Wisconsin Union Theater Season Continues With Virtual Events Featuring Jazz Pianist Christian Sands and Classical Pianist Jeremy Denk

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Nov. 20, 2020

Contact Information:
Shauna Breneman, Communications Director
Email: sbreneman@wisc.edu

WISCONSIN UNION THEATER SEASON CONTINUES WITH VIRTUAL EVENTS FEATURING JAZZ PIANIST CHRISTIAN SANDS AND CLASSICAL PIANIST JEREMY DENK

MADISON –  The Wisconsin Union Theater’s fall virtual events will continue with a live performance by the Christian Sands Trio on Dec. 3 at 8 p.m. CDT, which will be preceded by a live Q&A at 7:30 p.m. CDT, and a performance by pianist Jeremy Denk on Dec. 11 at 7:30 p.m. CDT, which will be preceded by a live Q&A at 7 p.m. CDT.

At the age of 31, Sands has already established himself as one of the most in-demand jazz pianists in the world and has been hailed as the leading pianist of his generation. He began learning piano at the age of 3, but his journey began with learning classical music.

He found his way to jazz piano at 7 years old after feeling constricted by the specificity his teacher prescribed for how each classical piece was to be played. His parents supported his journey and ensured music often filled the Sands household, including music from Grover Washington Jr., Miles Davis and Shirley Caesar, all of which influenced Sands’s music.

Sands recently released an album, called “Be Water,” which took inspiration from water’s peaceful yet powerful qualities. “Be Water” includes 10 pieces, nine of which Sands wrote, that emulate the many forms that water can take, from a sun-bathed, tranquil lake to a fierce thunderstorm.

“Christian was a jazz piano prodigy playing with the greats like Billy Taylor and Oscar Peterson and is shaping up to be one of the ‘greats’ himself,” Wisconsin Union Theater Director Elizabeth Snodgrass said.

Customers that still have previously purchased tickets for the Christians Sands performances that were scheduled for April 9 or April 10 can use the tickets for the Dec. 3 performance.

Denk’s performance, which is part of the Theater’s 101st Annual Concert Series, will include Robert Schumann’s “Papillons, Op. 2,” Clara Schumann’s “Romances, Op. 21,” Missy Mazzoli’s “Bolts of Loving Thunder,” and Johannes Brahms’s “Four Pieces for Piano, Op. 119.”

In the United States, Denk has performed with the Chicago Symphony, New York Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, San Francisco Symphony and Cleveland Orchestra and frequently performs at Carnegie Hall. Internationally, he has toured with the world-famous Academy of St Martin in the Fields as well as at the Royal Albert Hall as part of the BBC Proms. Among his many accomplishments, Denk won a MacArthur Genius Fellowship and the Avery Fisher Prize.

Denk’s talents include writing about music. Some of his stories about music have been featured on the front page of the New York Times Book Review as well as in The New Yorker, The New Republic and The Guardian. His passion for composing both music and writing compositions is evident in his music-based blog “Think Denk,” which dates back to 2005.

“Jeremy Denk is one of the greatest pianists of our generation,” Snodgross said. “While many pianists specialize in a particular period or composer, Jeremy is a musical omnivore whose wide-ranging interests span centuries and styles, and he is exceptional at playing all of them. As The New York Times said, he is ‘a pianist you want to hear no matter what he performs.’”

For more than 75 years, the Wisconsin Union Theater has served as a cultural center for community members and visitors.

The Wisconsin Union Theater team presents its season in collaboration with the student-led Wisconsin Union Directorate (WUD) Performing Arts Committee, which, along with 10 other WUD committees and six clubs, promotes and runs more than 1,000 Wisconsin Union events each year.

The Theater team strives for all of its spaces to be accessible, and those that need accommodations can reach out to the Wisconsin Union Theater team at wisconsinuniontheater@union.wisc.edu.

