This Week in Milwaukee: Oct. 26-Nov. 1, 2023

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

by

Victoria Canal at the library, Jorge Valentine at The Allis, the return of Voot Warnings at The Uptowner, The City Without Jews at Milwaukee Art Museum, Witch at Renaissance Theaterworks, a benefit for Jessica Olsan and more—This Week in Milwaukee!

Thursday, Oct. 26

Victoria Canal @ Milwaukee Central Library’s Centennial Hall, 7 p.m. Also,  Studio Sessions with 88.9 Radio Milwaukee, noon.

Vocalist-multi instrumentalist Victoria Canal plays a pair of free shows in her only Midwest performances. Spanish-American Canal is LGTBQ, and a disability advocate, born with a limb difference that leaves her with one hand. Some of her beautiful songs deal with issues of body image and young women. Canal challenges the habit of self-shrinking across the EP WELL WELL, magnifying parts of herself that she’s never openly shared before. The gentle gut-punch of opener “Shape” delves into the complex and intimate topic of body dysmorphia.

Jorge Vallentine: Autumn at the Allis @ Charles Allis Art Museum, 7 p.m.

Indie folk artist Jorge Vallentine returns to the Allis with his soulful storytelling with compelling rhythms. Tour the Allis after hours before and after the show. Doors open at 6 p.m.

Jeremiah Chiu @ Acme Records, 8 p.m.

Los Angeles-based electronic music composer Jeremiah Chiu’s soundscapes draw the listener in with sonic manipulation. On June 29, 2023, Chiu walked into the Vintage Synthesizer Museum (VSM) in Highland Park, Los Angeles, with no plan more specific than “let’s fire this stuff up and see what happens.” Exploring the VSM’s vast collection of classic, rare and staple synthesizers, he would sequence, trigger, and layer the machines together with help from VSM founder/curator Lance Hill. Hill recalls: “Jeremiah arrived before the engineer showed up. We talked for maybe five minutes before he started programming a sound and sequence into the Gleeman Pentaphonic. By the time the engineer showed up, Jeremiah had built several other parts around the Gleeman that weren’t synced by any control method but sounded like they were just calling and responding to each other. They plugged the Tascam 388 into the patch bay and hit record. Jeremiah played with it, and that was it. The first piece was written and recorded in under an hour. It felt natural, fun and free. And that's pretty much how the rest of the session went.”

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Friday, Oct. 27

Candlelight: A Haunted Evening of Halloween Classics @ Calvary Presbyterian Church

Instead of working away on your pumpkins for an evening, carve out a little over an hour to experience a one-of-a-kind event. The live concert, performed by the Listeso string quartet under candle lights, includes a wide swath of holiday-themed selections ranging from “Thriller” by Michael Jackson to “Funeral March of a Marionette” by Charles Gounod, from “Tubular Bells (Theme from The Exorcist)” by Mike Oldfield to “Ghostbusters” by Ray Parker Jr.

Saturday, Oct. 28

Voot Warnings @ The Uptowner, 8 p.m.

Returning from a hiatus, Voot Warnings resumes his Homeric run of shows falling on or near holidays. With songs reaching back to before his days riding shotgun with Violent Femmes, Warnings (along with drummer Victor Demichei and bassist Jacob Muchin), regularly manages to turn Milwaukee’s oldest and continuous longest-running tavern into a forum for songs that veer from personal observations to PC-skewering anthems to sci-fi instrumentals. Costumes? Expect the unexpected.

Sound System DJ Series @ Black Cat Alley, 7 p.m.

You supply the costume and Black Cat Alley provides the DJ crew. Asher Gray and Greyhound throw down the spooky beats and are hex-cited to watch you dance your life away. Presented by Crossroads Collective, System Seltzers, Club Ritual, and the East Side BID.

Sunday, Oct. 29

Concert to Benefit Jessica Olsan @ Ope Brewing, 4 p.m.

Jessica (aka J) Olsan suffered a serious and typically fatal brain stem bleed at the end of September at the young age of 37. The music community is rallying all of its love, positive energy, and gift of music for this fundraising concert. All proceeds go to the Olsan family to help offset medical and daily living expenses. $10 suggested donation at the door. The stellar lineup includes: Bryan Cherry, Jaems Murphy, Wisconsin Academy of Music students, The Belle Weather, Ben Harold & The Rising, Elephonic and Cripes. More info at GoFundMe: gofundme.com/f/jessica-olsan-and-family-medical-expenses.

