Isthmus back issues from March 2008:
Grand expectations
Mar 14, 2008; ... The situations in which grandparents are called upon to care for a grandchild are many and varied and have been with us forever. In fact, in some cultures it's the expected ideal. And while it may not take a whole village to care for the children, it does command the attention of the whole ...
20 YEARS AGO
Mar 14, 2008; ... From the Isthmus archives, March 18, 1988 Dance, dance revolution The UWs recent decision to stop accepting dance majors has drawn national attention, Paul Gerard reports. School of Education officials cite low enrollment as the main reason for the move, though personality ...
THEDAILYPAGE.COM * Forum
Mar 14, 2008; ... Excerpts from Forum, on TheDailyPage.com Spitzer has done good in his career, although he got caught now for something really, really dumb. The worst thing I can say about him is "hypocrite," given the way he energetically prosecuted other men doing the same thing. That leaves him ...
Hot-button issues in County Board races
Mar 14, 2008; ... Concerns over transit authority and safety dominate contests Liberals have a solid majority on the Dane County Board, but that hasn't stopped conservatives from zeroing in on a few key races - and a few key issues - in the April 1 election. In all, 17 of the 37 board seats are ...
FORTUNES
Mar 14, 2008; ... UP: Lorraine Cook. The 52-year-old Madison woman, jailed for two months on a warrant for probation violations after courageously coming forward to report that she was brutally raped, is released last Friday, a day after Isthmus reports on her case. Cook continues to vent concern over the fact ...
Mud is flying in Supreme Court race
Mar 14, 2008; ... Gableman's tactics against Butler are tried if not true Michael Gableman says he'd like to keep his bid for state Supreme Court focused on "the sharp contrasts" between himself and his opponent, Justice Louis Butler. Those contrasts, as the Burnett County judge presents them, are ...
Hypocrisy on parade
Mar 14, 2008; ... Once again, the Democrats are their own worst enemies By any measure, 2008 seems destined to yield a bumper crop of political hypocrisy. Democratic lawmakers in Madison have joined with the anti-smoking Gestapo to push for a statewide smoking ban, warning that failure to get on ...
Grandparents to the rescue
Mar 14, 2008; ... Mary Ace had just gotten home from work when her son asked her for a favor. Could she pick up her grandson, 16-month-old Alex, at daycare? Alex's mother, he explained, had just checked herself into a hospital psych ward after weeks of threatening to hurt herself. She'd even tried to ...
STAR-STRUCK
Mar 14, 2008; ... STAR-STRUCK A new biography of Chris Farley shines the spotlight on comedy, addiction, celebrity All the excitement about Johnny Depp's filming of Public Enemies in Wisconsin and the Madison casting calls for extras and vintage cars has me thinking about our continuing ability to ...
It Doesn't End with Us: The Story of the Daily Cardinal
Mar 14, 2008; ... It Doesn't End with Us: The Story of the Daily Cardinal By Allison Hantschel (Heritage Books) The publication of this book could hardly be more timely, considering the rapid changes that the newspaper industry is undergoing. The author, former Daily Cardinal editor ...
Nice doing business with you
Mar 14, 2008; ... Nine Inch Nails dreams up a remarkable way to sell albums With its Web-based, pay-what-you-want distribution of In Rainbows, Radiohead demonstrated that it's easy for established acts to take control of their own releases. Last week, Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor went the ...
THE BIN
Mar 14, 2008; ... In the Name of Love: Africa Celebrates U2 (Shout! Factory) Tribute albums that mean to fete pop and rock artists are often well-meaning failures. But this salute to both U2's music and singer Bono's tireless humanitarian work on behalf of the African continent is the rare tribute disc ...
Shock 'n' roll
Mar 14, 2008; ... Ladyhawk are gross but good If you pay much attention to Ladyhawk's promotional materials, you might get too grossed out to ever take a listen to their excellent new CD. After all, these grimy-looking Canadians dumped their piss pot across an open field after two weeks of ...
