American Craft Beer Bar
Located in the heart of downtown Bay View | 441 E. Lincoln Avenue
Mon-Fri 3pm-close | Sat & Sun 12pm-close
Happy Hour | Mon-Thurs 3p-7p | $1 off all Beer and Cocktails
Cellarman and Suburban Ambassador of the Sugar Maple. Though my favorite thing to drink is Mescal, I'm fine like wine when I start to rap.
I like walks in the woods and fires at night, add a splash of bourbon, and I'm feelin' alright.
The Closer, The Builder, The Landlord, The Skeptic, The Traveler, The Dad, The Husband, "The Guy With The Beard"
Painter, Mother, Manager, and Maintenance. Make Beer, Not War.
I am continuing my medical eduation by bartending and this year I plan to use my bartending skills in the medical field. Oh, and I love my Joli!
The Scholar, Historian, and Beer Keeper. Say the Magic Word and the Beer Shall be Yours.
"Timshel"
When I'm not bartending, I'm exploring the world or writing about travel!...Or working my 9-5 gig and dreaming of beer!
Sunday, June 18th | 8pm | $10 Cover
The Few brings together three of the most dynamic string players from the latest generation of Chicago's storied improvised music community - Macie Stewart (violin / voice), Charlie Kirchen (bass), Steve Marquette (guitar) - forming an improvising, acoustic trio that seamlessly blends their wide ranging influences into a singular whole. In 2017 they released "Fragments of a Luxury Vessel" - their debut LP - on Marquette's Two Cities Label.
"Each performance wends through passages as spiky and splintery as they are tender and lyric, and for such a young group of players the interplay is impressive." - Peter Margasak, Chicago Reader
"Some music falls into the cracks, but that’s where The Few finds space to navigate." - Bill Meyer, Dusted
"I hear The Few not as working dialectically to the previous improvised music in Chicago (or elsewhere), but as creating a different aesthetic hybrid, one which deals with stylistic concerns that come out of regional Americana, some jazz, some new music components, aspects of the English school, and other factors, like the individual creative character of Steve, Macie, and Charlie, put into a true group context." - Ken Vandermark
Friday, June 23rd | 8pm
Ken Vandermark (reeds) and Nate Wooley (trumpet) have been working together as a duo since October of 2013. They have released two albums, East By Northwest in 2014 (which received a 5 star review in the "Free Jazz Collective"; and All Directions Home in 2015 (the "New York City Jazz Record" stated this recording, "showcases the strengths that have made the duo luminaries in their respective scenes."). As a duo they have toured repeatedly in North America and Europe. Their music combines composition and improvisation, and explores the potential of modern melody and rhythm posited against abstract sound and texture. The interplay between between Vandermark and Wooley is exceptional, rigorous when phrasing written material, shifting quickly to spontaneous counterpoint during their open improvisations.
For their concert at the Sugar Maple on June 23rd Vandermark and Wooley will perform a set of solo improvisations, followed by a set of new duo material. This duo music was initially developed during their tour of the East Coast in May, and for the first time is comprised of long form compositions, "Deeply Discounted" by Wooley (inspired by John Cage's, "Cheap Imitation, which was based on material composed by Erik Satie) and "Sequences of Snow" by Vandermark (inspired by the film work of Michael Snow). The Milwaukee performance will be the last in a series that includes concerts in Hamilton and Madison. Then the duo will record this work at Experimental Sound Studio in Chicago, which will be released as an LP later this year. In November Vandermark and Wooley will present these new pieces on a tour of Europe.
A fixture on the Chicago-area music scene since the 1990s, Ken Vandermark has earned wide critical praise for his playing and his multilayered compositions, which typically balance intricate orchestration with passionate improvisation. He has led or been a member of many groups, has collaborated with a large number of critically acclaimed musicians from around the world, and was awarded a 1999 MacArthur Fellowship. He plays tenor saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet, and baritone saxophone.
Nate Wooley’s solo playing has often been cited as being a part of an international revolution in improvised trumpet. In the past three years, Wooley has been gathering international acclaim for his idiosyncratic trumpet language. Time Out New York has called him “an iconoclastic trumpeter”, and Downbeat’s Jazz Musician of the Year, Dave Douglas has said, “Nate Wooley is one of the most interesting and unusual trumpet players living today, and that is without hyperbole”.
