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Sara Rodriguez's Case for Fixing What's Breaking Us BY SHEPHERD EXPRESS STAFF
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cross Wisconsin, the conversations tend to follow a familiar pattern. In community rooms and coffee shops, at union halls and school gyms, people pull Lieutenant Governor Sara Rodriguez aside and start with the same categories of unease: the prescription they now stretch longer than intended, the childcare bill that exceeds the rent, the insurance premium that jumped again without explanation. Rodriguez listens the way a former emergency room nurse does; not dramatically, but attentively, with steady eye contact and careful follow-up questions, with a nurse's instinct to make a person feel heard. Sara has visited all 72 Wisconsin counties three times as lieutenant governor, hearing versions of the same story repeated with local variations: families working hard, doing everything they were told was responsible, and still feeling crushed by systems that no longer worked for them.
“Most politicians talk about health care like it's an abstract policy issue,” she said. “I talk about it like a place I've worked. I've held patients' hands, told families bad news, and watched people argue with insurance companies while sitting in a hospital bed. That changes how you understand the stakes.” Sara’s signature policy proposal, BadgerChoice, would establish a Wisconsin-governed public health insurance option for residents who cannot access— or cannot afford—private coverage. It is the kind of structural reform, Rodriguez argues, that becomes possible with unified Democratic control of the governor's office and the Legislature.
WISCONSIN CAN LEAD
“We don't need to wait for Washington D.C. to save us,” she said. “Wisconsin can lead. BadgerChoice is a Wisconsin solution to a Wisconsin problem.”
Rodriguez said, “We've normalized things that should never be normal. People paying more for health insurance than they do for their mortgage. Families working full time and often having to choose between childcare and rent. Parents choosing between filling a prescription and buying their kids' back-to-school supplies. Young people wondering if they'll ever stop living paycheck to paycheck. We must do better than this.”
From Superior to Janesville and everywhere in between, as lieutenant governor, Rodriguez makes her case in person and then stays put long enough to hear the response. This is her most natural posture: listening first, connecting policy to lived experience. The questions she returns to are remarkably consistent: What is working here? What isn't? What keeps you up at night? What is one thing government could do to make your life easier?
TOUCHING LIVES
While health care remains her defining credential, affordability extends to all areas including housing, groceries and childcare and serves as the connective tissue of her broader argument.
Wisconsin, she argues, does not simply need a manager of existing systems. We need to understand how those systems touch people's lives and who is willing to take on the structural forces driving costs upward. Her résumé reflects a career spent navigating those systems: emergency room nurse, Center for Disease Control epidemic intelligence officer, health care executive, state legislator, lieutenant governor. Rodriguez started on the overnight shift in an emergency room, where she learned the rhythm of crisis medicine and the consequences of delayed care. At the CDC, she later coordinated public health responses during emergencies, operating inside of government when lives were at stake. As a health care executive, she watched how staffing shortages, reimbursement formulas and budget decisions reverberated all the way down to the bedside.
“When health care costs go up, your rent becomes harder to pay,” she said. “When childcare costs as much as a second mortgage, your job choices shrink. When insurance premiums explode, people skip the doctor and get sicker. When small businesses can't afford to offer coverage, they stop expanding. It's all connected.” She describes health care, housing, childcare, prescription drugs, student debt and utility bills not as discrete policy buckets but as overlapping financial pressures that compound one another. In rural Wisconsin, she says she hears about hour-long drives to emergency rooms.
In Milwaukee, it’s childcare shortages and escalating rents. In college towns, mental health access. In manufacturing corridors, wages swallowed by insurance costs.
HISTORIC INVESTMENTS
As lieutenant governor her broader policy agenda includes vigorously supporting quality K-12 public education while at the same time substantially reducing school property taxes, restoring collective bargaining, expanding childcare access, rebuilding the nursing and health care workforce and making historic investments in affordable housing. Rodriguez is also unusually candid about the political conditions required to enact those ideas. Many of them, she acknowledges, are possible only with Democratic control of the legislature. “For the first time in over a decade, Wisconsin has a real shot at a trifecta,” she said. “Voters are tired of promises without results. If we get the chance to govern, we have to prove it matters.” Born in Milwaukee and raised in Waukesha County, Sara is the daughter of a union teaching assistant and a Vietnam veteran. She worked her way through school and built a public health career, juggling school drop-offs, last-minute childcare logistics and policy briefings in the same 24 hours. She spent years caring for her father with Alzheimer's, balancing caregiving with a full-time career and the chaos of parenting two young children with the help of her husband. That experience, she says, gave her "a very personal understanding of how fragile the support systems for families really are." When asked what she believes the next governor's job is, she answers without pause. “Making people's lives easier,” she said. “Making it so paying a health insurance premium doesn't mean risking foreclosure. Making it so parents don't have to choose between a paycheck and childcare. Making it so kids like mine can afford to buy a home and raise a family here. Being able to take a vacation once a year. That's the job.”
JANUARY 2026 | 3
NEWS 6
Washington, DC, May Never Be the Same
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10 Using Taxes and Tariffs to Promote Climate Safety — Issue of the Month 12 Kim Khaira Brings Together Milwaukee's Refugee and Immigrant Communities — Hero of the Month 13 This Modern World 14 Interview with Pardeep S. Kaleka — MKE SPEAKS: Conversations with Milwaukeeans 17 Monthly Crossword
FOOD & DRINK
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18 Sanford Really is that Good! 20 What's New for the New Year? — Beverages
SPECIAL SECTION 22 Best of Milwaukee Winners Listings 30 Best of Milwaukee Winners Circle 46 Winter Arts Guide 2026
CULTURE 62 This Month in Milwaukee
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LIFESTYLE
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64 How will the Pending Hemp Ban Impact UP's Higher Love's Dispensary? — Cannabis SPONSORED BY
66 Building Intestinal Fortitude — True Health 68 Drinking Himself Dry — Out of my Mind
HEAR ME OUT 70 Keeping it Joyful in January — Dear Ruthie 72 Milwaukee Chamber Theatre's 'I am my own wife' — My LGBTQ POV SPONSORED BY
ART FOR ART'S SAKE 74 From the City that Always Sweeps
4 | SHEPHERD EXPRESS
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Cover: Frank Lloyd Wright: Modern Chair Design - Courtesy of the Museum of Wisconsin Art, Photograph by Zak Gruber.
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JANUARY 2026 | 5
NEWS
Washington, DC, May Never Be the Same Trump’s desecration of the U.S. capital BY EG NADEAU
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his article is part of a monthly series of articles on corruption focusing on President Trump's second term in office. This one is about his egomania, dictatorial ambitions and the havoc that these traits are unleashing on Washington, DC.
Trump has long been into self-glorification. The hotels, golf courses, a “university” (which wasn’t in fact a university), vodka, steaks and bankrupt casinos bearing his name attest to that. His penchant for naming things after himself did not stop when he took office, with a host of Trump merch—from bibles to guitars—now available for purchase. In 2025, Trump’s egotism and wannabe dictatorial behavior have reached a new level in debasing America’s capital and threatening its democracy. The most egregious examples of the damage wrought by the combination of these personality traits include: 6 | SHEPHERD EXPRESS
1. His actions related to the storming of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021 The most anti-American of all of Trump’s assaults on democracy in the United States is his refusal to admit that he lost the 2020 election. Even after multiple failures to overturn state election results in state courts, Trump was not ready to give up on his attempt to retain the presidency after Biden beat him in the election. As reported by PBS, “The House Jan. 6 committee’s final report asserts that Donald Trump criminally engaged in a “multi-part conspiracy” to overturn the lawful results of the 2020 presidential election and failed to act to stop his supporters from attacking the Capitol.”
Illustration of Trumpington D.C. by Luc Nadeau. Wallpaper background by GettyImages/juli_goncharova.
One of the traits of an over-the-top egotist is to never admit that you are wrong. Accordingly, as reported by Wikipedia, “[During] the first day of his second term Trump granted blanket clemency to all people, nearly 1,600, convicted of or awaiting trial or sentencing for offenses related to the January 6 United States Capitol attack.” Through these pardons, he effectively exonerated himself from any wrongdoing in that “multi-part conspiracy.” 2. Concentrating power in the executive branch of the federal government Trump has done this in two ways: • Appointing three conservative Supreme Court Justices during his first term, thus giving the Court a 6-3 conservative majority that has enabled him to expand his presidential power (in particular, the Court’s ruling in Trump v. United States increasing presidential immunity), and through numerous other cases that have upset the balance of power between the President and Congress; and • Strong-arming a weak-kneed, Republican-dominated Congress. Even without the kowtowing of the Supreme Court to Trump, the Republican majorities in both the House and the Senate have given the MAGA president just about everything he wants so far, often in fear of retribution if they don’t. The Big Ugly Bill is a prime example of this timidity. 3. Takeover of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts By federal law, the U.S. president appoints the board of trustees for the Kennedy Center, who in turn select the organization's president and executive director. On February 10, 2025, only a month into his presidency, Trump flipped the script on this procedure. According to an article in the New York Times published that day, “President Trump announced in a post on social media Monday that he was appointing Richard Grenell as the “interim executive director” of the Kennedy Center in Washington. Mr. Grenell, who was Mr. Trump’s ambassador to Germany during the first Trump administration, is one of his most fiercely loyal apparatchiks.” “The president wrote that Mr. Grenell ‘shares my Vision for a GOLDEN AGE of American Arts and Culture’ and would be overseeing ‘daily operations’ to ensure there was no more ‘ANTI-AMERICAN PROPAGANDA.’” How has this “GOLDEN AGE” worked out so far? According to an early November article in the New York Times entitled The Kennedy Center Crackup, “Audiences are staying away. Internal sales figures … showed ticket sales down by about 50 percent from the same period last year … Dozens of employees . . . have been fired or quit. Outsiders with few obvious qualifications aside from party loyalty were handed top jobs. The center’s head of human resources estimated that staffing was down 30 percent from before Mr. Trump took over.”
JANUARY 2026 | 7
NEWS
4. The “whitewashing” of the Smithsonian Institution In March 2025, President Trump issued an executive order, "Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History," which called for a comprehensive review of Smithsonian exhibits and materials. The administration requested that content align with its interpretation of U.S. history, which it claims should emphasize national “greatness” and “brightness” rather than what it considers an overemphasis on negative aspects like slavery and racism.
who heads up DOJ and whom he appointed (and can fire), for almost a quarter billion-dollar payment. It sounds like a clear case of self-dealing, but who is going to stop it? 8. Two proposed Trump monuments: The “Arc de Trump” and Trump Stadium
5. The destruction of the East Wing of the White House to make way for “a big beautiful ballroom”
• CBS News reported on October 15 that “President Trump … showed off a model of what may be his next Washington, D.C. development project, an arch that resembles the Arc de Triomphe in Paris and is being referred to informally as the ‘Arc de Trump’ … CBS News' Ed O'Keefe asked the president who the arch is for, and Mr. Trump pointed at himself: ‘Me’.”
A Yahoo/YouGov survey conducted in late October indicated that “Americans disapprove of Trump’s White House ballroom project—and East Wing demolition—by more than [a] 2-to-1 margin.” But this dramatically negative reaction occurred after the damage was done.
• Trump wants the new Commanders stadium to be named after him. As pointed out by The Hill, “the Commanders are building a new stadium in Washington because President Biden—not President Trump—signed legislation to transfer the old RFK Stadium grounds back to the city.”
The stage was set for this demolition/abomination project in early July, when, according to an Axios headline, “Trump deputies take over powerful [National Capital Planning Commission].” According to an NPR article published in late October, this commission is “tasked with approving major renovations and construction projects on federal grounds in Washington, D.C.” He is also financing the project with private “donations” from wealthy individuals and corporations to the tune of $300-$350 million. Thus, Trump will likely have free reign in designing the big ugly ballroom, which will be about twice the size of the rest of the White House.
Conclusion It's common practice for dictators to have multiple palaces (Saddam Hussein, Vladimir Putin), for cities to be named after them (Stalingrad, Leningrad), and to build monuments that often don't survive the end of their dictatorships (Mussolini, Franco, Gaddafi). Trump is a wannabe dictator. This article describes his grandiose selfimage (and, perhaps, his personal insecurity), and how he wants to plaster his graffiti tag all over the nation’s capital. His egomania is one more way in which he is attempting to legitimate his and his followers’ authoritarian tendencies.
6. The military occupation of the city As reported in Al Jazeera News, On August 11, Trump “announced that he is temporarily taking control of the Washington, DC, police department, while deploying 800 National Guard troops to the city. Trump said his actions are needed to “rescue” the US capital from a surge in crime.” In fact, violent crime in the nation’s capital has been declining since 2023. According to a November 20 CBS News article “A federal judge ruled … that President Trump's months-long deployment of thousands of National Guard forces to the streets of Washington, D.C., violates federal law.”
E.G. Nadeau is co-director of the Cooperative Society Project, dedicated to the idea that humanity may be on the verge of a new era of cooperation, democracy, equitable distribution of resources and a sustainable relationship with nature. He has Ph.D. in sociology.
7. Seeking damages for “violations of his rights” by the federal government According to a late October article in the New York Times, “President Trump is demanding that the Justice Department pay him about $230 million in compensation for [two] federal investigations into him, according to people familiar with the matter.” He is claiming damages for federal investigations into possible connections between him and the Russians during his 2016 campaign, and for the FBI’s violation of his privacy by searching for classified documents at Mar-a-Lago. (The FBI did find illegally retained classified documents at Mar-a-Lago.) Now that Trump is president, he is essentially asking Pam Bondi,
8 | SHEPHERD EXPRESS
Photo of crown by GettyImages/TeamDAF. Wallpaper background by GettyImages/juli_goncharova.
JANUARY 2026 | 9
NEWS ISSUE OF THE MONTH
Using Taxes and Tariffs to Promote Climate Safety BY WILLIAM HOLAHAN
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n November 21, the United Nations ended its 30th annual climate meeting—dubbed COP30—with both achievements and disappointment. The meeting secured historic financial pledges, tripling adaptation funding and committing trillions by 2035. These are pledges to help poorer countries adapt to climate disasters— floods, rising coastal waters, monster storms, heat domes. However, the COP30 members failed to establish binding policies to phase out fossil fuel and deforestation. Those are not forgotten: the planned transition from COP30 in Brazil to COP31 in Turkey (November 2026) is a shift in focus from financing adaptation to establishing remedies.
COP31 is positioned as a test of credibility: moving from financial help for poor countries adjusting to climate change to concrete climate action to mitigate climate change. Supporting this transition is an important policy convergence aimed at the key element, i.e., the profitability of fossil fuel energy and the free disposal into the atmosphere of the associated emissions of heat-trapping gases. Three major players are converging on measures to harness the powerful forces of the market, reversing the incentives to use fossil fuels. They are Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, representing climate hawks in Congress; the Climate Leadership Council, founded by former Republican Treasury Secretaries James A. Baker III and the late George Shultz; and the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), recognized as one of the major scientific organizations in the world. 10 | SHEPHERD EXPRESS
CARBON TARIFF This policy convergence recognizes the necessity of increasing the cost of using fossil fuels. The proposal is comprised of both carbon taxation and a tariff on carbonintensive imported products. Together these measures reduce the strong incentive to pollute using fossil fuels. They raise the cost of carbon emissions both at the wellhead of fossil fuel sources and in international trading of products produced with carbon-polluting production methods. At each stage in the workings of the market, the higher prices discourage reliance on fossil energy and encourage switching to renewable alternatives. They compel producers to seek carbon abatement methods, and they monetize the pollution damage costs and pass them on to the buyers along the supply chain. The costs of the carbon tax will, of course, be built into higher prices for products that use fossil fuels as their base input, including plastics and gasoline and lubricants. Consumers will have an increased incentive to switch to products that are produced using alternatives to fossil fuels. Without escalating carbon prices, polluters face no incentive to change. Instead, it is more profitable to expand emissions!
IMPLEMENTING CARBON TAXES First, a carbon tax levied at the wellhead of fossil fuel sources compels producers to internalize the external costs of carbon emissions. The CLC recommendation is $40 per ton to start. Photo of coins and jar with tree by GettyImages/Sakorn Sukkasemsakorn.
To gain public acceptance more quickly, the CLC suggests rebating the revenue to the general public by issuing per capita checks of roughly $2,000 per citizen per year. The second part of the strategy supports the first. It is an import tariff known as the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM). This tariff addresses the “free rider problem” that arises when a carbon tax is applied within one country or group of countries but not universally. Nations that avoid carbon taxing can exploit those that do adopt it. They can cut costs by producing carbon intensive goods using the cheaper, more polluting methods. By avoiding the expense of alternative production methods, they “externalize” the costs of emissions, using the atmosphere as a chemical dump site. Producers in those recalcitrant countries can lower the prices of their exports, thereby gaining a competitive price advantage over firms who face the higher costs of operating in the carbon-taxing countries.
The CBAM also strengthens the political viability of climate action. It addresses head-on the skeptics who argue that reducing U.S. emissions is pointless if other countries increase theirs. Often this argument is festooned with claims that carbon taxes are anti capitalist or anti market. Just the opposite: both the carbon tax and the CBAM are quintessentially pro market remedies for market failure. By integrating economic incentives with scientific urgency, carbon pricing and border adjustments together provide a key component of the climate stability. These measures harmonize global markets with the imperative of safeguarding the planet.
William Holahan is emeritus professor and former chair of UWM’s department of economics.
The CBAM counters this imbalance by imposing a tariff equivalent to the domestic carbon tax. Exporters in nontaxing countries pay this tariff instead. Of course, import tariffs are paid by the importing country and passed on to consumers within that country. So, when the CBAM is added to the import price, the domestically produced products and the imported products pay the same carbon tax, neutralizing the profitability of emissions. CBAM aligns trade practices with climate policy.
Photo of wood blocks by GettyImages/Techa Tungateja.
JANUARY 2026 | 11
NEWS HERO OF THE MONTH
Kim Khaira
BRINGS TOGETHER MILWAUKEE'S REFUGEE AND IMMIGRANT COMMUNITIES BY BEN SLOWEY
Kim Khaira (right) with 2024 HOME emcee Dr. Duaa Salah at an event at Milwaukee City Hall - Photo courtesy of Kim Khaira
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rowing up, Kim Khaira had always loved the outdoors and being in nature. She also aspired to be a professional artist. Since starting her career with Lynden Sculpture Garden in 2019, Khaira has been able to marry her lifelong passions while building bridges between Milwaukee’s many immigrant and refugee communities. She is the coordinator for Lynden’s HOME program, which engages with refugees and immigrants of Milwaukee by way of art, nature and culture. Khaira is assisted in her role by a steering committee that consists of individuals representing many different ethnicities, backgrounds and organizations.
“History is never just in the past,” Khaira emphasizes. “It’s in the present and is shaping the future as we go along.” This philosophy has been at the core of HOME’s programming, which has encompassed the Stories As We Move interview and conversation series, a multilingual story time series, panels on art and displacement, a monthly book club and more. HOME has also collaborated with other programs like the Tables Across Borders cooking series led by Kai Mishlove. Alongside Afghan activist Maryam Durani, Khaira also works with refugee teen girls as part of Lynden’s Be the Change program, where they teach leadership skills through the arts. Born in Australia and raised in Malaysia, Khaira spent her childhood in the multicultural city of George Town, and having multi-ethnic heritage herself, she became fascinated by the movement, geography and history of the different peoples who call Malaysia home. 12 | SHEPHERD EXPRESS
“I always had a sense of questioning things from a very young age,” she reflects. “I’m interested in the way we look at others and how we relate to them. Ultimately, and in practice, it all boils down to caring for your neighbor, even in a small way.” Despite her artistic ambitions, Khaira felt such a path was unattainable at the time and instead decided to study political science at International Islamic University of Malaysia, while minoring in English literature. College was where Khaira explored some of those previously mentioned fascinations with peoples and regions for the first time. “My introduction class put out the question of who gets what, where, when and how—and these were the questions I’d been wanting to piece together in a more structured way.”
ADVOCACY WORK After college, Khaira began her career with advocacy work around gender-based policy and human trafficking. She moved to Milwaukee in 2017 and now lives on the city’s South Side. Khaira had previously worked with Muslim Women’s Coalition as well as Hmong American Women’s Association as a domestic violence support advocate. Upon bringing her women’s support group to Lynden Sculpture Garden to an event featuring textile artist Arianne King Comer, Khaira learned the Southeast Asian dyeing technique batik for the first time. “Who knew that nine thousand miles away from where I grew up was where I could learn about my art form from my region and beyond,” she remarks.
Khaira subsequently became an artist-in-residence at Lynden in 2019. World Refugee Day is internationally observed on June 20. Khaira began spearheading Lynden’s annual celebration, building it into a massive all-day festivity of culture, food, art and performance between Milwaukee’s many refugee and immigrant communities. World Refugee Day remains an exciting annual staple at the Lynden grounds, with longstanding sponsors including the Wisconsin Department for Children and Families - Bureau of Refugee Programs and Hanan Relief Group.
ARTS EXPLORATION “We want the arts to be a form of exploration beyond just a one-off experience,” Khaira notes. “People in our community have shared with us that they see Lynden as a retreat and HOME as a reunion, where people from different communities and backgrounds who might normally not meet on a daily basis are able to engage with one another every year.
After thousands of people showed up to that first World Refugee Day she coordinated with Rohingya community leader Hasina Begum, Khaira collaborated with Morris and the steering committee on developing Lynden’s HOME program, which would reshape how the organization specifically engages with refugees and immigrants on events throughout the year. Pandemic shutdowns resulted in HOME debuting virtually with an online platform and archive before transitioning to in-person events in 2021. Outside of Lynden, Khaira has served on the board of local organizations like the Community Center For Immigrants and Black String Triage Ensemble.
Ben Slowey is a Shepherd Express Staff Writer.
“We’ve also heard of people meeting and going off to collaborate and do their own thing together, which we are always happy about. We like to think of Lynden as a laboratory, which from the very beginning is Lynden’s executive director Polly Morris’ vision.”
Marble texture by GettyImages/Wongsakorn Dulyavit. Paint set illustration by GettyImages/ArtUma88.