All together now
Mar 14, 2008; ... All together now Madison Symphony combines Western and Arabic sounds New met old and East met West at the Madison Symphony Orchestra's concerts last weekend. The new was the world premiere of "The Forty Steps" by Canadian American composer Joel Hoffman. It was written for cellist ...
When art attacks
Mar 14, 2008; ... When art attacks A museum implodes in Permanent Collection Is there a subject that vexes the American social and political spirit more than race? Is there any aspect of American culture that has not been affected by that seemingly intractable issue? And is there any dialogue that ...
Foundering father
Mar 14, 2008; ... John Adams is less than revolutionary I'm a major John Adams fan - one of those who think the brilliant revolutionary leader got cheated out of a spot on Mount Rushmore. So I'm the perfect audience for HBO's John Adams (Sunday, 7 p.m.), a seven-part dramatization executive-produced by ...
Slay ride
Mar 14, 2008; ... God of War: Chains of Olympus PlayStation Portable Rated Mature God of War: Chains of Olympus is one of the best games yet made. You play as Kratos the Spartan, a warrior sent into battles by Zeus and the ancient gods. You slay nasty creatures with blades of fire that ...
Power plays
Mar 14, 2008; ... Funny Games revels in its control over us Part of the "fun" of watching Michael Haneke's movies is wondering exactly what he's up to. I just wrote about him a few weeks ago when the UW Cinematheque began a series called "Michael Haneke: A Cinema of Provocation." I called him "the ...
VIDEO
Mar 14, 2008; ... Released this week: August Rush, Bee Movie, Dan in Real Life, Hitman, Nancy Drew, No Country for Old Men, Sleuth. Dan in Real Life: Steve Carell is in his subdued Little Miss Sunshine seriocomic mode as a widower who falls for his brother's girlfriend (Juliette Binoche). There are funny ...
Rad hatters
Mar 14, 2008; ... The word cognition derives from Middle English and means literally "to come to know." In the case of local cycling couple LyIe Hansen and Kelly Petersen, knowledge has many levels - knowing each other and the sport of cycling. Cognition is also the name of the couple's increasingly high-profile ...
Wisconsin whiskey
Mar 14, 2008; ... A new spirit is distilled from Washington Island wheat In the Great Smoky Mountains, my ancestral home, it is considered gauche to age the liquor. So in at least one respect, my forebears would have admired the whiskey that will soon be released by Death's Door Spirits, the Madison-based ...
Making the grade
Mar 14, 2008; ... Guess which maple syrup is drawing kudos? Grade A is better than Grade B, right? When it comes to maple syrup, not necessarily That's because grading for maple syrup is based on color, not flavor or quality. Although Grade B has long been viewed as the cooking wine of the maple ...
Sexpertise
Mar 14, 2008; ... What does it mean to be good in bed? So, me and the boys were sitting around playing poker the other night, and the talk turned, as it often does, to women. Specifically, we discussed what it means when you say that a woman is good in bed. Various ideas were bandied about, but the one we ...
Best! Winter! Ever!
Mar 14, 2008; ... Snow-sports enthusiasts sing season's praises We've all heard the gnashing teeth of property owners, commuters and other folks inconvenienced - and in some cases even burdened-by this winter's relentless snows. Smashing its old seasonal snowfall record by almost one and one-half feet, ...
Write on!
Mar 21, 2008; ... I'd like to dwell this week on conveying information, exploring ideas, and the art of good writing - the latter a commodity that will never become obsolete, regardless of technology. We have some examples of the above in this issue of the paper. Our cover story, "Remembering the 'Bush," ...
20 YEARS AGO
Mar 21, 2008; ... From the Isthmus archives, March 25, 1988 Waging peace George Vukelich's Listening In column turns an ear to the Rev. William Sloane Coffin, newly elected president of SANE/FREEZE, the nation's largest peace alliance. "To me, nuclear weapons today have the same symbolic force ...
THEDAILYPAGE.COM* Forum
Mar 21, 2008; ... Excerpts from Forum, on TheDailyPage.com As the snow retreats, we see evidence of yet more pollution from our tobacco-addicted neighbors. Thousands and thousands of cigarette butts piled in front of cafes, the YWCA, etc., etc. All these will wash into storm drains and then into our lakes ...
