This Week in Milwaukee: February 23-March 1, 2023

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

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Black History Month continues with Fire Music: The Story of Free Jazz and An Oversimplification of Her Beauty at Milwaukee Film/The Oriental Theatre; Milwaukee Art Museum’s book sale; the great Chuck Prophet, Riverwest Radio’s fundraiser, a benefit for earthquake-torn Turkey, Milwaukee Hot Club and the return of Strangelander and more—This Week in Milwaukee!

Thursday, Feb. 23

Book Sale @ Milwaukee Art Museum, 10 a.m. 

Shop more than a thousand titles at the Milwaukee Art Museum’s book sale, though Sunday. A vast selection of books from the Museum’s Research Center will be available for purchase with prices ranging $1–10; everything from exhibition catalogues to coffee table books and academic texts. Expand your personal library with volumes about painting, decorative arts and design, sculpture, photography, prints and drawings, and art history. General interest books, art-inspired puzzles, journals, and other treasures from the Museum Store will also be available.

This event is free to attend; museum admission is not required. Extend your visit to the galleries by reserving an admission ticket in advance.

Fire Music: The Story of Free Jazz @ The Oriental Theater, 7 p.m.

Milwaukee Film’s celebration of Black History Month continues. Although the free jazz movement of the 1960s and ‘70s was much maligned in some jazz circles, its pioneers—brilliant talents like Ornette Coleman, Cecil Taylor, Sun Ra, Albert Ayler, and John Coltrane—are today acknowledged as central to the evolution of jazz as America’s most innovative art form.

Fire Music Showcases the architects of a movement whose radical brand of improvisation pushed harmonic and rhythmic boundaries and produced landmark albums like Coleman’s Free Jazz: A Collective Inspiration and Coltrane’s Ascension. A rich trove of archival footage conjures the 1960s jazz scene along with incisive reflections by critic Gary Giddins and a number of the movement’s key players.

Friday, Feb. 24

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FML: How Carson McCullers Saved My Life @ Carthage College, through March 4

FML: How Carson McCullers Saved My Life tells the story of a gay high school student named Jo, who lives in the quiet town of LaGrange, Illinois. Her life changes when her English teacher assigns Carson McCullers’ novel The Heart is a Lonely Hunter. This book strikes a creative chord within Jo and, along with support from her friends, gives her the courage to write an autobiographical graphic novel.

Her newfound confidence is shattered as she becomes a victim of gay bashing; Jo faces rebuilding her confidence and loving herself for being different. The play was written by playwright Sarah Gubbins. Her depiction of high school is based on teens of today as they show bravery stepping into the world and being their genuine selves. Gubbins wrote the play from Jo’s perspective so that it may offer a glimpses of the various prejudices faced by queer teens. More info here: carthage.edu/news-events/calendar/#!view/event/event_id/39040.

Strangelander @ Linneman's, 8 p.m.

Strangelander’s new single “Strang3r,” strangelander.bandcamp.com/track/strang3r, leans into Eastern intrigue building from acoustic to bombastic, with Amanda Huff’s vocals riding the concise sonic wave. The band—Huff, David Wake, Aaron Gardner, Jeremy Kuzniar, Pat Reinholz, Michael Ritter and Steve Peplin—returns to premiere new material, tunes from 2016’s debut album and Amanda Huff's book.

Saturday, Feb. 25

An Oversimplification of Her Beauty @ The Oriental Theater, noon

A quixotic artist hypothesizes about why he feels bad when a mystery girl stands him up. The event prompts him to ask: what’s the content of a momentary feeling? Is it the sum of your experiences? And, perhaps more importantly, are your experiences the sum of you? Preceded by the short film Don't Go Tellin' Your Momma directed by Topaz Jones and rubberband.

Drop-In Tour: Art by Artists of the African Diaspora @ Milwaukee Art Museum, 2 p.m.

Celebrate African American and Haitian artists in the Museum’s collection. Join a museum docent to learn more about how artists of the African diaspora use their work to document their lives, tell the stories of their communities, and address social justice issues. This drop-in experience is included with Museum admission and free for members.

Fundraiser for Turkish Earthquake Relief @ The Sugar Maple, 4 p.m.

Peter Thomas performs solo electric cello every month at Bayview’s Sugar Maple. Last year he helped raise donations for UNICEF. He has been in touch with friends in Istanbul and decided to raise funds for those affected by the recent earthquake. Thomas will match up to $250 raised; donations will support TPF’s Türkiye Earthquake Relief Fund and recovery efforts. More info here: facebook.com/events/587736316535023.

