This Week in MKE Music: May 2-8, 2024

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

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Refreshing takes on rockabilly, bluegrass, Americana and surf rock; a tribute to Mike Hoffmann; a marathon documentary on Sigmund Snopek III and more—This Week in Milwaukee Music!

Thursday, May 2

H-D Bike Night Featuring Bruce Humphries and the Rockabilly Rebels @ Harley-Davidson Museum, 5 p.m.

Kick off the weekend and show off your Sportster or just dig the sounds as Bruce Humphries and the Rockabilly Rebels rip it up in 3D: shepherdexpress.com/music/local-music/vinyl-lives-bruce-humphries-and-the-rockabilly-rebels. Here’s hoping for a loud version of “Rebel Rouser” for the late great Duane Eddy.

Friday, May 3

John Dikeman & Swiss Musician Trio @ Sugar Maple, 7 p.m.

“It’s extremely important to learn how to fail,” said saxophonist John Dikeman in an interview. “Each environment creates new possibilities. Just the combination of my breath, the horn, and a space is more than enough to keep me stimulated. Now once we add other musicians, we have an infinite world of possibilities.”

Prof Pinkerton's Irrelevant Orchestra @ Schauer Arts Center (147 N Rural St., Hartford), 8 p.m.

Professor Pinkerton’s Irrelevant Orchestra maintains an impressive balancing act between being authentic to tradition and being fiercely in the moment. Their interpretation of early jazz, blues and American roots music has a startling air of timelessness that is as refreshing as it is compelling.

Los Straitjackets Featuring Daddy-O Grande w/Wasted Major @ Shank Hall, 8 p.m.

You’d think they’d be easy to pick out of a crowd but without Nick Lowe they are just another bunch of pretty faces. Or are they? Clad in their trademark Lucha Libre Mexican wrestling masks, as the leading practitioners of the lost art of the guitar instrumental Los Straitjacket takes music of the Ventures, The Shadows, and with Link Wray and Dick Dale as a jumping off point.

City Slang w/Combstor @ Linneman’s Riverwest Inn, 8 p.m.

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In some circles the song “City Slang” by Sonic Rendezvous Band is the apotheosis—the intersection where hard rock and punk met. So, it takes some cojones to name your band after that song. City Slang, like Combustor (shepherdexpress.com/music/local-music/combustors-combustible-rock) is a band of local veterans who see no reason to hang it up. Their collected resume includes The Exotics, The Pils, Nerve Twins, Silk Torpedo, Indonesian Junk, Three on Fire, Western Starlanders, The Haskels, Red Ball Jets and Six Wives of Richard.

Saturday, May 4

Riverwest Pub Crawl @ Amorphic Beer (3700 N. Fratney St.), noon

The 2024 Riverwest Pub Crawl raises funds for local charities— taste some of Amorphic’s one-of-a-kind beers. The free event includes live music from Floor Model, Lack of Reason, M545 and Green Bay’s Smart Shoppers.

Rockhoffamnoff @ Ope! Brewing Co., 5 p.m.

When Mike Hoffmann unexpectedly exited the stage in 2021 (shepherdexpress.com/music/local-music/milwaukee-musician-and-producer-mike-hoffmann-passes) it was a sad day for local music. Hoffmann played with many bands including Yipes!, E*I*E*I*O, Semi-Twang, The Carnival Strippers, Guido’s Racecar, The Carolinas and The Delta Routine. 

Among his long list of credits, Hoffmann produced, performed and recorded with: melaniejane, Semi-Twang, Carnival Strippers, The Holy Ranger, Victor DeLorenzo, Nineteen Thirteen, The Spanic Boys, Arms, Legs and Feet, The Carolinas, Mike Fredrickson, Blue in the Face, Ward and His Troubles and the Yell Leaders. At the time of his passing, he was collaborating with The Delta Routine, mood vertigo and Sam Llanas.

Here is a chance to keep Mike’s memory alive. Proceeds from this event will go to Engineers Without Borders, USA—a non-profit humanitarian organization established to partner with developing communities worldwide in order to improve their quality of life. Music from Mood Vertigo, The Pinwheels, Bryon Cherry & Sean Williamson, nineteen thirteen, Semi-Twang and The Carolinas.

Sunday, May 5

The Complete History of Space/Time (Destination Milwaukee) - A Documentary About Sigmund Snopek III, Linneman’s Riverwest Inn, 1 p.m.

Roll out the red carpet and get comfortable. The world premiere of this six-and-a-half-hour documentary details the career of Sigmund Snopek III (shepherdexpress.com/film/reviews/snopek-documentary-premieres-in-milwaukee). The all-day event will include a screening of the entire work, plus two 30 minute intermissions and a Q&A session. Yes, this will be an all-day event.

Third Coast Blues Collective @ Ope! Brewing Co., 3 p.m.

On the first Sunday of the month, Kurt Koenig and Matt Liban (Third Coast Blues Collective) anchor the music with special guests. This Sunday Ivy Ford and Tom Holland join the proceedings.

Monday, May 6

The Postal Service and Death Cab For Cutie Performing Give Up and Transatlanticism w/ Slow Pulp @ Miller High Life Theatre, 6:30 p.m.

To celebrate two decades of Give Up and Transatlanticism, The Postal Service and Death Cab for Cutie have joined forces for a 20th anniversary co-headline tour. Benjamin Gibbard, the co-founder of both bands, will pull double duty performing with The Postal Service (Gibbard, Jimmy Tamborello, and Jenny Lewis) as well as with Death Cab for Cutie (Nick Harmer, Dave Depper, Zac Rae, and Jason McGerr). Both groups will perform their seminal 2003 albums in full.

Tuesday, May 7

The Pentagram String Band w/ Grain Elevator and Jayke Orvis @ X-Ray Arcade, 6:30 p.m.

Here’s a night of redefining roots music. Kansas City’s Pentagram String Band plays “Satanic bluegrass,” Grain Elevator turns up the sounds of classic Outlaw Country and Jake Orvis’s career stretches back to local legends .357 String Band.

Todd Day Wait w/Long Mama @ Cactus Club, 7 p.m.

A year ago, Todd Day Wait and his band (steel guitar and drums) snuck into the Cactus Club on a Tuesday night, turned it into a more-western-than-country roadhouse and left in the dark of night. Not so much a throwback as a through-line to long gone honky-tonks.

Wednesday, May 8

Ray Bonneville @ Café Carpe, Fort Atkinson, 7:45 p.m.

An acclaimed raconteur, Ray Bonneville strips his bluesy Americana down to its essentials and steeps it in the humid grooves of the South, creating a compelling poetry of hard living and deep feeling.