The A.V. Club - Daily

Sports: Talkin' Baseball: 7 alternate drinks for the Brewers’ “New Brew” contest

Fri, 24 May 2013 00:00:00 -0500

For an organization named after those who produce an alcoholic beverage, and who plays its home games in a stadium named after a behemoth brewery in America’s most unabashedly intoxicated region, the topic of beer comes up surprisingly seldom in association with the Milwaukee Brewers. But the Brewers and Leinenkugel’s recent “New Brew” promotion has taken a step to remove the fourth wall between fans of a beer-based franchise and the libation itself. Through Tuesday this week, fans were given the chance to “pick a New Brew” that will flow through the Miller Park tap lines this season ...

Music: Local Newswire: Former Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan gives Summerfest a shout-out in Rolling Stone

Thu, 23 May 2013 00:00:00 -0500

If you’ve been concerned about that low, dull roar emanating from the lakefront, never fear—it’s just the beast known as Summerfest awakening from its slumber and getting ready to do its annual music-and-picnic-table-dancing thing. And while your enjoyment of the Big Gig may vary from year to year (is Dread Zeppelin ever going to play again?), one fest-goer is an avowed lifetime fan: former Guns ’N Roses bassist Duff McKagan. In a Rolling Stone piece entitled “10 Things Duff McKagan Learned on the Summer Festival Circuit,” the veteran rocker gives a solid shout-out to Summerfest, along with ...

City Life: Local Newswire: Great job, Milwaukee! Milwaukee named best city in known universe

Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 -0500

We all know that Milwaukee is a super-neat city filled with super-neat people. Where else can you enjoy a show, eat some food, hang out with friends, and see a movie? (Answer: nowhere.) But if you thought Milwaukee was simply one of the best cities in the country—or just the seventh most exciting city in America—think again. A recent study has named Milwaukee the best city in the known universe. The study was conducted by A.V. Club Milwaukee. “We never doubted Milwaukee’s place as the best city in the known universe for a second,” we said ...

Music: MusicalWork Review: Crappy Dracula: Tooo Muuuch

Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 -0500

After a brief foray into quasi-serious songwriting with 2011’s Fantastic Dracula, the jokesters of Crappy Dracula take the more obvious route indicated by their band name on the new Tooo Muuuch, throwing grandiosity to the dingos in favor of a dizzying hodgepodge of absurdity. This approach makes Fantastic Dracula seem almost pretentious with its hooks, words, and songs that last more than two and a half minutes. Even disregarding the band’s own humorous textual insertions into its MP3s (to get the full Tooo Muuuch experience, you’ll need to click “Get Info” on the songs), grins and guffaws ...

Music: Recap: Bill Cosby delivers lighthearted enlightenment at Riverside Theater

Mon, 20 May 2013 10:00:00 -0500

Legendary humorist Bill Cosby transcends stand-up comedy. For a half century, the wholesome funnyman has kept the world laughing with his seminal sitcom The Cosby Show, his timeless Jell-O pudding spots, and his oft-imitated (usually poorly) voice that’s delivered a lighthearted enlightenment to anyone willing to listen. Saturday night, a sold-out Riverside Theater audience—which included a cowboy hat-adorned Sheriff David Clarke among its aged ranks—sat blissfully captive for 90 minutes worth of side-splitting soliloquies from the world’s foremost comic genius. Following a short video portraying both kids and adults saying the darndest things to the Cos ...

Promotion: Contest: The Onion Society For Beer Enjoyment #79

Mon, 20 May 2013 08:00:00 -0500

The Onion Society For Beer Enjoyment meets monthly to discuss the issues of greatest import to alcohol preservationists: mainly alcohol and the endless possibilities it bears. The Society has existed in near secrecy (thanks to poor handling by its publicist) since 1756, but its meetings having been the catalyst for many of the greatest events, inventions, and gestures of philanthropy in the past quarter millennium. Among them: the American and French Revolutions, nine feet of licorice-string fun, The Beatles’ appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, gunpowder, orphanages, and that one episode where the gang finds oil under the football field ...

Music: This Week In Local: Welcome to the week: May 20-25

Mon, 20 May 2013 00:00:00 -0500

The week leading up to Memorial Day weekend is a tricky one. With the first tastes of summer landing on Milwaukee’s tongue like so much bacon-flavored cotton candy, there’s no better time to leave your filthy apartment and explore the city we call home. On the other hand, Memorial Day weekend is the perfect time to get the fuck out of Dodge and get your rural camping/fishing/drinking groove on. Perhaps in recognition of this, artists and promoters alike have conspired to ensure that there’s not a whole lot of big-name shows going on this week ...

