The local premiere of Disney’s The Lion King boasts two local connections. Waukesha native Michael Dean Morgan plays Zazu and previously had the role of Marlin in Finding Nemo – The Musical.Pumbaa is played by Milwaukee resident Bob Amaral , who was discovered by the producers of the 1991 TV series “Morton & Hayes” while he was a bartender at the Universal Hilton Hotel.
How do you get the best deal from the city? Hire one of its experts. Take Dan McCarthy ,who worked for the Department of City Development from 1989 to 2003 and knew all the inner details of city development deals. McCarthy was hired by WisPark LLC, whose proposal for a $41 million city subsidy for its Pabst City project went down to a surprising defeat. Then came Round 2: McCarthy got hired by Joe Zilber and his Brewery Project LLC, which snagged a $29 million subsidy to develop the same area. “There’s no question Dan has a great deal of knowledge in how [city financing] works,” concedes Mike Mervis, spokesperson for Zilber.
Menomonee Falls native Jessica Szohr is on the Hollywood hotlist with a role in the new CW network hit “Gossip Girl” and a music video spot with Chris Daughtry , of “American Idol” fame. Szohr’s mother says Szohr is friendly with New York fans and paparazzi, while other cast members choose to keep walking.
No conflict here: The Shepherd Express entertainment section, edited by Dave Luhrssen , ran a glowing review of the book Searching for Rock and Roll, by Martin Jack Rosenblum and, er, Dave Luhrssen. “A comprehensive guide for the religion of rock ’n’ roll,” it declared.
A December concert by jazz guitar virtuoso Marty Grosz at the Haggerty Museum of Art was filmed to be included in an upcoming PBS documentary on Grosz called Master of Rhythm. And a homegrown sitcom pilot about a Milwaukee recording studio full of musical misfits got a good reception at its screening at the Downer Theater in November. Producer Eric Joy and recent UWM film graduate and director Mike Jorgensen hope to land a cable TV deal.
The December issue of Vital Source magazine, whose cover featured a Jim Herrington photo of Sara Zmudzinski clad in nothing but a red bow and strategically placed snow, caused quite a stir. According to an anonymous letter sent to Vital Editor Jon Anne Willow ,“A whole army of good upright people are taking stacks of your magazine and throwing them in the nearest trash can. STOP SPREADING PORN!!!” Nothing like capital letters to make a point.
With drinks named The Sensual Sunset, The Sophisticate and Peanut Butter Kiss, Kenadees’ bartender Aurora Arredondo won the Milwaukee contest for creating the best drinks using Finlandia Vodka. On Feb. 12, she travels to Finland to pour with the world’s best in the 10th Annual International Finlandia Vodka Cup.
Driven to understand the mysteries of NASCAR, Brookfield native and University of Nebraska-Lincoln physics professor Diandra Leslie-Pelecky wrote a book released this month, The Physics of NASCAR, for which she got to hang out with driver Elliott Sadler . And the book Chicken Soup for the Tea Lover’s Soul includes contributions by Pearl Blanchette , a British native who has lived in Milwaukee for 52 years, and Evelina Mabini of Franklin, a retired pediatrician and native of the Philippines.
25 years flashback
Today, he’s a Milwaukee County supervisor, but in the January/February 1983 issue of Milwaukee Magazine, Gerry Broderick was a winner in a contest asking readers to answer the question: Just what does Mayor Henry Maier do all day? (Yes, the magazine was a bit irreverent toward hizzoner.) Readers offered lots of satirical suggestions, but Broderick offered perhaps the longest and funniest list, including these:
-“Working with members of the Sewerage Commission on a new hi-tech plan to convert City Hall rhetoric into a novel form of granulated Milorganite.”
-“Listening to portraits of Richard Daley.”
-“Composing a theme song for the first annual ‘Breierfest,’ tentatively titled ‘The Paranoia Polka’.”
-“Playing 12-hand rummy with his bodyguard detail.”
Celebrity Sightings
Former Van Halen front man Sammy Hagar was in town in November and shoveled down lots of meat at Karl Ratzsch’s. The “Red Rocker” and his clan dined on crackling pork shanks and Usinger’s sausage samplers, washed it down with steins of Bitburger and bottles of Riesling, and topped the meal off with apple strudel and port… Following a November loss to the Milwaukee Bucks, Kobe Bryant and L.A. Lakers teammates Lamar Odom, Luke Walton, Derek Fisher, Jordan Farmar, Chris Mihm, Vladimir Radmanovic and others dined at Carnevor. Bryant bypassed the Kobe-style beef and instead opted for lobster bisque and filet mignon. When Bryant spotted Yi Jianlian with his family up in the balcony, he went up to say hi and offered the star rookie a friendly toast, adding, “Don’t hesitate to call.”
