The Bridge

I'm not sure these pictures are worth your time, but just in case the bridge is gone in 20 years and no one remembers it: here are some pics of the Wisconsin Ave bridge over the Milwaukee River being raised to allow a ship to navigate under it as we went downtown for Visit Milwaukee. 

David McCallum

David McCallum, the American actor who gained fame playing Russian agent Illya Kuryakin on The Man From U.N.C.L.E  in the '60's, and found fame again on NCIS this century, has died. He was 90.

Buckle your seatbelts folks because this is dorky as heck, but as a kid around middle school or freshman year of high school I started watching The Man From U.N.C.L.E in reruns. At the time for whatever reason I wasn't interested in college or in grades at all, although I believe that was probably just a spell I would have grown out of on my own. 

Enter that TV show. Within a very short time I became obsessed with the idea of becoming a secret agent. I even went so far in those pre-internet days as to call the library's Ready Reference line and ask if U.N.C.L.E was a real agency. As I recall they couldn't give me a definitive answer (it's fictional) but all the same I figured at the very least I would need a college degree and good grades to be qualified for the job.

So in a way, David McCallum greatly influenced my future LOL.

RiP 

Brooks Robinson

Brooks Robinson, the 18th time All-Star and 16 time Gold Glove MVP, Hall of Famer,  and mainstay of a great decade of Baltimore baseball, has died. He was 86.

Robinson's era predates my arrival into  baseball fandom, but I'm very aware of his epic defense at the Hot Corner.  He's often ranked as one of, if not the, greatest third baseman in history.

I personally give that honor to Mike Schmidt, but I wouldn't fault you for naming Brooks.

RIP sir. 

Sawyer

pics by Smiley

My Big Grandpa's Coat of Arms

A year or so ago I posted this online: 

Before you say it, I know this is mail-order fake heraldry. All the same, I found it amongst my late Big Grandpa's effects almost 40 years ago and would appreciate some help blazoning it, and what it may have represented.

I received the following replies:

The "S" stands for "Slapczar..." (can't read the entire name). The eagles, blue shield overall, and paly-looking thing make it more heraldic-looking to people who don't know heraldry.

Even if it was actual heraldry, Eagles got picked a lot because they look cool. Generations later people could retcon all kinds of contradictory things into grandpa's decision to choose an Eagle, but they were almost certainly wrong. Grandpa just thought an Eagle was an important, prestigious, animal that looked cool on a surcoat. Palys are a nice, distinctive pattern that looks nice on a surcoat.

Letters are rare, and basically unknown outside of Iberia. This is partly because heraldry developed in the 1200s-1400s when literacy was minuscule, and partly because heraldry has to be legible on a dude's surcoat 300 ft away.

RE: Letters, interestingly enough, they pop up a few times around Silesia. For example in Zittau, or Wroclaw

Blazon for the shield could be something like:

Quarterly First and Fourth Or, Second and Third Tenné an eagle Azure, in the first a Gothic letter S Sable, in the Fourth a pallet and sides sinister and dexter all Sable, an inescutcheon Azure

Clinched!

The first 43 years of my life the Brewers made it to the postseason all of four times.

Tonight, they made it five times in the last six years 

It's a nice change. 

Now let's do some damage in the playoffs, shall we?

May 2nd, 2007 at 7:01 pm

A blast from the past: this is my old office at Job Prior, with six year old YaYa keeping me company. 

 

A Neighborhood Fox

On the night of the 19th, about a half hour before midnight, Lisa and I came to a stop when a fox froze in the intersection. 

Now, if you listen to the hysteria on local Facebook pages, foxes are Enemies of the State, on the hunt not only for your dog and cat but literally also hungry for your baby and toddler.

Balderdash. What a sad testament to the divide between human and nature in 2023. The fox is a threat to your chickens, rabbits, and other small mammals, but hardly likely to steal Little Junior from his stroller or dare to take on your Fido. 

This example of the beast was so afraid of humans that he stayed put in the intersection, unsure and frightened about where to flee. Then he posed AGAIN, on the sidewalk when we pulled up to take more (admittedly poor quality) cell phone pictures. 

Support 102.5 FM, WJTI

I wanted to quickly drop a note urging you to tune into 102.5 FM in the Milwaukee area, WJTI. 

It's a new smooth jazz station and I couldn't be happier to hear it on the air on commercial radio.

What I like to do is listen to Smooth Jazz on the way into work in the morning. It focuses me, it calms me, and it lets me start the day with a clean mental slate. Then on the way home I usually switch to Zeppelin or Pearl Jam.

I know most people would probably reverse that order, seeking to calm down after work, and I get it. It just doesn't work for me.

So please give a listen to the station and support is advertisers. Thank you!

The Closing of the Downer

There's been some pretty lousy local news tonight. The 108 year old Downer Theatre, Milwaukee's oldest extant movie theater, has shut its doors.

For most of my adult lifetime the Downer has primarily shown artistic films with limited mainstream appeal. 

There's already some talk that the Milwaukee Film Festival will purchase the building, but as far as I know that's internet rumor and I don't know if there's anything to it. They already own and operate the nearby Oriental Theater, and I doubt they care to run a competitor located that close.

As to the Downer: I can't say I went there often but I do have a very specific memory of watching  Val Kilmer in the John Holmes bio Wonderland with Lisa in 2003, and slipping out into the lobby to take a call from Ray bragging to me that the Yankees had lost the World Series.

Goodbye Downer. You had a heck of a run.

Roger Whittaker

 I try to restrict my memorial posts to public figures who had some impact on my life, even if its a secondary connection to a memory I hold dear. 

