{image1} What do you do when your well-known Milwaukee band calls it quits (or half of it decides to peruse architecture in Boston)? If you're Gregory Borden, former frontman for the once-rockin' Menlo and one-half of the more poppy duo No Kiss For New Years, you collect your things and take a drive down a different avenue of creativity. For now, he has traded in his guitar for an Apple and started his own graphic design business, called Clevur Design.
That's not to say Borden has completely abandoned the local rock scene; he's merely covering it from a different angle. As art director, much of his work includes album art and promotional material to help get other Milwaukee bands some recognition. Of course, Clevur Design is not just for budding local bands, it's for everyone. His range of capabilities includes just about everything from Web sites to stickers to logos, and the price tag is as nice to look at as the final product. "I incorporate the customer's ideas with my own, and I have fun with it." Interested in getting acquainted with your artsy side? His site is clevurdesign.com.
Also from the art world comes an invitation to this year's Open Mic: Letters event, taking place on Thursday, Dec. 9 at Circle A. Hosted by Milwaukee artist Renato Umali, this pubic expression of private correspondence is a unique journey into the cesspool of emotions and reactions we experience upon receiving and reading a letter. Umali invites guests to bring a letter, an e-mail, a text message or any form of personally addressed communication to Circle A to read out loud.
Similar to the driving curiosity that fuels the pages of Found Magazine, the entertainment value of this type of art lies within its accessible and uncompromised reality. If you didn't make it to the Found party in October, this may be your chance to see the type of thing you've been missing. If the awkward intimacy of others isn't something you want to experience first hand, then check out Found magazine online at foundmagazine.com. For those of you feeling a bit saucy, the newest edition, Dirty Found, is a collection of everyone else's misplaced photos and letters, with a naughtier twist. Check it out at dirtyfound.com.
This week the wonderful world of wine presents Milwaukee with a couple tasting options, both presented by the New World Wine Co. The Silky, Sexy & Sparkling Wine Tasting at Turner Hall Ballroom on Dec. 9 features over 100 tasty wines from around the world. The event is from 6 to 9 p.m. Visit newworldwineco.com for more info. Then on Friday, Dec. 10, head to New World Wine Co. on Ogden Avenue from 4 to 9 p.m. for the Down Under Tasting of Australian Wines. It's free!
OnMilwaukee.com staff writer Julie Lawrence grew up in Wauwatosa and has lived her whole life in the Milwaukee area.
As any “word nerd” can attest, you never know when inspiration will strike, so from a very early age Julie has rarely been seen sans pen and little notebook. At the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee it seemed only natural that she major in journalism. When OnMilwaukee.com offered her an avenue to combine her writing and the city she knows and loves in late 2004, she knew it was meant to be. Around the office, she answers to a plethora of nicknames, including “Lar,” (short for “Larry,” which is short for “Lawrence”) as well as the mysteriously-sourced “Bill Murray.”
