Paint The Town

Got Hitched!!!!

Well, my dear readers, after a whirlwind romance, Stuart and I ran off to St. Lucia and got married !!  So this brings my Milwaukee arts and entertainment blogging to a close as we begin our new life together in Naugatuck, CT.  This year has really opened my eyes to the plethora of resources, outlets, venues and events Milwaukee's arts scene has to offer and I hope you continue to take advantage of these happenings as the summer begins . . . thank you so much for your readership, comments and interest in "Paint the Town" - may you enjoy my hometown as much as I have  . . .

All the best,

Sarah (a.k.a. Mrs. Stuart Farkas - tee hee!)

Sigur Ros at the Riverside

Wednesday night Susan and I got the chance to catch Sigur Ros at the Riverside Theater (116 W. Wisconsin Ave.).  Unfortunately I couldn’t get out of work early enough to see the opening band, Amiina, but boy was I glad we had the opportunity to experience this phenomenal band from Iceland (!!).  The house was PACKED and, to be honest, it was quite stifling in there.  Combine that with a 10-hour day and some low, heavy, hypnotic – almost trance-like - music and, well frankly it was hard not to let my fatigue overcome me.  So in the time I was able to stay somewhat lucid and alert, I was able to scribble down some notes from what perhaps was the most unique and compelling concert/performance I have seen in a LONG time.  Their almost romantic sound reminds me of nothing I’ve ever heard – their beautiful tones rang almost operatic – expansive and hopeful . . . the eclectic nature of their ensemble (i.e. playing electric guitar with a bow, incorporating violins/cellos into the piece, which made it sound like an angelic chorus or something,  is somewhat reminiscent of German bands in the 80’s like Einstürzende Neubauten . . . Susan said they reminded her of Tuxedo Moon in the late ‘70’s and wondered why Brian Eno hasn’t shown an interest in the band . . . the backdrop alternated between beautiful mystical blue scenery with drifting smoke, grey clouds racing across the stage, and shifting black & white shapes . . . at times the “thump thump” of the percussionist sounded like a heartbeat (or maybe it was so silent in the theater due to the audience’s complete transfixion that it was my own); the lead singer had an INCREDIBLE range – he reminded me of Bright Eyes; Susan described his tenor voice as “seeming to be crying out in the melancholic pain of April . . . he personified the lust & longing of loneliness – he became a man alone on the pinnacle of a mountain, looking at the panoramic and lonely view” - very poetic (look at the effect it had on her, waxing lyrical & all . . .) . . . the unintelligible lyrics brought back memories of trying to sing along with the Cocteau Twins, only to find out later that they made up their own words;  it really was the most mesmerizing all-encompassing event I can remember for some time.  Unfortunately, the somber, trance-like, suffocating atmosphere got the best of my staying power and we reluctantly left to get some air and energy (or what was left of it).  On the other hand, however, I really give the Riverside a LOT of credit for hosting such an amazing and innovative band like Sigur Ros and can only imagine what other great acts they have in store for us . . .    

"Swan Lake"

Saturday, after sleeping off a WONDERFUL time at the bachelor/bachelorette/engagement pub rally oorganized by my AMAZING friends, Rob and Marney, Stuart and I briefly stopped off to see our friend Sara at Prestige Portraits and picked out a few pix for posterity; then it was off to Miss Katie’s Diner (1900 W. Clybourn St.), where I got to regale my fiancé (captive audience) with the oft-told tale of the Clinton-Kohl summit that took place there . . .

