Saying no to drugs with Mad Pride For some mentally ill people, being different is better than being doped up Jill Carlson on Friday 07/17/2009, (1) Comment Depressed? There's a pill for that. Anxious? There's a pill for that too. Manic? Schizophrenic? Bipolar? There are pills for all of these conditions. But psychiatric meds can produce serious and debilitating side effects -- like weight gain or loss, a dulling of the senses, lowered libido, manic episodes and suicidal thoughts. This downside has spurred a grassroots movement among people with mental illness to try getting by without a little help from their pharmaceutical friends. >More
NEWS
Marsh Shapiro bristles at Fire Department demand for floor plans Beyond his capacity to take it Joe Tarr on Thursday 07/16/2009, (1) Recommendation Marsh Shapiro was incredulous when he read the June 25 letter. The Madison Fire Department wants him to hire an architect to produce floor plans of his restaurant, the Nitty Gritty, so the city can determine the capacities for individual areas: first floor, second floor and patio. >MoreAffordable Housing Trust Fund could plug Section 8 gap Joe Tarr on Thursday 07/16/2009 Madison is looking at tapping into its Affordable Housing Trust Fund to fill a shortfall in funding for Section 8 housing vouchers, which subsidize the rent payments of low-income residents. >MoreDane County officials gushing over new manure digester Going from brown to green Jessica Slicer on Thursday 07/16/2009, (1) Comment, (4) Recommendations Moo-ve over, polluting energy sources of the past, there's a new powerhouse in town. Cow power. Environmentalists and scientists have searched high (wind power) and low (hydropower) for alternative sources of energy, but in Wisconsin, the answer may be lying in the fields. >More
MUSIC
Café Montmartre was a second home to Madison musicians Momo no mo' Jessica Steinhoff on Friday 07/17/2009, (1) Comment, (5) Recommendations Named for a hill on the outskirts of Paris where Van Gogh, Matisse and Picasso built bohemian communities around their artistic ideals, Café Montmartre was an epicenter for our city's cultural crème de la crème as well. Especially when it came to music. Now Café Montmartre is closed, a casualty of the recession. >MoreMadison classical groups will soothe recession-frazzled spirits in 2009-2010 Stress busters Sandy Tabachnick on Friday 07/17/2009 Comfort and revival are in store for us as Madison's classical groups gear up for their 2009-2010 seasons. Like many classical groups, the Madison Opera, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra and the Madison Symphony Orchestra are taking a nurturing approach to their audience, offering music to massage frayed nerves and revive our spirits in an uncertain economy. >MoreNew Antlers album looks for solace Mortal comfort Rich Albertoni on Friday 07/17/2009 With Hospice, singer and guitarist Peter Silberman of the Antlers has managed to assemble a concept album with as much literary weight as the Decemberists' Hazards of Love. More remarkably, the album packs as much raw indie emotion as Sufjan Stevens. >More
OPINION & COMMENTARY
Bob Dylan's practice sessions at the Barrymore Theatre If you see him, say hello Andy Moore on Thursday 07/16/2009, (2) Comments, (21) Recommendations Bob, on the other hand, who's made an honest living performing shows that confound even his most devoted fans, was working nine-hour days leading up to the Milwaukee gig. Word. If anyone could just show up and noodle at Summerfest, it's Dylan, who could zap a positive freak on his crowd by reciting a grocery list. >MoreTell your health-care tales Reporting project needs people with the courage to complain Bill Lueders on Thursday 07/16/2009, (2) Comments Everyone, including the people who run it, knows our health-care system is broken. Among those being rightly blamed are medical professionals, insurance companies, drug companies, politicians. But perhaps the biggest culprits of all are never implicated. I'm talking about ordinary health care consumers. >MoreTestimony for and against vasectomies Snip snip here on Thursday 07/16/2009 Dear Tell All: As much as I enjoyed your humor at the expense of the frightened man who wrote in after canceling his appointment for a vasectomy, it seems important to add some information to your funny disinformation parody of the no-scalpel vasectomy procedure. >More
Dark Blue goes where many cop shows have gone before Undercover, under fire Dean Robbins on Friday 07/17/2009 Tell me if you've heard this one before: A brilliant law-enforcement type with a tragic past and perpetual stubble leads a team of extraordinary undercover operatives outside the boundaries of police jurisdiction. >More
MOVIES
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is not urgent enough Kimberley Jones on Friday 07/17/2009, (2) Recommendations Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince would rather flush pink with its lovesick teens than forward-thrust toward the mammoth battle of good vs. evil. >MoreMoon: Lonely out there Kimberley Jones on Friday 07/17/2009, (4) Recommendations But where 2001, so maddening and inscrutable, wanted to blow your mind (R.I.P., 1968), Moon wants to explore the less exotic of inner space. >More
Tapas Rias offers inviting appetizers in Middleton Inviting Spanish treats in a shopping mall Linda Falkenstein on Friday 07/17/2009, (1) Comment, (6) Recommendations Tapas Rias, which focuses on traditional Spanish tapas, can easily seduce with its menu, and its calm, contemporary interior is a lovely, yet casual, welcoming space. It's not at all like the overheated, stereotypical image of a flamenco dancer emblazoned on the cover of the menu. It's certainly classier than what you'd expect to find in an aging Middleton shopping center. >MoreAn assertive recipe for buffalo mac 'n' cheese Marcelle Richards on Friday 07/17/2009, (2) Recommendations Recipes are antithetical to how I cook. I measure with hollowed palms and pinched fingers and scorched taste buds. This is where the magic in cooking lies -- in all those heated moments over the stove in which dashes of this and that make something taste just right, or a little extra wine is added for good measure. >More
SPORTS & RECREATION
Brew ha ha Jason Joyce on Thursday 07/16/2009 The Milwaukee Brewers generated some momentum for the second half of the season with a special promotion this week. For every ball that Prince Fielder took deep in the All-Star Home Run Derby Monday night, the club knocked a buck off the price of a Loge Outfield Box Seat for its mid-August series with the Padres. >More
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