Play in the City

Concert Preview: September '07

After my Lollapalooza recap, it was mentioned by a PITC reader that they’d be interested in checking back here for both recommendations of upcoming shows and recaps of them; this prompted me to give it a shot. (I’m glad someone trusts my judgment, although if I told you that my first music purchase was a tape of John Secada, would I lose credibility?)

At the beginning of each month from here on out, I will write a quick recommendation of the shows coming to Milwaukee venues. By no means do I expect everyone to have the same taste, but I figured I’d offer my two cents anyway.

Coming in September…

Bloc Party
Tuesday, September 11 at The Pabst

I saw Bloc Party in Chicago a while ago. With an immediate surge and quick permeation of unexpected energy, Bloc Party hammered through songs, dance-rock tracks that make every hipster scuttle. It’s pop – either you love it, hate it, or just dismiss it, but either way Bloc Party will be its master and draw a sucker like me into their catchy refrains and poppy sounds. Their live performances are said to have “electric with flawless execution.” Typically in a set they play five or six great numbers and another handful that are just okay. Still, it's all in the delivery and even the sleepers are approached with charge and mastery.

$23 General Admission

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Finger Eleven
Saturday, September 15 at The Rave

This is one of those bands you never really admit to liking. Their albums are sequestered in the back of my CD book so I can avoid being accused of having poor taste in music – normally I think I more or less know what I’m talking about. Finger Eleven is just one of those alternative metal bands whose grooves and heavy rock forces you to crank up the stereo and sing along – skipping the overplayed “One Thing” and putting their latest release, “Paralyzed” on repeat.

$14 General Admission

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Ani DiFranco
Wednesday, September 19 at The Riverside

To say that Ani DiFranco is a bit of an anomaly among modern rock musicians would be a gross understatement. The feminine folk singer who oozes individuality can play at Carnegie Hall and make it feel cozy. With two Grammy nominations, albums appearing on Billboard’s music charts and sold out concerts worldwide, Ani is indisputably the most successful musician on an independent record label – she’ll also be the perfect remedy for a fleeting summer fling.

$33 Reserved Seating

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The National
Friday, September 21 at The Pabst

My first experience with The National was two years ago. I was drinking scotch and listening to sounds of regret, confession, and hopelessness that transform entirely with sing-a-long flair. The National has their live show locked as they play perfectly executed, poetic numbers that blossom into new discoveries with tremendous impact and intensity. FYI, the second track off their 2005 album, Alligator, is titled “Karen.” How cool do you think I feel? Undeniably cool.

$15 General Admission

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Rabbit in the Moon
Friday, September 21 at The Rave

Dubbed “the Grateful Dead of electronic music,” Rabbit in the Moon is possibly the most original electronic group out there as they combine a clean and aggressive sound with performance art and live video projections. Their mind-altering performances are wild with abstract costumes and groundbreaking music.

$25 General Admission

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Ryan Adams & the Cardinals
Tuesday, September 25 at The Riverside

I saw Ryan Adams as a solo acoustic artist several years ago in Minnesota. It was a train wreck – he couldn’t remember lyrics or would repeat verses because he forgot he sang them. Currently clean and backed by a fantastic band, the Cardinals, Adams has unfolded into an explosive, exciting and real musician who produces some of the most creative, beautiful and powerful music of our generation.

$25 Reserved Seating

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Ryan Shaw
Tuesday, September 25 at The Riverside

Ryan Shaw’s soulful sound is compared to 50s and 60s greats like Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, Sam Cooke and Wilson Pickett. I was fortunate to see this energetic throwback artist at Lollapalooza this summer. Shaw’s polished, poignant sound gave me goose bumps just as Stevie Wonder’s “I Was Made to Love Her” and Ottis Redding’s “Try a Little Tenderness” give me the chills.

$15 General Admission

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“Weird Al” Yankovic
Thursday, September 27 at The Riverside

I guess there’s something to be said about an artist that has earned three Grammy Awards among nine nominations, four gold records, and six platinum records in the United States. Yankovic is known in particular for his humorous songs that make light of popular culture and often mock specific songs by contemporary musicians. Frankly, I can’t stand him, but I’m sure someone out there will be very thrilled to know that they have a chance to hear parodies such as “Amish Paradise” or “Eat It.”

