This Week in Milwaukee: Sept. 14-20, 2023

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Bill Camplin on the roof, jazz in the grocery store, a bash in Bay View, dogs in the beer garden, yoga with alpacas and more—This Week in Milwaukee! 

Thursday, Sept. 14

Bill Camplin @ Charles E. Fromage, 6:30 p.m.

Esteemed songwriter Bill Camplin’s natural habitat is Cafe Carpe in Fort Atkinson, so here is a chance to catch him up close atop the roof-level bistro deck. Crafting songs since before his band Woodbine’s 1971 album, Camplin is a local treasure.

Friday, Sept. 15

Mrs. Fun w/ Russ Johnson @ Metro Market (4075 N. Oakland Ave., Shorewood), 4 p.m.

Jazz in a grocery store at a civil hour. Keyboard and drums duo Mrs. Fun are joined by trumpeter Russ Johnson, who The Chicago Reader described as “one of the best … postbop practitioners in New York.”

Community Scholars Travel Fund Celebration Launch and Fundraiser @ Lion's Tooth, 5:30 p.m.

Lion's Tooth celebrates the launch of the Community Scholars Travel Fund, a dynamic and empowering initiative established to foster academic and personal growth among individuals in Milwaukee’s underserved or economically disadvantaged communities. 

In partnership with local organizations, this fund seeks to eliminate barriers to education, facilitate cross-cultural exchanges, and broaden horizons by providing financial support to scholars who face financial constraints in pursuing travel opportunities.

Guest speakers Monique Liston, founder, chief strategist and joyful militant at UBUNTU Research and Evaluation; and Michael Carriere, professor of history and director of the Honors Program at the Milwaukee School of Engineering, will be on hand to further discuss this innovative program. More info at lionstoothmke.com/events.html.

Salsabrositas Dance Group and Brown’s Crew @ Music on the Beerline (3350 N. Holton St.), 5p.m.

The final event of Music on the Beerline welcomes Salsabrositas Dance Group and Brown’s Crew in honor of Hispanic Heritage month. Food vendors include Pina’s Mexican Eats and Yaheem’s On the Go.

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Best "Dam" Blues Fest @ Thiensville Village Park Re-Imagined (250 Elm St., Thiensville), 4 p.m. Also Saturday

The 3rd annual Best "Dam" Blues Fest is stacked with talent including Leroy Airmaster featuring Junior Brantley, Lil' Ed & The Blues Imperials, BB King's Birthday All-star Blast feat: Billy Flynn, Stephen Hull, Ashesh Dangol, Paul Stilin, Gervis Myles and many more—also food trucks, raffles, craft vendors. The event will benefit Thiensville Village Park Re-Imagined, Wisconsin Area Music Industry (WAMI), Thiensville Fire Department, Wisconsin Blues Hall of Fame and the Thiensville Business Association. More info at facebook.com/events/494874175470543/494874185470542/.

Saturday, Sept. 16

Bay View Bash @ Potter and Clement on Kinnickinnic Avenue. 11 a.m.

Some of us consider the Bay View Bash the unofficial end of summer. The annual day-long sprawling community street festival includes food, art, crafts, books, community organizations and five stages of music.

Start the day off with Punk Rock Yoga with Sarah Helium. New Orleans duo Quintron and Miss Pussycat headline the Rushmor Records  Stage; among the wealth of musical riches the day offers The Trusty Knife, Klassik, Bug Moment and Honey Creek. 

The WMSE Stage features an all-female lineup curated by Music Director Sid McCain. “We are so lucky to live in a city with a killer music scene and it was pretty easy to put together,” McCain said. “I wanted an all-female /female identifying or queer lineup to show the diversity our music community. The first band I went after was Faux Fiction because they are originally from here but Gabriella moved out of state. I have always been one of their biggest fans. Olivia Jean who is just all around one of the coolest women out there confirmed and I know Steph Lippert and World in Action would be great additions and add some variety to the lineup.” The Boogie Bang Gang’s live remote broadcast kicks things off at noon. More info at bayviewbash.org/entertainment.

Barktoberfest @ Estabrook Beer Garden, Noon

Friends of MADACC hosts their 12th Annual Barktoberfest. Events include Milwaukee County House of Correction K-9 Unit demonstration, Dog Costume Contest and Adoptable Dog Pet Parade.

