but what about pig-casso, moo-zart, and of course... david hare?

paula suozzi, theater director and former artistic director of milwaukee shakespeare and the skylight opera theatre, reminiscing about the good old days in wisconsin. you know, the days when scott walker wasn't the governor.

"I remember when (Scott Walker) was running for County Executive and someone at a public gathering asked him if he enjoyed the wide range of arts available here in Milwaukee County. His answer, 'Uh, yes, I love taking my kids to the zoo.' NO LIE. That was the moment I was done with him. I'll never forget it."

we are wisconsin

a beautiful video by finn ryan.

"unions yes! walker no!"

actors' equity association, the union of professional stage actors and stage managers, held a rally outside fox news headquarters in new york today in support of union workers in wisconsin. 400 plus protesters chanted "hey-hey, ho-ho, union busting's got to go!" and "union yes! walker no!" in response to wisconsin governor scott walker's "budget bill" which, among other things, curtails workers' collective bargaining rights. politifact today rated the governor's claim that he campaigned on limiting collective bargaining as false.

a politician sticking to his princibles?

gail collins finds two immensely good reasons for wisconsin to like, and reelect, russ feingold:

First, unlike the majority of Democrats running for re-election in Middle America, he is not trying to pretend that he didn’t vote for the health care bill, or that he voted for it with his fingers crossed, planning to completely overhaul it in 2011. “You bet I voted for that bill! I’m proud I did it!” he hollered during a campaign stop with Michelle Obama.

He keeps pointing out all the good and popular things the law contains. In debates, he asks Johnson — who’s promising to repeal Obamacare — if he really wants to reopen the hated “doughnut hole” in the Medicare prescription drug program or go back to allowing insurers to refuse to cover children with pre-existing medical conditions.

Second, Feingold is actually sticking to his principles even though it could cost him the race.

and to show her support of feingold, collins has a proposal for wisconsin voters:

Wisconsinites, if you decide to re-elect this guy I will be so happy I will personally lead a movement to make the rest of the country stop calling you Cheeseheads.

maybe she can help get rid of that fonzie statue, too.

tweet of the day

write on that garage door again, russ

this is the russ feingold i voted for in 1992. not much different than the russ feingold wisconsin should re-elect this november. maybe if he wrote on that garage door again...


(hat tip lee becker)

why i'm not doing much blogging lately

the first "sunday" in milwaukee

stephen wormley as george and danielle scampini as dot. (photo by lauren stoxen.)

stephen sondheim and james lapine's "sunday in the park with george" has never been produced in milwaukee. until now. i was lucky enough to be asked to direct marquette university's production of the show, which opened last thursday. there are five more chances to see it - wednesday, april 21 thru sunday, april 25. get tickets here.

hello [insert your town here]!

look, i'm not stupid. i knew this kind of stuff happened. really. in fact, i've written a jingle or two (and even sold a couple.) so. i know.

but still. listening to this old wisn "hello milwaukee" tv spot just made me kinda warm and cozy and even a little sad.



until i saw this:



and this:



and... please. this one?



pittsburgh. disco.



and what is this?



ohhh... sneaky.



and even canada.

frivolous and political

wisconsin governor jim doyle has responded to his state attorney general's request to sue the federal government over health care legislation. pretty. clear.

March 25, 2010


Dear Attorney General Van Hollen:

I have received your request for permission to file an action to contest national health insurance reform. I am denying that request.

This law is an act of Congress, signed by the President of the United States. The lawsuit you suggest is a frivolous and political attempt to thwart the actions of Congress and the law of the country.

National health insurance reform will extend coverage to more than 172,000 Wisconsin residents and will benefit families and small businesses throughout the state.

This year, small business owners will receive tax credits to buy health insurance. Insurance companies will no longer be able to deny coverage to American children because of a pre-existing condition; nor will they be able to drop someone's coverage when they get sick and need it the most.

This law enhances the actions taken by my Administration to make Wisconsin America’s health care leader.

The State of Wisconsin will not enter into litigation intended to deny health care for tens of thousands of residents.

Sincerely,


Jim Doyle
Governor

a day at the beach

milwaukee's bradford beach, circa 1954. photograph by everett harding.

the beer belly of america

floating sheep shows us the places in the u.s. (in red) where there are more bars than grocery stores. one guess which state is completely covered.

