Mal-O-Dua

Art in the cafe...

Members of Red Pine


"Permutations of Red Pine"


September 2026



A Red Pine tree was planted at the corner of 212 Merry Street in the late 60s that evolved over the decades into a cooperative household. We are making it a place for comity and creativity; Clarity and the imagination; we change detritus of early 21st century late stage capitalism into art, shrine, paintings, music, sculptures, urban Permaculture and homesteading experiments. We appreciate the used, the worn out, ever crumbling and reassembling; as we all are all the time.
[ more ]
Saturday, April 18, 2009

What happened when Django Reinhardt met Merle Travis? A new style of
acoustic swing was born!! Well-actually that never did really happen.
However, that is the blending of styles that Mal-O-Dua is built on. The
duo pulls from a wide range of sources including western swing, Gypsy
jazz, Kentucky finger picking, Parisian waltz, early French pop, Hawaiian
slack key, and the American standards songbook to name a few. These styles
are blended to create a fresh new sound.

ABOUT THE PICKERS

CED - Aching Fingers and Cracking Voice Cedric Baetche was born and raised in Reims, in the Champagne region of France. He has lived intermittently in Madison, WI for about a decade. Ced is a professional painter with a love of portrait, still live, and landscape painting. He studied Culinary Arts at Madison, WI-s MATC. Ced-s main guitar influence is the Kentucky finger picker Merle Travis. He is known by many to make a mean cocktail!!

CHRISTO - Aching Fingers and Broken Strings Chris Ruppenthal was born in Madison, WI and grew up around the state. He is also leader for the group Caravan Gypsy Swing Ensemble and is primarily influenced by French jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt. Chris is an antique dealer specializing in Art Deco cocktail shakers and barware. He is also a professional musical instrument repair technician and works primarily on woodwinds. He is known by Ced to drink many of his mean cocktails!!

Music