Riverwest Radio Fundraiser @ WXRW (824 E. Center St.), 4 p.m.

Broadcasting since 2012, Riverwest Radio broadcast from its storefront location. This weekend the community station hosts a fundraiser including a soup dinner, sweepstakes drawings and conversation with friends and neighbors. Come check out the station and learn about their plans for the spring and summer.

John Stano @ Tonic Tavern, 7 p.m.

Tonic’s Winter Warmer Concert Series presents singer-songwriter John Stano. Four albums in, Stano seems to be just hitting his stride with a relaxed blend of storytelling, fingerpicking and harmonica. Folk, Americana, blues—Stano has you covered.

Chuck Prophet & The Mission Express w/Louie & The Flashbombs @ Shank Hall, 8 p.m.

At this point Chuck Prophet has fully absorbed so many influences it is scary. His songs come to life the way the best films and books do; from his knack for detailed lyrics to guitar playing that bounces from classic reference points to wild flights of imagination. His band, The Mission Express, seems to operate via ESP.

When asked about his life, Prophet is candid and evasive all at once: “What do you want to know. Death, health issues, financial hijinks, I’ve had them all the past few years. We lost my dad and we lost Stephie’s (Finch) dad too. The basement flooded. My shoulder went out. I got hives over 80% of my body; was quarantined. The only break I caught was when the ear, eye, nose, and throat doctors were all in the same building. Oh, and I almost got killed about seven times in rented cars in snowstorms, lost on the way to gigs. Hey, maybe we should talk about songs instead.”

Openers Louie & The Flashbombs have been patiently finishing up recording a batch of songs. Sonic glimpses suggest an album that aches with experience while still kicking with energy.

Sunday, Feb. 26

Black-Owned Buy Black, Make History Marketplace @ Deer District, 11 a.m.

Support this indoor marketplace focused on local Black-owned businesses in the Deer District and celebrate Black History Month.

Candlelight Vigil for Ukraine @ The Calling (aka Orange Sunburst) - O'Donnell Park, 1 p.m.

It has been one year since the unprovoked full-scale invasion began on February 24, and nine years since Russia invaded Ukraine. The public is invited to join the Ukrainian American community in Milwaukee for a candlelight vigil to remember the countless lives lost because of Russia's brutal war against Ukraine. 

Ukrainians living across Wisconsin continue to stand in solidarity against Russia and ask everyone to join for this event. Millions of people have been displaced, children who survived bombings suffer from PTSD, and Russia continues to commit unimaginable war crimes each day.

Milwaukee Hot Club Lil’ Big Band @ Anodyne Coffee Roasting Co., 6 p.m.

Milwaukee Hot Club plays traditional and original music in the tradition of the late great Django Reinhardt. Always highly danceable and usually performing as a quartet, for this show MHC will be joined by the great chanteuse Robin Pluer, Jason Goldsmith (tenor sax) and other guest musicians. The group’s music encompasses swing and Latin rhythms and includes a great variety of instrumental and vocal tunes.

Monday, Feb. 27

Black History Celebration to Honor the Legacy of Black Americans @ Washington Park Senior Center, noon

Rescheduled from Feb. 16, this event will showcase guest speakers and special musical performances by local community members, as well as members of Washington Park Senior Center. In addition, there will be performances by 7th and 8th grade students from Roosevelt Middle School, part of Turnaround Arts Project, paying tribute to the contributions of Black Americans to American culture.

This annual event is a very meaningful celebration for the participants, staff, community members and guests who gather together to celebrate Black History. Washington Park is proud to host an event that will bring awareness, education and celebration during Black History Month.

Tuesday, Feb. 28

“Material Storytelling: Highlights from the Native American Collection” @ Haggerty Museum of Art, Marquette University, through May 21

This exhibition—curated by Dr. Samantha Majhor, Assistant Professor in Marquette University's Department of English—features a selection of works by Indigenous makers. It will utilize the gallery space as an object laboratory for students from Majhor’s spring 2023 courses.

Students will explore material culture and materialisms, the role of nonhuman objects as storytellers, Indigenous knowledge and ways of knowing, and the fraught history of applying museological standards to culturally specific objects.

Wednesday, March 1

Pat Hidson | “Compositions, @ MOWA, Saint John’s on the Lake, through May 21

Pat Hidson’s highly developed compositions begin with an observation of the natural world. She takes note of her surroundings and jots down her thoughts in a sketchbook. This reservoir of ideas nourishes full-sized paintings in which composition is the driving force, and the color is pressed into service with that end in mind.