Present Music Presents The City Without Jews @ Milwaukee Art Museum, 7:30 p.m.; 6 p.m. Pre-Performance Panel Discussion

In 2015, a complete print of Die Stadt ohne Juden (The City Without Jews) was discovered in a Paris flea market. It had been one of many thousands of lost films from the silent era, yet its story is singular. Shot in 1924, the eerily prophetic story concerns Jews from a big European city, expelled from their homes and pushed onto trains for uncertain destinations. Seen in light of the Holocaust, The City Without Jews, although soon forgotten after its release, stands as a prediction of things to come. David Luhrssen spoke to Present Music’s Co-artistic Director Eric Segnitz: shepherdexpress.com/culture/ae-feature/present-music-presents-the-city-without-jews.

Jon Byrd and Paul Niehaus @ Linneman’s Riverwest Inn, 5 p.m.

Jon Byrd lived his formative years in small town America, deep in the piney woods of south Alabama just one county over from the birthplace of legendary country artist Hank Williams. After touring nationally with jangle-pop purists Tim Lee and the Windbreakers, and Primitons in the ‘80s, Byrd formed the hard country band the Ratchet Set as a musical outlet for his love of old trucking songs and two chord honky-tonk gems.

Vince Herman @ Shank Hall, 8 p.m.

Leftover Salmon co-founder Vince Herman brings his band, which features talented Nashville pickers—along with his son, Silas—for an evening of “country rockin' honky tonkin' bluegrass stompin' music.” The Vince Herman Band performs music from his debut solo album, Enjoy the Ride, as well as other tunes Herman has stashed in his 30-plus year catalog.

The Wailin’ Jennys @ The Pabst Theater, 8 p.m.

Starting as a happy accident of solo singer/songwriters getting together for a one-time-only performance at a tiny guitar shop in Winnipeg, Manitoba, The Wailin’ Jennys have grown over the years into one of today’s most beloved international folk acts. Founding members Moody and Mehta along with New York-based Masse continue to create some of the most exciting music on the folk-roots scene, stepping up their musical game with each critically lauded recording and thrilling audiences with their renowned live performances.

Monday, Oct. 30

Magic & Comedy with Two Brothers One Mind @ Haunted Brumder Mansion, 9:30 p.m., through Tuesday

Welcome to a world where the impossible is possible. For nearly two decades, Milwaukee expats Chad and Jeff Orr, have been continually leaving audiences stunned and with smiles on their faces. Witness as the real-life siblings incredibly transmit your randomly suggested thoughts from one brother to the other.

Tuesday, Oct. 31

“Predecessor: Works from the Layton School of Art” @ MIAD, through Dec. 8

In 1920, Charlotte Partridge and Miriam Frank opened the Layton School of Art in the basement of the Frederick Layton Art Gallery in downtown Milwaukee. The school flourished and eventually relocated to a building on Prospect Avenue in 1953. Along the way they laid the foundation of the Milwaukee art world and did so in reciprocity and dialogue with an exploding international movement of Modern art and culture.

Predecessor: Works from the Layton School of Art now showing at MIAD (shepherdexpress.com/culture/visual-art/predecessor-works-from-the-layton-school-of-art-at-miad) progresses chronologically through the school’s decades of operation. In doing so it functions as a time capsule for both the individual artists at the school and the movements they represented as history unfurled in their laps. With its pedagogical roots in German Expressionism and the multidisciplinary style of the Bauhaus, Layton was ahead of its time in the U.S. and the consistency of variety in the exhibition reflects this enthusiasm.

Wednesday, Nov. 1

Witch @ Renaissance Theaterworks, through Nov. 12

Witch is a new dark comedy that comes just in time for the fall season. The latest from the company is witty, darkly funny and full of magic. Jen Silverman’s signature writing style takes on the theme of hope when it’s hard to find. This seasonally appropriate show is a representation of the spirit of October, full of witches, devils, drama and more: shepherdexpress.com/culture/theater/witch-a-devilishly-fun-dark-comedy-comes-to-renaissance.