Lord Huron @ The Riverside Theater, April 25
Thursday, April 23
Sufjan Stevens w/ Little Scream @ The Riverside Theater, 8 p.m.
At points throughout his career, indie-folk songwriter Sufjan Stevens has, with varying degrees of seriousness, promised to record 50 albums about all 50 United States. That project has yielded a pair of terrific albums (2003’s Michigan and 2005’s Illinois), but it ultimately left him feeling pigeonholed. Stevens has looked beyond the states for his latest albums, 2010’s The Age of Adz, an ambitious electro-folk opus that threw some fans for a loop, and this year’s Carrie & Lowell, a return to the earnest, relatively streamlined folk of his early releases. The album has been greeted by near-universal acclaim, with many critics heralding it as the finest release of his career.
Spring Bike Night @ Harley-Davidson Museum, 5 p.m.
After a long winter, local motorcycle riders are excited to get back on the road again. The Harley-Davidson Museum will help them get back in the riding spirit with this event, which will showcase a number of new parts and accessories available this spring, as well as four glamorous new bikes. There will also be rock music from the David Fitzpatrick Band, food and drink specials, and a leather jacket giveaway.
Friday, April 24
Neutral Milk Hotel w/ Circulatory System @ The Riverside Theater, 8 p.m.
It turns out reports of Jeff Mangum’s reclusiveness were exaggerated. Fans spent nearly a decade speculating why the singer-songwriter retreated from the spotlight after his indie-rock band’s 1998 masterwork, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, an album destined to be passed down from generation to generation on college campuses, but by the 2010s Mangum was performing regular solo concerts. In 2013 he did those shows one better with a full-on Neutral Milk Hotel reunion tour, something most fans never imagined they’d see. Nonetheless, it looks like Neutral Milk Hotel will never become The Pixies, a once-missed institution that overstayed their welcome after reuniting. The band has announced that their current tour will be their last for the foreseeable future.
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Present Music: Hilarious @ Turner Hall Ballroom, 7:30 p.m.
Who says that fine art can’t have a playful side? For its latest program, Hilarious, Present Music gives itself over to four pieces defined by their whimsical streaks, including Richard Ayres’ In The Alps, a lighthearted tale of a woman raised by goats. Other pieces include Michael Daugherty’s Elvis Everywhere, John Adams’ Road Movies and another animal-centric piece, Phillip Bimstein’s Garland Hirschi's Cows.
The Earth Poets @ Urban Ecology Center, 8 p.m.
The green-minded Earth Poets and Musicians collective first performed together on Earth Day 1988, and even as members have come and gone over the decades, the group has carried on, performing at environmental milestones. For this program the collective will be joined by a number of guest artists, singers and activists, including Carolyn Vargo, Christina Zawadiwsky, Julie Enslow, Devon Cupery, The Strawberry Moon Women Singers, Hamid and Kim Alwan, and Brian Sevedge. The program promises to be a personal one. Group founder Jeff Poniewaz died in December and some of his poems will be performed tonight in his memory.
Saturday, April 25
Lord Huron w/ Leon Bridges @ The Riverside Theater, 8:30 p.m.
Lord Huron are obsessed with the America of yore, and they look the part. They shroud their press photos in old-timey, sepia tones and dress themselves like John Steinbeck characters, coming across like a slightly artier Mumford & Sons. Owing as much to American indie acts like Fleet Foxes and My Morning Jacket as they do mid-century folk troubadours, they gauzed their 2012 album Lonesome Dreams in a dreamy sheen of synths, but all those production flourishes couldn’t disguise the bright, chipper songs underneath. That same sheen carries through the group’s latest album Strange Trails, which continues the band’s fascination with the American west. Originally scheduled for the Pabst Theater, where it sold out, this show had been moved to the Pabst’s larger sister venue, The Riverside Theater.
An Irish Night at the Museum @ Milwaukee Public Museum, 6:30 p.m.
Irish Fest is still a ways away—it takes place Aug. 13-16 this year—but you can get a taste of the festival early this year as the festival hosts its first-ever An Irish Night at the Museum event to commemorate its 35th anniversary. There will be music from the County Clare trio Socks in the Frying Pan as well as Irish Fest staples Tallymoore, Myserk, harpist Mary Ann Miller and the Easy Days Barbershop Quartet. Other activities include a film tribute to Irish Fest, whiskey and cider tastings, and a silent auction.
Michael Feldman’s Whad’Ya Know? @ The Pabst Theater, 9:30 a.m.
Since 1985, Michael Feldman has been hosting Wisconsin Public Radio’s “Whad’Ya Know?,” a comedy quiz show with distinct shades of Groucho Marx’s “You Bet Your Life.” Though the show usually records in Madison, Feldman occasionally takes it on the road, hence this stop at Milwaukee’s Pabst Theater, which will feature local guests including Mayor Tom Barrett and former BoDeans guitarist Sam Llanas.
Rock the Cure Fundraising Event @ Sprecher Brewery, 7 p.m.
JDRF Southeastern Wisconsin Chapter’s Young Leadership Committee (YLC) hosts their first annual signature fundraiser, Rock the Cure, at Sprecher Brewery in Glendale. The YLC is expecting more than 100 guests and proceeds will go toward JDRF research and treatments of type 1 diabetes (T1D), an autoimmune disease that JDRF hopes to cure by sponsoring charitable research throughout the world. A ticket to Rock the Cure includes live music by Sonic Funk Blasters and other local artists, a silent auction, prize drawings, heavy hors d’oeuvres, premium sodas and brews, and a Sprecher Brewery tour. Individual tickets are $40 and couple admission is $70. For more information and to purchase tickets, call 414-453-4673 or visit http://sewi.jdrf.org.
Sunday, April 26
Lake Arts Project @ Danceworks Studio Theater, 5 p.m.
Milwaukee Ballet dancers emeritus Jennifer Miller and Karl von Rabenau founded the Lake Arts Project to provide their students and audiences at Arrowhead High School in Hartland the experience of collaborative art making. Reflections: Through Our hands to Our Feet Last Spring, an original dance, visual art and music performance, premieres at Arrowhead at 7 p.m. on Friday, April 24, then tours to Milwaukee for a grand finale at Danceworks on Sunday. Collaborators come from every facet of the Milwaukee Ballet organization, Minnesota Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, Milwaukee’s NomadicLIMBS and the Catey Ott Dance Collective. Student and professional dancers created the performance in response to the work of Arrowhead visual art students honoring art styles from the Renaissance to the present.
Tuesday, April 28
Janeane Garofalo @ Turner Hall Ballroom, 8 p.m.
At various points in her career, Janeane Garofalo has been a TV star, a prolific supporting actress, a potential next big America’s sweetheart, a liberal activist, a writer and a director. But throughout it all, Garofalo has never forgotten her roots as a stand-up comic. She still tours regularly behind new material, skewering contemporary pop culture and her own personal life. Later this summer she’ll revisit one of her most popular roles when she co-stars in Netflix’s Wet Hot American Summer prequel First Day of Camp.