Who would Jesus evict?
Mar 21, 2008; ... Church-affiliated home seeks to boot 103-year-old resident Last Dec. 9, Lucy Nehrenz had a birthday. Not just any birthday mind you, but her 103rd. There was a story in The Capital Times. The people at Meadow Grove Apartments, where she's lived since 1989, threw her a ...
FORTUNES
Mar 21, 2008; ... UP: Metropolitan Place. A deal with lenders staves off foreclosure on the downtown condo development. Under the settlement, a Milwaukee attorney will take over for developer Cliff Fisher as manager of Metropolitan Place's second phase. Fisher allegedly owes $26 million in loan payments. No word ...
Recycling, it's everybody's business
Mar 21, 2008; ... Seth Knable is disgusted. Several Madison-area employers he's worked for have been lackadaisical if not outright negligent when it comes to recycling. "I feel so bad for the environment," says Knable, who's worked at Little Caesars, Papa Murphy's and, most recently, McDonald's. "It just ...
The rebirth of Park Street
Mar 21, 2008; ... When Lindsey Lee applied for a loan to open Cargo Coffee in a converted gas station on Park Street in 2001, he got a cold reception. Five banks, he says, turned thumbs down. Park Street was a good place to sell scrap metal and used car parts, not cappuccinos, they told him. Seven years ...
Iraq and the will of the people
Mar 21, 2008; ... Antiwar efforts may seem futile, but there is reason for hope This is a time of grim milestones: The fifth anniversary of "shock and awe" on Wednesday, March 19, and the death of the 4,000th American service member in Iraq, which will occur soon. It is a week to reflect on the ...
Welcome to our world
Mar 21, 2008; ... Welcome to our world Kicksville is both a band and virtual town Kicksville Thursday, March 27, Majestic Theatre, 8 pm Let's start with the essential fact you need to know about Kicksville. They're a group of seven musicians who put on a musical stage show grounded ...
Back in the U.S.S.R.
Mar 21, 2008; ... Back in the U.S.S.R. The WCO delves into Russia's political drama The stage pulsed with energy when the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra played its Masterworks concert in the Capitol Theater last Friday. The political drama of 20th-century Russia took center stage with Shostakovich's ...
Highs and lows
Mar 21, 2008; ... Highs and lows Gary Lowis and the Mekons alter your moods Gary Lourls/ Mekons Thursday, March 27, Barrymore Theatre, 8 pm It took Gary Louris 20 years, but with the recent release of Vagabonds, the prolific Jayhawks singer-guitarist has finally made a solo ...
ROCK 'N' ROLL ECCENTRICS
Mar 21, 2008; ... ROCK 'N' ROLL ECCENTRICS BLUEHEELS FIND A VOICE ALL THEIR OWN Blueheels CD-release party Saturday, April 26, Majestic Theatre When they gave their 5-year-old son Robby a Smurf drum set, Neenah's Mark and Cindy Schiller could little have suspected that two ...
Remembering the 'Bush
Mar 21, 2008; ... The neighborhood that Madison destroyed lives on - in people's hearts and minds It's Friday, and George Fabian and the guys are hanging out in his shoe store. It's small, green inside and out busy with customers, phone calls and visitors. "I never know who'll come," says Fabian, wearing ...
Bigger and better
Mar 21, 2008; ... Wisconsin Film Festival considers expanding Wisconsin Film Festival April 3-6 at 10 downtown locations Now in its 10th year, the Wisconsin Film Festival has become the de facto kickoff of the city's spring arte season, and audiences clearly aren't tiring of it. Festival ...
THE BIN
Mar 21, 2008; ... THE BIN BoDeans: Still (He and He) On their eighth studio album and first release in four years, the BoDeans reestablish themselves as masters of musical populism. Still finds the long-time songwr iting duo of Kurt Neumann and Sam Lianas capturing all the big emotions of life - ...
