The 2010 Eau Claire Figure Skating Competition will feature more than 500 skaters competing in free skating, short program, compulsory moves, jumps, spins and artistic skating. It includes Championship events in the Intermediate division. Medals for 1st-5th given in all events. Sunday's competition features Synchronized Team Skating, a contender to become a new Olympic event. (Sat/8am-7pm/free; Sun/9am-12:30pm/$2; 2009 photos)

RAWK: Ronald Raygun + Canyons of Static + The Heart Pills | Ronald Raygun is Eau Claire's original post rock pioneers and they are back for revenge. West Bend's Canyons of Static deliver ambient and epic sentimental rock influenced by Brian Eno, Bowie, and Joy Division. New Album now available. The Heart Pills will be kicking things off at ten with their brand of Campfire-Tin-Can-Folk-Punk. (Bottle N' Barrel; Sat/10pm/free)

MUSIC/MAGIC: ‘Sorcery and Romance’ Opening Reception | The Chippewa Valley Symphony brings back its remarkable, annual exhibit of area art students reworking classically great compositions to the Arts Center Gallery. This year, Eau Claire's elementary schools interpret Paul Dukas' Sorcerer's Apprentice into visual art. Refreshments will be served. (State Theatre; Sat/6pm/free)

TALK: Michael Perry "Fundamental Change: From True Believer to Fuddled Agnostic" | Drawing on readings from his books and other writing, author and humorist Michael Perry will discuss his being raised in an obscure fundamentalist Christian sect, how he arrived at his current agnosticism, and how handing your six-year-old a copy of Being and Nothingness is officially insufficient parenting. (UU Congregation; Sun/10am/free)

Saturday: See it all. Sunday: As well.

I am an H1N1 survivor. This fall I missed a few days of school, curled up at home feeling like a piece of achy bacon slowly and painfully frying, but recovered fully within a week or two.  You all probably know someone like me and think, “Oh, so-and-so had the virus and is just fine; I’m sure I will be too.”

So far, an estimated 30 percent of Wisconsin residents have already been infected by the incredibly contagious H1N1 virus, and current rates of vaccination are between 17 and 20 percent in Eau Claire, Dunn, and Chippewa Counties.  That leaves half of the general population still susceptible to getting sick in the expected next wave of the flu outbreak.

I’m picturing the zombie apocalypse while I write this, and though I’ll admit H1N1 is not quite that bad, it’s certainly not something you want to have.  Common symptoms include cough, sore throat, fever, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue, among other nasty things. 

These sound uncomfortable but manageable, right?

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This was the 31st year of Decadent Cabaret, but my first time to attend. The show bills itself as "A tradition of fishnet stockings and notoriously memorable musical performances", to which I would agree on both counts. It is close to musical overload, eleven bands in one long night. And, there were two other nights I didn't attend. It was a variety of music, starting more mellow early in the evening and spanning to blasting, roaring heavy metal by the end. What made it personally very cool for me, was not only my first experience at the Decadent Cabaret, but also, with the exception of Excellent Adventure, it was all new bands to me.

We arrived a touch late. The Wife had misplaced THE fishnet stockings. You know the ones. They were the fishnet stockings that tied the whole outfit together. Not THOSE fishnet stockings, or even THE OTHER fishnet stockings. She had to have THE fishnet stockings, which were finally found about the time we should have been standing in the audience. They had fallen in behind the dresser drawer. We walked in just at the end of Excellent Adventure.

Our first full band was Meridene, who played a fantastic, too short, one song, Meat Loaf set of I Would Do Anything For Love. Note perfect, vocally perfect, sadly lead singer Trevor even looked a little like Meat Loaf, but if you can get by that point, they were great. Meridene is on my must see again list.

• Check out the rest of the Decadent review (including some video) over at the Freaks & Geeks blog, originating from somewhere in Chippewa Falls, Wis.
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A Swindler Abroad
Eau Claire Weekly Telegram | March 8, 1904

Chippewa Falls- The Independent says: C.R. Natt of Menomonie who was in the city recently, said that he believed that a man is operating in Dunn and Chippewa counties is a fraud and is heading north. He dresses in the garb of a minister, and claims to be a state agent of the “National Helping Club,” alleged to be a society of people all over the United States who are banded together for the purpose of extending financial help to people placed in need by great catastrophes. His particular stunt is the solicitation of funds for the Baltimore fire sufferers, when as far as known, no appeal for relief has yet been made in behalf of the stricken city. He claims to be a clergyman from Tomah, Wis. This supposed fakir is a smooth faced man of medium build, fair complexion and has a habit of squinting one eye when he talks.

Chad’s Take – Another Slow News Week
You can breathe a sign of relief this week as I was unable to dig up any reports of UFOs, odd deaths, mysterious creatures, or haunted places filling the pages of the local papers. However I did discover this fun little story of a swindler afoot in the Chippewa Valley. Now swindlers were not uncommon in the area as fake psychics, snake oil salesmen, pickpockets, and other scammers regularly made the headlines of our papers. However, this gentleman created a unique, albeit not convincing, scam to separate residents from their money. I can only imagine that if this guy was alive a few weeks ago he would have certainly tried to capitalize on the Haiti disaster. And as a general rule of thumb you may want to avoid any traveling men who squint one eye while talking to you.

Keep an eye out…

Every town has an old, unused train bridge. Always the same, always completely unique. "Bebop," the graffiti says, "F**k college". The beams are broken, burnt, rotting. The walk is treacherous. The wind doesn't help my vertigo, but it sends the faint scent of Swiss Miss hot chocolate mix into my eyes. Every town has a smelly mill, only one smells like cocoa.

Good fun to be had, here, yo. Description: "A mixture of projectile and physics game, on Ragdoll Cannon you need to fire dolls (no kidding) away, with the objective of hitting the “Here” pad on each level. There are many obstacles along the way, and you need to to use your brain more than once to finish the game." Sweet cannon blast sound effect, as well.

PLAY IT!