Between the Bars

So, Here's My Excuse...

Work has been nuts and because I just moved, I've been trying to dig out from underneath the mounds of unopened boxes that have buried my apartment. Also, I currently don't have a working computer at home, again because of the move, which is why I haven't blogged this week.

Plain and simple, I've been busy.

I promise to catch up with you next week. Cross my heart and hope to die.

Until then, have a good one!

Hello? …Is This Thing On?

Awfully silent around here, it seems. Sorry for that.

There have been no explosions, crashing trees or car chases since you last heard from me – I’ve just been busy. I know, terrible excuse.

And although nothing extremely unexpected has happened within the week, I have done some fun things – State Fair, Fish Fry and a Flick – and I’m excited to let you in on my experiences.

But, keep in mind that it’ll probably take a few more days; as some of you know, I’ve started a new job and I’m currently in the middle of moving. (Why not do it all at once, right?) I can assure you, though, that all of my busyness will eventually subside and once I’m settled into my new job and apartment, I’ll get Between the Bars back up-to-date – Promise!

With that, thanks for checking in and, please, don’t forget to stay tuned!

Happy One Year!

Today is the day my blog turns one.

Yep, one full year of blogging. I have to say, it feels a bit anti-climatic considering it’s just a one year mark for doing what I like to do. But hey, we all love to find a reason to celebrate.

So, anyone got a candle? A match?

No, but seriously. It’s been a great year. My only regret is that I didn’t start this whole blogging thing sooner.

Thank you all for your wonderful comments and conversations. My contributions would be nothing without you, so thank you!

Photo comes from gettyimages.com.

Jazz in the Park Whine Party

For 19 years, Milwaukee residents would duck out of work a little early, run home to grab a picnic blanket, a bagged dinner, and a bottle of something, and then they’d head to Cathedral Square for Jazz in the Park.

This was widely practiced by about 99% of all who attended; it was tradition.

This year, however, East Town changed their policy, no longer allowing that bottle of “something” to be carried into the festival. Essentially, Jazz in the Park is throwing out the tradition that made the event special. By changing their alcohol carry-in policy East Town has changed Jazz in the Park from a community event into a street festival, and while street festivals are definitely still enjoyable, it’s evident that something is lost.

Of course, people can still drink alcoholic beverages if they choose (picnic food items will still be permitted too), and, yes, there will still be music and people hanging out each Thursday night. But to many locals, this new policy devastates a beloved East Town event because it ruins the overall experience. Scores of Milwaukeeans strongly believe that carrying in your own beer or wine is what facilitated the spontaneous gatherings, random meetings, and even that sense of community that made up Jazz in the Park.

Unsurprisingly, there’s been much ongoing talk on various social media networks of boycotting the Thursday night concert series until East Town backs off their position and the rules regarding carry-ins are changed. In reality, though, the event will still go on and many folks will still go for the music. Heck, intransigent attendees might even come up with some clever smuggling tactics to continue bringing in their own bottles of beer or wine.

As vendors set up last night, I contemplated sneaking in my own bottle of wine. Bare in mind, along with the new policy comes added security. Yep, Jazz in the Park is now staffed with “event security” to help keep a watchful eye on rebellious spectators. Security will even check your bags and coolers upon entering Cathedral Square. If you are caught carrying in items, you will be asked to return them to your car or dispose of them.

Having known this, I decided to suck it up and still go, sans my usual bottle of J. Lohr Seven Oaks Cabernet Sauvignon that I usually pick up at Metro Mart on my way to Cathedral Square. Running late, Eric, my sister and I hopped in the car and made our way Downtown.

When we got to East Town, we could hear the music reverberating off the surrounding buildings. We found parking quickly, less than a block up the street from Cathedral Square, which seemed strange because parking is usually atrocious. As we gathering our belongings, I wondered if the lack of cars meant low attendance and, if so, was this a direct result of the new policy or something else?

As the three of us made our way across the street, I noticed that while the turnout was decent, it was noticeably less packed. There wasn’t the usual sea of people flooding the park and spilling over into the streets. Last year if you showed up late, you’d be stuck sitting on a curb or on someone’s lap. (Yes, it got that busy.) Last night, however, we found an open plot of grass right in the middle of the park and then got situated.

By now, we’d have already uncorked our cabernet, but obviously, we came in empty handed. After noticing a lot of groups with bottles of wine, I caved.

No Summerfest, Bummer.

I didn’t go to Summerfest.

Truth be told, this is the first year I haven’t attended, and for some reason I feel badly about it.

I mean, not going to Summerfest is sacrilegious in the minds of some locals, and since I consider myself to be a "Milwaukee blogger", well, I probably should've made more of an effort to get to the "World's Largest Music Festival," especially when it's right in my backyard.

You see, I was out of town and on business for the entire first week of the lakefront music fest. Still, I intended on squeezing in a few visits – one Thursday night and then again on Sunday afternoon. Well, Thursday night summoned torrential rain and, really, it wasn’t worth getting soaked, so I chalked that night up to a rainout and planned to make it up on Sunday. Then, Sunday rolled around and it was so gorgeous outside that I was forced to spend the entire afternoon poolside. I swam and got some sun... Man, it was terrible.

