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Shepherd Express Endorsements Vote April 3
before the council as well as initiate new, innovative programs. We like his idea to pair business school interns with budding entrepreneurs. If properly done, this proposal could be an exciting addition to the city’s job-creation efforts. A vote for Juarez is a vote for the future.

How Corporations Are Controlling Wisconsin Legislators
American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), an ultraconservative corporate-sponsored policy group, has been known to legislators for years, but it has just recently come under public scrutiny for the group’s creative—and controversial—promotion of corporate goals in laws passed in statehouses around the country.

Scrooge McRyan
If Ryan’s proposals to destroy Medicare, Social Security and health care for the poor were put forward not by a fresh-faced young congressman with puppy-dog eyes, but instead by a scowling old man with a mole on his nose, everyone would recognize his vision for America.

Issue of the Week
The law allows property owners to legally—and fatally—shoot intruders because the courts will presume that they had acted reasonably when they pulled the trigger. The law, which passed on a bipartisan vote last year, had been pushed by the National Rifle Association.

Heroes of the Week
Firm in the belief that challenges facing the community are best overcome when people assume greater responsibility for their lives, the Convergence Resource Center (3975 N. 68th St.) was founded in 2004 to provide resources to formerly incarcerated women to help them integrate back into society.

Hinterland Gastropub as Good as Ever
The menu stands out, as well. Chef Dan Van Rite has been a James Beard nominee for the last three years. Van Rite is very knowledgeable about current trends, as evidenced by house-made charcuterie and meat exotica like veal brains and veal heart tartare.

El Fogoncito’s Authentic Mexican Menu
A 1960s office building just south of Mayfair Mall is a very unlikely spot for an authentic Mexican restaurant, but Taqueria El Fogoncito (10425 W. North Ave.) makes it work. Look for the small bright awning, the only color on a pale yellow brick building.

Cornwall’s Gift to the Midwest: The Pasty
Certain regional foods seem to have such universal appeal that it’s surprising they aren’t more widely available. The pasty is a classic example.

Riverwest
“25 years?” Kumbalek says. “Seems more like 50!” To commemorate a quarter-century’s worth of half-wit and wisdom, Steve and Shawn Johnson, owners of the Uptowner Tavern (1032 E. Center St.), an institution in its own right, will be hosting a celebration to honor Kumbalek’s tireless efforts in laying down the essays for the masses, you bet.

Nothing Beats a Great Spy Film
AUT TALES OF STEALTHY UNDERCOVER AGENTS FROM THE CIV- IL WAR THROUGH THE COLD WAR.

This Week In Milwaukee
Spoof Fest has been paying loving homage to rock and pop bands of all stripes through gentle parody for nearly two decades. Since its early years at the Globe East, Spoof Fest has grown into a two-day event at Club Garibaldi, with a lineup that seems to feature more props.

‘Salmon Fishing in the Yemen’ Comes Up Empty
With an unstable and unpopular government, Yemen has been torn by civil conflict and civil war. American Predator drones targeting leaders of Al Qaeda, a group that dominates parts of the country, regularly fly over the troubled nation on the Arabian Peninsula.

Film Clips
7:30 p.m. March 29 at Marquette University Alumni Memorial Union Room 163. Free and open to the public..

REP’S ‘OTHELLO’ MIXES OLD WITH NEW
Clements considers himself to be a purist with Shakespeare’s work, so there will be a deep respect for the text. The contemporary visuals of this production may defy audiences’ expectations for what a Shakespearean show should look like, but expect the central inspirations and motivations behind the characters to remain intact.

‘Free 2 B U & Me’ Celebrates Individuality
Christy Hall Watson’s adaptation of the script weaves the disparate segments into a loose narrative. As directors, Watson and Erica Case keep the energy going with impressive momentum. Some of the best segments include Michael Traynor and Maureen Murray as kids who have a falling out over a string of letters.

Renaissance’s ‘Honour’ Adds Twists to Oft-Told Tale
Yes, there’s a lot of comedy—and irony—in this well-crafted script. Laura Gordon, a well-known Milwaukee actor and director, infuses Honor with her own style of quiet grief and anger. The couple’s college-age daughter, Sophie (Karen Estrada), voices the raw emotions linked to her betrayal.

THEATRE HAPPENINGS
From hit film to stage musical, Shrek.

VISUAL ART HAPPENINGS
THE VETERANS BOOK PROJECT UW-Parkside Foundations Gallery.

