Rock
Free Summer Music in Milwaukee County Parks
What's better than live music? We'll tell you what: FREE live music.
Jun 14th, 2009 by Laura Heller
TCD @ BONNAROO! Manchester TN, June 11-14
Easy Otis & ThirdCoast Digest are going gonzo style deep into Bonnaroo, posting Twitter and blog updates 24/7 from June 10-15. Who know's who we'll meet: artists and filmmakers from the Third Coast? Lifer waitresses at road side diners? Scary people at 3am? I can't wait either. It's all going down, live and direct. Set the guns to stun.
Jun 7th, 2009 by Howie Goldklang
Al Jarreau Benefit Concert Kicks-Off Gathering on the Green Festival
The 2009 Gathering on the Green offers the rare opportunity to see Milwaukee’s own, seven-time Grammy winner Al Jarreau perform a benefit concert on Thursday, July 9, in Mequon’s Rotary Park. On Saturday, July 11, Gathering will commemorate 15 years of the best of the performing arts for the entire family with “A Red, White & Blue” celebration in the park. A singer and songwriter, Jarreau, has a unique vocal style and innovative musical expression that has made him an internationally known performer. He is the only singer to ever win Best Vocalist Grammys in three categories, jazz, R&B and pop. With hits including We’re In This Love Together, So Good and other classics, Jarreau will treat fans to an unforgettable performance under the stars. People won’t want to miss an evening with this famed jazz vocalist, hailed by critics as “one of the world’s greatest natural resources”. Saturday’s Gathering is truly a family festival of the performing arts. There is free lawn seating for children under 12, picnicking is encouraged or food and beverages can be purchased from on-site vendors. The Children’s Village has expanded with many fun educational activities throughout the afternoon. In the evening, Gathering will feature Milwaukee’s major performing arts groups including the Milwaukee Ballet and the Florentine Opera Company, with the Gathering on the Green Festival Orchestra. The festival concludes with spectacular fireworks choreographed to music. Tickets are available Thursday, June 4th, on line at gatheringonthegreen.org, at all Milwaukee area Boston Stores, at Harris Banks – Mequon & Thiensville or by calling the Gathering offices at 262-236-0510.
Jun 2nd, 2009 by Laura Heller
The Milwaukee Sound – John the Savage
Fan-Belt Milwaukee's Erin Wolf has a seat with six of the seven members of John the Savage.
May 15th, 2009 by Erin Wolf
The Legend of Bob Marley
May 11 marks the 28th anniversary of legendary reggae musician Bob Marley’s death. For many people, Marley’s music offered a strong opposition to hatred, oppression and neo-colonialism. But for those with an unfortunately limited worldview, the musician was nothing more than the patron saint of weed. To illustrate the second stance, I’ve decided to turn this playlist over to my cousin, Ryan Schurk. Ryan is a former day-shift manager at the Grafton Costco who lost his job after an ill-fated attempt to turn a defective Slap Chop into a bong. At age 26, he currently lives with my aunt Gina and spends his days blowing smoke in the ear of his family’s cat, Tuff Gong, in an attempt to get him high. Ryan was kind enough to sit down and share five songs with ThirdCoast Digest that he feels are appropriate to commemorate Marley’s life. Sixto Rodriguez – “Sugar Man” I first heard Sixto’s album Cold Fact on a high school service trip to South Africa. I knew right away that it was something special. It’s a shame the R-Man never caught fire in the US. “Sugar Man” has got all the hooks of a Donovan jam, but cuts out the bullshit and directly professes love to my “Sweet Mary Jane.” When I got back to the states, I knew that my life finally had purpose. Cold Fact single handedly convinced me to forego “higher education” and devote all my efforts to being a full-time dude. Was it the right decision? You think that over while you eat your panini on your paid lunch hour. Meanwhile, I’ll be watching an all-day “Cheaters” marathon on G4. The Rolling Stones – “2,000 Light Years from Home” Their Satanic Majesties Request is probably my third favorite Stones album of all time. Whether I’m kicking around town trying to break in a new pair of mules or playing bag toss at my pal Moose’s duplex, there’s no better soundtrack than this underappreciated psych-rock gem. Sometimes I’ll throw “2,000 Light Years from Home” on when Tuff Gong and I are going on one of our “spirit journeys.” Before we know it, we’re tearing through the cosmos on big-ass Harleys in a mad dash to liberate the people of Space Station Zion from the dreaded Downpressor Men. The song’s spacey-synth is like something out of a sci-fi flick, and we’re frickin’ Jedi masters. The only difference: Once our job is done we score some “death sticks” and spit game at those sweet Twi’Lek honeys. Ghostface Killah (Feat. Raekwon) – “Kilo” I’ve never taken a ride on the white pony before, unless you count that nummer I did with the guys from the Costco TV department. Still, I think I know where Ghost and Raekwon are coming from with this song. I’ve dangled my fair share of God’s green herb, and I can tell you that the life of a kingpin isn’t easy. Shariff don’t like it when a small businessman such as myself starts climbing the […]
May 11th, 2009 by Nick Schurk
The World is in the Turlet
The end result was entirely inappropriate for my situation. The song prophesied humorously the end of the world: Hipsters dropping dead on the streets of New York, rivers boiling and food supplies running dangerously low. The chorus especially resonated with my state of mind as the band growled “The world is in the turlet/ The world is in the turlet/ The world is in the turlet and we’re all gonna die.”
