Jazz 411

If you’re a jazz music savant, you should probably move to New Orleans…

Milwaukee actually has some very decent jazz venues about town. Tomorrow, on March 11, The downtown WAC is holding its third annual Jazz on the Vine in the lobby of the 411 building, aptly named for its 411 E. Wisconsin Ave. address. It’s more recognizable as the Quarles & Brady building.

From 5-8 p.m. tomorrow night, $15 at the door affords you the unique opportunity to take in some great jazz music, a fashion show for a fitness line of clothing and plenty of wine and appetizers. The only thing missing is cocktails, which go hand in hand with jazz music, but it has a fitness there here since it is an official WAC event. The good news being you needn’t be a member of the club to attend tomorrow. Not a bad way to kick off the weekend!

Summerfest adds Jason Aldean to its Lineup

Country star Jason Aldean becomes the sixth act booked at the Amp for the 2011 installment of Summerfest. Along with openers, Chris Young and Thompson Square, July 8 will be a country music lovers dream in Milwaukee. It’s the third country act booked at the Amp as well, joining Sugarland and Toby Keith/Eric Church as main stage headliners.

 

Follow Friday Once Again

Slow week here at Into The Day HQ. Our apologies for letting real life affect our love of music. We did start gathering and archiving every song known to man (and women) about the Brew City. You can check that out here. Of course we welcome any tunes we missed.

It’s time for Follow Friday again, and with my desk calendar telling me it’s March 4, it’s high time for some St. Patrick’s Day attention for the establishments and bands that will be ramping things up in the next couple of weeks.

Trinity Three Irish Pubs (@trinitymke) is one of Milwaukee’s favorite night life locations located on the popular Water St. district. Plenty of Paddy’s day enthusiasts will be in line bright and early on March 17 to get into the pub.

athas (@athas) is a local traditional Irish music band. You can check them out every Sunday at @brocach. I’m sure they’ll have a full slate on St. Patrick’s Day.

One of the newest bars downtown is the Blackthorn Pub (@blackthorn_pub).  Just across the street from the Pfister Hotel on Mason St., they’ve got a great location and worth a visit this month.

Myserk (@myserk) is another great local Irish group that can be seen around town and worth whatever the cover charge might be.

Give them a follow on Twitter and start getting into the St. Patrick’s Day spirit! Cheers to the weekend.

Follow Friday

No night out on the town is complete without a tasty brunch the following a.m. It’s the perfect weekend warrior meal: don’t have to be up 5 hours after you finally crawled into your covers and you’re surrounded by others who enjoy the night life. Need help figuring out where to eat and what they’re serving? No one better to follow than:

@mke_brunch

Give them a follow on Twitter.

Cheers to the weekend.

Threat Level Midnight

Did Michael Scarn poach his name from an up and coming Wisconsin band? Could this be the next big thing in these lands? I bet these guys were thrilled when last week’s The Office episode aired:

Elvira, Bust A Move, Funky Cold Medina

I’ve been waiting for a reason to post an Oak Ridge Boys video of Elvira. Now that I see they’re booked for the Wisconsin State Fair, that time has finally come! Good luck getting Elvira out of your head!

To make it even better, 90s hip hop staples, MC Hammer, Young MC and Tone Loc will co-headline a show at the fair as well. Get me some fried stuff on a stick and meet you at the grandstand!

What’s Made Milwaukee Famous

Sometimes we have to take what we can get here in the Mil Town. As previously posted, there aren’t a wealth of songs about Milwaukee circulating the airwaves or the Internet. But since we’re all about Milwaukee music, we thought it would be a fun addition to the blog to create a page containing all of the songs we can find about our town on Lake Michigan. While we work on adding a page and updating it with songs about MKE, here’s perhaps the most well known of any tune about us:

What’s Made Milwaukee Famous by Jerry Lee Lewis featuring Rod Stewart

Kurt Cobain – Happy 44th

We pause briefly from keeping the spotlight on Milwaukee’s music scene to focus on music in the broader sense. Kurt Cobain, the former Nirvana frontman, would have turned 44 today.

44. I wanted to post that because you can’t help but wonder how different the music landscape would be if Cobain hadn’t died in 1994. Hard to believe Cobain committed suicide 17 years ago. Even harder to believe he’d only be 44 today if still alive. Just think if Nirvana was still together and going strong along the lines of the Rolling Stones or Bon Jovi. Along with 2Pac and Biggie Smalls, some of the most influential musicians of an entire generation left the world too early, leaving voids that are yet to be filled. I personally wasn’t the biggest fan of Nirvana, but I’m a 90s music junkie and Cobain’s mark on music will never be forgotten. Anyone who is the lead flag carrier in ushering in an entirely new brand of music deserves all the credit bestowed upon him. RIP Kurt.

Zach Wade Launches Live Music at Distil Tonight

Distil, the new cocktail lounge located on lively Milwaukee St., launches its live music act tonight with Zach Wade. Dubbed “Music Meets Mixology,” Wade kicks off what is to become a weekly event every Thursday night. Milwaukee St. establishments draw a very well dressed-night life crowd, but has had a major void in the live music scene.

I’m of the state of mind that Thursday night is one of the best nights for some local live acts. The weekend is in sight, the bars aren’t packed to the point of being unable to move and the weekend is in sight. Wade’s a great fit for a place launching a new music rollout, so kudos to Distil for filling the music void in one of the city’s most popular scenes. No word on who they’ll feature next Thursday, but if you go, dress to impress.

Programming Note: Our programmer (just pretend we have one for a moment) was changing some settings on the site and the appropriate time zone was changed momentarily. This post “Zach Wade Launches Live Music at Distil Tonight” was posted on Thursday, February 17. We apologize for the confusion. Distil’s Music Meets Mixology series will be every Thursday night, not Friday.

Follow Friday

When it comes to radio that’s truly outside of the box, Milwaukee’s own 88.9 RadioMilwaukee needs no further introduction. Their programming does a masterful job of weaving in local acts, national acts not garnering significant radio play, diamonds in the rough, as well as a few up and coming groups on the cusp of stardom. Most people have heard of Mumford & Sons by now and their song “Little Lion Man.” RadioMilwaukee was playing it months before anyone else in town.

Give them a follow on Twitter:

@RadioMilwaukee

Cheers to the weekend