Music: MusicalWork Review: Twin Brother: Twin Brother

Fri, 17 May 2013 00:00:00 -0500

Milwaukee has been making googly eyes at moody folk rock for several years now, with bands like Field Report, Altos, and Old Earth dominating both club dates and local album releases. Add to that ever-growing number Twin Brother, a group that takes the basic elements of folk and grafts them to the fraying body of alt-rock. At its core, the band is singer-songwriter Sean Raasch and drummer Tyler Nelson, formerly of the two-man alt-rock outfit Jackraasch. On the duo’s self-titled debut as Twin Brother, a host of guest artists are called in to flesh out their sound—many of ...

Film: Contest: Win tickets to see Now You See Me early and for free

Thu, 16 May 2013 11:30:00 -0500

Dear Milwaukee: Would you like to see the latest Jesse Eisenberg/Mark Ruffalo/Woody Harrelson/Michael Caine/Morgan Freeman joint, Now You See Me, early and for free? If your answer is “YES,” head over to Gofobo and enter “AVCLUBHGQN” for your chance to win a free pass. (Free registration is required.) The advance screening is Thursday, May 23, at the AMC Mayfair Mall. (The film opens in theaters May 31.) A synopsis and trailer are below. Good luck! Now You See Me pits an elite FBI squad in a game of cat and mouse against “The Four Horsemen,” a ...

Music: Recap: Satan for the masses: Ghost B.C. brings spooky Swedish metal to Turner Hall

Thu, 16 May 2013 10:00:00 -0500

Surely the sleuths of the Internet have already uncovered the identities of the Nameless Ghouls who play the instruments in the band Ghost B.C. (The “B.C.” is a U.S.-only legal requirement.) Even The Residents can’t keep everything secret from the public in this day and age. An air of mystery ought to encourage fans not to seek out that information, though, because everything about Ghost is such obvious fantastical escapism that peeking behind the masks is tantamount to giving up on the experience entirely. Ultimately, the music by itself isn’t likely to be enough ...

Music: Now Streaming: The Disclaimer: The (contentious) state of Milwaukee jazz

Thu, 16 May 2013 00:00:00 -0500

Nearly every Wednesday at noon, Ryan Schleicher of WMSE, Evan Rytlewski of the Shepherd Express, and Matt Wild of The A.V. Club Milwaukee take to the WMSE airwaves to discuss all things Milwaukee. The half-hour fun-fest is called The Disclaimer, so titled because none of the sometimes cranky and ridiculous opinions expressed during the show represent those of the three hosts’ employers. Milwaukee music, Milwaukee art, Milwaukee events, and D.I.Y. lawn care tips are frequently discussed—and rarely agreed upon. What’s the state of Milwaukee’s jazz scene? Is jazz something that needs to be understood ...

City Life: Blog: The agony and ecstasy (and accidental crack smoking) of Riverwest Missed Connections

Wed, 15 May 2013 10:00:00 -0500

I moved to Milwaukee’s free-spirited Riverwest neighborhood during the summer of 2010, annoyed with the beefed-up adolescence of the East Side, but—not to sound like an old fart here—mainly fed up with my UWM neighbors shouting profane slurs while playing Halo. Grumpy fist shaking aside, the East Side didn’t seem to fit my style. Like most twentysomethings, I enjoyed drinking some alcohol with friends out on the town, but the list of watering holes I refused to set foot in again started growing longer than the ones I actually appreciated. Riverwest just made more sense. It ...

Music: Just Announced: John C. Reilly And Friends to play two intimate, underground shows in Miller Caves

Wed, 15 May 2013 09:00:00 -0500

Along with having starred in some of the finest films of the past 20 years (Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story) and being the one and only Dr. Steve Brule, John C. Reilly also does the Billy Bob Thorton/Jeff Bridges/Kevin Costner thing by fronting his own bluegrass band, John C. Reilly And Friends. Unlike those other actors, however, Reilly’s music project is worth more than a snicker. Reilly has two singles out on Jack White’s Third Man Records, and he has spent the past few months playing the festival circuit with bandmates Tom ...

