In a grand, noble experiment of sorts, this weekend WMSE is promoting an ambitious, four-day, multi-venue music package dubbed “MSE Fest.” Tickets are between 18 and 20 bucks and include access to nearly a dozen different performances, the first of which is tonight at 7 p.m. at MSE’s Todd Wehr Conference . . .

My first instinct when I heard about the recently announced Forward Music Festival in Madison, Wis., was jealousy. I lamented that Madison was able to create a multi-venue music fest, since it seemed impossible one would ever occur in Milwaukee, where it's no secret that promoters don't always get along with each other. I'd have bet money that Milwaukee wouldn't see a multi-venue partne...

Nothing could replace the Late Night Hype Show, one of the longest running rap radio programs in the country. With unmistakable character, that 10-year WMSE staple was a tireless advocate of underground, classic and Midwest hip-hop. But the Kid Cut Up and DJ Madhatter-hosted show that succeeded the Late Night Hype Show, which they now call Mad Kids, has quickly come into its own. Whil...

The Cascio Groove Garage, Summerfest’s all-local stage sponsored by the Shepherd Express and WMSE, gets loud for the day with sets from many of the city’s finest punk and hardcore bands, including Novel (3:45 p.m.), Father Phoenix (4:30 p.m.), Red Knife Lottery (5:15 p.m.) and Cougar Dan (6:45 p.m.)

Summerfest has long prided itself on being the world’s largest music festival, pulling in hundreds of performers from around the globe. But while local musicians have always had a place on the festival’s crowded lineup, it was only last year that the annual celebration created a stage reserved solely for music from around Milwaukee.

As they do every year, hundreds of music lovers packed the Todd Wehr Conference Center for WMSE’s annual Music Rummage. This year the sale was so packed during that during peak hours buyers had to form make shift lines to access the LPs as some tables. I didn’t have time for hours of crate digging, so I stuck mostly to CDs. Here’s what I picked up: Redman – Doc’s Da Name 2000 $1 ...

WMSE hosts its annual Music Rummage Blowout today from 10 a.m. until 3 p.m. in the Todd Wehr Conference Center. It’s a giant music rummage sale, featuring records, CDs, cassettes and audio equipment from most of the city’s major music stores and independent sellers, as well as specialty tables from . . .

In recent years, DJ Aaron Wade’s “Late Night Hype Show,” 91.7 WMSE’s independent hip-hop program— by most accounts one of the longest running of its kind in the country, and certainly one of the best—had begun to feel less like a labor of love and more like a public service. Wade has often voiced his disillusionment with the state of hip-hop, and he could never muster the same affection for modern rap as he felt for the classics, so it was to great disappointment but not much surprise that he announced plans to end the show this March.

The official culinary fundraising event for 91.7 WMSE, the Rockabilly Chili Contest celebrates six consecutive years today at the MSOE Kern Center from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. Aside from knowing that they’re supporting one of the city’s finest non-commercial radio stations, patrons will be able to fill up on spicy offerings from over 40 . . .

Dewey Gill’s resonant voice has been familiar to WMSE listeners for decades. Unlike many DJs, he not only sounds as if he genuinely enjoys what he’s doing, but actually has interesting things to say about the music he spins. And for the most part the music does spin.