Greater Milwaukee Men

Post-punk artist Adam Ant , creator of 80's hits like Goody Two Shoes, Stand And Deliver, and Desperate But Not Serious, was a favorite of mine as a teen back when I was a post-punk/new-waver myself, and with the release of his new album just released January 22, he has stepped up into full on hero status. Adam Ant, born Stuart Leslie Goddard, has been absent from the music scene for 17 years, but he had a reason. Adam Ant has had bipolar disorder most of his life, pretty much as long as he can remember, and he was deep in the effects of it for the past decades. As with many artists, we could have seen it. As he told the Telegraph in 2012: “If you look at the symptoms of bipolar disorder, in all seriousness, the actual alarm signals are practically my job description: promiscuity, spending money lavishly, and wearing weird clothes." Yeah don't we know a lot of people that could be assessed to. But he is back and just released a new album named  Adam Ant is T...

Since the beginning my concept for Greater Milwaukee Men was to be a beacon of goodness for men. I have used many words to express that, mostly by others much wiser than me such as in the Great Man's Code and the quotes I list there to support the four values of Enterprise, Decision, Compassion, and Sincerity. But with lots of great quotes floating around today, all from the mind and soul of Martin Luther King, Jr ., I saw one of his that puts to words my idea: "Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." That has been my goal from the beginning. To never dwell on the negative, to never give the dark emotions, the hate, a place, but rather to report on the light and love that all men have within them.

On our calendar of events, where we list only those that might appeal to the Well-Met Man, we like to classify events by their appeal to men via activities, causes, drinks, or food. If you get more than two its a home-run must go event, and we just added on for January 31.  88Nine Radio Milwaukee's Soundbites is a music and food pairing event returns on January 31, 2013. Soundbites will be at The Iron Horse Hotel ,  a Well-Met favorite ,  from 5:30pm to 10pm. Watch top Milwaukee chefs team up with 88Nine DJs to create a tasting menu that pairs food selections with a perfectly matched musical accompaniment including Milwaukee's own Paul Cebar, who will provide the evening's musical vibe as the SoundBites guest DJ. You sample Wisconsin's finest cheeses and craft beverages provided by Great Lakes Distillery, Milwaukee Brewing Company, Stone Creek Coffee and Wollersheim Winery. Enjoy sampling these perfect pairings of food & music as you graze through che...

Back in August of 2012 in my ' Can Change Change The World ' post I wrote about the idea of saving change received from purchases and also doing a 'round-up' of purchases as ways to come up with funds to donate to a cause you support. Well, for 2013 I am going to put my money where my mouth is and try it out myself in what I am call my  exact ¢ hange  program. On a monthly basis I will post what change I have saved and what the extra from my purchases is. This may seem tedious having to try to record all your purchases and the remainder, but there is an easy way to do this - by your accounts. Credit cards, bank accounts, all have ways to download your statements into a workbook format. Use the workbook function to separate the  decimals out and add them together and I will have the total round-up change amount. Besides saving money on my own for a charity to be decided yet, I am hoping that my experiences will inspire others and will help me come up with easy ways...

January 21, 2013 is an interesting date this year as the inauguration of President Obama's second term falls on the same day as the legal public holiday to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday which is Saturday the 19th. MLK believed in service to the community. “Everybody can be great ... because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace, a soul generated by love.” — Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

For the second year in a row, President Obama has declared January as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month . There are a lot of ways to support it, but when you are a guy there may be one that tops any other. Kevin Smith - creator of Jay & Silent Bob and many other man-friendly flicks and fanboy supreme of comic books - co-founded The Wayne Foundation  to spread awareness of CSEC (Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children) and building a rehabilitation facility for victims DMST (Domestic Minor Sexual Trafficking). Yes it is named to give a nod to Batman, and their logo even looks like the Gotham skyline with a certain hero's signal.

Master & Commander , makers of the aptly named Samaritan Jacket, is a new company that is participating in the growing Buy One Give One business and charity model. In this model a business commits to donating one of something for every one of a product that is sold. TOMS shoes may be the most familiar one to most where for every shoe sold they donate a shoe to - they also do glasses for sunglasses - but there are others and as we are aware we will keep an updated list on the Good & Services page. One such company I just discovered is Master & Commander. Founded in 2012 by Gustavo Sainz, their goal is to donate a garment for every one  purchased. Right now they just have one product - the Samaritan Jacket. It is a military style outdoor activity jacket inspired by the Special Operations Forces Protective Clothing Unit Level 5 jacket (PCU L5) - a staple for elite forces from Navy SEALS to Green Berets.

You probably have heard of Etsy by now, but probably from women, and never thought of it as a place to check out stuff for men. But oh, it is. You just have to know where and/or how to look. I recently found a vendor with a print perfect for the Well-Met man as well as another blog on typography with an exhibit of similar prints. If you don't know what Etsy is, it is a web site where people can buy and sell handmade or vintage items, art and supplies. While some of that can sound like a crafty chick's site, there is plant of stuff for men - they even have a Men's category to search by. Items for men handmade can mean items out of leather, and metal, and wood while vintage means, well, vintage - think Mad Men.

Today, New Year's Day, is a day when many of us will turn to aspirin to help us recover from a long, eventful changing of the calendar. But maybe we should turn to what may be a wonder drug not only this day, or others like it, but every day. It turns our Aspirin may be a 'Wonder Drug.' You may not know it, but aspirin (like many other medicines) is actually a very old, natural remedy. While modern science strives to make new synthetic pharmaceuticals, we continue to rediscover ancient, natural remedies work as well or better than those we concoct. For example, Native Americans used the  willow tree  as a medicine by chewing or boiling a tea from the willow's leaves or inner bark to relieve fever or other minor pain like toothaches, headaches, or arthritis. Sounds a lot like aspirin eh? Well, that is because the inner bark and leaves of many willows contains the medicinal extract, salicin, or salicylic acid (from  salix  the Latin for willow) recogni...