Fun in Milwaukee

After teaching a day-long festival in Muskego, WI, we were surprised to pull into our hotel in another Milwaukee suburb and find a waterpark attached to the place! Also of note were the non-stop wedding receptions and proms that were going on all weekend long. Adam, our Viceroy of Fun (very official title), saw that the Brewers were playing the St. Louis Cardinals Friday, so a few of us headed into town, had dinner with some locals at a great sports bar--the fish and chips was half an entire walleye--and walked to the amazing Miller Park for what turned out to be a captivating bottom of the ninth-bases loaded skin of teeth victory for the Brewers! Jones had a birthday, and during the trip some of us managed to go see Iron Man, too. We always try to have fun on tour.

Tim Takach wins Cantus Idol 2008!

Tim Takach was crowned the first ever Cantus Idol winner on Tuesday night.


Trattoria Da Vinci's was packed to capacity, the audience had stomachs filled with food and ears filled with singing. The initial round featured 8 Cantus singers delighting the crowd with a wide array of songs. The voting was tight, but Dashon, Aaron, Eric and Tim moved on to the second round.

The second round featured songs as diverse as "The Way We Were" by Barbra Striesand to "Part of Your World" from The Little Mermaid. The audience chose Dashon and Tim to move to the finals.

Being friends, neither Tim nor Dashon wanted to have either lose, but in a competition setting, there could be only one winner - Tim took the prize with an inspired performance of James Taylor's "Fire and Rain."

The evening was full of fun, laughter, tasty food and outstanding music. One audience member proclaimed: "Cantus Idol puts the 'fun' back in fundraiser!" Amid all the festivities was a great result - over $2800 was raised for Cantus!


This event will definitely be repeated next year, only getting bigger and better! Watch next spring for Cantus Idol 2009! Special thanks to our celebrity judges: John DeHaan, Brian Newhouse, and Mindy Ratner.