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SCOTT WALKER, MEET JOHN DOE
you over for a chat during a John Doe investigation. Walker has been spinning this meeting as being “voluntary,” a way for him to “cooperate” with Chisholm, but it’s voluntary only in the sense that Chisholm isn’t serving him with a subpoena and ordering Walker to come in to his office.

Stealing from the Poor Box
This is at a time when Walker has been using millions from out-of-state donors to literally flood the television airwaves of Wisconsin with commercials looking voters straight in the eye and brazenly lying that he eliminated the state’s budget deficit.

Issue of the Week
The newest voucher school study from the nonpartisan Public Policy Forum (PPF) confirms what we’ve known for years: Students in the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program (MPCP) aren’t performing any better than their peers in the Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS).

Milwaukee Fish Fries 2012
ilwaukee is known for a few food and drink stereotypes, most notably beer and brats. On Fridays, however, nothing tops the fish fry. These traditional meals can be found nearly everywhere in the city, from local corner taverns to some of the most high-end restaurants.

Milwaukee-Area Restaurants Reinventing the Fish Fry
Fish fries are a remarkably rigid local tradition. Reluctant to mess with a proven favorite, restaurants take few liberties with their Friday specials, so diners will find essentially the same meal regardless of where they go: fish, rye bread, coleslaw and choice of potato (usually french fries or potato pancakes).

Cakes, Pies, Wraps Take Flight at Birdie’s Cafe
Birdie's Café (4110 W. Martin Drive) is one of Milwaukee’s gems, a former residence featuring a main room with a fireplace, a conservatory with slate floors and a few hideaways filled with bric-a-brac. In summer, amid singing birds and blooming flowers, diners will find some great outdoor tables.

PRO ARTE QUARTET CELEBRATES 100 YEARS
Pro Arte is celebrating its centennial season with newly commissioned works from four well-known contemporary composers. Like their Tosa East appearances, new commissions are part of PAQ’s legacy, something that Jeff Sturgeon, orchestra director for Tosa East High School, says enhances the value Pro Arte brings to his budding musicians.

‘A Separation’ Separates Itself From the Pack
Razieh is a harried woman trying to do her best, which isn’t good enough for Nader. They argue. When Nader pushes her out of the door of his apartment, she slips on the stairwell. Later that day she miscarries. Razieh’s abusive husband, hot-tempered and dim as a bull in the ring, wants blood.

Fools for Tragedy’s Existential ‘Waiting’
The actor playing Di Di is pragmatic, having taken work in children’s theater to make ends meet. The one who plays Go Go is more into the abstract art of theater. Their dichotomy is mirrored symbolically in the two texts that form the central conflict of the story: the.

16th-Century Laughs in Windfall’s ‘Wittenberg’
Carol Zippel directs a cast that is well suited to the job at hand. David Flores plays Dr. John Faustus, professor of philosophy. The talented, experienced Flores has played tragic figures before. Perhaps his version of Faustus will be informed by his 2005 portrayal of Richard III.

Theatre Happenings
- When an art curator from New York takes a trip to the Midwest, she discovers a young woman who might be able to shed some light on photographs taken by Walker Evans. The drama A Thousand Words.

‘The Line Unleashed’ at Kohler Arts Center
New York artist Dave Eppley unleashes important lines of differing sizes by placing strips of sign vinyl throughout the Kohler Arts Center. He uses a spectrum of hues to accentuate architectural details.

Visual art happenings
Senior-level MIAD students curate a photography exhibition by renowned artists Jill Greenberg, Todd Hido and Andrew Moore in the Perspectives Gallery. An opening reception takes place 6:30-9:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 17..

Eugene Von Bruenchenhein’s Cities in the Clouds
Born in 1910, Von Bruenchenhein spent much of his life in a Milwaukee home near State Fair Park. He painted and sculpted for decades. His wife, Marie, was the muse of his photographs. This exhibition is but a sliver of his career, and offers a look at his early painting, dominated by nature themes such as undersea worlds.

