Garden Art: Mitchell Park Domes' Art in the Green

Unfortunately, one of Milwaukee's greatest treasures, the Mitchell Park Domes, has been closed since earlier this year due to structural concerns that need to be addressed - to the tune of thousands of dollars.  The good news is, the "Show Dome" where the revolving displays occur throughout the year, re-opened earlier this month.  This weekend, to celebrate, the Domes had a free art show in the Show Dome as well as the atrium and the main greenhouse, where artists sold paintings, photographs, drawings and jewelry to the public.

Many of the paintings for sale coincided with the flowers and plants featured in the Show Dome.

In addition to the art work for sale, I got to see a lot of the region's natural flowers including beautiful Easter lilies.

And hydrangeas.

The coolest part of the art show was the outdoor art installation where 50 artists painted posies throughout our four seasons on 50 different canvases.

I'm so glad that the Mitchell Park Domes is, once again, open for business, even in its limited capacity.  It is a treasure for Milwaukee and often voted as one of its best tourist attractions.  We're so lucky to have such an amazing indoor garden right outside our doorsteps!

The Great and Tragic History of Rock Music in Wisconsin

Above all, even more than photography, my true passion is rock music.  I was raised on it.  I could name all 5 members of Fleetwood Mac and all 4 members of Led Zeppelin at age 10.  And the roots of rock music run deep in Wisconsin. 

The inventor of the electric guitar, Les Paul, was born in my hometown of Waukesha, and Prairie Home Cemetery has a wonderful grave marker for the innovator.  But that's not all that Wisconsin has added to the history of rock music.  Some of it is fantastic and some of it is truly tragic.

There are many bands that were founded in Wisconsin, including The Violent Femmes, The BoDeans (from Waukesha), Garbage (from Madison), Citizen King, and Bon Iver as well as Justin Vernon (from Eau Claire).  One of the most famous albums of the 90's was partly recorded in Madison, at Smart Records: Nirvana's Nevermind.  That's because the band's producer, Butch Vig, was born and lived in Madison.  A few years ago, the Wisconsin Historical Museum had an exhibition on Smart studio which featured a poster from that recording.

A documentary on Smart Studios was recently released, produced by Vig entitled "The Smart Studio Story" and features music by, not only Garbage and Nirvana, but Smashing Pumpkins, Death Cab For Cutie, and Killdozer.  The film has been showing around Wisconsin since April and will show at the Mile of Music Festival in Appleton in August.

But, along with the successes, Wisconsin has seen many rock n' roll losses.  In 1967, Otis Redding died in a plane crash in Madison's Lake Monona.  Monona Terrace has a plaque dedicated to the soul legend.

 

And, in August 1990, guitar legend Stevie Ray Vaughan, along with many of Eric Clapton's band members, died in a helicopter crash after leaving the East Troy arena Alpine Valley due to excessive fog. I'll never forget where I was when I heard the news, on the way to summer marching band practice. On a lighter note, I had the great privilege to see Pearl Jam at the same venue in 2011 for their only U.S. concert to celebrate their 20th anniversary.

But prior to that tragic event and years afterward, Wisconsin has been home to the largest music festival in the world.  Milwaukee's Summerfest is 11 days of nothing but incredible music acts descending on our state, often before they become major stars.  And every year it gets better.  This year's performers include legends Willie Nelson, Billy Idol, Cheap Trick, Blue Oyster Cult, Sting & Peter Gabriel and Def Leppard as well as Fitz & The Trantrums, Ray Lamontagne, Barenaked Ladies, Elle King, Milky Chance and Luke Bryan.

The Marcus Amphitheatre is the main venue on the Summerfest grounds.  Recently, many stories have come out about Prince since his passing last week.  One of the nicest stories was when he played the Marcus Amphitheatre, and how he was so impressed with the venue, he made a public statement about it.  Thanks to his kind words, the Rolling Stones opened the festival last summer and Sir Paul McCartney will play there this year.

