Lord Huron @ The Pabst Theater, Jan. 29
Thursday, Jan. 23
B Justice w/ Pacino, Soul Low, Maal Himself and DJ Adamocity @ UWM Gasthaus, 9 p.m.
Milwaukee rappers B Justice and Pacino both earned their appearance at UW-Milwaukee’s Gasthaus tonight: Each won an open-mic competition earlier this fall. Rapper/producer B Justice is a wily performer with more than a little bit of 2 Chainz’s punny bravado in his delivery. The silver-tongued, perpetually underrated Pacino, meanwhile, takes a more cerebral approach, spitting menacing, high-concept rhymes on mixtapes like One of None and Beyond Compare: Soon You’ll Understand. How peppy indie-rockers Soul Low ended up on this hip-hop bill is anybody’s guess, but they’re a welcome addition to any show.
Friday, Jan. 24
John Caparulo @ Turner Hall Ballroom, 7 p.m.
Sometimes all it takes is the right gig for a comedian to find his audience. Ohio’s John Caparulo has shared his observational comedy on “The Night Show,” “The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn” and on Vince Vaughn’s Wild West Comedy Show, but to most fans he’s best known for his regular appearances on E’s “Chelsea Lately.” He shares his meditations on the life of an average working-class Joe on his latest, unfortunately titled comedy album, Come Inside Me.
Milwaukee Admirals w/ Dierks Bentley @ BMO Harris Bradley Center, 7 p.m.
Ever since his 2003 breakthrough hit “What Was I Thinkin’,” Dierks Bentley has been one of mainstream country’s most consistent artists, with a string of Top 10 singles on the country music charts, including 10 No. 1 hits. Bentley’s studio albums with Capitol Records Nashville, even a greatest hits package in 2008, reveal a pretty consistent theme within Bentley’s work: the duality of his country-boy nature. In 2010 he delivered likeable bluegrass album, Up on the Ridge, before returning to radio sounds with 2012’s Home. In advance of his upcoming album Riser, Bentley plays a post-game concert following the Milwaukee Admirals’ game against the Rockford IceHogs.
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The Wailers w/ British Dependency and Recalcitrant @ The Rave, 7:30 p.m.
The Wailers complemented Bob Marley’s reggae sound the same way that the J.B.s laid down the funk for James Brown, augmenting his voice with just the right groove and helping reggae’s most famous singer sell more than 250 million albums. Currently led by original bass player Aston “Family Man” Barrett, the latest version of The Wailers continues to carry on Marley’s spirit by playing his music onstage every night with a few remaining original members. The group continued releasing original music after Marley’s death, but now tours behind their one-time leader’s best-known material, with current singer Elan Atias hitting the same passionate notes as Marley did decades ago. On this latest tour, the group is marking the 30th anniversary of Marley’s classic album Legend.
Saturday, Jan. 25
Frank Caliendo @ The Riverside Theater, 6 p.m.
Manic impressionist Frank Caliendo takes a quantity-over-quality approach to celebrity impersonations, doling out dozens of them with wildly mixed results. Never mind that the average man on the street could probably do a better Jerry Seinfeld; it didn’t take much talent to rise to the top of “MADtv,” and Caliendo’s game enthusiasm and good-natured screen presence made him that show’s breakout star. In 2000, the Waukesha native’s John Madden imitation earned him a spot on Fox’s “NFL Sunday,” where he made a name for himself doing impressions of the show’s panelists and sharing picks in character as celebrities like Donald Trump. His run on the show ended in 2012, when he was replaced by the overbearing Rob Riggle.
The Goodnight Milwaukee Show @ Arcade Theatre, 9 p.m.
Local stand-ups Jake Kornely and Tyler Menz arrived at a unique concept for their comedy show. In an affectionate tribute to the late-night programs of David Letterman and Conan O’Brien, they play competing talk-show hosts forced to host a show together in The Goodnight Milwaukee Show. Each installment features interviews with lively guests (usually very funny local comedians), fittingly cheesy monologues and unpredictable games, all of which take good advantage of the chemistry and comic tension between the reluctant co-hosts. The venue is fittingly unique, too: It’s the Underground Collaborative’s Arcade Theatre, below the Shops of Grand Avenue.
Sunday Jan. 26
Brewers On Deck @ Milwaukee Center, 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
It’s been a suspiciously quiet winter for the Milwaukee Brewers, who have avoided using the term “rebuilding” while discussing the upcoming season but have nonetheless pinched pennies at every opportunity, avoiding big trades and free-market signings. That doesn’t mean there won’t be plenty of excitement at this year’s annual Brewers On Deck fan event, though. The event will feature autograph booths, Q&A sessions, family activities and appearances from most of the team’s 2014 roster, most notably including disgraced slugger Ryan Braun, who will be making his first major public appearance since admitting to using performance enhancing drugs last year. Yovani Gallardo, Scooter Gennet, Jonathan Lucroy and Kyle Lohse will be among the many other active Brewers participating, along with such alumni as Bob Uecker, Craig Counsell, Gorman Thomas and Robin Yount. The event is free.
Doghouse Flowers w/ Crazy Rocket Fuel @ Kochanski’s Concertina Beer Hall, 2 p.m.
The members of Milwaukee’s Doghouse Flowers have done time in a wide range of local bands, from The Exotics and The Nelsonics to The Uptown Savages. That résumé, though, doesn’t always reflect the kind of rootsy sounds that populate the group’s new debut LP, Chasing the Sun, which draws from the more rocking end of the alt-country spectrum, nodding to the louder output of acts like The Jayhawks and Old 97’s. The group shares this afternoon album release bill with Milwaukee’s all-female rockabilly outfit Crazy Rocket Fuel.
Monday, Jan. 27
Yellowcard w/ What’s Eating Gilbert @ The Rave, 8 p.m.
It didn’t take all that much to stand out during the turn-of-the-century emo/pop-punk boom, and Jacksonville’s Yellowcard had something many of their Warped Tour peers didn’t: a violinist, Sean Mackin, who lent color to the group’s catchy little punk songs. The band’s vaguely Christian leanings have helped them maintain a loyal audience over the last decade, but it also helps that the band has matured better than most of their contemporaries. Featuring assists from members of All Time Low, We Are the In Crowd and Hey Monday, their 2012 album Southern Air is loaded with bittersweet pop-rock tunes that meditate on the passage of time. For this tour, they’ll be supporting 2013’s Ocean Avenue Acoustic, an acoustic reworking of their 2003 album.
Wednesday, Jan. 29
Lord Huron w/ Night Beds @ The Pabst Theater, 7 p.m.
Another in the seemingly endless army of Dustbowl-fetishizing neo-folk bands that dress like John Steinbeck characters and shroud their press photos in old-timey, sepia tones, Los Angeles’ Lord Huron capture the zeitgeist about as well as any other band out there. 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. If they continue to play up those jaunty sounds it’s easy to see them giving Mumford and Sons a run for their money. In a sign of their rising popularity, this show, originally scheduled for the Turner Hall Ballroom, was upgraded to the Pabst Theater because of strong sales.
