This Week in Milwaukee: August 10-16, 2023

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

by

“The crickets sang in the grasses. They sang the song of summer’s ending, a sad, monotonous song. ‘Summer is over and gone,’ they sang. ‘Over and gone, over and gone. Summer is dying, dying.’ The crickets felt it was their duty to warn everybody that summertime cannot last forever.” 

I was recently reminded of this passage from Charlotte’s Web. Consider it a reminder. Consider it a subtle warning. But consider it.

MKE Black Theatre Festival, Musical Celebration of Life for Michael De Boer, Waukesha Rotary Bluesfest, Los Tigres del Norte, 2023 Park Jam with Arrested Development, Beans & Barley turns 50, Center Street Daze, free popsicles on The Hop… and more—This Week in Milwaukee!

Thursday, August 10

MKE Black Theatre Festival @ various locations, through August 27

The largest ever MKE Black Theatre Festival features free and ticketed events, including two full-production plays, audition and play development workshops, a Black theater history discussion, a youth and family night, auditions for Black Nativity, a poetry set, and more: blackartsmke.org/season/#2022-23-season-schedule.

Featured play MUD ROW follows two generations of sisters in an area in the East End of West Chester, Pennsylvania called Mud Row as they work through themes of race, class, love, loss and family to break and bend generational patterns set before them. The production is a new collaboration with Marquette University’s VIP Theatre Program.

Events will take place at various venues throughout Milwaukee, including Marquette University, The Table at Alice’s Garden, Wisconsin Black Historical Society and Museum, and Studio 4A at Marcus Center for the Performing Arts.

Thollem | Matthew Lux | Avreeayl Ra @ The Sugar Maple, 8 p.m.

Here is a rare opportunity to experience Thollem McDonas, Matthew Lux & Avreeayl Ra perform as a trio. Piano player Thollem is known internationally in the free jazz and post-classical worlds, as the lead vocalist for the Italian agit-punk band Tsigoti and as the long-term temporary guida of the Sicilian Improvisers Orchestra. Bassist Matthew Lux has worked across a range of genres; his career is defined by his staunch belief that no style of music is more or less serious than any other, collaborating with Jeff Parker, Pharoah Sanders and Roscoe Mitchell.

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Master drummer Avreeayl Ra is a long-term member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM) who has performed and recorded with a dynamic range of leading artists in progressive and avant-garde jazz including Sun Ra, Lester Bowie and Oscar Brown, Jr.

Friday, August 11

Musical Celebration of Life for Michael De Boer @ Riverwest Pizza, 5:30 p.m.

Michael De Boer had a wide net of friends and here is chance to gather and remember to Milwaukee musician who played with Longacre and Panalure (shepherdexpress.com/music/local-music/milwaukee-music-scene-remembers-michael-de-boer).  For those friends unable to attend, the event will be live-streamed, beginning at 6 p.m.: youtube.com/watch?v=T2KWsXPgrd0.

Waukesha Rotary Bluesfest @ Naga-Waukee Park (651 Highway 83, Delafield) 12:30 p.m. Also Saturday

Two days full of blues music. Friday’s headliner, Grammy nominee and Stax recording artist Southern Avenue, draw from ‘60s soul. Saturday’s headliner Maria Muldaur is remembered by many for her lone pop Top-40 hit, “Midnight at the Oasis” (1974), but in the ‘60s she was at the forefront of NYC’s folk-blues revival, performing with John Sebastian, Stefan Grossman and her husband Geoff Muldaur in the Jim Kweskin Jug Band. More info here: waukeshabluesfest.com.

Lisa Ridgely at Pomona Cider Co., 6 p.m.

It’s been a while since we heard from songwriter Lisa Ridgely. Fresh from a writers’ workshop, here’s a chance to hear what she has been up to.

Los Tigres del Norte @ Miller High Life Theatre, 8 p.m.

Since the late 1960s, family band Los Tigres del Norte has detailed the struggles and triumphs, romances, and heartbreaks of working people, families, immigrants, outlaws, politicians, and farmers. Over more than 70 albums the norteño group from Mexico based in California has turned the accordion-based polka music indigenous to Northern Mexico, into commercially viable pop music, infusing the tradition with boleros, cumbias, rock rhythms, waltzes, and sound effects.

