CricketToes

Urban Eye Candy

I have no idea where this building is or who created this miraculous work, but I'm dying to know.

Click on over to pileofphotos.com to see a whole, um, pile of other amazing art on buildings.

Honor the Dead at WPCA

The opening reception for the annual Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) exhibition at Walker's Point Center for the Arts (WPCA), 911 W. National Avenue, is tonight from 5-9PM. For 16 years WPCA has hosted Día de los Muertos, allowing artists and members of the community to display memorial altars created in the hopes of communicating with departed loved ones.

Artist, educator and curator Rosa Zamora will give a presentation at the reception, where you can take a big bite out of a cute sugar skull while getting your face painted. It's creepy fun for the whole family!

The Día de los Muertos exhibition runs through November 26.

Link (via remotecody on MARN)

Halloween Goes Burlesque in Chicago

For those of you headin' on down to Chitown for Halloween or lookin' for an excuse to go, I've got a wicked suggestion for ya: The Flaming Dames in Hell's Belles at The Spot, 4437 N. Broadway. As Chicago's premiere concept burlesque troupe--yes, that is from their promotional material, but it's true, so get over it--The Flaming Dames put on one of hell of naughty show, with plenty of sass and vinegar.

In fact they're so good, they've had to add a midnight show immediately following their 10:30 performance just to accommodate their fans. Since it appears that advance tickets have sold out for the early show, you can either 1) show up at the door for the 10:30 and take your chances or 2) buy advance tix online for the midnight performance. You can also call 312-458-9083 to secure your reservation.

Can't make it on Halloween? Good news for you 'cause Hell's Belles will continue every Friday night through November 14.

Of course, you'd like to see The Flaming Dames in action before committing your hard earned cash, so check 'em out here. Or watch the trailer for their last show, Bump & Grindhouse. Need I mention that these are NSFW? No, I needn't.

Link

Witness the Halloween Nightmare of Public Access TV

What's the most absurd, horror-filled thing you could do on Halloween night? How 'bout subjecting yourself to old public access television shows? It's the surefire way to keep Zombies from wanting to eat your brain and make them run from you in sheer, screaming terror!

On Friday, October 31, the UWM Department of Film will aim to scare the pants off of ya by presenting T Tube, or, What Came Before YouTube at Woodland Pattern, 720 East Locust Street.

"What?!" you cry. "There was a time before YouTube?" Yes, gentle readers, there was. And in those bygone days, there were TV stations across the nation--and there still are a few steadfast holdouts broadcasting as we speak--that would let anyone, and I mean anyone, get on-air. From ganja loving DJs spouting their belief that there exists no music of any value outside of the 1963-1975 era, to whacked out anarchists--who'd either forgotten the real definition of anarchy or just never bothered to read the original manifesto--calling on other equally whacked out anarchists to take up arms. In short, public access television was the very foundation upon which YouTube was built, in all it's crazy, zany, frightening, democratic, DIY glory.

The program starts at 7PM. Don't go alone.

Link (via Carl Bogner on MARN)

Water & Ink

So how does this video of graphic novelist Emmanuel Guibert's water and ink drawing technique make ya feel?

Speechless? Thought so.

Read a review of Guibert's Alan's War: The Memories of G.I. Alan Cope at Boing Boing.

Link to Video (via Drawn!)

Pay-What-You-Can to Binge on Theatre and Purge Your Economic Demons

Good news, theatre loving tightwads and legitimate working poor folk! Tonight The Milwaukee Rep is offering the play Eurydice as a Pay-What-You-Can performance. All ya gotta do is show up within two hours of curtain call (7:30PM), stake out your place in the cue and pay for your ticket with the birthday dough your grandma sent ya twenty years ago--you knew that 5 bucks would come in handy someday, didn't ya?

Eurydice is a modern retelling of the tragic Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. Complete with travels into the Underworld, it should be just the cathartic experience you need to get over your recent stock decline, pension gutting and/or job loss. One must face the demon--or an artistic representation of it--to drive the demon out, people!

Now, just so y'all know, The Rep is allowing a maximum limit of 10 tickets per person for Quadracci Powerhouse performances, of which Eurydice is one, so hustle your butts over at 5:30PM to make sure you get a ticket.

See the full schedule of 2008-09 Pay-What-You-Can performances.

Carry On Tony Hillerman

Award winning fiction writer Tony Hillerman died on Sunday, October 26, in Albuquerque, NM at the age of 83. Hillerman brought the unique cultural and spiritual beliefs of the Navajo people into the mystery genre with an impressive 18 novels, including Skinwalkers, Coyote Waits and A Thief of Time, all of which were turned into PBS movies, airing from 2002-2004.

Though not a member of the Navajo Nation himself, Hillerman studied their ways and beliefs intently, developing an understanding of the people and culture rarely achieved by those outside the tribe and bringing it to readers around the world through depth of character and story. His skill and mastery was not lost on the Nation and he was honored by the Navajo Tribal Council in 1987 with its Special Friend of the Dineh award.

