April

Odds n’ Ends Betty Salamun, Director of DanceCircus is creating an eco-arts parade for Urban Ecology Center’s Earth Day Celebration on April 17 in Riverside Park. Join the DanceCircus “Life’s a Beach” Fresh Water Parade for Earth Day skits, songs and dances, and interactive games. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The “Make Coke Broke” art show, an event to protest Coca Cola’s treatment of workers in its overseas manufacturing facilities, will be held Saturday, April 24, 3 p.m. to midnight at the Green Dragon Cafe, 2010 N. Farwell. There will be live music from 3-4:30 p.m. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . “Belle Epoque Nouveau,” a fashion show and art auction, will be held April 24 from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. at the Historic Turner Hall Ballroom. Participants include fashion designers Carrie Pasko and Kerry Riley, Brady Street boutiques Dragonfly, Vieux et Nouveau, The Wailing Banshee Boo-tique, and Bayview Design Studio. Fashion Ninja will showcase their designs. The art auction includes original pieces from Milwaukee and Midwest artists. Tickets are $8 April 19-23 at participating businesses, $10 at the door. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Woodland Pattern Book Center, 720 E. Locust, is presenting an origami book structures workshop Sunday, April 4, 1-4 p.m. Participants create origami books. The workshop is led by book artist Katherine Ng, director of the letterpress studio at the Armory Center for the Arts in Pasadena. Cost is $40; call 414/263-5001 to pre-register. Reception and artist’s talk is April 9, 5-8 p.m., and her work will be on exhibit at the center March 21 through April 30. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Funtup Film Festival, a blend of different genres of art, is accepting entries through April 7. Last year’s event at Turner Hall featured a silent film show with works from several local artists, accompanied by live improvisations by the band Jacobstone. This year’s festival of music and art will be held May 1; $5 gets you in for the 7 p.m. show. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . “Live Music Sundays” open mic and sing-a-long at Mac’s Red Eye, 3865 N. Richards, is now being hosted by Blue Valentine. Film Riverhorse, 701 E. Center St., is hosting an eight-week film series with lectures and discussions led by Kelly Mink, Ph.D. The series will focus on the great films and great directors that have shaped the history of the medium. Each film will be accompanied by a brief lecture and followed by a discussion among participants. Food and drink available – sobriety optional! Thursdays at 5:30 p.m., starting April 1. Cost is $50 in advance for the series. Contact Mink at kmink@uwm.edu. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Stephen Wetzel’s new video, “Men’s Hockey,” will show at the Wisconsin Film Festival on April 2nd at 5 p.m. in the Orpheum Theater (Madison). Other Milwaukeeans exhibiting work at the festival include Jennifer Montgomery (“Threads of Belonging”), Theresa Columbus and Didier Leplae (“Chaza Show Choir”), Xavier Leplae (“I’m Bobby”), Chris Smith, Sarah Price and Dan Ollman (“Yes Men”), and more. For more info see www.wifilmfest.org. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The 26th annual UW-Milwaukee Latin American Film Series will run April 16 to April 23. The series offers 10 feature and documentary films from Mexico, Peru, Argentina, Haiti, Venezuela, Brazil, and Cuba. Highlights will include two special screenings: the 1968 Hour of the Furnaces, one of the most influential films from Latin America, and Royal Bonbon, a Haitian co-production (with France and Canada — no subtitles), to commemorate the Haitian Bicentennial. The series includes three films shown in collaboration with the 2004 Chicago Latino Film Festival. For the schedule, visit http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/CLACS/outreach/filmseries.html. Theatre In the mid-20th Century, Milwaukee’s Walnut Street neighborhood was awash with bars, music clubs, and restaurants patronized by people from all corners of the city — the joints were jumpin’! Freeway development brought this vital community to a halt. Theatre X honors the spirit of Milwaukee’s jazz era in the oral-history play JAZZ, written and directed by Artistic Director John Schneider, to be remounted by Theatre X April 8 through May 16. The Studio Theatre at the Broadway Theatre Center will be transformed into a small cabaret with the audience as club patrons (with cocktail service provided!). A jazz combo accompanies the stories. Songs and dances feature Adekola Adedapo, Robyn Pluer, Rodd Walker, Azeeza Islam and Romero Beverly. The show runs Thursdays through Saturdays, 7:30 p.m., and Sundays, 2 p.m. Call 414/291-7800 for tickets. Dance “Water, Water Everywhere,” a DanceCircus concert inspired by the United Nations International Year of Fresh Water, premiers April 30-May 1, 7:30 p.m. at the Humphrey Masonic Center at 790 North Van Buren Street. Tickets are $15, $10 student/senior citizen/unemployed, and are available at the Center during business hours. Or, call DanceCircus at 414/277-8151 for reservations. Ko-Thi Dance Company, one of America’s oldest African dance companies, will present Kuumba 2004: “BombaLe!” May 7-8, at 7:30 p.m. in the Historic Pabst Theater, 144 East Wells Street. Ko-Thi welcomes special guest Madisalsa of Madison. The show celebrates and links the cultures of Trinidad, Puerto Rico, Haiti and Cuba with the vast cultures of Africa Ticket prices range from $17 to $42. The show kicks off Ko-Thi’s 35th season. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Danceworks has on-going registration for Spring classes and workshops, including classes from Beginner to Advanced, Children to Mature Adult. Ongoing classes in Modern, Ballet, Pointe, Tap, African, Jazz, Hip-Hop, Latin Styles, Pilates, Yoga, Stretch. Call them at 414/277-8480. