Touring Milwaukee

Printing concluded in the early hours Thursday, but there were no flights I could get on that would get me home earlier than my scheduled departure on Saturday. So today was a day to sleep late to try and catch up, then head out into Milwaukee.

I started with the factory tour at Harley-Davidson.

Arrived at the plant a bit before 11:30, got in on the next tour, my only tourmates a couple. It begins with a video detailing the (pretty remarkable) history of the company. The soundtrack in the shop and waiting area is all classic rock; by contrast, for the video, we suddenly get fat electronica beats, including, I'm pretty sure, Oakenfold's remix of U2.

This factory manufactures the powertrain for the Sportster and Buell (rhymes with fuel) lines, the smallest of Harley-Davidson's models. Other operations, mostly in Wisconsin, make the powertrains for the other models and assemble them. It also handles the engine rebuilds and a variety of replacement parts, the oldest of which is a 1916 kick-starter. It's an enormous operation, dedicated mainly to machining parts out of cast metal and assembling them. Problem is, with a kind of late start to the tour, we were in there a bit after noon. And the entire factory had stopped for lunch. The video had showed assembly line operations, but I was looking forward to seeing the whole thing in person.

The squished penny machine at the end almost made up for that. Note to self: return for the tour, next time earlier in the day.

Continuing on, headed to Miller for their brewery tour.

Back in DC, I'd been on the Old Dominion Brewing tour plenty of times, and it seemed that I should experience how the other half brews. Plus, with a 150+-year presence in Milwaukee, Miller is an integral part of the city. And, seemed appropriate, having caught the exhibit featuring their advertising last time.

Their operation was slicker. Beginning with the (I guess, obligatory) video, the propaganda was much more prevalent, and carried on throughout the tour. Our views were generally behind the glass (or barriers), unlike Harley-Davidson, where we were walking the floor. The truly amazing thing about Miller was how big it was — not just the vats for all beer in its various forms and the sheer volume of beer they produce, but the whole (as they refer to it) campus. I think they said something like 46 buildings. The effect is like a small main street of all brewing operations. At one of the most interesting points, you wind up in the caves, dug out by hand, 62' feet underground, which used to be packed with ice from neighboring rivers to keep the beer cold. One of Miller's grandsons thought it would be a good idea to them into a restaurant; it lasted two weeks. Now it's the next-to-last stop.

Photography (and cell phones, and pocket knives) prohibited at Harley-Davidson, so no loss there. But pictures encourged at Miller. Sorry.

The sun was out later in the day, making for a beautiful early spring day. The coldest point at this trip was still easily 10º+ warmer than the warmest point last trip. And then there was the rain that the Santa Feans were watching with envy. After all, our drought has made the big time.

A Little Time for Some Culture

With a little time between press checks, and sleep deprivation not having set in yet, one of my co-workers and I headed downtown to the Milwaukee Art Museum. I'd passed by on my last trip out here, so was able to kind of retrace my steps when we go lost (actual navigation technique: that big gray area over there is the lake; let's aim for that and turn before we hit it).

Of course, the big draw is the Santiago Calatrava Quadracci Pavilion, a big, beatiful soaring white annex to the main building. Inside, it's an amazing open space, with kind of a "bow" surrounding by windows pointing to the lake, where the gray sky that had accompanied our arrival was starting to break. A huge oval atrium kind of thing allows you to look straight up at the Burke Brise Soleil (the "wings"). There's a long hallway, all swooping arches and windows and gleaming white that leads to the original part of the museum and just put me in the mind of a '60s sci-fi epic. It was an impressive entry to the main building.

We passed on paying the additional entry fee (I'm still adjusting to paying to get into museums, coming from DC) to the Bruce Nauman and headed to the first floor permanent collection. It's a series of around 24 rooms, maybe 10-15 pieces in each room, arranged chronologically from Medieval art to contemporary. We started at the end, in the Minimalism room, and worked our way through from there. An impressive collection, and though we were messing with the flow of time by working backwards (and stumbling into the wrong gallery occasionally), it's a plan that works well. My favorite discovery was a painting by Everett Shinn, one of those painters whose work up close just looks like slashes and blotches of paint, but from away presents an dynamic, evocative image.

We were there at closing time, so headed across the pedestrian bridge from the Pavilion to watch the Brise Soleil fold its wings down to cover the building for the night.

Still regretting not having brought the camera, but my co-worker took some photos. I might be able to get some to show here later.

They Got Snow In Milwaukee

Arrived in Milwaukee tonight (without too much incident) to a couple inches of snow on the ground. A little slushy, and the snow itself had kind of tapered off to a freezing mist, but it's still kind of a treat. Because I get to leave it behind. (Actually, supposed to be 50s by the time I'm heading out.)

Shoulda brought the camera. Almost did.

Friday Night Funk

Caleb just tipped us off to the Friday Night Funk show over at KBAC, so we tuned into it last night for the first time. As they play it, "funk" is a little loosely defined, but still it's a good way to wrap up the week. KABC seems to be an odd station (with a pretty useless Web site) — owned by Clear Channel, but still retains at least some amount of local control.

Off to Milwaukee again tomorrow for the big press check.

the first prairie dog of spring

On Monday it was 70 degrees. More water woes here in the desert, as this winter is shaping up to be driest in 25 years. On the other hand, it was around this time last year, while Bram was scouting apartments, that they had that big snowstorm...