Chronicle blends its faux naïve techniques with a teen telekinesis plot to create something that feels fresh and authentic. >More
Live-blogging the Wisconsin mining bill protests and Gov. Walker's 2012 State of the State Isthmus Staff on Wednesday 01/25/2012 Capitol Square will be busy this week, starting Wednesday as opponents of Assembly Bill 426, better known as the "mining bill," rally at the top of State Street. There's also a "People's State of the State" gathering and, of course, Gov. Scott Walker's official State of the State address in the Assembly chambers. Follow live tweets, aggregated reports, and discussion throughout the day and evening here. >MoreScenes from the 2012 Isthmus Beer & Cheese Fest (slideshow) Eric Tadsen on Monday 01/23/2012 Over two thousand fans of Wisconsin's bounty joined us on Saturday at the Alliant Energy Center's Exhibition Hall for a celebration of some of the stuff that makes living here great! >MoreWisconsin Recall Cam is the country's latest hit reality TV show Linda Falkenstein on Friday 01/20/2012 The placing of a camera in the bleak, bunker-like room of undisclosed location in Madison wherein workers are verifying the signatures on the petitions to recall Governor Scott Walker was probably designed to lend some transparency to what is otherwise a highly protected process. >MoreMORE VIDEO >>
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