January 2025

Paul Cebar Tomorrow Sound bring forth a funky, lyrically charged racket that is explosive, yet intimate.

Taking cues from the dance bands of western Louisiana (and his native Midwest,), the streets (and 45's) of New Orleans, touring African and Caribbean combos and the soul, funk & blues of his youth, Paul Cebar is a masterful synthesist of rhythmic culture. His time spent in his second home of New Orleans, as a musicologist in Florida, and as a journeyman wanderer in Cuba, is reflected in his musical worldview.

At the core is gifted songwriting, and the company Paul keeps bears it out: Bonnie Raitt, Nick Lowe, Chris Smither, John Hiatt and Cesar Rosas are among his friends and admirers.

Tomorrow Sound are an elite crew. Drummer Reggie Bordeaux, New Orleans native percussionist Mac Perkins, and bassist Mike Fredrickson, throw down some of the best dance grooves in the business. Multi-instrumentalist Bob Jennings adds the luxury of implying a much larger ensemble with his multi-hued contributions on keys and reeds.

Paul Cebar Tomorrow Sound's latest album is "Fine Rude Thing" . The songs "Baby Shake" and "You Owe it to Me" feature Cebar's unique mixture of R&B, Caribbean and New Orleans style.

Armed with little but a 6-string, a harp rack and a stack of songs that harken back to the wrought folk rock of yesteryear, Max Niemann packs a punch that's as heartfelt as it is biting. Roaming a sonic trail blazed by country punks and folk poets immemorial, pre-Dylan on up through Tweedy, Niemann follows in the footsteps of the American troubadour lineage, propelling it into the present with songs that are as likely to strike a chord with the modern metropolitan as they are the lonesome wanderer. With his ever-evolving band of Fellow Travelers at his side, the group provides rustic backdrops for the hard-nosed yet intimate stories of human joy, suffering and striving that occupy Niemann's songs.

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Convoy is proud to call Wisconsin home, the same state that produced Country Legends Dave Dudley (who recorded a few songs a town over in Bay View) and Pee Wee King. They're just a stone's throw away from where the electric guitar was born as well residing in Cudahy, WI. These guys may not be wrangling horses, but their music is as country as it gets. With a strong admiration for the history of country music and over 3 years of experience touring with their old rock and roll band from 2019-2023, they've developed a sound that is truly their own. They are a little bit of country and a whole lot of Rock "N" Roll.

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Milwaukee's newest supergroup, playing classic Outlaw Country. Featuring members of Shoobie, Diet Lite and North Warren.

An all-star cast of Milwaukee musicians including members of Chicken Wire Empire, Funkclub Wagon, The WhiskeyBelles and more; bring you an evening to remember the music of John Prine.

A few years ago we lost one of the most prolific song-writers the world has ever known. John Prine wrote with humility, hope and plenty of humor. Join us this January as we flip through the impressive catalog he left behind and pay homage to one of the greats.

Guitar/Vocals- Jesse Voelker

Bass/ Upright Bass- Jordan Kroeger

Keys/ Accordion- Dan Budziszewski

Drums/ Percussion- Jack Reed

Pedal Steel/ Guitar- Dan Kimpel

Fiddle/Mandolin- Ernest Brusubardis IV

Vocals- Chrissy Dzioba

Zoltan Kaszasis a Hungarian-born, award-winning stand-up comedian known for his sharp, observational humor. Kaszas, who The Atlantic called a "breakout star," has been featured on several SiriusXM comedy channels, Laughs on Fox, Netflix Is a Joke, Scotland's Fringe Festival and headlines comedy clubs and theaters across the country. It was his riff on why cats are better than dogs that brought viral fame, racking up over 68 million views with The Guardian's (UK) calling it one of the "ten funniest things I've seen on the Internet." Kaszas has two Dry Bar standup specials and three independent standup specials on YouTube: Modern Male, White Lies and his most recent, Honorary Jones. His ability to take relatable experiences and turn them into hilarious stories has earned him both critical acclaim and a loyal following.