Monday, June 26th
Tuesday, June 27th | 6pm | Free Admission
We’re bringing the community together to lower the cost of installing solar! Home and business owners in Milwaukee have an opportunity to take advantage of record low solar pricing through a limited-time solar group purchase program. Milwaukee Shines Solar Group Buy is a program of the City of Milwaukee and the Midwest Renewable Energy Association (MREA) and can help residents invest in lower cost solar installations through the power of volume-purchasing. All Milwaukee County homeowners and commercial property owners may join! Visit http://SolarMKE.com/ for more information.
Sunday, July 2nd
Dan Phillips – Guitar
Hamid Drake – Drums
Jeb Bishop – Trombone
Mars Williams – Saxophones
Krzysztof Pabian – Double Bass
“Dan Phillips leads a Quintet with muscle and a big Chicago sound and memorable compositions.” The Wire May 2017
“a fine album of interesting themes and powerful performances…..a bold and thoughtful statement.” Jazz and Blues Blogspot March 2017
“Decaying Orbit — the song and the album — fulfills the promise of its members’ respective legacies and furthers the legacy of its worldly leader.” Some Thing Else Reviews March 2017
“Chicago jazz is the complexity of the postmodern sound with a predisposition for rump shaking. The Quintet rarely lowers the flame from boiling.” allaboutjazz February 2017
“Fans of both traditional and more adventurous jazz will find much to like here. Indeed, the Chicago Edge Ensemble does manage to succeed in representing the city’s diverse musical roots, and in a highly enjoyable fashion to boot.” Avant Music News January 2017
Every Second Monday of the Month | 7pm
We are a monthly meeting of curious minds who want to expand their knowledge of science and how it relates to all aspects of life.
Tuesday, July 11th | 8pm
This is an incredibly rare opportunity to hear one of the most significant and influential musicians working in contemporary music, performing both solo and in a duo with the incomparable Mars Williams. Definitely not to be missed!
Image by Peter Gannushkin
Ikue Mori moved from her native city of Tokyo to New York in 1977. She started playing drums and soon formed the seminal NO WAVE band DNA, with fellow noise pioneers Arto Lindsay and Tim Wright. DNA enjoyed legendary cult status, while creating a new brand of radical rhythms and dissonant sounds; forever altering the face of rock music.
In the mid 80's Ikue started to employ drum machines in the unlikely context of improvised music. While limited to the standard technology provided by the drum machine, she nevertheless forged her own highly sensitive signature style. Throughout the 1990's she collaborated with numerous improvisors throughout the US, Europe, and Asia, while continuing to produce and record her own music. In 1998, she was invited to perform with Ensemble Modern as a soloist along with Zeena Parkins and composer Fred Frith. In addition, "One Hundred Aspects of the Moon" was commissioned by Roulette/Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust. Ikue won the Distinctive Award for Prix Ars Electronics Digital Music category in 1999.
In 2000 Ikue started using the laptop computer to expand on her signature sound, thus broadening her scope of musical expression. That year the KITCHEN ensemble commissioned a piece by her, which they premiered and was called "Aphorism." She was also awarded a Civitella Ranieri Foundation Fellowship. In 2003 the RELACHE Ensemble commissioned her to write a piece for the film "In the Street" which was premired in Philadelphia. Ikue started working with visuals to be played by the music in 2004. In 2005 she was awarded an Alphert/Ucross Residency. Ikue received a grant from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts in 2006. In 2007 the Tate Modern commissioned Ikue to create a live sound track for screenings of Maya Deren's silent films, and in 2008 Ikue celebrated her 30th year in New York and performed at the Japan Society. Recent commissions include those from the Montalvo Arts Center and SWR German radio program, and the Shajah Art foundation in UAE. Current working groups include MEPHISTA with Sylvie Courvoisier and Susie Ibarra, PHANTOM ORCHARD with Zeena Parkins, a project with Koichi Makigami and various ensembles of John Zorn. She also has a new duo Twindrums project with YoshimiO.
