Spring Green, Wisconsin
Thursday, September 8, 2022 | Vol. 3, No. 21 FREE, Single-Copy
Inside this edition
Wisconsin Life: Meet the real John Wick
Community Calendar: Live music, exhibitions, theater
RV Fall Sports Season Preview
Pages 1, 4
Pages 6, 7
Pages 9, 10
Ben Mulwana selected as 2022 Spring Green Musician in Residence
Wisconsin Life: Meet the real John Wick of Mazomanie, Wisconsin
Kim Nolet, Contributed
Matt Geiger, Contributed
The Spring Green Musician In Residence Board has selected Ugandan native and current Kenosha, WI resident Ben Mulwana as the 2022 Spring Green Musician in Residence. A singer and songwriter, Ben shapes his music through unique experiences, culture and people he has grown up with, not only through his upbringing in Uganda but also in Kenya, Ethiopia and America. This has all combined to give him a writing perspective, musical cadence and approach ideal for further development during the Residency. Ben will be in Spring Green from September 11th to the 24th, and his stay culminates with a sold-out show at The Sh*tty Barn on Friday, September 23rd. He will also be performing at the Spring Green Fire Department/EMS fundraiser
event on Saturday, September 17th at 11 am and will participate in the monthly Songwriters Round at the Slowpoke Lounge on Sunday, September 18th at 6 pm; both of these events are open to the public with no tickets required. He will also provide the foundation for a collaborative video with local musicians during his time in town. Watch the Musician in Residence Facebook page (facebook.com/sgmusicresidency) for more details. The Spring Green Musician in Residence program was created to show more support for the art of musicianship in Wisconsin by providing time and funding that can be dedicated to musical inspiration and creation. Past Musicians in Residence are Zach Pietrini, Laura Sellner, Zach Vinson and Bubbles
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Photo contributed by Spring Green Musician in Residence program Pictured is Ben Mulwana, the 2022 Spring Green Musician in Residence.
You know the action movie character John Wick? The assassin who avenges the death of his dog? Well, did you know the real John Wick lives in Wisconsin? Matt Geiger introduces us to him. I’m sitting in a roadside diner in Arena, Wisconsin, when John Wick walks through the door. The John Wick. The John Wick you may be better acquainted with is an assassin in a black suit with matching hair and beard. Over the course of three movies, he has killed somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 bad guys. Played by an earnest Keanu Reeves, he uses a pencil and a dusty book of Russian fairy tales, among other things, as lethal weapons. The films earned nearly universal praise from movie critics and thrill-seeking audiences
alike. Back at Grandma Mary’s Café, the man next to me is 96 years old, deaf, and uses a walker to get around. He eats here six days a week, and shortly after he arrives a tall glass of cold milk and a bowl brimming with fruit are placed on the table in front of him. Wick has lived in Mazomanie since 1955. He wears a baggy, blaze orange sweatshirt featuring the logo for a nearby shoe store. He also wears a wedding ring in remembrance of Helen, the woman he married in 1947. How did this John Wick and the movie “John Wick” come to share a name? Screenwriter Derek Kolstad happens to be the real John Wick’s grandson. “And he wrote a movie called ‘Scorn.’ And in that movie, he named the
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Photo contributed by Angela Major/WPR John Wick stands outside of his home Wednesday, June 22, 2022, in Mazomanie, Wis.