Every Friday, Off The Record looks to other Milwaukee publications for bits of news we missed throughout the week.
• We’re forever barred from making jokes about NEWaukee’s NEWaukeean of the Week (sponsored by NEWaukee) because, well, one of our staff was once bestowed with the lofty title. So we’ll simply say that this week’s NEWaukeean of the Week (brought to you by NEWaukee) is an inanimate object—or rather, a group of inanimate objects. Yes, Milwaukee’s much-ballyhooed new bike-share program, Bublr Bikes, gets the NEWaukee honors this week. So how does one go about mounting a Bublr Bike? According to a press release:
“Bublr Bikes offers bicycles that can be rented from automated kiosks and returned at any station. The initiall rates will range from $7 per day to $20 per month for unlimited trips under 30 minutes each, with additional charges for longer trips. Users can buy day passes at the stations or purchase monthly passes via Bublr’s website, www.BublrBikes.com.”
10 Bublr stations (or WatrFountain stations, if you’re from out of town) are expected to pop up around the downtown area in the next few weeks. Currently, Bublr Bikes can be found in Red Arrow Park—unless they’re being commandeered by NEWaukee and something called the “Millennial Train,” that is.
• Potawatomi Hotel & Casino’s new fancy-but-casual restaurant, Locavore, is scheduled to open Monday. According to the Journal Sentinel, Locavore will use locally sourced “sustainable meats and fish, and native ingredients such as paw paw fruit, shagbark hickory syrup and tepary beans in its seasonal menus.” Van Luu, formerly of Prodigal Gastropub in Walker’s Point, will serve as executive chef.
• OnMilwaukee’s Bobby Tanzillo filed a new installment in his excellent “Urban Spelunking” series, this time venturing below Milwaukee’s streets and exploring the downtown steam tunnels.
• Over at AboutFace Media’s “Social Storytellers” blog, Mark Borchardt waxes philosophical about Martina Kudlacek’s 2006 documentary Notes On Marie Menken, which digs into the life and work of the influential avant-garde filmmaker.
• Milwaukee’s festival season may be winding down (ugh), but that doesn’t mean the fun is over just yet. OnMilwaukee has details on Saturday’s India Fest, which will turn Bay View’s Humbolt Park into a “colorful, aromatic and energetic scene reminiscent of a Bollywood film.”
• Long-running live storytelling series Ex Fabula announced its season six kickoff fundraiser this week. An evening of “food, drinks, and ‘classic’ Ex Fabula stories” is set for Thursday, September 18 at Hot Water Wherehouse.
• The Wisconsin State Fair—in all its deep-fried, pig-racing glory—brought in more than 1 million people this year. The Milwaukee Business Journal has other fun facts, including how many cream puffs were wolfed down (400,678), and how many “Bacon Wrapped Cherrywood Smoked Pork Belly on a Stick”s were braved (5,850). No word on the “Dynamite Sticks.”
• OnMilwaukee has info on the recently added final stop of Sprecher’s traveling beer garden, which is scheduled for August 26 – September 7 at Picnic Area 1 in the Root River Parkway. The garden is currently occupying Oak Creek’s Falk Park through August 24.
• Over at the Shepherd Express, Evan Rytlewski digs into the new—and unexpected—album from Absolutely, Cannot Find. Spoiler: It’s different form the band’s first album, but good.