FINAL CUT: This is a grassroots documentation of action undertaken by the people in my northeastern Wisconsin neighborhood of Door County, people of all ages and across political divides who are coming together to correct a situation that many believe threatens the well being and prosperity of their state. Can they succeed in meeting the requirements within the deadline? Stay tuned… as we meet up with advocates and opponents of the Recall Scott Walker Campaign.

Howard Fishman and The Hot Holy Mess share the stage, serving up an aural smorgasbord of avant-jazz, neo-bluegrass, and progressive roots-rock.

Acclaimed singer, guitarist, and composer Howard Fishman’s exuberant, spontaneous music has made him a favorite of audiences and critics alike. The ever-evolving Fishman blends New Orleans jazz, Brooklyn soul, open-hearted country, blues, and gospel music to create a sound entirely his own. Since beginning his career on the streets of New Orleans and the subways of New York, Fishman has played at some of the United States’ most prestigious venues (including Lincoln Center, Steppenwolf Theatre, and The Great American Music Hall) and with a wide range of America’s most renowned performers (including Odetta, Yo-Yo Ma, and Nellie McKay).

On Thursday afternoon, they hosted a free Songwriting and Improvisational Workshop for Gibraltar High School music students. And Thursday evening, they provided Husby’s clientele with a little sneak preview of their upcoming show and even managed to win a straw poll over the impending World Series Game on TV as folks clapped for more music…

Rounding out the evening will be The Hot Holy Mess, a progressive roots band from Brooklyn specializing in funk, gospel, avant-jazz, and bluegrass. Always surprising in their musicality and compelling in their live performances, The Hot Holy Mess are fast gaining popular and critical attention. Beacon Pass writes that the band has “strong folk roots, but they surpass the boundaries of the genre with music that embraces opposites—folksy and discordant, easygoing and frenzied—in search of transcendence.”

Tickets for the Friday, October 28 concert range from $22 to $35 and can be purchased in person at the Door Community Auditorium on Highway 42 in Fish Creek, on the phone at 920.868.2728, or online at www.dcauditorium.org.

Barbara Knupper, Door County’s Artful Artisan brings you “A visit to the Fish Creek Farmer’s Market.” Each week on Wednesdays from June into October, owners of the Settlement Shops host a farmer’s market. You will find a diverse collection of fresh and often organic produce, herbs, handmade soaps, bakery and other specialty foods, as well as a variety of arts and craft items.

Market founder Linda Birmingham, owner of Great Northern by Design Home Interiors explains her motivating love of farmer’s markets. Dave Lea, co-owner of Sweetie Pies steps up with a tray of crust cookies, hot out of the oven. Weaver and jewelry maker, Barbara Knupper introduces you to some of the unique individuals who turn out each week like Crusty Uprising’s poet and baker, Chuck Sully; the salad queen at Pat’s Patch and one real farmer Mike Sullivan with Sully’s Produce.

Farmer’s Markets take place all around Door County each week, with the oldest and largest in Sturgeon Bay every Saturday morning. On Tuesdays you will find the weekly market set up in Lakeside Park in Jacksonport. The Corner of the Past, south of Sister Bay on Highway 57 also hosts a Saturday Farmers Market from 8 am ’til noon. At the core of the Door County Buy Local movement, farmer’s markets present a variety of grassroots vendors with a vast diversity of original, handmade arts, crafts, baked and canned goods as well as all sorts of locally grown, fresh produce.

The film was created by Fish Creek’s DesignWise Studios, the publishers of Door County Style Magazine.

Meet and talk with local and regional artists at work in their open-air studios, creating all manner of art. The 11th Annual Gills Rock ArtFest brings together a bevy of plein air painters, custom jewelry makers, potters and even a cairn builder, all at work outdoors.

Participating artists this year include:

• Mona Cacciotti, Pewaukee, concrete and acrylics
• Joni Rae Doyle, DeForest, silver and copper jewelry
• Kris Franzke, Milwaukee, mosaic, clay
• Mark Haberly, Menomonee Falls, oil
• Dick Helland, Egg Harbor, watercolor
• Ray Kapfamer, Appleton, oil
• Anne Nikolai Kloss, Waukesha, beaded jewelry
• Norm Knott, Rockford, IL MIxed media sculpture, paintings
• Mary Beth Mead, Ellison Bay, vintage jewelry
• Chris Meissner, MIlwalukee, encaustic and oil, plaster
• Shannon Molter, MIlwaukee, organic bamboo, silk and cotton fashions
• Jeanne Nikoilai Olivieri, Milwaukee, watercolor
• Marcia Nickols, Ephraim, watercolor
• Sienna, Green Bay, mixed media

Special guests include Carolyn Kane, Gills Rock author who will be signing her recently published book, “Taking Jenny Home,” a fictional novel set in the state of Maine and illustrated by one of Door County’s most celebrated painters, Charles Peterson. Ms. Kane taught English at Culver-Stockton College, Canton, Missouri from 1977 to 2005 where she was also faculty sponsor of the college’s award-winning literary arts magazine, Harmony.