We then raced back over the Hoan to meet my niece, whom I took to see Milwaukee Ballet’s production of “Swan Lake.” And, to be honest, after a late night, early morning and some greasy diner food, I was really feeling sluggish and not in the mood for what I recalled to be a three-plus hour ballet . . . once we were inside the Marcus Center (929 N. Water St.), however, and shown to our INCREDIBLE orchestra seats, I began to get excited . . . I also remembered that Michael Pink was the artistic director and, recalling his UNBELIEVABLE production of Dracula earlier this season, knew we were in good hands.  And I was not mistaken . . . from the onset, Scenic Designer, Jose Varona’s creative innovation instantly drew me in.  His use of projected images on translucent screens, for example, and fabric that simulated the murky depths from which the evil Von Rothbart (Douglas McCubbin – whose phenomenal performance in the title role of Dracula earlier this season I will NEVER forget) creates Odile (Luz San Miguel), the siren who ultimately seduces Siegfried, heir to the crown and plunges the monarchy into darkness, rendered me unable to tear my eyes from the stage action.  I was, however, slowly remembering (too late) what a dark piece this is, but again, thanks to Pink, who trimmed it down to less than two and a half hours, really made the work move along with incredibly expressive dancers and Varona’s stunning costumes. In fact, by the end of the second act, I was literally moved to tears at Siegfried’s (Ryan Martin) PATHETIC attempts to apologize to his beloved, Odette (Tatiana Jouravel) for completely screwing up everything for everyone forever; and her equally compelling response didn’t leave a dry eye in the house.  Again, I really don’t know if this is quite the most appropriate kiddie-fare (Odette gets mortally wounded and Siegfried joins her in their watery grave), but Hannah was floored, so I guess it all turned out okay in the end (except for Von Rothbart and Odile, that is). 

Milwaukee Ballet is also proud to announce their season next year, which features Pink’s Don Quixote and Romeo and Juliet, so hopefully I/you/we will be able to catch those performances as well.    

"Jazz Chorus Sings" at Caroline's

On Thursday night after work, Susan and I dove into Caroline’s Jazz & Blues Club (401 S. 2nd St.) for “Jazz Chorus Sings,” presented by the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music and starring my longtime friend, Jessica Pogue.  Accompanied by Angel, Barbara and their teacher, Adekola, Jess treated us to an evening of old standards, sung both acapella (sp?) as well as backed up with the amazing Paul Spencer Jazz Band.  It was really cool – I have never been to Caroline’s before, and therefore never experienced such a warm, intimate venue for jazz performances.  There was an interesting mix of people there as well – a wide range of ages as well as ethnicities, which is somewhat difficult to find here in Milwaukee.  After they finished singing, the band continued to jam out for a while as we sipped some wine and lavished praises on our friend.  All in all, I would definitely recommend this place for a nice, relaxing evening of jazz entertainment. 

"The Birthday Party" at the Boulevard!

What a pleasure to wrap up such a strong season than with a Nobel-Prizewinning playwright’s work, The Birthday Party, featuring my long-time Milwaukee Irish Arts fellow actor, Kevin Callaghan, RSVP veteran, Cynthia Palpaczyk (whose character, after her boarder describes the breakfast fare as “succulent,” coyishly replies, “You shouldn’t say that word to a married woman”), Louisiana Purchase (Boulevard production earlier this season) stars, Joe Franzee, Liz Mistele (who ripped out an unbelievable shriek that you would never imagine could come from such an innocent looking person) and Don Devona, as well as veteran Boulevard playwright/actor, Howard Goldstein.  Fabulous cast – really strong acting/performances (in my humble opinion).  The show only ran for 9 performances due to the somewhat “absurd” nature of what Pinter dubbed, “the comedy of menace.”  Personally, I am a big Pinter fan, so this play was right up my alley, and AGAIN, attempts to push the envelope and act outside the box it seems we have built around our theatrical community against anything remotely considered to be “avante-garde.”  I’m sad to see the season come to a close, but am looking forward to 2006-07 and encourage any of you who have NOT taken in a show at the Boulevard (2250 S. Kinnickinnic Ave.) to make a point and try to catch one (if you can).

"Faith Healer" in NYC!!

