AROUND THE TOWN
Dear Reader,
Thank you for visiting Milwaukeeworld. If you have been checking in lately, you know that I have not had anything to say for awhile, and I apologize for that. It certainly wasn’t because I was bereft of thoughts, or out enjoying the lovely weather. However, I like to think that occasionally I tend to my business affairs, and you, dear reader, are a different sort of affair, a more passionate one, an affair that I hesitate to sully with the stain of commerce. Of course. I suppose I could work and write, but that would be too much like work. So, you can expect to hear from me a bit more, now that I have the luxury of being able to neglect my work for a couple more weeks, or so I think.
The thing that really threw me was the sudden and unexpected news that I have to move to a new apartment. I think I told you last year about this time that I was in the throes of moving, since I had a race against the bulldozer that eventually leveled my riverfront flat on E. Kane Place. I was able to escape a few blocks to the south, where I set up housekeeping, slowly and laboriously, in a quirky but rather pleasant flat. I converted a bedroom into a closet (you know how those east side places never have enough closet space) and spent weeks moving my furniture around as I refinished floors, cleaned crusty, nasty windows, and hung my galleries with paintings, prints and furniture. I was almost settled, and even my friends grudgingly admitted that things were coming along. However, my landlord told me he has no choice but to remodel the place so it can reach its highest and best economic potential. This would mean renting to a better class of person than the current tenant, which puts me on the street searching for new digs. So, as you can imagine, this finds me somewhat distracted, especially since I was hoping to enjoy summer by lounging in my garden, and not by hauling my possessions all over Brady Street all over again.
My friend Julilly Kohler kindly suggested that this would be high time for me to consider thinning out my things, of which she says I have entirely too many. She plans to do the same when she moves to her dream house which she is building on the site of my old place – the one that was torn down last year.
To expedite matters, I think I will pretend I am dead, put a price tag on everything I own and hold an estate sale.
Then I can concentrate on writing, and inevitably, collecting a whole new pile of stuff.
So, that is my apology, and I invite you to read on, since I have been paying attention, if not actually writing anything lately.
Thanks for visiting,
Michael Horne
TO-DO LIST
Things are heating up here in Milwaukee (except for the weather) with the biggest event being the 135th Annual Meeting of the National Rifle Association over the weekend at the Midwest Airlines Center. That event is poised to draw 50,000 or more people to Milwaukee and environs, and I propose to have a look around. If your passions extend beyond the second amendment, you might like to take advantage of an early-season outdoor concert series running from May 19th to the 21st at Pere Marquette Park where the Milwaukee Public Schools will be sponsoring Experience Art Riverwalk.
It is a benefit for arts in the public schools, and will feature student performances by the acclaimed Milwaukee High School of the Arts Jazz Group starting at 4 p.m. on Friday, with The Love Monkeys performing at 7:30 p.m. Hot Sauce performs at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday after a full day of student performances and exhibitions beginning at 11 a.m. Sunday will feature a 4:30 p.m. concert by Paul Cebar & the Milwaukeeans.
The performances will take place right in the firing zone where pro- and anti-NRA demonstrators are expected to be active. –Michael Horne
POLITICAL PARTIES
Sen. Jeff Plale will kick off his campaign for reelection with a fundraiser May 23rd at Pinter’s Inn, 3558 E. Barnard Ave. in Cudahy. “My opponent held his party at the Cudahy. I’m holding mine in Cudahy,” Plale told me by telephone. He was referring to an event held by Donovan Riley who hopes to unseat the democrat incumbent in a primary fight for the lakeside 7th Senate district position. … District Attorney candidate John Chisholm will be at Centanni, 218 N. Water Street on Thursday, May 25th from 5 to 8 p.m.for a fundraiser hosted by John Piette, “Bobby from Centanni,” and Atty. Thos. K. Mullins. Appetizers from Giovanni’s will be served, and complimentary wine and champagne will flow. … Bonnie and Leon Joseph will open the doors to their N. Beach Drive home on May 22nd when they host a fundraiser for Fair Wisconsin, the group which is working in every county to defeat the anti-gay marriage constitutional amendment. The event will run from 6 to 8 p.m. … Julilly Kohler has lent the group use of a house on the east side to run the Milwaukee campaign. … Robert Joseph, son of Bonnie and Leon and grandson of George Bockl continues to add to his Third Ward real estate portfolio with the purchase of the Gagliano produce building at 301 N. Broadway in that booming sector of town. … Russ Feingold was the guest of honor at a fundraiser for his Progressive Patriots Fund held on Park Avenue in New York City at the apartment of Patricia B. Greenwald. Among the sponsors: Dick Abdoo, of Mequon, the former head of WE energies. … Jeff Norman, candidate for Milwaukee Municipal Court Branch 3 will be at a fundraiser Friday, May 19th at De Lind Fine Art, 400 E. Mason St. See you there. – Michael Horne
BRIDGES ACROSS BRADY
The merchants of Brady Street are expecting you this Saturday, May 20th at 11 a.m. for “Bridges across Brady.” The event will begin with a blessing of the Holton Marsupial Bridge, and continue with a walk down the street where the pedestrian bridge crossing Lincoln Memorial Drive will also receive a blessing. Tour goers are invited to pick up a passport at Diva salon and to accumulate stamps from merchants in the neighborhood to qualify for raffle prizes. Things are ever in flux on Brady Street. Aala Reed, the fashionable men’s clothiers will expand to the store to the east formerly occupied by Three Graces, which moved to the Third Ward. Aala Reed will offer women’s clothing in the new store. … Oxford Studios, the stained glass store on Brady, will move. A new landlord doubled the rent of the building, and only succeeded in emptying it. …-- Michael Horne
AIDA ON WAY
Grand Opera is the most expensive form of live entertainment to stage, encompassing as it does costumes, elaborate sets, lighting, special effects, singers, a chorus to back up the singers, dancers, an orchestra, supernumeraries and battalions of behind-the-scenes workers to keep these disparate elements together.