Roger Whittaker, who died on the 13th at age 87, meets that definition by the slimmest of margins. The folk singers' name and face echo strongly in my memory but for the life of me I can't think why; was he popular with my parents or grandparents? Did I see a concert of his on TV? I'm drawing a blank. 

None-the-less: RIP

Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

Recently I have a mental block that prevents me from devoting any attention to TV, books, movies - its's a complete 180 of my first five decades honestly. It took me three (maybe four?) viewings to get through this movie. Not because of the movie itself, just the mental block. 

That, may I just say, sucks. 

Now I know nothing of Dungeons and Dragons the game, having never played it, so don't ask me if Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves is true to the source material or even the spirt of the game itself. 

What I do know: this movie was FUN. 

It is lighthearted from opening to close, but not so over the top that it loses track of the plot (simple though it be) or devolves into a parody. When there is a need for emotion or character development the tone tightens effectively, and their are some ingenious action sequences in the third act. 

I liked it. 

I really, really did. 

Go rent or stream it today!

The New Face of Memes

After sending these two pictures in the family group chat: 

Lisa wrote and jokingly said I should be the new face of the "woman trying kombucha" meme:

She was only kidding, as I said. But . . . . why not? Go ahead folks, make me a meme!

 

Nugget

Goodbye A&J's Polish Deli

This afternoon Lisa and I met up with YaYa and Alex at A &J Deli on Lincoln, just east of 13th St. Earlier in the week we'd heard the sad news on Facebook that they were going out of business, and we wanted to stop by, not only to stock up, but to say our goodbyes to a fine place. 

From the first glance, it was obvious the news wasn't just correct, but had been met with a similar reaction in the Polish community. 

All we wound up walking out with was a jar of pickles, red cabbage, jam, beet chrzan, and a bag of milk cookies. Oh, and a bottle of Polish alcohol for YaYa. 

The owner was there and said he was retiring, but I don't know, it didn't seem like a planned move. In recent years another Polish store, Wioletta's, has gotten a lot of press attention and foot traffic. I have to imagine - and imagine is all it may be - that Wioletta's greatly impacted their bottom line. If so, it's a shame. A&J's felt real - Wioletta's  . . .man, it's like shopping at a Target. 

RIP A&J's. We'll miss you. 

.

Mazda

A third of the way home from work I heard a bang and some horrific grinding noises. Thinking I blew a tire, I pulled over. 

Nope, it was some nasty and complete finale of my braking system. I don't even know how to explain it, as I *have* had my brakes worked on in recent months. 

This is not good. 

Frank Llyod Wright's Burnham St Homes

This morning Lisa crossed a long time wish off her bucket list. She grew up along Layton Boulevard in Milwaukee, only a few houses away from a group of Frank Lloyd Wright homes along Burnham Street. Two tickets and four decades later she finally got a chance to tour them. 

In 1915 Wisconsin native and self-proclaimed world's greatest architect Frank Lloyd Wright signed a contract to create the American homes. These are homes of his own design, modified for a middle-class budget, and built of pre-cut lumber. While his goal was obviously to make money, philosophical intention was to make even a lower or middle class home a work of art in America, and he envisioned selling tens of thousands of these. In the end largely because of World War i, the plan failed and a very small number of the homes were built.

That's what makes the Burnham Street houses an incredible treasure, right here on Milwaukee's South Side. Not only were these the first he constructed, in order to use these as examples for future sales, but there are not one or two but six American homes on a single block.

All the homes were held by private owners for decades and given that more than a century has passed many modifications were made over time. The charitable organization that now operates five of the six homes endeavors to put them back in the exact condition they were in the moment the sale was completed in the 1910's.

The first few houses are duplexes. All feature a built-in breakfast nook

And open it to the air sleeping porch, as was common in the days before antibiotics when disease was rampant and fresh air was seen as a preventative.

Alas he chose a Innovative stucco for the exterior that failed after 20 years and, even worse, was ridden with asbestos.

There were many rumors about the houses and their history that Lisa heard growing up, and I heard many of them as well not only from her but other people who lived in the neighborhood. Things like only two of the houses were actual Wright houses, while the others were copycats. That is untrue, but logically I think it stems from the extreme modifications a few of the owners did to the exteriors. 

There is also the tail of the east most house having been built for a friend of Wright. The story goes that on the basis of that friendship, Wright consented to include a garage for him despite his known distaste for garages. The docent adamently labeled this false, but they were a few photographs from the original owners on display and it does seem, at least my eyes to show a contemporary garage or shed on one of the properties. Not everything of the era is fully known yet so perhaps that neighborhood story will wind up having a kernel of truth after all.

The second house from the East was completely restored beginning in 2004. It now features a gorgeous front porch leading to a recessed front door under a consciously low pergola, which then opens to a large atrium.

Keep in mind this model is only 805 square feet, and yet it has an atrium big enough to accomodate the entire tour group. 

The house, unusual for the era, had a fireplace in the center of the home, subtly dividing the space. 

I think this is one of the greatest features he put into the homes; he was a big believer in the corner windows to not only let in more light but to tie the room in with the outside world.

The home featured 3 paint colors on the wall, to give the impression of more height. 

Stunning furniture - recreations of the originals. 

Here's the breakfast nook of this house

The kitchen features a builder decision that was grossly unsafe, a stairwell that began within the kitchen itself, with the floor just ending in front of the icebox. I'm sure more than one time the original owner went for something in his icebox and wound up stumbling down the stairs. As this violated the original design plans, it is believed to have been one of the things that led Wright to sue for the right to end the contract with the builder. 

The bathroom didn't really impress me or scream "old" as I've lived in places with similar rooms. 

 The tour was supposed to take between 30 and 45 minutes. We spent ninety minutes on it, and loved every minute. 

If you visit Milwaukee, make sure to make time to see those houses!