MIDWEST MUSIC FESTIVAL
2010
MAY 28-30TH DIFFERENT MUSIC
SAME CAUSE
DIFFERENT MUSIC
SAME CAUSE
Milwaukee and the surrounding Midwest has many faces in music and is known for the music festivals. It brings people together who all have interest in one thing: music. Medley Threads is based out of Milwaukee and is run by the music lovers that want to share their appreciation for all local musicians/music. They created the Medley Threads Music Festival to raise awareness for local causes while bringing different music genres together in one place. For one weekend in May, Medley Threads hopes to expose Milwaukee to it’s musical roots and to benefit those who need support.
ERIC MIRE PLAYING AT 12P MILWAUKEE, WI
Photo credit: www.myspace.com/ericmire
The Eric Mire band is comprised of five experienced musicians, including front man Eric Mire, a classically trained composer, singer, songwriter, emcee, and guitar player. The band germinated from Mire’s relationship with keyboardist and bass player, Maurice Cotton at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music where both musicians are instructors. This relationship quickly brought in drummer, Terence Pettigrew, conga player, Don Bradshaw & saxophone player Brad Bloom, whom Mire met studying composition at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. The group’s chemistry was an immediate match, and in less then a year’s time they recorded and produced, Spooky Love. (1)
THE CRANBERRY SHOW
PLAYING AT 1P MILWAUKEE, WI
Photo credit: www.myspace.com/cranberryshow
Milwaukee based rappers Arcane and Young Focused make up the alternative rap group, The Cranberry Show. It is obvious Arcane and Young Focused is what they rap about, and they do not rap about what they are not. Stage presence, wit and a desire to entertain are necessities to make it in the music industry and The Cranberry Show has it. With tracks like “Pants Sag” and “Must Be A Poser” these guys from the fourth coast have charisma. Focused brings the unique sound of his high pitched rapping voice and humorous rhymes, while Arcane adds his more smooth and sarcastic flow to tracks. (2)
BLIZZ MCFLY PLAYING AT 2P MILWAUKEE, WI
Photo credit: www.myspace.com/blizzmcfly
BLIZZ McFLY, born and raised in Milwaukee, WI. A city in which the music scene is over shadowed by crime, drugs, and poverty. Knowing that this may become a difficult task he has chosen to go against the odds of his failing community. In the early years of his life he realized his love for Hip-Hop and as he grew he witnessed a depreciation of the art form. Later he would develop a hunger for the true definition of Rap, on his quest he discovered an overwhelming desire to deliver his message. (3)
PROPHETIC
PLAYING AT 3P MILWAUKEE, WI
Photo credit: www.myspace.com/prophetic
One of the few Milwaukee rappers with ties to both the alt-rap hip-hop scene of the city’s East Side and the grittier, club-rap scene of the North Side, Prophetic stakes out an agreeable middle ground, embracing both sounds without succumbing to conscious-rap moralizing or thug-rap clichés. The slick production of his new album, Mo Profit, Mo Progress, finds a sonic middle ground between laid-back alt-rap and bombastic Southern rap, leaning on lush, skittering jazz and blunted soul samples—many of them by Milwaukee producers like Haz Solo, who lends his Madlib-like touch—but breaking things up with a handful of drum-clapping, Moet-popping club cuts. Prophetic plays a 10 p.m. release show behind Mo Profit tonight at the Stonefly Brewery. (4)
MELISSA CZARNIK PLAYING AT 4P MILWAUKEE, WI
Photo credit: Melissa Czarnik
Melissa Czarnik is a burgeoning poet and emcee hailing from Milwaukee, WI. Czarnik recently released her first solo album, Strawberry Cadillac in the Summer of 2008. When asked why she named her album Strawberry Cadillac, Czarnik responded, “because a Strawberry Buick just wouldn’t cut it.”Czarnik’s 17 track, Strawberry Cadillac, is the product of a year long project which focuses on issues of social justice, relationships, and the struggle that goes along with the two. Mixing her interests in poetry and Hip Hop, her song diversity exemplifies a strong influence of artists such as Lauryn Hill, Ani Difranco, and French songstress, Edith Piaf. (5)
KID MILLIONS PLAYING AT 5P MILWAUKEE, WI
Photo credit: www.myspace.com/kidmillions