TALKING ABOUT NATHAN ENGLANDER’S NEW WORKS
These eight tales shift from absurdist stories to those strongly rooted in reality and range from the West Bank to the United States; most of the stories center around Jewish characters, and all contain an unexpected jolt that throws readers for a loop.

Much to Love in ‘Buildings on Fire’
And Hermes does get it. “The concentrated vitality of the ’70s music scene diminished in the ’80s and ’90s as the city revived economically and Manhattan’s downtown artist ghetto became a high-end playground and marketplace, driving nascent musicians elsewhere.

Sweet Invention: A History of Dessert
Pleasure has a long history, and so do desserts in Michael Krondl’s delicious account. The awardwinning cooking instructor finds a sweet tradition going back thousands of years in India, where the ambrosia is described in Hindu scriptures, and archeological evidence for baklava’s origins in the Fertile Crescent of antiquity.

Riverwest
Probably one of the most reasonably priced versions in town at $7.95, the Tracks fry consists of three pieces of breaded cod accompanied by coleslaw, fries and rye bread, and can be served broiled on request. A “Fisherman’s Delight ($9.95)” also includes lake perch and butterfly shrimp.

Physics and Performance Art at Turner Hall Ballroom
Alverno Presents, a dedicated importer of performances by groundbreaking artists from around the globe, is breaking ground itself with a commissioned performance by Milwaukee artists. Whatever transpires in the Turner Hall Ballroom on Feb. 18 in “Sexy Results: Cedar Block’s Dig for the Higgs and How the Quest Was Won,” this is an exciting development.

Charles Bradley Finally Gets His Moment
To be fair, Brown probably stunned a lot of people that night in Harlem—that’s just the kind of performer he was—but not all of them went home and set about doing it themselves. “I just couldn’t believe how a musician could just go out on the stage like that,” Bradley says.

Megadeth, Motörhead, Volbeat and Lacuna Coil @ Eagles Ballroom
remains supportive of the heavy-metal arts, as evidenced by a packed Eagles Ballroom on Sunday night. A sea of metalheads of all stripes threw up the horns and cheered loudly throughout the evening for a Gigantour tour stop featuring genre stalwarts Megadeth and Motörhead.

The MidEast Beat Celebrates Poon Paregentan, Armenian Mardi Gras
Whether it’s called Mardi Gras or Carnival, the idea of a final blowout before the austere season of Lent has traveled widely across the world. In Armenia, the big party is called Poon Paregentan (literally, “Good Living”), and this weekend the Milwaukee celebration features the Wisconsin band MidEast Beat.

Mark Borchardt Beyond ‘American Movie’
still in the years since he first made a splash. He has appeared on “Late Show With David Letterman” and other TV shows, played himself on an episode of “Family Guy” and found parts in a slew of indie movies. He is one of the stars of director Frankie Latina’s political thriller Modus Operandi,.

No Reason to Suspend 2012 Hopes
When the Brewers start gathering in Arizona this weekend, they’ll have plenty of reasons to be confident: the experience gained from winning a division championship and a playoff series; the return of a solid starting rotation and finishing tandem; and plenty of offensive talent.

Freewill Astrology
You’re on the verge of breaking through a wall of illusion that has sealed you off from some very interesting truths. In the hope of providing you with the last little push that will take you the rest of the way, I offer two related insights from creativity specialist Roger von Oech: 1.

Chuck Shepherd’s News of the Weird
Not One Second Longer: In December, a man identified as Antonio C., 99, filed for divorce from his wife of 77 years, Rosa C., age 96, in Rome, Italy. According to an ANSA news agency report, Antonio became upset when he discovered decades-old letters stemming from an extramarital affair Rosa had in the 1940s.

ART FOR ART’S SAKE
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Four Questions for Rachel Kramer Bussel
Rachel Kramer Bussel was in town last week to promote her twin passions: erotic writing and cupcakes (which go quite well together, when you stop to think about it). She has been writing erotica since 1999 and has edited more than 40 anthologies.