Obviously, I feel really, really awful about missing the "Big Gig" this year. Now I have nothing interesting to post other than sarcasm-laden mumbo jumbo. (That's not true, well, not 100% true, at least.)

Did you have a chance to go? If so, feel free to share your adventures with all of us wayward readers in the comments section. I’d love to hear what you faithful Summerfest-goers did.

As for me, there’s always next year.

About That Ad in The Onion...

Many people have been congratulating me for having my photo in the MAM After Dark advertisement that's plastered across a full page in The Onion.

By no means do I deserve any praise; after all, it’s not like I did anything remarkable to land the spot, well, besides being cool. But seriously, I didn't have to audition or take a test or jump through hoops – I seriously did nothing.

It seems our photo was blindly selected from a collection of hundreds of other photos taken that night. Actually, I’m certain of this because there’s absolutely no way they would've chosen it, especially since it doesn't really scream "fun at the museum". But, who am I to judge?

See, Eric, my sister, a friend and I went to MAM After Dark in May – Awesome time, by the way – and in the midst of carousing, we decided to have a free group shot taken at the makeshift photo booth inside the museum. Later in the night, we saw our photos projected on the walls of Windhover Hall, but little did we know this photo could also potentially be used in the new ad campaign.

Just the other morning, I was drinking coffee and paging through The Onion when – BAM! – there it was. I nearly fell off my chair! "Holy crap," I thought, "We're like celebrities or something." And then I called Eric, Terry and Lara. And then people started calling, texting and emailing ME.

So, there you have it. Like I said, there’s no need to congratulate me. If you want instant stardom, just head to the next MAM After Dark and stop by the free photo booth. Maybe I'll see YOU in the next Onion!

Busy, Busy.

At one point or another, we've all claimed to be chickens with our heads cut off, running around completely mad.

Well, that's me right now.

The days leading up to the holidays have been a whirlwind of activity. And as time ticks down to 2009, the rush won't abate much, either.

All of this – the head chopping and running amok – is entirely my own doing, of course. Besides preparing for the holidays, I’ve been taking on some new ventures that have been building onto the I-need-to-get-in-better-shape strives, volleyball games, working full-time, and, dare I even mention, job seeking...

Starting in November, I was named one of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Community Columnists. Out of hundreds of applicants, me and 30 other locals were chosen by the Journal Sentinel staff for a yearlong, freelance writing stint. Our columns run four days per week and I’ve been trying to submit about twice per month.

So far it has been a really great experience and seeing my photo and articles published in the newspaper and online, well, it’s a dream come true!

Here are a couple of my most recent editorials: What's the Future of Malls? and Holiday's Message is What's Key – Just click the links to read 'em and let me know what you think!

And because I apparently want to squeeze every last drop of time and energy out of my scrawny body, I started another blog. Although it’s Milwaukee themed again, I'm taking a new approach.

As a self-proclaimed Foodie, summer festivals, sporting events and the music scene aren't the only things I like around Milwaukee, which is why I've started Mangia Milwaukee, a local food blog.

At Mangia, my goal is to not only prove how exciting daily life is in Milwaukee, but to confirm that Milwaukee is also a haven for good eats! And because I would HATE for any longtime resident or visitor to miss out on an opportunity to taste some great food and experience that special something that makes Milwaukee’s culture completely unique, I’m going to share some of the must-not-miss culinary experiences this Midwestern city has to offer, as well as some of my favorite recipes.

That said, sharing all this information in a blog naturally invites interaction. I hope you choose to stop by Mangia and that you’ll also be willing to share your comments or your favorite Milwaukee food moment. I’m looking forward to hearing from you and to sharing all my culinary exploits with you, too!

For now, I'm still on vacation from work until January 5. And since I rolled out of there on December 18, I've been taking it extremely easy.

I hope your holidays have been exciting, busy, relaxing, or whatever you wanted them to be. I'll be back here this weekend to post more. Until then... Good night!

I woke up early this morning to cast my ballot before heading into work. It only took about a half hour, which was surprisingly fast.

What also surprised me was that when I walked into my polling location, I felt determined and excited, and I left with a huge smile on my face.

For one, I'm extremely happy that the election and all of the media coverage is just about over; and two, during this democratic process I found a new sense of pride and hope for my country.

Perhaps this is because today's presidential election is a far cry from the half-dozen other elections where there seemed to be hardly any difference between two uninspired candidates. Or maybe it's due to the strong emotional connection I now have to the tradition of voting and to the centuries of past voters.

I'm not sure.

What I do know is that even if things don’t go the way I voted, it still felt really good to partake in this historic election.

Merry Whaaaaat?

Christmas music has been playing on Milwaukee’s radio dial since 95.7 WRIT-FM went all-Yule at 3 p.m. on Friday, October 31. Just a few minutes later, 99.1 WMYX-FM followed.

WRIT and WMYX celebrated the end of the Halloween season – before the actual end – by discarding their typical playlists in favor of stuff like Nat King Cole’s rendition of The Christmas Song.

Actually, the very first carol played off of WRIT’s ‘round the clock Christmas set was Johnny Mathis’ It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas.

