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Friday, January 27, 2012 |  Madison, WI: 38.0° F  Overcast

The Daily

Beer Here: Wild Buckwheat Red from Sweet Mullets Brewery & Pub

One of the most memorable discoveries to emerge from a full afternoon of tasting at the Isthmus Beer & Cheese Fest last weekend was from one of state's newest breweries -- Sweet Mullets Brewery & Pub, set to open next month in Oconomowoc. Owner and brewmaster Mark Duchow is no stranger to southern Wisconsin beer enthusiasts. >More382 Pixel LineCitizen Dave: The Week in Review, from Pat and Vanna's margaritas to waste, fraud and abuse in the Walker administration to the excitement that is Mitch Daniels

It was the week for the State Ofs. President Obama gave his annual State of the Union address. I thought he did a good job, but the real excitement was the Republican reply by Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana. >More382 Pixel Line

The Paper

Dutch's Auto Service mends cars...and sometimes their owners
Attitude adjustment

Car troubles? Try a dab of emotional glue. Nan Mortensen and Crystal Rossman fix cars and sometimes tune up people, too. "That's the thing about being women in the automotive industry," says Mortensen. "I think we lend a certain amount of emotional glue to the process. A lot of our customers are women, so there's emotional attachment to their cars. A lot." >More382 Pixel LineFBI probe should worry Walker
Corruption will be a major issue in the recall campaign

With new arrests every week, the FBI probe of Scott Walker's closest aides and supporters is continually uncovering stories that would be front-page news in any other political era. How strained are things around the governor's mansion, where Walker's own spokesman, Cullen Werwie, now has immunity in the FBI probe? No wonder the governor says he wants to hurry up the recall election. >More382 Pixel Line
The best of Wisconsin cuisine is served at the Fountain
Beautiful state

There is something refreshingly soulful about the Fountain, especially as the chain-ification of State Street continues apace. (And why not an actually decent chain, like maybe a Maoz Vegetarian or Le Pain Quotidien or, if we have to swallow one more cupcake, at least a Sprinkles, which doesn't pile its cakes with mounds of lard-like frosting?) >More Isthmus Beer & Cheese Fest 2012: Getting carried away was easy

For anyone who has never attended the event, let me just start by saying that the Isthmus Beer & Cheese Fest is like a Renaissance painting come to life, of tables overflowing with an impossible amount of cheese and mead converted into motion picture. It’s also a well-behaved tailgate, with pretzel necklaces, cheesehead hats and a t-shirt that says “I’m a drinker, not a fighter.” For lovers of beer and the fromage, it’s quite simply paradise, a room filled with some of the region’s best samples of each. >More
Galileo Galilei is Madison Opera's second triumph of the season

Philip Glass's Galileo Galilei has had rather limited circulation around the operatic world, so it was a brave step for Madison Opera to take it up. But the step has paid off, with perhaps the best yet of the company's small, midseason productions in the Overture Center's intimate Playhouse. >More

CRITICS CHOICE

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Chele Isaac & BA Harrington:Overture Center-James Watrous Gallery of the Wisconsin Academy
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Rebecca Light's Spelling Bee:Project Lodge, 7:00pm
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Fish & Burger Night:Ironworks Cafe
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Chris Greene Quartet:UW Memorial Union-Rathskeller, 5:00pm
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Chris Greene Quartet:Brink Lounge, 9:00pm
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Sandrose Band, The Easy Riders:High Noon Saloon, 9:30pm
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Fareed Haque & MathGames:Alchemy Cafe, 10:00pm
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Gaet Ma Dang:First United Methodist Church, 7:00pm
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Irish Lumber Company:Wil-Mar Center, 8:00pm
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Folk Ball Festival:UW Memorial Union
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Lake Home & Cabin Show:Alliant Energy Center-Exhibition Hall
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Monster Truck Nationals:Alliant Energy Center-Coliseum
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Forward Theater Company's "A Thousand Words":Overture Center-Promenade Hall
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Blue Man Group:Overture Center-Overture Hall
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Strollers Theatre's "Black Comedy":Bartell Theatre-Drury Stage
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Madison Opera's "Galileo Galilei":Overture Center-Playhouse
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Discovering Austen:UW Vilas Hall-Hemsley Theatre, 7:30pm
Glenn Close plays a suffering cross-dresser in Albert Nobbs
Masculine feminine

There's a priceless moment in Albert Nobbs in which an alcoholic physician turns to his hotel's servant, the titular Nobbs, and utters the classic male complaint: "Women." The brief scene is a hoot because, unbeknown to the doctor, the singular Mr. Nobbs is in reality Miss Nobbs, played with permanently repressed panic by a remarkable Glenn Close. >More A Dangerous Method looks at the origins of psychoanalysis
Freud vs. Jung

Hear the words "David Cronenberg" paired with "erotic drama," and you might feel a sudden shudder of unease, thinking back on the Canadian filmmaker's earlier works like Crash or Dead Ringers. This isn't that kind of Cronenberg picture, however. In fact, it's a period piece about the origins of psychoanalysis and the sexual confusions of its progenitors. It's eloquent and handsomely made, if never quite revelatory. >More
Cass McCombs' personal, eccentric folk keeps you guessing
Mystery man

California singer-songwriter Cass McCombs has built up a weird body of online apocrypha, which hobbles that whole process of consulting the Internet to figure out how to appreciate music. Go ahead and dig for context, but you may find yourself grumbling over his slippery answers to interview questions as you stare at a photo of him looking glum in suspenders. He's screwing with people's heads, intentionally or not. >More After more club violence, disappointment, tightened security

Just bringing up the subject of violence at hip-hop shows immediately gets you into a mess of generalizations, doesn't it? After all, for every incident like the fight last Tuesday at the High Noon Saloon, during which a gun reportedly went off, there are plenty of positive examples to choose from. >More
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MULTIMEDIA

Scenes from the 2012 Isthmus Beer & Cheese Fest (slideshow)

Over two thousand fans of Wisconsin's bounty joined us on Saturday at the Alliant Energy Center's Exhibition Hall for a celebration of some of the stuff that makes living here great! >MoreLine ImageWisconsin Recall Cam is the country's latest hit reality TV show

The placing of a camera in the bleak, bunker-like room of undisclosed location in Madison wherein workers are verifying the signatures on the petitions to recall Governor Scott Walker was probably designed to lend some transparency to what is otherwise a highly protected process. >MoreLine ImageWho should challenge Gov. Walker in a recall election? (slideshow)

With over one million signatures collected to recall Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, there was an overwhelming sense of optimism at the recall victory party on Tuesday. But supporters were also keenly aware that if the election is certified, it will only be the first step towards changing leadership in the State. >MoreLine Image MORE VIDEO >>
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