First Fridays at MMoCA: Harmonious Wail

Harmonious Wail performed during First Fridays at MMoCA last week, up on the roof of the Overture Center, where the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art sculpture garden is located. It was sunny. There was a light breeze. And the Wail's music (left to right: Sims, Matt, Maggie, Tom)...



Happiness,
David

Bike to Work Week: Why People Ride Their Bikes

It's Bike to Work Week here in Madison. A great time to ask people why they ride the bikes they ride. It's one of my favorite questions to ask. The answers tend to suggest a close relationship between the rider and his or her bike.

During the Bike to Work Week event hosted Tuesday morning by Isthmus (the Madison weekly where I enjoy the privilege of being a staff writer, and which offered coffee, bagels, rolls, fresh fruit to two-wheeled commuters, along with free bike checks courtesy of Williamson Bicycle Works mechanics), I posed the question to several people. Every answer was distinct. Here's Steve Goldstein, explaining why he rides a Klein....



And here's former Ald. Robbie Webber, extolling the virtues of her well-traveled and -accessorized hybrid bike (watch for an amusing cameo appearance by Madison Mayor Dave Cieslewicz)...



Next, John Rider, Madison's bicycle registration coordinator, introduces his beloved Giant Iguana...



Greg Blake, a product designer for Madison-based Pacific Cycle, explains the appeal of his Mongoose road bike:



My youngest sister, Louisa, is up next, with a testimonial for her Univega Activa Country:



Trisha Crinkley, a certified Physician Assistant at Wildwood Family Clinic and self-proclaimed fair-weather bike commuter, likewise expresses great fondness for her Fuji Touring bike:



And to wrap this up, Brian Conger, outreach coordinator for the Bicycle Federation of Wisconsin (organizers of Bike to Work Week) explains how spiffing up his vintage Schwinn Madison has made him the coolest kid on his block:



Bike to Work Week continues through Friday, June 12, with events including Bike Trivia and a final BTWW celebration at Vilas Park. For details, check the listings on Isthmus's website at The Daily Page.

Quelle Fromage!

Tenaya Darlington -- author of Madame Deluxe and Maybe Baby, now a professor of writing and journalism at Pennsylvania's St. Joseph's University, once the features editor (and writer of spectacular cover stories and food columns) for Isthmus -- launched a blog devoted to cheese a couple months ago. I learned of it only last night, and this morning I'm adding it to my list of essential blogs. It's called Madame Fromage, and 'tis faaaaaabulous. Tenaya brings such flavor to her writing that in reading it, you can taste the cheese.