Workshop and lectures in various schools include the University of Gothenburg, Dartmouth Collage, New England Conservatory, Mills Collage, Stanford University, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Image by Peter Gannushkin
Mars Williams is an open-minded musician, composer and educator who commutes easily between free jazz, funk, hip-hop and rock, Mars has played and recorded with The Psychedelic Furs, Billy Idol, Massacre, Fred Frith, Bill Laswell, Ministry, Power Station, Die Warzau, The Waitresses, Kiki Dee, Pete Cosey, Billy Squier, DJ Logic, Wayne Kramer, John Scoffield, Charlie Hunter, Kurt Elling, Swollen Monkeys, Mike Clark, Jerry Garcia, Naked Raygun, Friendly Fires, The Untouchables, Blow Monkeys and virtually every leading figure of Chicago’s and New York City's "downtown" scene.
John Zorn credits Mars as "one of the true saxophone players--someone who takes pleasure in the sheer act of blowing the horn. This tremendous enthusiasm is an essential part of his sound, and it comes through each note every time he plays. Whatever the situation, Mars plays exciting music. In many ways he has succeeded in redefining what versatility means to the modern saxophone player."
In 2001 Mars received a Grammy Nomination for Best Contemporary Jazz Record with his group Liquid Soul. Despite his busy touring schedule with Liquid Soul and The Psychedelic Furs, Mars manages to stay active on the Chicago underground improvising scene. In recent years he has toured and recorded with the Peter Brötzmann Tentet, Switchback, Full Blast, Scorch Trio, the Vandermark 5, Boneshaker, Chicago Reed Quartet and Cinghiale, teaming him with such musicians as Ken Vandermark, Hamid Drake, Michael Zerang, William Parker, Kent Kessler, Fredric Lonberg Holm, Peter Brotzmann, Joe McPhee, Paal Nilssen-Love, Mike Reed, Jeb Bishop, Harrison Bankhead, Dave Rempis, Kidd Jordan and Matts Gustafsson.
He performs weekly in Chicago along with Jim Baker, Steve Hunt, and Brian Sandstrom in the improvising quartet “Extraordinary Popular Delusions”. As a bandleader, he continues to perform and record CDs with his own free-jazz groups, the NRG Ensemble, Witches & Devils, Slam, XmarsX, Mars Trio, Boneshaker and The Soul Sonic Sirkus which features improvising musicians and aerial circus performers. Along with Die Warsau’s Van Christie, Mars has started Ratking Music, a production company focusing on music for film and television.
In addition to performing and creating music, Mars has been an educator in the field of woodwinds and jazz improvisation for over thirty years. Mars held the position of Woodwind Instructor at Bard College for two years. In the last few years Mars has presented Master classes and clinics to a number of private and public institutions including, the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, the University of Chicago, Roosevelt University (Chicago, IL), and June Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art (Auburn, AL).
Sunday, August 6th | 5pm
Marker performs 2 sets starting at 5pm | Film of Chris Marker to follow at 7pm
August 6th show will feature the film | Sans Soliel
Marker is Ken Vandermark's newest ensemble as a leader and includes Andrew Clinkman and Steve Marquette on guitar, Macie Stewart on violin and keyboard, and Phil Sudderberg on drums. Continuing his interest in creating new compositional forms for improvised music, Ken has devised a system of music that not only employs variable order through collage, but has added the superimposition of pieces to create an added layer of possibility for the structure of the material. The band's music is is deeply inspired by Bernie Worrell's keyboard work with Parliament Funkadelic and Talking Heads, contemporary classical music, the guitar work of post-punk groups like Wire and The Ex, and groove methodologies from Brazil, Afro-Beat, and funk.
For this first time Option Milwaukee weekly residency, there will be a celebration of the cinema of Chris Marker, one of the most important filmmakers of the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century. Following the music each Sunday there will be a screening of one of his movies at 7pm, with a short introduction by Ken Vandermark. The last concert of the series, which begins at 7pm, will feature a new long-form composition by Vandermark written specifically to accompany the legendary film, La Jetée. The Chris Marker screenings are all free.
ANDREW CLINKMAN
Image by Julia Dratel
KEN VANDERMARK
Image by Jim Newberry
MACIE STEWART
Image by Maren Celest
PHIL SUDDERBERG
Image by Phil Sudderberg
STEVE MARQUETTE
Image by Maren Celest
