Win tickets to the Peking Acrobats, A Celebration of American Distilling, Cracker, and more! on Tuesday 02/09/2010 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: "A Celebration of American Distilling" at the Edgewater; Cracker at the High Noon; the Magical Properties Tour, and Shemekia Copeland at the Majestic; Ralphie May at the Barrymore; Red Stick Ramblers and Punch Brothers at the Union Theater; the Peking Acrobats, Lisa Lampanelli, Sones de México, and An Enemy of the People at Overture; and more! >More
Madison Snaps -- February 9, 2010 on Tuesday 02/09/2010 8:00 am Today's image titled “Little Village in the Big City” was photographed by Peter Patau. >More
The Week: February 8-11, 2009 on Monday 02/08/2010 6:00 am Winter is rearing its head again in Wisconsin this week, but there is plenty to do amidst the wind and snow. The calendar includes: talk by William Marler, UW staff on digital technology, and Elizabeth Gilbert; performances by Pilobolus Dance Theater and of Pouring Tea; Mad Toast Live; and, more live music by Dark Star Orchestra, Derrick Ashong, Gene Ween, and ZoSo. >More
University Square Food Court eating contest is raucous, revolting Max Schlusselberg on Sunday 02/07/2010 2:51 pm The tension is thick in the USquare food court on University Avenue Saturday afternoon. Thick enough to cut with plastic cutlery. Five professional eaters stand waiting for the signal from Arnie "Chowhound" Chapman so they can begin slogging down fried rice, orange chicken, pizza and other food court delicacies as quickly as they can. >More
A Book A Week: Read My Pins by Madeleine Albright Becky Holmes on Saturday 02/06/2010 6:00 pm Not being a terribly close follower of diplomatic maneuvers, I was unaware of former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright’s famous use of pins to telegraph her thoughts and intentions to world leaders and the press. But lots of other people were aware of it, and now Albright has written a book about it, Read My Pins, to accompany an exhibit of her pins organized by the Museum of Art and Design in New York. >More
Huge ensemble performs in Jazzworks Dance Company's Overture program Katie Reiser on Saturday 02/06/2010 9:45 am Jazzworks Dance Company packed a lot of dancing -- and a lot of dancers -- into a two-hour production at the Overture Center's Capitol Theater on Friday night. The first act boasted six pieces, three of them premieres, performed by company members. The second act was one long and bustling piece, "A World Without Walls," featuring the company members and children from The Madison Professional Dance Center. >More
Beer Here: Hot Chocolate from Viking Brewing Company Robin Shepard on Friday 02/05/2010 2:00 pm, (5) Recommendations The inspiration for Viking Brewing Company's Hot Chocolate came one February when brewery owners Robin and Ann Lee were hosting brewery tours on an exceptionally cold Saturday. Ann asked her husband, "Why can't you make something that would warm me up?" >More
Vinyl Cave: A record drive is underway for DJ Mike Carlson Bob Koch on Friday 02/05/2010 12:53 pm, (4) Recommendations News of house fires likely strikes fear into the heart of anyone who's a record collector; pretty much even the proximity of heat can damage a collection in very short order. The simple accumulation of time spent over the years digging through countless crates of vinyl to build a working collection creates something that as a self-contained unit is irreplaceable once it's gone. >More
Edgewater backers, foes remain divided after downtown Madison neighborhood meeting Nick Penzenstadler on Friday 02/05/2010 10:14 am, (1) Comment, (2) Recommendations Brad Murphy, the city’s planning unit director, set out a timeline of hurdles the project still needs to clear before a final vote could happen on what’s expected to b a marathon Common Council meeting on Feb. 23. There remain three crucial issues: a zoning amendment considering the project independently of the zoned area; a conditional use consideration; and amending a rule that applies to vacating Wisconsin Avenue. >More
The Week[end]: February 5-7, 2010 on Friday 02/05/2010 6:00 am Live performances of many stripes crowd the calendar this first weekend of February. The fun includes: First Fridays at MmoCA, a Warrington Colescott opening at Grace Chosy, and a talk by Makoto Fujimura; productions of Ulysses' Crewmen and 10 Perfect: A Lynching Survivor Story; performances by the Jazzworks Dance Company, the MSO, and Alonzo King's LINES Ballet; Kids Rock!; benefits for Haiti at the Annex and High Noon and the Great Midwestern Bluegrass Bash; and, more live music by Dr. Dog, Matt Hires with Jason Castro, Love in October, DJ Mike Carlson, Frank Catalano, Orquesta Fuego Latino, the Alex Wilson Band, Freedy Johnston, and The Midwest Beat with Eric & the Happy Thoughts. >More