May 8th, 2009 by Nick Schurk
Live at WMSE Vol. X Release Party
TONIGHT! 91.7 WMSE and Decider Milwaukee celebrate the release of Live at WMSE Vol. X with a CD release party at the Miramar Theater. This new collection of songs features the best in-studio performances from 15 local and national acts. The station’s staff handpicked the tracks from more than 100 live performances that were broadcast on WMSE in 2008. According to WMSE Promotions Director Ryan Schleicher, the compilation leans toward the indie rock side of the musical spectrum. “Some of the live volumes are more themed than others,” Schleicher said. “Volume X doesn’t have any blues or Chicken Shack type stuff because those genres tend to get their own release.” The staff’s selections include cuts from national acts like Jones Street Station and Joe Pug. WMSE also pays tribute to its home base by presenting recordings from Milwaukee favorites like The Championship and The Peder Hedman Quartet. Mysteriously absent from the lineup is the local, nu-metal/jazz fusion outfit Noose Call, which was first presented to the world on the ThirdCoast Digest Podcast: Episode 2 (co-produced by the WMSE team). Quinn Scharber and the … In addition to a full spin of the new album and live performances from Testa Rosa and Quinn Scharber and the… (both featured on Volume X), Schleicher speculates that the party will be feature appearances from some of Milwaukee’s finest and most fun-loving residents. “Our listeners know how to whoop whoop and what what!” Schleicer says. Admission to the event is $10 and includes a copy of Live at WMSE Vol. X. All proceeds go directly to the station’s spring pledge drive, which begins Monday, April 27. “WMSE does not exist without substantial financial support from our listening community,” Schleicher says. “Listeners keep us breathing. Especially right now, we can’t lay any extra burden on already taxed listeners, so we have to keep finding more ways to generate income.” After tonight’s festivities, WMSE and its tireless employees will almost immediately begin to compile material for Volume XI. The station has already lined up two on-air gigs for next week’s broadcasts. “I’m personally looking forward to Robbie Fulks’ [performance] on April 30th,” Schleicher comments. “Locally, I’m really excited to hear what Adebisi and the Fresh Cut Collective bring this coming Tuesday, the 28th, on Local/Live.” The Live at WMSE Vol. X release party begins at 7:30 pm and features the “optical mayhem” of Paka Paka, the lightshow team that provided on-stage visuals for the Atomic Valentine concert.
Apr 23rd, 2009 by Nick Schurk
Way to go, Iowa!
