Charles Edward Payne & Ellie Jackson @ Olbrich Botanical Gardens

Charles Edward Payne

Charles Payne won Arts + Literature Laboratory’s inaugural ALL Originals Prize for his poems “Dead End” and “Dinner with a Pig.” This was his first national publication. Charles Payne is a Madison transplant, a certified teacher, and a self-taught social artist from Michigan. As a child, he …

Social Caterpillar, Apollo Vermouth, & Sarah Clausen @ Washington Park

Social Caterpillar

Self-described as a psychedelic chamber ensemble for the disobedient and melancholic youth, Milwaukee’s Social Caterpillar have been playing and recording a unique style of music that defies simple categorization together since 2016. Their sound combines deeply personal lyrics with an ethic towards protest layered over acoustic and …

Gauss, Julia Blair, & Little Trouble Girl @ WI's Driftless Region

Gauss

As difficult to describe as they are easy to enjoy, Gauss perfectly straddles the line between listenability and challenge. Melody-driven yet complex, subtle, and sly, Gauss defies categorization with “life-affirming intensity”.

Julia Blair

Julia Blair was born of this world as a force to smother the disquieting agents of …

Frenia, Roberto Harrison, & Marielle Allschwang @ UEC Menomonee Valley

Frenia

Frenia is a Milwaukee local experimental collective. Today they are this, tomorrow they are that. Discovery fuels Frenia’s creations, forming a live experience that is seemingly chaotic, phasing in and out of harmonious noise.

Roberto Harrison

Roberto Harrison’s books include Os (subpress, 2006), Counter Daemons (Litmus Press …

ira george, Chelsea Tadeyeske, & Mere of Light @ Milwaukee River

ira george

ira george of Tamper Tamper is a just another Riverwest punk. Her work is physical and auditory, romantic and mundane. Any process that leaves room for happenstance will do. She loves alleyway garbage and is an aspiring birder.

Chelsea Tadeyeske

Chelsea Tadeyeske writes poems from the deep empathic …