OK – here’s the story – my friend Susan called me up and told me that the Brian Friel play, Faith Healer that was sold out at the Gate Theater in Dublin, Ireland was coming to NYC!!!  So I frantically phoned Stuart and, a few clicks later, WE HAD TICKETS!!!  Of course, rather than spending the Thursday night before I left packing all my theater duds, I met Susan at County Clare (1234 N. Astor St.), where in-house musician Barry Dodd was playing a mélange of Irish and classic rock hits. 

Regardless, I managed to get my proverbial act together the next morning and flew out to NYC to not only pick up some wedding bling for Stuart from our friends in the Diamond District, but to catch the Friday night show at the Booth Theatre.  And, of course, it was freakin’ AMAZING!!  We were treated to TWO monologues by Ralph Fiennes, although Ian McDiarmid really stole the show.  In the immortal words of his character, Teddy, “FAABULOUS.” 

In the meantime, all you hep cats in Mil-town were rocking out with Corky Siegel, who’s played harmonica alongside Muddy Waters and Howlin’ Wolf at the Cedarburg Cultural Center (W62 N546 Washington Ave.).  Or perhaps some others were taking in a FREE film or two at the 28th Annual Latin American Film series at the UWM Union Theatre (2200 E Kenwood Blvd.) . . . speaking of film, did any of you catch the Friday Night Freak Show at the Times Cinema ( 5906 W. Vliet St.) – A Clockwork Orange, which was the first midnight movie I ever saw at the now-defunct Paradise Theater a million years ago . . . oh yeah and it was also Gallery Night!  Jim Brozek (who took some amazing photographs of the Calatrava during construction) has a breathtaking black & white show, “Flora in Grayscale” at the Pat Hidsen Gallery (133 W. Pittsburgh #301).  The event I REALLY wanted to catch was the Luckystar Studio Face Off (207 E. Buffalo St.), which featured dueling DJ's such as Workhouse, Swizzle, Altamont Records, Firecracker Studios, Soar.  Another interesting looking opening was held at MOCT (240 E. Pittsburgh Ave.) – “Stop Intellectual Masturbation” – 3 local artists opposed to the art scene status quo; I also heard about an opening at Byte Studios/The Brain Depository (338 N. Milwaukee St. – first floor), which featured a live two-hour art battle with two artists painting each other, including my friend Milan from Tastes Like Chicken magazine . . . so either way, I hope you managed to have some fun in Brewtown without me . . . more wacky blogger hijinx to follow . . .

L8tr.

Shoulda Woulda Coulda

Last Friday was an absolutely gorgeous day for which the inhabitants of the frozen tundra that is Milwaukee nine months of the year live.  After popping up to Menomonee Falls and giving Stuart  a chance to meet my 95-year old (!) grandmother, we sped off to visit my friend Claire in Madison.  And it was wonderful – strolling down State Street, cutting through the capitol building, meeting Claire at the Great Dane Pub & Brewery for a Stone of Scone Scotch Ale and showing off our new shoes we got at Jack’s.  Just across the street, the Flatiron Tavern featured a bunch of Pabst and Blatz ads from god-knows-when, including one with Milwaukee native Liberace (!) – In fact, his brother George played for my grandma’s graduation ceremony at South Division, but that’s another story.  We drove back to Milwaukee in what seemed like record time, but maybe that’s just because we could watch the full moon rise over Wisconsin – wow. 

As much as I would have liked to show him around Milwaukee some more on Saturday, I had rehearsal at the ICHC (2133 W. Wisconsin Ave.), so Stuart was left to his own devices to tour Beertown.  We met up at Moe’s Irish Pub (142 W. Wisconsin Ave.) (in a box – don’t get me started) and watched the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s fans line up for their general admission show at the Riverside Theater (116 W. Wisconsin Ave.).  I would have liked to have seen them, but after seeing that queue, I had second thoughts.  We also had plans for dining with some of my friends, who cancelled at the last minute, so we popped over to the County Clare (1234 N. Astor St.) and met up with my friend Susan, who took pity on us and treated us to her culinary prowess.  During this time I had completely forgotten about the Ken Vandermark show that night.  I have heard about the Living Room music series (900 S. 5th Street #103) - monthly concerts featuring internationally renowned artists who play a variety of pieces, all in the comfort of someone's living room! - for some time.  I have also heard his stuff on WMSE 91.7 F.M., so I wanted to check this out at some point.  Unfortunately my feeble mental capacities were to blame, so it was an early night for us, which perhaps wasn’t the worst thing in the world after all. 

