Music, music, music

Music

Wear your safety goggles and keep a fire extinguisher handy, as the music at Noise Fest is experimental. Says so right there on the press release. Dozens of noisemakers from near and far (or you could say from Anal Hearse to Whiskey Toothpaste to Squidfist, to note just a few of the colorful band names) will perform Thursday through Saturday (Sept. 23-25) at the Borg Ward, 823 W. National.  Noise is cheap: $10 a day, $21 for all three days of noise. Details here.

Edo de Waart in action. MSO photo by Todd Dacquisto.

The Milwaukee Symphony will open its season 8 p.m. Friday (Sept. 24), and open big: Beethoven’s Ninth, and as if that weren’t enough, Copland’s Appalachian Spring and John Adams’ Tromba Lontano are on the bill. Edo de Waart, of course, will conduct. At Marcus Center Uihlein Hall through Sunday. Click here for links, prices, etc.

Do you play the ukulele? Do you want to? Well, anyone can play that friendly instrument, and Saturday Sept. 25 is a great time to start. The Milwaukee Ukulele Festival starts at 9 a.m. and runs until 10:30 p.m. at Redeemer Lutheran Church, 631 N. 19th. They’ll hold workshops for all levels, and they’ll even have loaner ukes for the absolute beginner workshop. $65 for an all-day pass. Sounds like fun. Oh — and though anyone can play the uke, of course a handful of professionals have taken it to the next level. A bunch of them will attend the festival and play a concert. Best uke-band name: The Ditch Lilies. Details here.

Global Union last year.

I’m going to Global Union. What? You’re not? Would you go if I told you that Alverno Presents‘ annual world music festival in Humboldt Park noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday (Sept. 25-26) is absolutely free? Well, it’s absolutely free. Oh right, now you’ll go. While you’re at Global Union, do drop by the urbanmilwaukeedial.com booth and test your skill at our balloon dart game. You could win prizes. Oh, the dart game is free too. Cheapskate. More on Global Union here. Still more here.

Frank Almond’s extraordinary Frankly Music Series launches Monday and repeats Tuesday (Sept. 27-28) at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music. Almond and a mix of MSO players (violinist Ilana Setapen, cellist Peter Thomas and bassist Zach Cohen) and guests from around the country (violists Toby Appel and Anthony Devroye and cellist Edward Aaron) in a rare performance of the septet version of R. Strauss’ Metamorphosen. Serious stuff. Just for fun, they’ll do Tchaikovsky’s Souvenir de Florence. Details here.

As long as you have your safety goggles out for Noisefest (above), you might as well put them on an attend the 2010 Performance Art Showcase, too, 7:30 p.m. Wednesday (Sept. 22) at MIAD.  John Loscuito and Pegi Christiansen are organizing their fifth such showcase. Among the many attractions is conceptual weightlifter Joseph R. Reeves. Reeves will hold the massive weight of his artistic ego over his head for two hours. He must be strong. Reeves’ act fits the five-tent, 15-booth carnival format of the showcase. Free-will donation at the door ($5 suggested, $3 for students). More info here.

Theater

The Rep opens Tom McGrath’s Laurel and Hardy at the Stackner Cabaret Space Friday (Sept. 24) )night, with Gerard Neugent as as Stan Laurel and Bill Theisen (yes, the Skylight’s Bill Theisen) as Oliver Hardy. A cabaret show about the movie’s first great comedy team sounds like a great idea. Details here.

Ongoing

Theater: The Milwaukee Rep’s Cabaret, Next Act Theatre’s Four Places, Skylight Opera Theatre’s Dames at Sea, Theatrical Tendencies’ Thrill Me.