Barhopping with College Dave appears to be one of the most beloved bar crawls in Milwaukee these days. And certainly that deserved. But, what if you want to combine a pub crawl with a zest for live music?
Here's an easy one you can do Friday night in Bay View that features two local bands and another from Chicago.
Tyne Darling -- a project of Milwaukee roots rocker Tom Vollman (who arrived from St. Louis and formed Moonshine Sway) -- recently released a CD called "The Secret November" and will certainly play tunes from it when it rocks a full-band show at the Cactus Club, 2496 S. Wentworth Ave., starting at 9 p.m.
Also on the bill are Wisconsin's Lady Cannon and Lisa Ridgely. Tyne Darling is back from a jaunt to play a series of gigs in the southeast.
Also busy on the road is Milwaukee's Beatallica, which as you likely know, combines a passion for the Beatles with a jones for Metallica.
Still hawking its second record, "Masterful Mystery Tour," Beatallica plays at Club Garibaldi, 2501 S. Superior St., directly across from the Cactus Club, on Friday.
Expect to hear music from Beatallica's upcoming EP, "All You Need Is Blood and Winter Plunderband," which features the band's first entirely original material. I'd argue, that their smash-ups are pretty original, too, though.
Chicago's banjo-totin' indie-Americana crooners Dastardly, meanwhile, set up camp Friday at Frank's Power Plant -- you can walk there, so leave the car -- at 8 p.m.
The band is but a year old and is prepping its debut CD, "May You Never...," so you can get in on the ground floor. Fellow Windy City band Chaperone opens.
My suggested itinerary? Frank's First, then G-Bal for some Beatallica and wrap up the night with Vollman and company in the back room at the Cactus.
Some other gigs in town this week, include:
Two American punk rock legends -- Cheetah Chrome and Sylvain Sylvain -- hit Shank Hall on Thursday at 8 p.m. with their new band Batusis. You can expect some heavy hitting, crusty rock and roll to come screaming out of the P.A. when these dueling guitar heroes take the stage.
Cover is $15, which is a steal when you figure you can get all your New York Dolls and Dead Boys records autographed in one fell swoop (though I can't guarantee either will be amenable to that).
Chicago's Dead Meat teams up with TV Ghost for a gig at the Cactus Club on Thursday, too.
The Rave hosts a trio of terror on Friday as Murderdolls, Get Scared and Vampires Everywhere take the stage starting at 7:30 p.m. Cover is $15.
On Saturday, Dec. 4, the Wehr Hall -- 43rd and Morgan -- hosts the latest Alverno Presents concert, which features Gretchen Parlato and Sachal Vasandani at 8 p.m. Tickets are $25
The New York Times called Chicago's Vasandani "a bright young singer with charisma to spare."
Meanwhile, L.A.'s Parlato makes her second Alverno appearance. No less than saxophonist Wayne Shorter once quipped that Parlato, "in an inconspicuous way, plays the same instrument as Frank Sinatra."
Downtown, the Riverside hosts county legend Loretta Lynn on Saturday at 8 p.m. Lynn promises to mix holiday music with her greatest hits and "some special surprises." Tickets are $32, $42 and $52.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