$33.50 Reserved Seating

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Mandy Moore w/ special guest Ben Lee
Sunday, September 30 at The Pabst

Don’t judge. I’ve heard some of Mandy Moore’s new album, "Wild Hope," and it’s apparent that she is no longer worried about moving teens out on the dance or becoming a one-hit wonder – this is a gigantic leap from her bubblegum pop days of “Candy” (Thank God). I think Moore found her niche – I’d even say that someday she might be equated with Tori Amos or Sarah McLachlan.

$20 Reserved Seating

There are a lot more shows coming up in September. If I had more time, I’d list all of them. Instead, I’ll encourage you to check out the Rave and Pabst or Riverside for more information.

Snow Day!

December came in with a bang today!

Last night when I went to bed, visions of a long, cozy, unexpected day off from work danced in my head. The weathermen were calling for 4-12 inches of snow in southeastern Wisconsin and, just like I used to when I was in school, I hoped with all my might to be on the 12 inches side of things so that maybe, just maybe, it'd be too dangerous to venture out to work come morning.

When the alarm went off, I sprang out of bed to peek out the windows and - sure enough! - we were BURIED. The wind was blowing, the snow was falling, lightning was flashing and sporadic thunder was shaking the house. I turned on the TV to find that we were under "Blizzard Advisory" in Milwaukee County and, on top of all schools being closed (this is Milwaukee Public Schools' first snow day in a decade!), the National Weather Service was advising that people stay inside and off the roads if at all possible.

The phone call came shortly thereafter – my boss decided we'd be closed today. Boo-yah!!

I'd already showered and gotten ready so I didn't go back to bed. Dave kissed me good bye and headed out to try to get out of the driveway when I heard the advisory from the National Weather Service. I put my boots on with my bathrobe and ran outside to convince him to stay home. He wasn't too happy about it at first, but in the end he decided to stay put.

Now the snow has finally stopped and we're about to go outside to shovel the sidewalk and driveway. I feel like a giddy little kid being home on a Friday because of the weather, but I wish I had a better snow day companion! I want to go sledding, go for a walk, do something, but grumpy Dave hates the snow and wants to avoid it as much as possible.

My plan is to engage him in a snowball fight, and then he'll have no choice but to play with me!

Be back later probably with some photos of the winter wonderland!

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UPDATE, 9 pm – Here are a few photos I took while we were out shoveling today.

My fuzzy feelings toward our "winter wonderland" disintegrated pretty quickly once we got to work on that snow. The foot of it that we got was HEAVY, and it was COLD outside.

We spent an hour digging out of the sidewalk and driveway, sweating and freezing at the same time, and it would have taken even longer than that had our nice neighbor not offered us his snow blower for a while.

There was no snowball fight, and even if Dave had wanted to go sledding or for a walk, I wouldn't have been down for it. I wanted to get inside as quickly as possible to warm up and nurse my aching back!

I'm still very grateful for our day off, though. The sun came out this afternoon and we walked a few blocks to get a movie and some food and have been taking it easy the rest of the day.

You gotta love an impromptu three-day weekend!

Snow Bunnies

Alright, let's face it. Downhill skiing in Wisconsin isn't exactly what it is in, say, Colorado. Or Michigan. Or Vermont.

However, it is still an incredibly exhilarating and exciting way to spend a winter afternoon in these parts. When a vacation in the mountains isn't in the plan, places like Grand Geneva Resort offer downhill skiing to Wisconsin’s masses.

Sunday dawned sunny and crisp, which was a pleasant change from the dreary weather we’d had the rest of the week. I picked up my friend, Lauren (you remember Lauren!) around 10 a.m. and we were off to Lake Geneva to hit the slopes.

Lauren, whose dad lives in Denver, is an avid skier and snowboarder. I, on the other hand, have only been skiing a handful of times in my life, and before yesterday, it had been more than five years since my last outing. The first time I ever skied was on my 11^th birthday, and I just remember it being the best day of my life up to that point. I caught on pretty quick even then, so I wasn’t too worried about yesterday.

I grew up in Burlington, which is just 10 minutes away from Lake Geneva, so Grand Geneva is the only place I’ve ever been skiing. When I first went, the resort was called Americana and the ski hills had names like “Hot Dog Mountain" and "Michigan." I called them by those names all day and I think Lauren thought I just made them up. I didn’t, though!



When we pulled into the parking lot and saw the hills looming before us, it all came back to me. Riding the lifts with girlfriends, giggling about the boys we had crushes on. Seriously, that’s what I remember most about my ski outings when I was young – it was all about the boys!

After reading a sign warning us that the activity we were about to partake in could result in "catastrophic injury or death," we bundled ourselves up, got our lift tickets and boots, and headed on through to get our skis. The place was bustling with a lot of kids and families already at 11 a.m., but we still got our skis pretty quickly and were outside before we knew it.