JANUARY 2026 | 13
NEWS MKE SPEAKS: CONVERSATIONS WITH MILWAUKEEANS
Pardeep S. Kaleka AFTER SUFFERING AN UNSPEAKABLE TRAGEDY, THE ANTI-HATE ADVISOR TREATS SURVIVORS OF VIOLENCE BY TOM JENZ
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t 49, Pardeep Kaleka measures his life by a single dividing line: before August 5, 2012, and after. That morning, a white supremacist named Wade Michael Page walked into the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin in Oak Creek and opened fire on worshippers. Seven people were killed, four wounded. It was the deadliest act of race-based violence in America since the 1963 bombing of Birmingham’s 16th Street Baptist Church. Among the dead was the temple founder and president, Pardeep’s father, Satwant Singh Kaleka, 65. When he talks about that day, Pardeep doesn’t linger on the shooter or the chaos. His focus is on what came next: how a community rooted in peace refused to answer hate with hate. “We decided to stand up to hate, not return it,” he told me. Sitting across from him at a Shorewood coffee shop, I could feel that conviction. He speaks calmly, with the kind of soft strength that comes from walking through fire and refusing to burn. Long before tragedy shaped his calling, Kaleka had already been moving toward service. He was six years old when his parents brought him from India to Milwaukee in 1982, part of a wave of Sikh immigrants seeking a better life. His mother worked long hours sewing children’s clothes at Oshkosh B’Gosh. His father, wearing his traditional turban, had trouble finding work until he landed a job at a gas station. The family moved through a series of modest neighborhoods before settling in Bay View, where Kaleka went to public schools and graduated from Juneau High. After earning his undergrad degree from Marquette University, he joined the Milwaukee Police Department and patrolled the city’s north side, the 53206 ZIP code, where poverty and violence often collide. Kaleka left policing to teach at Nova High School, an alternative program for students labeled “at risk.” He related to teenagers carrying their own scars and began to understand how trauma drives behavior. That insight led him back to college, earning a master’s degree in mental health counseling from Alverno College. 14 | SHEPHERD EXPRESS
Today, when Kaleka talks about healing, it’s not theory. It is based on actual experience, grief morphed into purpose. As we talked, the conversation drifted toward his work in community mental health. I could see how easily he connected the dots between his past and his purpose. The way he spoke about healing wasn’t academic or clinical. It came from somewhere in his heart.
Why are you interested in the mental side of health? It goes back to the community suffering after the hate crime at the Sikh Temple in 2012.
That had to be a terrible ordeal for you and your Sikh community. I kind of separate my life into before and after that tragedy. Many people who have been through hate crimes do the same. Before that happened in 2012, I was a middleschool teacher working at Nova High School and looking forward to the new school year. The Sikh people weren’t used to being part of the news. At the time of those killings, it was one of the worst hate crimes that happened in a place of worship. At the same time, the city of Oak Creek was going through a demographic shift, brown and Black ethnic neighborhoods mixed into white neighborhoods. That can cause anxiety, and I could feel it in 2012. After the killings, Oak Creek had to decide how to respond. In the Sikh community, we decided to stand up to hate.
Over the next year, you then produced the documentary film, Waking in Oak Creek. The film illustrates what healing looks like, what forgiveness looks like. Today, the community of Oak Creek is thriving because it celebrates diversity. The leadership has embraced the multi-cultural community concept.
Oak Creek is one of the most diverse suburbs in the Milwaukee metro area. And in all the United States. Every year, Oak Creek puts on an event that celebrates diversity.
Photo of Pardeep Kaleka courtesy of Pardeep Kaleka.
How do you make your living now in 2025? I do a lot of advisory and consulting work with a national organization called Not in Our Town, which helped create the Waking in Oak Creek documentary. We travel around to towns and show our films about being proactive against hate. We work in the school communities together with their law enforcement, and with the advocate and mental health community. The goal is healing from hate and from murders, the recovery process.
Do you speak to civic groups? I do. And to mental health communities. Yesterday, I spoke to a gun advocacy group. Generally, I focus on the question, “What does hate in America look like and how can we address it?” I also work with individuals who might be headed into a life of violence, and I help them heal.
Tell me about your 2018 book, The Gift of Our Wounds: A Sikh and a Former White Supremacist Find Forgiveness After Hate. I believe it recounts your connection with Arno Michaelis, a former racist skinhead leader and how you two united after the 2012 Sikh Temple killings. Arno and I wrote The Gifts or Our Wounds together. About three months after the 2012 shooting, the Sikh community was trying to let people know who we are and what we stand for. There was also personal and communal grieving. It was hard for us to understand why this happened to us. The shooter, who killed himself, was a member of a white supremacist organization, the Hammerskins. The person who started the Milwaukee chapter of the Hammerskins was Arno Michaelis. I reached out to Arno, and we met. I was looking for explanations, but we were both trying to heal. Over time, Arno and I formed a friendship. We seemed to have commonalities.
You seem both so different. What would be a commonality? We shared our family experiences, growing up in Milwaukee. We both had daughters. We had dinner, got to know each other’s families. Then, we started to speak to different communities about anti-hatred but also our friendship. Some people thought this was kind of strange. How would a person whose dad was murdered by a white supremacist be friends with a former white supremacist leader?
It’s almost like you two were showing that people can get along with those we disagree with or who are culturally different. That was our inspiration for writing the book, The Gift of Our Wounds. Out of all the trauma that people go through, there can be a silver lining. There can be hope. I know that some people face great suffering, but my wish is that they don’t lose hope.
Where do you speak and what do you speak about? Most people see leaders as politicians or executives, but I believe there are leaders who are students. Encouraging people to see their own light is part of what I do with my life. In the 13 years I’ve been doing this work, I’ve gotten involved with so many people who have been impacted by hate. From East Coast to West Coast, people have survived mass casualty and targeted violence.
There is camaraderie in that space of what those people go through. These are survivors, and I get to carry their stories. I carry the journey of their healing.
I’ve done many stories of inner-city Black residents, street leaders, nonprofit heads, business owners, politicians, cops, the mayor, police chief, sheriff and the county executive. I’ve discovered that there is a lack of hope for many residents, and there is a lot of anger. When someone is struggling, they don’t see help or even trust coming from a politician or even the police. As leaders, we need to practice “servant leadership.” Leadership doesn’t involve worshipping someone. Leadership isn’t follow-ship on the internet. We don’t need leaders who are looking for praise and worship.
You once wrote, “Some people think of compassion as offering forgiveness and all is forgiven, but I think of it as a process.” Can you elaborate? I’ve been blessed to listen to a lot of people who have gone through a journey of forgiveness. You cannot prescribe forgiveness, but you can ask, “What does forgiveness feel like to you or your community?” It’s a process of explaining yourself, finding yourself. In the Sikh community, after the killings happened in 2012, forgiveness was the furthest thing on our minds. We thought about forgiveness as forgetting. We tried to think of what forgiveness looks like in a communal sense. Oddly, forgiveness can look like vengeance in a healthy way, meaning, “I won’t let the killer get the last word of who we are.”
I think your daughter contributed to this concept of forgiveness, right? My daughter was six years old when the shooting happened. At the tenth anniversary vigil of the shooting, she was 16. She did a spoken word poem directed at the shooter. At the end of the poem, she said, “You didn’t hate me. You hated yourself.” I think that also speaks to American society where so much hate takes place. So much hurt and pain is steeped into the soil of this country. We keep passing these irresponsible policies.
What is your top irresponsible policy? Mental health. A lot of the federal funding on mental health has been taken away. And we are seeing young white men targeting places of worship and schools. And also, too many young men who are just plain angry.
Young men today don’t feel as valued as young men from previous generations. And the major media and social media foment hate by what news they choose to cover or information they release, even rumors or gossip. I call that “weapons of mass rejection.” There are a lot of unhinged people who are feeling rejected. If they have access to firearms, then they might take out their anger on certain groups. Instead of looking in the mirror at who is actually angry, they are looking through the window to see who is causing that anger. In an ideal society, there would be room for authentic conversations despite differences. A little bit of grace, a little bit of tolerance. JANUARY 2026 | 15
NEWS MKE SPEAKS: CONVERSATIONS WITH MILWAUKEEANS
Leaders who can articulate that but not weaponize it are really good leaders. In other words, speak to the needs of the people rather than weaponizing their followers’ feelings.
Please comment on this quotation from Charlie Kirk: “When people stop talking, really bad stuff starts.” Yeah, I think conversation is really important. I go back to the mass killings by crazed shooters. Ever since the Sikh Temple shootings in 2012, we have created government policies, but we have not done the hearts and minds work. But hearts and minds work is difficult, because you have to wrestle with your own biases. When brains talk, other brains listen. But what we really need is: When hearts talk, other hearts listen.
Israeli American political analyst Yuval Levin said, “The breakdown of political culture in our day is not a function of our having forgotten how to agree with each other but of having how to disagree constructively.” Levin is right. During the pandemic years in 2020 and 2021, we saw an uptick in hatred—attacks on Muslims, Jews, Asians, and other ethnic groups. Those numbers have stayed high up to 2024. I don’t think we’ve healed from Covid. The government stuck to the algorithms, and strict rules were put in place. When people are in isolation, they won’t have healthy face to face conversations like you and I are doing right now. Before social media, face to face was pretty much the only way you could communicate with others. What happens now is you look for only content that agrees with you.
Yes, you speak to your choir through social media. Get as many people to agree with you, and you can ignore what everyone else says. You learn not to respect someone else’s opinion. Exactly. And people in power remain in power because they look at conflict as entrepreneurship. They don’t seek out those who disagree. But I believe you can admit you are wrong and be okay with that. You can disagree with another person’s position on an issue but agree to their humanity. The notion that I can only feel compassion for someone who agrees with me, well, that is only conditional compassion.
Tom Jenz is a Milwaukee writer-photographer and author of the Central City Stories column for shepherdexpress.com.
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JANUARY 2026 | 17
FOOD & DRINK
Sanford Really is T hat Good! BY HAZEL WHEATON
S
tepping into Sanford for the first time can provoke a jumble of reactions: anticipation, skepticism, even nervousness. The restaurant is legendary— established 35 years ago, it’s widely credited with sparking the development of Milwaukee’s excellent culinary scene. It’s a shoo-in for one of the top slots in the “best of” lists and has been recognized as one of the 50 best restaurants in the country. Both the original owner and his successor have snagged James Beard awards as “Best Chef: Midwest.” So, the anticipation is natural. As are the nerves, that feeling of hoping you polished up nicely enough. And perhaps some skepticism is natural too: Can it really be that good? No need to tease: Yes, Sanford is that good.
That comfort and easy communication is vital, as dining here is an investment in time as well as money. Come with people you enjoy talking to, because you’ll be here for a while ... and you’ll be pampered the entire time.
Regarding any nervousness about your own level of polish: Don’t fret. There’s no dress code, although business casual dominates. Sandy D’Amato opened Sanford in 1989 on the site of his family’s grocery store. In 2012, it was bought by Justin Aprahamian, who had worked there since 2002, and his wife, Sarah. For all its fine-dining sophistication, Sanford is, at heart, a family place, elegant without being stuffy. For example, a delicate molassesglazed quail was served along with a fingerbowl and a “before you ask” assurance that we were expected to use our hands. The 20 tables are cozy, the seats are comfortable, and the ambiance is a magic combination of hushed but relaxed—perfect for making conversation.
With six people at our table, we explored as much as possible. Our first courses included a crumbly pear and roquefort tart—a Sanford standby since D’Amato’s era—and smoked salmon with beet lilac jam. One option combined sweet confit carrots and tangy carrot tahini, an example of how Sanford’s chefs explore the possibilities in a single ingredient. Second courses included that glazed quail, a roasted eggplant soup, and foie gras. I opted for “Prairie Khash,” pure comfort food from Aprahamian’s Armenian heritage as seen through a Midwestern lens. Rich and savory with sweet undertones, the broth paired beautifully with the creamy, perfectly cooked egg on top.
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GLOBAL AND CREATIVE Sanford’s website posts sample menus, but offerings change nightly. The food is globally-inspired, with unusual dishes and creative combinations, but Wisconsin-based, using as many local, seasonal ingredients as possible. The chefs ask diners to be adventurous—in the case of the seven-course “chef’s surprise” menu, you won’t know what you’ll get until it appears on the table.
Photos by Hazel Wheaton.
Delights kept coming: Buttery soft scallops with a strawberry sofrito; beef tenderloin dusted with fennel and paired with grilled escarole; venison with endive and ground cherries. For dessert, we ran the board, and all were excellent—the standout being a macadamia nut tart with coconut ice cream. We all opted for the wine pairings and were grateful for the expertise. (“Thank goodness for wine experts!” says one line in my notes.) Would I have chosen a Uruguayan red or an Indian Chenin Blanc on my own? Probably not. Service was extraordinary throughout; our primary server was knowledgeable, warm and patient with our questions, and a team rolled out to ensure everyone received their food at the same time. In addition to the four courses, there was an amuse bouche (a complex, refreshing combination of cucumber, yogurt, and sunflower seeds) and crisp, flavorful breadsticks that did double duty as table decoration. Portion sizes were modest but precisely on target, and the structure of the meal meant that the food kept coming at a good pace. By the end, there was some surreptitious loosening of belts, and I was too full to partake of the complimentary after-dinner cookies: a plate of tastylooking biscotti, shortbread and caramel-nut confections.
The verdict for this first-timer was that Sanford’s food easily lived up to the hype, and its quiet, unpretentious atmosphere surpassed my expectations. The combination of elevated cuisine and down-to-earth sensibilities justify Sanford’s stellar reputation. Sanford 1547 N. Jackson St, Milwaukee (414) 276-9608, www.sanfordrestaurant.com Four course menu: $95 Chef’s surprise menu (seven courses): $125 Hours: Tuesday – Thursday 5:30–9 pm; Friday 5:30–10 pm; Saturday 5–10 pm. Closed Sunday & Monday
JANUARY 2026 | 19
FOOD & DRINK BEVERAGES
What’s New for the New Year?
T
BY GAETANO MARANGELLI
he world of fermented beverages holds in its orb infinite ways to explore the ways our bodies react to alcohol. Infinite ways to discover ourselves. New aromas. New flavors. New thoughts. New memories. New ideas. And yet, day after day, year by year, we shackle ourselves to a vanishing quantity—and quality—of all they have to offer us. We lounge in our living rooms, neighborhood bars, and fancy restaurants and ask for the kinds of drinks we always ask for.
An Old Fashioned. A draft of ale. A glass of chardonnay. Whatever you drink you’ve convinced yourself is the kind of drink you like. Along with the promises you’ve made to yourself in the flush of the new year, you may consider adding a promise to venture beyond the borders of the kinds of drinks shackling you. Why not explore a new vista or two?
PAVESE BLANC DE MORGEX ET DE LA SALLE Estate: Ermes Pavese Country: Italy Region: Valle d’Aosta Appellation: Blanc de Morgex et de La Salle Approximate retail price: $40 If you haven’t yet explored the majesty of mountain wine, this is the wine to begin exploring with. Mountain wine is wine made from grapes cultivated in vineyards at high altitude. Mountain wine benefits from wide diurnal temperature swings, acute sun exposure, and rocky soils rich with minerals. These benefits make for complex wines of intense aromas, rich flavors, and vibrant acidity. Among the best terroirs for mountain wines are the vineyards of Monte Bianco in the Italian Alps, where Ermes Pavese grows wine expressing the beauty of his Alpine land.
Photo by Gaetano Marangelli.
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If you travel from the village of Morgex to the village of La Salle, you’ll find Pavese’s vineyards in the hamlet of La Ruine. In these vineyards, Pavese cultivates a wine grape called prié, which makes a white wine by the appellation of Blanc de Morgex et de La Salle. Pavese’s prié blanc is racy and vivacious. Easy to drink, yet remarkably complex. A wine which shows you the majesty, the profundity, and the complexity mountain wines can achieve. Header photo by GettyImages/Liudmila Chernetska. Glitter background by GettyImages/Stephanie Zieber.
Photo by Gaetano Marangelli.
ROX MUT SIDRA VERMUT Estate: Llagar Sidre Castañón Country: Spain Region: Asturias Appellation: Asturias Approximate retail price: $40 (for a one-liter bottle) If you think of vermouth solely as an aromatized wine to make mixed drinks with, I’d like to invite you to leave your dark cell behind you. Those kinds of vermouth—which we might call mixed drink vermouths—are made like widgets in a factory. More like cans of soda than bottles of wine. The kinds of vermouth I’d like to lure you to are made by artisans and farmers at wineries across Italy and Spain and France. They comprise a luscious and extraordinary variety of fermented beverages. Vermouth is made by fortifying a base wine with a neutral spirit and infusing it with botanicals like herbs, spices, roots, and flowers. The botanicals are macerated in the base wine, then fortified again. They may also be macerated in a neutral alcohol, then added into the base wine, and then fortified. But Roxmut Vermouth is its own creature. This vermouth is made with 80% cider from Asturian apples, then infused with herbs like oregano and chamomile, and then fortified to 15% alcohol. The vermouth is aged for three months in wood barrels, which round out rough edges, enhance flavors, and impart an amber color. Rox Mut is fresh, bright, and herby, with the acidity and bite of a juicy apple. Serve Rox Mut chilled with a slice or a twist of lemon or with an olive. Or, if you’re feeling spicy, with both lemon and olive.
Gaetano Marangelli is a sommelier and playwright. He was managing director of a wine import and distribution company in New York and beverage director for restaurants and retailers in New York and Chicago before moving to Wauwatosa. Gold pattern background by GettyImages/Alona Horkova.
JANUARY 2026 | 21
SPECIAL BEST OF MILWAUKEE
CELEBRATING OUR 35 ANNIVERSARY th
2025 BACK TO THE
BEST OF MILWAUKEE WINNER LISTINGS ORGANIZED IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER
Arts and Entertainment
ART GALLERY (NON-MUSEUM)
ART MUSEUM
SAINT KATE THE ARTS HOTEL
MILWAUKEE ART MUSEUM
ART & CRAFT FAIR/MAKERS MARKET
saintkatearts.com/exhibitions Saint Kate wins Best NonMuseum Art Gallery. Since its remodeling and opening in 2019, Saint Kate has sought to integrate contemporary visual art into every corner of highclass hospitality, featuring a rotating gallery exhibition, the annual artist-in-residence program, as well as artwork on every floor. Recent showings include “Undercover Cutter,” “9 Easy Pieces,” “Zurich by Late Afternoon” and “In Homage” by a variety of primarily Wisconsin or Midwest-based artists. (Julia Watt)
mam.org The soaring spire of the museum’s addition by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava became Milwaukee’s symbol. The Milwaukee Art Museum has a strong permanent collection at its base, spanning the ancient world through just yesterday, and hosts significant traveling exhibitions throughout the calendar year. (David Luhrssen)
MILWAUKEE MAKERS MARKET milwaukeemakersmarket.com Milwaukee Makers Market champions local Milwaukee artists, creators, designers and seasoned crafters to celebrate the city’s small businesses. This onestop-shop experience creates an inclusive environment for local Makers to showcase their talent and connect with the Milwaukee community. For more information, visit milwaukeemakersmarket. com, or follow Milwaukee Makers Market on Facebook or Instagram. (Sophia Hamdan)
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CHORAL GROUP (60 OR MORE PERFORMERS)
MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY CHORUS mso.org “I had heard that Milwaukee was a wonderful city, a bestkept secret kind of place. And I already knew that it had a wonderful orchestra with an amazing group of musicians,” says KenDavid Masur, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra’s outgoing music director. For the 2025-26 season, Masur looks forward to shining a spotlight on the 50th anniversary season of the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus. (David Luhrssen)
Patterned background by GettyImages/Andrii Vinnikov. 90's illustrations by Bahtiar/maulana.
