On the market’s upperlevel, activists mingled and chatted prior to the awards presentation.Circulating were Karen Campbell, WCFboard president; Linda Honold,director of Wisconsin Voices, and her husband, Reynolds; attorney JackieBoynton; Kathy Ronco, directorof Highland Community School; singer DavidDrake of Organic Arts Ltd.; and DebbieDavis, head of the new Time Exchange in Riverwest. A clutch from the D.A.’soffice, including John Chisholm, wasjoined by former D.A. Mike McCann.
All were there toapplaud as the Jack Rosenberg Award for lifetime commitment to social justicewas given to Assistant D.A. David Lerman,a community restorative practice coordinator for Milwaukee Public Schools. Amoving tribute to Lerman was offered by Custer High Schooljunior Jatash Jackson, one of theMPS spoken-word artists who presented their work during the evening. MPSteacher Matthew Hoffmann organizedthe pupils’ poignant readings.
The Outstanding Granteeof the Year Award was presented to the Good Jobs and Livable NeighborhoodsCoalition (GJLN), with director PamFendt accepting. In her talk, she recognized the work of Robert Kraig, executive director ofCitizen Action of Wisconsin, and MattBrusky, its political director.
The evening wasorganized by Jeff Streier and Cindy Fesemyer, niece ofpublisher/Eastmore Realty’s LeonardSobczak, who was in the audience, as were Mary Kelly, Public Market culinary instructor Liz Crawford and BarbChudnow. B&D also bumped into The Kitchen Table Project’s Martha Kipcak, who was catching up withLianna Bishop, leaving for summerfarm work at Tipi Produce in Evansville.
Jazz on the Go: Multifaceted Victor DeLorenzosinger, songwriter, actor, studio owner, jinglewriter and visual artisthas a new gig lecturing on “my life in spite of itall.” DeLorenzo’s new manager, LindaLindquist, is keeping him busy on the museum and university circuit,including UWM’s History of Rock and Roll classes. In addition, he performed theother night in the cozy backroom of Bay View’s Sugar Maple.
Drumming for PrestigeAtlantic Impulse, his latest musical incarnation, DeLorenzo was joined onstageby Jason Wietlispach and John McCoy for a jazzy, space-agesound. In the audience were Rick Ollman,Deborah Clifton and John Kishline,and Mike Hoffmann. Holding down thefort out front was artist/musician AdriennePierluissi, who owns the bar with husband Bruno Johnson.
Flying High: Eagerly awaiting the MilwaukeeBallet’s world premiere of Peter Pan,B&D sneaked a rehearsal peek. The preview was worth it, watching Peter (Michael Linsmeier) and Wendy (Susan Gartell) fly through the air withthe help of an elaborate pulley system. Impish Tinkerbell (Luz San Miguel) and roguish Captain Hook (David Hovhannisyan), plus the rest of the cast, were also putthrough their Neverland paces by MichaelPink, Milwaukee Ballet artistic director and the show’s creator.
Pink has worked on theproduction for five years, doing a lot of last-minute Skype-ing with Englishcomposer Philip Feeney. Theelaborate set design is by Rick Graham.The extravaganza is set to open May 13.
Artistic Chef: D&B swung into the Milwaukee Art Museum to meet the museum’s newexecutive chef Thi (“T”) Cao andcheck out his mouth-watering new Café Calatrava menu. The lakeside eatery waspacked with Café regulars such as Alverno professor Jodi Eastberg and her husband, John,the Pabst Mansion’s senior historian. In anunsolicited testimonial, the latter proclaimed the MAM restaurant to be “thebest lunch place in town.”
David vs. Goliath: Businessman Todd Kolosso claims he will be the one to finally unseat GOP Rep.James Sensenbrenner, the ultimate Washingtoninsider with 30-plus years in Congress. Kolosso held his first “friend raiser”at the Oakcrest Tavern in Shorewood, with pals and politicos such as Sheldon Wasserman stopping by. On handwere Kolosso campaign manager Leah Hornand volunteer coordinator Sara Graves,as well as Patricia Najera, Ed Heinzelman, Neil Wallace, Tom Hibbardand Ramona Kitzinger. Consultants KatiePrown and Kelly Herda were in the crowd.
Music ’n Books: B&D stopped in at thesoon-to-close Open Book to check out its singer/songwriter series, catching upwith Richard Olson and his son Uriel, Tom Blood from the Blood Stones, and Deb Roland, singer/songwriter/music teacher. Listening in wereseries organizer Kelly Finkowski andpals Sean Higgins, James Weber and Kimberlee Kautzer; Lois Malawsky and Jay Larkey; and Keith Schmitz, the force behindOpen Book, and his wife, Lana Cramer.
If you have any tips forBoris and Doris, contact them at borisanddorisott@aol.com. Their next columnwill appear in the May 20 issue of the Shepherd.n
