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News Views
“IN THE END, PEOPLE KNOW WHAT THEY WANT. AND PEOPLE IN AMERICA RECOGNIZE THAT MEDICAL MARIJUANA REALLY DOES HELP PEOPLE AND THEY’RE WILLING TO PUSH THEIR GOVERNMENT IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION.”.

A Simple Solution to Unemployment
That eye-popping outcome was produced through the efforts of the Center for Driver’s License Recovery Employability, a collaboration of Justice 2000, Legal Action of Wisconsin, the Municipal Court of Milwaukee and Milwaukee Area Technical College.

Obama's Shrewd Choices
Looking over the names of the new Obama appointees to important positions in the Treasury and the White House, critics on the left have dismissed them as "Clintonite retreads" or worse.

Expresso
You can also check out the Exchange Alternative Gift Fair and Our Milwaukee Buy Local Fair on Saturday, Dec. 6, from 1 to 5 p.m. at the Urban Ecology Center, 1500 E. Park Place. You can purchase cool gifts and make donations to local charities that do good work throughout the year.

TakingLiberties
After that outpouring of angry rhetoric, I have to admit at least one of my assumptions about gun owners was wrong: A substantial number of gun owners are far crazier and more dangerous than I ever imagined. I’ve always thought the vast majority of gun owners were living in a fantasy world as a result of seeing too many bad movies.

Music
Mac LethaL is a prick. Of course, that’s kind of his appeal. A curmudgeonly white rapper with a waning hairline and a sad, protruding belly, Mac Lethal riffs like an incensed insult comedian about the many things that piss him off— Christians, vegans, scenesters, Ben Harper—filling the funny, irate rapper void left when Eminem lost his sense of humor.

Boris Doris
The evening was enhanced by a gourmet spread from Larry’s Market, along with Le Reve Patisserie desserts and Cholive’s Chruffles and Cholives. A brisk auction was led by volunteer auctioneer Justin Gauvin.

Film Clips
A NOT TOO DISTANT PAST: FILM AND VIDEO FROM UNDERGROUND CHICA- GO Not Rated.

Film Times
Cadillac Records: Daily: 1:05, 4:00, 7:05, 9:45 Four Christmases: Daily: 12:50, 3:00, 7:05, 9:30 Madagascar 2: Daily: 12:45, 2:55, 5:05, 7:10, 9:20 Punisher: War Zone: Daily: 12:55, 3:35, 7:00, 9:35 Soul Men: Daily: 1:00, 3:45, 6:55, 9:15 Transporter 3: Daily: 12:35, 3:50, 7:20, 9:50 Twilight: Daily: 12:40, 3:40, 7:00, 9:45.

This Week in Milwaukee
makes its debut tonight at Tommasino Italia (7335 W. Greenfield Ave.), an Italian bar and restaurant in West Allis. The venue normally features recorded music by Frank Sinatra and other jazz-oriented vocalists and its ambiance is perfect for Grassel and Jensen’s mellifluous and soft-spoken performances.

Eat/Drink
In an era rife with corporate fast-food franchises, a zeitgeist within the culinary world has emerged that encourages and favors all things specialty and artisanal. Meaning, the smaller the batch, the better the food.

Art Review
Rudy Rotter must have been a fine dentist. He never looked into my mouth, but we did look into each other’s eyes one day, years after he gave up dentistry and devoted himself entirely to art. What I saw was a warm and kindly man of integrity with no apparent interest in the fuss and pretense of the art world.

A&E
You’ve heard the melodies before. “Trepak,” energetic and bold, or the delicate and playful “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy”—both musical pieces have been employed in television commercials to encourage shoppers to get into the holiday spirit.

Cataclysms: A History of the Twentieth Century From Europe’s Edge
Twentieth-century Europe was the playing field for two world wars and the front line for the Cold War, but most of the trigger points were on the continent’s periphery, the Balkans and the eastern lands from the Black Sea through the Baltic. Dan Diner, a historian at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University, explores how East impacted West in Cataclysms,.

Art Preview
“Environmental Art,” created by the “Hands On” after-school project at the Walker’s Point Center for the Arts, opens Dec. 6. This exhibit reflects the idea of respecting nature, which is incorporated into the center’s summer programming for children ages 6-12.

Classical Music
Forget the weatherman. Those seeking an accurate predictor of the year’s first snowstorm need only to check the performance schedule of the Wild Space Dance Company, whose December shows are unfailingly met by unfortunate winter maelstroms.

SHEPHERD EXPRESS LISTINGS
To submit event listings, you may e-mail in unattached form (rip@shepex.com), fax (414-276-3312) or mail (Shepherd Express, 207 N. Buffalo St., Suite 410, Milwaukee, 53202, Attn: Events). Deadline for any given issue is the Friday before publication. Questions: contact Rip Tenor, 276-2222 ext.

A Perfect Production
The outstanding 1967 movie has never been so well served: Skylight’s unyieldingly exuberant musical production, letter perfect to a fault, containing dance numbers executed with a precision to honor any Broadway musical, rivals the highly touted 2001 stage version and surpasses the grossly overproduced screen version that met only moderate success.

Concert Review
Shelby Lynne has always done music—and pretty much everything else—her own way, but she knows how to make it pay off, especially when performing live.

