What better time than Thanksgiving week to offer thanks to a Wisconsin treasure.
That would be Jim Fleming, the Wisconsin Public Radio personality who has greeted thousands of state residents weekday mornings with his silken voice and upbeat spirit as he ladles out classical music. Fleming announced his retirement recently. His last â??Morning Classicsâ? broadcast will be from 9 to 11 a.m. Dec. 3.
Innovative choreography, live music and new collaborations will mark the UW-Madison Dance Program Fall Faculty Concert (“SPLASH!”) this Saturday, 8 p.m. at the Wisconsin Union Theater.
Jim Doing was dying to turn 50, and now that heâ??s almost there, heâ??s dying inside. Golf, even at the highest level, can do that to you – or maybe especially at the highest level. Doing, an acclaimed opera singer and voice teacher at UW-Madison, went to California earlier this month to pursue his dream of qualifying for the Champions Tour, the pinnacle of senior professional golf.
Doris K. Hembrough opened her fine art gallery, the Hembrough Gallery, in Mazomanie in June 2008. A photographer with an eye for sharp, contrasting textures in ordinary scenes, Hembrough said she is sensitive to patterns in light. Hembrough returned to Wisconsin, where she earned a degree in art history at UW-Madison, from Taos, N.M., in 2006.
The new class of actors at UW-Madison is an eclectic bunch. They come from all over the country, from as far away as Texas to as close as Baraboo and Milwaukee. As kids, they dreamed of being ballerinas, comic book authors and stunt men.
Now, theyâ??re looking to make their way as professional actors and teachers, committing the next three years of their lives to the acting training program at the university here. Theatergoing audiences will see them on stages all over the city – as well as in Spring Green and Milwaukee – through 2012 and beyond.
Jim Norton, a Madison native and West High grad, has a new book, â??The Master Cheesemakers of Wisconsin,â? produced with his photographer wife, Becca Dilley. Norton and Dilley met at UW-Madison, where Jim was editor of the Daily Cardinal.
The Dane County Cultural Affairs Commission has awarded 50 grants totaling more than $124,000 for community arts, cultural and local history programs, in the third and final grant cycle of 2009.
The county grants this year were matched by more than $910,000 from local foundations and funds, including the Evjue Foundation, the charitable arm of The Capital Times; the American Girlâ??s Fund for Children; the Endres Manufacturing Co. Foundation; Madison Community Foundationâ??s Arts Access Fund; the Overture Foundation; and the Pleasant T. Rowland Foundation.
Forty-four project grants totaling $109,700 were awarded in four areas, including visual arts, music, dance and arts in school.
(Among the recipients are UW Cinematheque, the UW-Madison Arts Institute, Li Chiao-Ping Dance, Jin-Wen Yu Dance, and the Wisconsin Union Theater.)
Memorial Library accepted WYOU Community Televisionâ??s donation of â??Nothing to Hideâ? videotapes Friday, creating the largest cable access video archive of a show centering on Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender topics in the nation.
Sesame Street,” which is celebrating its 40th anniversary, is not just a good show; itâ??s good for you, according to University of Wisconsin-Madison media experts.
“When it comes to educational benefits, the results have been overwhelmingly positive,” says Karyn Riddle, an assistant professor of journalism and mass communication. Riddle notes the PBS program is “the most heavily researched show in the history of television.”
Chris Newbold, a 1993 UW-Madison graduate, recognized the wide appeal of Bucky Badger (Bucky has more than 18,000 fans on Facebook) and turned his passion for his alma mater into “The Big Bucky Badger Mystery” (University Pride Publishing, $21.95). Writing a children’s book with Bucky as the main character was “the perfect project,” Newbold said in a phone interview from his home in Missoula, Mont. “It’s a way to give back to the community and the UW, while at the same time bringing smiles to kids’ faces.”
“The theater is our laboratory. Itâ??s where our students do their work, where they learn. Our audiences are doubly important in that regard. “So says David Furumoto, the new head of the University of Wisconsin-Madisonâ??s University Theatre, and a tenured associate professor of acting in the department of theater and drama. Itâ??s safe to say thereâ??s never been another UT director quite like Furumoto. How many kabuki experts do you know who are also accomplished bagpipers?
This weekend, the University Theatre opens Federico Garcia Lorcaâ??s “Blood Wedding,” a dark, passionate tragedy set in the Spanish countryside, complete with a love triangle and a deep-seated family feud. It marks the debut of the UW-Madisonâ??s MFA acting class of 2012.
