This Week in Milwaukee: April 20-26, 2023

Here are the Milwaukee events we are looking forward to coming up this week.

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Check out two days of Gallery Night; Celebrate Earth Day; Marty Ross of The Wigs returns; Alasdair Fraser & Natalie Haas at the Irish Cultural and Heritage Center and more—This Week in Milwaukee!

Thursday, April 20

Purged or Looted? The Nazis’ Campaign Against “Degenerate” Art and Questions of Restitution @ Jewish Museum Milwaukee, 6 p.m.

It might have been better for German artists if Hitler had never been an artist. Aside from whatever resentment he may nurtured over his failure as a painter, for Hitler, politics was always cultural. The arts were inseparable from his agenda and the artists (along with entire art movements) he disfavored were repressed, Dave Luhrssen wrote: shepherdexpress.com/culture/visual-art/hitlers-war-on-modern-art-at-jewish-museum-milwaukee.

In this lecture, world-renowned author and leading expert Jonathan Petropoulos will tell the story of the Nazis’ theft of European art and provide insights about the current restitution landscape.

Friday, April 21

Gallery Night MKE Friday and Saturday

This free, two-day art event offers visitors the opportunity to purchase original and local art while visiting Milwaukee’s most dynamic neighborhoods. Admission is free to all venues during event hours. Art lovers can visit gallerynightmke.com  for a full list of participating venues. Milwaukee’s vast creative culture is proudly on display during Gallery Night MKE. Showcasing art works from photography to sculpture to drawing, painting, and everything in between.

“Xaiver Casanova Davis Posthumous Show” @ Milwaukee Area Technical College, The Create Gallery

This exhibit will feature a posthumous exhibit of photography work by MATC student Xaiver Casanova Davis who was killed on August 28, 2022, by a still unidentified hit-and-run driver while walking on the corner of 6th Street and Juneau Avenue near MATC.

“Anna: Photographs by Lidia Sharapova” @ MOWA | DTN inside Saint Kate—The Arts Hotel, Meet the artist: Friday, 6-8 p.m.; Exhibit through July 9

“Anna: Photographs by Lidia Sharapova” challenges concepts of femininity and self-presentation. Anna, a black transgender model who initiated what turned into an ongoing series of portraits taken over three years, is an active participant in the construction of her personal and public identity. Images produced within a fluid relationship between the sitter and the photographer, Lidia Sharapova, variously explore conventions and options concerning identity, femininity, and the many facets of public and private personas.

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Marty Ross @ Shank Hall, 8 p.m.

These days based in California, Marty Ross grew up in Rockford, Illinois with stops in London and Barcelona before landing in Milwaukee where he played with The Wigs and 57 Braves. He also appeared in the 1986 movie My Chauffeur (the soundtrack also includes contributions from Milwaukee’s Jim Cushinery and Scott Krueger); Ross also starred in the short-lived reboot The New Monkees.

Trapper Schoepp w/Mike Viola @ The Back Room @ Colectivo 7 p.m.

If you sing every night about the trauma of your terrible breakup, you are revisiting that every night, Trapper Schoepp says, “There are so many songs about the lone ranger, so many songs about the cowboy … it is more interesting to me to sing about a woman going over Niagara Falls or a drag queen … or people living on the fringes of society.”

Schoepp, who plays The Back Room to celebrate his latest album Siren Songs, recorded the album at Johnny Cash’s cabin. He also has a time-travel co-write with Bob Dylan on his resume: shepherdexpress.com/music/local-music/trapper-schoepps-musical-adventures.

Ayre in the Square Fundraiser @ Club Charlies, 7 p.m.

Ayre in the Square is the micro festival that takes place in Third Ward’s Catalano Square. It’s almost summer, and in anticipation of the outdoor concert season, the Friends of Catalano Square are hosting a Gallery Night fundraiser event that features silent auctions, drink specials and more with proceeds benefiting the 2023 Ayre in the Square concert series. Live acoustic sets from singer/songwriters Roxie Beane and Catelyn Picco will soundtrack the evening.

Saturday, April 22

Earth Day @ Earth, all day

Every year on April 22, Earth Day marks the anniversary of the birth of the modern environmental movement in 1970, thanks in part to Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson. The stage was set for change with the publication of Rachel Carson’s New York Times bestseller Silent Spring in 1962. The book represented a watershed moment, selling more than 500,000 copies in 24 countries as it raised public awareness and concern for living organisms, the environment and the inextricable links between pollution and public health.

28th Annual Milwaukee Riverkeeper Spring Cleanup @ 80+ locations, 9 a.m.