This year, the Wisconsin Union Theater team committed to taking action in standing against racial inequities. The team is working to be activists; use the arts to create social justice; remember that students are future leaders and must be part of the change; use its voices to influence leadership and be firm in its resolve; and make space, step back, and learn how to give up undeserved or unnecessary power and privilege. For a full statement on the Theater’s stance and efforts, click here.

To purchase tickets to Sands’s performance, visit union.wisc.edu/events-and-activities/event-calendar/event/christian-sands-trio. To purchase tickets to Denk’s performance, visit union.wisc.edu/events-and-activities/event-calendar/event/jeremy-denk.

-###-

About the Wisconsin Union Theater

For more than 75 years, the Wisconsin Union Theater has served as a center for cultural activity in the heart of the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. The Theater hosts performances in multiple locations, including Memorial Union, and has an expansive history of remarkable performances. The Wisconsin Union Theater is part of the Wisconsin Union, a membership organization that blends study and leisure to create unique out-of-classroom opportunities. Learn more about the Theater: union.wisc.edu/wisconsin-union-theater.

About the Wisconsin Union Directorate Performing Arts Committee

The Wisconsin Union Directorate Performing Arts Committee plans and promotes events for the historic Wisconsin Union Theater stages. The student-led committee programs a variety of events to provide a diverse and cultural experience for students, faculty, alumni, community members and visitors. Learn more: union.wisc.edu/get-involved/wud/performing-arts.

To read this release online, visit union.wisc.edu/december-theater.

Stoughton Semi-Truck Trailer Sales Orders Surge in Q4

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Ron Jake
Stoughton Trailers
608.877.8601
rjake@stoughtontrailers.com

Amy Mertz
Brick Road PR
608.220.9815
amy@brickroad-pr.com

Semi-Truck Trailer Orders Surge in Q4
Stoughton Trailers Raises Base Pay to Attract New Employees

STOUGHTON, Wis. (November 19, 2020) — While many businesses unfortunately continue to struggle amid the COVID-19 pandemic, others — including Stoughton Trailers, LLC — are experiencing tremendous sales growth and boosting their staffing.

Sales secured through several new dealers contributed to the fourth quarter’s dramatically increased order volume, as well as new fleet customers and existing customers across all markets. The majority of semi-trailers sold were dry vans, designed to hold palletized, boxed or loose freight.

“Despite the unpredictability we saw in the spring and early summer due to COVID-19, our business and industry have swiftly recovered and even thrived,” said Stoughton Trailers Chief Commercial Officer Jeremy Sanders. “The fact that we’re experiencing such a large order volume increase for van trailers reinforces the health and resilience of our company, and the trust customers have in our brand.”

Trailer sales declined from April to July as fleet customers became apprehensive about purchasing equipment in the first several months of the pandemic. However, orders began to rebound in August and have steadily grown from there, Sanders said. “Customers have since gained confidence that the freight business will remain strong and are investing in trailers as well as utilizing our Stoughton Lease rental trailer fleet,” he said.

A second factor resulting in greater order volume is the shift of more freight toward online order delivery. The industry requires more trailers to manage the logistical challenges of increased parcel shipments.

The sharp order increase will keep trailer builders and other staff steadily busy through 2021, Sanders said. To attract new employees, Stoughton Trailers increased its hourly base pay for several important entry-level and skilled positions: assemblers, $16; machine operators, $17; and welders, $18.25. The company continues its aggressive recruiting effort that began in September, with the hopes of hiring several hundred workers in the coming months. Candidates may visit stojobs.com for a complete list of employment opportunities.

About Stoughton Trailers

Stoughton Trailers is a top 10 international supplier of semi-truck trailers. The Wisconsin-based, family-owned company designs, manufactures and markets a wide range of dependable semi-truck trailers used for over-the-road trucking, as well as agricultural trailers and other specialty transportation equipment. It provides one-stop build, finance, rental and fleet management solutions through world-class responsiveness and design value. For more information, visit StoughtonTrailers.com.