(hat tip sullivan)

the little wisconsin earthquake

yup. on tuesday night a 3.8 magnitude earthquake shook folks from elgin, illinois to union grove, wisconsin. i hope my dad's lunchboxes are all still on their shelves.(and there hundreds more.)

limbaugh does bin laden's bidding

do we really think osama bin laden cares about climate change? or was he manipulating people like rush limbaugh? (who's smarter, do you think...?)

limbaugh used bin laden's recent statement on climate change to compare him to wisconsin's russ feingold. catch the cute "osama-obama" mix up too:

i think this guy likes us

an op-ed by milwaukee's own damien jaques, written a week or so ago during one of the many crests of the skylight opera theatre saga, didn't get the attention it deserved.

in it, jaques reminds us that artists, milwaukee artists, actually do actually matter:

Milwaukee and Wisconsin reached a critical mass of stage talent in the 1980s, and like nuclear fission, the energy has happily continued to spark and feed on itself for more than two decades.

Outstanding theater artists who could work anywhere, including New York, decided to settle here, sink roots, buy houses, send their children to our schools, pay taxes. We developed a reputation for being a welcoming community with good, artist-friendly stage companies that received strong box office and fund raising support. Artists were respected and even cherished here.

It should come as no surprise that these favorable conditions affected what we saw on stage. A good work environment inspires the best in people and attracts others of superior talent.

you know, i think this guy likes us.

this jaques fellow and i had a wee squabble a few years back – quite polite, nothing too serious, mind you, just a friendly tiff – over a review he'd written about a play i'd been planning to see. the play starred many of my dear, dear friends, and i was anxious to know what to say of their performances should i be forced to greet them at the stage door after the show.

this is the basic reason i read most theatre reviews: to memorize a line or two i can toss out post-performance while in the midst of hugging a sweaty ingenue. good or bad, it doesn't matter – i am a master at manipulating a review quote to make it seem perfectly appropriate, whatever the circumstances: "i thought you did so much more than posing, mary-ann!" or "goodness gary, you were better than broadway!" or my personal favorite, "oh, henry! i don't really think every quart of milk in a ten mile radius curdled when you began to sing!" and jaques' reviews were the best, a veritable fountain of stage door compliments, most of which i didn't even have to alter, except for the words i couldn't pronounce.

however, after reading this jaques' review – which contained a mere three sentence, one paragraph mention of which actors played which roles – i was stumped. jaques' article said nothing of the actor's accomplishments, nothing of the director's staging, it only listed their names (many of which i already knew, save that tall man with the beard.) that, and some cheap talk of a few pretty lights, a sharply focused gobo, some painted flats, and a pleasant curtain speech was all i got.

what was i to do?

i'll tell you what i did, i didn't go to see the play. i couldn't! instead, i sent a pissy little letter to the milwaukee journal/sentinel saying something incredibly wry, like, "after reading mr. jaques' lengthy review of "bladdy-blah-hoo-ha", i have no earthly idea if he thinks i should attend a performance of it or not. please tell mr. jaques for me, if i was interested in reading a book report on playwright applejack mc-twoshoes, i would have paid a visit to the local library." in my head, i pronounced "library" in that snotty, upper crust, british way - libry. libry. fuh-fuh. take that mr. reviewer guy, i thought.

several weeks later, i heard through a friend of a friend that jaques actually felt bad about the letter i'd sent.

"he read it!?" i shouted, incredulously.

"yes, and he felt quite bad."

being the stone cold, hard-as-a-rock, iceberg man that i am, i wept. immediately i felt a walloping sense of guilt for making the man feel bad.

"really? bad? he felt bad?"

"yes." i was told. "quite bad."

oh man.

cripes.

i didn't mean to make anyone feel bad.

oh hell.

so a day or so later i called him. i called damien jaques on the telephone and we talked about that horribly written review. after giving him a heartfelt apology (that i'd memorized earlier that day from a dear abby column in jaques' own newspaper) i decided to cut to the heart of the matter. "why, jaques!?" i demanded, "why did you write such a lame, flaccid review in the first place?"

"tony," he said – trying to butter me up by using my first name, a trick he learned, no doubt, from his days slumming with the likes of clair richardson – "i didn't think it was a very good production."

ah-ha! settled, i thought! finally, i had the truth! i pounced: "why the devil didn't you put that in the review, you dunderhead!" i may not have said dunderhead.

