The Selfish Gene grabs Isthmus Band to Band Combat 2009 title Kenneth Burns on Friday 11/20/2009 12:04 pm, (1) Recommendation Sleek, solemn rock trio The Selfish Gene prevailed last night at the Frequency in the final round of Isthmus Band to Band Combat, the local-music contest staged by your favorite Madison alternative newsweekly. The runner-up was The Midwest Beat, the quartet whose brisk pop songs are drenched in Mersey Sound jangle. The winner was chosen by club patrons, who cast votes. >More
Top Wisconsin beers to pair with your Thanksgiving meal Robin Shepard on Friday 11/20/2009 12:00 pm, (1) Comment, (3) Recommendations Beer and Thanksgiving are intrinsically linked in the settlement of this country -- the Pilgrims had beer on the Mayflower -- so why not serve local beers on your holiday table? Granted, it can be a challenge to find just the right beer(s) to go with the cornucopia of flavors found in a Thanksgiving feast, but try breaking down the meal with several beer options. >More
The Week[end]: November 20-22, 2009 on Friday 11/20/2009 6:00 am Get the holidays rolling early this weekend. The calendar includes: the Holiday Art Fair and Madison Women's Expo; the Wis-Kino Fall Kabaret; productions of The Little Match Girl, 1 SW33T R1DE, and the UW Dance Fall Faculty Concert; a book reading by Chris Newbold; Funk Out Cancer!; and, a bumper crop of live music by Carrie Newcomer, Modern Skirts, the MSO, Cougar, Haley Bonar, A Sunny Day in Glasgow, Band from TV, Mason Jennings, Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, and more. >More
A Book A Week: Best Friends Forever by Jennifer Weiner Becky Holmes on Thursday 11/19/2009 6:00 pm Popular fiction is a genre that is distinct from literary fiction, though the boundaries are fluid. I like to think of these categories as either ends of a ruler, with most books falling somewhere between the two ends. A lot of the books I read fall right around the middle of the continuum between popular and literary fiction. >More
MadTracks: 'Hold On' by Former Ghosts Bob Koch on Thursday 11/19/2009 12:00 pm, (1) Recommendation Madison's Nika Roza Danilova has been very busy with music the past couple years. She has released solo recordings as Zola Jesus, and another album featuring Danilova appeared in October on London's Upset the Rhythm label: Fleurs by Former Ghosts. >More
Blaska's Blog has regulation fatigue David Blaska on Wednesday 11/18/2009 2:45 pm, (16) Comments, (2) Recommendations Stopped by the Dane County Lakes and Watershed Commission hearing Tuesday night at the Verona Senior Center to testify against the so-called Dane County Waterbody Classification Project. >More
Madame Fromage: Baked Miniature Pumpkins with Blue Cheese recipe Tenaya Darlington on Wednesday 11/18/2009 2:00 pm One of my favorite combinations at the Thanksgiving table is baked squash with some sort of savory stuffing. This year, I'm planning to adapt a Deborah Madison recipe that calls for cream, a leaf of sage, and a spoonful of Gruyere baked inside a mini pumpkin; instead of using Gruyere, I'm going to combine blue cheese with the cream, and a few cranks of black pepper. >More
Wilmington on DVD: Gone With the Wind, The Exiles, Star Trek, My Sister's Keeper Mike Wilmington on Wednesday 11/18/2009 10:00 am Like the flawed but spectacular Margaret Mitchell novel from which it derives, the movie Gone With the Wind has never lost its power to enthrall and bewitch. Producer David O. Selznick's phenomenal film, can still, like Mitchell's saucy and unconquerable heroine, Scarlett O'Hara, seduce or bulldoze almost all before it. >More
Win tickets to Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, Ari Hest, Natty Nation, and more! on Tuesday 11/17/2009 10:00 am 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: The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), Step Afrika!, and Grease at Overture; The Books, Boombox, Cross Canadian Ragweed, and James Otto with Jimmy Wayne at the Majestic; Haley Bonar, Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, Ari Hest, Natty Nation, and Taylor Hicks at the High Noon; Band to Band Combat at the Frequency; and more! >More
Blaska's Blog: The Stately Manor is besieged by control freaks! David Blaska on Monday 11/16/2009 11:00 am, (28) Comments, (1) Recommendation To the ramparts! Prepare the boiling oil! Even Ruben Mamoulian has been released from the dungeon for active duty. Stately Blaska Manor, historic and gracious seat of the Blaska Policy Research Center and Experimental Work Farm, is in the gun sights of the collectivists. >More
Madison Snaps -- November 16, 2009 on Monday 11/16/2009 8:00 am, (1) Recommendation Today's image titled “honk for college” was photographed by Beth McConnell. >More
The Week: November 16-19, 2009 on Monday 11/16/2009 6:00 am Believe it or not, but this is actually the last complete work week of the month, given the big holiday a week from Thursday. The calendar includes: appearances by Erica and Richard Halverson, Peter Yarrow, and James Norton with Rebecca Dilley; and, live music by Digital Leather, MV & EE, Vagabond Opera at Mad Toast Live, Two Fresh, Randy Weeks, and Brother Ali. >More
University Theatre's Blood Wedding is sheer poetry Amelia Cook on Sunday 11/15/2009 10:54 am, (5) Recommendations Going to the theater is risky. Theater tickets are investments in the unknown. So often we leave our seats disappointed, thinking that a few pints would have been a better use of the night. Saturday night, as I headed into the strangely balmy air after University Theatre production of Blood Wedding, I felt just the opposite. >More
Vinyl Cave: The Spoils by Zola Jesus Bob Koch on Saturday 11/14/2009 6:00 pm, (2) Recommendations Nika Roza Danilova is creating quite a buzz in the music blogosphere with her musical alias/one-woman band, Zola Jesus, including a stack of "best of 2008" lists and a recent mention by comics writer/king of all media Warren Ellis. >More