MSCR Announces Friends of MSCR Auction

November 10, 2020

For Immediate Release

Contact: Nicole Graper at ngraper@madison.k12.wi.us

MSCR Announces Friends of MSCR Auction
Proceeds support MSCR Programs

Since 2013, the Friends of MSCR has gifted $430,000 to MSCR. These funds support new program initiatives and much needed equipment including outdoor and environmental education, adapted recreation and inclusion services, Latino community outreach, afterschool clubs and neighborhood center programming, to better serve the Madison community.

Please join MSCR and bid on fabulous items in the 2020 Online Auction! Items include pet care, gift baskets, entertainment, spa services, sports memorabilia and much more.

“We are grateful to the Friends of MSCR for their support of recreation programming in the Madison community. Thank you to the generous donors and bidders who make this online auction possible. Every bid and donation help ensure access to high quality affordable recreation and enrichment for our community members,” described Janet Dyer, MSCR Executive Director.

This year’s Online Auction is supported by the following generous sponsors:
Community Believers – $1,000+

• Oak Park Place
• Park Bank
• Anne & Phillip Duffy, in memory of Robert Parenteau

Recreation Enthusiasts – $500

• Slow Roll Cycles

Afterschool Advocate – $300

• Greenleaf Media
• QTI Group
• Stroud, Willink, & Howard LLC

Check out 32auctions.com/mscr2020 to view all of the items. The auction takes place through November 20.

MSCR offers many recreation programs for all ages that are accessible and affordable.  Fee assistance is available. Please call 608-204-3000 or visit mscr.org for more information.  MSCR is Madison’s public recreation department serving the community since 1926.

# # #

LÜM: The Music Modernization Act is Stifling Innovation in the Music Industry

By Max Fergus, LÜM CEO

We were told when we started our company that the institutions within the music industry were always going to be against us. In fact, many people told us these institutions would do everything in their power to curb innovation to make sure the money stayed where it always has – in the pockets of the major labels and the major music streaming services.

Finally, after 10 years of archaic practices in the music streaming industry, which widened the financial gap between the one percent of the music industry stakeholders and the rest of the starving artists, the Music Modernization Act (“MMA”) was created. At its most basic level, the goal was to take the onus off of major streaming platforms to track and remit royalties generated from these major platforms into the pockets of the right artists/labels in a more timely fashion through a new government-subsidized organization known as the Mechanical Licensing Collective (“MLC”).

Sounds great, right? Wrong. This will set back the music industry for years to come.

Imagine starting a process to MODERNIZE MUSIC and how music is monetized for all artists, yet the only stakeholders the MLC brought in to discuss how the MMA and the MLC would operate are the major streaming platforms and major labels themselves.So, what did they do? They structured the MLC in a way that will save these major corporations millions of dollars while completely neglecting the reason why the law was written in the first place – to oversee the music streaming platforms that have consistently, purposefully and negligently not paid the creators – whose content drives their service – their fair share in a transparent and efficient way.

The MMA was designed to regulate and modernize the practices of “royalty-bearing” music streaming services like Spotify, YouTube, and Apple. Next year, the MLC will open its doors and, as part of its first year of operations, it requires the companies included within the MLC to help pay for “start-up fees.” Companies outside of the largest music streaming companies, such as smaller DSPs and smaller royalty-bearing music streaming platforms, must also share unproportionally in these expenses. Essentially, the MLC and the largest streaming platforms want smaller services to pay more than their fair share for the MLC to oversee and audit the largest players in the music streaming industry…even those services who operate to fix the same problems as the new entity itself.

It gets worse.

Is the MLC Putting Smaller Streaming Platforms Out of Business?

LÜM was created to serve a similar foundational mission to these entities – to help guide an industry that needs to better support its creators through innovation. Because of that, we made a choice to not be a part of the traditional recorded music industry. We pay NO royalties and instead have proven that there is a better future. Instead of royalties, LÜM created the first virtual gifting system in a music discovery platform that allows fans to help directly support their favorite independent artists. The result?

Artists on LÜM earn an average of ~6x more per stream than every single other music streaming platform in the U.S.

