The Cooperage - Exterior
The Cooperage
Shepherd Express’ Margarita Fest, Valerie June, Festa Italiana, Bay View Gallery Night and Bay View Jazz Fest, Alex Ballard and Sugarfoot and more—This Week in Milwaukee Music!
Thursday, May 29
Valerie June “Owls, Omens, and Oracles Tour” w/ Buffalo Nichols @ Vivarium, 8 p.m.
“Joy, Joy!” by Valerie June
The New York Times wrote “Valerie June has built a devoted following by ignoring expectations. She is simultaneously rural and cosmopolitan, historically minded and contemporary, idiosyncratic and fashionable, mystical and down-to-earth.” Known for her distinctive voice and singing style, Valerie June combines psychedelic folk, indie rock, country soul and symphonic pop.
Opener Buffalo Nichols’ 2023 album The Fatalist earned him rave reviews from NPR and Rolling Stone, various major festival performances and his network television debut on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.”
Friday, May 30
Festa Italiana @ Henry Maier Festival Park, through Sunday
Festa Italiana’s “Little Italy on the Lakefront” will feature Festa favorites including the Cucina Showcase, Heritage/Cultural Exhibit, Italian Idol, Fireworks, Bocce Tournament, Mass, and of course, lots of Italian food and wine. Live music from 5 Card Studs, The Russo Brothers, Frank Lamphere & His Rat Pack Quintet and more. More info here iccmilwaukee.com/festa-italiana
Bay View Gallery Night and Bay View Jazz Fest, all over Bay View, 5 p.m.
KASE
Over 70 locations, Bay View Gallery Night will feature art of all kinds, as well as music. In addition, Bay View Jazz Fest celebrates a decade and infiltrates seven venues with over a dozen acts ranging from Mrs. Fun, MJI Student Groups, Neil Davis, Steve Peplin and the Russ Johnson Quartet.
Jazz at the Vine, the Humboldt Park Beer Garden kicks off its season with KASE. The prolific group just released its 10th release, A Night at Gibraltar. More info on BVGN here bvgn.org/gallery-night-milwaukee/
Saturday, May 31
Real Pretenders @ Shank Hall, 8 p.m.
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While Chrissie Hynde is fresh off a tour of Latin America, the Real Pretenders roll into town for a homage to the long-running band.
Chicago’s Real Pretenders are music veterans with a passion for the hard driving rhythms, catchy melodic hooks, soul-tortured lyrics and back-alley sex appeal that characterize the music of the Pretenders. They aren't a costume act; they have come together to thread the musical needle between faithfully rendering the Pretenders’ sound and joyfully harnessing these timeless and lustful pop rock gems.
Alex Ballard and Sugarfoot w/ The Thriftones and The Dirty Sweet @ Linneman's, 8:30 p.m.
Photo courtesy of Alex Ballard
Sugarfoot
Sugarfoot
Those lucky enough to catch a band called Baku Press back in the ‘90s in Milwaukee clubs recall a band bursting with great songs and stellar musicianship. When that band ended, songwriter Alex Ballard released a four song EP on local label Don’t Records that rivaled anything at the national level.
Ballard subsequently formed the band Sugarfoot, and while the lineup has changed over the years, he has continued working at his own pace. Nearly every recording that the perfectionist Ballard has released, especially “Lathe of Heaven,” frames him as one of Milwaukee’s best songwriters and soulful vocalists.
“What were we calling it back then?” he asks. “Roots rock?” Those were still the days when learning about non-mainstream music was “a holy journey,” he calls it. “It was like magic—meeting people, trading records with friends, indie magazines and college radio.”
A self-described “music geek,” Ballard was energized by punk rock and inspired by music with roots in an older America—X, Steve Earle, Townes Van Zandt.
Live gigs are rare birds, but celebrating the release of the new single, “Ghosts,” Sugarfoot is back on stage. Thriftones share plenty of music DNA with the headliners. Mining the veins of Americana, songwriter Matthew Davies’ accomplices have included guitarist Andrew Koenig and bassist Eston Bennett—a pair of baby-faced assassins who seem to breath musicality and are wise beyond their years.
Decades ago, Ballard’s Baku Press shared the stage often with the charming (and often shambolic) Wobble Test. The Dirty Sweet includes Mike DeVogel and John Daniels from Wobble Test along with Jeff Jara (Shatterproof and Sugarfoot) and Chris Tishler (CHIEF, Wheelie, Mothers Room and The 5 Card Studs).
Sunday, June 1
Margarita Fest @ The Cooperage, 1 p.m.
Come on out and sample from Milwaukee’s best margarita-makers and vote on your favorite margarita! We'll crown a winner at the end of the event! Margarita samples included with admission. Live entertainment, food trucks, raffles, games, and a beautiful view of the city from the river! More info here shepherdexpress.com/upcoming-events/margarita-fest-2025
2nd Annual “Americana Brunch” with Panalure & Friends w/ Denny Rauen @ Discourse Coffee @ Radio Milwaukee 158 S. Barclay St.), 11 a.m.
Kick back with a special Sunday brunch performance of original Americana music by Panalure, with the fingerstyle guitarist (and renowned luthier) Denny Rauen, who will launch the morning with his wordless songs of the soul. The event is hosted by Ryan Castelaz, Discourse Coffee owner and author of The New Art of Coffee.
Locust Street Festival, Locust Street (Humboldt Boulevard to Holton Street), 11:30 a.m.
Who says you can’t fight City Hall? With four stages of live music, local vendors, artists, food and beer, Locust Street Festival of Music and Art celebrates 46 years—in 1977 the neighborhood first celebrated a win over the City of Milwaukee in a battle to widen Locust Street.
The 1.6 mile Beer Run kicks things off. The free-range live music list includes Obscure Birds, Bellends, Wave Chapelle and the Wilson Family Band Full lineup here: locuststreetfestival.org/music
Monday, June 2
Peelander-Z w/ Fight Dice and Nasty Boys @ Cactus Club, 6 p.m.
“P-Party! Z-Party / See You Gator” by Peelander-Z
Kick off the week with night of conceptual bands. Peelander-Z is a Japanese Action Comic Punk band based in Austin, TX. Fight Dice, Milwaukee’s fantastical music collective merges heavy post-punk sounds with the epic narratives of your favorite role-playing game. You may have seen Milwaukee’s Nasty Boys turn heads at Center St. Daze; they do it all.
Wednesday, June 4
Ron Chernow @ Turner Hall Ballroom, 6 p.m.
If you were to suggest Mark Twain deserves rock star status, you wouldn’t get any arguments here.
Boswell Book Company and the Pabst Theater Group present a special evening with Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer Ron Chernow at the Turner Hall Ballroom. Chernow appears with his latest book, Mark Twain, in which he illuminates the full, fascinating, and complex life of the writer long celebrated as the father of American literature.
Drawing on Twain’s archives, including thousands of letters and hundreds of unpublished manuscripts, Chernow masterfully captures the man whose career reflected the country’s westward expansion, industrialization and foreign wars, and who was the most important white author of his generation to grapple so fully with the legacy of slavery.
In this brilliant work of scholarship, a moving tribute to the writer’s talent and humanity, Chernow reveals the magnificent and often maddening life of one of the most original characters in American history. Each ticket includes a hardcover copy of Mark Twain and a bookplate signed by Ron Chernow.