CLASSICAL MUSIC ENSEMBLE (60 OR MORE PERFORMERS)
MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA mso.org Maestro Ken-David Masur has often referred to music’s power of reconciliation and fostering compassion. Their current season includes holiday pops and Handel’s Messiah, Beethoven and Haydn, Mozart and a screening of The Godfather as the orchestra plays Nino Rota’s score. (David Luhrssen) CHORAL GROUP (UNDER 60 PERFORMERS)/ CLASSICAL MUSIC ENSEMBLE (UNDER 60 PERFORMERS)
MILWAUKEE CHAMBER CHOIR milwaukeechamberchoir.org Milwaukee Chamber Choir was formed in 2013 to celebrate the 100th birthday of British composer Benjamin Britten. The volunteer choir of 25 singers perform a concert each fall and spring spanning genres from the Renaissance to the 21st century. In June 2025, MCC announced a new artistic director, Jeremiah Cawley. (Harry Cherkinian) COMEDIAN
CHARLIE BERENS charlieberens.com The live stand-up comedy experience creates instant, if temporary, community with laughter. But the same shtick can also provide reminders of the communities from which we have come, may want to be reminded of and desire reconnection with. Or so believes Milwaukee’s Charlie Berens of the Midwestcentric brand of humor that has made him a funny cultural force representing the U.S. heartland. (Jamie Lee Rake) COMMUNITY FESTIVAL (NON-LAKEFRONT)
BASTILLE DAYS
DANCE COMPANY
MILWAUKEE BALLET milwaukeeballet.org Since arriving in Milwaukee in 2002, Artistic Director Michael Pink has reimagined and rechoreographed classic ballets such as Giselle and The Nutcracker, introduced newer work such as Mark Godden’s Carmen and encouraged the next generation of choreographers through the annual Genesis competition. (David Luhrssen) ETHNIC FESTIVAL
MILWAUKEE IRISH FEST irishfest.com CelticMKE annually puts on the world's largest Irish music festival right here in Milwaukee at Henry Maier Festival Park, celebrating Irish, Irish American and Celtic culture, food and entertainment over an entire weekend. (Ben Slowey) ILLUSIONIST/MAGICIAN
TWO BROTHERS ONE MIND twobrothersonemind.com Brothers Chad and Jeff Orr have traveled across the continent with their extraordinary act, which combines mental magic, comedy and audience participation in an attempt to mentally transmit words, thoughts and images between one another. (Ben Slowey) LAKEFRONT FESTIVAL
SUMMERFEST summerfest.com It’s hard to imagine now, but before 1969, there were no lakefront festivals, and the Henry Maier Festival Grounds housed a Nike missile base. Summerfest broke the ground and has become one of America’s biggest annual music festivals with a goal to book music in many styles. In 2026, Garth Brooks will headline two nights at the AmFam Amphitheater. (Morton Shlabotnik)
easttown.com While Milwaukee’s French heritage often plays second fiddle to the city’s other cultural ties, the city’s Bastille Days festival is one of the best in the world. Kicked off by the annual Storm the Bastille Run/Walk (celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2026) and crowned by a replica of the Eiffel Tower, the festival is four days of French food, wine, culture and music in Cathedral Square Park. (Caroline Dannecker) JANUARY 2026 | 23
SPECIAL BEST OF MILWAUKEE LOCAL RADIO PERSONALITY
KAT FROEHLICH - RADIO MILWAUKEE radiomilwaukee.org Kat Froehlich has many hobbies ranging from cross-stitch to horseback riding. But it’s her unique on-air persona that garnered her top honors as Local Radio Personality in this year’s Best of Milwaukee awards. She also balances the practical with the creative; her full-tome job is in the tool-and-die business. a true renaissance talent! (Harry Cherkinian) LOCAL TV PERSONALITY /STAGE ACTOR
JOHN MCGIVERN Johnmcgivern.com “John McGivern's Main Streets,” hosted by the Emmy award-winning actor, has gained acclaim for its distinct approach to travel programming. Each episode presents a fresh perspective on a different community, highlighting small business owners, restaurateurs, and factory proprietors. Alongside these personal narratives, McGivern delves into historical insights, landmarks, and local attractions that make each destination unique. (Morton Shlabotnik) MILWAUKEE AUTHOR
JOHN GURDA johngurda.com For decades, John Gurda has provided Milwaukeeans with a tour of our city’s history through his books and PBS programs. Who knew that he also conducted actual tours of the city’s historic sites? His side gig as tour guide is the subject of his recent book, John Gurda’s Milwaukee, a guidebook that includes route maps, historic photographs and—Gurda’s specialty— compelling stories. (David Luhrssen) MOVIE THEATER
ORIENTAL THEATRE mkefilm.org Years later, what Patti Smith remembered about Milwaukee was performing at the Oriental in the ‘70s, back when the movie palace occasionally doubled as a concert hall. In the ‘90s, the unforgettable venue was carefully divided into three smaller cinemas, and under the stewardship of Milwaukee Film, the Oriental carries on a tradition of programming classics, cult films, art house and indies. (David Luhrssen) MUSEUM (NON-ART)
MILWAUKEE PUBLIC MUSEUM mpm.org MPM is best known for its immersive exhibits from detailed habitat dioramas and the cobblestone Streets of Old Milwaukee exhibit to a life-size model of a Guatemalan marketplace. 2026 will be the last full year to visit the museum—and its iconic built-in exhibits. The museum is moving to a new location where it will become the Nature and Culture Museum of Wisconsin in 2027. (Caroline Dannecker) 24 | SHEPHERD EXPRESS
MUSIC EDUCATION
THEATER COMPANY
WISCONSIN CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC
MILWAUKEE REPERTORY THEATER
wcmusic.org Liberace and Gene Wilder studied at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music. So did Justin Hurwitz, composer of the Oscar-winning score for La La Land, as well thousands of less known professional and amateur musicians. The Conservatory has also become the primary connection between music education and many Milwaukee school students, and has reached beyond traditional classrooms, exposing even the youngest children to the salutary benefits of music. (David Luhrssen)
milwaukeerep.com The Rep has long operated three distinct stages within their Downtown complex. This fall they cut the ribbon on the revamped Associated Bank Theater Center. Says Executive Director Brad Bauman, “Audiences will notice the difference immediately: larger and more comfortable seats, improved sightlines, stunning lobbies … and expanded amenities.” Coming in JanuaryFebruary: The Fisherman’s Daughters (Stackner Cabaret), The Lehman Trilogy (Checota Powerhouse Theater) and McNeal (Herro-Franke Studio Theater). (David Luhrssen)
BEST OUTDOOR MUSIC SERIES
CHILL ON THE HILL bayviewneighborhood.org Chill on the Hill wins Milwaukee’s Best Outdoor Music Series for its unique lineup of local talent and community-loved tradition. Hosted in Bay View’s beautiful Humboldt Park, the series offers weekly live music in the summer, a variety of food trucks with delicious eats and a relaxed, family-friendly environment. It’s a reliable summer staple that brings neighbors together and highlights Milwaukee’s vibrant music scene. (Sophia Hamdan) RADIO STATION
RADIO MILWAUKEE 88.9 radiomilwaukee.org A repeat winner, Radio Milwaukee wins Best Local Radio Station once again. The station airs an eclectic mix of music genres, amplifying local artists big and small as part of its mission to uplift a diverse musical community. Radio Milwaukee connects creatives and inspires dialogue on our rich musical scene through special concert events, membership drives and online editorial content. (Julia Watt) SMALL PERFORMING ARTS GROUP
MILWAUKEE JAZZ ORCHESTRA mjojazz.com Founded by saxophonist Curt Hanrahan, MJO began with Hanrahan’s involvement with the Woody Herman Jazz Festival, putting together local musicians to accompany the soloists. Soon after, it became a family affair as various members joined the group and with the Hanrahan family as the core, MJO grew to become the gatekeeper of Herman’s signature sounds. (Harry Cherkinian)
City Confidential LOCAL ACTIVIST
EMILIO DE TORRE The Turner Society had become a quiet footnote in Milwaukee history before Emilio De Torre became executive director. De Torre returned the organization to the mission that began with political refugees who helped settle Milwaukee in the 19th century. At this summer’s No Kings rally he said: “If you don’t call out wrong and hateful actions, you are colluding with them,” he declared “Tell them ‘Hell no!’ Stand up! Fight back! Our diversity is our strength!” (David Luhrssen) LOCAL CHARACTER
CHARLIE BERENS Although Berens’ name may now be nationally renowned, he keeps comedically connected to his home turf through headlining dates at The Riverside Theater. He exemplified his commitment to the city at a lower key level co-hosting The Berens Brothers Comedy Hour with his sibling and fellow funny man/comedy show promoter John Berens. The monthly residency has also showcased Midwestern comedians of many types at The Laughing Tap. (Jamie Lee Rake) LOCAL ENTREPRENEUR
RUSS KLISCH (LAKEFRONT BREWERY) What started as a sibling rivalry between brothers Russ and Jim Klisch over who could brew a better beer is now one of Milwaukee's standout breweries, offering 20 different beers available in more than 30 states and distributed across the world. Lakefront Brewery is one of the most popular brewery tours in the country, attracting more than 80,000 every year. (Ben Slowey)
Patterned background by GettyImages/Andrii Vinnikov. 90's illustrations by Bahtiar/maulana.
JANUARY 2026 | 25
SPECIAL BEST OF MILWAUKEE LOCAL PODCAST
MILWAUKEE UNCUT Hosted by Richie Burke, Milwaukee Uncut covers local news, culture and stories through interviews with the people behind them from business owners to professional sports players to artists. Regular episode themes include “Dating in Milwaukee” and seasonal guides. True to its name, the podcast offers an in-depth look into Milwaukee for transplants and seasoned locals alike. (Caroline Dannecker) MILWAUKEE ALDERPERSON
MARINA DIMITRIJEVIC Marina Dimitrijevic has championed the major issues facing all Americans, including the environment and immigration, but she has also thought locally as well as globally. As the common council member representing Bay View, she has responded to the questions and worked for the needs of her constituents. (David Luhrssen) MILWAUKEE INFLUENCER
DEREK MOSLEY Judge. Assistant District Attorney. Kidney transplant recipient. Foodie. Derek Mosley has such a varied and diverse background that truly qualifies him as an influencer. And certainly, our readers agree. The accolades for his work are endless; the achievements and awards consistently follow. Where does he find the time to do it all? Catch him if you can. (Harry Cherkinian) MILWAUKEEAN OF THE YEAR
DAVID CROWLEY David Crowley has been the most impressive, effective, and hard-working county executive we have had in the past three decades. He is totally a selfmade man growing up in a family where his parents struggled with addiction issues that resulted in his family getting evicted three times by the time he graduated high school. Among his many accomplishments as county executive, Crowley successfully worked with the extreme rightwing state legislature to get some concessions enabling the county to have more local control so he could balance its budget without major cuts in needed programs. (Louis Fortis) MILWAUKEE COUNTY SUPERVISOR
SHELDON WASSERMAN Sheldon Wasserman was a state representative and now a county supervisor and by profession an OB-GYN doctor. He believes strongly in public service not only as an elected official but with his work as a doctor delivering thousands of babies over the past decades. As a result of his hard work and dedication in serving our community, he is both a very popular and beloved doctor and elected official. (Louis Fortis)
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MOST BELOVED POLITICIAN/MOST TRUSTED PUBLIC OFFICIAL
TAMMY BALDWIN Tammy Baldwin was elected and reelected twice to the U.S. Senate. Not only is she smart and very hard working, she also understands the issues affecting Wisconsinites in all parts of the state— the small-town folks, the farmers, the small business owners, the veterans, the urban dwellers, the various ethnic and religious groups. She is honest and genuine about who she is, the first lesbian elected to various Wisconsin positions from state assembly, congress and the U.S. Senate. Most Wisconsinites have met her at least once and they know she fights very hard for them. (Louis Fortis) NON-PROFIT/HUMAN SERVICES ORGANIZATION
STREET ANGELS streetangelsmke.org Street Angels is Milwaukee's leading provider of street outreach services, committed to bridging the gap between housing and homelessness by way of support, advocacy and community collaboration while leading with dignity and compassion. (Ben Slowey) ORGANIZATION SUPPORTING VETERANS
MILWAUKEE HOMELESS VETERANS INITIATIVE www.Wisconsinvets.org Founded in 2008, MHVI is run by veterans serving their fellow brethren and their families who are homeless and at risk. From emergency food programs to support for housing needs, the group relies solely on donations, be it financial food or household items. The nonprofit also features the Women Veterans Initiative, as female vets are the fastest growing homeless population. And a quarter of these vets have children. (Harry Cherkinian) PHILANTHROPIST
LISA ATTONITO - WOMEN’S FUND OF GREATER MILWAUKEE womensfundmke.org Women’s Fund of Greater Milwaukee advances equity for women through economic empowerment, leadership development and education via community events, grants and scholarships. In 2016, after years of intersectional non-profit work across Wisconsin, Lisa Attonito joined as executive director. She has deepened the organization’s commitment to actionable equity measures, seen through current giving initiatives such as the African American Women’s Fund Project, Latinas en Acción, the Lesbian Fund and Viv Ncaus: A Hmong Women’s Giving Circle. (Julia Watt)
PLACE TO PICK UP THE SHEPHERD EXPRESS
OUTPOST NATURAL FOODS outpost.coop With its multiple locations across the Milwaukee area, Outpost Natural Foods has provided Milwaukeeans with options for healthier, environmentally friendly food and other products since the ‘70s. Outpost is also one of the city’s longestlasting coops and continues to thrive as a venue for locally produced and carefully sourced goods. (David Luhrssen) BEST SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE BUSINESS
PENZEYS SPICES penzeys.com Founded in 1986, Penzeys Spices’ marketing is as flavorful as their spices. The company’s “Be Kind” campaign is now synonymous with their logo. In recent years, Penzeys has made national headlines for being openly anti-Trump, calling out the Trump administration and Republicans for xenophobia, bigotry and racism through emails, sales and product launches while regularly running “Spice Drives” in support of non-profit organizations. (Caroline Dannecker) STATE LEGISLATOR
CHRIS LARSON Chris Larson is one of the most capable state senators, and we are fortunate that he represents many of us here in Milwaukee. He has served in a couple of leadership positions in the state senate, but unfortunately during his entire time in the state senate, his party has been in the minority. Despite serving in the minority, he has still been very effective in getting things done for the residents of Milwaukee. (Louis Fortis)
Locally-Owned Food and Drink Retail ARTISANAL CHEESE/CHEESE CURD SELECTION/CHEESE SELECTION/SAUSAGE SHOP
WEST ALLIS CHEESE & SAUSAGE SHOPPE westallischeese.com The popular café and cheese shop is a perennial winner for its impressive variety of artisan cheese and meats. The café features signature sandwiches (several, of course, with cheese) and creative daily specials. (Sheila Julson) BACON/BUTCHER SHOP/HOME COOKING MEAL KITS/MEAT SELECTION
BUNZEL’S MEAT MARKET bunzels.com For generations, Milwaukee cooks who want the highest quality meats know they’ll find what they’re looking for at Bunzel’s. There’s always something tempting, beautifully displayed and wellstocked. And if you need a special cut of meat, the helpful butchers on hand will prep it however you’d like. (Susan Harpt Grimes) Patterned background by GettyImages/Andrii Vinnikov. 90's illustrations by Bahtiar/maulana.
JANUARY 2026 | 27
SPECIAL BEST OF MILWAUKEE BAKERY/HOT HAM AND ROLLS
CUPCAKES
GREBE’S BAKER
AGGIE’S BAKERY & CAKE SHOP
grebesbakery.com Grebe’s has spent years providing Milwaukee bakery lovers with donuts, ham and rolls, as well as other deli and bakery options. A trip to Grebe’s is sure to be full of comforting nostalgia. This Milwaukee essential is a perfect stop for holiday gatherings or regular Sundays. (Elizabeth Lintonen) BEER SELECTION/HARD CIDER/LIQUOR STORE/WINE SELECTION
DISCOUNT LIQUOR discountliquorinc.com Chances are if you can’t find it here, it can’t be found in Milwaukee. Discount Liquor stocks nearly 2,000 import, craft and domestic beers, more than 8,000 wines from many countries and nearly 4,000 varieties of spirits from national and local distillers. Best of all, ask the staff a question and they’ll know the answer. (David Luhrssen) BRATWURST/SAUSAGE
USINGER’S usinger.com Put the words “Milwaukee” and “meat” together and the name Usinger’s instantly comes to mind. The familyowned business is all things to meat lovers. But for our readers, it’s the bratwurst that’s the best wurst. Get ‘em cooked, fresh, with onion, with bacon, then there’s Cajun. And let’s remember the smoked with cheddar and jalapeño peppers. Best to try them all. One at a time, of course. (Harry Cherkinian) CAKE/SPECIALTY (THEMED)
SIMMA’S BAKERY simmasbakery.com A long-time local favorite for birthday and wedding cakes, Simma’s Best of Milwaukee accolades over the years have run the gamut of categories, including Bakery overall. Since opening in the early 1980s, their commitment to baking high quality specialty cakes for any occasion has remained steadfast. (Julia Watt) CHOCOLATIER
INDULGENCE CHOCOLATIERS indulgencechocalatiers.com Since 2007, this beloved chocolate shop has been thoughtfully pairing its high-quality, handcrafted confections with wines, cheeses and craft beers at its three locations in Walker's Point, Shorewood and at the Corners of Brookfield shopping center. (Ben Slowey) CRAFT BEER SELECTION
RAY’S WINE & SPIRITS rayswine.com Ray’s Wine & Spirits is as close to a Milwaukee institution as anyone knows, especially the regulars. And with so much to choose from, it’s the craft beers that stand out in this year’s Best of Milwaukee. You can find them easily by region, style and category. But the most important part is if there’s something you’re looking for, Ray’s will have it—and then some. (Harry Cherkinian) 28 | SHEPHERD EXPRESS
aggiesbakery.com Aggie’s has changed spaces and hands several times since the bakery began in the 1970s. Since 2015, it has become a West Allis staple for special occasion and daily sweet treats. Aggie’s jumbo cupcakes are a highlight—fluffy, filled for extra flavor and topped with Aggie’s original buttercream. Each week, the bakery offers a new cupcake of the week alongside classic flavor combinations. (Caroline Dannecker) DISTILLED SPIRITS
GREAT LAKES DISTILLERY & TASTING ROOM greatlakesdistillery.com Fact: Great Lakes Distillery is Wisconsin’s first since Prohibition. Fun: its tours and the big wind-up ... it’s Tasting Room. GLD has been making distilled spirits in small batches, just the way it’s customers like it. (Harry Cherkinian) FARMERS MARKET
WEST ALLIS FARMERS MARKET westallisfarmersmarket.com This beloved local mainstay has resided on National Avenue since 1931 but has operated in different iterations for over 100 years. With constantly evolving event schedules, robust social support programs and an ever-growing list of vendors, the market is a true community touchstone for the arts and agriculture. They are a partner of the Milwaukee Market Match program, providing additional support to shoppers utilizing EBT funds. (Julia Watt) FROZEN PIZZA
SCREAMIN’ SICILIAN screaminsicilian.com You scream, I scream, we all scream for Screamin’ Sicilian frozen pizza. (Full disclosure: huge fan here, so I know, I really know). Palermo’s has created a pie with a stone fired butter crust and secret recipe tomato sauce that supports toppings for your wildest pizza fever dreams. The waiting is the hardest part as it cooks. But once it’s done—pizza perfection! (Harry Cherkinian) GOURMET POPCORN
KNIGHT’S GOURMET POPCORN rescuedroasters.com Knight’s Gourmet Popcorn has been handcrafting popcorn since 1952. Over the years the shop has changed hands, but the recipes remain the same. In 2022, Rescued Roasters purchased Knight’s, which now offers a variety of coffee alongside its 28 flavors of popcorn. Knight’s has four “original” flavors: gourmet white, theater, double butter and cholesterol free. For the more adventurous, there’s flavors like blue raspberry sweet corn or habanero maple bourbon. (Caroline Dannecker)
GROCERY-ALL PURPOSE
WOODMAN’S woodmans-food.com Open 24-7, Woodman’s opened in Janesville over a century ago and has grown into a grocery empire all across Wisconsin and into Illinois. Employeeowned, the massive stores feature fresh produce, bakery and meat, plus a large liquor section, gas stations and oil changes. The store also supports many charities. (Benjamin Dover) GROCERY-ETHNIC
EL REY elreyfoods.com El Rey Foods is a family-owned Hispanic grocery chain that has been serving Milwaukee since 1978. Founded by brothers Heriberto and Ernesto Villarreal, El Rey has grown to four locations, offering authentic Mexican products, fresh produce and in-house specialties like tortillas and tamales. Their stores feature vibrant décor and include Taco Loco taquerías, creating a welcoming community hub that celebrates Hispanic culture and cuisine. (Sophia Hamdan) GROCERY-GOURMET /TAKE-OUT DELI
GLORIOSO’S ITALIAN MARKET gloriosos.com When brothers Joe, Eddie and Teddy Glorioso founded their market on Brady Street in 1946, they might not have realized that they were building a cornerstone for a Milwaukee institution. Still family-owned, Glorioso’s offers a deli counter with made-to-order sandwiches as well as pasta, pizza, gelato, espresso, cheese, fresh sausage and meats, wine and beer. (Sheila Julson) GROCERY-ORGANIC
OUTPOST NATURAL FOODS outpost.coop With its multiple locations across the Milwaukee area, Outpost Natural Foods has provided Milwaukeeans with options for healthier, environmentally friendly food and other products since the ‘70s. Outpost is also one of the city’s longestlasting coops and continues to thrive as a venue for locally produced and carefully sourced goods. (David Luhrssen) PIES (SWEET OR SAVORY)
HONEYPIE CAFÉ honeypiecafe.com Honeypie Café’s pies are a special treat no matter what the occasion, whether sweet or savory. The choices truly are mouth-watering. Of course, there’s the namesake salted honey pie with a sweet and salty honey custard filling, or the chicken and biscuit pie and fruit and cream pies, a pie of the month and those seasonal and specialty pieces. MKE Mud is the one for the chocoholics. (Harry Cherkinian)
Patterned background by GettyImages/Andrii Vinnikov. 90's illustrations by Bahtiar/maulana.
JANUARY 2026 | 29
SPECIAL BEST OF MILWAUKEE - WINNERS CIRCLE
BUNZEL'S OLD FASHIONED
MEAT MARKET BEST OF MILWAUKEE WINNER: BEST BUTCHER SHOP, MEAT SELECTION, BACON, & HOME COOKING MEAL KITS
T
his year, Bunzel’s Meat Market celebrates the 50th anniversary of its 9015 W Burleigh Ave. location, having been a family-owned and operated business for over four generations. Bunzel’s is a go-to destination for top-quality, locally sourced meat prepared fresh the old-fashioned way, as well as grocery items like deli, bakery, produce, canned goods, prepared foods, and frozen meat and seafood. LARRY & MARY ANN BUNZEL
Chip Bunzel’s great-grandfather opened the butcher shop in the early 20th Century. This was followed by Chip’s father opening one on 59th & Burleigh in 1976. Since then, they moved to 84th & Burleigh and are now settled into their current location on 91st & Burleigh St. Many Bunzel family members remain employed at the market to this day. “I’m proud, and my parents are very proud,” Chip says. “I’ve got a great crew, and I love them dearly.” The customer loyalty and community reputation at Bunzel’s speak for itself. This year they won four categories in the Shepherd Express Best Of awards - bacon, meat selection, butcher shop and take-home meal kits - while also being a finalist in six other categories: bratwurst, hot ham & rolls, sausage, sausage shop, take-out deli and catering. “We definitely work our butts off, and we thank our customers for voting for us,” Chip remarks. During any holiday season, Bunzel’s is hustling and bustling, plus their renowned catering program keeps them busy year-round for occasions like family barbecues and cookouts, weddings, memorials, and work events.
30 | SHEPHERD EXPRESS
The market offers monthly meat deals where bundles of various meats, like their honey mustard cheddar brats, pork chops, whole chickens, ground chuck, country-style ribs, and T-bone steaks, can be bought at a discount price. Bunzel’s also offers do-it-yourself pig or chicken roasts for parties, wild game processing, recipes of the month, and a daily deli menu that includes sandwiches, hot dogs, tacos, soups, sides, and more. In celebration of its 50th anniversary, Bunzel’s may have some giveaways and special deals in store for the coming year. “We just want to keep giving a great product at a fair price,” Chip assures. “We thank God every day for all the people who walk through that front door.”
Bunzel's Old Fashioned Meat Market 9015 W Burleigh St, Milwaukee, WI 53222 (414) 873-7960 bunzels.com
Photos courtesy of Bunzel's Old Fashioned Meat Market & Catering.
JANUARY 2026 | 31
SPECIAL BEST OF MILWAUKEE - WINNERS CIRCLE
LAKEFRONT BREWERY
F
rom humble beginnings to one of the largest in the state, the nearly 40-year-old brewery has fully embraced Milwaukee, and if you’ve ever visited their Beer Hall, it’s clear that Milwaukee has also fully embraced Lakefront Brewery.
