This Week in Milwaukee: February 16-22, 2023

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

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Black History Month continues with Loudmouth and Juneteenth: Faith & Freedom at Milwaukee Film/The Oriental Theatre; the Sarah Ball Allis Art Museum story; Amy LaVere & Will Sexton; Flat Out Friday and Mama Tried Motorcycle Show; I Should Know This With Milwaukee Historian John Gurda and art at Saint Kate, MOWA West Bend and Racine Art Museum and more—This Week in Milwaukee!

Thursday, Feb, 16

Art at the Allis @ Sarah Ball Allis Art Museum, 6:30 p.m.

In many ways, the story of Sarah and Charles Allis is the story of Milwaukee. It’s one of migration, industry and generosity. Sarah Esther Ball, “Sadie,” to her friends, was born in East Troy to Edward Hyde Ball and his wife, Sarah Eusilia Cobb. 

Sarah moved to Milwaukee in 1861 with her family. In 1877, Sarah married Charles Allis—the son of Edward Phelps Allis and Margret Watson. They shared a love of art, the natural world and traveling. Together, they traveled across the United States and Europe collecting art.

How did the "Sarah Ball Allis Art Museum" exhibition come to be? What goes into curating an exhibition and museum? Here is a chance to learn about curation practices with guest curator Kate E. Schaffer and senior curator Phoenix Brown. More info at charlesallis.org.

Loudmouth @ The Oriental Theatre, 7 p.m.

Milwaukee Film’s Black History Month continues with a screening of Loudmouth. Since bursting on the national political scene in New York City in the late ‘80s, preacher and activist Rev. Al Sharpton has been at the center of national conversations revolving around race. 

In the aftermath of George Floyd's horrific murder in 2020, the veteran civil rights leader has grabbed global headlines, expanding the reach of his powerful bullhorn against America's deafening complacency in the fight against racial injustice—amplifying the ugly truths about the ongoing impact of structural racism on this nation many would prefer to ignore. Loudmouth puts an unprecedented spotlight on the veteran activist and asks whether Sharpton has gone mainstream, or if America has finally decided to listen.

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Amy LaVere & Will Sexton w/Joseph Huber and Derek Pritzl @ The Cooperage, 7 p.m.

Consider this the music pick of the week. How bassist and songwriter Amy LaVere has been under the radar since her 2005 album, This World Is Not My Home, is a mystery. “There shouldn't be rules in rock and roll,” LaVere sings on “Last Rock n' Roll Boy To Dance,” inhabiting the song as if it is a short story come off the page. Of LaVere, no less a sage than the late Jim Dickinson said, “You take the artist out to the edge of a cliff. It’s all you can do. They have to trust you. Then of course, you push them off. Hopefully they fly. A lot of them fall. She’s got the wings to fly.” Dickinson produced her 2007 album Anchors & Anvils.

Will Sexton, LaVere’s onstage foil, adds sinuous guitar lines that blur blues and jazz. With a handful of solo albums to his credit, Sexton shares more than musical DNA with his brother, Bob Dylan guitarist Charlie Sexton. Openers Derek Pritzl and Joseph Huber are local A-List songwriters. Huber’s The Downtowner was one of last year’s best Milwaukee albums. Pritzl long-awaited album is set for a March release.

Friday, Feb. 17

Flat Out Friday, Friday @ Fiserv Forum

Mama Tried Motorcycle Show, Saturday and Sunday @ Eagles Ballroom

Once again, the annual winter motorcycle festival takes over Milwaukee. Flat Out Friday is an indoor flat track motorcycle race on a Dr. Pepper syrup coated concrete track. Riders from the ages of 6 to 79 years old complete in classes: Hooligan (street legal motorcycles that are modified for racing) and Goofball (almost anything with two wheels and sometimes with just one or three). In addition, it is mandatory for racers to wear a costume in this class. In the past there has been a marriage, an impromptu wrestling match and more all right on the track in between races. After party Saturday at Boone and Crockett.

The Mama Tried Motorcycle Show is an indoor invitational that connects motorcycles and builders to fans and riders alike. Keeping the fire stoked all winter long, the show features over 100 motorcycles from builders of all calibers—flat-tracker, hill climber, chopper, and bar hopped—over 140 motorcycles from around the globe.

The Fonz was bronzed some years back, and now Fonzie’s original motorcycle has made its way back home. The 1947 Harley-Davidson Knucklehead, previously seen on “Happy Days,” will be on display all weekend long at Mama Tried for its first ever motorcycle show appearance.

Pre-parties happen Thursday at H-D Museum and Fuel Café. More info at mamatriedshow.com. Weather permitting—and maybe not—if you are on the road this weekend, please keep an eye out for motorcycles.

All Messed Up XI @ Linnemans, 7 p.m. Also Saturday.

All Messed Up is just another reason Keep Riverwest Weird bumper sticker should be issued. The 11th installment of creativity unfolding in real time, All Messed Up began unfolding months ago with participants signing up to be randomly placed in bands via drawing from a proverbial hat. By now the bands have had time to pick a schtick, come up with 15-20 minutes of original material and one cover. The added challenge this year is one of the songs have to prominently feature the numeral the band was assigned. Easy, right?

