Cal Roach | Milwaukee Record

Painted Caves learn to trust their instincts after life-altering trip to India

February 4, 2015

Remember last November, that initial bitter cold attack of winter? That was about the time the members of Milwaukee’s Painted Caves hopped on a plane, flew to India, and headlined an outdoor music festival in t...

Wilco refuses to play it safe for 20th anniversary show at Riverside Theater

Cal Roach

December 4, 2014

A 20th anniversary tour could be considered a victory lap; any band that makes it through two decades deserves to trot lazily around the country playing the hits. That’s not Wilco’s style, though. The band just...

Ryan Adams captivates crowd, serenades security guard at Riverside Theater

Cal Roach

October 15, 2014

If your first impression of Ryan Adams’ new self-titled album is that it sounds more like Bryan Adams than usual, you’re not alone: the younger, hipper Adams has taken to covering Bryan’s “Run To You” on his cu...

Stop Making Sense, Take Me To The River, and the long, strange career of Jerry Harrison

Cal Roach

October 2, 2014

Anyone who attended last year’s Milwaukee Film Festival screening of the brilliant Talking Heads concert film Stop Making Sense will tell you it’s hard to have more fun in a movie theater. Attendees danced spon...

MFF2014: Alloy Orchestra breathes sonic life into Man With A Movie Camera

Cal Roach

October 1, 2014

Last year’s Milwaukee Film Festival brought us the once-in-a-lifetime event that was Altos: Earth, featuring the local group performing a live, original score to Alexander Dovzhenko’s silent Soviet classic. Cam...

Aaron Freeman leaves Ween behind at Turner Hall

Cal Roach

September 26, 2014

One could almost look at Aaron Freeman in child-star terms. The erstwhile Gene Ween began making prank music with partner Mickey Melchiondo (a.k.a. Dean Ween) in eighth grade, eventually scoring a novelty hit w...

Strand Of Oaks radiates emotion, gratitude at Turner Hall

Cal Roach

August 19, 2014

Many fans were taken aback by Strand Of Oaks’ new album, HEAL, and its aggressive rock bluster. Timothy Showalter’s music has been getting progressively more ambitious since the low-key folk-rock of his 2009 de...

Brady Street Festival 2014: A minute-by-minute recap

Cal Roach

July 28, 2014

While Brady Street may not retain much of its former countercultural artsiness, the intersection of Sciortino’s Bakery, St. Hedwig’s Roman Catholic Church, and Art Smart’s Dart Mart alone suggests the neighborh...

Author Cal Roach