The story of the Klisch brothers has become local folklore and is one of the earliest examples of maverick stove top homebrewers reviving Old World styles and turning professional. They helped create the next chapter in Milwaukee’s great brewing heritage with many creative and innovative brews over the years. Their gluten-free beer can be found in 30+ states and some of their beers have ventured internationally. Lakefront is fortunate to have a strong community of employees that continue the company tradition to adapt and entertain, finding themselves in our Winner’s Circle year after year. The brewery remains a trustworthy pillar in the community with quality and innovation in all aspects of their operation. For 38 years, owner and Brewery President, Russ Klisch, winner of the 2025 Entrepreneur of the Year Award, has guided the brewery and Beer Hall through good and bad times. Klisch stated, “I’ve always felt the business should be a force for good, not only for the world around us, but for the people that work here. Our staff is the heart and soul of this company; they’re the ones providing that good time or that quality beverage. These awards are humbling reminders for us that we’re doing things right, but we will have the next year to prove it, too.” Winners of the 2025 Restaurant Service Award, Lakefront’s hospitality is a major reason why tens of thousands show up every year to attend their 2025 award-winning fish fry and brewery tour, or try arguably Wisconsin’s best fried cheese
curds, also a 2025 winner.
www.lakefrontbrewery.com
32 | SHEPHERD EXPRESS
JANUARY 2026 | 33
SPECIAL BEST OF MILWAUKEE SODA
BARBECUE/MAC & CHEESE /RIBS
CARIBBEAN RESTAURANT
SPRECHER
DOUBLE B’S BBQ
CUBANITAS
sprecherbrewery.com Sprecher was founded as a brewery specializing in traditional European beers. Its small batch craft root beer soda began as an exclusive feature of its brewery tours for underage guests and grew from there. Now the company offers more than ten flavors of fire-brewed soda sweetened with honey, including flavors like orange dream and watermelon alongside the original root beer. (Caroline Dannecker)
doublebs.com Double B’s BBQ makes it a triple win with its barbecue and homemade mac and cheese. The BB Platters feature everything a true carnivore savors. Name your meat and you can have it smoked. The baby back ribs are rubbed down with a special house blend and smoked over a hickory fire. Platters come with a choice of one side. So, what a great way to also try the winning mac and cheese and get the twofer together. (Harry Cherkinian)
getbianchini.com Cubanitas is a great way to ride the soft tropical breezes of the Caribbean inside while battling the typical Wisconsin winter weather outside. 1n 2018 the Downtown favorite added a second location in Oak Creek’s Drexel Town Square. (Harry Cherkinian)
TEA
BREAKFAST/BRUNCH
RISHI TEA
UNCLE WOLFIE’S BREAKFAST TAVERN
rishi-tea.com Loose leaf, bagged, seasonal, organic, you name it—Rishi has it all. There are chai teas and concentrates, sachets … the list goes on. Choose from tea ware and learn the proper temperature for brewing tea. (Harry Cherkinian)
Locally-Owned Restaurant AFRICAN RESTAURANT
IMMY'S AFRICAN CUISINE immysafricancuisine.com From pounded African yam fufu to smoked jerked chicken to goat curry to vegan egusi, Chef/owner Immy Kaggwa delights in bringing her wonderful African and Caribbean fare to Milwaukee's East Side. (Ben Slowey) BAGELS
ALLIE BOYS BAGELRY & LUNCHEONETTE allieboysmke.com The bitten bagel sign marks the spot. Milwaukee was once bereft of good bagels, but Allie Boys has helped to fill the gap. Take and go or stay in the comfortable setting for coffee and marvel over the long list of schmears. Service is fast and friendly. (David Luhrssen) BAR FOOD
CAMINO caminomke.com When it comes to bar food, Camino comes up a winner with its mix of classic and contemporary dishes to accompany all those beverages. Try the cabbage pierogi or the chorizo chili for starters. And then move on to house sausages (ask about the banger of the month), wings, sandwiches, and of course, dessert. (Harry Cherkinian)
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unclewolfies.com Winning in both the Breakfast and Brunch categories, Uncle Wolfie’s, in homage to their Miller tied house roots, affirms that beer goes with breakfast! Also known for their cocktails and mimosas, both the Brewer’s Hill and Downtown locations offer a vibrant dining experience. Uncle Wolfie’s elaborates on breakfast classics, offering hangover cures like the popular breakfast poutine, a la carte bites such as johnny cakes, and sweet plates like the paw-paw French toast. (Julia Watt) BUFFET
MAHARAJAH maharajahrestaurants.com The East Side restaurant has offered the city’s longest running Indian buffet. Since 1997, Maharajah has treated customers to a varied array of superb choices, including tandoori chicken and vegetarian options. The full bar includes Indian beers. The buffet is served 11:303 p.m. Wednesday through Monday (Maharajah is closed Tuesday). Stop by some night for dinner. (David Luhrssen) BURGERS/ICE CREAM-FROZEN CUSTARD STAND
KOPP’S FROZEN CUSTARD kopps.com Burgers and custard all in the same place—the perfect combo. The KRK Burger has all the main toppings plus fried onion, cheese, bacon, more cheese, raw onion, a spicy mayo mix and more. But it’s oh so important to leave plenty of room for that delicious custard. Wait in anticipation for the ever-changing daily flavors. It’s so easy to come back again and again to try them all. Obviously, SE readers agree. (Harry Cherkinian) BURRITO
CAFE CORAZON corazonmilwaukee.com Burritos are that top choice at Cafe Corazon and it’s easy to see why. Choices like the (grilled) Salmon Burrito and the Wet Burrito (smothered in your choice of red or green enchilada sauce) are a great way to sample CC’s winning burritos. But if you really wanna kick things up, there’s the Best Burrito featuring pork pibil, a Yucatán-style Mexican dish featuring slow-roasted pork in achiote paste and bitter orange juice. Oh yeah! (Harry Cherkinian)
CENTRAL/SOUTH AMERICAN RESTAURANT
CHEF PAZ RESTAURANT chefpaz.com Chef Maritza Paz has brought her love and expertise for her native Peruvian cooking to Milwaukee and clearly her cuisine is a big winner. Along with beef and chicken empanadas and ceviche there’s unique dishes like Lomo Salgado, sautéed steak with a fried egg on top served with sweet plantains. There’s also vegetarian dishes and even a kids’ menu. But do save room for dessert. Chef Paz brings her own Peruvian touches to Tres Leches (sponge cake a mixture of three milks) and Arroz con Leche (creamy rice pudding). (Harry Cherkinian) CHEAP EATS
IAN'S PIZZA ianspizza.com Hand-tossed NY-style pizza, open late and affordable with a rotating menu of creatively delicious slices at its three Milwaukee locations—2035 E. North Ave. on the East Side, 146 E. Juneau Ave. Downtown and 5300 W. Bluemound Ave. in Story Hill. (Ben Slowey) CHEF/FOOD TRUCK/ GLUTEN-FREE FRIENDLY RESTAURANT/ PIZZERIA-WOOD-FIRED OVEN
FLOUR GIRL & FLAME/CHEF DANA flourgirlandflame.com This LGBTQ+ women-owned pizzeria in West Allis serves wood-fired pies in a rustic setting, sourcing ingredients from queer, POC and women growers, producers and farmers. What started during the Covid quarantine as a mobile trailer by chef and owner Dana Spandet became a brick-and-mortar restaurant in just one year. (Ben Slowey) CHICKEN SANDWICH
CRAFTY COW craftycowwi.com A tender, fried chicken breast topped with broccoli stem slaw for a crisp crunch, dill pickles for a splash of acidity and Chipotle aioli for just a tickle of warmth, served on a lightly sweet cornbread bun, Crafty Cow’s “Fancy Chicken Sandwich” elevates the basics while still being t-shirt appropriate. Spice lovers can ask for it “Nashville Hot.” Order it with waffle fries. Ask for extra napkins. (Caroline Dannecker)
Patterned background by GettyImages/Andrii Vinnikov. 90's illustrations by Bahtiar/maulana.
JANUARY 2026 | 35
SPECIAL BEST OF MILWAUKEE CHICKEN WINGS
FARM TO TABLE RESTAURANT
TOMKEN’S BAR & GRILL
ODD DUCK
tomkensbar.com When it comes to what makes a chicken wing great, opinions are as varied as all the different types of sauces and accompaniments that surround these meaty morsels. But clearly everyone agrees that TomKen’s has the best of the bunch. Get ‘em grilled or battered, boneless or bone-in, dry rub, mild, medium or hot. Just remember: no matter how many you order here, it will never be enough! So just go ahead and order more. (Harry Cherkinian)
oddduckrestaurant.com There’s a very good reason why Odd Duck scores big with the voting foodies: its ever-changing, eclectic and innovative menu: Chili crisp devilled eggs, lamb and potato pierogi, wood-fired za’atar Bread with muhammarah and create-yourown charcuterie boards. The creative cocktails are just as inviting. (Harry Cherkinian)
CHINESE
DANDAN dandanmke.com Co-Founders Dan Jacobs and Dan Van Rite take Asian fusion cuisine and serve it up in a stylish yet relaxed setting right in the heart of Milwaukee’s Third Ward. From dim sum and dumplings to the ever popular DanDan Noodles (ground pork with chili oil), it’s all there—and a whole lot more. (Harry Cherkinian) COFFEE SHOP
STONE CREEK stonecreekcoffee.com Local roaster and café chain Stone Creek Coffee is committed to ethical coffee-making practices from roast to brew, evidenced by their B-corps status, employee ownership model and continuous environmental efforts. Among their nine locations across the greater Milwaukee area, the selfproclaimed coffee geeks at Stone Creek offer a rotating array of events such as tours, tastings and classes, also running a “Learning Lab” blog for fellow coffee geeks. (Julia Watt) DONUTS
NATIONAL BAKERY & DELI nationalbaking.com With locations in Milwaukee, Brookfield and Greendale, National Bakery & Deli has been a go-to for delicious sandwiches, cakes, breads, pastries and the like since 1925. This year, the bakery celebrated its 100th anniversary! (Ben Slowey) FAMILY-FRIENDLY RESTAURANT/FISH FRY/FRIED CHEESE CURDS/PLACE TO EAT ALONG/RESTAURANT SERVICE
LAKEFRONT BREWERY lakefrontbrewery.com With locations in Milwaukee, As one of Milwaukee's best-known breweries, Lakefront Brewery attracts more than 80,000 people a year for its tours alone. The fun, friendly environment feels like peak Midwest hospitality, serving quintessential Wisconsin comfort food like the fish fry and cheese curds at its very best. (Ben Slowey)
36 | SHEPHERD EXPRESS
FINE DINING/ROMANTIC RESTAURANT
BARTOLOTTA’S LAKE PARK BISTRO barolottas.com Perched on a bluff with gorgeous views of Lake Michigan, it’s easy to understand how this Bartolotta restaurant creates the perfect atmosphere for romance along with outstanding French inspired food. (Harry Cherkinian) FRENCH RESTAURANT
LE REVE PATISSERIE AND CAFÉ lerevecafe.com French food at its finest and a menu guaranteed to have you speaking French in no time. The menu is extensive and easy to follow. And if your motto in life is, “eat dessert first,” then look no further. (Harry Cherkinian) FROZEN YOGURT SHOP
YO MAMA! yomamagoodness.com You say “yogurt.” I say, “Yo Mama!” But the true pronunciation of this creamy, cold concoction is “froyo.” (That’s short for “frozen yogurt”). But most important are all those flavors of the day: Cake Batter, Tahitian Vanilla, Triple Decker Candy Bar. There’s even a dairy-free Mango Sorbet. Yet, plenty more to choose from. And according. To SE readers, it’s all good. (Harry Cherkinian) GELATO SHOP
GLORIOSO’S ITALIAN MARKET gloriosos.com When brothers Joe, Eddie and Teddy Glorioso founded their market on Brady Street in 1946, they might not have realized that they were building a cornerstone for a Milwaukee institution. Still family-owned, Glorioso’s offers a deli counter with made-to-order sandwiches as well as pasta, pizza, gelato, espresso, cheese, fresh sausage and meats, wine and beer. (Sheila Julson) GERMAN
KEGEL’S INN kegelsinn.com Kegel’s Inn is nearly 100 years old. So, you know they’re definitely doing things right with multiple generations. And with traditional fare like rouladen, goulash and sauerbraten as well as modern-day cuisine, including a vegan fishless fry, Kegel’s Inn will be around for another 100 years. (Harry Cherkinian)
GREEK RESTAURANT/KITCHEN OPEN AFTER 10 P.M.
OAKLAND GYROS oaklandgyros.com One of Milwaukee's favorite counterservice restaurants (East Side, South Side) offers gyros and shish-kebob sandwiches, spinach pie, Greek salads and even plain old cheeseburgers. The leg of lamb combo features a large piece of tender, flavorful meat in a brown sauce, served with warm pita, black olives, feta and choice of fries or salad. (David Luhrssen) HOT DOG
THE VANGUARD vanguardbar.com This Bay View restaurant and bar brings an elevated approach to Milwaukee's beer-and-brat tradition, offering housemade sausages and shareables with vegan options as well as an extensive brew, cocktail, bourbon and whiskey list. (Ben Slowey) HOTEL RESTAURANT
MASON STREET GRILL masonstreetgrill.com Located in the Pfister Hotel on the main floor, Mason Street Grill is the classic place for steaks and other chophouse fare. Cooked on woodfire grills, there’s plenty of other choices including fish, chicken and vegetarian options. (Harry Cherkinian) INDIAN/PAKISTANI
CAFÉ INDIA cafeindia.mke With locations in Bay View and Walker’s Point, Café India has become one of Milwaukee’s favorite restaurants for biryani and tandoori dishes, curries of all sorts and extensive choices for vegetarians. The Bay View café has a bar with an inventive drink menu. (David Luhrssen) IRISH RESTAURANT
COUNTY CLARE IRISH INN & PUB countyclare-inn.com/irishpub Back for another year, County Clare earns top billing for Best Irish Restaurant and Best Irish Pub. While of course patrons can split the G on a pint of Guinness, County Clare’s pub is well stocked with an assortment of Irish drafts, whiskeys, and warm boozy drinks. Their restaurant serves brunch and dinner, mingling Irish classics like bangers & mash and corned beef platters with local standbys, such as an excellent Friday fish fry. Enjoy live Irish music every Thursday and Friday. Sláinte! (Julia Watt)
Patterned background by GettyImages/Andrii Vinnikov. 90's illustrations by Bahtiar/maulana.
ITALIAN RESTAURANT
KOREAN
MEXICAN
SANTINO’S LITTLE ITALY
CHAR’D
BOTANAS
santinoslittleitaly.com Santino’s has a short menu of pasta dishes and a pleasing antipasti array. The Italian-made gas-wood oven bakes five pizza over fragrant cherry wood. Ingredients include the finest Italian flour and cheeses. The list of Italian wines is long, there are two Italian beers on tap, many unusual (for Milwaukee) liqueurs (including the essential fernet branca) and a roster of specialty cocktails. (David Luhrssen)
chardmke.com This is the place for authentic Korean barbecue, start to finish. Dumplings, Bulgogi, it’s all here—and more. And for dessert? The Croiffle. Think croissant meets waffle with sugar powder and a scoop of ice cream. (Harry Cherkinian)
botanasoriginal.com Botanas has been serving up all manner of Mexican cuisine on Milwaukee’s South Side for over 20 years. Given its extensive menu, there’s always something else to try with each return visit. Experience the cactus salad (leaves minus the sharp stuff), enchilada soup and house specialties like the Mar Y Tierra (shrimp, chicken and steak sautéed in red wine on roasted tomatillo salsa). If you still have room for dessert, there’s the classic fried ice cream. (Harry Cherkinian)
JAPANESE RESTAURANT/RAMEN/SUSHI
HUNGRY SUMO hungrysumosushibar.com This comfy Bay View sushi bar and Asian bistro serves beautifully and thoughtfully crafted Japanese cuisine accented by Chef Jif’s personal touches and exquisite flavors. (Ben Slowey) JEWISH/KOSHER-STYLE
BENJI’S DELI benjisdelicandrestaurant.com My family and I have been going for years to Benji’s Deli (both the original location in Shorewood and the Fox Point spot in Riverpoint). A Kosher-style Jewish deli is more than just a place to get cold cuts, soups and salads, it’s more of a diner that leans heavily Jewish. The classic diner counter, varied tables topped with condiments, staff who’ve been there forever, and artwork that has never changed (at least in my lifetime), make this place a Milwaukee staple. (Sandy Reitman)
LOUISIANA/SOUTHERN/ SOUL FOOD
MAXIE’S maxiesmike.com A triple winner in this year’s polls, it’s easy to see why. Maxie’s has been serving its southern style home cooking since 2007. Be it the Low Country style, Cajun or Creole, Maxie’s style is traditional slow cooked barbecue. And then there’s all those fresh oysters! (Harry Cherkinian) MEDITERRANEAN RESTAURANT/MIDDLE EASTERN RESTAURANT
LEBNANI HOUSE lebnanihouseinc.com Lebnani House sets a high standard for Middle Eastern dining in Milwaukee. The restaurant is spacious and airy, comfortably arranged with seating on chairs and booths. Service is friendly and swift. The menu is huge. The menu covers all major food groups. Of course, that Middle Eastern staple, lentil soup, is served, along with tabouleh, hot and cold mezza (appetizers). All meat is halal. (David Luhrssen)
NEW RESTAURANT (OPENED IN 2025)
ST. FRANCIS BREWERY st.francisbrewery.com St. Francis Brewery is back. And with a beer-forward food menu and unique beers brewed in house, it also tops the list for New Bar. The beers on tap are reason alone to visit again and again. Try Uneven Sidewalk, a lager brewed with melon rind and honey, or Permit Pending, a pale ale featuring grapefruit and pine. Throw in some beer braised beef or beer can chicken, sit back, Dig in. And enjoy. (Harry Cherkinian)
JANUARY 2026 | 37
SPECIAL BEST OF MILWAUKEE OUTDOOR DINING
PIZZERIA-THIN CRUST
SANDWICH
BARNACLE BUD’S
ZAFFIRO’S PIZZA
barnaclebuds.com Barnacle Bud’s is hidden among old warehouses and grain elevators and is filled with nautical charm. The main draw is a large wooden deck overlooking the Kinnickinnic River. The menu offers casual fare—mainly sandwiches and a few seafood baskets. The Friday fish fry features catfish, smelt, cod and grouper. (David Luhrssen)
zaffirospizza.com Zaffiro’s Pizza has earned its winning reputation with thin, crispy crusts and classic Italian flavor. A longtime Milwaukee favorite, it serves everything from signature pizzas and tasty appetizers to burgers, sandwiches and timeless bar drinks. With its neon glow, dark cozy dining room and rich local history, Zaffiro’s delivers comfort and great food on every visit. (Sophia Hamdan)
WEST ALLIS CHEESE & SAUSAGE SHOPPE
PIZZA-DEEP DISH
FIXTURE PIZZA PUB fixturepizza.com Fixture’s menu has something for everyone. However. it’s that deep dish pizza that keeps them coming back and tops the Best of Milwaukee this year. With all the creative combinations and names, it’s fun to explore and try them all. Named for some local breweries and distilleries (Indeed Brewing Co., Great Lakes Distillery) all the more reason to order the matching beverage with its namesake pizza. That’s deep-dish amore! (Harry Cherkinian)
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RESTAURANT OPEN ON CHRISTMAS DAY
THE PACKING HOUSE packinghousemke.com Famous for its fish fry and its supper club menu and ambiance (as well as hosting live music), The Packing House is a familyrun restaurant with a “from-scratch” kitchen and a selection of steaks, seafood, veal, chicken and more. Located near Mitchell Airport, the Packing House is a great place every night of the year. (David Luhrssen)
westallischeese.com The popular café and cheese shop is a perennial winner for its impressive variety of artisan cheese and meats. The café features signature sandwiches (several, of course, with cheese) and creative daily specials. (Sheila Julson) SEAFOOD RESTAURANT
ST. PAUL FISH COMPANY stpaulfish.com If it’s fish you’re wanting, this is the place with every choice imaginable. The New England style boils are the newest addition to the menu, with your choice of lobster, crab or seafood. But the lobster roll is as good as its East Coast. versions. (Harry Cherkinian) SOUPS
THE SOUP MARKET thesoupmarket.com The Soup Market offers a variety of tasty soups at three locations, South Shore and Brookfield Farmer’s Markets as well as Sendik’s Food Markets and over a dozen other retail spots. Daily selections include chicken noodle, chicken dumpling, a weekly featured chili and up to six featured soups, including at least one vegetarian soup every day. (Blaine Schultz)
SPANISH RESTAURANT/TAPAS (SMALL PLATES)
LA MERENDA lamerenda125.com With a globally inspired menu that incorporates dishes from Central and South America, Europe, East and Southeast Asia as well as right here in Wisconsin, La Merenda is a marvelous farm-to-table dining experience located in Walker's Point. (Ben Slowey) STEAKHOUSE/SUPPER CLUB
FIVE O’CLOCK STEAKHOUSE fiveoclocksteakhouse.com If it’s classic steak and all the fixings you’re craving, then pay a visit to the Five O’Clock Steakhouse. From the baked French onion soup and shrimp cocktail to every type of steak imaginable, this steakhouse has it all. (Harry Cherkinian) SUB SANDWICH
COUSINS SUBS cousinssubs.com Hard to imagine now, but when Cousins opened in the early ‘70s, submarine sandwiches were considered exotic in Milwaukee. Cousins helped popularize them and with more than a dozen Milwaukee area locations, the chain continues to set the standard for subs in our town. (David Luhrssen)
TACO
VIETNAMESE RESTAURANT
GUANAJUATO MEXICAN RESTAURANT
HUE ASIAN KITCHEN
guanajuatorestaurant.com Guanajuato wins Milwaukee’s Best Taco! For nearly two decades, owners Julio and Carolina Lopez have offered endless options of Mexican specialties, perhaps best known for their array of humble and authentic tacos. Mix and match tacos to your heart’s content or try a pair of tacos with rice and beans for their daily $10 lunch special. (Julia Watt)
huebayview.square.site Located in Bay View, Hue offers a menu of traditional Vietnamese and inspired Asian cuisine—including a fish fry—that will satisfy rice lovers, noodle lovers, carnivores and vegans. The pho is a delicious classic but don’t overlook the banh xeo or the curries. Dine-in and enjoy décor that celebrates modern Vietnam and matches the colorful cuisine. (Caroline Dannecker)
THAI RESTAURANT
WINE LIST
THAI-NAMITE
STORY HILL BKC
thai-namite.com This is as close to classic Thai food you can get short of visiting the country. It’s all here from curries and stir-fried rice and noodles to sushi and sashimi. (Harry Cherkinian)
storyhillbke.com Story Hill BKC is well known for its extraordinary food. But it’s the affordable wine list that’s just as impressive. Glasses run from $9 to $12. Full bottles range from $36 to $48. But it’s what’s inside those bottles that counts. Reds. Whites. Sparkling. Sip and sup. (Harry Cherkinian)
VEGAN-FRIENDLY RESTAURANT/ VEGETARIAN FRIENDLY RESTAURANT
TWISTED PLANTS twistedplants.com Twisted Plants satisfies vegans as well as omnivores with their 100-percent plantbased burgers, sandwiches and sides. (Sheila Julson)
Patterned background by GettyImages/Andrii Vinnikov. 90's illustrations by Bahtiar/maulana.
