This Week in Milwaukee: March 24-30, 2022

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

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Grilled cheese for a good cause, Midwest Music Showcase #4, Friday night Jazz, a benefit for The Coffee House and more—This Week in Milwaukee!

Thursday, March 24

Midwest Music Showcase #4 @ The Cooperage, 7 p.m.

Phoenix Kristan, Lou Shields, Dandy L. Freling and Craig Berry

“Back Country” by Lou Shields

Kick off the weekend with a full night of foot-stomping, hand-clapping, folk, old-timey, acoustic solo performers. Notably, Lou Shields—who continues the tradition of American music with a solo-performance that pulls in styles of days-gone-by with his 1931 National resonator guitar and banjo accompanied by front porch style foot stomping percussion and harmonica. He has toured throughout the United States and Europe for over 15 years and has released eight full-length albums and 13 EPs.

Friday, March 25

Jazz Rocks with Don Linke @ Arts @ Large, 7 p.m.

Guitarist Don Linke is equal parts musician, educator and ambassador. When the pandemic hit, his Jazz at Noon series of concerts simply moved to his living room for performances. Jazz Rocks is an original composition, performance and continuing education project designed by Linke and Black Box Fund to grant advanced level jazz musicians the opportunity to study, rehearse and share with an audience the inner workings of improvised music. More info on the Jazz Rocks series here artsatlargeinc.org/events

Bonifas Electric Band @ Caroline’s Jazz Club, 9:30 p.m.

Caroline’s is just blocks from Arts @ Large. Consider making it a full night of jazz when Bill Bonifas and his Electric Band, including Theo Merriweather on keyboards, Eric Hervey on bass and Reggie Bordeaux on drums settle in at Caroline’s later in the evening.

Lucy Kaplansky @ Café Carpe (8 South Water St. West, Fort Atkinson), 8:30 p.m.

Lucy Kaplansky is a top tier songwriter and Café Carpe’s intimate listening room is the perfect venue. Initially part of the NYC folk scene that included Suzanne Vega, Steve Forbert and The Roches, she detoured and pursued a doctorate in clinical psychology before returning to music.

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Lunar Ticks w/ Feed the Dog @ Company Brewing, 10 p.m.

Chicago’s Lunar Ticks are an eclectic, improvisational alt-rock influenced by the like of Wilco and Dr. Dog. Extended improvisational passages can turn on a dime or meditate and unfurl in unexpected ways. Appleton’s genre-bending Feed the Dog’s sound blurs bluegrass, jam, rock, folk, Americana and soul.

Saturday, March 26

Grilled Cheese Grant @ MARN Art + Culture Hub (191 N. Broadway), 4 p.m.

The old cliché refers to starving artists, but here is good cause that reverses that saying. The 7th Annual MARN (Milwaukee Artist Resource Network) Grilled Cheese Grant financially supports undergraduate seniors at The Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD) and The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) who are working towards completing their senior exhibition projects in the areas of fine arts and/or design.

Attendees donate $5 or more to receive a grilled cheese sandwich made with cheese and bread provided by local community organizations. In addition to grilled cheese, all attendees also receive a ballot to cast their vote for one of five finalists Eduardo Zavala, Sha’Tuon Simpson, Lilly Luft, Olivia Lorber and Ava Hager who explore concepts like queerness, female representation, familial dynamics and storytelling.

More info here: grilledcheesegrant.com.

Craig Siemsen, Barb and Tom Webber - Benefit for The Coffee House, 7:30 p.m.

For much of its existence, The Coffee House has held benefit concerts to provide food and financial aid to food pantries, homeless shelters, and many deserving causes. For this show Craig Siemsen, and Barb & Tom Webber pay it forward to keep shows happening. Siemsen plays original, old-time country and traditional folk music. Barb Webber is a natural storyteller, a talent honed by years of listening and Tom Webber’s Texas roots move from tender love ballads to country-rock

Certain Stars w/Beach Patrol @ Circle A, 8 p.m.

In mid-December 2019, before the pandemic hit, Green Bay’s Beach Patrol played the Circle A Café in Riverwest. The trio’s energy threatened to blow the roof off the place. It was about as much fun as you can legally have; the catchy, upbeat music was perfect for a Saturday night. Beach Patrol made such an impression that headliners, The Mighty Deerlick (no slouches themselves) considered exiting via the club’s back door and leave the opening act to play another set.

When the pandemic hit, Beach Patrol recorded an album of Bob Dylan covers, donating the proceeds to a local homeless shelter. Recently they released their eighth album, Festivus.

Milwaukee scene veterans Certain Stars take their pop seriously and are still running on momentum from 2019’s The Devil Made Whiskey, the group’s third album.

Tuesday, March, 29

Shovels & Rope w/Jeremie Albino @ Turner Hall Ballroom, 8 p.m.

Husband-and-wife duo, Michael Trent and Cary Ann Hearst are Shovels & Rope. The South Carolina duo’s latest album, Manticore, is a compilation of personal stories that take aim at the human experience and reflects on homelessness, social justice, parental love and marital strife. Opener Jeremie Albino’s pandemic-fueled Americana EP Past Dawn was produced by Michael Trent.