Ghost Hunters Live | The Pabst Theater | Friday, Jan. 23 | 8 p.m.
Thursday, Jan. 22
Dancing with the Stars Live @ The Riverside Theater, 8 p.m.
The old knock against “Dancing with the Stars” is that the “stars” aren’t actually very famous. And there’s some truth to that, of course: Watching all those tanned, grinning bodies spinning around on the dance floor it can be difficult to tell which ones are supposed to be the celebrities. But that hasn’t stopped the program from being a reliable performer for ABC, as well as a reliable draw on the road. This year’s tour, featuring Alfonso Ribeiro (Carlton from “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”) quickly sold out its Milwaukee stop.
Radio Milwaukee’s 4th Annual SoundBites @ Iron Horse Hotel, 5:30 p.m.
Food and wine tastings are a dime a dozen around the city, as are food and beer tastings. For its annual SoundBites fundraiser, though, 88Nine Radio Milwaukee has come up with a far more novel pairing: food and music. The station recruits top chefs from around the city to create pairings with songs selected by station DJs and other friends of the station. New restaurants this year include Goodkind, Story Hill BKC, Motor and Blue Jacket. There will also be samples from Brenner Brewing, Central Standard Distillery and Top Note, in addition to live and DJed music. Tickets are $125 and can be purchased through radiomilwaukee.org.
Friday, Jan. 23
Riverwest FemFest @ Cocoon Room, 7 p.m.
Women make up much of Milwaukee’s arts and music scenes, but too many of the city’s talented women artists fall under the radar. This weekend the Cocoon Room puts the spotlight on more than two dozen deserving ones with its two-day Riverwest FemFest, a two-night celebration of women artists and musicians, with proceeds benefiting the Milwaukee Women’s Center, a shelter aiding women (and men and children) in need. That event will also double as a release show for Chapter 1, a new compilation spotlighting Milwaukee women musicians, some of which will be featured on the FemFest lineup. In addition to live music there will also be poetry readings, a silent art auction and gallery show. Friday’s event begins at 7 p.m. Saturday’s will begin at 4 p.m. and will be followed by an after party at the Riverwest Public House.
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Chris Tucker @ The Riverside Theater, 7 p.m.
Few actors are more selective about their projects than Chris Tucker. The comedian hadn’t appeared in a film outside of his lucrative Rush Hour franchise (which began in 1998) before appearing on screen in 2012’s Oscar-winning Silver Linings Playbook. Even more surprising than the reclusive actor’s dramatic turn in that film was his return to stand-up in 2011. He hadn’t performed in front of a crowd since the ’90s, but his time away from stages hasn’t weakened his comic chops. Though he can no longer fall back on the broke jokes that dominated his early routines, his racy observational comedy is still all about short, sharp punches of humor, delivered in his famously speedy falsetto.
Ghost Hunters Live @ The Pabst Theater, 8 p.m.
Not since Mario and Luigi has a pair of plumbers made such a name for themselves outside of their field as Jason Hawes and Grant Wilson. After years of investigating paranormal activity on the side, the former Roto-Rooter co-workers turned their hobby into “Ghost Hunters,” the top-rated Syfy network reality hit that has spawned countless spinoffs and knockoffs. And though skeptics will rightly roll their eyes, Wilson insists their brand of ghost-hunting follows a rigid ethical standard. “We promote the mentality of, ‘Be honest,’” Wilson told the Shepherd in 2010. “That means you don’t charge for investigations, and you want to go into each investigation to disprove the haunting, trying to find out if there’s some other explanation for the phenomenon.” At this live appearance, the two will share behind-the-scenes footage, tell stories about all the objects they swore they saw move across a dark room and take questions from the audience.
Saturday, Jan. 24
Seether and Papa Roach w/ Kyng and Islander @ The Rave, 6:30 p.m.
Seether may have formed in South Africa, but their hearts are in Seattle, from where they channel the grimier, hard-rockier side of grunge artists like Nirvana and Alice in Chains. Perpetually disgruntled singer Shaun Morgan filled his band’s 2007 album, Finding Beauty in Negative Spaces, with piss and profanity, fuming at his ex-girlfriend, Evanescence singer Amy Lee, and assailing celebrity culture on the angry hit “Fake It.” The bad times keep coming on their typically heavy latest album, Isolate and Medicate. Co-headliners Papa Roach were among the first to jump ship when rap-inflected nu metal began to fall out of fashion. On their 2006 album, The Paramour Sessions, they filled the void left by rap with a little bit of everything: alterna-pop, emo, power ballads, even an orchestral track. Increasingly, though, they’ve settled on a more traditional sound inspired by ’80s hard-rock and hair metal. They’ll release their latest album, F.E.A.R., on Jan. 27.
Sunday, Jan. 25
Brewers on Deck @ Wisconsin Center, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Save for the early acquisition of Adam Lind and the surprise trade of Yovani Gallardo, it’s been a very quiet offseason for the Milwaukee Brewers, leaving fans with little excitement to tide them over until spring training. The team’s annual Brewers on Deck celebration couldn’t come any sooner, then. As usual, the fan event will feature most of the team’s current roster, including stars like Jonathan Lucroy, Carlos Gomez and Ryan Braun, as well as coaches and alumni. They’ll sign autographs, sit on panels and join Q&A sessions. There will also be family friendly games and entertainment and a veritable sea of memorabilia vendors.
Wednesday, Jan. 28
Bahamas w/ David McMillin @ Shank Hall, 8 p.m.
Singer-songwriter Afie Jurvanen had some valuable experience playing plucky indie-pop before creating his own outfit Bahamas: He’s a former side player for Feist, and his own songs share the easygoing spirit and imaginative arrangements of her music. He released his third and latest album, the gently rootsy (and helpfully titled) Bahamas is Afie, last summer, and it’s been accumulating steady radio play ever since. Recently he played his rising single “All The Time” on Conan O’Brien’s TBS talk show.
