Milwaukee Calendar
- Jun 18
Music
Wake Owl and Blessed Feathers
The Pabst Theater
7 p.m.
Wisconsin’s Blessed Feathers certainly aren’t lacking for a compelling origin story: Raised as a Jehovah’s Witness in Lakeland, Florida, singer Donivan Berube disassociated himself with the church, left home, and drove 36 hours to Wisconsin—all at age 17. He ended up finding work at a restaurant in West Bend where he met his eventual musical (and life) partner, Jacquelyn Beaupre. The duo’s atmospheric folk-pop caught the ear of New York producer Kevin McMahon (The Walkmen, Real Estate, Titus Andronicus), who recorded the new Peaceful Beasts In An Ocean Of Weeds EP.
The Erotic Adventures Of The Static ChickenThe Jazz Estate
10 p.m.
The Erotic Adventures Of The Static Chicken is a weekly jam session that has grown into a Milwaukee music institution over the better part of the past decade. The Chicken’s exploration of off-the-cuff acid jazz, funk, and Frank Zappa-like musical vaudeville has made The Jazz Estate a premier spot for live music Tuesday nights, boasting some of the scene’s top players. Though the weekly time slot is predictable, the music that emanates from it is anything but.
Jewel and Tori KellyThe Northern Lights Theater At Potawatomi Bingo Casino
8 p.m.
Jewel Kilcher’s mid-career embrace of country music seems less desperate and cynical than it did half a decade ago. Recovering at the time from her much-ridiculed dance-pop album, 0304, Jewel seemed a falling star looking for a soft place to land. Now, for better or worse, the wife of rodeo champ Ty Murray and one-time host of Nashville Star has committed to her niche. And since the lyrical conventions of contemporary country guide her away from confessional folk clichés toward sentimental pop clichés, her music has shed a layer or two of ickiness. Still, that old ickiness will likely be on full display for Jewel’s two-night “Greatest Hits” stint at Potawatomi. Welcome back, “Who Will Save Your Soul.”
La URSS
Quarters Rock 'N Roll Palace9 p.m.
It’s hard to top the Dead Kennedys in terms of provocative-yet-not-juvenile band names. Then again, Jello Biafra and company were only making light of a pair of national tragedies; flying under the flag of communist Russia, Spanish punks La URSS thumb their nose at a 33-year-long period of political and ideological oppression. The band’s members may have been born long after the death of dictator Francisco Franco (who’s still dead, incidentally), but they’re not too young to take cues from the Dead Kennedys’ righteous indignation and self-destructive stage presence: Frontman Áfrico definitely has his Biafra tics down to the fevered quivers—though he does so en Español. Thankfully, such things mosh through the language barrier.
Brett Newski and John Davey Bremen CaféLoading...
Chill On The Hill: Pay The Devil + The Best Westerns Humboldt ParkLoading...
Open Mic Night: Joe Wray The Belmont TavernLoading...
Theater