JANUARY 2026 | 39
SPECIAL BEST OF MILWAUKEE
Milwaukee music
COVER/TRIBUTE BAND
POLKA BAND
ACOUSTIC MUSICIAN
FAILURE TO LAUNCH
THE SQUEEZETTES
Failure to Launch has been a Cover Band finalist for a number of years and given their high energy performances, audiences keep coming back for more. They do it all: country, pop, dance, hiphop, rock. Music for every generation. (Harry Cherkinian)
The Squeezettes bill themselves as Milwaukee's premier all-female accordion group (albeit they had male members) with an energetic, power polka sound and impressive list of conquered venues. The ensemble formed in 2006 and has since become as much a staple of Milwaukee's famous festivals as beer drinking and brats, playing at Bastille Days and Festival of Lights Celebration over the years. (Jamie Lee Rake)
JAKE WILLIAMS Dividing his time among Sons of Sconnie, The Midnight Purchase and MaJiK Trio, Jake Williams plays over 200 shows a year. Williams is refining what it means to be a cover musician and may be best known for his work as frontman and keyboardist for The Toys, a lineup which has recently gone independent and rebranded as “Sons of Sconnie.” (Blaine Schultz) BLUEGRASS BAND
CHICKEN WIRE EMPIRE Chicken Wire Empire has been recognized worldwide for their performances and recorded works; Americana UK called their latest album “a variety which transcends genre and rewards careful listening.” Locally, they play festivals, jams and take the stage for shows with regularity, blending traditional sounds with freewheeling jam band energy. They were included on last year’s Season for a Smile holiday sampler, have covered Smashing Pumpkins and collaborated on an album with Chris Castino of The Big Wu. (Blaine Schultz) BLUES BAND
JONNY T-BIRD AND THE MPS With five albums under their belt, Jonny T-Bird & the MPs belt out a soulful mix of blues and originality. The group has been fronted by Jon “Jonny T-Bird” Neuberger since 2009—the MP stands for Marinated Puppets. It was the name of a short-lived band featuring Neuberger and some MATC classmates formed a year prior to the band that carries on today. (Blaine Schultz) CLUB DJ
DJ SHAWNA As the official DJ and producer for the Milwaukee Bucks, DJ Shawna brings affable charm everywhere she goes, whether she's performing at NBA games, PrideFest, Summerfest or at Walker's Point. She is notably one of only three women resident DJs in the NBA. (Ben Slowey) COUNTRY BAND
THE WHISKEY BELLES This all-female trio mixes country, folk and Americana all into a unique sound and presentation style guaranteed to keep everyone on their feet and moving to the music. There’s plenty of shows going on in the Milwaukee and surrounding areas to take in their high-energy shows. The Whiskey Belles also write their own original music as well as perform great covers like Dolly Parton’s “Jolene,” haunting with gorgeous harmonies. (Harry Cherkinian)
ELECTRONIC ARTIST/ RAP/HIP-HOP ARTIST/VOCALIST-MALE
JOHNNY FRANCHINO Genre-bending artist Johnny Franchino seamlessly blends hip hop with electronic and R&B and is known as lead vocalist for rock band The New Grey. Franchino had a productive year with 2025, having dropped over a dozen singles. (Ben Slowey) FOLK BAND
THE MIDNIGHT PURCHASE Orlando Peña gathered his posse of esteemed musicians to craft honest, raw folk music as The Midnight Purchase, now signed with Spectra Music Group and their debut full-length album released earlier this year. (Ben Slowey) INDIE BAND/ROCK BAND
THE NEW GREY Before his artwork took off, JeanMichel Basquiat played in the no wave band Gray. Milwaukee hip-hop/R&B/ indie rock band The New Grey may not have a connection to the late artist but with connections in both Milwaukee and Chicago, The New Grey's influences and sound run the gamut, with the common thread being an upbeat energetic fusion of sound. Johnny Franchino also picked up best Electronic Artist/Rap/Hip-Hop Artist/Vocalist-Male. (Blaine Schultz) JAZZ COMBO
MILWAUKEE JAZZ INSTITUTE In 2025 one of MJI’s student combos performed at New York’s Charles Mingus Festival. The institute organizes five youth ensembles and four adult ensembles with an extensive series of jams and workshops at the Jazz Gallery along with performance at venues as varied as Saint Kate, bar centro and the Wilson Center. (David Luhrssen) METAL BAND
CHERRY PIE www.cherrypie.org A consistent Best of Milwaukee winner, Cherry Pie continues their metal ascendance after 25+ years in the music industry. Cherry Pie goes beyond its 1980s hair band roots, playing music from other eras. Their family friendly shows provide something for everyone of all ages. Clearly the readers agree. (Harry Cherkinian) MUSIC PRODUCER/ENGINEER
S.D PRODUCES Don L. Ratney AKA S.D Produces is a producer, audio engineer and part-time poet who works professionally at the studio Be Sound Music. (Ben Slowey)
40 | SHEPHERD EXPRESS
VOCALIST-FEMALE
AMANDA HUFF Singer-songwriter, composer and electronic musician Amanda Huff is known for her hauntingly beautiful croon and stunning vocal range, and she's always working on something new, whether it's with her solo work, dark electronic pop outfit You Win! or alternative-world supergroup Strangelander. (Ben Slowey)
out and about ALL-AGES VENUE/LIVE MUSIC VENUE/ROCK CLUB
CACTUS CLUB cactusclubmilwaukee.com Once a meeting place for an Italian anarchist book club and Prohibition parties, Cactus Club is an artist-run, queer-owned performance venue and cultural hub in Bay View celebrated for its deep community ties and commitment to inclusive values. (Ben Slowey) ARCADE/GAMING
UP-DOWN ARCADE updownarcadebar.com/milwaukee Up-Down Arcade is a bar that leans heavy into eighties and nineties nostalgia with more than 60 classic arcade games, Nintendo 64 gaming, skee-ball alleys, pinball machines and more spread across two levels with a patio. The bar offers decent pizza along with a typical menu of beers, cocktails and a handful of nonalcoholic options to pair with a night of games and friendly competition. (Caroline Dannecker) ART STUDIO/CLASSES:
CREAM CITY CLAY 7105 W. Greenfield Ave., West Allis creamcityclay.com Curious about the process or want to resume your creative urge? Cream City Clay offers a beautiful studio, quality equipment and a contagious creative environment to create ceramic art, pottery and sculpture. The studio provides a space where students and studio artists can grow artistically wherever they are starting from in a fun and friendly atmosphere. (Blaine Schultz)
Patterned background by GettyImages/Andrii Vinnikov. 90's illustrations by Bahtiar/maulana.
ATTRACTION FOR OUT OF TOWN GUESTS
MILWAUKEE ART MUSEUM mam.org The soaring spire of the museum’s addition by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava became Milwaukee’s symbol. The Milwaukee Art Museum has a strong permanent collection at its base, spanning the ancient world through just yesterday, and hosts significant traveling exhibitions throughout the calendar year. (David Luhrssen) AXE BAR
AXE MKE axemke.com AXE MKE wins one of our more niche categories, Best Axe Throwing Bar. The lumberjackian facility has crafted a bar experience wrapped around this Northern recreational forte, serving up brews and bites alongside twelve axe-throwing lanes. Located on the East Side, AXE MKE offers regular events such as their blacklight Glow & Throw sessions, party reservations, as well as league axe throwing at their sister locations. (Julia Watt) BAR ON A BUDGET
THE NEWPORT facebook.com/TheNewport/ BayView Meat raffles, charity events, block parties—for over 20 years The Newport has been a good neighbor in the heart of Bay View. Need a review? “Great service by some great bartenders at a place that doesn't cost a fortune. Really easygoing friendly crowd plus there's a great outside patio area.” (Blaine Schultz) BAR FOR QUIET CONVERSATION/ COCKTAIL LOUNGE/ ROMANTIC BAR
AT RANDOM atrandommke.com Its retro-sophisticated vibe underscores the fun of a visit to this evening only lounge (5 p.m. if you’re checking the time). Since 1964, At Random has been providing drinks made with its secret ingredients. (Harry Cherkinian)
BAR WITH A PATIO/ MOCKTAIL SELECTION/ OLD FASHIONED
BOONE & CROCKETT boonemilwaukee.com "Pretentious Drinks Without the Pretentiousness" is the motto at this north woodsthemed cocktail bar in Walker's Point, whose large outdoor patio with DJs and a taco truck and beautiful view of the Milwaukee River make it the perfect summer destination in town. (Ben Slowey) BAR TO BE SEEN IN/ HOTEL LOUNGE
THE BAR AT SAINT KATE-THE ARTS HOTEL saintkatearts.com A repeat winner for classy imbibing, The Bar is nestled conveniently in Milwaukee’s Theater District, making it an ideal choice for a preshow beverage. They host a rotating lineup of specialty cocktails, local coffee, THC seltzers, fine wines and craft beers. Enjoy live music every night of the week starting at 5 p.m. (Julia Watt) BAR TO WATCH SOCCER
NOMAD WORLD PUB nomadworldpub.com On Saturdays and Sundays, the Nomad World Pub is open early for Premier League soccer. That should offer an indication of the pub’s dedication to the sport known as football to the rest of the world. Originally a Schlitz tavern, since 1995 the neighborhood mainstay has anchored the corner of Brady and N. Warren streets, hosting block parties during the World Cup. (Benjamin Dover) BEER GARDEN
SOUTH SHORE TERRACE southshoreterrace.com South Shore Terrace gives German biergartens a hearty nod and takes our local beer culture up a notch, pairing Milwaukee-inspired food with local and imported drafts. Perhaps above all, South Shore Terrace is just far enough from downtown to offer a beautiful vista of Lake Michigan and the scenic Milwaukee skyline, graced by sailboat flotillas from the neighboring community yacht club. (Julia Watt)
JANUARY 2026 | 41
SPECIAL BEST OF MILWAUKEE BLOODY MARY
COUNTRY BAR
SOBELMAN’S
NASHVILLE NORTH
sobelmanspubandgrill.com Sobelman’s Bloody Marys are a drink and “meal” with those over-the-top toppings: Colby jack cheese, a pickled Polish sausage, a pickled mushroom, a pickled Brussels sprout, an asparagus, a celery stalk, a green onion, and on another toothpick a shrimp, a lemon wedge, and a grape tomato. (Harry Cherkinian)
nashvillenorthmke.com While the name implies country music, Nashville North runs the gamut. The ghost of the Up and Under Pub gets conjured when blues legend Leroy Airmaster takes the stage; Tuesday’s Bluegrass Whatevers evenings feature members of Chicken Wire Empire and The Milbillies with a rotating cast of the Midwest's finest bluegrass and Americana musicians. Every Sunday evening Don Woppert handles a revolving open mic and jam night to wind down the weekend. (Blaine Schultz)
BREWERS SHUTTLE/ SPORTS BAR
STENY’S stenystavern.com Brewers, check. But Steny’s will also shuttle you to the door for all Milwaukee Bucks, Milwaukee Admirals and Marquette basketball home games. On game days the Walker’s Point corner tavern offers drink specials as well. The sports bar serves a Friday fish fry, brunch on Saturday and Sunday, as well as apps until 1 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. (Blaine Schultz)
CRAFT BEER SELECTION
SUGAR MAPLE
BREWERY TOUR/ MILWAUKEE TOUR
mysugarmaple.com The tap beers are endless, with plenty of booze-based drinks available as well. Contributing to its low-key vibe, Sugar Maple features even features hemp-based drinks. From Slip-N-Cider to Three Sheets, if hemp is on your menu, Sugar Maple serves it up just the way you like it. (Harry Cherkinian)
LAKEFRONT BREWERY
DANCE CLUB
bakefrontbrewery.com As one of Milwaukee's most renowned breweries, Lakefront Brewery attracts more than 80,000 people a year for its tours alone. It’s fun, friendly environment feels like peak Midwest hospitality, serving quintessential Wisconsin comfort food like fish fry and cheese curds at its very best. (Ben Slowey) CAR SHOW
DOWNTOWN WEST ALLIS CLASSIC CAR SHOW Robert Klug’s 1970 AMC Rebel Machine took Best in Show at 2025’s Downtown West Allis Classic Car Show. With over 400 classic and custom vehicles displayed along Greenfield Avenue between 70th and 76th Streets, the afternoon event offers music, food, vendors and fun and games for the whole family. (Blaine Schultz) COMEDY CLUB
COMEDYSPORTZ cszmke.com Milwaukee’s ComedySportz, the mothership of all 20+ CSz locations, wins Best Comedy Club. Established in the 1980s, ComedySportz specializes in short form gamified improv comedy in which players compete in teams for the most laughs. These matches are complemented by in-show food and drink service right to your seat. The club also hosts a variety of long-form improv and sketch comedy shows and runs classes year-round for aspiring comedians. (Julia Watt)
42 | SHEPHERD EXPRESS
MAD PLANET mad-planet.net Mad Planet returns for another victory over the Best Dance Club category. Known for their Versus Nights and Retro Dance Parties, the club fosters an inclusive environment in a funky space. Club-goers can indulge in a variety of imbibing and dancing options, with two fully stocked bars adorned with quirky mementos and trinkets, a multi-level dance floor and several comfortable lounge areas to choose from. (Julia Watt) HAPPY HOUR/ TRIVIA NIGHT
BLACKBIRD BAR blackbirdbayview.com This quaintly decorated Bay View watering hole is a great spot for team trivia, pinball, pizza, loud music and birthday parties - they've even got a photo booth! (Ben Slowey) HOOKAH LOUNGE
CASABLANCA casablancaonbrady.com Casablanca serves some of the very best in Middle Eastern and Mediterranean dishes. And there’s literally something for every type of appetite, Casablanca does it. And the hookah lounge completes its Middle Eastern vibe. (Harry Cherkinian)
IMPORT BEER SELECTION AT A BAR
CAFE HOLLANDER cafehollander.com Cafe Hollander is all about the beer. Or make that “bier” in the Lowlander European tradition. That means botanical breweries using a variety of herbs, spices and fruits. CH takes the art of “bierology” quite seriously. The choices suit every possible taste, including white ales, IPAs, porters. There’s even a winter white IPA using spruce needles. (Harry Cherkinian) IRISH PUB
COUNTY CLARE IRISH INN & PUB countyclare-inn.com/irish-pub County Clare earns top billing for Best Irish Restaurant and Best Irish Pub. While of course patrons can split the G on a pint of Guinness, County Clare’s pub is well stocked with an assortment of Irish drafts, whiskeys, and warm boozy drinks. Their restaurant serves brunch and dinner, mingling Irish classics like bangers & mash and corned beef platters with local standbys, such as an excellent Friday fish fry. Enjoy live Irish music every Thursday and Friday. Sláinte! (Julia Watt) JAZZ CLUB
CAROLINE’S JAZZ CLUB facebook.com/carolinesjazzclub For those seeking the cool, retro nostalgic atmosphere of live jazz, Caroline’s is where you want to go. Local performers combine with an intimate atmosphere to make it all upbeat and personal. (Harry Cherkinian) KARAOKE BAR
AMPED ampedmke.com Amped offers private suite karaoke and spaces for meetings and events. Amped also programs Game Show MKE where you can live out your daytime television fantasies, compete in trivia and tests of skill. (Blaine Schultz) MARGARITA
BOTANAS botanasoriginal.com Botanas has been serving up all manner of Mexican cuisine on Milwaukee’s South Side for over 20 years. And given its extensive menu, there’s always something else to try with each return visit. Their superb Magaritas are the perfect complement to a great Botanas meal. (Harry Cherkinian) MARTINI
BLU thepfisterhotel.com Shaken? Stirred? This is the readers favorite martini go-to high up on the 23rd floor of the Pfister Hotel. Blu has all the necessary ingredients whether you like it wet or dry. And then there’s those amazing views of Milwaukee and Lake Michigan. Sit back. And sip the night away. (Harry Cherkinian)
MICROBREWERY/TAPROOM/PET-FRIENDLY ESTABLISHMENT
OPE! BREWING opebrewingco.com This West Allis craft brewery leans into Midwest culture and charm with a massive taproom and dog-friendly atmosphere. Serving lagers that hit “like a Packers touchdown,” Ope! has made itself a community hub with its rambunctious trivia nights, live music and rotating schedule of food trucks. (Ben Slowey) NATURE CENTER
SCHLITZ AUDUBON NATURE CENTER schlitzaudubon.org Milwaukee's 185-acre north-shore nature center features six miles of hiking trails through prairies, wetlands and forests in addition to tons of educational programming and various environmental conservation projects. (Ben Slowey) NEW BAR (OPENED IN 2025)
ST. FRANCIS BREWERY st.francisbrewery.com St. Francis Brewery is back. And with a beer-forward food menu and unique beers brewed in house, it tops the list for New Bar—as well as New Restaurant. The beers on tap are reason alone to visit again and again. Try Uneven Sidewalk, a lager brewed with melon rind and honey, or Permit Pending, a pale ale featuring grapefruit and pine. Throw in some beer braised beef or beer can chicken, sit back, Dig in. And enjoy. (Harry Cherkinian) PLACE FOR FAMILY FUN
WISCONSIN STATE FAIR wistatefair.com It was not all cream puffs and racing pigs in the early days of the Wisconsin State Fair. The Fair debuted in 1851 on a six-acre plot along the Rock River in Janesville. Admission was 10 cents and attendance reached between 13,000 and 18,000. It was the largest reported gathering in Wisconsin history at the time. As a cultural melting pot, today’s Fair is among the best people-watching events you will find. (Benjamin Dover) TRAVEL GETAWAY (BEST WAY OUT OF TOWN)
MITCHELL INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT mitchellairport.com It’s been over a century that air travel has been possible in Milwaukee. Mitchell first started out as Hamilton Airport in 1920. By 1941 Mitchell Field had landed, eventually becoming General Mitchell international Airport in 1986. In 2024, 6.3 million passengers used the airport. And we’re pretty sure a lot of it has to do with getting out of town when the snow flies for where the sun shines. (Harry Cherkinian)
Patterned background by GettyImages/Andrii Vinnikov. 90's illustrations by Bahtiar/maulana.
WHISKEY SELECTION AT A BAR
THE VANGUARD vanguardbar.com This Bay View restaurant and bar brings an elevated approach to Milwaukee's beer-and-brat tradition, offering housemade sausages and shareables with vegan options as well as an extensive brew, cocktail, bourbon and whiskey list. (Ben Slowey) WINERY
COOPER’S HAWK WINERY BROOKFIELD chwinery.com Founded in 2005, Cooper’s Hawk Winery fully immerses its patrons into the “Napa style” experience: think on site tasting rooms, experienced staff helping with selections and wine clubs. But to complete the experience is the opportunity to add in some casual fine dining along with all those tasty tastings. Focusing on seasonal ingredients, the winery also provides a wine bin number for each dish to ensure “the perfect wine match.” (Harry Cherkinian)
Category winners in alphabetical order
BOUGHT AND SOLD ANTIQUE STORE
ANTIQUES ON PIERCE APPLIANCE STORE
GRAND APPLIANCE GREENFIELD AUTO DEALERSHIP - DOMESTIC
BOUCHER BUICK-GMC AUTO DEALERSHIP - IMPORT
SOMMERS SUBARU AUTO DEALERSHIP - PREOWNED
SOMMER'S AUTOMOTIVE BIKE SHOP
WHEEL & SPROCKET BOARD/TABLE TOP GAMING SHOP
BOARD GAME BARRISTER BOOKSTORE
BOSWELL BOOK COMPANY BOUTIQUE CLOTHING
BOHO LUXE BOUTIQUE CARPET/FINE RUGS
SHABAHANG AND SONS PERSIAN CARPETS CBD RETAIL SHOP
KNUCKLEHEADS WELLNESS CLOTHING - CHILDREN'S
body, mind, & spirit ACUPUNCTURIST
MILWAUKEE COMMUNITY ACUPUNCTURE
BLACKBEAR CHILDREN'S BOUTIQUE CLOTHING - MEN'S
MODA3 CLOTHING - WOMEN'S
ALTERNATIVE MEDICAL CLINIC
PLUME
MKE MINDBODY WELLNESS
COMIC BOOK STORE
BOUTIQUE FITNESS
LION'S TOOTH
HEALIUM HIIT
EYEWEAR
CROSSFIT-STYLE GYM
BE SPECTACLED
BREWCITY CROSSFIT
FASHION ACCESSORIES
GYM
BOHO LUXE BOUTIQUE
WISCONSIN ATHLETIC CLUB
FINE JEWELRY STORE
MASSAGE THERAPIST
FLOORING (NON-CARPET)
MARYLISA AYALA
STU'S FLOORING
PERSONAL TRAINER
FLORIST
CRISTIAN ROSADO GARCIA AT TONED BODY FITNESS
414LORAL
PILATES STUDIO
AFTERGLOW MKE
BILTRITE FURNITURELEATHER-MATTRESS
REIKI STUDIO
FURNITURE - RESTORED
ANGELIC ROOTS - OAK CREEK
MID-CENTURY MEOW
SPA
STEIN'S GARDEN & HOME
PFISTER WELL SPA + SALON YOGA STUDIO
HEALIUM HOT YOGA
CIVAL COLLECTIVE
FURNITURE - NEW
GARDEN CENTER GIFT SHOP
MILWAUKEE MAKERS MARKETPLACE HARDWARE STORE
BLIFFERT HARDWARE
JANUARY 2026 | 43
SPECIAL BEST OF MILWAUKEE HEAD SHOP
LANDSCAPER/LAWN MAINTENANCE
OCCUPATIONAL THERAPIST
KNUCKLEHEADS WELLNESS
THE SECRET GARDEN LANDSCAPING
ERIN BAFFUNO
PAINTER
BELL ORTHODONTIC SOLUTIONS
LIGHTING SHOWROOM
BBC LIGHTING MATTRESS STORE
COLORWHEEL PAINTING
ORTHODONTIST PEDIATRICIAN
BILTRITE FURNITURELEATHER-MATTRESS
PLUMBER
MOTORCYCLE DEALERSHIP
ROOFER
HOUSE OF HARLEY-DAVIDSON
BILLY GOAT ROOFING
WISCONSIN ORTHOPEDIC PHYSICAL THERAPY
MUSICAL INSTRUMENT STORE
WINDOW & SIDING
PSYCHIATRIST / PSYCHOLOGIST
CREAM CITY MUSIC
WEATHER TIGHT CORPORATION
LAKESHORE PSYCHOLOGY SERVICES
NEW RETAIL STORE (OPENED IN (2025)
CULTURAL CLOTH NOVELTY / VARIETY STORE
AMERICAN SCIENCE AND SURPLUS PET RETAIL STORE
BARK N SCRATCH OUTPOST RECORD STORE
RUSHMOR RECORDS SHOE STORE
STAN'S SHOES TIRE STORE
MR. P'S TIRE VAPE SHOP
OAK CREEK PLUMBING
LGBTQ DRAG EVENT
DRAG QUEEN BINGO AT LAKEFRONT BREWERY DRAG PERSONALITY
DEAR RUTHIE LGBTQ ADVOCATE
FLOUR GIRL & FLAME LGBTQ EVENT
PRIDE FEST LGBTQ-INCLUSIVE BUSINESS
FLOUR GIRL & FLAME LGBTQ-OWNED BUSINESS
DR. STEPHANIE SLOCK PHYSICAL THERAPIST
SOUND THERAPY
ANGELIC ROOTS - OAK CREEK SPEECH THERAPIST
CUW SPEECH, LANGUAGE, & HEARING CLINIC SPORTS MEDICINE
MIDWEST ORTHOPEDIC TELEMEDICINE PROVIDER
A RIGHT PATH WELLNESS WOMEN'S MEDICAL SERVICES
PLANNED PARENTHOOD
REAL ESTATE
KNUCKLEHEADS WELLNESS
FLOUR GIRL & FLAME
VINTAGE/THRIFT STORE
MEDICAL
MILWAUKEE FLAT FEE HOMES
HOME IMPROVEMENT
ALCOHOL & DRUG REHAB CENTER
REAL ESTATE AGENT/BROKER
ARCHITECT
CANCER CENTER
ZIMMERMAN ARCHITECTURAL STUDIOS
FROEDTERT CANCER CENTER
BASEMENT/REC ROOM REMODELER
DR. MATTHEW WEINBERG
BC MODERN
LABONTE CONSTRUCTION BATHROOM REMODELER
ROGERS MEMORIAL
CARDIOLOGIST CHIROPRACTOR
LABONTE CONSTRUCTION
SOUTH SHORE FAMILY CHIROPRACTIC
CLOSET DESIGN
COSMETIC DENTIST
CLOSETS BY DESIGN - MILWAUKEE
MAJOR DENTAL CLINICS
ELECTRICIAN
DR. MICHAEL SWEET
CURRENT ELECTRIC GARAGE DOOR INSTALLATION/REPAIR
GEIS BUILDING PRODUCTS GUTTER INSTALLATION/REPAIR
COSMETIC SURGEON DENTIST
MAJOR DENTAL CLINICS DERMATOLOGY
WEATHER TIGHT CORPORATION
DR. EDIT OLASZ - FROEDERT DERMATOLOGY
HOME BUILDER
EYE DOCTOR
BIELINSKI HOMES
METRO EYE
HOME REMODELING
HOME MEDICAL CARE
LABONTE CONSTRUCTION
RALYN HOMECARE LLC
HVAC
HOSPITAL
CAPITOL HEATING AND COOLING
FROEDTERT HOSPITAL
INTERIOR DESIGN
MILWAUKEE EYE CARE
STONE HOUSE COLLECTIVE KITCHEN REMODELER
LABONTE CONSTRUCTION
LASIK SURGEON MENTAL HEALTH CLINIC
ROGERS BEHAVIORAL HEALTH OB-GYN
MORELAND OB-GYN ASSOCIATES 44 | SHEPHERD EXPRESS
REAL ESTATE AGENCY
PAUL STEVENS RENTAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT GROUP
WELCOME HOME MILWAUKEE
SERVICES RENDERED ACCOUNTANT/TAX ADVISER
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DANCEWORKS JANUARY 2026 | 45
SPECIAL WINTER ARTS GUIDE
Winter Arts Guide 2026
Present Music Asks: What Can AI Tell Us About Love?