Two days ago, NPR's Lynn Neary presented a remembrance of Hillerman on All Things Considered. You can listen or read the transcript here.

Since the traditional Navajo belief is that of an endless cycle of birth, life and death, I say, "Carry on, Mr. Hillerman, carry on." And may his wife and children find some comfort in that.

What the...? Milwaukee Shakespeare Exits the Stage

With barely nine seasons under its theatrical belt, Milwaukee Shakespeare has hung up its brocades, melted down its prop swords and left its fancy tights in a heap on the floor. The company closed its doors on Monday after its main source of funding, the Argosy Foundation, decided to pull out. Well, ain't that a shock to the cultural system?

Milwaukee Shakespeare's website explains the situation this way:

Despite generous support from private and public local, state and national foundations and granting organizations such as UPAF and the NEA, the company’s primary source of operating funds is the Argosy Foundation. Due to the current financial climate, the Argosy Foundation has eliminated support from Milwaukee Shakespeare in order to put itself in the best position to continue to grow and support the community in the future.  For this reason, Milwaukee Shakespeare cannot continue its season as planned.  While ticket sales have been at a record level so far this season, ticket income only provides a fraction of what it costs to keep a non-profit theatre company running. Milwaukee Shakespeare has been actively seeking and achieving outside support, but the growth has not been sufficient to withstand this loss in its primary source of funding.

Well, yes, by all means, let's close it up just as ticket sales start gettin' good. We wouldn't wanna be perceived as accomplishing our goal of bringing in an audience, right? Fear of success, I knew ye well.

Perhaps the Argosy Foundation has stretched itself too thin over the years to weather such economic turmoil without having to snap the checkbook shut, but the company was a baby born from the mind and coffers of the foundation's president, Chris Abele. It's clear now that once the apron strings were cut, baby couldn't stand on its own because it didn't diversify its funding diet. Sad, really.

Current ticket holders for Milwaukee Shakespeare's 2008-09 season should click here to find out how they can be compensated.

To the thespians and crew of the company, I offer these words from the Bard himself:

Sonnet VI
Then let not winter's ragged hand deface
In thee thy summer, ere thou be distill'd:
Make sweet some vial; treasure thou some place
With beauty's treasure, ere it be self-kill'd.
That use is not forbidden usury,
Which happies those that pay the willing loan;
That's for thyself to breed another thee,
Or ten times happier, be it ten for one;
Ten times thyself were happier than thou art,
If ten of thine ten times refigured thee:
Then what could death do, if thou shouldst depart,
Leaving thee living in posterity?
Be not self-will'd, for thou art much too fair
To be death's conquest and make worms thine heir.

(via Milwaukee Business Journal)

Wanted: Pledge Givers to Frontier Radio

Just a quick reminder that 91.7 WMSE's fall on-air pledge drive begins tomorrow, October 29, at high noon. Be the first to call in your pledge and win total freeloader guilt immunity for at least the next couple o' months!

Or pledge online now and you'll receive these wonderful gifts:
• An outstanding, eclectic array of music on your radio or computer 24/7
• Lively, interesting and sometimes rambling DJ speak between sets
• Interviews and live studio sessions sure to please your inner eardrum and shake up your spleen
• PSAs and wacky event announcements galore!!!!

Still not enough? Well, go to WMSE's website and pick a pledge level that'll getcha the schwag you're lookin' for. Do it now!

Tomorrow Night is Pecha Kucha Night

Attention concept geeks: The next Pecha Kucha Night in Milwaukee will be held tomorrow (a.k.a. Tuesday), beginning at 8PM at Bay View's Sugar Maple, 441 E. Lincoln. Presenters include Bridget Brave, Jason Gessner, Taryn Roch, Jason Kennedy, Tim Cigelske, Katie Martin, Ryan Schleicher, and Erin Wolf. Grab yourself a chair, sit on it backwards and gape in amazement as they hurl provocative thoughts and visions of sports, creative business approaches, local farming, new concepts of marriage, and styrofoam--no kidding--at your cerebral tissue.

Hatched from the minds of Astrid Klein and Mark Dytham of Klein Dytham architecture in 2003, Pecha Kucha Night is designed to bring creative people and ideas together in a setting that won't bore the living crap outta ya. All presenters must adhere to a strict format and time line in which to unload their idea(s) while a related slide show of twenty images--timed at twenty seconds each--plays, completing their task in a total of 6 minutes 40 seconds. Due to the speed of the presentations, audience members are encouraged not to blink as this act may lead them to miss a key nugget of information, thereby leaving them unable to advance to the next level and making it impossible for them to save the princess from the evil doers. Um, yeah, I mean unable to fully engage in the conversation that follows.

While it seems fairly confining, Pecha Kucha Night always includes a Beer Break for those who need a little brain softening in order to squeeze the new ideas in. All hail beer! Also, live music will be performed before (7:30PM) and after the event.

All this thinkin', listenin', groovin' and drinkin' must cost something, right? Right. You can register online and pay $10 in advance or wait 'til you’re at the door and pay $12.

Link (via Jon Mueller on MARN)