Days 9-10: Milwaukee

Day 9: Milwaukee


St. Louis is closer to Minneapolis than Milwaukee is. Bud Selig

Our local tour guide knows Buddy Selig…and feels for the guy, he has such a tough job. He is a former owner working with his old compatriots to make those tough independent decisions. Oh, and his former co-owners (well, he’s sort of still an owner since his daughter runs the Brewers) have decided to reward Buddy as the top salaried commissioner at around $18 mil/year. Which means he probably makes more than most owners (if it is even close to true that many of the teams are losing money, which THB doubts), and way more than most players.

And, tomorrow we visit Bud’s house to see his art collection. Now THB is glad he is bringing in the big bucks, we should see some mighty fine art!

Today, a visit to the fitness center, breakfast in the hotel, cereal and fruit, $15. Then to Racine for the day: our first stop is at what might be the best small museum in the country, RAM. Now, THB is a bit biased because this museum has a huge craft collection, including art jewelry, and displays it well. We see work by several artists we own: Karen Koblitz, Patty Lechman, Maria DeSilva, Cynthia Toops, and several we wished we owned (particularly a huge Richard Shaw piece).

Around the corner for lunch at Shogun, one of those teppan counter places with the chefs that do weird juggling with spatulas and long forks and knives and eggs. Steak and shrimp for THB, DB has the shrimp and chicken combo, and somehow the chef at our grill figures out that THB is the guy that gets any leftovers. Hot tea, rice, veggies, soup, and a great scoop of ginger ice cream, included in the tour.

After lunch, more Frank Lloyd Wright (he’s very big in this area of the country): we visit a house designed for the Johnson family of Johnson Wax fame, Wingspread, which has all the classic FLW attributes: low ceilings, big open rooms, weird kitchens and small bedrooms with no closets, and some shaky structural touches. And, here, a lot of Canadian Geese crapping all over everywhere. And, temps are in the low 40s to high 30s, meaning the outside tour of the grounds is done mostly from THB’s seat on the bus.

Next up: a tour of the FLW buildings and a Norman Foster building on the Johnson Wax Corporation campus. For those of you that follow this kind of stuff, Johnson is a direct competitor to Clorox, where DB did many a year of consulting. Tour is good, one of the FLW buildings is a no-go zone because of lack of fire hazard exits, the Foster building is another antiseptic and well done rotunda (we have been in several Foster buildings recently, including the mother of them all. the new terminal in the Beijing airport).

Going away dinner in the restaurant in the hotel: chopped salad, steak and salmon, crème brulee (way too soupy) and carrot cake with a huge glop of icing on top. Included


Day 10: Milwaukee to Emeryville

He’s fully cocked in a pissed off position. Katie from the trip

Pics: The Selig collection and the Calatrava-designed Milwaukee Museum (it is really an extension, albeit a very unusual one) and work from the Museum

Book Review:: A Foreigner Carrying In the Crook of his Arm a Tiny Bomb, Amitava Kumar, Kindle Edition. THB started this book just before we took off on our trip, and finished it on the plane flight home. Timely, given the bin Laden assassination. A round up of how events post and pre-9/11 have impacted civil rights here and abroad. Nothing much new if you follow most of these scenarios, damn scary if you get caught up in the Homeland Security paranoia-will-it-ever-end news. In addition, Kumar focuses on the way art and culture are absorbing the impact, a nice overlap with an art trip.

Another visit to the fitness center and cereal in hotel café, $15. First up: a visit to Bud and Sue Selig’s house in a nice neighborhood outside of downtown by around 20 minutes.

Right away, THB realizes that this is going to be a good visit, there’s a Butterfield horse in the backyard. And two Jim Dine hearts, perfectly placed. And, just inside the front door, Bud is there to greet us! He’s off to work (he has an office in Milwaukee and another in NY; his wife spends a lot of the winter in Arizona, so something tells THB that Bud knows which teams to visit during the spring!).

As Bud departs, in comes the director of the Milwaukee Museum (which we are to visit later today). He does an excellent job telling us about the Seligs’ collection, and it becomes apparent that Sue and Bud have focused on contemporary art (post 1945), with many terrific pieces by well-known artists that are not necessarily the iconic work by each artist. Sure makes it more interesting to explore the collection and find out who did which piece.

And, THB gets to be the commissioner of major league baseball….for 5 seconds, sitting in the commissioner’s chair (see pic). Many rules are changed during these 5 seconds, including the following: World Series games on weekends must be played during the day; the Pirates are guaranteed a winning season; the Cubs are guaranteed a world series championship; THB’s seat at any game must be cushioned.

Back to downtown Milwaukee where we visit Barbara Kohl-Spiro’s condo (actually two condos combined, and with two kitchens!). Barbara is a local artist that was also our tour guide for this part of the trip. Many of her pieces are on the walls, and it looks like she sold a couple to members of the tour…nice! She is across the street from the Calatrava designed art museum, an easy stroll. The good news: it is brilliantly clear today and in the mid-50s, a great weather day by our current standards.

Lunch in the café: chicken sandwiches, cookies, Arnold Palmers, included. The café is at the edge of the lake, sort of like eating in the prow of the ship. From there we meet up with guy who is super knowledgeable about the art, including the FLW exhibition. THB skips hearing more about Wright, most of the stuff on display are models and drawings, in dim light.

The rest of the museum contains some nice work, including a huge Beth Lipman work (we visited her studio near Kohler, it’s great to see a major piece in a large setting). And, this is one exotic museum, designed by Calatrava (so there is even a Calatrava bridge, he’s done a ton of them including ones we’ve seen in Bilbao and Buenos Aires). The outside has a set of wings that flap open and close every day when the wind isn’t blowing more than 30 mph. That means we have not seen the wings open at all the first three days. Today, fortunately, it is cool and clear and not windy and the wings are open. Quite a sight, worth a detour (of more than 3 days? Not sure…).

Travel alert: when in the airport and going through the full scan, a TSA guy puts my wallet in one of our suitcases (can’t take it into the full scan thingee) and after getting scanned and then trying to reassemble everything, THB notices his wallet is missing. Much searching and little sympathy from the TSA crew, the wallet is found in a side pocket of THB’s suitcase. Arghhhhhhhhh…isn’t the guy dead now, can we go back to keeping our liquids in the bags and the shoes on our feet?


Now in Phoenix, and we unexpectedly have to deboard our through flight and transfer to another flight. Such fun….make it back by 10, just in time to hear the A’s have won again on a minimum of hits and runs.