David Luhrssen lectured at UW-Milwaukee, the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design and Milwaukee Area Technical College. He is author of Secret Societies and Clubs in American History, Mamoulian: Life on Stage and Screen, Hammer of the Gods: Thule Society and the Birth of Nazism, and coauthor of The Encyclopedia of Classic Rock, Brick Through the Window: An Oral History of Punk Rock, New Wave and Noise in Milwaukee, War on the Silver Screen, Elvis Presley: Reluctant Rebel, A Time of Paradox: America Since 1890, and Searching for Rock and Roll. He has contributed to the American National Biography Online, the Grove Dictionary of American Music and 100 People Who Changed 20th-Century America and has been published in Historically Speaking, History Today, the Journal of American History, and other journals. Luhrssen co-founded the Milwaukee International Film Festival, is a regular contributor to WUWM’s “Lake Effect” program and Managing Editor of Milwaukee’s weekly newspaper, the ShepherdExpress.
While some of the imagery in mother! is compelling, director Darren Aronofsky falls into the trap of contemporary horror directors for whom enough is never enough and subtlety is sacrificed for visual overkill.more
Despite a long running time and a profusion of baroque horror visuals, It is an effective adaptation of Stephen King focused on a band of outsider kids forced to confront their fears.more
Frank Sinatra was still in his peakyears, a couple decades before time began to collect its inevitable chargesagainst his voice, at his 1962 concert in the Royal Festival Hall. Royalty waspresent, but all eyes were on the perf..more
On Flying Carpet, the German world music ensemble Quadro Nuevo collaborate with Cairo Steps, a German jazz band, on an album that explores the music of the Middle East.more
The Milwaukee Short Film Festival, located this year at the Fox Bay Cinema Grill, offers two days of films 15 minutes or less in length. The selections are from all over the world but include many minority and women directors from Milwaukee...more
The first American death in the conflict that grew into the Vietnam War was, in the words of Geoffrey C. Ward and Ken Burns, “the result of a tragic misunderstanding." Lieut. Col. A PeterDewey was in Saigon in 1945 trying t..more
In Slight Exaggeration, poet Adam Zagajewski argues eloquently against the flat irony of postmodernism and for admiration and enthusiasm in the humanities.more
The sequel to Al Gore’s Oscar-winning An Inconvenient Truth, An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power, shows the growing danger of climate change. It also spends too much time on Gore.more
Ricky Phontaine, a Milwaukee rapper with an alias adapted from a minor character on Martin Lawrence’s ’90s sitcom, debuts as an album artist with his artistic persona fully formed.more
In a reversal of the usual American order of the day, Stax’s stars were African American but behind them stood integrated ensembles such as The MGs.more
As Wisconsin historian Michael Edmonds astutely observes in his picture-book history, the architects “wanted nothing to do with modernism" and resolutely designed an edifice that was “nostalgic, reassuring, and safe."more
“Lone Star BBQ—The PerfectPartner for Your Chicken," Lee Hayden insists. A movie star in the 1970s, Lee(Sam Elliott) is reduced to doing voice work for commercials. He keeps impatience in check when the unseen producer asks ..more
The protagonist of Jinn, Summer (newcomer Zoe Renee), is a high school senior and aspiring dance major confronted suddenly with a life-changing shift. Her mother converts to Islam, dons a hijab and subsumes herself in a new system of thought and ...more
The first full day of the 2018 Milwaukee Film Festival program is packed with 29 films across the event's 8 venues, highlighted by the 2018 Colombian crime film, Pájaros de Verano (Birds of Passage) at 3:30 p.m. at the Avalon Theater.more
The 2018 Milwaukee Film Festival kicks off on Thursday, Oct. 18 at 7 p.m. with one of two showings of Science Fair, directed by Milwaukee native Cristina Costantini and Darren Foster.more
Milwaukee native Michael Schumacher’s The Contest is large and filled with facts, telling details and observations about the people and events of its momentous year.more
Milwaukee eclectic philanthropist Donald Baumgartner and his biographer Kurt Chandler will discuss With the Wind at His Back: The Charmed and Charitable Life of Donald Baumgartner.more
Recently released on Blu-ray and DVD: John Lennon & Yoko Ono, Imagine/Gimme Some Truth, Exorcist II: The Heretic, Joaquim Pedro de Andrade: The Complete Films, Izzy Gets the F*ck Across Town.more
With “Blacklist: The Hollywood Red Scare,” the Jewish Museum Milwaukee mounts the first large-scale exhibition on the hunt for Communists in the movie industry since 2002.more
This first-ever book on Victor Lundy’s career includes many black and white photographs of the accomplished architect’s residential, commercial, governmental and ecclesiastical projects.more
Employing stark lines drawn from a dark palette, graphic artist I.N.J. Culbard has made a mission of interpreting the cosmos-bending tales of H.P. Lovecraft.more
The Rumpus Room in Downtown Milwaukee is so popular on weekends that, during a recent visit, the party ahead of us was told there was a two-hour wait.more