Saturday, August 12

2023 Park Jam with Arrested Development w/Kinto Sol @ Peck Pavilion, noon

Summer Park Jam Weekend continues at the Peck Pavilion on the Marcus Performing Arts Center Outdoor Grounds with an all-ages, free, outdoor festival, including live performances, interactive activities, local vendors, skateboarding area, live “Battle of the LMNTS” Graffiti Art , DJ and Breakin’ competitions. Sunday’s boat cruise features DJ Arabian Prince. More info here: trueskool.org/summerparkjam.

Beans & Barley 50th Anniversary, 11 a.m.

Established in 1973, Beans & Barley turns 50. The venerable East Side restaurant turns its parking lot into a free festival with music from Marie Allschwang & The Visitations, Powerwagon and more; a bouncy house, bubbles, beer, basic burritos, buttons, and other great stuff that doesn't start with B! Walk down memory lane with your friends, ex coworkers, and the whole community with photos and articles on display.

Center Street Daze Festival @ Center Street (Humboldt-Holton), 11 a.m.

Now in its 26th year of helping to keep Riverwest weird, Center Street Daze Festival celebrates the heart of Riverwest, one of Milwaukee’s proudly eclectic and multicultural neighborhoods. The Art Cart Race combines ingenuity and human horsepower and Boonie Bike Shakedown will make you re-think minibikes. Vendors, food and plenty live music from Stas Venglevski and Jon Proniewski, Toty Ramos Latin Jazz Sextet, Wolves of West Virginia, Highball Holiday, The Majestics, Marcus Doucette on the decks and more.

Taking the City by Storm @ Avalon Atmospheric Theater, also Sunday

The underground history of Milwaukee music comes alive with Taking the City by Storm, the documentary that recounts “the explosion of Milwaukee talent released by punk’s emergence.” (shepherdexpress.com/film/reviews/when-punk-rock-took-milwaukee-by-storm). This is the stuff of local legend beginning in 1972 with a band called Death and noting points of ignition: clubs Zak’s and The Starship, and radio stations WZMF and WMSE, and larger than life characters Jerome Brish and Richard LaValliere. Listen to an episode of Sonic Rendezvous featuring the team behind Taking The City By Storm. More info here: avalonmke.com.

Sunday, August 13

Hop Summer Nights @ The Hop, 4-6 p.m., also August 20

Hop Summer Nights Returns for a third season. Ride The Hop, enjoy free popsicles from Pete’s Pops and cool jazz from JL Russell and Smoothwalk. The fun starts each Sunday on board the 4 p.m. departure from The Hop’s Intermodal Station near the corner of W. St. Paul Avenue and Vel R. Phillips Avenue.

The Crane Wives w/ The Belle Weather at The Back Room @ Colectivo, 8 p.m.

Born of the 2010s folk boom and now comfortably stationed in their rock and roll era, The Crane Wives will appeal to fans of The Decemberists, The Oh Hellos and  First Aid Kit. Counterbalancing a lively stage presence, their lyrics extol the shadow side of the human condition, delving into mythology and themes of darkness and inner conflict. The band softens the blows of their emotional candor with soulful three-part vocal harmonies, like a 21st century Cerberus, the hound of Hades reimagined as an emotional support animal.

Monday, August 14

Free Bowling at WhirlyBall (185 S. Moorland Rd, Brookfield)

The game of WhirlyBall is an endorphin-inducing combination of lacrosse, hockey, basketball and bumper cars, and other games include bowling, multi-level laser tag, HyperBowling and more pop-up games. WhirlyBall is celebrating with free bowling. More information on specials, Whirlyball, bowling and laser tag here: whirlyball.com/brookfield.

Tuesday, August 15

Son Volt w/Anders Parker @ Turner Hall Ballroom, 8 p.m.

Decades ago, Jay Farrar and his group Uncle Tupelo barnstormed Milwaukee’s Toad Café. When that band split up Farrar formed Son Volt, whose debut album Trace delivered a template that expanded the confines of the Americana genre. Billed as 28 Years of Son Volt: Songs of Trace and Doug Sahm this concert revisits the debut and spotlights a new album in tribute to American musical treasure Doug Sahm. Day of the Doug pays homage to Sahm’s career leading the Sir Douglas Quintet and Texas Tornados.

Wednesday, August 16

Septeto Charambó Live @ the Lakefront, Discovery World, 5:30 p.m.

With the stage overhanging Lake Michigan, you’ll enjoy sunset shows right on Milwaukee’s lakefront. Septeto Charambó is the modern version of the popular ‘80s salsa band Conjunto Charambó combines charanga and bomba rhythms from the Caribbean, the band was reinvented in 2022.