Matt: Not really. I was born in Indiana. And lived in Iowa and Missouri and moved up here right before the fifth grade, in 1985.
T: Oh, so you’ve been here for (not wanting to do simple arithmetic in her head)… a while.
M: Most of my life. After I graduated from high school I lived in Racine, I lived in Waukegan for a little bit. And I was in a band and we were on tour so I lived in Minneapolis for a little while, but other than that, mostly Kenosha.
T: Alright. Were the arts a part of your upbringing? Is that kind of how you got into it?
M: Not really. I studied classical piano when I was a kid and that was the bulk of it. When I was a little kid I got a transistor radio from my grandpa, I would fall asleep with it under my pillow. That kind of turned me on to popular music as opposed to classical music. In junior high I started writing music. I remember writing a lot when I was a kid. Writing stories. My parents didn’t have much to do with it, aside from using piano lessons as punishment.
S: Changing things up a little, I heard you play for home dialysis patients. What is that like?
J: I play my guitar for them. It makes me feel everything is worthwhile, what I’m doing. They love it. I can see the calm in them when I do bring my guitar. When I don’t bring it, they say why didn’t you bring your guitar today. It almost makes me feel like they are getting healing from the music in some kind of way. I can see the difference when I bring it and when I don’t. They say I just love listening to the notes of the guitar, they ring through me like a healing as I play each note.
S: Do you think this is something that should be part of the hospitals in the Kenosha area?
J: Music? I do. I definitely do. I was talking to my wife Kerry’s brother, Jerry Djuth, he does acupuncture in California. I said I had a dream that while you were doing treatments, outside I was playing music and each note I played had a healing effect going through the needles for each patient. I said it’s really weird. He said, “Jerry, that’s what they do in China!” I said, “They do?” I knew nothing about that. He said they use tuning forks and different notes ring through the needles for healing. I had no idea.
I believe music is healing. I believe everyone has a different note, I don’t care if its piano or guitar, to heal them. I believe everyone has a different note that can be played to touch them a certain way. I don’t think people know what their note is, but when they hear it, it sounds so good to them; they feel it.”
S: You have great dreams Jerry. Keep dreaming. How do you feel about the co-mingling of the arts in the Kenosha area? Continue reading →
It’s no secret that artists are constantly searching for inspiration. The great irony is that inspiration is everywhere. Sometimes it appears in the humble expanse of nature, in the quiet complexities of a well cast shadow, or in the recollection of a distant memory. Whenever it comes, we embrace it. An inspired artist is a productive one. It seems that one idea leads to the next and we work like crazy.
And then it happens; For whatever reason it leaves as quickly as it came, and we lose our motivation to create.
Artists inspire artists.
It’s a very simple statement. When creative people come together it starts a dialogue that can lead to new artistic possibilities. Most artists work alone at home or in a studio. We think that it’s important to provide artists with an opportunity to break the routine and to make art in a new and open environment.
Every Friday night, from 6:00 p.m. until 9-ish, ArtWorks does just that. We open our classroom for all artists to come and work. This is a great way to meet other artists, get feedback, or to discuss what’s happening in Kenosha. There is no charge and there’s nothing to lose.
Through a collaboration between the Racine Public Library and Racine’s Java Vino wine and coffee shop, the Racine Public Library brings “Poetry Roundtables.” This new program invites the public for discussions of contemporary American poetry at Java Vino, once a month. The events are free and the setting will be conducive to a group of individuals with varied levels of experience with poetry. Each month will focus on a new contemporary American poet. Participants will read excerpts from a poet’s work together, analyze it, and discuss what significance it has in today’s society.
To supplement this program, the Racine Public Library’s internet website is providing a page with links pertaining to each author that include poetry, interviews and criticisms, among other resources.
This month we will focus on the works of Poet Ben Lerner and the event will be taking place on THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15TH from 7-9pm. Continue reading →
Writing prompts are excellent tools to use when you’ve hit a wall with your writing. The Kenosha Writers’ Group prompts are intentionally vague and open ended to give your thoughts room to flow.
Visit www.KenoshaWritersGroup.com for writing prompts aimed at inspiring you out of writer’s block. Last month’s prompt was “The Worst Possible Thing.” Contributors were Joe Barr, Angela Miller, Bill Schroeder and Rick McCluskey.
Life is pretty simple: You do some stuff. Most fails. Some works.
You do more of what works. If it works big, others quickly copy it. Then you do something else.
The trick is the doing something else.
Click the arrow to listen to “Baby Don’t You Know”
Jerome Hunter is a spiritual, talented man. When you look into his eyes you see a light of compassion. When you listen to him sing his songs, and play his music, he takes you somewhere between reality and dream; he brings you to a deep awareness impossible to hide from. His lyrics will comfort you, they will help diminish worry and bring joy to your life. His music will reverberate in your soul long after you first encounter his magic. He will inspire you in a gentle way. You will notice your body sway in perfect rhythm, as you sing along with him, getting to know him better. He is a man you will want to know.
