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Photo credit: Brett Schewitz
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Photo credit: Horacio Hamlet
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Pusha T and Too Short anchor big rap bills, while the weekend-long Holiday Folk Fair International kicks off the holiday season.
Thursday, Nov. 15
Photo credit: Brett Schewitz
Soweto Gospel Choir @ South Milwaukee Performing Arts Center, 7:30 p.m.
Drawing not only from gospel but reggae, spirituals and American pop, the South African Soweto Gospel Choir quickly found an audience from far beyond Africa with albums like 2005’s Voices from Heaven and 2007’s African Spirit. The 30-plus-member choir’s profile was further raised when their song, “Down to Earth,” with Peter Gabriel and Thomas Newman from the 2008 Pixar film WALL-E, was nominated for Academy Award and Golden Globe Award honors for Best Original Song. This year, the group released its uplifting fifth album, Freedom.
Mystery Science Theater 3000 Live! @ The Riverside Theater, 7:30 p.m.
The cult comedy program “Mystery Science Theater 3000” ended its run in 1999, but in the streaming era, no show stays dead for too long, and its premise made “MST3K” especially rebootable. After years of riffing on movies live with a touring production called Cinematic Titanic, “MST3K” creator Joel Hodgson launched a remake of his Comedy Central staple for Netflix last year, with comedian Jonah Ray filling his shoes as the personable everyman forced by evil scientists to watch some of the worst movies ever made, with the help of his robot friends. Now, they’re taking the show on the road, with Hodgson and Ray riffing on movies together for the first time. For this stop, they’ll be watching The Brain, a 1988 Canadian science fiction flick about a ridiculous-looking brain-like alien.
Friday, Nov. 16
Pusha T w/ Phony PPL and Bernard Jabs @ The Rave, 8 p.m.
You could be forgiven for thinking Pusha T’s best work was behind him after the breakup of his duo, Clipse. Comprised of Pusha and his brother, Malice (who quit after his conversion to Christianity and now raps under the name No Malice), that duo produced some of the most sonically cutting-edge rap music of the 2000s, but in the years since, Pusha’s work has remained innovative, thanks largely to his association with Kanye West and that rapper’s GOOD Music label. West saved some of his best beats in ages for Pusha’s latest album, Daytona, a 21-minute slab of raw, economical rap that serves as a reminder of how fierce Pusha T can still sound after all these years.
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Holiday Folk Fair International @ State Fair Park Exposition Center
Southeastern Wisconsin is lucky to play host to an enormous variety of cultures, and many of them will be on display at this three-day celebration of diversity. In addition to international performers and artisans displaying their wares at an enormous International Bazaar, there will be interactive exhibits, a bonsai exhibit, a dance stage featuring youth performing traditional dances, a music pavilion and a coffee house. Come hungry. The event’s World Café will be serving traditional comfort food from around the globe. Local chefs will also demonstrate how to prepare international cuisine at the Chef’s Stage. (Through Sunday, Nov. 18.)
Rock of Ages @ Miller High Life Theatre, 7 p.m.
To the extent that it’s remembered at all, the movie adaptation of Rock of Ages is remembered as one of 2012’s bigger summer box-office bombs. Who, exactly, thought it was a smart move to cast Tom Cruise as a rebellious rock star? Nonetheless, that flop hasn’t hurt the popularity of this touring jukebox musical, which resurrects the hair-metal hits of the ’80s, including near-standards by Twisted Sister, REO Speedwagon, Bon Jovi and Poison. The musical—centered around a small-town girl who falls for a city boy destined for rock stardom—returns to Milwaukee as part of its 10th anniversary tour.
Wisconsin Annual Blues Harmonica Festival @ Knights of Columbus West Allis, 6 p.m.
Founded in 2013 by blues aficionados Tom Radai and David Miller, the Wisconsin Annual Blues Harmonica Festival celebrates the genre’s most distinctive instrument: the harp. This year’s festival features performances from Blue Rick, Westside Andy, Lil’ Davy Max, Blues Harp Jimmie Band and David Miller—many of whom will be accompanied by Reverend Raven (either with his Chain Smokin’ Altar Boys or with multitaskers Kurt Koenig and Wayne Wolfmeyer). Tickets are $10 in advance or $15 at the door.
Saturday, Nov. 17
Too Short w/ Geto Boys, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and Michel’le @ Miller High Life, 7 p.m.
Most rappers find their time in the spotlight is brief, but Too Short has remained influential for decades, dating back to his ’80s debut. Age hasn’t slowed him down much, either. In recent years, the quippy rapper has lent verses to projects by Snoop Dogg, E-50, Moozy and Rayven Justice, and this month, he released his 20th (and reportedly final) album, The Pimp Tapes. He’s joined on this throwback tour by gangsta rap pioneers Geto Boys (featuring original members Scarface, Bushwick Bill and Willie D) and “Crossroads” and “1st of Tha Month” rappers Bone Thugs-N-Harmony.
Goblin: ‘Suspiria’ @ Oriental Theatre, 9 p.m.
Italian horror master Dario Argento’s 1977 operatic witch opus Suspiria is enjoying some renewed attention this year thanks to a well-received remake by Luca Guadagnino, but for fans of the original, this event may be even more exciting. Claudio Simonetti’s prog-rock band Goblin will accompany this screening, performing the eerie original score they wrote for the film. This is your chance to experience Argento’s eye-popping colors on the big screen, with what promises to be a very loud soundtrack.
Sunday, Nov. 18
The Fifth Annual Larry Penn Memorial Concert @ Anodyne Coffee, 5 p.m.
Milwaukee’s folk scene is still reeling from the loss of Larry Penn, a songwriter whose union background informed albums like 1980’s Workin’ For A Livin’ and 1989’s Stickin’ With the Union: Songs From Wisconsin Labor History. Penn also held a lifelong fascination with railroads and trains, which he explored on albums like 1992’s When Steam Was King: Songs From The West Bound Rails, 2001’s Trains, Tramps & Traditions and 2004’s Railroad Queens of the Past. Performers who will honor Penn’s legacy of song and poetry at this memorial concert include Lil’ Rev, Mark Dvorak, Patty Stevenson & Craig Siemsen, Chris Vallillo, Will Branch and Bob and Diana Suckiel.
Tuesday, Nov. 20
Photo credit: Horacio Hamlet
Maxwell w/ Marsha Ambrosius @ The Riverside Theater, 8 p.m.
With his 1996 debut, Urban Hang Suite, Maxwell helped establish mellow, groove-based neo-soul as a commercially viable alternative to the more dance-based R&B of the time, but after his 2001 album, Now, he willfully retreated from the spotlight for some extended downtime. It took eight years before he returned in top form on 2009’s BLACKsummers’night, an elegant, utterly gorgeous record that swiftly returned the singer to the airwaves and earned him a pair of Grammy Awards. Amazingly, his follow-up album, blackSUMMERS’night (the second in a planned trilogy), took another seven years for the singer to deliver, but damn if it isn’t worth the wait. It’s another deliriously lush collection of introspective soul that landed him his third Grammy for the single “Lake By The Ocean.”
