When Barack Obama claimed victory earlier this month, Brother Ali was the first rapper out the gate with a victory track, which was slightly ironic, given that a fury-eyed, Muslim rapper with an infamously angry single called “Uncle Sam Goddamn” is just about the last person the politically savvy president elect would want to align himself. Ali is so used to playing the outsider at this point, though, that he almost seems to prefer it, and aside from his labelmates Atmosphere—with whom he shares producer Ant on his latest album—nobody channels alienation into party music the way he does. Ali shares an 8 p.m. “Made in Milwaukee”-sponsored...

JJ Grey and Mofro, who headline an 8 p.m. bill at Shank Hall tonight, craft their chicken-friend, boogie-blues jams not so much with juke joints in mind, but rather outdoor festivals, where tye-dyed and sun-visor-clad fans are free to twirl around ’til their hearts’ content. Last year bandleader Grey gave himself top billing over his bandmates, but while his Eric Clapton guitar and gritty, Muddy Waters vocals are at the front of the mix, it’s the swollen bass licks and sticky Hammond organ that drives these grooves.

Florentine Opera opens its latest season this weekend with Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, one of the world's most popular operas and one of the greatest. Puccini's music is so psychologically transparent that the listener can absorb the action by listening to the score without benefit of dialogue or visuals and with only a rudimentary knowledge of the story. Madama Butterfly weaves a constant stream of underlying leitmotifs that change rapidly, always yielding melodic riches to illuminate the character's emotional state even before the character...

The Saddest Music in the World director Guy Maddin pays homage to his hometown of Winnipeg, Manitoba in his latest film, My Winnipeg, a pseudo-documentary that views its subject with equal parts affection and embarrassment. Through a string of wry, dreamlike images, Maddin tells the “history” of the city, embellishing with his own surreal flights of fantasy. The UWM Union Theatre screens the film this weekend, with 3 and 5 p.m. screenings this evening.

It’s brother against brother (perhaps?) tonight, when the Bradley Center hosts something of a Milwaukee basketball civil war: The UW-Milwaukee Panthers challenge the Marquette Golden Eagles tonight at 7:30 p.m.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show isn’t the only cult comedy to get the live, midnight reenactment treatment. The Milwaukee troupe The Warped Cast has taken it upon themselves to act out the film Clue, the funny 1985 murder-mystery based on the iconic board game (and, perhaps not so coincidentally, starring Tim Curry, of Rocky Horror fame). The film screens (and is acted out) tonight at midnight at the Times Cinema.

Masaki Kobayashi’s Human Condition trilogy, based in part on the director’s own resentment at having been forced to fight for the Japanese army in World War II, has been described by a handful of critics as the finest film ever made, but it’s no small time commitment. This three-part film lasts nearly 10 hours, so it’s rare that a theater rises to the challenge of screening it in its entirety, as the UWM Union Theatre does over the span of several weeks. Tonight...

Smiling pastor Joel Osteen’s “Bible as self-help book” approach to preaching struck a chord with thousands of Christians tired of the fire-and-brimstone screeds of other celebrity pastors. Osteen’s non-confrontational approach to the gospel has actually angered Evangelicals who find his emphasis on positive thought over hard scripture blasphemous, but the best-selling author’s brand is so strong that even his less charismatic wife, Victoria, who suffered a nasty bout of PR when the Federal Aviation Administration fined...

The Milwaukee Rep’s Stackner Cabaret takes a rare stab at a show that isn’t a musical with its production of Greater Tuna, a comic exploration of small-town southern life. The play follows the residents of the third smallest town in Texas through a series of sketches built around a community radio station. Impressively, all these characters are handled by just two quick-changing actors, Lee Ernst and Gerard Neugent, who steals the show with his brief appearance as an Elvis-inspired reverend. Tonight’s production of the show, which runs through Dec. 28...