Zoltan Kaszasis a Hungarian-born, award-winning stand-up comedian known for his sharp, observational humor. Kaszas, who The Atlantic called a "breakout star," has been featured on several SiriusXM comedy channels, Laughs on Fox, Netflix Is a Joke, Scotland's Fringe Festival and headlines comedy clubs and theaters across the country. It was his riff on why cats are better than dogs that brought viral fame, racking up over 68 million views with The Guardian's (UK) calling it one of the "ten funniest things I've seen on the Internet." Kaszas has two Dry Bar standup specials and three independent standup specials on YouTube: Modern Male, White Lies and his most recent, Honorary Jones. His ability to take relatable experiences and turn them into hilarious stories has earned him both critical acclaim and a loyal following.

"52nd Street" - playing the music of Billy Joel, is a full concert show featuring an eight piece band of some of the most talented musicians in the region.

The show is packed with hits from start to finish and features "spot on" performances of the songs that made the "Piano man" from N.Y.C. one of the top selling and beloved artists of all time! With baby grand at center stage and an energetic performance from the supporting cast, 52nd Street is a show that people will not soon forget!
Featuring:

Tony Goff - Lead Vocals
Taras Nahirniak - Piano & Vocals
Rudy Z. - Bass
Junior Gamez - Drums
Kimberly Hetelle - Keyboards, harmonica, flute, hand percussion & Vocals
Peter Neumer - Saxophones
Randy Komberec - Guitars & Vocals

Celebrating and meticulously recreating the musical legacy of Led Zepppelin!

Something shakin' on Shank-Down Street! Mike & Friends returns to Shank Hall in Milwauke for an old fashion Grateful Dead party! Time to turn on your lovelight, and dance like nobody's watching you!

Mike Scieszinski - Guitar and Vocals
Rick Beccera - Bass
Matt Hund - Drums
Lucas Trilling - Keyboards
Mike Bleck - Guitar and Vocals
Sarah Clark - Backing vocals and Tamborine
Jen Polster - Backing vocals

Guitarist Mike Scieszinski(PHUN-Phish Tribute) is the musical director of this band of rag-tag miscreants who play a variety of music and a bunch of Grateful Dead. Mike & Friends is the wedding party band style Dead, with a large mix of eclectic covers and Scieszinski original compositions.

2021 WINNER: BEST COVER/TRIBUTE BAND IN MILWAUKEE!

2020, 2019, 2018, 2017 Finalists (Shepherd Express 'Best of Milwaukee' and Milwaukee A-List).

Failure to Launch is a popular high-energy cover band that have been rockin' together for nearly two decades. You can expect to see a dynamic show of some of the most upbeat and danceable pop, rock, hip-hop, and country music of the past 60 years! Made up of three incredibly talented and engaging vocalists, an impressive two-man percussion section, an animated keyboardist, gifted guitar and bass players, as well as a professional dj, FTL is unlike any other cover band you've seen!

Starting from modest beginnings in our parent's basements, we've grown from playing our first show at Whitnall High School's Battle of the Bands to rocking out for huge crowds at Summerfest, Oktoberfest, and everything in between! We pride ourselves on an extremely diverse repertoire of songs and mashups, and make sure that there's something for everyone in the audience to dance to- from Backstreet Boys to Beastie Boys :) Get ready to party with us as we perform hits ranging from the 60's all the way up to current top 40. We can't wait to put on an unforgettable show for you!

Jontavious Willis is resolved in his mission: to reinvigorate today's Blues with the spirit of the past. Inspired by a time when the Blues were plentiful and rhythm reigned supreme, Jontavious leverages his unique sound--a synthesis of his Georgia heritage and reverence for traditional Blues--to get the world dancing again. A Grammy-nominated musician and songwriter, Jontavious performs original, toe-tapping tunes in the style of Delta, Piedmont, Texas, and Gospel Blues. Dynamic vocals, technical prowess, and an abundance of Southern charm keep Jontavious sending jolts of vitality through the Blues community.

Jontavious was born and raised in rural Georgia, an environment with deep cultural roots that provides the inspiration he has continuously drawn upon to create his unique sound. He spent much of his childhood singing Gospel music at the Mount Pilgrim Baptist Church with his grandfather, which provided him his first setting to perform for an audience. An early phenom, his passion for the Blues was sparked at age 14 when he came across a YouTube video of Muddy Waters playing "Hoochie Coochie Man." He achieved widespread acclaim when living legend Taj Mahal invited Jontavious to accompany him onstage in 2015, with Taj describing him as his "Wonderboy." Jontavious was invited to open for Taj Mahal and Keb' Mo' during their joint TajMo tour in 2018, giving him an opportunity to present his work on a national stage.

