CricketToes

Spreenkler Scores Mayor as Guest Speaker

The September 10 meeting of Spreenkler, the newish local group incubator for creative/technical types and entrepreneurs, will feature none other than the Honorable Mayor Tom Barrett as guest speaker. Well, aren't we fancy? I could be wrong but I think I'm safe in assuming that Spreenkler founder Steve Glynn would answer, "Yes, we are."

As far as I've been able to discern, one can become a "member" of this idea massaging community by simply crashing a meeting and begging for entry, though I would suggest you don't show up wasted or looking to get wasted 'cause this is serious bizness, people!

Link (via OnMilwaukee.com)

Avant-Garde/Acoustic/Punk Never Felt So Right

This video, combining footage from Jean-Luc Godard's 1964 classic Bande à part (Band of Outsiders) with Nouvelle Vague's cover of "Dance with Me" by the 1980's punk band The Lords of the New Church, is so brilliant I can hardly contain myself:

You may well be asking yourself, "Do you think she owns the original The Lords of the New Church album with that song pressed into its vinyl?" Why, yes. Yes, I do.

Take a peek at the original film clip.

(Thanks, Lyn!)

UPDATE: I don't know what I was thinking by not linking to The Lords of the New Church's oh-so-80's-it-hurts video of "Dance with Me." Brain. Not. Good.

Two-Day Bloodbath at Union Theatre

This week, UWM Union Theatre begins its 2008 Fall Program drenched in blood by offering up No Country for Old Men on Wednesday, August 27, and--what else?--There Will Be Blood on Thursday, August 28.

The heartwarming tale of a psychotic hit man and the epic drama of an equally deranged silver miner turned oil baron are sure to send many a tender soul to the powder room in an effort to dry their eyes and wipe away a smidgen of vomit still clinging to their lip. It's Movie Magic!

The bloodletting is completely free and begins @ 7PM both nights.

Full schedule.

Garbage Workers Strike as a Salute to Harley-Davidson's 105th Anniversary

The image at left is a glimpse of our very near future if the powers that be at Waste Management Inc. don't come up with a better labor agreement to offer garbage collection workers. This morning, the Teamsters Local 200 voted to go on strike, effective immediately, which means we'll be close to swimming in trash just as the hog riders cruise into Miltown. Huzzah and Welcome!

According to union leaders, Waste Management has opened up its 1920's labor negotiation handbook and has been making use of some very enlightened thuggery tactics with the workers. The union has filed an unfair labor practice complaint against the Houston-based contract company and we should expect to see some well armed union busters roaming the streets real soon--ya know, just so they can demonstrate their unique form of negotiation.

Link

The Beat is Everywhere

David Pescovitz of Boing Boing fame points us to this 1982 gem of David Van Tieghem’s NY street percussion extravaganza, Ear to the Ground:

Good stuff, no?

Montreal Art in the Streets is Back!

After what seems like an eternity, Montreal art in the streets is back to blog about all the amazing murals, sculpture and other objets d'art to be found around the largest and most cosmo city in Quebec province.

Check it out and hope for more!

UPDATE: Apparently, the site is now defunct. Too bad--twas a wonder to view.

Mary L. Nohl Free Money Game Starts September 2

Through the huge generosity of the late Mary L. Nohl to the Greater Milwaukee Foundation, visual artists have been applying for and receiving unrestricted dough to create new work or continue on with their labors with some measure of peace of mind.

Application for the sixth cycle of the fellowship program is set to open on September 2, 2008 and, with an astounding foresight seldom witnessed, program administer Polly Morris of the UWM Peck School of the Arts will be offering two informal and FREE workshops to give y'all some pointers and perspective on the application process.

Jot these dates, times and locales down:
1. Wednesday, September 3, 6-7PM
Jazz Gallery at Riverwest Community Art Center, 926 East Center Street.
Co-sponsored by MARN (the Milwaukee Artist Resource Network) and the Riverwest Artist Association.

2. Saturday, September 6, 1-2:15PM
Walker's Point Center for the Arts, 911 West National Avenue.
Co-sponsored by WPCA, which is also hosting a Beer Tasting & Pig Roast fundraiser at 6PM that same day, so maybe ya wanna come on back for a bellyful. You vegans will have to fend for yourselves.

Seven fellowships will be awarded--3 for established artists @ $15,000 each, and 4 for emerging artists @ $5,000 each--to those practicing and residing in Milwaukee, Waukesha, Ozaukee, and Washington counties. That's a whole lotta kablingy, kids!

Applications will be available online beginning Tuesday, September 2. Deadline is Thursday, October 2, 2008.

Fair Use is of No Use to Fairtrade Movement

Hey, I've got a question for ya: When you're an NGO striving to improve the economic conditions of some the poorest people on the planet, what's the quickest, most insanely sophomoric path you could take to lose total focus on your main reason for existence? How 'bout starting a slap fight with another NGO that's also trying to make the world a better place and all over two little words? Ingenious!

Here's how we'll do it:
First, we'll have to find a company--hmm... how about McDonald's?--that wants to create a partnership with an NGO--let's call them the Rainforest Alliance.

Second, we'll have to somehow get McDonald's to run an ad about its partnership with the Rainforest Alliance.

Third, we'll have to get the folks at the Rainforest Alliance to make a mistake in approving the copy of the ad. That mistake? Okaying the words "a fair deal for workers."

It is at that point that we of the Fairtrade movement go completely apesh*t because, clearly, the Rainforest Alliance is trying to muscle in on our turf by approving the use of the word "fair" and the word "workers" in the ad.

It sounds like the perfect plan and, wouldn't ya know, it worked!

Link (via CoffeeTalk)

Festival to Honor the Brave Men and Women of the Musical Frontier

91.7 WMSE Frontier Radio jump-starts its first annual MSE Fest tonight and keeps it right on buzzin' through Sunday. The Fest is something of an organized club-hopping marathon in which you pay $20 for an all-access pass to the various gigs happenin' around town.

Tonight's offering is the Kick-off Party @ the Todd Wehr Conference Center, 1047 North Broadway, featuring White, Wrench, Conservatory--all three words and two apostrophes belong to one band--Fable & the World Flat, El Gordo, and Madhatter.

For up and coming bands and musical troubadours, WMSE has scheduled a musicians symposium on Saturday, August 23, complete with a panel of industry insiders and writers who, for reasons known only to them, have agreed to submit to your interrogation from 11AM to 2PM. Go to the Todd Wehr Conference Center to get answers and a few snacks for free.

MSE Fest passes can be purchased online on the WMSE home page, during the Kick-off Party tonight, or you can save 2 bucks by buying them at Atomic Records or Rushmor Records.

For a full schedule of MSE Fest events, click here.

Wisco Fatty Rates Down!

Good news, people: Our fair, fat state has landed smack-dab in the middle of this year's obesity rate rankings! We're number 25 and that's a move of three whole rankings down from last year!

A report conducted by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and released yesterday found only a quarter of adults residing in Wisconsin are officially obese, which means, if we look at this from the positive angle, 75% of us are not.

Unfortunately, there's always someone who loses in these kinds of rankings and the three on top--Mississippi, West Virginia and Alabama--are not only wrestling with their weight but are also struggling mightily on the economic front, once again confirming the link between poverty and obesity.

Who else loses? Well, let me just say that the local news channels better get out there and film a whole lotta "buts 'n' guts" stock footage 'cause we're gonna keep goin' down! Am I right? Who's with me? Anyone?

Link