Eco-Justice Center’s Discovery Days Fundraiser @ Eco-Justice Center’s (7133 Michna Road, Racine), also Sunday

Discovery Days is all about "trying it out." Try your hand at butter making the old-fashioned way and take home your tasty treat; take a free tour to explore the gardens, visit bee hives, encounter alpacas, or learn about renewable energy or register for Yoga with Alpacas: join the herd in the pasture as you practice yoga while the alpacas wander around you. More info at ecojusticecenter.org/discovery-days.

Technical Reserve, Kieran Daly and Heinemann/Russell duo @ Jazz Gallery Center for the Arts, 7 p.m.

Technical Reserve is the trio project of Hunter Brown, Dominic Coles, and TJ Borden. Their singular improvisational language moves freely between discrete rhythmic shards, precision-oriented bombast, and floating, hazy abjection. This is music for lovers of zero gravity jazz and truck stop shenanigans. Kieran Daly is a composer and guitarist with concentrations including electroacoustic music, free improvisation, and jazz. Heinemann/Russell duo (upright bassist Jakob Heinemann and percussionist/electronic musician Tim Russell) round out the lineup free ranging sounds.

Latin Night - Los Mitoteros W/ Pulpa De Guayaba, Camino Astral and Death Is a Business @ Linneman’s Riverwest Inn, 7 p.m.

The third annual Latin night celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month, featuring a four band bill headlined by Los Mitoteros. The evening will also feature local art vendors.

Sunday, Sept. 17

Rick Ollman - Tabi Po Poetry Series and Open Mic @County Clare Irish Pub, 3 p.m.

Performance of poetry and music are the twin foci of Rick Ollman's artistic efforts. His music is freely improvised on multiple instruments, while his poetry is always pre-composed and recited from memory. These two very different approaches to performance share the goal of heightened expression combining both structure and spontaneity.

Goose @ Miller High Life Theatre, 6:30 p.m.

Goose fluidly traverse genres with head-spinning hooks, technical fireworks, and the kind of chemistry only possible among small town and longtime friends. Following 2016’s Moon Cabin, the Norwalk, CT quintet quietly took flight, playing countless shows steadily amassing a nationwide following. Dripfield the band’s third studio album (2022) is an introspective dissection of Goose’s journey, anchored by a theme of balance.

$1 from each ticket sold will support Backline, a mental health and wellness resource for the music industry.

Monday, Sept. 18

Califone @ Shank Hall, 8 p.m.

Chicago band Califone’s roots go back to the band Red Red Meat. Based around the songs of Tim Rutili, the band has fearlessly disregarded rules or genre, drawing in many collaborators. Pitchfork summed up the recent album villagers as “Califone collaborators have tapped a newfound efficiency within their shared love of the strange, channeling it into some of the band’s most fetching songs ever. villagers radiates openness and accessibility, maybe more than any other Califone album. But that’s not to say that things don’t get strange.

Tuesday, Sept. 19

Love You to Death: Discontented Desire @ Haggerty Museum of Art, through Dec. 23

We are, daily, inundated with ads telling us what we should want: The newest fashion, the latest technology, the hottest trend. The implicit message is that we lack something, that we are incomplete. But no matter what we buy, no matter what trend we adopt, it is never sufficient. Enough is never enough—we always want more.

“ Love You to Death: Discontented Desire” features a selection of prints from the Haggerty Museum of Art’s collection that speak to varied perceptions of desire. Whether tracing the itinerary of longing in Michael Rothenstein’s The Song of Songs, exploring the urban eroticism of Richard Lindner’s Shoot series, or pondering the intimacy of Valerio Adami’s Prelude and Tramanto, we hope that viewers will risk asking: What is it that I truly desire?

Wednesday, Sept. 20

Women Pulling at the Threads of Social Discourse @ Jewish Museum Milwaukee, through Dec. 31

Perhaps the most striking artwork in “Women Pulling at the Threads” is the largest. Shelly McCoy’s Allegory of Sisterhood II: What If stretches from nearly ceiling to floor in the museum’s great hall. The installation is sewn in part from secondhand red and white skirts with a selection of white brassieres against a blue field, forming a humorous rendition of the American flag. (shepherdexpress.com/culture/happening-now/jewish-museum-milwaukee-announces-women-pulling-at-the-thre)

The issues addressed in much of “Women Pulling at the Threads” are “fundamental to the topics we’ve always explored, giving voice to underheard groups” museum curator Molly Dubin said, referring to JMM’s programming history.