Faces and figures
Mar 21, 2008; ... Faces and figures Two artists take afresh approach to traditional subjects Laura Dronzek/ Katie Musolff Watrous Gallery in the Overture Center, through April 13 Portraits and landscapes are two of art's most time-honored subjects, but these days they can also seem ...
Guns for hire
Mar 21, 2008; ... GAMES Army of Two Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 Rated Mature Army of Two is the latest battlefield game to chime in on how America conducts itself militarily. It reminds you of how we've signed up private contractors to carry out all sorts of missions in Iraq and ...
Take the money and run
Mar 21, 2008; ... Take the money and run Scams are a thing of beauty in The Riches The Riches' new season (Tuesday, 9 p.m., FX) is pure pleasure. Our heroes - if you want to call them that - are a family of "Travelers." They're con artists who move from place to place, fleecing the locals for as ...
VIDEO
Mar 21, 2008; ... VIDEO Released this week: Atonement, Enchanted, I Am Legend, Love in the Time of Cholera, The seeker, Southland Tales. I Am Legend: Will Smith plays the only human left in Manhattan after an apocalyptic virus leaves rabid zombies to roam the streets. After a promising start, the ...
Pain at the pump
Mar 21, 2008; ... Madison-area commuters will feel the pinch The price for a barrel of crude hit $111 last week, and a gallon of regular unleaded gas was averaging about $3.29 in Madison over the weekend. This won't come as news if you've pumped $50 into your Subaru in recent days. That's about 30% more ...
Dust in the wind
Mar 21, 2008; ... Dust in the wind Horton Hears a Who! discovers a world in a speck Horton Hoars a Whol Eastgate, Point, Star Somewhere on the other side of Whoville, Dr. Seuss must be spinning in his grave, because Hollywood can't seem to leave his stories alone and can't seem to ...
Candidates' Answers
Mar 21, 2008; ... Pull out to save this supplement to Isthmus, Madison's weekly newspaper Spring General Election: Apr. 1, 2008 Candidate Information has been compiled by the League of Women Voters of Dane County from questionnaires sent to all candidates. The League makes neither endorsements of ...
Hooray for Chardonnay
Mar 21, 2008; ... The oft-derided wine is still ready for its close-up Not too long ago, I offered to bring wine to a dinner party and asked my host if he had any requests. "ABC," he replied: "Anything But Chardonnay." Ouch. I know it's been a decade or so, but to me, it seems like only yesterday ...
Table Talk
Mar 21, 2008; ... Alex Nikitin OCCUPATION: Co-owner WHERE: Arbat, 3000 Cahill Main, Fitchburg WHY YOU SHOULD co: Where else in town can you get caviar blini with homemade cherry pierogi for dessert, and wash it all down with a shot of vodka? HOW DID YOU GET FROM RUSSIA TO MADISON? ...
Arf, arf
Mar 21, 2008; ... Doggone it, Mr. Right, you're wrong again Is it the function of an advice columnist to be witty instead of helpful? I confess I was disappointed by your response to "Sour Kraut," who was thinking about getting a dog for her boys but was turned off by the image of German shepherds. The ...
The Badgers, by the numbers
Mar 21, 2008; ... Evaluating the team's chances, and other idle speculation The week between the end of the high school hoops championships and the beginning of the NCAA men's tournament provides an opportunity to catch up on my email. Here goes: Do you think Wisconsin will be getting to the Final ...
Kudos to Kent
Mar 28, 2008; ... When last you heard from me (a week ago in this space), I informed you that I had justbeen given some "Stop the presses!" news. I had been writing about Isthmus' success at the Milwaukee Press Club's Excellence in Wisconsin Journalism Competition-three firsts and a second was a nice haul for us ....
20 YEARS AGO
Mar 28, 2008; ... From the Isthmus archives, April 1, 1988 The pol vs. the exec The race for Dane County executive presents a study in contrasts between Democrats Joe Wineke and Rick Phelps, reports Rob Ritzenthaler. At 31, Wineke is already a political veteran and three-term state representative ...
