This Week in Milwaukee: January 19-25, 2023

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This Week in MKE Music

Gallery Night returns, Step Afrika! with MPAC Cultural Ambassador Donald Driver, Latin Jazz with CNJ, Crafty Cow’s Midweek Music series returns, Ktown Burlesque, Ani DiFranco and the homecoming of Peter Mulvey and SistaStrings and more—This Week in Milwaukee!

Thursday, Jan. 19

Step Afrika! @ Marcus Performing Arts Center (through Friday)

This multi-day partnership with MPAC Cultural Ambassador Donald Driver will include youth workshops, performances and more. Founded in 1994, Step Afrika! is the first professional Dance Company in the world dedicated to the tradition of stepping. The Company blends percussive dance styles practiced by historically African American fraternities and sororities with traditional West and Southern African dances and an array of contemporary dance and art forms into a cohesive, compelling artistic experience.

Midweek Music: The Steph Lippert Project @ Crafty Cow/Bay View, 7 p.m.

Crafty Cow’s Midweek Music series returns, this time in Bayview with a series of Thursday show to get you through March. The Steph Lippert Project kicks things off; the eclectic lineup includes Sugarbush, Derek Pritzl, Allen Cote, Chrissy Dzioba Clobes, Genesis Renji, concluding March 23 with Next Paperback Hero.

Kofi Baker's Cream Faith: The Music of Cream and Blind Faith @ Shank Hall, 8 p.m.

The apple, they say, doesn’t fall far from the tree. While Kofi Baker’s relationship with his father, groundbreaking musician Ginger Baker, was complicated, he developed the talent seemingly embedded in his DNA. At age six Kofi performed with his dad on the music program “The Old Grey Whistle Test.” He's gone on to perform with Jack Bruce, Eric Clapton, Randy California and Uli Jon Roth. On this show, expect a deep look at the work of two bands Ginger anchored during the mid-‘60s.

Jazzy Joan @ bar centro, 7 p.m.

Jazzy Joan a.k.a. Joan Dadian has been presenting her monthly recorded jazz show, the “ABCs of Jazz.” This month features letter “P” artists: the innovative sax player Paul Gonsalves, singing seductress Peggy Lee, soulful piano wizard Phineas Newborn Jr, and the 60’s-influenced piano side of Italy’s Peter De Girolamo. Each artist’s set is 30 minutes accompanied by Jazzy Joan’s commentary and positive vibe. Experience the jazz-hang one letter a night, every third Thursday at bar centro.

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Friday, Jan. 20

Gallery Night MKE @ various locations (also Saturday)

Gallery Night MKE opens its 2023 season on Friday and Saturday with 30 participating spaces throughout four Milwaukee neighborhoods.

Music figures into the mix with the official preview party of Lightfield by HYBYCOZO on Thursday featuring a unique immersive public art experience in Cathedral Square Park. The installation by the duo Serge Beaulieu and Yelena Filipchuk, consists of larger-than-life geometric sculptures, often with patterns and textures that draw on inspirations from science, and natural phenomena. Referencing math and art, fittingly the installment’s synth-heavy soundtrack is provided by Sleepersound. The event will also include an ice bar, live DJs and roasting s'mores on an open fire throughout the evening.

When Bob Paquette, founder of Select Sound Service, passed away in 2018 Milwaukee lost a treasure in sound engineering. His spirit lives on with the opening of Select Studios at 107 E. National Ave. Select Studios is hosting a variety of artists including Jeff Redmon, Paul Terrien with musical guest Lapulele, Paul Kneevers and others.

Paul and Kat Kneevers of Kneeverland Productions operate The Ring music facility just up the street. When the opportunity came to re-purpose the Select Sound building, they acted, including the legacy name in homage. Their three-room suite is the K-Room studio—the anchor studio—featuring different acoustical designs, as well as John Sieger’s Moral Vacuum Studio.

Music on Friday evening by DJ Paul Host, Robot Witch, Size 5s and Reflection of Flesh Music Saturday on by Secondhand Souls, Twan Mack and Tha Dope Music Crew. More info here: gallerynightmke.com.

The Black Lens Annual Affair @ The Ivy House, 6 p.m.

Help kick off Black Lens programming in 2023 and share a special preview of what’s in store for Black History Month 2023. Eat, drink and dance to an eclectic local lineup backed by Brew City Soul Orchestra to pay tribute to Whitney Houston and the generation of women artists who influenced her. Afterset featuring DJ Bizzon; free appetizers and new Black Lens merch for sale.

K-Town Burlesque – Lost In Time @ Rhode Center For the Arts (514 56th St., Kenosha) 8 p.m. (also Saturday, 7 and 10 p.m.)