And, you know, it seems to be true.

Even earlier last week, I was driving past The Shops of Grand Avenue on my way home from the downtown YMCA and I noticed that the window displays were already decked out in boughs of holly – that didn’t get me singing fa-la-la-la-la, though.

In fact, this prompted me to ask myself, when did it become customary for radio stations and retail outlets to replace Dracula with Rudolph and turkey with candy canes?

99.1 WMYX – the Christmas Mix – is continuing its Christmas-music-playing tradition for the sixth year in a row. This year’s Christmas music kickoff on Halloween beats last year’s November 1 Christmas flip by less than one day, for the earliest launch in holiday tunes EVER, at least in Milwaukee.

Why is it getting so early?

Over the past few years, the two all-Christmas stations have waited until we were a bit closer to Thanksgiving before going off the deep end. But, according to news sources, even though the move may seem ridiculously early, it’s about in line with retailers, advertisers, and other leading radio stations across the United States.

So, does their premature 24/7 Christmas playlist really bring in a measurable ratings increase? Sources also say, yes, it definitely helps.

Still, if you take a look at the calendar, it’s quite clear that Christmas doesn’t follow Halloween.

I find it kind of vexing that Christmas monopolizes more than a two-month span nowadays. It seems that Thanksgiving has almost fallen off the radar as it’s celebrated pretty silently. That's what really gets me hacked off. That one of my favorite holidays – one that’s so important to our heritage – is bypassed by a more profitable and commercial holiday like Christmas.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love Christmas – it’s my favorite holiday, bar none – and I enjoy the warm fuzzies I get when I listen to the holly jolly carols, but it’s November for crying out loud and I’m still recovering from Halloween weekend!

I just can’t grasp the idea of having Christmas music playing while kids are trick-or-treating. It's just far too early to be dropping the Yuletide stuff. I don’t know about you, but I’m not ready to think about buying presents or trimming the tree, not to mention, welcoming Santa Claus. Not yet, at least.

So, what do you think? Is a two-month Christmas holiday too much? What do you think of WRIT and WMYX launching Christmas tunes on Halloween? If you had a say, when would you start playing Christmas music?

Milwaukee's Gettin' Some L-O-V-E

A story in The New York Times titled 36 Hours in Milwaukee is the most recent in a spate of articles declaring Milwaukee cool and, uh, sexy.

Let’s backtrack for a moment.

The August issue of Marie Claire named Milwaukee “sexiest city” as part of their Sexy 101 article. Unfortunately, the actual article isn’t online, nor is the magazine still on newsstands. But, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, who first broke the news of our sexy title, locals were shocked.

I know that it’s hard to comprehend the idea of “sexiest city” and “Milwaukee” being used in the same sentence, but it sure was funny to hear so many locals up in arms over being perceived as “sexy.”

Heck, it wasn’t that long ago that Milwaukee was the fattest city in the county. Man, I certainly prefer the sexy designation, don’t you?

Perhaps it’s difficult to think of Milwaukee as a sexy place because of the common, yet hackneyed images that depict our city. I mean, beer guzzling and brat binging isn’t very sexy. Nope, not at all.

Lea Goldman, Marie Claire editor, told the Journal Sentinel that the staff decided that a city best-known for its breweries and bratwurst has a lot to offer women in their 20s and 30s (the magazine’s core audience).

Despite being a slightly ambiguous term, I think it’s pretty obvious that Marie Claire, in this case, uses sexy as another word for hip and happening, not outwardly sexy or pertaining to appearance. Milwaukee’s sexy label was based on how much, in terms of entertainment, Milwaukee has to offer visitors and locals alike.

The article calls Milwaukee “The nation’s summer-festival epicenter” as it touches on the multitude of citywide celebrations like African World Fest, Summerfest and Harley’s 105th Anniversary Celebration that pack calendars throughout the summer months.

“Most people flee their city in the summer for a different environment," said Goldman to The Marquette Tribune. “Not only does Milwaukee attract (visitors), but it also offers compelling reasons (for Milwaukeeans) to stick around.”

It seems like Milwaukeeans may always be pigeonholed into beer drinking, brats scarfing cheeseheads, considering it has been drilled into the thick skulls of outsiders – even locals as this article reveals – for decades.

But maybe, just maybe, people will become more broadminded. After all, The New York Times seems to understand where we’re coming from.

"Modern Milwaukee isn't so much defined by the Rust Belt anymore, but rather by its lively downtown and a signature museum so architecturally striking that it competes for attention with the art it holds," according to Maura Casey, a writer for The New York Times.

Casey recently spent "36 Hours in Milwaukee" and in her article this month, she describes how today's Milwaukee is unrecognizable compared to the city that existed during the Laverne and Shirley era.

Many museums are ready to be discovered and any craving can be satisfied with a variety of restaurants on hand. Plus, Milwaukee has a robust downtown that’s filled with entertainment options and friendly people.

So, “sexiest city” might seem too lofty of a title for Milwaukee according to some people, but it’s about time our city gets some positive press from folks with an open mind.

Keep on spreading the love, people. Milwaukee is fantastic!