Music: Recap: Black Rebel Motorcycle Club deliver bombastic, potent show at Turner Hall

Wed, 15 May 2013 00:00:00 -0500

Straight-ahead rock and roll may have become fashionable again in the past couple of years, but few bands take the fashion aspect of it as seriously as Black Rebel Motorcycle Club. Bassist Robert Levon Been and guitarist Peter Hayes emerged onto the Turner Hall stage Tuesday night looking every bit like Hollywood’s dream of the eternal badasses signified by their band’s name, straight from a brightly-lit hairdressing appointment. Their studied nonchalance throughout the performance was James Dean’s ghost incarnate, and their simple but effective lighting rig burned into the retinas of the attendees as surely as the ...

Music: MusicalWork Review: Fable & The World Flat: The Great Attractor

Tue, 14 May 2013 00:00:00 -0500

Steven Look and Matthew Gorski of Fable & The World Flat seem to have predicted the long, drawn-out winter (even for Wisconsin) that sucked Milwaukee into the doldrums earlier this year. It’s as if they made The Great Attractor to try and wring some goodwill out of Mother Nature with an upbeat, summer party record. “If you feel bad about the summer / Thinking everything’s going to hell / Don’t you fret, have no regrets / There’s another one over the hill,” Look sings on opening track “Hunchback Of Awesome-Fest,” giving the signal to unfold a chair and recline as ...

City Life: This Week In Local: Welcome to the week: May 13-17

Mon, 13 May 2013 00:00:00 -0500

If you’re worried about that cold, empty feeling in the pit of your stomach, or you’re growing a wee bit concerned about that urge to stick your head in an oven, don’t worry—you’re simply coming to the slow realization that spring has yet to truly spring in Milwaukee, even though we’re now entering mid-May. Sure, there have been a handful of lovely days where the entire city goes apeshit and everyone gets pulled over on Lincoln Memorial Drive, but these isolated pockets of joy have been tempered by endless days of clouds, rain, and ...

Sports: Talkin' Baseball: Enjoying the unlikely (and likely short-lived) ascension of Yuniesky Betancourt

Fri, 10 May 2013 00:00:00 -0500

As a result of the Brewers’ intention to make a 23-year-old with only 45 major league games beneath his belt its everyday starting shortstop, and to ease the burden left by two lengthy injuries sustained by first basemen, the team’s front office signed a veteran free agent infielder with a franchise history to fill in at first and mentor Jean Segura in his first full season. But enough about Alex Gonzalez. Within a week of the start of the regular season, GM Doug Melvin risked unleashing a tsunami of exaggerated eye rolls and disappointed gasps from Brewers fans by ...

Promotion: Contest: Win tickets to see Star Trek Into Darkness early and for free

Thu, 09 May 2013 11:00:00 -0500

Dear Milwaukee: Would you like to see a little film called Star Trek Into Darkness early and for free? If your answer is “YES,” head over to Gofobo and enter “AVCLUBX1B1” for your chance to win an admit-two pass. (Free registration is required.) The advance screening is Wednesday, May 15, at 9 p.m. at the Marcus Ridge Cinema. (The film opens in theaters May 16.) A synopsis and trailer are below. Good luck, and may the Force be with you! In the wake of a shocking act of terror from within their own organization, the crew of The Enterprise ...

Music: Now Streaming: Pass for 18 (in the dark) with the new Young Holidays single, “Jackie Kennedy”

Thu, 09 May 2013 10:00:00 -0500

Ever since a random tweet directed us to the music of Young Holidays last summer, we’ve been huge fans of the group and its one-man-band singer-songwriter, Max Holiday. In less than a year, the 23-year-old has become a familiar face on the ever-zany Milwaukee show scene, and his project has quickly progressed from shambling, lo-fi garage rock to glimmering, slightly less lo-fi electro pop. (Check out the terrific “Rose Gold” if you’re in the market for a new favorite song.) Holiday is currently working on his debut full-length, Candy Paint, and he has just released the album’s ...

Music: Now Streaming: The Disclaimer: The trouble with indie rock

Thu, 09 May 2013 00:00:00 -0500

Nearly every Wednesday at noon, Ryan Schleicher of WMSE, Evan Rytlewski of the Shepherd Express, and Matt Wild of The A.V. Club Milwaukee take to the WMSE airwaves to discuss all things Milwaukee. The half-hour fun-fest is called The Disclaimer, so titled because none of the sometimes cranky and ridiculous opinions expressed during the show represent those of the three hosts’ employers. Milwaukee music, Milwaukee art, Milwaukee events, and D.I.Y. lawn care tips are frequently discussed—and rarely agreed upon. Ryan, Evan, and Matt are joined by music superfan C.J. Krawczyk for a spirited discussion on ...