Photo by Steven Cohen
Tommy Stinson @ Club Garibaldi, Friday, Sept. 11
Thursday, Sept. 10
TRUE Skool 10-Year Anniversary Album Release @ Radio Milwaukee, 5 p.m.
For 10 years the Milwaukee non-profit TRUE Skool has been mentoring youth through hip-hop and the urban arts, and often creating some incredible music in the process. The organization will celebrate its 10-year anniversary with an album created by TRUE Skool students and featuring guest appearances from some of the city’s most established rap acts, including SPEAK Easy, Yo-Dot, Signif, Stricklin (eMC) and The Rusty P’s. Kids from the program will perform some of those tracks live on air on Radio Milwaukee’s “414Music” program at 5:30 p.m. at this celebration, which will be followed by more performances (including appearances from Milwaukee rappers Klassik, Genesis Renji and WebsterX, among others), live art, breakdancing and DJ showcases. They’ll keep the entertainment going until 8 p.m.
Friday, Sept. 11
Penn & Teller @ The Riverside Theater, 8 p.m.
Penn & Teller are magicians who don’t believe in magic. There’s no such thing, they remind their audience at every turn. Instead the motor-mouthed Penn and his silent partner deconstruct the psychology of magic in inventive, often outrageously funny routines that poke fun at their own craft. The two have also been outspoken off the stage. For eight years they hosted the Showtime documentary series “Penn & Teller: Bullshit!,” where they called foul on scams, pseudoscience, fads and religious nonsense. Though their live performances aren’t as pointed as that TV show, a little bit of that skeptical worldview inevitably works its way into their bits.
Paramount Blues Festival @ Lime Kiln Park, 5 p.m.
Grafton, Wis., has had a vivacious blues scene dating back to the village’s Depression-era Paramount recording studio, when acts such as Charley Patton and Henry Townsend were sent north from Chicago to record here. Townsend himself was honored in 2006 at the first festival commemorating the village’s eminent blues history, the Paramount Blues Festival, which continues to draw a strong lineup of blues performers from around the state and beyond. Friday’s lineup kicks off at 5 p.m. with Aaron Williams and the Hoodoo and closes with Gary Hoey at 8:15 p.m. Saturday the festival starts early with Gayle Dean Wardlow at 11:15 a.m. and features headliners including Sharrie Williams, Zac Harmon and Rick Estrin and the Nightcats.
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Tommy Stinson w/ The Obsoletes and Beach Slang @ Club Garibaldi, 9 p.m.
It seems that, for the time being at least, The Replacements’ reunion is over. It was wonderful while it lasted. For two years the band sweated out passionate performances that did justice to their legacy as one of the greatest live acts of the ’80s, but they never seemed comfortable with nostalgia. Now that that run of festival headlining gigs is over, Stinson returns to touring the smaller clubs he’s long seemed to prefer playing. In recent years the bassist has collaborated extensively with players from the Milwaukee music scene, performing with musicians Jon Phillip and Tim Schweiger and producing the upcoming Midnight Reruns album, so he should feel right at home when he returns to Club Garibaldi.
Tosafest @ Downtown Wauwatosa
Now in its 40th year, Wauwatosa’s two-day Tosafest features three stages of music, art and children’s activities, as well as the Badgerland Striders Run, a fast, downhill 5K course on Saturday. This year’s featured entertainers include Sam Llanas, formerly of The BoDeans, on Friday night, and Terrance Simien and the Zydeco Experience, and Greg Koch and the Tone Controls on Saturday night. Come hungry: More than a dozen area restaurants will be serving up heaping plates of festival food. (Also Saturday, Sept. 12.)
Indian Summer Festival @ Summerfest Grounds
The unofficial finale of Milwaukee’s ethnic festival season, Indian Summer celebrates the rich cultural heritage of Great Lakes Native American communities. Annual attractions include Native American arts and crafts demonstrations, storytelling demonstrations, a tribal farmers market and lacrosse games, all of which are best enjoyed while snacking on some traditional fry bread—or better yet, a fry bread taco. Other popular food offerings include bison, walleye, wild rice and hominy soup. (Through Sunday, Sept. 13.)
Oktoberfest @ Heidelberg Park
Raise a stein the traditional way. For decades, Heidelberg Park has hosted the oldest authentic Bavarian Oktoberfest in the Midwest. Beer is the main attraction, of course, and it flows abundantly, but there’s also a wealth of traditional German food, including spanferkel and rollbrauten; polka dancing; a market and carnival games. Save room for dessert: Each night features a vast array of German cakes and pastries. (Runs Friday and Saturday through Oct. 3.)
Saturday, Sept. 12
Tomato Romp @ North Avenue, 10 a.m.- 6 p.m.
You may want to avoid wearing your favorite white linens at the East Side’s annual Tomato Romp, a celebration of the world’s most versatile fruit that will feature a tomato-centric small plates crawl, a Bloody Mary competition featuring 14 variations of the summery drink, a farmers market, live art and music and, of course, a massive rotten tomato fight that pits hundreds of people and thousands of pounds of tomatoes against each other. As you can imagine, it gets sloppy.
Rufus Wainwright and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra @ Marcus Center, 8 p.m.
The progeny of folk heroes Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle, Rufus Wainwright was born into a musical family, which accounts for some of his creative restlessness. After his 1998 self-titled debut, the Canadian singer-songwriter pushed his piano pop into ever more operatic and orchestral directions, before dialing back the symphonics on 2010’s All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu, which he recorded in the wake of his mother’s death. Wainwright’s latest album, Out of the Game, finds him in higher spirits, working with a wide cast of collaborators including producer Mark Ronson and members of Wilco, the Dap-Kings and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs for some of his breeziest songs yet. Expect to hear songs from throughout his entire career at this performance with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra.
Sunday, Sept. 13
Fantasia w/ Raheem DeVaughn and El DeBarge @ Milwaukee Theatre, 7 p.m.
In the show’s prime, winning “American Idol” really meant something. Fantasia Barrino was there for that peak, winning the competition during its third season in 2004, and while she never became a crossover powerhouse like Kelly Clarkson or Carrie Underwood, she’s quietly been one of the show’s most consistent alums, scoring a long string of soulful R&B hits. Her latest album, 2013’s Side Effects of You, was her best yet, packed tight with expressive, late-night soul songs like “Lose to Win” and “Ain’t All Bad.” It also featured her catchiest single to date, the Missy Elliott-assisted “Without Me.” Soulman Raheem DeVaughn and veteran crooner El DeBarge join Fantasia on this tour stop.
Monday, Sept. 14
Desaparecidos w/ Joyce Manor @ Turner Hall Ballroom, 8 p.m.
It’s been 13 years since Conor Oberst’s punk band Desaparecidos released its debut album, Read Music / Speak Spanish, a politically charged record steeped in Bush-era dread. Following a long period of silence during Oberst’s “authentic folkie” era, the group reunited a few years ago and came back strong this year with an overdue sophomore album: Payola, a politically charged spleen vent fueled by another decade’s worth of political anxiety. The band hasn’t lost a beat with age. This Milwaukee show is long overdue for the band. It’s their first in 14 years.