Taking Jenny Home (book cover) by CL Peterson

“Taking Jenny Home“ is set in a place which Carolyn Kane has never lived nor even visited, but she says, “Maine is the only place where the events of the novel could reasonably take place… even in a fantasy!” The imaginary Merlin’s Island has plenty of features that are reminiscent of Door County including dangerous waters, fields of knapweed blossoming in August and an ice cream shop known as Wilson’s Seaside Creamery.

The ArtFest will also feature live music on Saturday, starting at 11 am. Christine and Nelson Whyatt will provide a festive air with fiddle and accordion tunes. The Whyatts recently moved to Door County from Minneapolis. They play a variety of folk music from Europe and America, and are especially fond of the music of Scandinavia.

From 5:30 – 7 pm on Saturday, there will be an Artist’s Reception for Norm Knott and his spectacular “McBuddha” installation, which he dubs, “a Spiritual Franchise.” When the manager of a furniture store decided to toss out a very large plastic Buddha that had arrived as packing filler with an order from Japan, Norm leaped at the opportunity to repurpose the object. He took it to his studio and covered every square inch with jewels and hundreds of tiny paper scrolls derived from Chinese newspapers. The Buddha is now the centerpiece of a room at Gallery Ten dedicated to showcasing Norm’s masterpiece derived from natural objects.

Norm Knott creates a continual stream of art, often recruiting everyone around him to join in assembling found objects. For many years this Rockford native has been a featured artist at Charlene’s Gallery Ten in Gills Rock. Norm teaches what he calls, “earth-friendly art courses” to children and adults combining traditional assemblage techniques with the use of recyclables, biodegradables and natural materials from the outdoors. He likes to see kids and grownups break the rules and get their hands dirty.

Shannon Molter returns with a new collection of her original “green” fashion wear. She is known for including a variety of natural found objects in her work as lead fashion designer at the Milwaukee Art Museum. Molter says she has, “a strong sense of connectedness to the environment and tries to arouse empathy within my audience for the natural world, as well as why we should, or how we can change the current ecological situation.”

There is no charge to attend any of the Gills Rock ArtFest events taking place over Labor Day Weekend. Telephone 920.854.9907 for further information of visit on-line at www.GalleryTen.com.

RSVP and invite your friends…

Charlene’s Gallery Ten represents over 100 artists in a gallery collection that is contemporary, original and eclectic, opening daily from 10 AM to 5 PM at 12625 Hwy 42 in Gills Rock.

GT Coffee, complements the gallery, serving espresso drinks and Door County cherry pie by-the-slice daily from 8 AM to 5 PM. Telephone 920.854.9907 for further information or visit on-line at www.GalleryTen.com.

Judith will provide ten people with a chance to experience BodyTalk in a private workshop setting. She is a healthcare practitioner at Spa Verde Salon in Egg Harbor. On Saturday, August 13 she delivered an introduction to acupuncture along with providing treatments to participants.

“I’ve been practicing natural medicine for over 20 years,” says Judith Rybicki. “BodyTalk has not only changed my life, it has helped me trust that what I am doing in a single session is working deeper and more precisely than ever before. It not only leaves you feeling relaxed, it helps you to release your physical ailments at the root level.”

The introduction to BodyTalk will take place at 11:15 am on Saturday, August 20 at Junction Center Yoga Studio. The cost to attend is $30 per person. You can reserve one of the ten spots available by emailing judithrybicki@gmail.com. Anyone who attends the session is also encouraged to book a followup private consultation with Judith at Spa Verde Salon and apply the $30 workshop fee as a discount.

On Sunday, July 31, 2011 Terry and her sponsors brought one of her personal favorites to Egg Harbor. Blues man Harry Manx has been called an “essential link” between the music of East and West, creating musical short stories that wed the tradition of the Blues with the depth of classical Indian ragas. Hans Christian (of Rasa) has been playing with Harry on occasion for several years. They both trace their musical roots back to India as is apparent from their mutual affection for exotic musical instruments. “Crazy Love” was the last song of the evening and Andria Nikoupolis-Weliky a dancer with Kaheena Belly Dance joined in, much to everyone’s sensual delight.

This is just a single-song example from one of the many free concerts provided in an annual summer series of outdoor events held in Egg Harbor, Wisconsin at the Peg Egan Performing Art Center. The band shell is located in a grassy public park at 7840 Church Street, one block east of Highway 42 in Egg Harbor. Each show greets around 800-1,600 visitors and over 20,000 audience members have enjoyed the music experiences at the Egan Center since it was established in 2008.

