This Week in MKE Music : July 11-17, 2024

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Outdoor music rules the day with Bastille Days and it satellite to the west, Puddler’s Block Party, Bembé Bombazo @ Harbor View Plaza and Joseph Huber at Chill on the Hill. Peter Jest tells his story, Ordinary Elephant in Kenosha and more—This Week in Milwaukee Music!

Thursday, July 11

Bastille Days @ Cathedral Square Park, through Sunday 

In honor of the 18th century attack on the Bastille prison in Paris, Bastille Days kicks off with a 5-K run and 2-mile walk. Four days of food, music and French and Cajun culture. Across five stages (easttown.com/bastille-days/entertainment-and-music) catch music from The Belle Weather, The Panoptics, Extra Crispy Brass Band, Kitty Soft Paw, Sugo, Jerry Grillo, and Robin Pluer’s annual hommage à la musique française: shepherdexpress.com/music/local-music/robin-pluer-back-for-bastille-days.

Friday, July 12

Bastille Day West @ West Vliet St.,  5700 block, 4 p.m.

Not your average block party, the third annual event returns to punch above its weight. What it lacks in size it makes up in sheer talent. Chœur de cors du Concord Chamber Orchestra, Milwaukee Ballet Company, The Incomparable Hildegard, The Best Westerns, The Hungry Williams and Robin Pluer with Chris Hanson & Glen Asch. More info here: bastilledaywest.com.

Microplastique @ Sugar Maple, 7 p.m.

Microplastique draws inspiration from the Arts Ensemble of Chicago, Don Cherry, Kurt Weill, and Misha Mengelberg, performing energetic, playful, and eccentric compositions that are as silly in their aesthetic as they are serious in their execution.

Evan Christian @ Gibraltar MKE, 8 p.m.

With Henry Maier Festival Park taking a break, it is Gibraltar MKE’s chance to shine. Blues and Beyond put the spotlight on flamenco-trained guitarist Evan Christian at his home base.

Saturday, July 13

Puddler’s Hall Block Party @ Puddler’s Hall, Noon

Milwaukee’s second oldest tavern celebrates its fourth annual block party. Seven bands, three food trucks and 25 vendors; featuring art, vinyl, vintage and jewelry vendors from Milwaukee mainstay pop-up market, Punk Rock Rummage Sale. Music includes Strokin’ Mother Pokehole’s 30-year reunion, Telethon’s powerpoppunkrock and Combustor.

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The latter’s new remix project (shepherdexpress.com/music/local-music/combustor-catches-fire-on-tron-jovi-collaboration) finds Tron Jovi (Martin Defatte) taking the band’s basic ingredients and reimaging the group’s sound. Old dogs learning new tricks? Here is hoping it’s not out of the question for Defatte to join a live performance ala Eno with Roxy Music or Martin Swope with Mission of Burma.

Book Launch - We Had Fun and Nobody Died: Adventures of a Milwaukee Music Promoter @ Shank Hall, 7 p.m.

For nearly four decades Peter Jest has been at the forefront of Milwaukee concert promotion. What better place than his home base Shank Hall for an event to launch the book Amy T. Waldman wrote with Jest. (shepherdexpress.com/culture/books/we-had-fun-and-nobody-died-adventures-of-a-milwaukee-music) Shepherd Express’ Dave Luhrssen, who penned the book’s forward, will join Waldman, Jest and special guests will chime in on the irreverent biography.

Sunday, July 14

Bembé Bombazo @ Harbor View Plaza, 1:30 p.m.

This free community event and cultural celebration of Afro-Puerto Rican bomba will include live performances by Academia Bembé youth and teen students, Caribbean food sampling, refreshments, an open batey (drum and dance space in the tradition of bomba), special guests, and more. Come play, sing, dance or watch and experience the tradition of Afro-Puerto Rican bomba with Bembé while enjoying beautiful views of the Kinnickinnic River. This event is free, family-friendly, and open to the public.

The Cream City Sessions w/ Strangelander and The Steph Lippert Project @ Linneman’s Riverwest Inn, 2 p.m.

The Cream City Sessions (formerly The Riverwest Sessions) returns with Strangelander and The Steph Lippert Project. Check out a 12-15 minute set of semi-acoustic music and a Q/A segment with both acts interviewing each other.

RNC Protest Kickoff @ The Cooperage, 5:30 p.m.

Consider this a pre-rebuttal to the big event that will soon take over Downtown. Here is a benefit for freedom fighters and to raise political awareness with five bands not shy about saying what is on their mind: Chicago’s Racetraitor offers hardcore punk/metal,; Cleveland’s Pillärs is a crust-punk-metal outfit—“There’s not much pretty about what they do, but there is power and grit and fury.” Also, with Infuriate (Minneapolis), Contracharge (Chicago) and It Is Dead and World of Fear, both representing Milwaukee.

Palestinian Children’s Relief Fundraiser: NOAMZ w/ Wave Chapelle and *aya @ Cactus Club, 7 p.m.

War is not the answer. Cactus Club hosts a benefit show for the Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund: pcrf.net.

Bill Maher: The WTF? Tour @ Riverside Theater, 8 p.m.

With a concert just blocks away from Fiserv of the eve of the 2024 Republican National Convention, it’s a safe bet that Bill Maher’s talking points will be set. For more than 25 years, Maher has drawn the boundaries of where funny, political talk can go on American television. First on “Politically Incorrect” (Comedy Central, ABC, 1993-2002), and for the last 20 years on HBO’s “Real Time,” Maher’s combination of unflinching honesty and big laughs have garnered him 41 Emmy nominations.

Monday, July 15

July 15: Brian Lynch and Spheres of Influence, Musical Monday @ Lake Park Musical Mondays, 6:30 p.m.

Led by the multiple Grammy© Award-winning trumpeter Brian Lynch, this ensemble mixes jazz, Afro-Caribbean and more. Lynch, who grew up in Glendale, has worked with everyone from Art Blakey and Horace Silver to Eddie Palmieri and Chucho Valdes.

Tuesday, July 16

Joseph Huber w/ Violet Wilder - Chill on the Hill @ Humboldt Park Bandshell, 5 p.m.

Songwriter Joseph Huber creates a joyful racket with an acoustic guitar and two feet of percussion. Add bassist/songwriter Eston Bennett and violinist/guitarist Kenny Leiser and Huber’s sturdy folk songs become driving, rustic symphonies. Violet Wilder’s sound is based around the vocal harmonies ofKimberly Hetelle, Melissa Hardtke and Jayna Rouse. The group’s name is a nod to the Wisconsin state flower and writer Laura Ingalls Wilder, who grew up in Pepin.

Wednesday, July 17

Ordinary Elephant @ White Lilac (5029 Sixth Ave, Kenosha), 8 p.m.

Ordinary Elephant’s Crystal and Pete Damore had to set aside the work they’d done previously, as a veterinary cardiologist and a computer programmer, respectively, to take the plunge as a travelling musical duo. The two met at an open mic in College Station, Texas, in 2009 and soon moved to Houston together. If comparisons to Gillian Welch and David Rawlings are inevitable—with her on acoustic guitar/lead vocals and him on clawhammer banjo/harmony vocals—that’s not bad company to keep.