Salt-N-Pepa @ Wisconsin State Fair, Aug. 15
Thursday, Aug. 13
Irish Fest @ Summerfest Grounds
Even with a four-day run that makes it among the longest of Milwaukee’s major ethnic festivals, Irish Fest is jam-packed with entertainment and activities, with something new to see every day. This year’s attractions include an Irish cultural village with a harp stage, literary corner and theater pavilion, a Celtic canine center spotlighting some of Ireland’s most popular breeds and hurling demonstrations. And of course that’s on top of all the Irish dance performances and stages and stages of live music. Performers this year include Celtic Tenors, Gaelic Storm, The High Kings, Morga, Screaming Orphans, The Willis Clan and the Red Hot Chili Pipers. (Through Sunday, Aug. 16.)
Noah Guthrie w/ Gabe Dixon @ Shank Hall, 8 p.m.
Noah Guthrie is most recognizable to some for his role as Roderick, a relatively late addition to the Fox’s one-time hit “Glee,” but on his debut album Among the Wildest Things, he leaves the New Directions behind to showcase his skills as a bluesy Americana singer. He shares this show with singer-songwriter Gabe Dixon, one of the few musicians who can claim to have turned down Paul McCartney—something even Kanye West can’t claim. After featuring heavily on McCartney’s 2001 album Driving Rain, he rejected the offer to join McCartney’s touring band in order to focus on his own music. Both solo and with his Gabe Dixon Band, a piano-rock trio that often suggested Ben Folds Five without the overly cheeky sense of humor, Dixon has recorded multiple albums of adult-contemporary-leaning tunes.
Friday, Aug. 14
Fish Fry & A Flick: Guardians of the Galaxy @ Discovery World, 5 p.m.
After the success of The Avengers and its many tie-ins, nobody questioned Marvel’s box-office clout, but last year’s Guardians of the Galaxy demonstrated just how all-powerful the company had become by turning one of its most obscure properties into one of the biggest blockbusters of all time. Chris Pratt and company are set to begin filming a sequel next year, but first Discovery World hosts a free screening of the first one as part of its Fish Fry & A Flick series. The fish hits the fryer at 5 p.m.; the movie will begin around dusk.
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Saturday, Aug. 15
IndiaFest @ Humboldt Park, 11 a.m.
A relatively recent addition to Milwaukee’s all-encompassing ethnic festival scene, IndiaFest celebrates both the traditions and contemporary tastes of India. The free day-long event features the sounds of classical and Bollywood-style Indian music, as well as folk dances including Bhangra and Giddha. A fashion show will display costumes from Indian states, while food vendors will be cooking up Indian favorites including dosas, a crepe-like pancake, and biriyanis, a heavily spiced chicken and vegetable rice dish. Last year’s event ended with a major dance party, and with headliners Bollywood Dhamaka set to close out this year’s event, a repeat of that scene seems likely.
Harbor Park Jazz, Rhythm & Blues Festival @ Harbor Park, 1 p.m.
Kenosha’s Jazz, Rhythm & Blues Festival in Harbor Park encourages music lovers to get out of their chairs and on their feet. This year’s lineup features headliners Rebirth Brass Band, one of the many New Orleans groups fusing the city’s traditional music with contemporary funk and hip-hop, as well as the Kenosha Jazz All-Stars Tribute Band and the Frank Catalano Group. Meanwhile, at a culinary stage, chefs Daniel Bonanno and Jason Gorman will demonstrate how to make simple grilled food for the summer and seriously memorable meatballs.
Brewers Post-Game Concert Series: Goo Goo Dolls @ Miller Park, 6:10 p.m.
It’s easy to forget that the Goo Goo Dolls were once a punk band with a sound that suggested a heavier update of their heroes, The Replacements. It was a pair of sentimental, acoustic ’90s hits—“Name” and its identical cousin “Iris”—that transformed the group into adult contemporary mainstays. The softer sound, though, did little to disguise the darker songwriting of singer/guitarist John Rzeznik, whose lyrics dwelled on themes of addiction and divorce. The band returns to Milwaukee to play what promises to be one of their more memorable shows here, as a post-game headliner following the Brewers’ game against the Philadelphia Phillies at Miller Park.
Salt-N-Pepa @ Wisconsin State Fair Bank Mutual Amphitheater, 8:30 p.m.
All music is to some degree a product of its time, but some music just embodies its era a little better than all the rest. It’s impossible to separate the hip-hop group Salt-N-Pepa from the late ’80s and early-’90s, a time when video directors loved neon, stars wore suspenders and everything just seemed a little simpler. They were the genre’s first feminist stars. The group’s 1991 hit “Let’s Talk About Sex” became the anthem for the safe-sex movement, while self-empowerment songs like “None of Your Business” and “Expression” have been adopted as unofficial gay-pride anthems. After a five-year break, the group reunited in 2007, a process that was documented on VH1’s “The Salt-N-Pepa Show.”
Sunday, Aug. 16
Kenny Rogers @ Wisconsin State Fair Main Stage, 6 p.m.
In his more than 50-year career, Kenny Rogers are recorded 65 albums, moved 120 million records and had dozens of singles, but none were more enduring than Rogers’ “The Gambler,” a song so popular that it was spun off into a movie and TV series, with Rogers staring as poker player Brady Hawkes. His popularity was so enduring that in 2000, at age 61, he became the oldest solo singer ever to have a number-one hit on the country charts with his single “Buy Me a Rose.”
