Misses and more misses and a few hits

There is certainly no shortage of great stuff I'm going to have to miss tonight. Everybody else has probably told you about the Mekons show (the music's at the Pabst, the art is at Hotcakes) so there's no new news here. But just yesterday in my myspace bulletin box I learned that the fabulous Barrettes are opening a Stonefly show tonight headlined by Detroit's Gore Gore Girls. Oh, if I didn't have a previously can't-miss personal engagement, I would be there. Its really seeming like a groundswell of great grrrl rock is coming back, and I'm hoping this points to more. On Friday night, I'm also going to have to miss Nick Lowe at Shank Hall, but honestly, as good as he is, I've liked the work he produced for other people better than his own stuff.

Saturday I am not missing the Couch Flambeau 25th Anniversary show at the Cactus Club, and the music is only one reason. This is really full circle at that place. With the new remodel, the Cactus Club hopes to bring back a lot of the people that helped establish it as a destination for edgy but great underground music-- and frankly, those people are Flambeau's age and contemporaries. People come out of the woodwork whenever Jay Tiller, Neil Socol and Rusty Berg get together on stage (as well they should) and I think those people, (who used to cheer on the Packers on Sunday afternoons with Eric Uecke but acquired the increasingly complicated lives that accompany their age) will like what they see when they venture out: clean bathrooms, slick bar design, good beer, wine and top shelf liquor selection. At the same time, there's posters and artwork around to remind us all what great stuff went down at the club and what promises to go in the future.

Ramblings:

• I participate on a mom's forum at MilwaukeeMoms dot com, and while you may or may not be interested in the general discussion, there's an obscure thread running about my Number One Wisconsin Pet Peeve: the lack of use of turn signals around here. Is this not the law? I'm beginning to think that turn signals aren't even required equipment on vehicles operated in Wisconsin, much less their use mandated for turns, lane changes, etc. It's driving me nuts. My (shameless name dropping) friend Miles Harvey used to comment on people who didn't use their turn signal to warn you they were turning, rather, he'd say, they would flip it on at the last second, admitting they were turning. Wisconsin drivers don't even seem to admit it. They're in total denial.


• The Brewers. I'm not even getting my hopes up. Even if I did, I would be such a hypocritical johnny-come-lately to this whole thing. There's a part of me that silently cheers for the Cubs. I think even if the Cubs did it and not the Brewers, Brian wouldn't be totally despondent. I mean, who doesn't like the Cubs? You can get annoyed with them (as a Chicagoan, we're constantly annoyed with them), you can try to curse them out, but nobody really hates the Cubs. It would be like hating the the Smurfs. (Wait a second. I hate the Smurfs. Excuse: I'm too busy right now to come up with a better analogy.)


• But I am gearing up for hoops season. Tonight we pick up our half-season ticket package, so I'll know which games I'll be hitting this year and writing about. Found a great local blogger who specializes in the bucks by the name of the Bratwurst who I don't always agree with, but he's good at spilling the news and gossip and that's why he's now on my blogroll. You know me. I don’t just write about the Bucks' playing. I critique the food, the halftime entertainment, the cheerleaders, the singing of the anthem. You know, the stuff Jon McGlocklin isn't telling you about at the game. But this should be some interesting season. Yi is signed, so is Charlie "Ring My" Bell (I'm already listening to that song three times a day to build up aural callouses against it, God I hate that song) but Ersan "International Man of Cuteness" Illysova is gone! And now we have Larry the K running the show with his deer-in-the-headlights look on his face. Can't wait for that first tipoff.