Oktoberfest @ Cathedral Square Park, 4 p.m.
Thursday, Oct. 9
Robert Irvine @ Milwaukee Theatre, 8 p.m.
With a collar-splitting neck more typical of a professional wrestler than a chef, Food Network personality Robert Irvine cuts an imposing figure. Perhaps that dominant presence explains why this British culinary expert has starred in more Food Network programs than even he could probably count, including “Iron Chef America,” “Dinner: Impossible,” “Restaurant Impossible,” “Worst Cooks in America” and “Restaurant Express.” For this live appearance, Irvine will be cooking live on stage, surrounded by a crew of cameras covering his every flip of the pan. The night promises plenty of audience interaction.
Steve Wynn w/ Mike Benign @ Shank Hall, 8 p.m.
Not to be confused with the Las Vegas business magnate of the same name, Steve Wynn spent the better part of the ’80s as the affable leader of the wonderfully jangly California college rock band The Dream Syndicate. Since that band split in ’89, the songwriter has made the most of his freedom, releasing solo albums whenever the mood strikes and bouncing between various bands and side projects, including The Baseball Project, his collaboration with R.E.M.’s Peter Buck and Mike Mills. For the last couple of years Wynn has been playing some reunion shows with The Dream Syndicate, while continuing to tour as a solo artist.
Friday, Oct. 10
Second City 55th Anniversary Tour @ Marcus Center, 8 p.m.
For more than a half century, Second City has been one of America’s most formidable comedy institutions, training stars from Bill Murray, Tina Fey, Steve Carell, Stephen Colbert, Amy Poehler and Jason Sudeikis. The Chicago improv troupe celebrates its 55th anniversary with this tour looking back at some of the company’s finest moments. Second City’s current stars will present some of the finest moments from the company’s history and share some new material of their own. (Also Saturday, Oct. 11.)
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Oktoberfest @ Cathedral Square Park, 4 p.m.
Thousands of Milwaukeeans will come out to Cathedral Square this weekend to celebrate all things German at the park’s annual Oktoberfest gathering. This year’s festival will feature heaps of polka, a bags tournament, a stein-hoisting competition, a Miss Oktoberfest contest and a wiener dog race. On Saturday the free event will run concurrently with the ticketed Milwaukee Brewfest beer sampling, and on Sunday the Packers game will be displayed on a large projection screen as part of the “Green, Gold and German” tailgate, weather permitting. (Through Sunday, Oct. 12.)
Jerry Seinfeld @ The Riverside Theater, 7 p.m.
The TV show “Seinfeld” made a running joke of Jerry Seinfeld’s shrugging observational comedy, casting its star as a hack milking dry a simple formula (“What’s the deal with airplane peanuts?” a fictionalized Seinfeld asks in one episode). In truth, though, Seinfeld is one of comedy’s all-time greats, as he continues to demonstrate on the road with his precise, incisive stand-up routines, some of the more rigorously rehearsed in the business.
Steve Aoki @ The Eagles Ballroom, 8 p.m.
A club promoter, record producer and founder of Dim Mak Records, Steve Aoki injects tricked-out trance beats into even the tamest tracks to create thumping house music that’s virtually impossible to listen to while standing still. Aoki found fame by adding layers of scratches and dubs to hits like Drake’s “Forever” and Kid Cudi’s “Pursuit of Happiness,” reinventing them for the dance floor, but has since focused on his own original material. His latest album, Neon Future I, is a star-studded affair featuring collaborations with Fall Out Boy, will.i.am, Bonnie McKee and Waka Flocka Flame.
Saturday, Oct. 11
Trashfest @ Kochanski’s, 8 p.m.
Since debuting in 1984, Trashfest has been alienating audiences with all sorts of loud, obnoxious and obscure music at venues all over the city including Café Voltaire, The Unicorn, Odd Rock Café, Stone Toad and other places that no longer exist. Thirty years in, the event hasn’t changed much: It’s still celebrating music best described as “a matter of taste.” Among the oddities at this year’s lineup are the Slovenian speed metal polka band Cheese of the Goat, the English Doors cover band The Windows and the American Blondie cover band Debbie Scary, along with bands from Japan, Austria and Germany.
Herman Astro @ Miramar Theatre, 8 p.m.