With the exception of the Metropolitan Opera Company of New York, which is in a class of its own, opera companies often economize by renting much of their production elements from other opera companies’ past productions.
Milwaukee’s Florentine Opera Company, America’s fifth-oldest, has embarked upon a program of creating its own production of some operas, which adds one more level of complexity to the organization’s administration.
We’ll get to see the fruit of this new policy on May 28th and 31st and June 2nd and 3rd when the Florentine presents its new co-production of Giuseppe Verdi’s Aida featuring Angela M. Brown in the title role.
The production, billed as the largest physical and artistic effort in the Florentine’s history, is designed by Allen Charles Klein, whose practice ranges from sets to lighting to costuming.
The set and costumes are owned by the Florentine, the Florida Grand Opera and the Michigan Opera Theater. They are in transit at this time, and will be unloaded at the Marcus Center beginning at Midnight Sunday.
In true opera tradition, Brown, an understudy, stepped into the role of Aida at the Met last November when the scheduled performer fell ill. Her performance was a hit, leading the New York Times to exclaim, “At last an Aida.”
Brown, 40, came up through the operatic ranks from the Baptist circuit of Alabama, where she had sung in gospel choirs from an early age. A voice coach told her that if she wanted to be the next Aretha Franklin, then she was ready for that position. But opera, she cautioned, required much more study on her part. Brown furthered her studies in French, German and Italian, the languages of opera, persevered and eventually found herself on stage at the Met. By some magic, and shrewd talent scouting, Milwaukee’s Florentine had selected Brown for the role before her star took off.
Brown, who now lives in Indianapolis, has spent the last three weeks in Milwaukee rehearsing, with time off for only a couple of days, when she had recitals scheduled elsewhere.
The production will fill every inch of the backstage of the Marcus Center. Due to the size of the cast, the complexity of the sets and costumes and other factors, some costume changes will even take place on the loading dock. Lets hope the auditorium will be as active as backstage. This is Verdi, folks – bombast, hyperbole and excitement!
Florentine Opera patrons will have a chance to hear Brown during the Casablanca Gala, a black tie event scheduled for May 20th at the 1451 Renaissance Place, a repurposed Christian Science church on N. Prospect Avenue. That event is sold out.
THE GREATER MILWAUKEE LAW ENFORCEMENT MEMORIAL
For the second year, all police agencies in Milwaukee County observed a joint memorial service honoring fallen officers who died in the line of duty. No officers died in Milwaukee during the past year, which still offers scant relief to such people as Glennie Pickett, whose son Wendolyn Tanner was the 60th, and let’s hope last, City of Milwaukee police officer to die while on duty. Tanner died on September 7th, 1996. His mother has never failed to attend the annual ceremony, and she spoke to the crowd gathered at Mac Arthur Square at noon on Wednesday, May 17th.
It was a day of many weathers, and an early afternoon shower kept the crowds thin. Members of all Milwaukee County law enforcement agencies were on hand, dressed in their finest uniforms. There were mounted troops, honor guards and musicians ranging from bagpipers to buglers, including Sgt. Rupert Reilly of the Milwaukee Police Department who performed a very mournful taps while wreaths were presented in honor of the officers.
Speakers included James E. Doyle, Jr., the governor of Wisconsin; Peggy Lautenschlager, the attorney general; David A. Clarke, Jr., the Milwaukee County Sheriff whose speech was clearly sectarian and possessed of a virtually evangelical Christian flavor, with many references to “Him” and “He.” Nannette H. Hegerty, the Milwaukee chief of police also spoke, while her deputy inspector Anna Ruzinski served as the mistress of ceremonies. – Michael Horne
MORE INTERESTING NEWS
Is Weissgerber’s Third Street Pier for sale? It depends on whom you ask. Tavern owners around town say the place is for sale, but owner Hans Weissgerber III has a more nuanced answer to the question. He wrote the following to Milwaukeeworld: “You are correct that Third Street Pier is listed "For Sale". We make a practice of listing every time we have a lease renewal, just to see if there is an interest and as lease negotiating tool.Not much to comment on..... Unless you or some one you know is planning on writing a check.We actually do have a major announcement though - in about 30-days.....” – And you’ll read about it here first. … John Burke, whose building at 622 N. Water Street houses Club Ladybug, has incorporated a business called “Pot Hussy, LLC.” Hmmm – you could transpose a couple of those letters, or just leave the name as is. … Jay Walia is about to transform the Park East Hotel into the Comfort Inn Suites Downtown Lakefront. Walia says there are advantages for an independent hotel to be part of a national chain. For instance, the national firm’s centralized reservation system can be a great help. Also, he says, bankers often will not lend money to an unaffiliated hotel, or will do so only at a high interest rate. … The M&M Club, the first gay bar in the city to unboard its windows, is expected to be sold to a Chicago syndicate to be turned into an Irish Pub. M&M was in business for 30 years. … C’est La Vie, another venerable (in age, that is,) gay bar, has adopted a non-smoking policy, which is not quite enough, in this writer’s opinion, to clear the air about that place. The will of its founder, Clarence C. Germershausen, known on the street as John Clayton, is being contested in Wisconsin Circuit Court by Calverna Koening, sister of the deceased. This could be nice and messy. – Michael Horne
posted by Michael Horne @ 3:56 PM
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