La Mestiza delivers a good Mexican lunch spot for downtown Madison Kristian Knutsen on Thursday 02/04/2010 3:33 pm Downtown Madison is seeing an increasing number of Mexican options for lunch. Taco fiends are set to be well-served near campus, with Taco Heaven opening in the old Le Chardonnay space on West Johnson and another joint going into a storefront on University next to Wando's. Meanwhile, a pair of new restaurants closer to the Capitol are already open. Las Cazuelas fired up its wood-burning oven at Butler Plaza late last year, and was followed last week by La Mestiza, which opened a second Madison location on East Main just off the Square. >More
A Book A Week: The Saffron Kitchen by Yasmin Crowther Becky Holmes on Wednesday 02/03/2010 6:00 pm Someone recommended Yasmin Crowther's The Saffron Kitchen to me as a good follow-up to Bitter Sweets, which I read a few weeks ago. It's another immigrant story; Maryam moves from Iran to London as a young woman, marries an Englishman and has a child. Eventually she feels an overwhelming urge to return to Iran to rediscover her girlhood and to reconnect with people she has lost. >More
Islam critic Ayaan Hirsi Ali draws capacity audience at UW-Madison Joe Tarr on Wednesday 02/03/2010 2:32 pm, (6) Recommendations Because of the extra security precautions, Ayaan Hirsi Ali took the stage an hour late Tuesday night at the Student Union. She was promptly greeted by a couple of people in the audience who shouted, "Allāhu Akbar," or "God is Great" in Arabic. >More
Madame Fromage: Bellavitano from Sartori Foods Tenaya Darlington on Wednesday 02/03/2010 2:00 pm So, there's blended Scotch, and then there's blended cheese. Take Bellavitano, a Parm-cheddar hybrid created by Sartori, a third-generation cheese company from Plymouth, Wis. It has the sweetness of a Parmesan alongside the sharpness of a cheddar, and its texture is somewhere in between: flaky and firm, not rock-hard. >More
MadTracks: 'Tantz Tantz Allemin' by The Shtetlblasters Jessica Steinhoff on Wednesday 02/03/2010 1:00 pm, (3) Recommendations At first glance, electro jams and klezmer songs don't seem to have much in common. Electro sprang from funk musicians' fascination with programmable drum machines in the 1980s. Klezmer, on the other hand, sprang from the synagogues of southeastern Europe in the 1380s or thereabouts. Now the two have come together in Madison, of all places, thanks to The Shtetlblasters, a five-piece ensemble that got acquainted at Middleton High School a few years ago. >More
Wilmington on DVD: Amelia, The Wolf Man, Love Happens, New York, I Love You Mike Wilmington on Wednesday 02/03/2010 10:00 am Amelia is an old-fashioned, overly romantic movie, but likably so. It's true that director Mira Nair and writers Ron Bass and Anna Hamilton Phelan don't spring many surprises while telling us the story of the famed trailblazing aviatrix Amelia Earhart -- an iconic American figure of the '20s and '30s who vanished over the Pacific while on a record-breaking, gender-smashing, 'round-the-world flight. But I'm not sure I wanted them too. >More
So you've decided to be an Olympian: Speed skating David Medaris on Tuesday 02/02/2010 4:10 pm The Madison Speed Skating Club is the obvious starting point for your own pursuit of Olympic speed skating glory. Its "Learn-to-Speedskate" program introduces the sport to beginners of all ages, at $115 for eight weeks. >More
Emily's Post: Activist judges, trains and bikes, Scott Walker, and Feingold and the filibuster Emily Mills on Tuesday 02/02/2010 1:22 pm, (3) Recommendations It's time to start appointing our State Supreme Court judges. After the court ruled it was OK for justices to stay on cases involving even those who contribute significant sums of money to their campaigns, I can see no other way for us to regain some sliver of trust in the impartiality of the system. >More
