This Week in Milwaukee: Dec. 26-31

Saturday, Dec. 27

Eighties Ladies Dance Party @ Mad Planet, 9 p.m.
From Madonna and Cyndi Lauper to Tiffany and Whitney Houston, the ’80sintroduced the world to a new generation of female pop stars, most with bigpersonalities and even bigger hair. Mad Planet will pay tribute to the women ofMTV’s Reagan era with this dance party DJed by Frank Straka and Opiated-Black.Cover is $5.

Bucks vs. Hawks @ BMO Harris BradleyCenter, 7:30 p.m.
Ouch—the timing for this promotion couldn’t be more unfortunate. Tonight theMilwaukee Bucks will be giving away Jabari Parker bobbleheads to the first10,000 fans, less than two weeks after learning that Parker will be out for therest of the season. Still, with Parker poised to be a backbone of the team foryears to come, these rookie season bobbleheads should have plenty ofcollector’s value.

Monday, Dec. 29

Juiceboxxx w/ Sat. Nite Duets and WebsterX @ Hotel Foster, 9 p.m.
Milwaukee rapper Juiceboxxx earned the wrong kind of fame earlier this year,when videoof his technical-issue-plagued live performance on a TMJ 4 newscast made the roundson the Internet, with some commenters labeling it the worst televised rapperformance of all time. Rest assured that clip isn’t representative of hisconcerts, which usually find the wiry rapper whipping the crowd into a frenzywith his wild stage presence. It’s that commitment that has earned him tourdates with acts as diverse as hip-hop innovators Public Enemy and San Francisconoise freaks Deerhoof. This welcome Monday night show pairs him with localindie rockers Sat. Nite Duets and rising rapper WebsterX.

Jim Gaffigan @ The Pabst Theater, 7 p.m.
Nobody would ever accuse Jim Gaffigan of pretentiousness. The comedian’sstand-up routine makes it clear that he’s a simple man, preoccupied with simplethings, mostly of a gastrointestinal nature. Gaffigan is probably as surprisedas anybody, then, that he’s the published author of not one but two books. Hisfirst was last year’s parenthood memoir DadIs Fat, which was followed this year by Food:A Love Story, a collection of essays about the many unhealthy things hecan’t resist putting in his body. A local favorite, this week Gaffigan returnsfor his annual run of pre-New Year’s shows at the Pabst Theater, with multipleperformances through Dec. 31.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra @ BMO HarrisBradley Center, 4 and 8 p.m.
The Trans-Siberian Orchestra doesn’t only make Christmas music—in 2009 thegroup released its second non-holiday album, Night Castle—but the band clearly understands what the audiencewants. Trans-Siberian’s prog-heavy, pyrotechnics- and light-show-assisted tourshave been a holiday tradition since the late ’90s. In recent years the grouphas been releasing deluxe editions of their so-called “Christmas trilogy”concept albums, which expand on the story with the narration featured in theirlive shows. For this tour they’ll be performing the trilogy’s 1998 installment The Christmas Attic in its entirety.

Tuesday, Dec. 30

BoDeans @ Potawatomi Hotel & Casino, 8 p.m.
Despite a schism that left the group without one of its co-leads, foundingmember Sam Llanas, the BoDeans continue to be one of Milwaukee’s most respectedrock bands, even claiming yet another Best of Milwaukee Award from ShepherdExpress readers this fall. In 2012 the group released its first album sinceLlanas left, the rollicking AmericanMade, and they have a follow-upon the way. Their 12th studio album, I Can’t Stop, is slated for atentative release this spring. The group does two shows at the Potawatomi Hotel& Casino this week, one tonight and one at 10 p.m. on New Year’s Eve.
 
Local H w/ The Life and Times @ ShankHall, 8 p.m.
Little-changed since the ’90s, LocalH’s music still crashes and thrashes in deference to the glory days ofgrunge-rock, but the band has resisted becoming a nostalgia act with periodicnew releases and a road-tested two-man show. Following up 2008’s TwelveAngry Months, a calendar-themed breakup album that found frontman ScottLucas in fine, cynical form—this is clearly still the guy who wrote “Bound ToThe Floor”—in 2012 the band released the politically themed Hallelujah! I’ma Bum, Lucas’s response to that year’s bruising presidential campaign. It’san angry affair, but not necessarily a partisan one, throwing punches at bothpolitical parties.

Admirals vs. Lake Erie Monsters @ BMOHarris Bradley Center, 7 p.m.
Expect a louder-than-usual game when the Milwaukee Admirals take on the LakeErie Monsters because the first 5,000 fans at this game will be given a cowbellcourtesy of Potawatomi Bingo Casino.