Among the 14 bands, are names like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Doves, Mill & the Mukwonagoats and Trash Pandas in Pajamas with Bananas. Full schedule at linnemans.com/event/february-17-2023.

Saturday, Feb. 18

Juneteenth: Faith and Freedom @ The Oriental Theatre, noon

Juneteenth: Faith & Freedom is an unscripted documentary that invites viewers into the story of Juneteenth—the holiday recognizing the end of legalized slavery in Texas, the last region of the Confederacy to surrender—through the eyes of a Black man learning about the holiday from the direct descendants of those liberated. The story serves as a parable that offers hope, and the insight that faith can be the greatest weapon against injustice.

Shepherd Events Presents Wines Around the World @ Turner Hall, 4 p.m.

Travel the world without having to leave Milwaukee, Saturday February 18 at Turner Hall. Try wines from all the major grape growing regions in the world with your significant other, friends, or family. With 70 different wines to choose from, you will be sure to fall in love with one. Enjoy food from Sweet Smoke BBQ and Beautiful Boards by Kali. Interact with PRP Wines and The Pink Apron. Live music by North Coast Jazz.

Order your tickets at shepherdtickets.com/events/134025887/wines-around-the-world. VIP Tickets: $48, includes unlimited wine tastings, exclusive high end wine tastings, 1-hour early access to interact with the pourers, raffles, and complimentary glass. General Admission: $32, ticket includes unlimited tastings, food samples, a live band, and more.

Post Valentine's Day Love Fest w/ The 5 Card Studs featuring Ms. Ivana Mandalay @ Anodyne, 8 p.m.

So, things didn’t work out so hot on Valentine's Day. Don’t mope, pick up some half-price candy and head to this event to drown your sorrows, lick your wounds and any other lovelorn cliché that comes to mind. You might even meet that special someone. In the 5 Card Studs’ 25-plus years, their costumed personas seem like second skin. The former members of Loyal Order of the Water Buffalo, Hudson, Johnny and the Losers, The Cactus Brothers, Wheelie or Clowns Gone Bad keep going: shepherdexpress.com/music/local-music/5-card-studs-arent-slowing-down.

Sunday, Feb. 19

“I Should Know This” with Milwaukee Historian John Gurda @ The Cooperage, 7 p.m.

Host Kristoffer Puddicombe gathers some very funny people for a unique entertainment experience that weaves together trivia, live music, friendly banter and plenty of audience participation.

This month’s guest is Milwaukee writer and historian John Gurda whose 22 books about Milwaukee-area neighborhoods, industries, and places of worship is part of the picture. Gurda is also a lecturer, tour guide, contributor to MPTV’s “Around the Corner with John McGivern” and former local history columnist for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. The common thread in all of Gurda’s work is an understanding of history as “why things are the way they are.”

Guests are encouraged to submit a question and in the second round, each panelist will be joined onstage by an audience member to share in the fun. Also with Alan Guszkowski, Julie Ferris-Tillman, James Boland, and musical guests Elephonic.

Monday, Feb. 20

“Watercolor Wisconsin 2022” @ Racine Art Museum (441 Main Street, Racine) (Through April 15)

Now in its 56th year, Watercolor Wisconsin was started in 1966 to honor the depth and breadth of watercolor in the State of Wisconsin. This year’s show at RAM’s Wustum Museum features 106 works by 95 Wisconsin artists.

Tuesday, Feb. 21

“Social Realism to Surrealism - The James and Karen Hyde Collection” @ MOWA | West Bend (205 Veterans Ave. West Bend) (Through April 9)

Over two decades of collecting, the James and Karen Hyde selected works of art to complement and enrich MOWA’s collection. At times, they built upon strengths in collection areas; on other occasions, they bought works of art that would add new threads to existing conversations in the galleries. With Dr. Hyde’s death in 2022, the entire collection has now been formally reunited and gifted to the museum.

The Hyde Collection focuses on Wisconsin Social Realism, Regionalism, and Surrealism. Among the highlights are paintings and rare prints and drawings by Aaron Bohrod, Ruth Grotenroth, Edmund Lewandowski, Schomer Lichtner, Dean Meeker, Robert von Neumann, George Raab, Robert Schellin, Gerrit Sinclair, Francesco Spicuzza, John Wilde, and Santos Zingale. Late 19th- and early 20th-century paintings by Richard Lorenz, Gustave Moeller and Heinrich Vianden are also included in the gift.

Wednesday, Feb. 22

“External Strife, Internal Peace, Eternal Love” by Nehemiah Edwards @ Saint Kate (Through March 12)

Nehemiah R. Edwards (also known by his moniker, Nemogreater) is a Milwaukee-based artist whose paintings and digital work use his playful iconography of angel and demon characters to highlight the conflicting relationship between our morality and our vices.

Nehemiah’s exhibition in The Closet at Saint Kate physically immerses guests in his artistic process: guided by the immediacy of an unrefined aesthetic, he recreates his studio with materials authentic to his practice. Saturated with abstraction and color, the atmospheric environment implores viewers to lose themselves in the paintings surrounding them in order to escape personal woes in exchange for a moment of serenity, eventually arriving at a place of transcendent peace.