Theatre
Dec. 28. James Pickering returns to the role of Scrooge, an old miser who is visited by a series of ghosts prior to Christmas. Pickering has portrayed this iconic character hundreds of times over the past few decades.

Dining guide
1344 E. Brady St. 414-272-3333 1532 W. Wells 414-344-1234 3129 N. Oakland Ave. 414-967-9014 6969 N. Port Washington Rd. Fox Point 414-228-1234 767 N. Water St. 414-227-1166 10919 W. Bluemound Rd. 414-476-9488 18900 W. Bluemound Rd. 262-901-0300 Kincaid’s Fish, Chop Steakhouse.

CD Reviews
Antes... y Despues (A.R.C. Discos) Jorge “El Guero” Hernandez may be the best-known regional Mexican artist with Milwaukee roots. Most of a decade has passed since he and brother Rogelio moved to San Antonio, but El Guero’s Banda Centenario still nurtures a unique take on the often-manic Duranguense subgenre on the group’s sixth album.

Theatre Preview
Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer is approaching 70 years of age. Transcending his humble debut in the popular 1939 song written by Robert L. May for Montgomery Ward, the magical flying reindeer with the bioluminescent nose has become a cultural icon.

SEXPress
As I said in a previous column about oral sex, I suggest abandoning the attitude of “convincing” a partner to try something new and taking a more egalitarian approach. First, I would like to point out that the anus is an equalopportunity orifice. Everyone has one.

Short Orders
Two new storefronts—Little Italy Olive Oil Co. and Capone’s Grotto— recently appeared at 1003 and 1007 N. Old World Third St., in the spot formerly occupied by Jewel of India. The interior received a much-needed makeover that includes better lighting, abundant woodwork and a comfortable bar.

Dining Out
The Third Ward has changed a great deal since the Milwaukee Ale House opened its doors 11 years ago. The Ale House was one of the first ventures to renovate a vintage building and take advantage of views of the Milwaukee River. A decade later the “renovated loft” look, with hardwood floors and exposed brick, remains an attractive setting.

Classical Music
Worried about sounding like the bland sentiments of a Hallmark card, I would not normally use the words love and joy to describe a performance. However, they richly apply to Nicholas McGegan’s work as guest conductor with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra last weekend.

COVERING THE BASICS
There are wants, and then there are needs. We’d all like to give expensive gifts to our friends and family, but across-the-board belt-tightening will force most of us to cut back on our holiday largesse.

Transportation Problem
Computer-generated fireballs will follow, along with software-produced car chases and titanic feats of martial arts simulated through quick-cut editing. Valentina becomes Martin’s responsibility on a car trip across Europe, from his home in Marseilles, France, to her home in Odessa, in the Ukraine.

Book Reviews
(Simon Schuster), a book that collects Bob Dylan’s early- 1960s writings inspired by Barry Feinstein’s celebrity photographs, Dylan was asked, “Do you consider these poems?” He answered, “You’d probably have to ask some academician about that.” In the introduction for.

Classified Express
fi ne hand crafted gifts would make a big hit with relatives, friends, co-workers or that special person in your life. in Little Shop on the Corner in Oak Creek features stain glass, jewelry, candles, candle holders, pens, journals, gift baskets, photography, watercolor, acrylic, fi ber art wall hangings and other fi ne items.

Book Previews
In his 1936 essay on the work of Russian author Nikolai Leskov, Walter Benjamin spoke of the gradual demise of the storytelling tradition. According to Benjamin, somewhere between the widespread circulation of the novel and the rise of modern warfare, man’s “ability to exchange experience” had greatly eroded.

Art for Art’s Sake
It’s a no-win situation for me, this appointment. If I learn that the cancer’s still on holiday, then I’m kind of pissed ’cause I’ve pissed away a big honking chunk of time since they always make you wait and wait before the nurse calls your name and takes you to a room where you wait and wait (I never knew that the January 1998 Reader’s Digest.

The Back
Gary Tanin goes back a long way in Milwaukee music. He started recording with 1960s garage bands and by the early ’70s was already ahead of the pack by releasing carefully crafted DIY albums on his own label. As the ’90s began he was collaborating with musicians from half the world away, producing CDs long distance by uploading tracks.

Free Will Astrology
Now he saw he was wrong. While I’m sorry for the collective pain his mistaken ideas have unleashed, I’m elated for him personally: How many 82-year-old men are open to the possibility that their philosophy of life needs adjustment? For that matter,...

Sports
Marquette and Wisconsin meet at the Bradley Center on Saturday, and in one respect they’re dead even. Each of them beat UW-Milwaukee by 20 points. But Marquette scored 100 points against UWM while Wisconsin scored 67..

Bizarre Bazaar
YOU THE EXPENSIVE LOOK FOR LESS. BECAUSE WE BUY DIRECT FROM THE FACTORIES OUR PRICES ARE FANTASTIC! EVERYDAY LUCI IS GETTING IN THE LATEST TRENDS. OUR FASHIONISTAS ARE ALWAYS ON SITE TO MAKE YOU LOOK FABULOUS. WE CARRY ALL SIZES AND ARE OPEN LATE FOR YOUR SHOPPING CRAVINGS! 532 N.