Earlier this month, the Iowa Supreme Court voted unanimously to uphold a lower court decision to allow same-sex couples to marry. In less than two weeks, the state will begin to officially recognize unions between homosexual partners. It brings me great pride to see my home state make such a momentous (and surprising) decision. There will undoubtedly be the usual flurry of angry, religious fundamentalists and other party poopers, but one can only hope that those in power will stick to their guns. No matter what happens, the situation in Iowa is still a victory for supporters of basic human rights. That’s why I’ve put together a short play list of songs that apply to the gay-marriage debate, civil rights, and the wide range of emotions that accompany these issues. Arcade Fire – “My Body is a Cage” Feelings of repression are inescapable while listening to the closing track of 2007’s Funeral. Front man Win Butler may or may not have written the song to deal with issues of gay rights, but the sentiments expressed in “My Body is a Cage” have undeniably strong parallels to the topic. Canada’s Arcade Fire made a shockingly accurate prediction about a post-Prop 8 America and foresaw the despair of those “living in an age that calls darkness light.” Win’s crushing confession of “My body is a cage/ That keeps me from dancing with the one I love” is especially poignant. The statement is a perfect metaphor for the outrage of those who have ever been told who they can and can’t be with. Stevie Wonder – “Living for the City” A beloved former teacher once addressed my history class, saying, “Some day we’ll look back on the way the United States is handling same-sex marriage and feel as ashamed as we do about segregation.” This was a bold statement for a Catholic high school teacher in suburban Green Bay, and the lecture has stuck with me more so than almost any other from the course of my education. It’s hard to think of any wide scale injustices of the past, present or future without the synthy narrative of “Living for the City” coming to mind. Stevie Wonder tells a story of crushed innocence and lost hope through vivid imagery and a disturbing, surreal spoken-word interlude. While Wonder’s portrait of a broken and prejudiced society may seem like a distant memory, the overall theme is still (unfortunately) applicable to today’s human rights struggles. Big Star – “The Ballad of El Goodo” It’s all too easy to feel utterly hopeless when thinking about the ignorance and ass-backwards policies surrounding same-sex marriage legislation. Indignation can be a powerful tool in the fight to change the world around us, but it’s also necessary to hold on to at least a few shreds of optimism as well. Few songs capture the feeling of hope in the face of adversity better than Big Star’s “The Ballad of El Goodo.” The track teeters dangerously close to being defined as complete […]
Apr 17th, 2009 by Nick Schurk
24 years of rock for Atomic. In one day.
In Miramar’s tight lobby, the tension, fervor and anticipation mounts for the upcoming six (plus) hours of current and reunited local music acts playing for Atomic Records owner Rich Menning, store clerks, and the store’s legion of devoted fans. At this early hour, Eric Blowtorch is about to hit the stage and Menning is all sheepish grins. “It was a surprise. It was,” he says. “The more I heard about the [concert] the more I thought, ‘You know, this could be awesome.’” In December, Menning announced that he would be shuttering the venerable 24-year-old music store (before it was Atomic, it was Ludwig Van Ear) located near Oakland Ave. at 1813 E. Locust St.. Differences over rent and the current economic climate made the 2009 financial forecast look bleak, even after success becoming an online broker. During a time when Tower, Virgin, and other mall record stores are closing, it’s often astounding that smaller independents in town (Rush-Mor, Bullseye, Lotus Land, Exclusive Co.) can still operate. The key with some may be the low overhead of having few employees or purchases. Everyone has their own story of working at Atomic or buying their first [insert hardcore punk/progressive/acid/import/death metal/nouveau/ad nauseum musical group here] album from the one store that had a cochlea for important but unheard-of stuff. The clerks at Atomic often put the crew at Nick Hornby’s ‘Championship Vinyl’ (Rob’s record store in High Fidelity) to shame in terms of aural audacity and rock snobbery. This was a selling point for shopping there, not a criticism. The place is small yet stacked to the rafters and sub-levels with posters, t-shirts, vinyl, cassettes, and CDs of stuff you may have only heard on college radio – or, better yet, at a local show. Atomic was also the place where local bands could premiere their recordings on 7” EPs before they ever had a MySpace page. It was this devotion and gratitude that brought erstwhile music acts to reunite for this one night. Musician and longtime Atomic employee Damien Strigens came up with the idea and made a few phone calls. One was to his former bandmates from The Lovelies: Liv Mueller and Barb Endes. Once they agreed to play a concert, calls went out to mostly defunct but well-loved Wisconsin acts such as Couch Flambeau, Sometimes Sweet Susan, a non-billed and incomplete yet devastating Die Krauzen (calling themselves Bob and Joe out of decorum), Liquid Pink, Boy Dirt Car, Mighty Deerlick, the Squares and Cherry Cake. If Atomic Valentine was a compilation album covering the last 30 years of rock in Milwaukee, it would have been a ‘Best Of.’ Many bands sounded better than ever. Everybody with a story to tell about Atomic showed up. The flowing crowd reached the 327 persons capacity at Miramar Theater several times throughout the night. Most of this audience didn’t fit into a definitive age demographic. There were grayhairs with leather pants and moptops with ironic Van Halen t-shirts. Free flowing Pabst beer – with […]
Mar 4th, 2009 by Brian Jacobson
: Rockin’ In The Free World
As I’m rounding third and coming home to the conclusion of the Neil Young bio Shakey, I’m reminded of the above collaboration featuring Neil Young + Pearl Jam from the MTV Music Awards circa 1993. Somewhere I have a well-worn VHS tape with the same footage. I must have played it a hundred [...]
