Burning Sons
words by Cal Roach
- After you get your vote on this Tuesday (November 8th), drop by Quarters Rock N’ Roll Palace for an evening of very loud guitars. Milwaukee’s own Burning Sons will be tearing it up with vintage hardcore, and if The Shrine’s bio is any indication, the Los Angeles group will be bludgeoning you with stoner rock of the Man’s Ruin variety (think Fu Manchu, Nebula, etc.).
- There are at least two reasons we can think of to check out The Jayhawks on Wednesday (November 9th) at Turner Hall. For one, the influential folk-rock/alt-country band has a bunch of great songs to choose from, dating back to 1986′s self-titled debut (including or disregarding the just-released Mockingbird Time as you see fit). For another thing, there’s a pretty good chance co-frontman Gary Louris will throw a tantrum at some point and start yelling and/or throwing stuff, so even if the band sucks, there’ll probably be some kind of spectacle at least.
- Speaking of great songs (and this Wednesday), Ray Davies has a few of those in his repertoire. The guy has been a rock star for nearly half a century, after all. According to Ray’s Facebook page, the show will feature a full band with a small acoustic set, and a wide assortment of Kinks hits and obscurities. Prediction: Ray will tell some stories as well.
- Now that Circle A Café is back up and running on a fairly regular schedule, the Riverwest institution can once again happily accommodate at least a baker’s dozen spectators when it crams a band into the corner by the door for a show. This Thursday, November 10th, Milwaukee’s own indie/psych rockers Elusive Parallelograms will cram the place full and most likely rock the house.
- Linneman’s Riverwest Inn is the site on Friday, November 11th for the seventh annual Milwaukee tribute to Neil Young, affectionately called Kneel To Neil. This year’s lineup is stellar as usual: Chris DeMay, Juniper Tar, Paul Cebar, Will Phalen and many more; basically, a guaranteed winner of a night. If that’s not enticing enough, proceeds will benefit Young’s Bridge School Foundation AND your favorite radio station, WMSE!
- Multiple Grammy winner Paul Simon (along with partner, Art Garfunkel), is a household name. Simon could coast on all that, but instead, he keeps putting out surprisingly good albums (with perhaps a misstep or two…), particularly his latest (So Beautiful Or So What, released in April). He arrives at the Riverside Friday, November 11th with a can’t-miss opening act as well: Punch Brothers, a bluegrass-ish band that is sure to impress even people who hate bluegrass.
- Know what’s great about Saturdays? You don’t have to work! (Apologies to anyone unlucky enough to have to work on Saturdays.) So if there’s an event that starts at 4 p.m., like, say, The Milwaukee Meowsic Fest on Saturday, November 12th, you can totally make it. Not only does this event have a very clever name; it is a benefit for the Happy Endings No Kill Cat Shelter, one of the noblest causes we can think of, and it will feature no fewer than seven sets of local music, by the likes of hard rockers Enemy Star and instrumental prog maestros Fibonacci Sequence, among others.
- For even more Riverwest action, Sunday (November 13th) holds an especially cool event: renowned sax player Steve Nelson-Raney will celebrate his 65th birthday with Chris Burns (guitar/laptop) at Woodland Pattern Book Center for a special live edition of WMSE’s Alternating Currents show. This is sure to be a wild, unpredictable evening of music.
