Sudsy Success: More than 2,700 hungry and thirsty revelers dropped in at the second annual Shepherd Express Stein & Dine event at the Wisconsin State Fair Park Expo Center. With 50 beer booths, 20 cheese vendors and more than 10 sausage makers no one left thirsty, or hungry. Cheese offerings included Mighty Fine Food’s delicious pimento cheese made by Martha Davis Kipcak and Jasmine Rodriguez. FatHead Jerky was on the menu, as well as Macski’s Highland Foods’ haggis.
Helping out was a kilted Sombat Meksyphet and his wife, Cathy Young-Meksyphet. Also in kilt was Rick Bowman, there with his girlfriend, Lara Parker, displaying his own creation, a “go satchel,” which he plans to launch on Kickstarter.
Other vendors included Melissa Thornton’s MilwaukeeHome T-shirts and products, the Brew City Bruisers and Summerfest, with a queue vying for free tickets. Steve Vaughn and Stan Markus entertained with oldies/goodies music. Circulating were Shepherd powers-that-be including publisher Louis Fortis and Dave Luhrssen. Milwaukeean-turned-Washingtonian Jeff Eagan, a chapter president of the National Treasury Employees Union, stopped by. Ben Wagner, the up-and-coming attorney with Habush, Habush & Rottier, was seen enjoying some of Milwaukee’s finest.
Theater Deals: The Pay-What-You-Can Night at Next Act’s Three Views of the Same Object brought out a nearly full house to see the gripping, funny, sad play about aging and end-of-life decisions. The all-star cast included Laurie Birmingham, Flora Coker, John Kishline, James Pickering, Susan Sweeney and Jenny Wanasek. Producing Artistic Director David Cecsarini hosted.
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Pre-functioning in the parking lot were “playgaters” Dan Schley; Chris Segedy, with a great new ’do; actors Michelle Lynn Brien and Tom Marks; Turner Hall’s House Manager Al Godshaw; and Tom Eschenburg. Spotted were playwright Mike Neville and Catherine Jones; Kohl’s retiree Todd Michalek; and ever-spry 83-year-old Jack Noonan and his wife, Olivia, with pals Jeff Palasz and Shari Latawiec.
Earth Day Doings: B&D checked out the Great Waters Group of the Sierra Club’s Earth Day presentations at Gordon Park Pavilion. Emceed by Dianne Dagelen, the program featured singing, a puppet parade with Judy Dubrowsky’s work, and presenters including keynoter Venice Williams of Alice’s Garden, Fondy Foods Executive Director Young Kim, HOME GR/OWN Project Manager Tim McCollow and Transition Milwaukee’s Sarah Zahner, snazzy in her faux cherry hat and tutu.
Cloning conservation notables were Ed Anderson as John Muir, Trisha Miller as Rachel Carson and Paul Smith as Aldo Leopold. Earth poet Suzanne Rosenblatt recited her food contaminants poem. Bonnie Williams and Judith Ellwanger directed Cross Lutheran’s talented gospel youth choir.
Caring for Mother Earth was emphasized by inter-faith readings by Michael Zimmerman (Ojibwe), Katie Heinen (Hindu), Sumana Chattopadhyay (Buddhist), Lenore Lee (Jewish), Joyce Ellwanger (Christian) and Huda Alkaff, director of Islamic Environmental Group of Wisconsin. The Rev. Suzelle Lynch from the Unitarian Universalist Church West closed with remarks about “soulful eating.” On hand were Dr. Mary Washburne and Bob Boucher, Tim Maher, Barbara Leigh and worm lovers Trudy Holyst and Mick Glabere.
Promise, Promise: The AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin’s 28th Make a Promise Gala at the Wisconsin Center was sold out, with more than 1,000 supporters. The Vive le Promise event had a Francophile twist with chanteuse Robin Pluer and models styled by Timothy Westbrook and Alexis Rose. Toya Washington was a great host, with honorees Will Radler, Susie and Cary Silverstein and 40 HIV case managers. Also speaking were Board Chair Jennifer Walther and ARCW President and CEO Mike Gifford, there with his wife, Donna.
The ARCW team that made it all happen were Mary Hartwig, Tony Bilot and Kristin Wollenberg, plus auction organizer Jeff Smith, and 100 volunteers including Jenni Hofschulte, Shawn Howard and Renee Vandlik. Also from ARCW were Kathy Fargo and Dan Mueller and his wife, Pam.
Mingling were MillerCoors’ Tami Garrison; Robert Peters from Patience, Tolerance and Acceptance (PTA), the city’s oldest gay support group; John Klink and Stephen Zilli, whose family company just opened Nell’s Garden Cafe at the Domes; and, in full bling, Jeffrey Masse, Dr. Robert Beto and Tim Grair. Michael Johnston came with a group after champagne “chez Johnston,” including Bob Gliniecki, Rick Steiner, Paul Fairchild, Roger Krawiecki, Jeff Gosseck, Jerry Dlugi, Ram Rojas, Allen Finefield and Stu Feider.
Bustling Bay: The Bay Restaurant is a busy Thursday night after-dinner music venue, with performances ranging from crooner Jerry Grillo backed by keyboardist Joe Kral to the rock ’n’ roll of Ian and the Dream, which features lead singer Ian Ash, Chivo on bass and percussionist Brian (“The Dancing Drummer”) Farvour.
Among Grillo’s fans were Barbara Wagner and Mary Meyer. On hand for the Ian and the Dream show were Deb Lukovich of Alinea and her husband, John Price; singer Marly Ariel and her “momager,” Lisa Perelshtein; Ash’s girlfriend, Becky Gardenier, and her Waukesha Woodman’s work pals Victoria Reichert, Reginelle Liesel and Ginelle Rabago; plus Hubertus transplants Dennis and Debbie Schaefer, now Whitefish Bayers.
Running a tight ship was Bay owner James McMahon, recently snaring a freestyle category second place at the Northern California Mustache and Beard Competition. Kept bustling were servers Sara Meier, Meaghan Hoadley, Karmyn VandeWettering and Jamie Topaz.
If you have any tips for Boris and Doris, contact them at borisanddorisott@aol.com. Their next column will appear in the May 15 issue of the Shepherd.