F
BY DAVID LUHRSSEN
or their Valentine’s concert, “Avant-Garden of Love,” Present Music offers a world premiere by Cory Dargel. The classically trained composer’s recent albums easily cross over into synth pop, including Other People’s Love Songs set to 13 lyrics commissioned from real-life couples. His world premiere commission from PM, true love not pretend, was achieved in part with the aid of AI.
“The chatbots kept generating checklists to determine whether or not I was in an honest relationship,” Dargel explains. “It also generated scripts for me to rehearse telling someone I love them for the first time. It often told me to watch out for fake love and for partners who were not truly invested, while simultaneously giving me methods to practice being honest with someone. 46 | SHEPHERD EXPRESS
The whole thing seemed all about learning to be fake while watching out for fake partners.” Will it pass the Turing test?
where everyone chops salad fixings to the tune of percussionists with hollow vegetables and violinists strumming string beans.
Dargel will perform true love with PM, singing the words that resulted from his multiple conversations with AI chatbots. “I've embraced a theme of pretending to be in love and performing love for others while also desperately searching for true love for myself. And in the end, the chatbots try to convince me that falling in love with a machine would be so much more rewarding than falling in love with another person,” he says.
“Avant-Garden” will also include Double Sextet by Steve Reich, the master of 20th century minimalism. “It’s a wonderful masterpiece; we played it 15 years ago, right after it came out,” Segnitz says. “We’re getting the jump on the Reich retrospective all over the world for his 90th birthday in October 2026. He was the person who influenced Present Music’s direction. Double Sextet fits the program because it’s like a relationship—it’s a counterpoint between a live sextet and a digitally recorded sextet. It’s propulsive, energetic and fun.”
“It’s not a sit-down concert,” adds PM’s Eric Segnitz of “Avant-Garden.” “It’s more of a variety show.” Among the attractions: “Simultaneous Poetry,” with audience members reciting love poems and Craig’s List personals from slips of paper (nodding to Dadaist Tristan Tzara) and Fluxus founder Alison Knowles’ “Make a Salad,”
7:30 p.m. February 13-14 at Jan Serr Studio, 2155 N. Prospect Ave. For tickets, visit presentmusic.org.
Drawing of Corey Dargel by Doug Fitch. Winter background by GettyImages/Hanna Shvets.
JANUARY 2026 | 47
SPECIAL WINTER ARTS GUIDE 5 POINTS ART GALLERY
BEL CANTO CHORUS
CAPITAL CITY THEATRE, MADISON
5ptsartgallery.com
belcanto.org
capitalcitytheatre.org
ACACIA THEATRE COMPANY
BLACK ARTS MKE
Bill Blagg Family Magic, Jan. 10
acaciatheatre.com
blackartsmke.org
CARROLL PLAYERS
ALL IN PRODUCTIONS
BOERNER BOTANICAL GARDENS
carroll-players.com
allin-mke.com
boernerbotanicalgardens.org
CARTHAGE COLLEGE THEATRE
ALVERNO ART & CULTURES GALLERY
BOMBSHELL THEATRE CO.
alverno.edu/gallery
bombshelltheatre.org
Wisconsin Craft, Feb. 6-March 6
Honky-Tonk Angels, Jan. 14-18
carthage.edu/arts/experience-the-arts/theatre-dance-performances
AMERICA’S BLACK HOLOCAUST MUSEUM
Avenue Q, Feb. 26-March 15
AMERICAN PLAYERS THEATRE
The musical comedy starring puppets and humans, an adult-oriented parody of “Sesame Street,” took a Tony Award in 2004. (Morton Shlabotnik)
americanplayers.org
BOULEVARD THEATER
APERI ANIMAM
milwaukeeboulevardtheatre.com
abhmuseum.org
aperianimam.com Amplector with Mars Smith, Feb. 15 (Alverno College Chapel) ARTS @ LARGE artsatlargeinc.org BACH CHAMBER CHOIR bachchoirmilwaukee.com Arise, Shine, for Your Light has Come: Epiphany Concert, Jan. 4 (Wauwatosa Avenue United Methodist Church) Top off the holiday season with chorales from George Handel’s Messiah (1742), one of the Baroque era’s most enduring works as performed by the Bach Chamber Choir accompanied by a chamber orchestra. (David Luhrssen) BAYVIEW GALLERY NIGHT bvgn.org
48 | SHEPHERD EXPRESS
Dear Elizabeth, Feb. 25, Feb. 27-28 CATEY OTT DANCE COLLECTIVE cateyott.com CATHEDRAL OF ST. JOHN THE EVANGELIST stjohncathedral.corg Wednesday concert series
THE BOX THEATRE CO.
CEDARBURG ART MUSEUM
boxtheatreco.org
cedarburgartmuseum.org
BRONZEVILLE ARTS ENSEMBLE facebook.com/BronzevilleArtsEnsemble BRONZEVILLE CENTER FOR THE ARTS
CEDARBURG CULTURAL CENTER cedarburgculturalcenter.org The Little Show: 2025-26 Annual Exhibit, through Jan. 11
Bcamke.org
Spectacular Elftacular! through Jan. 11
Black Defined 1: Ceramics, through Jan. 9
CEDARBURG ARTISTS GUILD
BROOM STREET THEATRE, MADISON
cedarburgartistsguild.com
bstonline.org
CEDARBURG PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
Prometheus Rex, Jan. 16-31
cedarburgpac.com
CABARET MILWAUKEE
John McGivern’s A Man for All Seasons, Jan. 10
facebook.com/cabmke
The Stepcrew, Feb. 28 CHANT CLAIRE CHAMBER CHOIR chantclaire.org
CHARLES ALLIS ART MUSEUM
DANCEWORKS PERFORMANCE MKE
EARLY MUSIC NOW
charlesallis.org
danceworksmke.org
earlymusicnow.org
CHAZEN MUSEUM OF ART (UW-MADISON)
DAVID BARNETT GALLERY
Trio Medieval: Folk Songs, Jan. 17 (St. Joseph Chapel)
chazen.wisc.edu CHORAL ARTS SOCIETY OF SOUTHEASTERN WISCONSIN choralartsonline.org
davidbarnettgallery.com The Artwork of Marc Chagall, Featuring New Acquisitions, through Jan. 13
High School Competition Showcase Recital, Feb. 15 (Milwaukee Youth Arts Center)
Few 20th century artists painted as distinctively as Marc Chagall. He was a modernist grounded in a tradition—the landscape and folkways of Russia’s Pale of Jewish Settlement. His figures often float, literally, as if dreaming of places lost forever. (David Luhrssen)
THE CONSTRUCTIVISTS
DAWN SPRINGER DANCE PROJECT
theconstructivists.org
dawnspringer.com
CONCORD CHAMBER ORCHESTRA
DEAD MAN’S CARNIVAL
CIVIC MUSIC MKE civicmusicmilwaukee.org
concordorchestra.org In Good Company, Jan. 25 (Central United Methodist Church) DANCECIRCUS dancecircus.org
facebook.com/Dead-Mans-Carnival-338362982860387 DOOR COUNTY CONTEMPORARY ART FAIR
The Grammy-nominated Swedish/ Norwegian vocal trio specialize in medieval polyphonic music but have expanded their repertoire to include contemporary composers. For their EMN concert, they will focus on songs from Scandinavia. (Morton Shlabotnik) EX FABULA exfabula.org StorySlam: Brave, Jan. 6 (Pilot Project Brewing) AfterDark: For the Culture, Feb. 12 (Radio Milwaukee) FALLS PATIO PLAYERS fallspatioplayers.com
doorcountycontemporary.com DOOR SHAKESPEARE doorshakespeare.com
Winter background by GettyImages/Hanna Shvets. Snowflake illustrations by GettyImages/Irina Gutyryak.
JANUARY 2026 | 49
SPECIAL WINTER ARTS GUIDE
FESTIVAL CITY SYMPHONY
FLORENTINE OPERA
festivalcitysymphony.org
florentineopera.org
Mendelssohn’s Discovery, Jan. 24 (Bradley Symphony Center)
Elixir of Love, Jan. 12-22 (SC Johnson Golden Rondelle Theater, Racine)
gsdwi.org
Great Britain became Felix Mendelssohn’s second county. While visiting Scotland in 1829, he visited a cave in the Hebrides Islands, inspiring his Hebrides Overture, which transports listeners to a rugged place where waves wash against rocky shores. FCS pairs the overture to a work by Mendelssohn’s contemporary, Franz Schubert’s Symphony in C Major (The Great). (David Luhrssen)
Elixir of Love, Jan. 28, Sharon Lynne Wilscon Center for the Arts)
Thegreengallery.biz
FORTE THEATRE COMPANY
greendaletheatre.org
FINE ARTS QUARTET fineartsquartet.com FIRST STAGE
fortetheatrecompany.org
GREENDALE COMMUNITY THEATRE
GROHMANN MUSEUM
FORWARD THEATER, MADISON
msoe.edu/grohmann-museum Dave Clay’s Industrial Atmospheres, Jan. 16-April 26
Ironbound, Jan. 19-Feb. 15 FOUR SEASONS THEATRE, MADISON fourseasonstheatre.com FRANKLY MUSIC franklymusic.org FRESCO OPERA THEATRE, MADISON
Lovabye Dragon, Jan. 21-Feb. 15
frescoopera.com
Peter Pan and Wendy, Feb. 20-March 22
gallery218.com
50 | SHEPHERD EXPRESS
GREEN GALLERY
forwardtheater.com
firststage.org
Disney called it Peter Pan, but Edwardian novelist-playwright J.M. Barrie titled his story Peter and Wendy, a meditation on the inevitability of leaving childhood behind with Wendy as the protagonist. First Stage’s Jeff Frank’s adaptation promises a whimsical journey to Neverland. (David Luhrssen)
GERMANTOWN PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
GALLERY 218
GALLERY 224 Gallery224.org GALLERY 2622
Milwaukee native Dave Clay is an artist, software architect, engineer and musician working in a variety of media including digital collage, metal, large-scale interactive sculpture and painting. “I met Dave Clay through Tom Crawford at WMSE. Tom knew him from the local band scene when Dave still lived in Milwaukee. He is in Seattle now,” says Grohmann Museum director James Kieselburg. “His work is a perfect fit for the Grohmann—industrial interiors with an otherworldly look, like they could have been pulled from Omni or some other sci-fi magazine.” (David Luhrssen)
gallery2622.com
GROVE GALLERY
GALLERY NIGHT AND DAY, JAN. 16-17
gallerygrove.com
gallerynightmke.com
HAGGERTY MUSEUM OF ART
HOVER CRAFT
JEWISH MUSEUM MILWAUKEE
marquette.edu/haggerty-museum
hovercraftmke.com
jewishmuseummilwaukee.org
This Side of the Stars: Robert Rauschenberg’s Stoned Moon in the Company of Kite, Paglen and Yi, Jan. 22-May 16
HYPERLOCAL MKE hyperlocalmke.com
Violins of Hope: Strings of Jewish Resistance and Resilience, Nov. 5-Jan. 25
HARLEY-DAVIDSON MUSEUM
blueharboaresort.com
harley-davidson.com
INSPIRATION STUDIOS ART GALLERY
Creating a Legend: Art & Engineering at Harley-Davidson, through spring 2027
inspirationstudiosgallery.com
Ezy Ryders: History & Tradition, Heart & Soul, through 2026 Photographer Cate Dingley’s book Ezy Ryders focuses on New York City’s Black riding culture today. Images and text from her book have been chosen for the new exhibition at the HarleyDavidson Museum. All of Dingley’s photographs are in black and white. “There’s a sense of timelessness to them, black and white can be a very expressive medium,” curator Ann Sinfield says. (David Luhrssen) H. F. JOHNSON GALLERY OF ART
IMPRESSIONS FINE ARTS GALLERY
Theatrical Tendencies Staged Reading, January The Rogues Arti & Poetry Exhibit, February JAMES MAY GALLERY jamesmaygallery.com
“Jewish Museum Milwaukee is honored to be the only Jewish institution exhibiting these instruments during this incredible residency, through the lens of Jewish identity and with the respect these vessels of memory deserve,” says Molly Dubin, chief curator. “We are especially excited to welcome guest curators from the Nathan and Esther Pelz Holocaust Education Resource Center, who bring expertise in Holocaust education, teaching about Jewish culture, and ways to engage K-12 audiences.” (David Luhrssen)
JAZZ GALLERY CENTER FOR THE ARTS jazzgallerycenterforarts.org Free Improvisation, Saturdays Milwaukee Jazz Institute, Sundays Open Gallery Exhibition, Thursdays Pilgrims Crossing, through Jan. 17
carthage.edu/art-gallery Winter background by GettyImages/Hanna Shvets. Snowflake illustrations by GettyImages/Irina Gutyryak.
JANUARY 2026 | 51
SPECIAL WINTER ARTS GUIDE
JOHN MICHAEL KOHLER ARTS CENTER
KETTLE MORAINE PLAYHOUSE, SLINGER
jmkac.org/home.html
kmplayhouse.com
Watts Towers in Focus, through Jan. 4
The Roommate, Jan. 9-11, Jan. 15-18
Ashwini Bhat: Reverberating Self, through Jan. 11, 2026
The Maltese Falcon, Feb. 13-15, Feb. 19-22
Sarah Rowe: Water Ledger, through Jan. 25
KETTLE MORAINE SYMPHONY
Heidelbergology: Is it Art Now, through Feb. 15 Small Ensembles, through Feb. 15 Familiar Texture: The Fibers of Childhood and Home, through April 5 A Beautiful Experience: The Midwest Grotto Tradition, through May 10 “Madeline Buol’s grotto is a part of a lineage that continues today, and the exhibition brings this tradition of Midwestern grottos to life with other artifacts from our permanent collection as well as new commissions by artists Stephanie H. Shih and E. Saffronia Downing who reimagine the (grotto) tradition in a contemporary context,” says curator Laura Bickford. (Michael Muckian) Silvio Barile, through Spring Recent Acquisition: Roger Brown Study Collection, through Spring
kmsymphony.org KIM STORAGE GALLERY kimstoragegallery.com Susan Hall: Balance, Jan. 2-Feb. 14 Gabrielle Marie Stone, Feb. 27-April 10 KITH AND KIN THEATRE COLLECTIVE kithandkintheatre.com KNEELAND-WALKER HOUSE wauwatosahistoricalsociety.org KNIGHTWIND ENSEMBLE knightwind.org Francis McBeth’s Masque, Feb. 1 (South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center) KOHLER MEMORIAL THEATER kohlerfoundation.org KO-THI DANCE COMPANY ko-thi.org LAKE ARTS PROJECT lakeartsproject.com
52 | SHEPHERD EXPRESS
LAKE COUNTRY PLAYHOUSE lakecountryplayhousewi.org The Book of Will, Jan. 16-Feb. 1 Love & Legacy Jazz Concert, Feb. 6 Sense and Sensibility, Feb. 19-March 1 LAKEFRONT FESTIVAL OF ART mam.org LATINO ARTS, INC. latinoartsinc.org 13th Annual Guitar Festival Concert, Feb. 7 Adversidades Cromaticas/Chromatic Adversities, through Feb. 20 LION PEFORMANCE HALL, RICHFIELD lionperformancehall.com LILY PAD GALLERY WEST lilypadgallery.com LUTHERAN A CAPELLA CHOIR OF MILWAUKEE lutheranacapella.org LYNDEN SCULPTURE GARDEN lyndensculpturegarden.org Faythe Levine: Time is Running Out, through March 14
Winter background by GettyImages/Hanna Shvets. Snowflake illustrations by GettyImages/Irina Gutyryak.
JANUARY 2026 | 53
SPECIAL WINTER ARTS GUIDE MADISON BALLET
MASTER SINGERS OF MILWAUKEE
MILWAUKEE CHILDREN'S CHOIR
madisonballet.org
mastersingersofmilwaukee.org
milwaukeechildrenschoir.org
Pointes of View, Feb. 13-15 (Overture Center)
Not the Same Old Song and Dance, Feb. 22 (Zelazo Center for the Performing Arts)
MADISON MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART mmoca.org A Broad Sweep of Sky, through March 29 MADISON THEATRE GUILD madisontheatreguild.org MAKING MUSIC VOCAL ARTS mmvocalarts.com MARCUS PERFORMING ARTS CENTER marcuscenter.org Celtic Throne II: Psalter of Ireland, Jan. 15 Hamilton, Jan. 20-Feb. 1
MATERIAL STUDIOS + GALLERY materialstudiosandgallery.com MEMORIES DINNER THEATRE memoriesballroom.com MENOMONEE FALLS SYMPHONY www.mfso.net MIAD FREDERICK LAYTON GALLERY miad.edu
MILWAUKEE ART MUSEUM
Looking Forward: New Gifts of Art, through Feb. 15 MILWAUKEE BALLET
Jazz at the Lincoln Center Presents: Great American Crooners, Feb. 27
Encore, Jan. 30-Feb. 8 (WE Energies Performance Studio)
Crooning was made possible by technology—microphones that allowed an emotionally intimate style that relied on nuance rather than great gulping projection. The Lincoln Center’s vocal trio promises an evening of Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett and the young man who followed in their steps in the late ‘50s, Bobby Darin. (David Luhrssen)
An evening that surveys the breadth of MB’s abilities from classic through contemporary work. (Morton Shlabotnik)
MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY THEATRE marquette.edu/communication/theatre-arts.php
54 | SHEPHERD EXPRESS
MILWAUKEE IRISH ARTS milirisharts.wordpres.com MILWAUKEE JAZZ INSTITUTE
mjojazz.com
milwaukeeballet.org
marquette.presence.io/organization/ Marquette-players-society
mkefringe.com
galleryattheave.miad.edu
On a Winter’s Night, Feb. 26
MARQUETTE UNIVERSITY PLAYERS SOCIETY
MILWAUKEE FRINGE FESTIVAL
MILWAUKEE JAZZ ORCHESTRA
Bradley Collection of Modern Art: A Bold Vision for Milwaukee, through Jan. 18
Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, Feb. 28
MILWAUKEE FILM mkefilm.org
MIAD GALLERY AT THE AVE
mam.org
Peter Pan and Wendy, Feb. 20-March 22 (First Stage)
mfbrass.org
milwaukeejazzinstitute.org
DRUMLine Live, Feb. 5
Kimberly Akimbo, Feb. 17-22
MILWAUKEE FESTIVAL BRASS
The Circle that Unites Us, Jan. 12-March 6
Hellenika: The Musical, Jan. 30-31
Stomp, Feb. 14
MILWAUKEE COMEDY milwaukeecomedy.com
MILWAUKEE CHAMBER THEATRE milwaukeechambertheatre.org I Am My Own Wife, Jan. 23-Feb. 8 Doug Wright’s one-actor play I Am My Own Wife is directed by Alexander Coddington and features Jonathan Riker. The Pulitzer Prize-winning play explores the life of Charlotte von Mahlsdorf, a trans antiques collector and fixture of the East Berlin queer scene, who has endured both the Nazi and Communist regimes. Her story is of queer survival at almost any price. (Paul Masterson)
MILWAUKEE MAKERS MARKET https://www.milwaukeemakersmarket. com/ MILWAUKEE MUSAIK milwaukeemusaik.org MILWAUKEE OPERA THEATRE milwaukeeoperatheatre.org Maybe We’ll Fly, Jan. 16-18 (Florentine Opera Leuders Opera Center) MILWAUKEE REPERTORY THEATER milwaukeerep.com The Fisherman’s Daughters, Jan. 9-March 1 (Stackner Cabaret) The Lehman Trilogy, Jan. 13-Feb. 8 (Checota Powerhouse Theater) McNeal, Feb. 10-March 22 (Herro-Franke Studio Theater) Raised in Milwaukee, Ayad Akhtar earned a Pulitzer Prize for his 2012 play Disgraced. Since then, the Pakistani American won additional prizes for work that addresses assimilation, immigration, identity and the nation’s corrupt economy. His latest, the darkly comedic Broadway hit McNeal, concerns “art and ambition in the age of AI.” (David Luhrssen) August Wilson’s The Piano Lesson, Feb. 24-March 22 (Checota Powerhouse Theater)
MILWAUKEE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA mso.org Beethoven & Haydn, Jan. 23-24 Trailblazers: A Celebration of the American Spirit, Jan. 25
MKE BLACK THEATRE FESTIVAL blackartsmke.org MKE STUDIO TOUR mkestudiotour.com MORNING STAR PRODUCTIONS
Zeitouni Conducts Mozart, Jan. 31-Feb. 1
morningstarproductions.org
Saint-Saens “Organ” Symphony, Feb. 6-7
wisconsinart.org
A Simply Swingin’ Valentine, Feb. 13-15 Tchaikovsky’s Sleeping Beauty, Feb. 20-21 Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky became ballet’s most esteemed composer, and the sheer beauty of his music transcends the demands of dancers and the stories they enact. Some have called The Sleeping Beauty his best work for ballet. Britain’s Alpesh Chauhan, music director of the Birmingham Opera Company, will conduct the MSO. (David Luhrssen) The Sound of Gospel, Feb. 22 Joyce Yang Plays Tchaikovsky, Feb. 27-March 1 MILWAUKEE YOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA myso.org Violins of Hope Film Series, Winter Journey (Jan. 9), Footsteps of My Father (Jan. 13), A Train Near Magdeburg (Jan. 24)
MUSEUM OF WISCONSIN ART Members Show 2025, through Jan. 11 Frank Lloyd Wright: Modern Chair Design, Taliesin to Usonia, through Jan. 25 Even some of the most ardent Frank Lloyd Wright fans know little about one of the most significant aspects of the 20th century American architect’s storied career—furniture design. The Museum of Wisconsin Art (MOWA) in West Bend aims to rectify the situation with its upcoming exhibit Frank Lloyd Wright: Modern Chair Design. This is a unique exploration of 40 of the hundreds of pieces of furniture designed by Wright during his career. (Michael Muckian) Chad Alexander Matha: Everything to Build With, through March 1 MOWA | DTN (Saint Kate-The Arts Hotel) MOWA on the Lake (St. John’s on the Lake) Mac Bo Ross: Ancestral Layers, through Feb. 15 NEXT ACT THEATRE nextact.org Swing State, Feb. 11-March 8 Rebecca Gilman is no stranger to Milwaukee theatergoers; her plays have been performed at Milwaukee Chamber Theatre and Renaissance Theaterworks. Her latest, Swing State, is a comedy set in rural Wisconsin where an out-of-state energy company buys farmland and threatens the community that lives there. The Chicago Tribune called it “the best play since COVID to tap into our divided nation.” (David Luhrssen)
MILWAUKEE YOUTH THEATRE
NŌ STUDIOS
milwaukeeyouththeatre.org
nostudios.com
Winter background by GettyImages/Hanna Shvets. Snowflake illustrations by GettyImages/Irina Gutyryak. A Train Near Magdeburg image courtesy of Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra.