Notes from your long-lost blogger

After a hectic week, I found myself in a flurry of last-minute salon appointments before Stuart flew in for our portrait sitting with photographer Sara Risley, who we met at a party a few weeks ago.  As I finished my 3+ hour cut & color at the Aveda School (342 N. Water St.) I had the brilliant idea of snagging a couple tickets to Next Act’s An Infinite Ache, located directly upstairs.  Luckily enough, there were seats available that evening, but as I made my way downstairs, Stuart phoned to say his flight had been delayed. 

So with some time to kill, I popped over to Shoo, (241 N. Broadway St.) the new upscale shoe store in the Third Ward.  Without even a cursory glance from the shopgirl who was seemingly engrossed in some type of overwhelmingly compelling reading material that made her completely oblivious to any potential customers, I crossed the room to see what was showing at the Katie Gingrass Gallery.  But as much as I would like to say that I spent hours gorging myself on the visual feast of new work by nationally reknowned artists such as David Schaefer (oil paintings), Jeff Condon (pastels), Hideaki Miyamura (ceramics) and William Suys (oil paintings) displayed along the gallery walls, I have to admit that my attention quickly turned to the adjoining Third Ward Jewelry shop.  DANGER DANGER DANGER!!!  They feature quite a number of artists’ work - and at pretty decent prices.  I picked up a silver bracelet made with antique stamps that reads, “Put on your big girl panties and deal with it” – ha!  I also found it hard to resist a collection of tiny black & white photos of women from the turn of the century (?) in these gorgeous art-deco settings – really cool. 

So after prying myself away, I headed down to pick up my travel-weary fiancé, dove into OPTIX on Downer (2616 N. Downer Ave.) to pick up some fabulous frames he had purchased – Wow! – and then, off to our photo session.  Unfortunately, because everything got pushed back by the delayed flight, by the time we were finished at Prestige Portraits (3525 W. Wisconsin Ave.), we had missed the Next Act show.  Well, serves me right for being a bit too ambitious, perhaps, and trying to cram in WAY too much in a short period of time. 

So as bad as I felt about missing the play, the good news was that the pictures turned out beautifully and, after a celebratory cocktail in the Envoy bar at the Ambassador Hotel (2308 W Wisconsin Ave.) - which was packed with pizza-snarfing YPM’s - we enjoyed a leisurely dinner at Roots (1818 N. Hubbard St.) upon the brilliant suggestion of the Front of House Manager, Matthew. 

I have always wanted to eat there, and boy was it worth it.  The interior is a work of art in itself, especially the bar area downstairs, which is literally entwined with root-like metalwork.  Super cool – the food was gorgeous and, later on, we were treated to a lightning storm, which was breathtaking to watch out of their patio windows that feature a panoramic view of the skyline.  Dodging the raindrops as we dashed through the forest of condos that comprises chic and trendy Brewers Hill, I got to show off my wealth of Milwaukee trivial knowledge and explained to Stuart what the different colors of the flame on top of the former Gas Company building meant.  “Huh . . “ he mused. 

Over and out.      