Just like so many other companies that are trying to advance the music industry, LÜM is now facing an uphill battle against an organization (MLC) that was developed in conjunction with the same stakeholders who put the music industry in this position in the first place. The fees LÜM and other innovative companies are facing, to help fund the MLC, are substantial. Every new innovative company will face them and will provide a financial hurdle that will leave the majority of current and future innovative music startups dead in the water. No new entrants and no new competition mean the industry will stay exactly where it has for the last 15 years – putting money in the pockets of the rich and neglecting those that are trying to change the industry for the better.

We cannot let this happen. Innovation must continue or we face a scary reality for the music industry and the majority of artists and innovators that have been neglected by it.

Wisconsin Union: Thanksgiving To Go Returns With Multiple Menu Options, Traditional Favorites

Nov. 6, 2020
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE          

Contact Information:
Shauna Breneman, Wisconsin Union
Email: sbreneman@wisc.edu

THANKSGIVING TO GO RETURNS WITH MULTIPLE MENU OPTIONS, TRADITIONAL FAVORITES

Wisconsin Union to offer affordable, gourmet, pick-up Thanksgiving meals

MADISON — The Wisconsin Union team has made affordable, gourmet Thanksgiving To Go meals available for purchase this year, with ordering available now through Nov. 20 and pick-up on Nov. 25.

This year’s menu options include bourbon roasted turkey; gingersnap mustard glazed ham; sage stuffing; mashed sweet potatoes with marshmallows; housemade cranberry orange relish; and pumpkin, pecan or fudge bottom pie. Customers can purchase these items à la carte or as a personal-size or family-size meal.

Customers can also order à la carte items or a personal-size meal from a vegetarian menu that includes creamy butternut squash lasagna; herbed green beans; buttered, dill rainbow carrots; housemade cranberry orange relish; a fresh dinner roll with butter; and a slice of pumpkin, pecan or fudge bottom pie.

The Wisconsin Union team will provide the meals cooked, chilled and packed in reheatable containers. The multiple course individual-size meal starts at $14 per person, and the family-size meal starts at $145 for a family of six. The Wisconsin Union is offering University of Wisconsin-Madison students that purchase with a Wiscard a discounted individual-size meal for $10.

This year, the Wisconsin Union team in partnership with the Dean of Students Office will provide UW-Madison students in need with a free individual-size meal. Customers can add a donation to their orders at checkout to help provide a meal to a student in need. Students in need of a free meal can complete the meal request form here.

This year presented unique challenges with modified operations in light of COVID-19, but the Wisconsin Union team worked together to make Thanksgiving To Go, a years-long tradition of the Wisconsin Union, possible.

“Thanksgiving To Go takes so much stress out of Thanksgiving,” said Carl Korz, associate director of dining and hospitality at the Wisconsin Union. “Instead of spending hours planning and cooking, with Thanksgiving To Go, customers can have a gourmet, affordable meal that helps them maximize time with the people they care about. We also want to ensure those students that need to stay on campus during November break have a delicious, cost effective meal option.”

Customers can pick up their Thanksgiving To Go orders on Nov. 25 in Tripp Commons in Memorial Union or curbside at the west entrance to Memorial Union on North Park Street. While ordering, customers will select a 30-minute period during which they will pick up their orders.

Customers must wear a mask or another form of face covering for curbside and in-person pick-up, and those students that order with a Wiscard must bring their Wiscards to pay for the meal on-site.

Those interested in learning more or ordering Thanksgiving To Go may visit union.wisc.edu/thanksgiving.

-###-

About the Wisconsin Union

The Wisconsin Union enhances the lives of members and visitors through recreational, cultural, educational and social opportunities. Formed in 1907, the Wisconsin Union is a membership organization that blends study and leisure to create unique out-of-classroom opportunities. Learn more about the Union and its tradition of providing experiences for a lifetime: union.wisc.edu.

To read this release online, visit union.wisc.edu/about/news/thanksgiving-2020.