Evan Musil

1 month ago | milwaukeemag.com | Evan Musil

As an esteemed poet and a retired professor of philosophy at UW-Milwaukee, John Koethe kept those two worlds separate. “I used to make a point of saying I don’t write philosophical poems,” he says. That hard line dissipates in his new anthology, Cemeteries and Galaxies. There are poems about philosophy, mathematics, astrophysics and other obsessions he’s held during his decades-long career.

2 months ago | milwaukeemag.com | Evan Musil

1. Every Brilliant ThingTHROUGH MARCH 16 | MILWAUKEE CHAMBER THEATRE What makes life worth living? Ice cream, water fights, perhaps. A little boy writes these things down for his mom living with depression, and the list grows more profound and life-affirming as he gets older and as the audience makes its own suggestions. 2. 10th Annual DestashMARCH 2 | THE BAVARIAN BIERHAUS  Over 100 local artists and makers sell their leftover and repurposed wares at discounted prices at this annual market.

2 months ago | milwaukeemag.com | Evan Musil

“Any good music is good music,” Byron Stripling says. He learned that growing up in the ’60s – his father was a classical singer who also played lots of jazz, R&B and funk records at home. Stripling himself studied classical trumpet before dropping out to play with jazz greats like Lionel Hampton. In the years since, Stripling has emerged as the country’s premier classical pops conductor. He sees the role as a way to invite new people into the classical world.

Feb 14, 2025 | milwaukeemag.com | Evan Musil

Maybe you’ve seen him online. Baltimore knitter Sam Barsky makes sweaters of landmarks, occasions and more, and posts viral selfies wearing them. That’s how John Michael Kohler Arts Center curator Laura Bickford found him. “[The sweaters] invite other people to think about the places they go differently,” she says. The center’s new exhibition this month shows 26 of Barsky’s knitted creations, including the London’s Tower Bridge, New York and the Great Lakes.

Feb 13, 2025 | milwaukeemag.com | Evan Musil

“There are a lot of guys that fix and repair clocks, but not a lot of them make clocks.” Bill Galinksy of Duplainville Clock Co. in Waukesha makes a lot of clocks – from heavy stainless-steel towers to ornate hand-carved cuckoos. The 65-year-old also repairs well over 300 clocks a year, but it’s his own elaborate creations that have earned him accolades over the years for engineering and case design. His process is deceivingly simple: he thinks of a design, and then he makes it.