It was so bright and beautiful out there – I was so excited to get going! Grand Geneva has three ski lifts that go up three main hills, but then there are 18 different trails to get down, ranging from very easy to expert level. The far hill is the easiest, the middle one (named Michigan back in my day) is moderate, with some expert trails on there, and the tallest one, closest to the lodge (which I fondly remember as "Hot Dog Moutain") is obviously the most difficult.

Since it was the lift we were closest to, we decided to try the middle hill right away. We lugged our skis as close to the lift as possible before putting them on – we didn’t want to do any more cross-country skiing than we had to! (We inevitably still did quite a bit throughout the day, pushing ourselves along with our ski poles – our arms got quite a workout!) We stood in the short line – which grew longer and longer as the day went on – and boarded.  That thing just keeps on moving, so you always have to be ready to get on and ready to slide on off at the top!

The ride up is a lift is quite peaceful, and it’s fun to watch all the skiers below. It was amusing to scan the horizon and see that there was no snow anywhere except on the hills. It was obviously fake snow, and I had been worried that it’d be really slick and hard to ski on, but it was amazingly fluffy and soft! There were patches of ice here and there, and it made a frightening scraping sound as you skied over it, but for the most part, the snow was just great.



When we got off the lift the first time, I was starting to get butterflies in my stomach. I remembered from previous visits that I had always gone down the bunny hill at least once, just to get my “ski legs” about me, but this time, not wanting to look like a wimp, I just went for it. Oh man, I was nervous.

The back of the hill wasn’t overly steep, but the first incline was more than I thought I could handle on my first try. I ended up sidestepping down it, trying not to fall, or squeal too much, until I was confident that I could start skiing without going too fast. Lauren was supportive, but was laughing, too. Once I went down the first time, though, I was golden. It felt wonderful to let myself go and fly down the hill.

Lauren, being the professional, went side to side down the hill – whoosh, whoosh – never going too fast, staying in complete control. I just couldn’t get both of my skis parallel very well – at least not when I was going fast. At first, I was the “snowplow queen,” as Lauren called me, which means I kept my skis in a V-shape and just plowed through the snow as slowly as possible. When the time came to go down the hill, I just “bombed it” – another of her terms – which means I just flew! It’s really scary to be that out-of-control, but you just gotta trust that you can keep your skis straight and not fall!

We went down the far hill – the easiest one – a few times right after that, but quickly came back to the middle one, as the far one was a bit too easy.

Throughout the day, I thought I was getting on and off the lifts like a pro, but I had two different lift operators make fun of me. “Try not to fall this time!” said one at the top (ok, I almost fell the time before that, but a little girl fell in front of me! It wasn’t MY fault.) And then later, one at the bottom said “Want me to slow it down for you?” with a smirk. What weenies. I think I was doing just fine, thanks.

After about ten times up and down, we were starving and decided to head into the lodge for some lunch. We laid our skis up against one of the racks and walked – awkwardly, in our heavy, forward-tilting ski boots – inside. The place was packed, and we waited in line quite awhile, but we ordered and managed to find a place to sit amid the chaos.



I was jonesin for a cheeseburger, and at the last minute my stomach convinced me to go for the double-cheeseburger. Ooh, it was good, but too much – I was really full when we were done. Lauren had a chicken fajita wrap and we also shared some fries and a chocolate chip cookie. It all hit the spot! The lodge also offers brats, hot dogs, chicken sandwiches, mini pizzas, candy bars, and all sorts of beverages, including hot chocolate if you need something to warm you up. For those who are legal and want to do some warmin up of their own, there's a bar adjacent to the cafeteria, too.

After a quick lunch we were back outside. We decided to ski down the middle hill a few more times to regain our bearings, and then we headed over to the big guy. There was a sign warning amateur skiers of this particular lift and hill. The lift went faster than the others, making it harder to get on and off, and it also towered much higher off the ground, as the hill was a lot steeper.



We got up there and yeah, we were quite a bit higher than before. I never made it further than down the back and then a few times down the side of the hill (which was labeled "Difficult.") Only Lauren did the "Expert" hills, and only a few times. She stayed with me for the most part! This hill was fun, but my favorite was definitely the middle one, since it took the longest to get down, and since there were so many options of which way to go down.