Pressed Ham Productions presents the eighth installment of K-Town Burlesque. Lost in Time transports attendees through a wacky romp in time featuring Detective Jack Franklin, encountering Brew City Bombshell’s Vee Valentine, Riley of Pole Fitness, eclectic performer Neimo Sworld, and the lovely Indigo Jewels.

The show also features mind-boggling illusions by acclaimed magician David Seebach, stand-up comics Jim Selovich and John O’Neill will provide the laughs, with music by Tailspin—and a runway review which features a bevy of local beauties. Tickets and info here: eventbrite.com/e/k-town-burlesque-lost-in-time-friday-8-pm-tickets-465447665497.

Saturday, Jan. 21

Rat Bath's Big Gay Music Video shoot @ Promises Bar, 2 p.m.

Free of charge, genre and gender-bending group Rat Bath are giving you the chance at immortality. Or at least as long as videos last. The Milwaukee spooky-country-core band has put out the call to anyone who wants to be part of their video shoot. The event promises free pizza and t-shirts for all who come out.

John Stano @ The Coffee House, 7 p.m.

Award winning singer songwriter John Stano plays original folk, blues and Americana on guitar, and slide guitar with warm vocals and stellar rack harmonica playing. During the pandemic Stano challenged himself and played a three-hour gig at a farm. “I hadn’t sat in one place and worked through my repertoire like that for months,” he said. “I wondered if I would remember all the lyrics and changes as I don’t like to rely on music or chord charts. I also wondered whether my voice would hold up. At times I felt like I was out on a tightrope but am pleased to report it went well, although I was able to do a pretty good Tom Waits impression the next day.”

CNJ Latin Jazz @ Saint Kate - The Arts Hotel, 5 p.m.

Founded in 2012, this all-star lineup of musicians brings to life their unique approach to many traditional Latin jazz classics, American jazz standards and contemporary music. Combined with a heavy dose of Afro-Latino rhythms, CNJ's unique interpretations of Latin jazz music inspires and engages listeners, moves the dancers to dance, and aims to strengthen the Milwaukee music scene by keeping alive the rich traditions of Latin music in Milwaukee.

Sunday, Jan. 22

Stop Motion Animation Workshop @ Cactus Club, Noon

A workshop led by local animator Cole Kirkendall dives into fundamentals of animation, applying to all mediums of animated work, armature puppet making, and DIY techniques to make an at home stop motion studio will be covered. You’ll walk away with your own animated gif to be projected at the end of the workshop.

Preparation—please bring a phone and have free app “Stop Motion Studio” downloaded before you arrive. Some materials will be provided; bring whatever paper or cardboard backgrounds, wire, clay, string, colored pencils, construction paper, and fabric you might be interested in using to create your animation.

Monday, Jan. 23

“Broadway’s Best: Schwartz & Sondheim” @ Sunset Playhouse, 7:30 p.m. (also Tuesday, 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.)

Stephen Schwartz made a name for himself both on Broadway and in films with great songs from shows like Pippin, Godspell, Wicked, and Disney’s Hunchback Of Notre Dame. Stephen Sondheim’s incredible legacy includes West Side Story, Gypsy, Company, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Into The Woods, and Sunday In The Park With George.

The Musical MainStage series doesn’t cover the Great White Way very often so here’s a chance to hear many of your favorites including “Send in the Clowns,” “Popular and Defying Gravity,” “Being Alive,” “Somewhere” and “Something’s Coming.”

Tuesday, Jan. 24

 “The Ashcan School and the Eight: Creating a National Art" @ The Milwaukee Art Museum (through Feb. 19)

The Milwaukee Art Museum’s “The Ashcan School and the Eight: Creating a National Art" allows us to see America in the early 20th century, a time of great cultural upheaval, a nation shapeshifting in its peculiar genius—troubled, compulsively creative, proud, and quotidian, wrote Kevin Lynch here: shepherdexpress.com/culture/visual-art/america-unvarnished-in-mams-ash-can-school-exhibit.

Wednesday, Jan. 25

Ani DiFranco with special guests Peter Mulvey and SistaStrings @ Pabst Theater, 7 p.m.

Ani DiFranco’s DIY cred has long been established. The “folksinger’s” music has embraced punk, funk, hip hop, jazz, soul, electronica, and even more distant sounds—and collaborations with everyone from Utah Phillips to Maceo Parker to Prince. The real prize in the crackerjacks here just may be the homecoming of openers Peter Mulvey and SistaStrings. Last year they released the collaboration album Love Is the Only Thing. Since moving to Nashville, Milwaukee’s SistaStrings Monique (vocals, cello) and Chauntee Ross (vocals, violin), moved to Nashville in 2021 they toured with Brandi Carlile and played Saturday Night Live in December. The duo also performed with The Rainbow Coalition of the Loving, Allison Russell’s touring band. In July at the Newport Folk Festival, SistaStrings were part of Carlile’s posse backing Joni Mitchell. The historic set was the first high profile show Mitchell played in 20 years.