DEAN JENSEN’S OUTSIDER ART
In the upper gallery, Jensen presents two other exhibitions: Madison artist Sally Hutchison’s “The Shangri-La Project,” which applies abstract paintings and images to vintage linen books, and Jim Dine’s “Winter Dream,” a select suite of black-andwhite etchings by the esteemed 77-yearold Pop artist.

SUSAN TROLLER TALKS ‘CITY CHICKS’
Keeping chickens in cities is not a new phenomenon. It was only recently, though, that Milwaukee legalized the right for urbanites to keep chickens in their backyards, joining a growing trend of urban areas allowing residents to raise fowl at home.

The Arab Uprising: The Unfinished Revolutions of the New Middle East
History seldom repeats itself but often offers a guide to what might happen next. Given the media’s general incomprehension over the “Arab Spring,” the analysis by Marc Lynch, director of George Washington University’s Institute for Middle East Studies (and foreign policy insider) is useful.

MSO’S CONCERT IN THE BASILICA
March 30-31 at the Basilica of St. Josaphat (2333 S. Sixth St.)..

FRESH CUT COLLECTIVE’S LIVE HIP-HOP
“They just didn’t sound right,” says keyboardist/rapper Kiran Vee. “Something was missing from them. The energy and the character of our band wasn’t there. So in January we sat down and talked about it, and we realized that because our band is so much about our chemistry as players, the only way to really capture that was to record the album live.

Jerry Grillo’s Traditional Jazz Stylings
Jerry Grillo has been at it long enough to call himself a veteran—even if he answered his calling as a jazz singer relatively late in life. Only after retiring from a career as a schoolteacher in 1992 was Grillo able to devote himself to his first love.

Mike Doughty @ Shank Hall
a nightmarish, toxic relationship with his band mates and his label, Warner Bros., Mike Doughty reached a lot of people as the main songwriter and creative center of the ’90s alt-rock outfit Soul Coughing, scoring a couple of minor hits like “Super Bon Bon” and “Circles” as well as growing a sizable cult following.

MUSIC LISTINGS
City Butcherz, Leaders of The Lost, Mo Foley, Maniax, Tha Morgue, Nightmares on Milwaukee St. Raven DeLaVega, Outbreak Monkey, Prolifik, R.U.G. & A-Ron Tha Don (all-ages, 6:30pm) Rave / Eagles Club,.

CD REVIEWS
Bob Dylan handpicked this ragtag posse of vintage acoustic whizzes to open his 2009 tour of minor league baseball stadiums in an exercise in obscurity, eccentricity and, mostly, nostalgia.

Brady Street’s Pin Up Salon
We want to keep it girly. We obtained permission to use Gil Elvgren’s (1914-1980) pin-up illustrations. They conjure memories of a past era, when my mother or grandmother would get a wash and set every week and wouldn’t touch it until returning to the salon.

Bittersweet, Sure, But Hardly Sour
it the Final Five: the hours it took for Wisconsin’s agonizing one-point loss to Syracuse, followed by Marquette’s cold-shooting exit against Florida. A sudden ending just two steps short of the Final Four always stirs the “woulda, coulda, shoulda” blues, but as the Observers know only too well, life’s too short for much of that.

News of the Weird
March, Jason Bacon, 41, was arrested in Eureka, Calif., after he allegedly responded to a classified ad for a used motorcycle by offering to trade about $8,000 worth of his homegrown marijuana for the bike. According to an officer on the scene, Bacon told a deputy, “I know you can’t sell it, but I thought it was OK to trade it.

Freewill Astrology
strangers into thinking my life is more exciting than it actually is.” I highly recommend you adopt that approach, Libra. Do whatever it takes—lying, deceiving, exaggerating, bragging—to fool everyone into believing that you are a fascinating character who is in the midst of marvelous, high-drama adventures.

Just Because You Think You’re So
I’m Art Kumbalek and man oh manischewitz what a world, ain’a? So listen, as some of you’s know, I’ve given up work for Lent, which may be a whole lot of chutzpah on my end, seeing as how I figure I’m practically as lapsed a Catholic as gentlemen’s film star Jenna Jameson is a lapsed virgin on her end.

Sexpress
this week, I was in Las Vegas for the International Lingerie Show, an annual event that draws hundreds of sex toy distributors, lingerie manufacturers and store owners from around the country. Like so many other things in Vegas, the show is a mix of in-your-face hypersexualization coupled with complete indifference.