I know Wisconsin may not be as cool as California, New York or even Chicago, but I think the fact that we're smaller lends itself to a more close-knit music community.  Whether you're into rock, country, pop, folk or jazz, there is a festival for you, especially as we near the summer months.  For more Wisconsin music festivals, click here.


 

History Amongst the Tombs: Forest Home Cemetery

You may not know this about me: I love taking photos at cemeteries.  I still get creeped out walking on top of someone who is buried six feet under.  However, the sculptures dedicated to the departed are some of the best art you can find for free.  Today, since it was an unusual 60 degrees in Milwaukee for a February, I went down to Forest Home Cemetery, a place I've wanted to photograph for a long time.  This cemetery, the largest in Wisconsin and home to many prominent residents, is located south of I-94 near a vastly Latino community, but has been around since 1850. 

The claim-to-fame of Forest Home Cemetery is that a lot of Milwaukee's founders are buried there.  More specifically, our beer barons.  Pabst, Schlitz and Blatz, the names that built Milwaukee into what it is today, have grave markers or mausoleums on the grounds.

The Blatz Mausoleum



The Schlitz grave marker

The Pabst family grave marker

In addition to the beer barons, many other famous names have made the cemetery their final resting place.  Names such as Arthur Davidson (Harley-Davidson):

Guido and Charles Pfitster (owners of the Pfister Hotel):

Frederick Vogel, a tanner and State Assemblyman.  Vogel Hall in the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre is named after him:

Fredrick Usinger, creator of the best sausage/bratwurst in America:

Charles Allis, founder of Allis-Chalmers and whom the city of West Allis is named for:

And Alfred Lunt & Lynn Fontanne, a very famous theatre couple who resided in Genesee, Wisconsin.  I have visited Ten Chimneys, their primary residence, which reminded me a lot of Graceland.  I will do a blog post on my visit later this year, when tours are available, around May.

Besides the famous grave stones, there are a lot of interesting markers that are artistic in nature.  I think it's great that the departed (or their relatives) have endowed these amazing sculptures as their markers.  More common is the obelisk, a marker that goes back to the ancient Egyptians and symbolizes the sun God Ra.  I know they became popular after Napoleon's invasion of Egypt in the 1700's, but why have they sustained such popularity prior to the Civil War and afterward?  If anyone knows the reason, feel free to post in the comments.

In addition to the famous residents and the obelisk markers, many of the departed had sculptures created for their final resting place.  I find those the most interesting.  I have never been to the Pere Lachaise cemetery in Paris, but it is a dream of mine (and not just to see Jim Morrison's final resting place).  This cemetery had a lot of interesting sculptures to celebrate the lives of their departed family members.

Last, but not least, there is the grave marker of Henry Clay Payne, Postmaster General from 1902 to 1904 when Theodore Roosevelt was president.  From the very nice words on his grave marker, he was not only a statesman but a "kindly neighbor", a "loyal friend" and a "benefactor of the deserving."  Basically, an all-around good guy.

For more information on the Forest Home Cemetery, click here.



 

Monster Invasion: Mitchell Park Domes Garden Railroad Show

Every year, Milwaukee's Mitchell Park Domes presents its garden railroad show, and each has a specific theme.  This year's theme is "Monsters" as in movie monsters. 

The main set is always the same with bridges, a desert area, a monorail, and a colorful residential area.  But this year, they added a cityscape (where a giant gorilla hung from a skyscraper), a drive-in theatre (where, strangely, Elsa from "Frozen" was on an adventure with the pair from "Monters, Inc.") and fake movie posters featuring the monsters, as well as Thomas the Tank, around the perimeter.

I loved both the cityscape with its Town Square and soldiers on the rooftop.  I also enjoyed the colorful town.

There's still plenty of time to visit this year's garden railroad show.  The Mitchell Park Domes is open seven days a week and the show runs until March 6.

**Update: The Mitchell Park Domes is closed indefinitely due to "falling concrete".  I never experienced this problem, but it is serious enough for the county to close one of its most famous tourist attractions until further notice.  Such a shame, but I hope they can fix the problem quickly and safely.