A striking current photo of George Banda, who served as a combat medic in Vietnam from November 1969 to December 1970, is part of an exhibit, â??Back in the World: A Portrait Exhibit of Wisconsin Vietnam Veterans,â? that kicks off with a Veterans Day presentation and reception Wednesday at 6 p.m. at the Chazen Museum of Art. The photo exhibit â?? which runs through Jan. 3 at the Chazen, and then will travel around the state â?? itself serves as a kickoff for an ambitious project recognizing Wisconsinâ??s Vietnam veterans, culminating with a weekend-long celebration at Lambeau Field in Green Bay in May.
My Go Big Read nomination is a book that was released as an original paperback in fall 2008. It is titled, “Favre: His Twenty Greatest Games.” Now, I realize some cynical individuals might suggest that I am nominating this book only because I wrote it.
Most doctoral students have their thesis read by around five people, or if theyâ??re lucky, a slightly wider audience of peers in their specialty. But one demanding class at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is changing that. The students in this class are making movies.Tales of Planet Earth is a three-day environmental film festival beginning Friday that will air seven short films created by UW students along with more than 30 professional films over the weekend.
Wisconsinâ??s loyal sons and daughters will hail the stateâ??s signature anthem this week. The University of Wisconsin-Madison band and concert choir plan to honor the 100th anniversary of the first performance of “On, Wisconsin” this week.
Economic struggles were just one of the many subjects filmmakers shed some light on over the weekend at the UW Madison campus. The Tales From Planet Earth Film Festival showcased 50 eco-friendly films from around the world aimed to inspire viewers to take action in their communities.
Writer Dave Eggers and the South Sudanese man whose story he told in his 2006 book “What Is the What” were at UW-Madison on Wednesday to talk about the pairâ??s work in Sudan and to urge the overflow crowd to get involved in efforts to bring peace to the country.”What is the What,” a finalist for the 2006 National Book Critics Circle Award, is a fictionalized account of Valentino Achak Dengâ??s experience as a refugee from Sudanâ??s civil war. Proceeds from the bookâ??s sale fund a foundation he runs that focuses on increasing educational opportunities in his home village of Marial Bai. Much of Tuesdayâ??s talk and an accompanying slide show concerned Dengâ??s work to build a secondary school in the remote village.
Mayor Dave Cieslewicz has said he will declare next Tuesday “On, Wisconsin!” Day, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first performance of the song. A birthday bash will be held at 1 p.m. next Tuesday on the steps of the Memorial Union. The event will include the Badger Band, a sing-along, and, of course, cake.
Writer Dave Eggers and the South Sudanese man whose story he told in his 2006 book “What Is the What” were at UW-Madison on Wednesday to talk about the pairâ??s work in Sudan and to urge the overflow crowd to get involved in efforts to bring peace to the country.
Up until just a few years ago, you knew what you were getting into when you walked into a so-called “environmental film.” Some dewy-eyed shots of trees and birds. Maybe a Joan Baez song on the soundtrack. And, above all, youâ??d be getting a stern lecture on how mankind is squandering its earthly resources and must mend the error of its ways.
Wisconsin Public Radio’s Jim Fleming has soothed us with the classics, read to us and informed us. Now, after nearly 40 years, the Madison native is retiring.
NBC 15 anchor and University of Wisconsin-Madison graduate Carleen Wild has a new country band called Main Street Wisdom.
WYOU Community Television is giving 800 video tapes of “Nothing To Hide,” the late David Runyonâ??s long-running cable access television show, to UW-Madisonâ??s Memorial Library.
UW-Madison alumnus Jeff Skubal makes fight scenes on stage look realistic in his career as a fight choreographer.
Gregg Mitman thought Tales from Planet Earth would be a one-shot deal. The UW-Madison history of science professor and interim director of the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies was a principal organizer of the 2007 environmental film festival. “Opening night, there was a line two blocks long waiting to get into the Orpheum,” he remembers. He had anticipated 500 people might show up that first night. Instead, more than twice that number turned out. By the end of the festival, total attendance was estimated at 3,500.
Maggie Sasso, 26, has expertise in woodworking art, in which she is a graduate student at UW-Madison. She also excels in “found stuff.” Those skills have been on rolling exhibit through an experimental art project, the Mobile Museum of Material Culture, a hand-crafted wooden trailer attached to a tandem bicycle created by Sasso and fellow artist Kara Ginther
Pianist Christopher Taylor, an associate music prof at the University of Wisconsin, performs the Goldberg Variations on Friday at the University of Chicago. An opportunity to see the Goldbergs is always a treat, and Taylor is an outstanding pianist – his performance of Messiaenâ??s complete, immensely challenging “Vingt Regards sur lâ??Enfant-Jésus,” one of his specialties, last year as part of the Messiaen Festival was one of the most remarkable shows Iâ??ve ever seen.