Milwaukee MC Kid Millions, known for his uplifting, often hilarious storytelling rhymes and unstoppable battling style, has generously dedicated his brain and body to the public welfare with the release of his new album, Recession Proof Rap. On his first album, Words Get Around (2001), Kid Millions blew heads with funky, eclectic beats and outrageous braggadocio. With the all-star band Minus After, he dropped imaginative science on the single “Yellow Corvettes” and LP Examine My Face (2003). In 2006 Kid Millions unleashed the party-rocking Catch the Fever and a bumpin’ collaborative single with Milwaukee rhyme comrades the Rusty Ps. In 2008 the Kid toured the Midwest all the way down south with KingHellBastard. Now times are tougher, so Kid Millions has gone economy-size with the multi-format Recession Proof Rap. (6)
NO REQUEST SOUND PLAYING AT 6P MILWAUKEE, WI
Photo credit: www.myspace.com/norequestsound
About five years ago, No Request Sound System from Milwaukee’s came together to form a hip hop dj group that played a variety of hip hop. There was no discrimination of any song or type of hip hop music; they aimed to please everyone in the crowd but with no request. It wasn’t about playing only what certian people wanted to hear. No Request Sound premiers DJ Crew. Why B, Kid Cut Up, Swan, D Wood, and Steve Marxx. (7)
TAY BUTLER
PLAYING AT 7 P MILWAUKEE, WI
Photo credit: www.myspace.com/taybutler
With a slow, steady, undeniable flow and a uncanny ear for original and catchy music, his time is now. Nicknamed “The Mayor” courtesy of a mixtape he created during the 2004 Election for Mayor of Milwaukee, the name stuck as he solidified himself as one of the artists on Milwaukee’s underground scene who wants EVERYONE to eat! Linking with a crew of some of Milwaukee’s best, The Eekuawlim and the Umbrella Music Group, Tay Butler is primed to bring recognition not only to his own movement, but the legions of talented artists in Milwaukee just dying for a shot at national success. (8)
THE COOL KIDS PLAYING AT 8P CHICAGO, IL
Photo credit: www.myspace.com/thecoolkids
The Cool Kids are a hip hop duo from Chicago, Illinois consisting of Antoine “Mikey Rocks” Reed and Evan “Chuck Inglish” Ingersoll (originally from Detroit). They are signed to the independent Chocolate Industries via their own label C.A.K.E. Recordings. After meeting in 2005, and releasing three mixtapes onto the internet through their MySpace page, they released their debut EP The Bake Sale in 2008. They are now preparing to release their debut LP, When Fish Ride Bicycles, sometime in 2010. (9)
The American Red Cross, a humanitarian organization led by volunteers, guided by its Congressional Charter and the Fundamental Principles of the International Red Cross Movement, will provide relief to victims of disasters and help people prevent, prepare for, and respond to emergencies. When you give or raise funds for the American Red Cross, your money touches the lives of families in many different ways.
Founded in 1984 as an affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International, Milwaukee Habitat builds homes primarily in the Amani, Harambee and Washington Park neighborhoods of Milwaukee. Milwaukee Habitat also rehabilitates condominium units in the Woodlands neighborhood and renovates existing homes through the A Brush with Kindness program. We build and renovate homes for families and individuals in need of sustainable housing. We strive to unite the residents of the greater Milwaukee area around the cause of affordable housing. Milwaukee Habitat for Humanity is a leading advocate for affordable housing, and is the largest non-profit home builder in Southeastern Wisconsin. It is our goal to ensure that every resident of Milwaukee has access to decent and affordable housing and to make affordable housing a priority for the community.
The Cathedral Center provides emergency shelter and case management services for women and families who are homeless or experiencing a housing crisis. Families served include single mothers or fathers, as well as married couples with children.
Info Credits. 1. www.cdbaby/cd/ericmire 2. www.myspace/cranberryshow 3. www.myspace/blizzmcfly 4. www.expresssmilwaukee.com/article-3727-prophetic 5. www.cdbaby/cd/melissaczarnik 6. www.myspace.com/kidmillions 7. www.soundcloud.com/search?q[fulltext]=no+request+sound 8. www.myspace.com/taybutler 9. www.last.fm/The+Cool+Kids
MIDWEST MUSIC FESTIVAL
2010
MIDWEST MUSIC FESTIVAL
2010
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