Win tickets to Bluegrass Bash, Pilobus Dance, Elizabeth Gilbert, Luciana Souza, and more! on Tuesday 02/02/2010 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: Alonzo King's LINES Ballet, Luciana Sauza, and the Red Stick Ramblers at the Union Theater; Pilobolus Dance Theater, Elizabeth Gilbert, the Peking Acrobats, and Lisa Lampanelli at Overture; Ralphie May at the Barrymore; the Great Midwestern Bluegrass Bash, the Magical Properties Tour, and Shemekia Copeland at the Majestic; Cracker at the High Noon; "A Celebration of American Distilling" at the Edgewater; and more! >More
Blaska's Blog is pro-choice -- for the baby David Blaska on Monday 02/01/2010 2:16 pm, (11) Comments, (1) Recommendation As you know, the mission of the Blaska Policy Research Center and Experimental Work Farm is to plumb the depths of the liberal mind in all its exotic wonders and publish the findings for a grateful nation. Compassion compels me to help the less fortunate. We can cure liberalism if only we commit the resources! (If a man can land on the moon ...) A grant application is pending before the National Institutes of Health. And the Bradley Foundation. >More
McSweeney's makes a newspaper: A review of Panorama The literary quarterly creates a tribute to everything that's fit to print Joe Tarr on Monday 02/01/2010 12:00 pm, (1) Comment, (3) Recommendations When I was a kid, one of the few rituals I shared with my dad was on Sunday mornings. We'd hop in the car and drive to a doughnut shop for a dozen doughnuts, then head over to the cigar shop/newsstand on State Street in Erie, Pa., my hometown. I fell in love with the ritual of spreading out with a Sunday paper, munching down doughnuts over the funnies.So I was a sucker for the latest McSweeney's, the quarterly literary journal that revels in experimenting with form. >More
The Week: February 1-4, 2009 on Monday 02/01/2010 6:00 am Winter isn't over yet, but its days are numbered, the length of which are at the heart of the Sun Prairie Groundhog Days celebrations this week. The calendar also includes: a talk by Ayaan Hirsi Ali; a Humanities in the 21st Century discussion; and, live music by AA Bondy, Nick Oliveri with Helen Money, Zion I, the Matt Wilson Quartet, and Off With Their Heads. >More
Isthmus Beer & Cheese Fest: A nibbler's report Linda Falkenstein on Sunday 01/31/2010 10:20 am, (4) Recommendations "It's kind of like the farmers' market, but with lots more cheese samples, and instead of vegetables -- beer!" one person said to me, and that's pretty close. Two rooms of vendor booths flanked an open area with tables where performances by the Cork and Bottle String Band alternated with demos on pairing beer with food (presented by TDP's beer guru, Robin Shepard) and pairing beer with chocolate, with chocolates by Atwood Avenue chocolatier Gail Ambrosius and beer by Furthermore of Spring Green. >More
Vinyl Cave: In Europe by Big Mama Thornton Bob Koch on Saturday 01/30/2010 8:00 am Alabama-born blues singer and drummer Big Mama Thornton is mostly remembered today by many as a footnote in the saga of two famous rock performers. Thornton helped with the lyrics and was the first to record the Leiber-Stoller classic "Hound Dog," several years before it was made famous to rock 'n rollers via pre-Army Elvis Presley's cover version. >More
Beer Here: Mai Bock from Sprecher Brewing Robin Shepard on Friday 01/29/2010 4:00 pm, (6) Recommendations Even though we know the days are getting longer, it's still reassuring when the first Mai Bocks begin arriving on local shelves. These lagers are traditionally brewed in the dead of winter and aged until spring. And now, just when the seasonal melancholy is about to become oppressive, these incredible bock beers start to emerge from lagering. Sprecher Brewery is one of the first local beer makers to offer a little bit of "may bock" springtime. >More
Learn more about pairing brews and foods at the Isthmus Beer & Cheese Fest on Friday 01/29/2010 2:00 pm Not only will the Isthmus Beer & Cheese Fest feature some of the most delectable beer and cheese offerings from across the state, but it also offers an opportunity to talk with and hear from experts illustrating how to best pair beer with an assortment of foods. >More
A report on the Madison Plan Commission discussion on the waterfront setback ordinance change for the Edgewater Brenda Konkel
"Frustration over a lack of city action will greet the proposed Edgewater Hotel renovation when it arrives at the Madison Plan Commission for review on Monday" Paul Snyder
A report on the Monona City Council meeting on February 1 Doug Wood
"New UW-Madison agronomist leads international corn-breeding project" UW Comm.