Torn between two candidates
Mar 28, 2008; ... County exec likes her recruit - and her recruit's opponent Please forgive Vic Bankston if she seems a bit perplexed. The Dane County Board candidate was recruited to run for the southwest Madison district by Kathleen Falk. The county executive endorsed Bankston, gave her a $100 donation ...
FORTUNES
Mar 28, 2008; ... * UP: Snow. Madison's snowfall total exceeds 100 inches, eclipsing the record of 76.1 inches set in 1978-79. The city normally averages about 50 inches of snow a season. And forecasters say more is on the way. * DOWN: Garver Building Re-Use Committee. The city team at long last decides ...
Gableman - unfit for any office
Mar 28, 2008; ... Supreme Court contender has disgraced himself and the judiciary My old friend Charlie Sykes has a good line about the difference between liberals and conservatives. "Conservatives," he says, "think liberals are wrong. Liberals," he adds, "think conservatives are ...
The changing of the board
Mar 28, 2008; ... A look at who's coming and going after the spring election A lawyer and former teacher will replace a lawyer and former teacher in the uncontested Madison school board elections on April 1. The result will be the most inexperienced board in years at a particularly important time for the ...
A Lion in Winter
Mar 28, 2008; ... John Matthews has run Madison's teachers union for 40 years. Is it time for a change? John Matthews planned to sneak out of an educational policy speech at the UW-Madison after giving some introductory remarks. He hoped to make it home by dinnertime. Instead, the veteran ...
LABEL ON THE LOOSE
Mar 28, 2008; ... Crustacean Records isn't just about Wisconsin rock anymore They were five guys in their 20s, all from different Wisconsin towns, and all bitten by the rock 'n' roll bug. And by the time they met each other at a gig in Shawano on a spring night in 1997, they were all restless for ...
Summing up a Sublime experience
Mar 28, 2008; ... Local cover band has no good Reason for Leaving It's just about midnight, and the beaming blond girl with the stubby pigtails and richly inked tattoos on both arms is on a serious Sublime high. When Jose & Sumlimes, the Sublime cover act that's holding forth at Mr. Roberts tavern, ...
THE BIN/SCOOPS
Mar 28, 2008; ... THE BIN/SCOOPS Blues Anatomy with Jef Lee Johnson: Rediscovering Lonnie Johnson (Range Records) Singer/guitarist Lonnie Johnson was one of the most influential blues and jazz players of the 1920s and '30s. Among other things, his early blues sides for Okeh and Bluebird fired the ...
Teenager in love
Mar 28, 2008; ... Pianist Emanuel Axfinds the romance in an early Chopin concerto Chopin's love for an old flame will warm the air this weekend when the Madison Symphony Orchestra and pianist Emanuel Ax present his "Piano Concerto No. 2 in F minor" in Overture Hall. The F minor is numbered as the second ...
Musical mileposts
Mar 28, 2008; ... Cheyenne takes its influences from all over the U.S. The music of Beau Jennings is smudged with the fingerprints of the places he's been. There's Cheyenne, Wyo., a place he traveled to in 2001 to take a job constructing log homes. Inspired by the Western landscape, Jennings wrote ...
Hot lesbian action
Mar 28, 2008; ... Hot lesbian action Pulp satirizes lurid 1950s novels Crushes, skeet shooting, drag performances, lesbian comedy and music abound in StageQ's production of Pulp. This musical satire of 1950s lesbian novels shows what happens when Terry Logan (Sue Carnell), a former pilot in the ...
There will be blood
Mar 28, 2008; ... There will be blood And lots of it in The Lieutenant of Inishmore Mutilated cats, blinded cows, a man's nose fed to his cocker spaniel; brace yourself. You might find PETA picketing the Bartell Theatre. The lieutenant of Inishmore, Martin McDonagh's boisterous send-up of feckless ...
Devil's food
Mar 28, 2008; ... Devil's food Hell's Kitchen makes Satan smile Hell's Kitchen (Tuesday, 8 p.m., Fox) has always gone over the top, but the cooking show's new season finds a way over the top of the top. In the intro, mean English chef Gordon Ramsay is styled as "The Dark Lord" and the contestants ...