Culture

So I was just realizing that people mostly just know the story of what I went through and the songs that I wrote and everything after I left Wisconsin, from my Los Angeles move when I was 17 forward, working with Eminem and all that. That’s just not the core of who I am. So…

Writer Patti See of Lake Hallie takes us on a bar crawl to explore how Wisconsin’s humble taverns shaped our history and built community.

The late outsider artist Mary Nohl of Fox Point turned her home into her canvas. Known as the “Witch’s House,” her work has been at the center of controversy for decades. Now, her story is taking center stage with the play with music, “Maybe We’ll Fly.”

The Mark Hembree Band is well-known in Wisconsin’s bluegrass music scene. Its upright bass playing leader, Mark Hembree of Oconomowoc, has been playing music professionally for decades. He reflects on his early days with another bluegrass legend, Bill Monroe.

Film professor Jocelyn Szczepaniak-Gillece brings her deep knowledge of horror movies to the page with “Poltergeist,” an apocalyptic horror novel set in a melting Arctic.

The blackcurrant, once federally banned and now the Flavor of the Year, is having a moment. Staffers of the Savanna Institute visited “The Larry Meiller Show” to talk about the fruit’s comeback.

In “Song Sung Blue,” Hugh Jackman and Kate Hudson play Lightning & Thunder, a legendary Neil Diamond tribute band from Milwaukee with a remarkable love story. Real-life Claire “Thunder” Sardina joined WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” to talk about what it’s like to see her story told on the big screen.

The COVID-19 pandemic drove Scott Theis and his teenage son Ayden to take a leap and form the band Power Take Off.

Nothing can ruin a holiday get-together like an unexpected and expensive trip to the emergency veterinarian. Dr. Sam Bilko visited “The Larry Meiller Show” to talk about how to keep the holidays merry and bright for us and our canine companions.

“A Little Princes,” written by Francis Hodgson Burnett, airs through Dec. 29 on WPR’s “Chapter A Day.”