The concert series is sponsored by the Village of Egg Harbor, Ministry Door County Medical Center, the Bronner Foundation, the Kevin Egan Family and Leinenkugel’s Triangle Distributing. This particular evening was also sponsored by Greens N Grains Natural Foods and Deli in Egg Harbor.

Join them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/PegEganPAC.

It must have been the Robert Burns poetry or maybe the classical piano piece or maybe it was the moon, but there was only a handful of old diehard Snopek fans in the room. We shared a great opportunity to hear some reworked favorites from the Snopek band and capture this footage, almost like filming a private studio performance.

Rock Island Boathouse photo by Charles Kenyon

I was fortunate to be aboard the ship in 2010 and had a chance to film the entire event. It was also my privilege to know in advance that Jean Berkenstock would open the evening with a surprise, a solo flute performance delivered from a spot high up in the rafters of the colossal stone Boathouse on Rock Island. It was a spooky opening, perfect for the great collection of intimate ensemble pieces to follow.

In 1910 wealthy inventor Chester Thordarson purchased 775 acres of Rock Island. A decade later, 30 acres on the southwest side of the island were cleared and Thordarson began construction of a summer estate. His large boathouse is decorated with characters from the Norse Runic alphabet.

Like Thordarson, it has taken me a bit more time to assemble all of the tools and skills necessary to raise up my own new-media vision of the future as described in this October, 2008 article. The following video featuring individual performances by Midsummer’s Music Festival co-founder Jean Berkenstock and Door County’s favorite folk musician Gerhard Berhhard remained on the shelf, waiting to be completed, better late than never.

Vegetarian Nightmare

Whatever on Earth would motivate a man to make music about meat? The prime cuts on Scott Wakefield‘s newest CD entitled, Vegetarian Nightmare should come as no surprise. But, there’s much more than meaty ballads on this disc. It’s apparent that the humorous tunes about carnivorous culinary obsessions are a lighthearted mask for Scott’s deeper emotions regarding the nurturing he derived as the solo grandson of a Texas ranching family. One of the most touching songs on the album is dedicated to the memory of his deceased mom…

“There’s a cold black wind blowin’ through my family tree. I’m the last one on this branch and I guess I own a cattle ranch,” he sings.

At first glance, this album beckons you to take it lightly, by delivering what Mad Magazine used to call, “humor in a jugular vein.” Upon closer introspection, Scott has worked hard to produce a theatrical autobiographical masterpiece, balancing on the edge between comedy and tragedy. His cast and crew include a remarkable assemblage of notable backup singers and a diversity of musicians from jazz horns and keyboards to country string-picking masters.

Wakefield’s latest is a deep and well-crafted studio production. His voice is his primary instrument, polished and refined through decades of steady performance. His theatrical background is apparent in the fact that he also wrote and arranged all thirteen songs – a storybook that provides a close and revealing look at what really makes Scott run.

For the past few weeks Scott Wakefield played at numerous venues throughout Door County – stopping on his way to a California acting engagement. Eventually he will return to his current home in New York, but we were lucky to catch him on camera at a Fishstock Concert on August 2, 2009. Here’s Scott Wakefield, accompanied by drummer Pat Judy, performing “My Bed,” a song from his latest CD, Vegetarian Nightmare.

Scott is even more engaging on stage, in person than he is on his newest CD… and his latest recording is a delight. Here’s Scott Wakefield, accompanied by drummer Pat Judy, performing a song he wrote to commemorate the birth of Sarah Kaplan and the passing of Fred Alley, which took place on the same day.

I was there and captured the following performances on video…

“Everybody Loves A Clown” sung by Whitney Allen

“‘Fishing for the Moon,’ was the first show Fred and I wrote together, and it premiered in the summer of 1992,” says Jimmy Kaplan. “We went back and re-wrote the show for a 1999 production and replaced several songs. Whitney (Allen) had originated the role of the school teacher, singing a song called ‘Why Do the Dumb Ones Always Turn Out to Be So Smart?’ In the 1999 production, we created the song ‘Everybody Loves A Clown.’ Whitney was not in that production, but it all came full circle when she finally performed the number on Sunday.”

“The Promise” is a song that Fred Alley wrote in the late 1980s and is also sung by Whitney Allen

Jimmy Kaplan recalls, “When I first met Fred in 1990, he had been recording some songs with Hans Christian in San Francisco, and this was among them. He also recorded it in 1994 with Mark Thiede for the Door County Music Sampler. It is a deceptively simple piece of music, and I think it is one of Fred’s best collection of images. We did a show in Milwaukee called “The One That Got Away,” and Whitney sang the same version of that song as she performed at Camp David on Sunday.”

“White Bird” sung by Holly Feldman