This Week in MKE Music: May 9-15, 2024

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

by

Thursday, May 9

Sweet, Wild and Vicious: Listening to Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground by Jim Higgins @ Boswell Book Company, 6:30 p.m.

Forming the Velvet Underground would have been enough, but Lou Reed enjoyed one thoroughly unlikely hit single, “Walk on the Wild Side” and a brief run of FM airplay in the mid-‘70s with the albums Rock n Roll Animal and Sally Can’t Dance. However, his DNA is spread across the “alternative rock” of the past several decades from the late ‘70s punk explosion through the present.

Milwaukee music critic Jim Higgins gave a close listen to Reed’s catalog (shepherdexpress.com/culture/books/sweet-wild-and-vicious-listening-to-lou-reed-and-the-velvet) and Thursday night he talks about the book that came about from that experience.

Present Music – “Honest Music”  @ Milwaukee Art Museum, 8 p.m.

"This program is made up of works I can feel in my gut,” violist Nadia Sirota explains of “Honest Music.” “All of the pieces on this concert have both drawn me in immediately, and, on further examination, proven themselves to be beautifully constructed. This concert is simply music that I love.”(shepherdexpress.com/culture/classical-music/present-music-concludes-its-season-with-honest-music)

Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway's Down The Rabbit Hole Tour @ Pabst Theater, 8 p.m.

As the Milwaukee bluegrass community knows, to characterize Molly Tuttle as a bluegrass guitarist is only a start. While she can pick with the best of them—she was the first woman to win the International Bluegrass Music Association's Guitar Player of the Year award—Tuttle gives the impression of an old soul. But just when you think you have her pegged, Tuttle and Golden Highway explode expectations with an appropriately imaginative take on Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit.”

Friday, May 10

Milwaukee Psych Fest @ The Cooperage (also Saturday)

Once again Milwaukee Psych Fest takes over The Cooperage for a weekend-long music and light experience. This year the two-day extravaganza features bands and light show specialists from across the country converging on an indoor and outdoor stage. With a full lineup of sounds that happily fly well-under the radar, organizer Andrew Shelp suggests a few standouts: shepherdexpress.com/music/local-music/milwaukee-psych-fest-returns-for-ninth-year.

Friends of the Shepherd

Help support Milwaukee's locally owned free weekly magazine.

LEARN MORE

More info at eventbrite.com/e/milwaukee-psych-fest-ix-tickets-869537529157.

The Messthetics w/ James Brandon Lewis and  Strangelander featuring Amanda Huff @ Cactus Club, 7 p.m.

In Fugazi, drummer Brendan Canty and bassist Joe Lally provided a necessary bridge between the zenith of late-punk expression and everything alternative in rock that followed. In 2016, the two were enlisted by guitarist Anthony Pirog in a conspiracy to subvert and reimagine the power trio, bringing fully into the 21st century a form that may have reached near perfection with Jimi Hendrix’s Band of Gypsys on the very first day of the 1970s. It should also be noted that Canty drummed in Wayne Kramer’s MC50 group. In 2019 saxophonist James Brandon Lewis first collaborated with the Messthetics as a special guest.

EXTC w/ Look Sharp! @ Shank Hall, 8 p.m.

XTC’s story is a long and fascinating tale of a band that gave up performing live for studio albums in 1982. The group’s rabid following gets a rare glimpse of the magic when drummer Terry Chambers takes the stage with EXTC, the group approved by XTC’s Andy Partridge. Milwaukee’s Look Sharp opens with material from Joe Jackson’s debut album. It should be a fine warmup for the man’s appearance in town next month.

Saturday, May 11

The Finns @ CelticMKE Center (1532 Wauwatosa Ave.), 7:30 p.m.

Two brothers from Laois, Ireland (that's a county and it's pronounced like "leash"), Ciaran and Hugh Finn, perform at the Irish Fest headquarters, CelticMKE. Bringing a unique sound to Irish music, they stand astride the traditional and the contemporary, doing classic folk songs with a refreshing new take, and originals that sound right at home in 2024, all with acoustic instruments (mostly guitar and banjo) and just a touch of modern enhancement.

Charlee Grider w/ Cosmic Lovechild, Cullah and Hanna Simone @ Linneman’s Riverwest Inn, 7 p.m.

MKE Music Night LXXV brings a diverse lineup with Scam Likely’s Charlee Grider (shepherdexpress.com/music/local-music/sonic-concoctions-scam-likely-expand-their-musical-palate-on), Cosmic Love Child’s homage to the forefathers of R&B, rock and soul, Cullah aka “The Beck of Milwaukee” and songwriter Hanna Simone.

Sunday, May 12

House Your Body - Jonn Hawley and Andrew Optimist w/ guests Don Black and Lurky @ Mad Planet, 9 p.m.

One nation under a groove since 1990, Mad Planet hosts House Your Body featuring the best of classic and new quality house music all night long.

Monday, May 13

Puppy Angst w/ Breakup Tour, Glitzy and Killer High Life @ X-Ray Arcade, 6 p.m.

Start your week off with a full evening of music featuring the dreamy fuzz pop of Philly’s Puppy Angst, local bubble-grunge Breakup Tour, the “shoegaze-y, Midwest emo-like, new-wave type of melodic indie rock” of Glitzy and newcomers Killer High Life.

Monday, May 13

“No End to Jazz” @ Jazz Gallery

UWM student filmmaker Joe Zeitouny composed a short film focused on Milwaukee jazz, “No End to Jazz.” The documentary remembers the inspirational contributions of Manty Ellis, Berkeley Fuddge and Hattush Alexander, and the next generation led by Brian Lynch, and onto the youngest cohort of contemporary players making music in Milwaukee. The 8 p.m. screening is followed by an 8:30 p.m. discussion with Zeitouny and an 8:45 jam session hosted by the Milwaukee Jazz Institute.

Tuesday, May 14

“Piano Men 2” @ Milwaukee Rep, 7:30 p.m. (through May 19)

“This is not a concert. This is a party!” exclaims performer Steve Watts at the start of Piano Men 2. “The only rule is to have fun.” (shepherdexpress.com/culture/theater/two-piano-men-at-stackner-cabaret) With two pianos facing each other, these two extraordinary talented musicians turn the show back onto the audience, playing song requests they submitted beforehand. Michael Jackson? Got it. Broadway showtunes? No problem. Heavy metal? Oh yeah. (In case you’re wondering, “Enter Sandman” by Metallica).

Wednesday, May 15

“Run Baby Run” by Southern Culture on The Skids

At it since 1983, Chapel Hill’s rump-shaking, greasy rock and roll trio SCOTS takes fun seriously. The buffet of rockabilly, surf rock, country and R&B continues with 2021’s At Home With Southern Culture on the Skids.