Blue Metamorphosis, his acoustic debut album released in 2016, garnered rave reviews in Living Blues and Blues & Rhythm and won the Blues Foundation's International Blues Challenge 2018 Award for Best Self-Produced CD. His Grammy-nominated sophomore album, Spectacular Class, sees Jontavious survey an array of Blues styles with lively ensemble performances.

His upcoming album, signed with Strolling Bones Records, is a testament to his love for songwriting. With solo tracks as well as duo, trio, and full band works, he articulates a totally original take on traditional Blues.

Jontavious features prominently in shows and festivals across the world, sharing his unique blend of time-honored yet modern, intellectual yet danceable Blues with all.

Dylan LeBlanc is a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who often finds himself flirting with the edge -- or "dancing on a razor," as he calls it -- as it is all he has ever known. A verdict vagabond since he was a little boy tossed between Texas, Louisiana and Alabama, LeBlanc thrives on the precipice, never staying in one place for too long. It is that nomadic spirit that drew him not only to a life as a touring musician, but also to the beast that titles his newest record: 'Coyote.'

LeBlanc says he has always related to the insatiable, scavenging nature of the wily coyote. Much like the animal, LeBlanc is a wanderer who knows when to trust his instincts, musically and otherwise. It is a spiritual kinship that runs deep, but he credits one particularly hair-raising face-to-face instance with solidifying his bond with the animal.

LeBlanc was in Austin, Texas, climbing the face of a 100-foot cliff, gambling with Mother Nature's good graces as he pulled himself up by tree branches. Once he reached the top, all that laid ahead of him was a lush treeline. There was a breath of stillness, then the sound of a thunderous rustling that drew closer and closer to him. In a blink, LeBlanc watched as a frenzied raccoon came speeding out of the treeline, trailed by an animal that stopped and stared at him with striking intensity: a coyote.

"We're looking at each other dead in the eyes...and I'm saying -- out loud -- 'If it's you or me, I am going to kick you off the side of this cliff. I'm not going down.' It was intense, this human-animal moment," LeBlanc recalls. "I've never forgotten that... he was just trying to survive and so was I."

'Coyote' is LeBlanc's first self-produced release, boasting a cherry-picked lineup of what he calls "killer session players," such as drummer Fred Eltringham (Ringo Starr, Sheryl Crow), pianist Jim "Moose" Brown (Bob Seger), and bass player Seth Kaufman (Lana Del Rey). Though 'Coyote' covers familiar ground for LeBlanc of living on the edge of danger and its many consequences, the record is both autobiographical and a concept album built around the character of Coyote, a man on the run.

The story of 'Coyote' progresses linearly, opening with the dizzyingly declarative, strings-heavy title track which details Coyote's arrival and quick departure as he crosses the border and gets involved with drug cartels. The trouble builds and dark waters rise until track six, "No Promises Broken," a soaring, against-all-odds love song that marks when Coyote meets a girl, and his luck begins to change for the better. The song tells of how love heals, and places emphasis on lovers remaining open while maintaining their own freedoms, as LeBlanc believes that true devotion does not equal possession. He says that though both Coyote and his love each faced adversity, the hand of destiny put them on the same path and bound them together before they ever met:

"'No Promises Broken' is an honest love song about two people who come from the same troubled past, and fate intertwines them together. It's about acknowledging that there will be hard times ahead, but vowing to stick it out without making promises to each other that they know they can't keep."

"Wicked Kind" delves into Coyote's addiction and warns of ever-present temptation looming on the horizon, and the restraint it takes for him to look away. The LP closes with "The Outside," the title of which LeBlanc says is meant to be literal, as Coyote is outside of prison walls at last. With boundless slide guitar and skittish keys, it paints a haunting, desert highway vignette of Coyote fighting off lingering ghosts that breed a hesitance so potent that Coyote has to adjust his perspective and remind himself that he is free -- the fight is over.

LeBlanc has seen shades of a life not unlike the character of Coyote. He, too, strayed from the straight and narrow and sparred with managing anger in his adolescence. Just as the brutal truth of "Hate" describes that the most gnarled parts of Coyote were molded by his harrowing experiences, it is something LeBlanc feels is universal, as hate does not discriminate.