Damon Williams, UW-Madison vice provost for diversity and climate, encouraged students and faculty to consider the creation of a hip-hop studies program during his discussion Monday.
Noted: Before they built the sculpture, the students learned about blindness, what it means to help the global community and the efforts of the Combat Blindness Foundation from the founder, Dr. Suresh Chandra, professor of ophthalmology at the UW-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health, and his daughter, Reena Chandra Rajpal, development director for the foundation.
An event at the University of Wisconsinâ??s Memorial Union on Sunday introduced people to the cultural tradition know as Capoeira.
An environmental studies institute at the University of Wisconsin is putting on a free environmental film festival.
Nearly 50 films will be shown during the three-day festival, called “Tales from Planet Earth.” It starts Nov. 6 and takes place in Madison.
Moliere named his last comedy “The Imaginary Invalid,” referring to Argan, an elderly hypochondriac. But on stage in the University of Wisconsin-Madisonâ??s Mitchell Theatre, “Invalid” is Toinetteâ??s show.
For those unfamiliar with capoeira, the tradition – rich in Afro-Brazilian roots – spans five centuries and is known for its ritualistic movements, combining the two contrasting worlds of dance and martial arts.
The rush of landing a lead role in an opera is often quickly replaced by another cocktail of emotions, with elation giving way to nervousness and fatigue.
University Opera reduces the stress and doubles the opportunities for the young singers at UW-Madison by double-casting its starring roles. And “Thaïs,” an opera by Jules Massenet, has a peach of a lead: a charismatic, priest-seducing courtesan with a heart of gold.
Costumes for a Molière comedy tend to be froufrou-y. Think big bows, massive hair, yards of tulle.
But for University Theatre’s production of “The Imaginary Invalid,” Molière’s final comedy, costumer Rachel Barnett is taking the tropes and giving them a twist.
….Ballroom has a following here at the University of Wisconsin, too. Many of the couples that competed Saturday are members of the UW-Madison Ballroom Dance Association and Badger Ballroom Dance Team, like 26-year-old grad student Karla Esbona. She found the group while looking for an after-class social activity. She danced the merengue and salsa socially in her native Peru, but competitive ballroom was new to her.
Myths about the arts, business and lifestyle choices emerged during a recent brainstorm in a class at Grainger Hall on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. At the top of the list, guest lecturer Lisa Sonora Beam wrote the biggest, scariest myth of all:
“Artists starve.”
“Revolt of the Beavers,” the season opener for University Theatre, turns the phrase “busy as a beaver” into a singing, dancing socialist parable for kids.
“The Revolt of the Beavers” succeeds in being educational, fun and high-energy, woven around lessons about conservation, teamwork and social responsibility. With 8 and 9-year-old protagonists, itâ??s aimed at elementary through middle school students, but the “Beavers” serve food for thought for grown-ups, too.
After having appeared on both the second and fifth seasons of HBOâ??s Def Poetry Jam, McConnell will showcase her talents as one of the major attractions at the University of Wisconsin-Madisonâ??s Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives (OMAI)â??s 5th annual Passing the Mic Series, which will be held Oct. 8-10 at the Wisconsin Historical Society Auditorium.
The combination of Jamaica, the U.S., Cuba, Suriname and Guyana undoubtedly makes for an interesting global mix. The UW-Madison Dance Program will give students and patrons a taste of this unique blend with â??Causeway,â? a culturally rich, multimedia dance performance. Chris Walker and Kate Corby â?? newly appointed assistant professors â?? will make their UW performance debut in the show, which runs Oct. 1 through Oct. 3 at 8 p.m. in the Hâ??Doubler Theater in Lathrop Hall.
Everybody has to have a hungry heart this week in Madison, with plenty of events leading up to the big Food for Thought Festival this weekend. In conjunction with the UW-Madison’s Go Big Read initiative, the good folks over at the Ebling Library in the UW Health Sciences Learning Center have put together It’s Good For You! 100 Years of the Art & Science of Eating, an exhibit that draws from the collections of libraries across campus.
At first glance, Laura Olear’s painting look simply like colorful abstract art. This one looks vaguely like raspberries, rendered larger-than-life in dark red and bluish-green. That one could be the inside of a walnut. Another looks like a beehive.
But a closer look at a description hanging next to a ghoulish mask reveals it to be a massively inflated rendering of Mononucleosis. Those raspberries are actually Herpes. The walnuts are HIV. The beehive is a virus related to E. Coli.