JANUARY 2026 | 55
SPECIAL WINTER ARTS GUIDE
moinstructs.com
NO INSTRUCTIONS GALLERY
PAINT CEDARBURG: A PLEIN AIR PAINTING EVENT
NORTH SHORE ACADEMY OF THE ARTS
cedarburgartistsguild.com/paint-cedarburg
facebook.com/northshoreacademyofthearts
PENINSULA PLAYERS
NORTHERN SKY THEATER northernskytheater.com OAK CREEK PERFORMING ARTS AND EDUCATION CENTER
peninsulaplayers.com PENINSULA SCHOOL OF ART peninsulaschoolofart.org PHILOMUSICA QUARTET
oakcreepaec.com
philomusicaquartet.com
OCONOMOWOC ARTS CENTER
PIANOARTS
oasd.k12.wi.us/artscenter
pianoarts.org
OPTIMIST THEATRE
PINK UMBRELLA THEATER
optimisttheatre.org
Pinkumbrellatheater.org
OUTSKIRTS THEATRE
PORTRAIT SOCIETY GALLERY
outskirtstheatre.org
portraitsocietygallery.com
The Producers, Jan. 9-18 (Waukesha Civic Theatre) Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom, a pair of Broadway schemers, produce a play that’s certain to bomb, Springtime for Hitler, and are flummoxed when it becomes a hit. Working with Thomas Meehan, Mel Brooks rewrote his 1967 film as a Broadway musical—and was pleased to score another hit. (David Luhrssen) OVER OUR HEAD PLAYERS overourheadplayers.org Snowdance 2026, Feb. 6-8, Feb. 1215, Feb. 19-22, Feb. 26-March 1
56 | SHEPHERD EXPRESS
QUASIMONDO PHYSICAL THEATRE quasimondo.org RACINE ART MUSEUM ramart.org Fool Me Once: The Trompe L’oeil Sculpture of Karen Dahl and James Doran, through Jan. 10 On Fire Part II: Surveying Women in Glass in the Late-Twentieth Century, through Jan. 24 RAM Collects: Contemporary Perfume Bottles, through Feb. 21 Monumental: Larger than Life Size, through Feb. 28 RAM Showcase: Bodies, through March 14 From the Archives, through March 14
PRESENT MUSIC
RACINE SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
presentmusic.org
racinesymphony.org
Avant Garden of Love (2nd Edition), Feb. 13-14 (Jan Serr Studio)
Young Artist Competition, Feb. 15 (Frances Bedford Concert Hall, Kenosha)
For their Valentine’s concert, Present Music offers a world premiere by Cory Dargel. The classically trained composer’s recent albums easily cross over into synth pop, including Other People’s Love Songs set to 13 lyrics commissioned from real-life couples. (David Luhrssen) PROMETHEUS TRIO wcmusic.org
RACINE THEATRE GUILD racinetheatre.org Ripcord, Jan. 16-Feb. 1 Playwright David Lindsay-Abaire wrote the book and lyrics for Shrek the Musical and has won numerous prizes, including a Pulitzer. His Ripcord is a serious comedy set in a senior center, where two residents engage in a late life power struggle. (David Luhrssen)
RE:CRAFT AND RELIC craftandrelic.com Winter Market, Jan. 31-Feb. 1 (Milwaukee County Sports Complex) REAL TINSEL GALLERY realtinsel.com Kyle Seis and Joe Stiner: Paintings, Jan. 16-March 8. RENAISSANCE THEATERWORKS r-t-w.com Cardboard Piano, Jan. 11-Feb. 1 Hansol Jung’s “war-torn love story” stars Tyler Cruz, Dimonte Henning, Ethan Hightire and Rebecca Kent. (Morton Shlabotnik) RIVER PRESS riverpressmke.com SACRA NOVA CHORALE sacranovacathedrale.com
Winter background by GettyImages/Hanna Shvets. Snowflake illustrations by GettyImages/Irina Gutyryak.
SAINT KATE - THE ARTS HOTEL GALLERY
SEAT OF OUR PANTS READER THEATRE
saintkatearts.com
mkereaderstheatre.com
Zurich by Late Afternoon: Collage at the Intersection of Form and Image, through Jan. 11
SHARON LYNNE WILSON CENTER FOR THE ARTS
Milwaukee’s Leonard Beck found refuge at the Layton School of Art, eventually producing collages influenced by modernists such as George Grosz, Max Ernst and Alexander Rodchenko. The exhibit also includes work by contemporary Midwest artists Dan Devening, Amy Sacksteder and Scott Zieher. (David Luhrssen) SCULPTURE MILWAUKEE sculpturemilwaukee.com Sculpture Milwaukee was founded in 2017 from an idea by local entrepreneur Steve Marcus and became an independent nonprofit in 2020. Sculpture Milwaukee has commissioned work to line Wisconsin Avenue from living artists, some with ties to our state. As much as possible, the sculptures are fabricated in Wisconsin in keeping with the Badger State’s machine-shop history. (David Luhrssen)
wilson-center.com Julian Lage, Jan. 31 The guitarist was only 12-years old when he performed at the 2000 Grammy Awards. At 15, the prodigy joined the faculty of the Stanford Jazz Workshop. Since then, he’s recorded several favorably reviewed albums for Blue Note and moved to the faculty of New York’s New School. (Morton Shlabotnik) Susan Brandsema: Stay Awhile, Jan. 5-March 29 SHEBOYGAN THEATRE COMPANY stcshows.org The Play that Goes Wrong, Feb. 13-March 21
JANUARY 2026 | 57
SPECIAL WINTER ARTS GUIDE SKYLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE skylightmusictheatre.org Amadeus, Jan. 23-Feb. 8 The legend of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s demise at the hands of his rival, the scheming Antonio Salieri, is more “inspired” than “based” on a true story. Nevertheless, the idea circulated in the literature of Alexander Pushkin and the music of Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. In the last century, it was adapted by Peter Shaffer as the Tony-winning play and a film by Milos Forman (David Luhrssen) The Spitfire Grill, Feb. 27-March 15
SOUTH MILWAUKEE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER southmilwaukeepac.org Four Guyz in Dinner Jackets, Jan. 31 Knightwind Ensemble, Feb. 1 Founded in 1956, The Knightwind Ensemble now boasts more than 65 musicians. Knightwind presents a diverse musical repertoire from classic chamber pieces to contemporary full wind band compositions. Since 2010 they have been under the baton of music director Erik N. Janners who also serves as the director of music at Marquette University. (Kenneth Kapp) Grand Kyiv Baller, Giselle, Feb. 25
SOUTH MILWAUKEE PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
SUNSET PLAYHOUSE sunsetplayhouse.com Now and Then, Jan. 9-17 Unncessary Farce, Jan. 15-Feb. 1 Beetlejuice Jr., Jan. 30-Feb. 1 ‘80s Mixtape: Sweet Dreams are Made of These, Jan 26-27 The Beatles #1, Feb. 5-8
THEATRE GIGANTE theatregigante.org THEATRICAL TENDENCIES theatricaltendencies.com The Cake, Jan. 5-6 Angels in America: Millennium Approaches (Staged Reading), Jan. 21-22 THIRD AVENUE PLAYHOUSE, STURGEON BAY thirdavenueplayworks.org THRASHER OPERA HOUSE, GREEN LAKE thrasheroperahouse.com THREE POINT PROJECT Threepointprojectwi.com TOOTH-AND-NAIL GALLERY toothandnailmke.com TORY FOLLIARD GALLERY toryfolliard.com Chroma: Color and Abstraction, Jan. 9-Feb. 14
Love, Ruby Valentine, Feb. 11-14
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Photo of South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center by Sean Oster.
Bronzeville Center For The Arts 3.6107 x 4.875
Winter background by GettyImages/Hanna Shvets. Snowflake illustrations by GettyImages/Irina Gutyryak.
JANUARY 2026 | 59
SPECIAL WINTER ARTS GUIDE
underscoreprojects.info
UNDERSCORE (INSIDE REAL TINSEL)
VILLA TERRACE DECORATIVE ARTS MUSEUM
1013 W. Historic Mitchell St.
villaterrace.org
UW-PARKSIDE THEATRE uwp.edu/the rita/theatreperformances.cfm UW-MILWAUKEE PECK SCHOOL OF THE ARTS uwm.edu/arts/events Winterdances, Feb. 5-8 (Theatre Building, Mainstage Theatre) Vocal Arts Festival, Feb. 6-7 (Zelazo Center for the Performing Arts) Fiber/Form 2026 (Kenilworth Square East, 3rd Floor Gallery) Art & Design MA + MFA Exhibition, Feb. 6-28 (Kenilworth Square East Gallery) UWM Vocal Showcase Recital, Feb. 6 (Music Building Recital Hall) Vocal Arts Festival Final Concert, Feb. 7 (Zelazo Center for the Performing Arts) Avant-Garden of Love (2nd Edition), Feb. 13-14 (Present Music, Jan Serr Studio) Miscast 2026, Feb. 14 (Music Building Recital Hall) Hub New Music, Feb. 19 (Music Building Recital Hall) UWM Wind Ensemble, Feb. 20 (Zelazo Center for the Performing Arts) Union Art Gallery Juried Exhibition, Feb. 23 (UWM Union Art Gallery) First and Second Year Voice Recital, Feb. 23 (Music Building Recital Hall) UWM UNION ART GALLERY uwm.edu/studentinvolvement/ arts-and-entertainment/union-artgallery
The Beat Goes On, through Jan. 18 The first hit song by a Milwaukeean was written by Charles K. Harris. His melancholic, romantic “After the Ball” sold five million copies—not records but sheet music. The success encouraged Harris to leave the Midwest in the 1890s and set himself up as a music publisher in New York’s Tin Pan Alley. The success of “After the Ball” was an inspiration point for the Villa Terrace exhibition “The Beat Goes On! The Art and History of Sheet Music, 1897-1957.” (David Luhrssen) VILLAGE PLAYHOUSE villageplayhouse.org VOICES FOUND voicesfoundrep.com WALKER'S POINT CENTER FOR THE ARTS
joshpohja.com WISCONSIN CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC wcmusic.org January Jazz Jam Session, Jan 21 February Jazz Jam Session, Feb. 18 WISCONSIN CRAFT wisconsincraft.org WISCONSIN DANCE THEATRE wisconsindancetheatre.com
waterstreetdancemke.com
WISCONSIN MUSEUM OF QUILTS & FIBER ART
WAUKESHA CIVIC THEATRE
wiquiltmuseum.com
waukeshacivictheatre.org
Quilts Japan: The 17th Quilt Nihon, through March 8
The Producers, Jan. 9-18 (Outskirts Theatre)
Winter Quilt Show, Feb. 14 (Washington County Fair Conference Center)
Max Bialystock and Leo Bloom, a pair of Broadway schemers, produce a play that’s certain to bomb, Springtime for Hitler, and are flummoxed when it becomes a hit. Working with Thomas Meehan, Mel Brooks rewrote his 1967 film as a Broadway musical—and was pleased to score another hit. (David Luhrssen)
Out of This World JanBoree Concert, Jan. 25 (St. Luke’s Lutheran Church, Waukesha)
Disney’s Winnie the Pooh Kids, Jan. 29-Feb. 1
WOODLAND PATTERN BOOK CENTER
Sense and Sensibility, Feb. 6-Feb. 22
WEST ALLIS PLAYERS westallisplayers.org WEST BEND THEATRE COMPANY westbendtheatreco.com
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WISCONSIN CLASSIC STAGE
wlc.edu
Hadestown Teen Edition, Feb. 27-March 8
vargallery.com
WINDFALL THEATRE windfalltheatre.com
WATER STREET DANCE MILWAUKEE
uww.edu/coac/crossman
VAR GALLERY & STUDIOS
wildspacedance.org
wpca-milwaukee.org
UW-WHITEWATER CROSSMAN GALLERY
uww.edu/youngauditorium
WILD SPACE DANCE COMPANY
WISCONSIN LUTHERAN COLLEGE CENTER FOR ARTS AND PERFORMANCE
Karmen Nickerson with Kostia and Stas, Feb. 19
UW-WHITEWATER YOUNG AUDITORIUM
WEST PERFORMING ARTS CENTER nbexcellence.org/community/westpac. cfm
WISCONSIN PHILHARMONIC wisphil.org
woodlandpattern.org 32nd Annual Poetry Marathon, Jan. 24-25 WUSTUM MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS ramart.org
Winter background by GettyImages/Hanna Shvets. Snowflake illustrations by GettyImages/Irina Gutyryak.
JANUARY 2026 | 61
CULTURE
T his Mont h in Milwaukee
8 THINGS TO DO IN JANUARY BY CAROLINE DANNECKER, SOPHIA HAMDAN, BLAINE SCHULTZ, BEN SLOWEY AND JULIA WATT
JANUARY 2
JANUARY 10
JANUARY 20
Cate Le Bon w/Frances Chang Vivarium Its creation led by pure emotion, Cate Le Bon’s seventh record Michelangelo Dying usurped the album she thought she was making, and in the process, became a kind of exorcism. What emerges is a wonderfully iridescent attempt to photograph a wound before it closes up— but which in doing so, picks at it too.
Anodyne Workers Benefit: Diet Lite w/ Dusk and Bad Crime Cactus Club This early show features three bands uniting in solidarity to benefit Anodyne Coffee workers. The Milwaukee Area Service and Hospitality Workers Union (MASH) represents over 1,000 workers in the service and hospitality industry in Milwaukee and beyond. The memberdriven, democratic union launched in 2018 to implement a community benefits agreement covering employment in the new Downtown arena district.
Daniyal Mueenuddin Boswell Books Prolific fiction writer Daniyal Mueenuddin visits Boswell on tour with his forthcoming novel, This is Where the Serpent Lives. With roots in Wisconsin and Pakistan, Mueenuddin crafts a saga tracing the interwoven destinies of a group of families in feudal Pakistan, unraveling the generational trauma planted and nurtured by social stratification.
JANUARY 7 Richard Lloyd Group w/Louie and the Flashbombs Shank Hall As a teenager, guitarist Richard Lloyd crossed paths with Jimi Hendrix and John Lee Hooker. As a member of Television, he was part of the NYC scene that put CBGB on the map. With nine solo albums to his credit and collaborations with Matthew Sweet and Rocket From the Tombs, Lloyd has also shared his musical alchemy with a series of video guitar lessons. JANUARY 10 Ah New World Science Fair Turner Hall Come join Sun-Seeker MKE and YELL Youth for an experimental, interactive communal space that showcases a police-free world. Attendees will have the opportunity to access free food and groceries, childcare services, raffle tickets and more. Noon-4 p.m.
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JANUARY 16-17 Winter Gallery Night MKE p Gallery Night MKE returns to Milwaukee’s Historic Third Ward. Join like-minded creatives for a unique gallery hop event throughout the city where attendees can discover local galleries, art and artists. The event is entirely free with opportunities to buy original art and explore Milwaukee’s vibrant nightlife. Learn more about the event at gallerynightmke.com.
JANUARY 31 Julian Lage Sharon Lynne Wilson Center for the Arts Originally scheduled for August of last year, Julian Lage belatedly makes a Brookfield appearance. Hailed as one of the most prodigious guitarists of his generation and “highest category of improvising musicians” (New Yorker), Lage has spent more than a decade exploring American music history with impeccable technique, curiosity and a sense of infinite possibility. Alongside his acclaimed solo work, Lage has collaborated with Gary Burton, John Zorn and Nels Cline.
JANUARY 17 The Goblin King Masquerade Ball u Turner Hall Ballroom Mark the 40th anniversary of the cult classic Labyrinth (1986) with Awkward Nerd Events’ fourth annual Goblin King Masquerade Ball. Enjoy live performances, music, themed cocktails and waltz the night away before the clock strikes thirteen. A curated vendor alley will be on site. Formal attire or themed cosplay is required for entry with ticket. Gallery Night MKE Photos by Eric Halverson. Photo of Goblin King Masquerade Ball by Melissa Miller.
JANUARY 2026 | 63
LIFESTYLE CANNABIS
| SPONSORED BY HIGHER LOVE DISPENSARY
How Will
the Pending
Hemp Ban Impact UP’s Higher Love Dispensary?
W
ith HR 5371 signed by President Trump to end the recent federal government shutdown, a nationwide ban of hemp-based consumer products is slated to go into effect next at the end of this year. The U.S. Hemp Roundtable predicts that 95% of the $28.4 billion hemp industry could be in jeopardy along with hundreds of thousands of jobs and billions in taxpayer revenue.
Hemp, although extracted from the cannabis plant, only contains trace amounts of THC, the psychoactive component in cannabis. However, within the 2018 Farm Bill that legalized U.S. cultivation of hemp was a loophole that involved its minimal THC quantities. Despite the “intoxicating” effects of hemp being arbitrary, this loophole is now being exploited by Republicans like Mitch McConnell to ban hemp-derived products like Delta-8 THC. Wisconsin alone is home to more than 400 hemp growers who could face dire consequences if state industry safeguards are not created within the next year. But what is even more ambiguous is what things will look like in states that have already fully legalized and decriminalized cannabis—Michigan, Illinois and Minnesota fall into this category.
BY BEN SLOWEY
GETTING HIGHER LOVE
STAYING THE COURSE
In the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Joni Moore owns Higher Love, a company operating 11 dispensaries across the UP. To Moore, hemp and cannabis are medicines regardless of how they are used. “Everyone is using it for medicinal purposes whether they recognize it or not,” she believes. “As a botanist and herbalist, that’s how I view the attraction of humans to this amazing plant.”
In Michigan specifically, a 24% wholesale tax has recently been imposed on cannabis retailers in order to fund statewide road maintenance, beginning January 1. Because of this tax, customers could potentially gravitate towards hemp instead of cannabis or have to settle for lesser-quality cannabis. “There are already companies going out of business because they can’t make it,” Moore laments.
Moore points out that the cannabis plant has been traded around the world for thousands of years. “People recognized long, long ago all the beneficial uses. They realized it could be used not only medicinally but for fiber, for food, for oil and all these things,” Moore says. Unfortunately, the federal ban on hemp could mean that dispensaries may be forced to discontinue many products like gummies, vapes and tinctures on grounds that they exceed the legal limit for THC. Moore continues, “We want to provide people with quality medicine, and if people are gravitating towards hemp, we are ready to move into Wisconsin with organic hemp. But now that they’ve introduced this idea that they’re going to ban hemp, we have to wait and see what’s going to happen.”
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Despite such concerns, Moore contends that Higher Love, like other dispensaries, are going to stay the course. “We’re looking into diversifying into non-cannabis items,” she mentions. “For example, we’ve filled our stores with lifestyle products like hippie clothes, posters, candles, incense and accessories. We may go into other states with those products as well.” There is, however, also talk of federal lawmakers soon rescheduling cannabis. “The industry is always changing,” Moore notes.
Ben Slowey is a Staff Writer for Shepherd Express.
Header photo by GettyImages/VladK213. Cannabis background by GettyImages/Yelantsevv. Photo of Christmas ornament by GettyImages/Liudmila Chernetska.
Message to Our Customers
S
ince 2017, Higher Love Cannabis Company has been built from the ground up to be a true partner to our workers, our neighbors and our customers. From day one, we’ve proudly offered living wages, benefits and provided consistent community support. Stronger and more vibrant communities don't happen by accident, they happen when local businesses give back.
Our mission has always been clear: to support and empower our customers and communities by elevating consciousness through natural plant medicines. We strive to improve lives by illuminating the path cannabis provides for transformation and wellness. We believe that attunement with nature and plant medicine offers stability, belonging and comfort in an increasingly chaotic world.
