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Photo courtesy of Lupinare
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Photo courtesy of Hillbilly Casino
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Photo by Danny Work
Koch Marshall Trio
This week, listen to Manty Ellis Trio, Hillbilly Casino, Freddie & the Blifftones and more in Milwaukee.
Thursday, Dec. 19
Manty Ellis Trio @ Transfer MKE, 7:30 p.m.
Manty Ellis, Milwaukee’s godfather of jazz guitar, is back for his fifth year of Martini Jazz Lounge residency. This year, the trio will perform every third Thursday. The Manty Ellis Trio is rounded out by veteran players Jeff Hamann on bass and Jamie Breiwick on trumpet.
Photo courtesy of Hillbilly Casino
Hillbilly Casino w/ Rosie & The Rivets and Jittery Jack & Miss Amy @ Northern Lights Theater, 8 p.m.
Join the rockin’, retro, good time, Holiday Hootenanny at the Christmas Carnival featuring Nashville’s Hillbilly Casino, blending elements of honky-tonk, rockabilly, psychobilly and straight-up rock ’n’ roll.
Every member of Hillbilly Casino brings a special flair to the band. From Nic Roulette’s background in hip-hop and rockabilly to Geoff Firebaugh’s love of old-school punk rock and ska, you’ll find elements of all of this in every Hillbilly Casino record and show. Boston’s Jittery Jack & Miss Amy bring an East Coast bang to the world of rockabilly and ’50s inspired rock ’n’ roll.
Friday, Dec. 20
Freddie & the Blifftones @ Linneman’s Riverwest Inn, 7:30 p.m.
Fred Bliffert has a long and storied career in both Milwaukee and national music scenes. In the ’60s, Bliffert founded Freddie & the Freeloaders, the Hound Dog Band, Jelly and Freddy & the Blifftones. Now president and CEO of Bliffert Lumber Company, he recorded two albums on major labels and has collaborated with (and had several albums produced by) the legendary Al Kooper (Blood, Sweat & Tears and Bob Dylan).
Saturday, Dec. 21
Happy Harley Days @ Harley-Davidson Museum MOTOR Bar & Restaurant, 10 a.m.
Come celebrate the holiday season with a fun-filled day at the Harley-Davidson Museum with roaming entertainment throughout the campus, breakfast with Santa at MOTOR Bar & Restaurant, as well as holiday shopping. Bring your holiday wish list to breakfast with Santa and enjoy hands-on holiday frame decorating. The Big Guy will be hanging out at MOTOR from 10 a.m.-2 p.m.
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Also on display is “Building a Milwaukee Icon: Harley-Davidson’s Juneau Avenue Factory.” This recently recovered cache of architectural drawings includes plans for the original Juneau Avenue facility. The pencil drawings, along with archival photographs, demonstrate the whirlwind pace of the company’s early growth when Milwaukee was known as the “Machine Shop to the World.”
Photo courtesy of Lupinare
Lupinare w/ Arrow, Murder Generation @ Pabst Milwaukee Brewery and Taproom, 9 p.m.
Milwaukee’s Paul Kneevers is on a roll. Earlier this month, the multi-instrumentalist announced that he had composed four new songs in one week. And Kneevers plans on releasing four new albums with different groups in 2020.
In October, Kneevers’ band, Lupinare, released Involuntary Exposure. Their description is “Zappa-style grooves with outspoken vocals, whiplash guitars smothered in noise from space, splashed with pop-hook frenzy.” It would not be off the mark to suggest this is not easy listening. Kneevers mines the news of the day to come up with what he simply describes as “dark music.”
Photo by Danny Work
Koch Marshall Trio
Koch Marshall Trio @ Shank Hall, 8 p.m.
With 15 albums to his credit, Greg Koch’s talent as a guitar virtuoso precedes him. Joined by his son Dylan on drums and Toby Lee Marshall on Hammond B3 organ, the trio blends the explosive guitar manipulations, groove-centric, power-pocket drumming and keyboard sounds that range from deep to screaming. Koch’s compositions are properly portrayed in the blues-drenched, funky, chicken-fried, gospel, jazz-rock panorama in which they were conceived.
Monday, Dec. 23
King Eye & The Squirts—Green Bay Packers halftime show @ Cactus Club, 7 p.m.
Each week, a different musical project plays an abbreviated set between the second and third quarters of all Green Bay Packers games. This week brings on the ’60s surf-influenced King Eye & The Squirts.