Olear’s “Pathological Processes” is a series of digital prints, watercolors and large-scale oil paintings hanging in the Ebling Library. The art lines the hallways around the second floor of the Health Sciences Learning Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
“So you’re an actor?” goes an old joke in both Manhattan and Hollywood. “Which restaurant?”
The image of the starving artist may be romantic, but that’s about it. The University of Wisconsin-Madison is combating uncertainty for people contemplating arts careers with a groundbreaking program called Arts Enterprise. It includes a public lecture series.
“Eat food.” It doesnâ??t sound like very profound advice, especially coming from a James Beard award-winning food writer. Author Michael Pollan will be explaining his theory when he visits to Madison next week.
Michael Pollan, the acclaimed author of five books, including The Omnivoreâ??s Dilemma and In Defense of Food, will be in Madison next week for a series of events as part of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Go Big Read common-reading program and this yearâ??s Food for Thought Festival.
Four puppets used by the UW-Madison Javanese musical ensemble disappeared at the end of July and haven’t been seen since.
They may not have been worth much money, but are of great sentimental value to the owners, Sakti and Steve Laronga.
Hereâ??s a campus mystery: Four puppets used by the UW-Madison Javanese musical ensemble disappeared at the end of July and havenâ??t been seen since.
They may not have been worth much money, but are of great sentimental value to the owners, Sakti and Steve Laronga.
“For us, those are one of the very valuable things we have,” said Sakti Laronga, who is affiliated with the universityâ??s Javanese ensemble.
As rapper Rick Ross has continuously stated, it is deeper than rap, and Hip-Hop is far more than just a genre of music. The University of Wisconsin-Madison is in the process of integrating the art form into its school as it will be devoting its fall semester to the scholarship and art of Hip-Hop.
Chancellor Biddy Martin proclaimed the 2009-10 academic year the â??Year of the Humanities,â? bringing with it a series of lectures, performances and other events that will educate students, as well as the general public, on the impact of the humanities.
The University of Wisconsin kicked off its fall lecture series â??Getting Real: The Future of Hip-Hop Studies Scholarshipâ? Monday with a seminar discussing the relevance of hip-hop in academia.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s fall lecture series will focus on the art of hip-hop with lectures by a variety of prominent speakers.
Topics during the nine-week lecture series will cover subjects such as sociology, history, women’s studies, and communication arts.
Lorrie Moore had just begun working on what would become her new novel, â??A Gate at the Stairs,â? when she told one interviewer that she was writing a book â??about hate.â?
Later she recalled telling someone else that it was a novel about chores.
Since 1984 Ms. Moore has taught creative writing at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Lorrie Moore is that rare bird of America, a fiction writer who has found success writing short stories as opposed to novels: Her acclaimed 1998 “Birds of America” became a bestseller, one of just a few short-story collections in the past dozen years or so to resonate with consumers as well as with book critics.
Iâ??m aware of one â?? one â?? reader who doesnâ??t care for Lorrie Moore, and even that one seems a little apologetic about it. â??Too . . . punny,â? my friend explains, resorting to a pun as though hypnotized by the very tendency that sets off his resistance.
The University of Wisconsin – Madison will host author Michael Pollan, whose book “In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto” is the focus of the Go Big Read common-reading project.
Pollan will give a free public talk on Thursday, September 24, at the Kohl Center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Quoted: Andrew Taylor, director of the University of Wisconsin-Madison Bolz Center for Arts Administration.
Want to ride out the recession? Think long-term.
That was Michael Kaiserâ??s advice to Wisconsin arts companies big and small Monday in the Capitol Theater in the Overture Center. Kaiser, head of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., is 21 cities into his cross-country “Arts in Crisis” tour. Heâ??ll eventually visit at least 65 cities.
(Also participating in the conversation: Andrew Taylor, head of the Bolz Center for Arts Administration at UW-Madison)
As the chairman and CEO of independent film distributor Regent Releasing, Stephen Jarchow watches a lot of movies, trying to decide which ones his company should pick up and release in theaters.
He sees so many that he has a ritual â?? every morning, he gets on the treadmill for an hour and watches a movie while he exercises. His company specializes in foreign films, which is ideal; he can read the subtitles and not have to worry about the sound of the treadmill drowning anything out.
The popular Abraham Lincoln statue at the top of Bascom Hill on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus is getting its first cleaning in more than a decade.
Milwaukee art conservator Cricket Harbeck will start cleaning the statue this week. The cleaning coincides with the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birth and the centennial of the statue’s placement on the hill.