A Book A Week: A Long Finish by Michael Didbin Becky Holmes on Friday 11/13/2009 6:00 pm When I heard in 2007 that Michael Dibdin had died, I remember thinking, "Oh darn, I never got around to reading any of his books." What a weird thought, as if the Head Librarian would now be taking all his books off the shelves. >More
Madison asks residents to help maintain ice rinks Joe Tarr on Friday 11/13/2009 12:39 pm Madison Parks Division is moving ahead with plans for an "adopt an ice" partnership to help maintain the city's ice rinks. The city is currently asking residents to help commit to doing maintenance at the city's eight rinks, at Tenney, Vilas, Elver, Olbrich, Warner, Westmorland, Garner Park and Goodman parks. >More
Beer Here: Hop Harvest from Central Waters Brewing Robin Shepard on Friday 11/13/2009 10:00 am, (1) Comment, (6) Recommendations Did you catch a glimpse of the harvest moon a few weeks ago? Well, the brewers at Central Waters must have been basking in the moonbeams as they celebrated the release of their latest seasonal creation: Hop Harvest. Brewery staff did more than brew the beer -- they even harvested the hops. >More
Madison Snaps -- November 13, 2009 on Friday 11/13/2009 8:00 am Today's image titled “Forever 21 has taken over my mall” was photographed by Katie Hebble. >More
The Week[end]: November 13-15, 2009 on Friday 11/13/2009 6:00 am Late autumn in Madison doesn't really get any busier than this weekend. The calendar includes: Kids Expo, the Winter Art Festival, and the opening of Holiday Fantasy in Lights; Bioneers; productions of Sesame Street Live, Blood Wedding, Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps, McBeth, and Room on the Broom and performances by Kanopy Dance, Jason Petty, and the Smothers Brothers; appearances by Sir James Galway, Mukoma wa Ngugi, and Jonathan Patz; and, an avalanche of live music. >More
Blaska's Blog hears the fat lady singing David Blaska on Thursday 11/12/2009 4:35 pm, (12) Comments, (2) Recommendations It is over for the Democrats in Wisconsin. The report card is in on the Jim E. Doyle-Mark Pocan-Mark Miller state budget. The Pew Center for the States, as disinterested party as you can find, puts Wisconsin among the 10 states whose government is in the worst budgetary shape. >More
The Midwest Beat and The Selfish Gene are your Band to Band Combat finalists Jason Joyce on Thursday 11/12/2009 12:44 pm, (3) Recommendations After four rounds of online balloting from over 1,400 voters, The Midwest Beat and The Selfish Gene have emerged as the 2009 Band to Band Combat finalists. That means they'll perform in front of a live audience at The Frequency on Thursday, November 19 for a bushel of prizes including studio time, gift certificates and CD dubbing services. >More
MATC's Ahedo receives the Athena Young Professional Award from Madison's Business Forum on Thursday 11/12/2009 12:04 pm Tina Ahedo and her children are active volunteers in the community, serving meals at local food pantries and working with Habitat for Humanity. Accepting the award, Tina attributed her success to “the best teachers, mentors and friends who have inspired, taught and challenged me to do my very best.” >More
Blaska's Blog battles Rhamnus cathartica David Blaska on Thursday 11/12/2009 9:03 am, (10) Comments, (1) Recommendation My hands are bloodied and bruised for I have been engaged in a pitched battle here at the Blaska Policy Research Center and Experimental Work Farm with my arch-enemy. No, not Bicycle Boy. Something far more sinister (if possible) and fecund: Rhamnus cathartica. >More
MadTracks: 'Moving On' by Flame Shark Bob Koch on Wednesday 11/11/2009 1:00 pm, (1) Recommendation Justin Jahnke came to the Madison area from Louisiana, so Flame Shark's sound has always had some Southern roots. This time around, the band took the extra step of recording the basic tracks for Raw Flowers live during a 20 hour session at Piety Street Recording in New Orleans. >More
A review of The Disco Biscuits show at the Wisconsin Union Theater on October 29 Rich Kujawa
An interview with Kyle Cherek of Wisconsin Foodie Andrew Zimmern
Herb Kohl, Tammy Baldwin, and District Court Judge Barbara Crabb respond to complaints on photographer harassment at Kastenmeier courthouse Josh Zytkiewicz
An interview with UW College Dems president Molly Rivera Jack Craver
UW researchers report on environmental component associated with North American megafauna extinction UW Comm.
"I may be the first Madison Mayor in generations who not only hunts, but will talk about it incessantly" Dave Cieslewicz
A report on the Underground Food Collective venison dinner at the Wisconsin Historical Museum Emily Mills
A report on the Madison ALRC discussion on the Blue Velvet, hip-hop, The Pub, and more Jesse Russell @ Dane101
"Tammy Baldwin introduced and marshalled through a House committee Wednesday a bill that would extend benefits to the same-sex partners of federal employees" Gregory Humphrey
"Crime is lower today than it was when we were rated the Best City in America" Jack Craver
"You have my word that I will continue to work to further reduce crime, especially in those neighborhoods where the news is not as good as it is citywide" Dave Cieslewicz
"I would soon be heading downtown, my only mission to follow my friends around and wait for the seedy underbelly of Corporate Freakfest to show itself" Tyler Sitar
"Police urge pedestrians to heed construction warnings" UW Comm.
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, (1) Comment 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, (6) 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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