Jerome Hunter grew up in a modest home in North Chicago, Illinois. He is married to Kerry Hunter, and is the father of four children, grandfather of ten. He was gifted to Beatrice and Robert Hunter on June 11, 1952. Together these fascinating parents raised eleven well-behaved children, instilling in them good morals and providing a home filled with artistic enrichment. He inherited the gift of blues that led him on his journey to become the fertile songwriter, singer and musician he is today. He is Timeless in the Wind.
Suzanne: These are amazing photos Jerry. Who took these, and where?
Jerry: James Fraher took them when I was a sit in model for professional Blues Players, like BB King - and Magic Slim, in Chicago. Magic Slim once joked that he liked my pictures so well he would use them instead of his own on his CD cover. I would sit in until they got there, he would set everything up, you know, the lighting, and that way he could take the perfect pictures of them when they got there. Being a photographer he noticed me. He said he chose me because when I was on stage I had so many different looks, like the way I held my guitar; he noticed how much passion I have for music. That’s how I got the job.
Christine Sikora, one of the original artist members and founders of Lemon Street Gallery opens her solo exhibit “Botany,” at the gallery through November 28, 2007. In a recent Kenosha Interview by Bill Robbins, Christine said,
“Maybe I love plants because they are related to the warmer seasons and to growth. It’s just that feeling you get when everything is growing and smells fresh – it’s life affirming.”
I got to preview the show at the opening reception and it is surely life affirming. Her plants and flowers are lively bright colors that bloom off the canvas and come to life giving her artwork personality and animation. I’m sure I heard one of them say “feed me”. Continue reading →
Andrea Algiers, a recent MIAD graduate, is currently exhibiting her newest collection of photographs at 716: Fine Art. The title of her exhibit is “Far Flung” and it will be on display until November 18th, 2007 at the gallery. Andrea has this to say about her exhibit:
“Everyday I observe the vastness of my surroundings along with how minimal it can be. I have this constant awareness of the small role I play in the immense space that surrounds me. My connection with the space is based on the understanding I have of it, or lack there of.
These photographs represent the search to find my relationship with this space. It is a space that I strive to understand. I break down my environment to its most minimal form, in order to show its relationship to me and to its superior plane.”
Recently, I had the opportunity to ask Andrea some questions about her life as an artist.
Dave: What first inspired your interest in photography? What continues to inspire you? Continue reading →
Local residents, Matt Romano and Brent Allen Caputo, Direct and Produce a film written by 18 year old Matt Romano.
“Everyone has demons inside, but it’s how they control them and what they do with them that will make a difference on everyone’s lives in this little town.”
The film “Haunted” was once a simple story written on paper. A year and a half later it has become the talk of the town. “Haunted” is backed by over 20 years of combined experience amongst the cast and crew who have worked on major projects throughout the entertainment industry.
R-Aftermath Productions is handling the majority of the production for “Haunted”.
The story of “Haunted” begins with a homicide in 1948. A psychotic son named Hanson (Brent Allen Caputo, Prison Break and E.R.) murdered his family and killed himself. Presently, a young man by the name of Greg (Matt Romano, Outdoor Wild and Quake) is raising his little sister Samantha (Diana Penglase of Green Bay, Wi) and plans to visit the last of their family.
En route, Greg and Samantha find themselves in the midst of a terrible car accident. Luckily everyone is ok, but the twists and turns that occur will reveal a legend that has kept this little town in a decade of darkness.
Milwaukee area actors play main characters. Kyle Berg portrays Vince (Hanson’s Brother) and Michael Gull plays the reporter by the name of Luke Arton. Joshua Hall is appearing as Raven. From the Chicago area Actors are Grace McPhillips is Mary, Leah Rose plays the character Grace, Kayla Malec plays Elizabeth and Mike White plays the banker.
Laugh out loud! It’s time for another Night of Comedy and Improv at the Rhode Center for the Arts! Mark your calendars for Saturday, November 10th at 7 p.m.
The ladies of BroadMinded are ready to flex their funny bones as members of the gentler sex. Ah, they are just good-hearted girls from Milwaukee who like to have fun. Stacy Babl, Melissa Kingston, Anne Graff LaDisa and Megan McGee grace the Rhode stage with their smart and lively Sketch Comedy. Comic and emcee Jim Selovich will keep the evening moving merrily along. They will finish up the night with everyone joining together for some on-the-spot improv comedy that will have you rolling in the aisles.
Some come out and join us for one LIVE AND HILARIOUS night!
Maureen Cashin Bolog of Actor’s Craft and Jim Selovich are producing this fundraiser for the Rhode Center for the Arts, located at 514 56th Street. Tickets are affordably priced at $10 in advance and $12 at the door. Cash Bar and snack items will be available. Advanced tickets can be purchased at the Pollard Gallery, 518 56th Street (phone 262/657-PLAY), or at Larsen Mayer Pharmacy, 3535 30th Avenue. For more information at 262/705-0194.
TELL YOUR FRIENDS! What’s a fundraiser without friends and funds?
Contact: Maureen Cashin Bolog, Actor’s Craft
Business Cell: 262/705-0194
Through a collaboration between the 
Laugh out loud! It’s time for another Night of Comedy and Improv at the Rhode Center for the Arts! Mark your calendars for Saturday, November 10th at 7 p.m.
