1. Watch a Paint-Off at Art 64
EVAN MUSIL, ARTS & CULTURE EDITOR
Art, at its core, is expression – how we convey the human condition. Beauty, desires, fears, convictions and a vast range of emotions communicated in a deeper, sometimes illuminating, way. Art isn’t an arena. Or is it? What happens if we pit, say, 64 painters against each other in a battle of the brushes? That’s what we’ll find out this Friday and Saturday at Art 64 in the Tosa Village. This art competition raises three rounds of head-to-head live painting in a bracket-style tournament. The crowd picks the winner until only one painter remains. The winning piece will hang in the Wauwatosa City Hall, and the champion takes home $20,000 – no small chunk of change. I’m looking forward to walking down the street, judging painting by painting, raising my brows and rubbing my chin. But mostly, I’m just excited to see all the creativity, no matter who wins.
2. Say ‘Hi’ to MilMag Staff at the Pride Parade
BRIANNA SCHUBERT, ASSOCIATE DIGITAL EDITOR
Happy Pride Month, Milwaukee! The annual Pride Parade is this Sunday, June 9 at 2 p.m. on 2nd Street in Walker’s Point. Milwaukee Magazine staff will be marching in the parade, so if you see us (in our Milwaukee Magazine pride shirts) say hi, give us a shout, take a photo and tag us on socials and I’ll reshare it because I’m the digital editor and have the power to do that. I watched Milwaukee’s pride parade for the first time last year, and it’s such a fun, uplifting and inspiring celebration. I can’t wait, and hopefully, we’ll see you there! 🌈
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
3. Play Attack From Mars Pinball at Up-Down
CHRIS DROSNER, EXECUTIVE EDITOR
My pinball white whale, my favorite pin of all time, is back at Milwaukee’s best arcade bar. Attack From Mars is the most fun you can have for 25 cents: A goofy, campy theme with great voice acting; an impossible number of ramps and lanes; clear, story-driven missions to progress through; and a bonkers challenge where the little green martians surrounding the play area shake surprisingly loudly. Pinball at Up-Down (615 E. Brady St.) is always thrifty (each game is just one 25-cent token, instead of 50 cents to a dollar at many bars), but Thursday’s 10-cent token night takes it over the top.
4. Watch Challengers (Now Streaming)
ARCHER PARQUETTE, MANAGING EDITOR
I did not particularly expect to like Challengers. The trailer made it seem like an erotic drama, and if there’s one thing your boy Old Dry Bones hates it’s drama that is erotic. I’m more of a murder and despair type of cinema-enjoyer. But many enthusiastic recommendations convinced me, and I watched the movie this weekend (it’s now rentable for streaming on Amazon and Apple). And folks, I must say, it got me. The film is structured around a violent, desperate, schweaty, tennis match between two dudes, while a woman watches in the audience. As it unfolds over a series of flashbacks, we learn the long, sordid history of these three and come to see how this match is a turning point for their weird relationship. Luca Guadagnino’s direction is enthralling, with dozens of beautiful shots, and the cast is phenomenal. I’m now a huge fan of Josh O’Connor, who went from playing a posh, uptight Prince Charles in “The Crown” to a loud, loutish American in this with masterful believability. And for a film that billed itself as an erotic drama, it’s actually more of a series of intense conversations and tennis matches, which is much better in my humble opinion.
5. Make Homemade Pizza
ANN CHRISTENSON, DINING EDITOR
When I was a kid, we made homemade pizza fairly often – they were large misshapen ovals (not unlike the oversized pies Maria’s Pizza is known for). We did this a lot more often than buying frozen or takeout pizza from a local restaurant. Yeast has never scared me. And yet, I don’t make pizza very often anymore. I aim to rectify this. The Saturday night pie you see in the photo is a good example of what I intend to repeat – often – this summer: a thin, chewy crust; homemade tomato sauce (or fresh pesto); fresh mozzarella and basil; cherry tomatoes; and (not mandatory but love it when I have it) prosciutto. That’s not how my childhood pizzas looked – they were a lot more basic. We’d fry up fresh Italian sausage and thicken canned tomato sauce with tomato paste and season it with dried oregano and basil. I can’t find the crust recipe we used in the old days but this one is very similar and easy – a good template for people new to working with yeast.