"I went to school with people from all walks of life. We were different, but we thought, 'We're all poor,' so we're all in the same boat. We all grew up in chaos. It was the '90s in Louisiana on the border of Texas... that air was thick, man. Sink or swim type of mentality."

LeBlanc is the first to warmly acknowledge his rough edges and tendency to chest-up to conflict, both the result of the volatility and instability of his youth. Now, no longer a boy who always had to be on alert and ready to defend himself, LeBlanc recognizes that his roots do not define or limit the man he is today. The cover art of a coyote wounded by arrows reflects just that, symbolizing LeBlanc's resilience through what he has experienced:

"The coyote is still upright, even though he's full of arrows, even though he has been shot at and wounded many times. He still keeps going in defiance of everything that has been thrown at him. You can't get an arrow out completely. You can break one side of it off, but the arrow is still there... there's still a scar. It becomes a part of you... of your identity."

Considering the distinct wisdom and lifetimes in his voice, it is no surprise that LeBlanc has known hardships, but he is a shining example of what beauty comes from perseverance. LeBlanc's tenacity has paid off in spades, leading him to a record deal with ATO Records, releasing the critically acclaimed 'Renegade' in 2019, and now 'Coyote,' which LeBlanc says is "the record he has always wanted to make."

Now in his thirties with a fiancé and a daughter he adores, LeBlanc is the closest he has ever been to the man he has always strived to be. With endearing candor, he confesses he is still learning to be less hot-headed and more gentle; but he doesn't think about dying every day, like he used to. LeBlanc credits fatherhood for the perspective he has now on what matters, and his key concern is remaining devoted to those he loves most. Though far removed from a perilous life like Coyote's, LeBlanc admits he still feels as if he is dancing on a razor's edge all the same. The goodness he is surrounded by only gives him more to lose, with each glimmer carrying an asterisk of fear. One misstep and he worries that it all could vanish, but the lionhearted LeBlanc seems to forget he once unnerved even a wild coyote with his eyes alone.

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David Ramirez took a little time to get back to himself, and now he's dead set on making music for himself--for the sake of the music... and nothing else.

"I love all the records I've made in the past. But in making them, there was always the thought in the back of my mind of where and what it could get me. I made both creative and business decisions with a goal in mind... a goal that often never came. This time it was all about just the joy of making it, about having fun with it."

The Austin, TX-based singer-songwriter--whose decades-long career has seen six fulllength studio albums, three EPs, countless collaborations, and an illustrious supergroup project in Glorietta--spent a season of rest away from his focus on writing songs. In the wake of the end of a long relationship, he wanted to prioritize processing his grief as a human, not as an artist bleeding on the page.

"The last thing I wanted was to write a heartbreak record. So I stopped writing altogether, and I just waited until I saw my heart start coming back to life. I wanted the next thing to be hopeful and sweet and beautiful--a testament to music and my love for it."

David's new record All the Not So Gentle Reminders, which comes out March 21, 2025 via Blue Corn Music is exactly what he was waiting for. The 12-song album is an expansive succession of dreamlike songs that tell his stories, yes--but more than anything lean into the possibilities of the trip that music can take us on.

Our set list is comprised from Eric Clapton's Solo career along with his work with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, The Yardbirds, Derek & the Dominos, Cream, Blind Faith and The Beatles

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Founded in 2022 by comic Orly K.G., Bad Momz of Comedy quickly took the comedy scene by storm with appearances on The Kelly Clarkson Show, at Zanies Rosemont, Chicago, and Nashville... and more.

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Todd started telling jokes in the school cafeteria during college, and never looked back. He has managed to parlay that into being a regular performer at some of the top comedy clubs throughout the Midwest. Todd also hosts his own weekly show, bringing together comics from across the Chicago area. During the pandemic, Todd kept Chicago laughing by hosting a popular weekly outdoor stand-up show in Wicker Park.

A graduate of Second City and Improv Olympic, Todd's humor ranges from his crazy family, to his bachelor lifestyle, to everyday observations. His hilarious crowd work and roasts make each show unique. Todd's likability and personal approach to these topics makes him a favorite among audiences and fellow comics. If you like laughing, Todd can deliver!