IntersectionsYou too can view film after VHS film on your own time. As many as you want, but you must return them on a weekly basis. There must be a catch. Nope. The Milwaukee International Film Festival 2004 is looking for hawk-eyed viewers to screen submissions and be part of the programming process. Their office is open in suite 212 at 2266 N. Prospect. Call ahead or e-mail screencom@milwaukeefilmfest.org. The 2003 fest set the pace for a long run for the fledgling event, which came to be primarily through the efforts of Dave Luhrssen at the Shepherd Express. Another type of viewing is available by a guy from rockstar design: www.jameskloiber.com. Kloiber recently unplugged himself from Rockstar Design and is determined to re-shape his creative career, perhaps in NYC. Summer Gallery Night witnessed the return of the infamous Jimmy Von Milwaukee who featured a River Rats Gallery in the alley adjacent to Soups On. A number of pieces from Mike “Ringo” White, Bob Watt, & John Shimon, were snapped-up. • •

Former Milwaukeean and now Minneapolis resident, Eric Lunde, returns to Brewtown for a September 10-October 10 art exhibit at the Red Car Gallery, which if you haven’t been there, is a sometimes gathering place for outsider art. In late June it was also the site of a farewell party for Linda Corbin Pardee who has stepped aside as executive director of Walker’s Point Center for the Arts, which used to be the place for outsider art. Hear tell guest curators will be steering the non-profit ship at 9th & National, which could unleash a hodge-podge of curatorial efforts mainly concerned with showing the work of best buddies of the curator. Now settled in a new space on floor two of the Marshall Building, down the hall from Luckystar, is Gallery 218, a 14-year veteran of the art survival scene. • •

Not so lucky is longtime gallery guy Michael Lord, sentenced on July 14 for fiddling with funds to keep his venue alive. Five years prison sentence stayed, five years probation, with 20 days in House of Correction. Payback for the missing monies will be spread over several years. An e-mail from Milwaukeeworld.com’s Michael Horne says “Lord accused me of stalking him, when in fact, I was watching the Bush motorcade.” There’s a rumor floating that a well-known gallery dealer in the Third Ward consigned a valuable T.L. (think too-loose law-trek) to the Lord Gallery, and has yet to collect on the alleged sale of same by Mr. Lord. Somehow though, it’s difficult to imagine a genuine T.L. loose in M’waukee. • •

Damage to the Beastie herd has been major this year, with No. 35 Beastie doing a perfect deadman’s float, south on the M’waukee river, past MIAD, before being rescued. Others have had dental extractions, periscope snappings, and in general, endured a myriad of insults to their fiberglass selves. The new batch of sculptures on the Riverwalk have fared somewhat better, and are a helluva lot easier on the eye. Peter Flanary’s “Concord” is a fine example (another of his works is on the south lawn of the Bay View library on K-K; and yet another near the Pavilion in Grant Park) but one wonders why, out of 18 sculptures, only two were produced by women–Beth Sahagian’s (Acqua Grilli 2001) and Gwendolyn Gillen’s 1997 “Gertie The Duck.” Please don’t call the latter “art.” • •

MJS art critic James Auer exhibited his photographs at the Commission House during the recent Gallery Night & Day. The list of a dozen plus photographers who exhibited him was strictly manly. Curious. According to photographer/MIAD instructor Francis Ford, his classes are primarily composed of female students. He remarked that for years they were primarily male. You decide what this means, if anything. • •

David Middlebrook’s 20-ton, newly installed sculpture at Gordon Park, apparently underwent re-configuration prior to completion when one of the elements was deemed too “phallic.” But hey, if you’re looking for “phallic,” look skyward to the tower at City Hall, or glory be! check out the church towers pointing toward heaven. On the subject of arty genitalia, the tunnels in our town, could, without much of a stretch, be said to be mighty like vaginas. When pols end up on committees giving out grant monies for public art projects, they often imagine themselves to be qualified “art critics.” Check out this issue to see what genuine art critic (the winner of several prestigious journalism awards in 2004) Tom Bamberger, has to say about the Gordon Park project. • •

Better by far than the drunks and pounding rains at Summerfest was the Tuesday Zydeco-do at Peck Pavilion where calm couples and their families dined and danced on the lawn near a list of things not to do. No Smoking. No Parking of Vehicles, unless of course they’re one of several Audis cluttering up the once beautiful fountain area. Cheesy. There’s more. When Audi sponsors MSO concerts, their logo is projected on to the velvet concert hall curtains. Arggh! • •

Raise the bar a bit: Hope House brought a slew of kids through the Riverwest Currents offices in late June. After a tour of the wee offices, the group gobbled sandwiches on the adjacent deck, and later a workout under the glorious sun at nearby Reservoir Park, which we hope isn’t targeted for a public art project, at least not without community input. • •

Up beat on Brady Street: Gabe Lanza’s new works now to August 28 at Grava Gallery. The Charles Allis loosens up a bit with Luckystar’s 13 (August 18 to September 19). Tom Crawford of WMSE deejays, and the blast after is a party at b-side, located upstairs at Barossa, which is also supplying the Allis’ eats. Luckystar stages a major event in the basement area of the Marshall Building soon in tandem with KMArt and Hotcakes. By the by, one of the partners at the latter gallery has flipped her final cakes and given a cold shoulder to the remaining partner at that particular RW venue. For a really good read, go to Tom Connor’s August Milwaukee Magazine feature on the tumble-down of UW-Milwaukee’s inova gallery. • •

Reminder: The AWE truck stops (August 2-6) at parks Smith, Merrill, and Johnsons. This wraps up their summer art sessions, but they’ll be around at various schools and community venues come Fall.