Mar 2nd, 2009 by MuzzleofBees
Ben Nichols
Ben Nichols, frontman for gritty rebel rockers Lucero, presents his first solo release, Last Pale Light In the West, a self-dubbed “mini-LP.” The mini LP is seven story-songs, pulling their tales from Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian (1985), a bleak, violence-ridden novel, packed full of historical and religious references. Each song Nichols pens in Last Pale Light in the West is built around the novel and its characters; the title track sets the scene as Nichols leads, “Dark clouds gather round me / to the West my soul is bound.” The next introduces the novel’s protagonist, The Kid. In “The Kid,” Nichols sings, “Your mother died night you were born / her name you never knew / look away, look away / nothing to lose / left East Tennessee at fourteen / wandered to the West / look away, look away / born into death.” With Lucero, Nichols has proved himself a natural-born storyteller, tales of bars and brawls narrated by his raspy drawl. This time around, his stories are not just of bars and brawls; those bars and brawls are scenes for something far deeper and more sinister, echoing McCarthy’s unblinking, soulless style. The music itself bucks up and simply tells the tales, not overdrawing a dark mood but lending a stripped down and plainly pretty backdrop, letting the lyrics do all of the novel’s dirty work. Nichols, on acoustic guitar, paired with Rick Steff (Cat Power) on accordion and piano and Todd Beene (Glossary) on pedal steel and electric guitar, rolls ballads out slow and sure, like the rising and setting of the sun in a dusty Western sky, while the musicality of the songs shine up the rough pages within. Although more of a novella in terms of length, Last Pale Light in the West is all-encompassing of its original source, embodying a sense of history and depth and issuing an effect that’s fresh and endlessly intriguing, as the best stories often are.
Jan 1st, 2009 by Erin Wolf
Crooked X
With the demise of Atomic Records looming, now’s as good a time as any to re-examine the myriad problems that have beset the music industry as a whole: downloading, the collapsed economy, and most relevant to this review, the lack of quality in most major label product. With things so tough all over, I can’t help but listen to the self-titled debut from Oklahoma high schoolers Crooked X and wonder: the industry’s in the shitter, and this is the best they can come up with? The ten songs that comprise Crooked X’s debut sound about 14 years too late; ironic, since that’s the age of each band member. But who the hell is trying to ape Alice in Chains in 2009? Are their parents frustrated ex-grunge rockers? Songs like “Fade,” with its opening “Rooster”-style flange, and the horrifically clichéd “Rock and Roll Dream” (“I had a rock and roll dream/and I was a star/I went around the world/playin’ my guitar”— Jesus, really?) are lifted almost by the numbers from the Alice in Chains playbook, but with just enough Pantera-flavored cock-rock licks to imply that they might be closer to Alice ‘N’ Chainz (Layne Staley’s hair band before Jerry Cantrell joined him — look it up!). How bereft of new ideas are the major labels if signing a band of teenaged Creed wannabes sounded like a good idea (what’s next, is GM going to try to avoid bankruptcy by selling more Hummers)? Maybe it sounds unduly harsh to slam a band this young, but as they say on their MySpace, “We want people to hear our music, decide what they think, and THEN find out, ‘wow, they’re 14.’” Sounds fair – Crooked X would represent what’s wrong with the music biz no matter how old they were.
Jan 1st, 2009 by DJ Hostettler