Midsummer Night's Dream at the Boulevard

After being a tourist in my own town and spending the week in the absolutely-stunningly- gorgeously re-furbished art-deco Ambassador Hotel, (2308 W. Wisconsin Ave.) Stuart and I caught their complementary shuttle to Bay View for The Boulevard Ensemble’s  (2250 S. Kinnickinnic Ave.) production of Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream – “A battle of the sexes in Texas,” as the program described.  The shuttle was late, unfortunately, so we got there just as the first act was opening and had to wander through the actors in the lobby, which also serves as their backstage area, and director Mark Bucher showed us up to what he terms, “the loge” seats – i.e. a couple high-backed stools in front of the lighting/sound booth.  Well, THAT’S why heavy emphasis is placed on asking patrons to arrive at LEAST 15 minutes early for the performance - due to the extremely limited seating space.  But again, that’s fine, because once we settled in and adjusted our ears to the actors’ twangy Southern accents, we really felt like we were part of the stage action ourselves.  That’s probably because, like most Boulevard shows, audience members are fair game and often get serenaded, directly addressed, end up holding props or even receive a complementary lap dance.  And Midsummer Night’s Dream was no exception.  Bottom, played by Al Dobyns of the Boulevard's production of Louisiana Purchase earlier this season, made no bones about crying his eyes out on some poor woman’s lap.  Snug, who was hilariously performed by Craig Halstead, sat in an elevated window-like opening on the side of the stage and dangled his bare feet dangerously close to a few audience members’ faces – yikes!  My friend and former co-actor from a MILLION years ago, Kate Nowicki, did a fab job painting the set, which featured a couple panels that depicted The Red River Valley Restaurant in Athens, TX on one side, and then opened up to simulate a nearby forest.  Another highlight of the production was the interlude music, sung and played by the actors themselves – I always give actors so much credit when they can play their own instruments - wow.  In fact, they even sang throughout the intermissions – how cool is that?!  An interesting choice was casting Robin Goodfellow, or Puck, as a woman – played by Kathryn Ambler.  And it worked somehow – didn’t seem too odd and it was kind of nice to see a woman in control of the hijinx that prevailed instead of the usual Shakespearean female object of affection or pining for her unrequited lover . . . I LOVED Carol Hirschi’s portrayal of Titania, Queen of the Fairies – she was fabulous – like a drunken Demi Moore with a HUGE chip on her shoulder – great.  And her boots were works of art in themselves – yee haw!  So yeah, it was a fun night – didn’t drag on like many Shakespeare comedies seem to – and I really enjoyed watching SOMETHING DIFFERENT – edgy – being done with the old stand-by’s.  What a breath of fresh air in this town – a welcome alternative to the stuffy, same-ol-you-know-what productions that somehow seem to me to have become the standard in the Milwaukee theater scene.  I am definitely looking forward to their upcoming production of Harold Pinter’s “The Birthday Party,” coming upWednesday, April 26, 2006 - Sunday, May 07, 2006.  I love Pinter's work and the play’s starring my long-time Milwaukee Irish Arts co-actor, Kevin Callaghan – yay!  More later.      

Neko Case and Martha Wainwright at the Pabst!!

What a lineup – and at the Pabst Theater (144 W. Wells St.) no less!  I can’t stop saying this, but their low budget alternative acts marketing scheme is absolutely brilliant!!!  General admission - $10.00 – cheap beer and two incredible acts – you can’t freakin’ beat it!  I really don’t get out to see as many female singer/songwriters as I should, so this was a great excuse to get together with friends, drink some PBR and purchase Martha Wainwright MFK-ING A-HOLE hot pants!  Granted, I can’t say that I like her as much as her brother, but Martha put on a good show, even if she kind of reminded me of a blonde Lily Tomlin's Edith Ann -- the bratty little girl who pontificated from an oversized chair – with a chip on her shoulder.  But she was mesmerizing, despite the gradually increasing PBR yelps . . .

And Neko Case was great – she really held the audience in her grasp with the help of a great backup singer and band, replete with standup bass (!)  Even with a cold, she managed to showcase her incredible vocal range and guitar prowess . . . I will say that she had the shortest wait time for her encores I’ve ever seen – no time for prolonged clapping or shouting – and by the second one, I was ready to go home, but all in all, it was great to show off our beautiful Pabst Theater to my out-of-towner fiancé, who was duly impressed, needless to say – and it wasn’t just the PBR . . .