We both only fell once, and her fall was kind of my fault. There was a hill going down the back of the big guy that was labeled "Expert." However, as far as I could see, it looked like I could handle it. I had Lauren go down a little ways first to scope out the situation, and she told me that I probably wouldn't want to do it. So I said, "Ok, meet you at the bottom!" and skied down the back. When I got down there, Lauren was covered in snow. That back hill was mostly ice and she wiped out. I felt bad, but she was ok! My fall was just a little one – I was stopped halfway down a hill, ready to go down the rest when I just kind of toppled over. The hard part was getting up, though, and it took me a good two minutes to get back up!



We had such a fun day. Whenever Lauren and I get together, we just laugh and laugh and laugh. My cheeks hurt by the end of the day from laughing so much. We're both pretty obnoxious people, and while other people may think we're weird, we can just be ourselves when we're together! At one point, we were giggling so much that a lift operator did a double-take and said, "I thought it was two little kids getting on!" Yup, that's us. And proud of it.

I estimate we went up and down probably 35 times throughout our day … The lines for the lifts got a little long (long being maybe 5-8 minutes) in the middle of the day, but there were no lines again by 3:00 or so. We decided to go in around 4:00 – the sun was going down and we were getting really cold, and we were just beat.



Skiing is definitely something I want to make a point to do at least once a year. It's such a great feeling to sail down the hill and let the winter air hit your face. And when you're cold and tired at the end of the day, it's a cozy kind of cold and a good kind of tired. It's just awesome.

Skiing can be a pretty expensive sport to get into, but it's not too bad if you just do it a couple times a year. At Grand Geneva, an adult lift ticket for the day is $38, and boot and ski rental is $25. Lake Geneva is about an hour from Milwaukee.

It's been a pretty uneventful winter so far – skiing Sunday was definitely the highlight. Hopefully we don't have too much winter left, and this will have been the perfect note to end on!

Will post tomorrow night ...

... about skiing today!

Til then ... hope you had a great weekend.

Good night!

Blogger on Ice

He'll jump into the icy waters of Lake Michigan with me. He'll jump out of a plane with me. But the man will not go ice skating with me.

Yesterday afternoon as Dave and I drove downtown to Red Arrow Park to check out the skating rink, I had sweet visions of the two of us, mittened hands clasped tightly together, gliding around the ice. The chilly winter air would make our cheeks rosy, and after a good many times around the rink, we'd head into Starbucks and cuddle together with our warm cups of hot chocolate.

Silly, silly girl.

How could I have forgotten the time two years ago when we went to the Pettit National Ice Center? I paid for our admissions and skate rentals, we got all laced in and up onto the ice. Dave took ONE step onto the oval, turned around and said "I'm not doing this." I went around twice by myself and we went home. (I'll be visiting the Pettit and posting about it in the future - I'll just have to find a different skating buddy!)

So I shouldn't have expected anything more yesterday. I was a bit peeved at first, but then I simply resigned myself to the fact that I'd be skating alone.

Upon first seeing the rink, it looked like a scene from a movie – all kinds of people in colorful coats and hats, sailing around the rink (ok, some sailing, some holding onto the railings for dear life), with the cozy shack (well, Starbucks) behind, the towering Christmas tree and tall buildings rising up all around it. It's like Milwaukee's own little Rockefeller Center.

We walked into the "warming house" and the scene was a bit chaotic. Kids were running around, parents were trying to lace them up and get their own skates on, too; others were trying to make their way over to Starbucks and others were sitting next to the fireplace, trying to get warm. I rented my skates ($4) and found a spot on one of two long benches to put them on. We don't have any pictures of the inside because Dave was taking the pics and didn't want to seem creepy taking pictures with all the kids running around.



Once outside, I made my way onto the ice and struggled to keep my balance. I can hold my own on ice skates, but it always takes a little while to get used to it again. After assessing the situation for a minute or two, I was ready to go for it. I made my way around the rink, watching out for kids zooming through, and for people falling in front of me. The rink was pretty crowded, but not so crowded that it wasn't fun. After twice around, I had the hang of it – skating alone wasn't so bad!

(Forgive the lack of pictures of me actually skating - Dave took most of them from behind and trust me, they ain't pretty!)

Dave was a trooper, like he always is. It was cold out – and he had refused to wear a hat – and he just stood there watching me go round and round, taking pictures, all the while holding onto my purse.



After 20 minutes or so, I decided to call it a day. I could have gone longer, had I had a companion, but oh well. It was fun anyway.

The rink is open daily through February, and the only cost involved is skate rental if you don't have your own. A nice date idea – if your man can hack it – and a fun family activity, too.