Again, we will not raise prices; we will improve our selection, make packaging more sustainable, turn our loyalty program into a more robust rewards program and increase our value to you for 2026 and beyond. Thank you for being a part of the Higher Love Family, we are PROUD to serve you. Merry Christmas!
Unfortunately, lawmakers in Lansing, Michigan have decided to make our mission more difficult, working to extinguish the flame of Higher Love with the support of alcohol and road construction lobbies. Due to this, a new 24% wholesale tax on cannabis products will take effect in a few weeks. This new tax is in addition to the existing 10% cannabis excise, 6% sales and 6% corporate tax. This means, starting January 1st, 2026, Michigan will be taxed at 46% for every cannabis transaction. If you add the 21% federal corporate tax to the equation, every dollar our customers invest for cannabis products, $.67 will go to the government in one way or another. We think it is odd that the only thing Michigan legislators can agree on is taxing constituents by hiding behind suits and switchboards, far away from the small businesses and taxpayers they are supposed to serve. They have continued to let communities down through their ineptitude, whether Republican or Democrat. We find it troubling that legislators prioritize special interests over small business and communities. Regardless of political affiliation, this excessive taxation resembles taxation without representation. At Higher Love, we are making internal adjustments to absorb these costs so that our customers can continue enjoying the same premium products without paying more. Your trust and support mean everything to us, and we will keep listening to your feedback to better serve you. Together, we will ensure Higher Love remains the Midwest's best provider for the finest organic deli-style cannabis, and related products. Politicians and special interest will not extinguish the Higher Love and Light. JANUARY 2026 | 65
LIFESTYLE TRUE HEALTH
Building Intestinal Fortitude BY KATHERINE BAYLISS, MD
W
hile intestinal fortitude is a refined way of saying “to have guts,” an idiom that conveys the notion that the bowels are the seat of courage, this discussion will focus on literal intestinal fortitude as it relates to the vigor of your physical gut health. For further context, please see my previous column, “Are the Bugs in Your Gut Aging You?” published in the October issue of Shepherd Express, in which I discuss gut microbiome derangements. In this article and its follow-up I provide more information on what to do about it.
• A rainbow of colorful veggies offering beneficial phytonutrients. Stretch goal 5–7 cups per day • Food fibers and seeds — ground chia, flax, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, psyllium husk, steel cut oats (or overnight oats) and legumes. • Prebiotic foods (asparagus, sun chokes, onions, garlic, leeks, dandelion greens)
• Beets are a superfood! Eat several each week. The gut microbiome is like a community or town. Certain features promote resiliency. A thriving town benefits • Fermented foods — kimchi, sauerkraut, yogurt, olives from diversity in its citizenship and possesses essential (sorry—alcohol doesn’t count!) keystone elements that help it function well, such as schools, markets, fire and police departments, library and parks. • Resistant starches — cooked and cooled rice, sweet Without these features, communities suffer economic potatoes/potatoes create resistant starches (can reheat decline along with exodus of productive citizens and influx to lukewarm). Also, green bananas or green banana flour. of “riff raff.” Next up, businesses close, crime increases, drug This helps our bugs make the important anti-inflammatory houses go up and so forth. molecules known as Short Chain Fatty Acids. Same with our gut ecosystem. With injury to our microbiome, we lose keystone bacterial species leading to overgrowth of troublemakers. As can be demonstrated by microbiome testing, many of us are unfortunately in a significant state of decline. So how do we reverse course? We employ interventions that nurture keystone species and suppress disruptive microbes. I use a combination of food, prebiotics and probiotics starting with diet.
FOOD IS POWERFUL Food is a powerful lever. Here are guidelines to nurture you and your gut microbes. • Diversity. Food variety leads to diversity in your microbiome. Ideal goal is 50 different plants per week (try this food diversity tracker to test your diet https://www. deannaminich.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/50Food-7-Day-Tracker_Fillable-Final.pdf)
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• Generous amounts of herbs, spices and superfoods like turmeric, green tea and rosemary. • Smoothies — rotating fruits and veggies, a great way to pack it in. • Eat organic to avoid harmful pesticides and herbicides. (Monsanto may say it is safe for us but our gut bugs disagree!) • Important: avoid emulsifiers and additives (they can diminish beneficial bacteria, increase inflammation and lead to leaky gut). These include Polysorbate-80, Carboxymethylcellulose, carrageenan—most often in ice cream, sauces, whipping cream, plant-based milk, frosting, margarine, bread, mayonnaise, bottled dressing. Gotta read the labels!
Altering your eating habits is a journey but the rewards are substantial. You won’t believe how much better you feel and in time, may actually find yourself craving a salad. If this is new, take one step at a time. Set a few new goals each week and be kind to yourself along the way. If you are not used to eating a lot of veggies and fiber, you may need to transition slowly as you may otherwise be discouraged by symptoms of gas and bloating. That is the “riff raff” and will diminish in time. There are many resources for healthful cooking that can make the journey fun and tasty. Some to get you started: Smoothies at bewellbykelly.com; Mark Hyman’s cookbooks; Kara Fitzgerald’s website https://www.drkarafitzgerald.com/recipes/. Then explore on your own. Next time I will cover supplements: Prebiotics and Probiotics. Meanwhile, to start “making your gut great again,” diversify the menu and empower the good guys with food so they can jettison the troublemakers! The content of this article is for informational purposes only and is not meant to serve as medical advice or as information to facilitate self-treatment.
Katherine Bayliss, MD, a Milwaukee native, practiced in conventional medicine as a pathologist for 25 years. She now lives her passion, helping others through the more holistic Functional Medicine model.
Header photo by GettyImages/Nataliia Mysak. Photo of food by GettyImages/dulezidar.
JANUARY 2026 | 67
LIFESTYLE OUT OF MY MIND
Drinking Himself Dry BY PHILIP CHARD
A
lcohol. Wisconsin is consistently at or near the top of per capita consumption nationally. This is equivalent to four to five gallons of pure alcohol per resident per year, and because not all of us drink, some individuals are consuming far more. Some drink responsibly, as we say, but those who don’t offer a cautionary tale. Consider a case in point.
Charlie stared across the rapidly shrinking mental distance between himself and the half-empty bottle of bourbon on his kitchen table. He dimly recalled my advice from our counseling session earlier that day. “Take a long look at that bottle, Charlie,” he heard me say. “It looks a lot smaller than a big old salt like you, but it isn't.” Beads of sweat peppered the man’s brow, dashing some brine into his quivering eyes. He could almost taste the bourbon. “And when you pour that stuff down your throat, Charlie, you think you're drinking it, but really it's drinking you. Drinking you dry,” my disembodied voice went on.
STARING DOWN Charlie squinted his eyes shut, wishing himself away from the dour, lonely kitchen of his three-room apartment. But when he looked out again, that bottle was still there, staring him down. There was little doubt who would blink first. “And when it's finished drinking you,” my voice droned on, “it'll toss you in the garbage. That's where all the empties go, in the trash.” “I'm already empty,” Charlie whispered to the room, reaching for the bottle. 68 | SHEPHERD EXPRESS
DRUNKEN STUPORS This man was an old, barnacled Merchant Marine veteran who'd spent 35 years sailing several of the planet's oceans and the Great Lakes. He'd left a few cracked skulls in the world's roughneck ports and sported some ugly scars of his own from skirmishes with barroom brawlers, breaking waves and cutthroat ladies of the evening. In his frequent drunken stupors, he'd fallen and kissed the pavement “goodnight” more than he had his three ex-wives. “You're one tough mariner,” I told him. “But not as tough as that gully wash you keep dumping in your bilge every night.” Charlie let out a full-bodied “Harrumph.” He didn’t much care for some college boy lecturing him about his affinity for booze. He wouldn’t even have seen me, or any therapist, unless compelled to by the court in conjunction with an assault charge. “What's as scared as you've ever been?” I asked. “Drunk or sober?” he laughed back, but then his demeanor grew somber. “It was a December gale on Superior. It was blowing 50, the seas were running 25-feet or worse, and we popped a hatch midway up the cargo deck. I was selected to secure it,” he explained, his eyes fixated on something only he could see. “Well, I secured it and then a rogue wave secured me. Picked me up, harness and all, and slammed me down on the leeward rail. If I hadn't pretzeled around a steel pipe, I'd have fed the fish that night.” “And what's as scared as you've been drunk?”
“I don't get scared when I'm drunk,” he replied, smiling. “So, Mr. Shrink, am I an alcoholic?” “You're a bug drowning in a drink,” I replied. “I can lick this thing whenever I want,” he shot back. “You wish. The bottle runs you, Charlie, you don't run it.”
DEAD ARROGANCE A common psychological feature of alcoholism, or most any drug addiction, is the errant notion, despite all evidence to the contrary, that one's individual will and resolve is stronger than the need to imbibe. This deadly arrogance must be relinquished if recovery is to ever occur. “We'll see,” Charlie challenged me as he stormed out, obviously put off by my effort to psychologically corner him. And we did see. I later learned Charlie kept emptying bottles, and they kept emptying him. A monster, icy wave couldn't wash the man overboard, but one small slosh of booze did. He ended up feeding the fish after all. As Cassio in Shakespeare’s Othello said of alcohol, “I would not put a thief in my mouth to steal my brains.” With some, it steals far more than that.
Philip Chard is a psychotherapist and author with a focus on lasting behavior change, emotional healing and adaptation to health challenges. For more, visit philipchard.com.
Header photo by GettyImages/axelbueckertk. Photo of bottles by GettyImages/alenkadr. Illustration of shot glasses by GettyImages/konurk.
JANUARY 2026 | 69
HEAR ME OUT DEAR RUTHIE | SPONSORED BY UW CREDIT UNION
KEEPING IT JOYFUL IN JANUARY DEAR RUTHIE, I’m 42 and single … again. Every guy on the gay hook-up apps (like Grindr and Scruff) seems to be 21 and allergic to shirts. Should I even bother anymore? The apps make me feel like I’m way past my prime.
HELP!
Lonely Larry DEAR LARRY, Grindr is like a buffet—you just have to know where to find the best bites. Sure, there are twinks chasing protein shakes, but there are also silver foxes looking for thick, juicy meats. Yes, you’ll find toothless meth addicts, but you’ll also find established professionals looking for someone who actually owns furniture. If you like the apps, don’t delete them. Change your profile to read “age and experience appreciated.” That’s code for “I have good lighting and better credit.” If you’re done with the apps, put yourself out there more. Step outside your comfort zone and look for ways to meet new people. You can also simply take a break from dating. Focus on yourself, reconnect with friends and enjoy life!
XXOO
Ruthie
Have a question for Ruthie? Want to share an event with her? Contact Ruthie at dearruthie@shepex.com. Follow her on social media, too! Facebook: Dear Ruthie | Instagram: RuthieKeester | Twitter: @DearRuthie
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DEAR RUTHIE BROUGHT TO YOU BY
Ruthie's Social Calendar JANUARY 9 ZERO-PROOF PARTY AT POP (124 W. NATIONAL AVE): Whether you’re participating in Dry January or occasionally enjoy a non-alcoholic beverage, Pop has you covered. Partnering with Zero Proof Pass (a passport that highlights local spots with non-alcohol selections), Pop has crafted a tasty menu of mocktails and THC beverages. Check them out during the 6-9 p.m. bash.
JANUARY 11 BUBBLES & BEAUTIES DRAG BRUNCH AT LACAGE NITECLUB (801 S. SECOND ST.): Round out the weekend with this eye-opening event at one of the city’s favorite venues. LaCage dishes out a brunch menu, bottomless mimosas and Bloody Marys, and one helluva drag show. Brunch is served at noon with the show at 1 p.m. See www.ticketleap.events/events/lacage for reservations.
JANUARY 14 OPENING NIGHT HONKY TONK ANGELS AT BOMBSHELL STUDIO THEATRE (19700 W. BLUEMOUND ROAD): What happens when three gals head to Nashville to follow their honky-tonk dreams? Find out with this musical that spotlights 30 classic country tunes sure to keep toes tappin’. See www.bombshelltheatre.org for tickets before the production closes January 18.
JANUARY 17 THE GOBLIN KING MASQUERADE BALL AT TURNER HALL BALLROOM (1040 N. VEL R. PHILLIPS AVE.): Step into a world of fantasy during this enchanting event that delivers all the whimsy you’ve come to expect. Cocktails, performances, dancing, vendors and more make the 18+ ball a night to remember. Hosted by Awkward Nerd Events, the evening requires formal attire or cosplay dress. See www.axs.com for details.
JANUARY 18 THE WISCONSIN DRAG AWARDS AT THE SYLVEE (802 E. MAIN ST., MADISON): Double D Productions & BLB Productions serve up this celebration. This annual night of glamour offers fantastic performances and exciting recognitions, while bringing together the LGBTQ+ community for an evening of fun. See www.thesylvee.com for tickets to the 7 p.m. award show.
JANUARY 20 HAMILTON AT MARCUS PERFORMING ARTS CENTER (929 N. WATER ST.): One of the top musicals of our time returns to Milwaukee! The historical story is accented with a score that combines hip-hop, jazz, R&B and Broadway, serving a memorable impact on culture and politics. See www.marcuscenter.org for more.
JANUARY 25 COMICVERSE COMIC CONVENTION AND TOY SHOW AT NEW BERLIN ALE HOUSE (16002 W. CLEVELAND AVE., NEW BERLIN): Indulge your inner child and pamper the collector in you during this 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. convention. From vintage comics to sought-after action figures, there’s plenty of exciting merch for everyone.
JANUARY 25 JOHN MULANEY: MISTER WHATEVER AT RIVERSIDE THEATER (116 W. WISCONSIN AVE.): The incredible comic, writer and legendary SNL host strolls in to Cream City with his witty takes on life, politics, culture and more. See why the country has fallen for Mr. Mulaney during this 7 p.m. show. JANUARY 2026 | 71
HEAR ME OUT | SPONSORED BY UW CREDIT UNION
MILWAUKEE CHAMBER THEATRE’S ‘I AM MY OWN WIFE’ A STUDY IN IDENTITY, SURVIVAL AND MORAL COMPROMISE BY PAUL MASTERSON
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n 1971, German avant-garde, gay activist-artist Rosa von Praunheim directed a film entitled It is Not the Homosexual Who Is Perverse, Rather It Is the Situation in Which He Lives. That queer perspective on life itself describes the very essence of Doug Wright’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play I Am My Own Wife. Opening January 23 at the Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, it is based on the true story of the extraordinary Charlotte von Mahlsdorf (nee Lothar Berfelde), a transwoman, who lived through Germany’s Nazi and Communist regimes, negotiating her survival simply by being convinced of herself.
I had the good fortune of speaking with both director Alexander Coppington and Jonathan Riker, the play’s sole actor (performing some three dozen or so roles), about their particular take on this timely staging of Wright’s work.
QUEER IN EAST BERLIN First, however, a bit about the plot: With the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Communist East German government, Wright learns of a fixture of East Berlin’s queer scene, museum curator Charlotte von Mahlsdorf. Based on a series of interviews he conducts with Mahlsdorf, he writes a play that takes the audience through her decades of survival. Recognizing her affinity for womanhood, she lives as a transvestite. As a child she murders her abusive father. Then, after the fall of Nazi Germany, Charlotte finds herself living under another authoritarian regime, this time a Communist one. She discovers her niche collecting antiques and opens a museum. Still, under duress, to accommodate the perverse situation in which she lives, she spies on the people around her as an “unofficial collaborator” for the Stasi, the East German secret police. 72 | SHEPHERD EXPRESS
Naturally, one asks why this play and why now? Director Coddington explained the rationale, “MCT scheduled the show earlier this year. Doing a play about a transgender person living under totalitarianism is extremely timely. Charlotte is a symbol of things people may not expect regarding the endurance of the queer community.” He also notes that while the play has been done in Milwaukee before, for those who think they know the play, they will be surprised. “The way we talk about trans people is different than when the script was originally written. The playwright has updated the script with new vocabulary. The revisions also take a different tack in terms of her asserting Charlotte’s right to exist,” Coppington explained.
CHANGING TIMES Besides, the times, too, have changed with the vocabulary, especially given the current political reality that includes official regime scapegoating of the trans community. “The production crew consists of trans and non-binary people and every aspect of play will feel very rooted in that. It’s not the way the play has usually been done. We want to assert the play from the perspective of trans people,” Coppington said. Actor Jonathan Riker reiterates the point, adding “There will always be fear of “others” when the effort isn’t being made to unite. Having trans people as scapegoats feels like an echo of the Nazis, especially when the government uses a phrase like “nihilist extremist terrorists” to describe the trans community, it’s important to assert trans humanity.”
I Am My Own Wife promotional image courtesy of Milwaukee Chamber Theatre.
Despite the heavier tone, Coddington brings us back to the play itself. “The play is funny. It’s vibrant, exacting, full of eccentricity, joy and gay humor. The characters have such a wit. It just shows we’ve always been the same. It’s a complete picture of a human being.”
“She’s giving me a history I didn’t know I had,” they’ve said, underscoring the idea that I Am My Own Wife is a queer story, told by a queer elder being passed down through time and sparking intergenerational and intercultural conversation.
As for the production itself, Coddington mentioned the sets by Sarah Hunt-Frank “will surprise the audience” while costume designer Jazmín Aurora Medina’s wardrobe choices, he notes slyly, “are unconventional.”
MCT will prompt conversation through its outreach efforts to the queer community and beyond. A Here2Play evening takes place Wednesday, Jan. 7 at Dandy in Washington Heights. During the run, three Pride Nights, highlighting a different aspect of our community, will be held each Friday, Jan. 23 (a Preview performance), Jan. 30 and Feb. 6.
TEAM PRODUCTION Ultimately, though, it comes down to Riker as Mahlsdorf and the additional 30-odd roles he plays. I asked how he manages to create so many individual characters. His response explained the actor’s dilemma—if a dramatic shift has to be made to present another character, instinct is to do something large. The result looks like hamming. “I found people have more in common in movement. So, to switch roles, I have to find a tiny beat the audience recognizes. The challenge is to find what tiny characteristic can show that,” Riker said. He also gives credit to dialect coach Raeleen McMillan who has assembled a packet of dialects to further define personalities. “It matters to me to be specific with dialects. It’s part of the storytelling.” On that theme, Coddington again referred to the team of queer people at the core of the production, who have responded accordingly.
Riker summed up the mission behind the production. “If this play shows anything, it is that we will not be erased. Regardless of who is in power, this part of humanity that has always been part of history cannot be erased. If we were in a situation that is so much more dire than things already are, there is comfort knowing there’s a Charlotte out there.” For tickets and event details go to milwaukeechambertheatre.org
Paul Masterson is an LGBTQ activist and writer and has served on the boards of the Milwaukee Gay Arts Center, Milwaukee Pride, GAMMA and other organizations.
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ART FOR ART'S SAKE
From The City That Always Sweeps BY ART KUMBALEK
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’m Art Kumbalek and man oh manischewitz what a world, ain’a? So listen, do you hear what I hear, that another long stressful wallet-emptying holiday season has finally come and gone—for most of you’s, but not for me, no sir. As I’ve said many times, many ways, everyday’s just another focking holiday for a guy like me, so the celebration continues each and every day of any year, I kid you not. But here we be that time of a new year that demands my annual much-ballyhooed Look Back/Watch Out Ahead gala essay, the one where I whip out my crystal balls and soothsay the hell out of the approaching perennial shitstorm that will go down in history books as the year A.D. 2026, what the fock. But about the olden last year? Abso-focking-lutely Job-like for yours truly, you betcha. You remember Job, ain’a? Yeah, the poor schnook influencer out of the Bible who really took the shaft up the dupa sideways on account of this bet the Lord and Satan cooked-up to test Job’s faithfulness, and by “shaft” I mean he loses all his dough, his kids die and he comes down with a bad case of boils all over his biblical body—ouch! Job was a tad pissed off, which caused the Lord to speak to Job and really chew him a new one. Which reminds me of a little story about hearing voices:
So there’s this guy, Joe Bob, lives in Ala-focking-bama. One morning, he hears a voice that says, “I am your guardian angel: Quit your job, sell your house, take all your money, and go to Las Vegas.” Joe Bob ignores the voice. Later in the day, he hears the voice again. “Quit your job, sell your house, take all your money, and go to Las Vegas.” Again, Joe Bob ignores the voice. Then he hears the voice every minute of the day: “Quit your job, sell your house, take all your money, and go to Las Vegas.” Joe B. can’t take it anymore. He now believes in the wisdom of the voice. He quits his job, sells his house, takes all his money, and flies to Vegas. As soon as he steps off the plane, the voice says, “Go to Caesars Palace.” He goes to Caesars Palace. The voice says, “Make your way to the roulette table.” He goes to the roulette table. The voice says, “Put all your money on RED 23.” He puts all his money on RED 23. The dealer spins the wheel. It comes up BLACK 17. The voice says, “Damn.” Ba-ding!)
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And now, without further ado, my Look Back/Watch Out Ahead essay, and remember that pithiness is the soul of brevity; so here it is for you to pith on: The Year 2025: Sucked, but good. Watch Out Ahead, 2026: Will suck, even more. Easy to believe, ain’a? And speaking of voices, I remember a conversation me and my buddy Little Jimmy Iodine had just a couple, three weeks ago following the movie It’s a Wonderful Life, one of our favorites ’cause we are huge Lionel Barrymore fans, always have been. I’m sure you know the movie, the one where George Bailey plays the character who wants to see the world but every time he tries to leave town, someone or something chews him a new asshole and he’s forced to stay in Podunkville. Anyways, after a couple, three hot focking toddies, we decided the big focking deal isn’t what the world would be like if you’d never been born—it’s what the world is like if you haven’t been born yet. You’re always luckier if you can get born as far into the future as you can. Focking-A, those poor slobs who got born a couple, three thousand years ago as opposed to today sure got the Jobian shaft up the butt sideways, ain’a? There’s just more to do today in your spare time, for starters. Three-thousand years ago or so, you wouldn’t even have spare time on any kind of regular basis ’cause you were too busy working, fixing something, starving, getting slaughtered or sleeping. And when maybe you did have a little spare time, once every couple years, all there was to do was paint reindeer on a wall inside some cave. Focking swell. Eking out a life in the past was not much a wonderful life compared to the future. The future’s just always got to be better, ’cause if it isn’t, what’s the point? What the fock is the focking point? You tell me. So, tradition: I wish that you’s all have a relatively copacetic new year and make a resolution that we may—lo, these days of age and rage—believe that one of these days “We’ll drink a cup of kindness yet / For the sake of auld lang syne ”— hey, at my age I still like to think anything’s possible, what the fock, ’cause I’m Art Kumbalek and I told you so. Photo by GettyImages/vladans.