"Edgewater: We don't agree on anything! (This project and process is a mess!)" Brenda Konkel
"Wisconsin should follow Cali on open source software" Lukas Diaz
"What's with the open water on Lake Wingra?" Peter Patau
"After venturing out on Lake Monona one chilly Friday morning, I learned that braving the elements to provide a meal for your family is about as gangster as it gets" Rob Franklin @ 608 Magazine
Santa Fe Trailer puts down roots in Middleton Linda Falkenstein on Tuesday 01/05/2010 12:00 pm Santa Fe Trailer, one of the Library Mall's most popular food carts, scoring 8th overall in the 2009 ranking session, is opening a delivery and carryout location in Middleton. >MoreWisconsin makes the 2010 Saveur 100 list Linda Falkenstein on Monday 01/04/2010 12:39 pm, (2) Recommendations Coming in at #91 on the list is "Wisconsin," an ode to some of the state's best foodstuffs penned by Middleton resident Dan Florey. Or, only sort of penned.... >More
UW-Madison fans of the sassy sausage write The Brat Book cookbook Now you're cookin' with brats Linda Falkenstein on Tuesday 12/15/2009 1:00 pm, (4) Recommendations During this past weekend's burst of warmth -- enough to melt the ice ruts on the roads, thank fortune -- I joined a lot of other Madisonians in emerging from our snowcaves to stock up at the supermarket. I was in line at the meat counter at Hy-Vee behind a fellow who happily announced: "It's warm enough to grill!" >MoreBeer Here: Rye Bob from Grumpy Troll Robin Shepard on Friday 12/11/2009 10:00 am, (10) Comments, (12) Recommendations The holiday season often brings out memories of family and friends, and sometimes we raise a glass and toast those who made a difference in our lives. Grumpy Troll brewmaster Mark Duchow recently lost his father. Duchow decided to pay tribute to his dad with a special creation. Rye Bob, a dry and spicy ale, was put on tap a couple of weeks ago, complete with Mr. Duchow's picture on the tap handle. >More
Allegory meets comic anarchy in Forward Theater's timely Why Torture is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them Jennifer A. Smith on Sunday 01/03/2010 10:51 am, (4) Recommendations With Why Torture is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them, Madison's Forward Theater Company has taken its next big step. Torture is the Midwest premiere of Christopher Durang's acclaimed political comedy, and Forward's first fully-staged play. While it's not a perfect play (and what is?), the crowd on a frigid opening night clearly appreciated Torture's political relevance and sheer goofiness. >MoreToo many loose ends in StageQ's Random Harvest Bruce G. Bradley on Friday 01/01/2010 9:00 am, (3) Recommendations It's hard to know how to characterize Richard Willett's play Random Harvest, now playing at the Bartell Theatre. It's described in the playbill as "a ghost story about living without fear," but it's also about the elusive butterfly called memory, as well as being a discourse on success and a meditation on that whole "Meaning of Life" thing. >More
Solid performances in Dance Wisconsin's Nutcracker Fantasy Susan Kepecs on Monday 12/14/2009 11:53 am, (1) Comment, (3) Recommendations Despite the threat of freezing rain, Dance Wisconsin's performance of Nutcracker Fantasy last Saturday at Wisconsin Union Theater was very well attended. This version of Nut, an annual production, was reassembled from the original by Dance Wisconsin artistic director JoJean Retrum. >MoreChildren's Theatre of Madison's A Christmas Carol wows the kids Amelia Cook on Sunday 12/13/2009 9:33 am, (22) Recommendations As someone who's seen A Christmas Carol at least a dozen times in recent history, I could easily bah-humbug my way through any version of Dickens' classic. But at the Saturday matinee of Children's Theatre of Madison's A Christmas Carol, as I looked around at the children who filled the theater, it wasn't too hard to suppress any possible humbugs. >More
Blaska's Blog says it takes courage to profile David Blaska on Tuesday 01/05/2010 4:00 pm, (19) Comments, (22) Recommendations Isn't profiling what the FBI does to catch serial killers? Isn't that what Clarice Starling was doing when she interviewed Dr. Hannibal Lecter? >MoreEmily's Post: Less pipe dreaming, more bus scheming Emily Mills on Monday 01/04/2010 1:00 pm, (3) Comments, (3) Recommendations Like a good lefty, I’m generally pro-trains and think this country did itself a great disservice when it dropped its rail infrastructure and went gung-ho for pavement. But I also recognize that regional transit does little to address the problems of those looking to get around the city itself without a car. >More
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MADISON MUSIC PROJECT
Madison Music Scene & Heard: Kikeh Mato, Jay Iverson, open mikes Bob Koch on Monday 01/04/2010 12:00 pm Madison djembefola (master djembe player) Mandjou Mara moved here in 2008 from his native Guinea. There he was a member of Les Percussions de Guinee and Tayeli of Kaporo, formed drum and dance ensemble Limanya de la Guinee, and also performed as a griot, a singer/poet carrying on the oral history tradition. >MoreVinyl Cave: Jimmy Webb, recording artist Bob Koch on Saturday 01/02/2010 12:00 pm It's less well known that Jimmy Webb has also maintained a career as a performing artist in his own right, one that's taken a mostly divergent course from the shadow of gloppy orchestral monsters imposed on his image by some of those early hits. >More
Wilmington on DVD: Paranormal Activity, Two for the Seesaw, Summer Storm, 9 Mike Wilmington on Wednesday 12/30/2009 10:00 am, (2) Recommendations Paranormal Activity has grossed mega-millions on a minuscule initial investment. Why? The setup, of course, is ingenious. Actors Katie Featherson and Micah Sloat, playing brainy bedmates Katie and Micah, are mostly alone together in Micah's isolated house, where Katie is being pursued by the ghosts or demons that have plagued her all her life. >MoreWilmington on DVD: The 10 best releases of 2009 Mike Wilmington on Wednesday 12/23/2009 10:00 am, (1) Comment, (2) Recommendations Here are my choices for the 10 best DVDs for 2009, last year of the first decade of the 21st century. >More
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