"because i have such great respect for all those people, every one of those actors, and the director, i just...i couldn't bring myself to write in a review what i really thought about the show. so i only talked about the things i liked."

now, you might be sitting there in milwaukee, relaxing in your boxers with your cat yawning at your side, and you might be reading this delightful anecdote thinking, "well the bastard didn't seem to mind giving me a crappy review for my performance in ziggity-do-dah-day!" and you're right. he did give you a crappy review. someday we'll talk about your stale, lifeless performance in ziggity-do-dah-day, but save that for another occasion. your birthday. purim.

apparently this production (and boy, am i'm going to get mail) was just so damned horrid, jaques couldn't do it. he couldn't bring himself to write that scathing, awful review.

because he cared too much about those actors.

and you know what i thought?
i thought, "i like this guy."

youth is not wasted on the young...

there have been many positive things to emerge from milwaukee's skylight mess. here's one of them: this sunday, july 26th, from 10-11:30 am, an enourmous group of college and high school age actors, singers, dancers and artists will converge in the third ward's catalano square.

if you're young, you wanna be there. i'm, of course, back in new york city, and it would be difficult to get a flight, and driving, well, i'd never make it in time, and gas is so expensive...(shut. up. you.)

ATTENTION: COLLEGE AND HIGH SCHOOL ARTISTS WHO CARE ABOUT THE FUTURE OF THE ARTS IN MILWAUKEE.

For a month now we have watched and listened as our mentors and role models have bravely stood for their personal values and artistic principles. Their example has inspired us. We share their regard for the arts community in Milwaukee. A community which has fired in us a love of the work, a passion to improve, and an impulse to raise our voices for good. A community in which the talented professionals who are our teachers have truly cared about what we think and feel.

This kind of an environment doesn’t just happen. And it could easily be lost.

It is time for us to take our part in the positive dialogue underway about the future of our arts community. This is not about tearing down. It’s about building up.

What kind of a community do we want to grow into and grow up in? How can we learn about facilitating good business, budget, artistic vision, and the message too? What can we do now to help? How can we find our own voice?

Please join us for a “meet and greet” and a discussion of all the above and more at Catalano Square near the BTC this Sunday, July 26, 10:00 - 11:30 am. (Catalano Square just seems to be the easiest place for us to meet). The idea is to start a forum for new artists and art lovers to share our thoughts, stay updated on events, and join together for positive action. And invite all your friends!

--Elyse Edelman and Ryan Stajmiger

i thought i had the wiener in reverse

The Oscar Mayer Wienermobile crashed into a Mount Pleasant house around noon Friday. Mount Pleasant Police Chief Tim Zarzecki says the 22-year-old female driver was turning the giant hot dog on wheels around in a driveway and thought she was reversing but instead went forward and crashed into the deck and garage.

the dearest of deer

biking 30 of the 100 or so miles of milwaukee county's oak leaf bike trail today, i came across these two hanging out in oak creek parkway with mom nearby.

"do you need me to write a note?"

To Kennedy's teacher:

Please excuse Kennedy's absence...she's with me.

– Barack Obama

(and yes, that's what he wrote.)

check your briefs

kenya believe it?

article II, section 1 of the united states constitution states: "no person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the united states, at the time of the adoption of this constitution, shall be eligible to the office of president;" meaning, of course, barack obama cannot be our president because he was born in kenya. oy.

cal thomas' right to choose

cal thomas makes the church choice for barack obama: he should use jimmy carter as a role model. thomas: if as president, barack obama adopts Carter as his church role model, he, too, will serve as an example to the nation that there is a power higher than a president's and, as scripture reminds us, "those who seek him shall ever surely find him." hey cal. stfu.

hey wisconsin. have another drink.

does wisconsin have a drinking problem? the new york times thinks so. so does the milwaukee journal-sentinal. here's a happy statistic from their series wasted in wisconsin: more than 475,000 people in wisconsin have at least one drunken-driving conviction on their record. nearly 8,000 have five or more. don't you get to a point in life when you realize waking up and throwing up should not both be daily occurrences? don't you eventually...um...grow up?

tim is safe in indiana. not india.

my friend tim ewing answered his phone this morning, "i'm in indiana. not india." the news of the terrorist attacks in india, combined with tim's absence from skype or ichat worried me: tim's diversity work has taken him to mumbai several times in the last few years. "when i heard about the bombings at the taj mahal hotel, i pulled out my ipod and showed my mom pictures of the inside of the hotel – i stayed there in july. cafe leopold, just around the corner, frequented by artists, poets...was one of my favorites. it was bombed too." in yonago, japan, i have yet another reason to be thankful on this thanksgiving.