This Week in Milwaukee: March 2-8, 2023

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YOUTHAITI Benefit Concert, Afro-Cuban All Stars,  Jacob Slade w/Hyer and Emmett Mulrooney, “Native America: In Translation” at MAM, Sam Bush and the return of Bruce Springsteen and more—This Week in Milwaukee!

Thursday, March 2

YOUTHAITI Benefit Concert w/ Yonat Piva, Denny Rauen and Steve Cohen @ Linneman’s 7 p.m.

The Haitian proverb “Men anpil chay pa laoue” translates to “Many hands make the load lighter.” This benefit concert will also include Haitian artwork for sale.

In 2006 Gigi Pomerantz, nurse practitioner from Milwaukee, visited Haiti for the first time, on a medical mission. She saw starving children, bellies swollen with intestinal parasites. She saw gardens struggling to produce vegetables from the soils depleted by erosion. In March 2008 YOUTHAITI was launched to support and promote ongoing work of protecting the environment, replenishing the soil, growing gardens and planting trees.

YOUTHAITI’s mission is to provide sustainable sanitation and agriculture in rural Haiti. The organization is dedicated to helping and encouraging Haitian young people in their development of ecological projects in sanitation and water source protection, community gardening and reforestation in their own communities.

Afro-Cuban All Stars @ Marcus Performing Arts Center, 7:30 p.m.

The Afro Cuban All Stars is a band constantly telling the story of Cuban music to the rest of the world, showing Cuba’s rich musical history interpreting the most of its musical genres. With ACAS, Juan de Marcos has developed much more than a musical group, he created an institution. Fusing contemporary, traditional and in essence, the future styles of Cuban music. He fluidly adjusts the orchestra’s line-up of musicians to best reflect the various styles from the past eras featured in their performances. The current line-up of ACAS consists of the finest Cuban musicians, all alumni of Cuba’s greatest bands.

Ron Sexsmith @ Shank Hall, 8 p.m.

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Long regarded as a “songwriter’s songwriter,” Canadian-born Ron Sexmith has garnered respect from a heady list of peers. Early on he worked with Blue Rodeo’s Bob Wiseman and performed and toured with Leonard Cohen, Ray Davies, Nick Lowe and Elvis Costello. 

Sexsmith is on the road touring his new album The Vivian Line. With one exception, these new songs all flowed from Sexsmith’s fertile musical and lyrical imagination in a short period of 2021 during covid. “The songs came out of nowhere,” Ron explains. “I wasn’t really writing after the [2020] release of my previous album, Hermitage. The older I get, the more I think ‘maybe this is it,’ but then I found myself with new ideas again and got excited.”

Friday, March 3

Jacob Slade w/Hyer and Emmett Mulrooney @ Anodyne, 8 p.m.

Here’s a lineup of young songwriters to keep an eye or three on. Jacob Slade challenges the boundaries of folk, pop and rock; his stripped back sound is brought to life at live shows with a four-piece band that adds Austin Wood on Bass, Bailey Fiste on drums and Anthony Kopczynski keys. Hyer is the solo project of Jacob Olson. After spending some time in the Twin Cities recording his first album, Wall for Governor, he is now back in Milwaukee. Emmett Mulrooney’s indie, bedroom pop sound and guitar-driven anthems emit a carefree energy.

Saturday, March 4

The Swivels CD release w/Spud Bucket @ Linnemans, 7 p.m. 

To steal a phrase, this is the dawning of the Age of Swivelization: shepherdexpress.com/music/local-music/carter-hunnicutts-evolution-continues.

The new Milwaukee group made up of scene veterans conspire to fill the dance floor, entertain and get you thinking at the same time. You might remember former firefighter/EMT Carter Hunnicutt from his days in Those XCleavers. He got back into music again working with conceptual band Xposed 4heads initially for the first Lest We Forget concert in 2012.

Sunday, March 5

Pink Martini @ Pabst Theater, 8 p.m.

Thomas Lauderdale founded the “little orchestra” Pink Martini in 1994 to provide more beautiful and inclusive musical soundtracks for political fundraisers for causes such as civil rights, affordable housing, the environment, libraries, public broadcasting, education and parks. The group draws inspiration from music from all over the world, crossing genres of classical, jazz and old-fashioned pop. 

Featuring a dozen musicians, with songs in 25 languages, Pink Martini made its European debut at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997 and its orchestral debut with the Oregon Symphony in 1998, the band has gone on to play with more than 50 orchestras around the world.

Monday, March 6

“Native America: In Translation” @ Milwaukee Art Museum, through June 25

“The ultimate form of decolonization is through how Native languages form a view of the world. These artists provide sharp perceptions, rooted in their cultures.”—Wendy Red Star

In “Native America: In Translation,” 10 artists consider Indigenous histories, cultures, and representation through a contemporary lens. Photography, a medium historically used to suppress and stereotype Native cultures, is reclaimed by these artists, who are, in the words of the curator Wendy Red Star, “opening up space in the art world for new ways of seeing and thinking.” The exhibition highlights the featured artists’ perspectives on community, identity, heritage, and the legacy of colonialism on the American continents.

On Sunday, March 12, MAM Family Sunday celebrates Indigenous cultures and creativity. Families will enjoy special performances, see what regional artists are creating, and make their own art during this Museum-wide signature program. This event is included in the cost of admission to the Milwaukee Art Museum.

Tuesday, March 7

Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band @ Fiserv Forum, 7:30 p.m.

In 1975 a bomb threat abruptly halted Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s show at Milwaukee’s Uptown Theater. Around midnight they returned to the stage in a much looser mood; the bootleg recording of the show is ample evidence. Nearly five decades later it is a good bet they will still play like their lives depend on it. 

Embarking on the first tour dates since 2017, and the first in North America since 2016, Springsteen recently released Only the Strong Survive (Covers Vol. 1), a collection of his interpretations of some of the greatest songs in the soul and R&B canon.

Wednesday, March 8

Sam Bush @ South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center, 7:30 p.m.

Today, mandolinist Sam Bush is considered one of the elders of Newgrass. Decades ago, guys like Ricky Skaggs and Marty Stuart got on the bus with the old guard when they were young players, but when Roy Acuff asked Bush to join his band Bush respectfully declined the offer. He went on to play with the Bluegrass Alliance, New Grass Revival, Emmylou Harris’ Nash Ramblers, Lyle Lovett and The Tony Rice Unit.

On tour for his recent album, Radio John: Songs of John Hartford, Bush’s tribute to his hero and mentor, finds him digging deep into the American roots music eccentric’s vast catalog to pull out personal favorite songs, including some he played with Hartford himself in the 1970s.