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The UWM Peck School of the Arts Dance Department presents New Dancemakers 2004, April 13-18, in the Mitchell Hall Chamber Theatre, 3203 North Downer Avenue at UWM. The event is the annual concert of student choreography, featuring work by UWM Dance majors and an opportunity to catch a glimpse of the future of modern dance in Milwaukee. Tickets are $8 general admission/$5 for students and seniors. Call 414/229-4308 for reservations; seating is limited. Books March was a big month for the Harry W. Schwartz Bookshops. Publishers Weekly chose Schwartz for their annual Bookseller of the Year Award, Milwaukee Magazine and The Business Journal presented Schwartz with their Ovation Award for Corporate Participation, and Schwartz re-launched their website—a new site at the same address, www.schwartzbooks.com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Publishing company Soft Skull’s biggest political book of the year is having its national kickoff at Harry Schwartz Bookstore in Milwaukee on April 7. How to Get Stupid White Men Out of Office shows how young people across the country have changed the course of local politics. The League of Independent Voters is using the book and media campaign as an organizing tool to get youth politically involved. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A Spanish/English poetry reading with Ana Belen Lopez, translated by Jen Hofer. Belen Lopez and Hofer will read excerpts from Sin puertas visibles: An Anthology of Contemporary Poetry by Mexican Women (U. of Pittsburgh Press & Ediciones Sin Nombre, 2003) at the Jody Monroe Gallery, 631 E. Center St., on Friday, April 2, at 7 p.m. Hofer and Renee Gladman will also read their poetry at Woodland Pattern Book Center Saturday, April 3, at 8 p.m. Visual Art Flux Design celebrated the grand opening of its new gallery in the group’s 811 E. Vienna Ave. building on March 26. Gallery 326, as you can imagine, shows off the design skills of the Flux team. Working with metal, stained concrete, wood and glass, they have turned a large industrial space into a split-level room with charm and plenty of places to sit, talk, and consider the application of the organic and high tech designs exhibited. The lighting shows everything off to its best advantage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Hotcakes Gallery, 3379 N. Pierce St., launches a new exhibit this month: “Chicago All-Stars: Sweet Home Chicago,” featuring six Chicago artists exploring the concept of home. Opening reception is April 2, 5-10 p.m., and the show runs through May 28. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Gallery Night and Day are April 16 and 17. A one-night show April 16 in the parking garage of Rubin’s furniture store, 224 E. Chicago St., will feature site-specific projections, performance pieces and installations from 6-11:30 p.m. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A Gallery Night exhibit at St. John’s Cathedral, April 16, 5-8 p.m., 831 N. Van Buren, will feature artwork created by adult and youthful offenders in the Wisconsin Department of Corrections. Proceeds from the sale and auction will directly benefit the women and families of The Cathedral Center, Inc. They provide help and emergency shelter for women and families. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . DeLind Fine Art (formerly on Jefferson) has relocated to 756 N. Milwaukee St. Voss Books, 229 N. Water St., is hosting a book signing and design showcase for Gallery Night, April 16. From 6-9 p.m. Milwaukee Art Museum exhibit curator, Glenn Adamson & Brooks Stevens Design President, Kipp Stevens will be on hand to sign “Industrial Strength Design: How Brooks Stevens Shaped Your World.” The artwork on display is from some of the current cutting edge Brooks Stevens Design product designers entitled: The Artist Inside the Designer. The display features unusual use of mediums and materials: oil paintings on wood and metal, charcoal drawings, Frank Lloyd Wright inspired stained glass, lamps made from cast bronze fixtures on natural log base, wood sculptures, photography from travels to Vietnam, a Japanese architecture inspired chair, a beautiful handmade guitar and much more. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . “Confluencias,” a collaborative installation by Cuban artist Leandro Soto and Milwaukee artist Raoul Deal, opens Friday, April 2, 6-8 p.m. at Walker’s Point Center for the Arts, 911 W. National Ave. Using paintings, drawings, video, sound, sculpture, found objects and more, this exhibition combines the artists’ ideas about migration and diaspora. The piece represents the latest manifestation of an on-going creative dialogue between the artists, informed by conversations that have taken place in the United States and Mexico over a period of twelve years. During the opening reception, Soto and Deal will perform a new version of “Oggun”, a performance art piece that reflects aspects of Afro-Cuban culture, centered on the mythic figure of Oggun, an Orisha (Yoruba saint). The reception and performance are free and open to the public. The show runs through May 22. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Vieux et Nouveau 1688 N. Franklin Pl., has on exhibit through April 18 work from various artists. The show includes “Woman with Red Hat” by Juliet Mathes, “Red Pond” and “Planet Near Butterfly Nebula” by Robert Splittgerber, “Three Aliens and Small Creature” by David Witzling, and”Famine” by Cris Hart. Hours are Sundays and Mondays noon-5, Thursdays and Saturdays 11 a.m.-6 p.m., Friday 11 a.m.-7 p.m. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Check out the Peep Show at Evan’s Bar on S. Kinnikinnick April 4 at 5 p.m. That’s right, a Peep show, but this one involves real Peeps, candy Peeps. All are encouraged to bring their own artistic Peep creations. For further information contact batipoco@hotmail.com.