Just weeks after the ’70s-devoted Milwaukee rock band Herman Astro played a release show for its latest album, Mean Gene, the group announced that it would break up, explaining that singer/guitarist Zachary Pluer is moving to North Carolina. But first they’ve scheduled one last show at the Miramar Theatre, a grand finale they’ve teased as a variety show of sorts. The remaining members of the band aren’t sure what the future holds, but they’ve vowed to continue playing music together.
Howard Levy w/ Steve Cohen @ Linneman’s Riverwest Inn, 8 p.m.
Few instruments are more pigeonholed than the harmonica, but as multi-instrumentalist and composer Howard Levy demonstrates, the harmonica has plenty of applications outside of the blues. A co-founder of The Flecktones with Béla Fleck, Levy has used the harmonica to play all manner of music styles, including jazz and classical, while pioneering a technique called overblowing to achieve a fuller harmonic range on the instrument. Milwaukee blues luminary Steve Cohen opens this show.
Sunday, Oct. 12
AIDS Walk @ Summerfest Grounds
In the battle against AIDS, Wisconsin has an advantage over other states: The AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin (ARCW), which provides some of the most comprehensive care in the country, offering HIV patients not only medical and dental treatments, but also mental health services and access to a food pantry and social services. To cover its operating budget, which also covers education, prevention and testing services, the ARCW relies on fundraisers like its largest event, the annual AIDS Walk Wisconsin. This year’s AIDS Walk will start and finish at the Summerfest grounds and will take participants along the lakefront and other city scenery. Visit expressmilwaukee.com to read our interview with the walk’s 2014 honorary chair Tim Gunn.
Tuesday, Oct. 14
Ryan Adams w/ Butch Walker @ The Riverside Theater, 8 p.m.
Alt-country pioneer Ryan Adams has been busy this year. In addition to producing albums by Jenny Lewis and Ethan Johns, he released the latest installment of his 7-inch series, “1984,” a punk affair indebted to the spirit of ’80s independent labels like Dischord and SST, and a sparkling new self-titled album, which, if not quite as raw as his punk 7-inch, still has a wonderfully rocking edge to it. The record marks a return to electric guitars after its sober, primarily acoustic 2011 predecessor Ashes & Fire. The tour behind the album is bringing Adams to Milwaukee for the first time since 2007.
Wednesday, Oct. 15
Delhi 2 Dublin @ Shank Hall, 8 p.m.
Credit the Internet, perhaps, for shrinking distances and bridging cultural divides, but these days world music is a lot more worldly than it used to be. Case in point: the Canadian sextet Delhi 2 Dublin who fuse not only traditional Celtic and Indian Bhangra music, but also throw in a healthy dose of rock guitars, electric sitar, dub rhythms, club beats and turntables. Traditional? No. Danceable? Very.
NEWaukee Night Market @ Moiré Pavilion, 5 p.m.
Sponsored by NEWaukee, the Night Market at Moiré Pavilion on Wisconsin Avenue brings together food, drink and craft vendors. Select artists at stations throughout the market offer street sculptures, poetry readings and urban hikes. There are also food trucks providing a diverse array of ethnic foods and a beer garden for thirsty patrons. The corridor created by vendor tents on Wisconsin and inside of the wooden pavilion offers opportunities for both shopping and interacting with art installations and displays. If you missed the previous three night markets, consider this last call: It’s the final one of the season.
Walking With Dinosaurs @ BMO Harris Bradley Center, 7 p.m.
Based on the award-winning BBC Television Series, Walking With Dinosaurs: The Arena Spectacular will appear at Milwaukee’s BMO Harris Bradley Center for a seven-performance engagement from Oct. 15 to Oct. 19. The show depicts the dinosaurs’ evolution and features scenes of interactions between dinosaurs, with depictions of how carnivorous dinosaurs evolved to walk on two legs and how herbivores fended off their predators. The production will also showcase changes to the dinosaurs that have been revealed by the latest scientific research. Dinosaurs featured in the show include the Tyrannosaurus Rex, Plateosaurus, Liliensternus, Stegosaurus, Allosaurus, Torosaurus, Utahraptor and the Brachiosaurus. (Through Sunday, Oct. 19.)