It’s time to tackle pollution and restore our rivers once again. Join together in a community-wide effort across Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Washington, and Waukesha counties to remove over 100,000 pounds of trash from our river system during the 28th Annual Milwaukee Riverkeeper Spring Cleanup.

Milwaukee Riverkeeper provides gloves, trash bags, and free t-shirts, you provide the people power, and together we will restore our waterways.

More info here: rockthegreen.com/mke-riverkeeper-spring-cleanup.

Rock the Green’s 12th annual Earth Day celebration @ Harley-Davidson Museum, noon

Nashville-by-way-of-Milwaukee’s SistaStrings and multi-instrumentalist Klassik will provide the day’s live music, performing on a pedal-powered stage.

Pink Umbrella Theater, Staged Reading of BITh (Bizarre Intrusive Thoughts) @ Bradley Symphony Center, 3 p.m.

The audience is invited into Dee’s home while Dee and three intrusive thoughts, also named Dee, detail the physical, mental, and emotional challenges of an undiagnosed anxiety disorder. Weaving heady issues with playful language, BITh uses music, storytelling, and shadow puppetry to navigate Dee’s changing world and mind—and a battle with something known as The Shadowman.

“I wanted to express a manifestation of OCD and anxiety disorders that the audience sees and hears. The invasive thoughts do invade Dee's senses and occupy space in their home. They are ever-present characters infecting Dee's internal life and daily interactions. While Dee discusses his life pre-diagnosis, the intrusive thoughts are still off stage awaiting the moment to burst onstage. It's a fantastical style telling real stories reaching everyday people,” says playwright John Van Slyke. More info https://www.pinkumbrellatheater.org/bit-h.

Sunday, April 23

Alasdair Fraser & Natalie Haas @ Irish Cultural and Heritage Center, 3:30 p.m.

The musical partnership between consummate performer Alasdair Fraser, and brilliant Californian cellist, Natalie Haas, spans the full spectrum between intimate chamber music and ecstatic dance energy. Over the last 16 years of creating a buzz at festivals and concert halls across the world, they have truly set the standard for fiddle and cello in traditional music. (shepherdexpress.com/music/music-feature/scottish-fiddles-alasdair-fraser-and-natalie-haas) More info here: irishculturalandheritagecenter.ticketspice.com/fraser-haas-230423.

WAMI Finalist Party @ Ope Brewing Company, 5:30 p.m.

The list of WAMI finalists who've now garnered more than 33,000 votes statewide across 756 WAMI Finalists will be revealed. Live performances by Wake The Echos (A Guitars 4 Vets Band), Big Spoon and After Dark; L Wok & Chucho’s Red Tacos Food Trucks on site—what better way to ride out the weekend?

Thelma and The Sleaze w/ Kat and The Hurricane and Bellends @ Cooperage, 7 p.m.

Thelma and the Sleaze is an independent all-female, queer southern rock band from Nashville, Tennessee. The group is the brainchild of lead vocalist and guitar player Lauren “LG” Gilbert and features an evolving cast of A-team players to back her up for an unforgettable live experience. Kat and the Hurricane is like a storm on the horizon, they stand behind the idea, “we’re here, we’re queer,” but the music speaks of so much more including heartache, abuse, and mental health.

Monday, April 24

Parton & Partners @ Sunset Playhouse, through Tuesday

Is there a bigger, kinder, more successful superstar than the one and only Dolly Parton? You can don your favorite cowboy boots–or stilettos—for this homage to that singular sensation, Dolly, and a few of her Nashville buddies.

More info at sunsetplayhouse.com/shows/parton-partners.

Tuesday, April 25

Milwaukee Black Restaurant Week 2023 @ various locations, though April 30

This year, there are over a dozen Black owned restaurants who have signed up to participate and featured in this cooperative economics project. Black restaurant owners who are excited about being highlighted for their creative food art and who desire to welcome new customers across the city to celebrate the culture.

To kick off the week of good eats, stop by The Sherman Phoenix (3536 W. Fond du Lac Ave.) on Tuesday, to patronize the Black own restaurants within this marketplace as a way to celebrate the 8th year of Milwaukee Black Restaurant Week and to learn more about how to further support the project. More info: blankspacemke.weebly.com.

Wednesday, April 26

Linneman’s Acoustic Open Stage with Featured Artist Chris Darby, 7 p.m.

Riverwest’s long running open stage features Chris Darby who, after taking a hiatus, recorded a new album in 2021. Have a song or two you’d like to debut? Maybe just settle in and check out the city’s songwriters' newest work. Doors open at 7, sign up list goes out at 7:30 p.m. performers begin at 8 p.m.