Spinal Tap’s Derek Smalls coming to Shank Hall

Hopefully, he’ll leave the foilwrapped zucchini at home.

Spinal Tap’s bassist Derek Smalls — as played by comedian and actor Harry Shearer — is performing in Milwaukee Tuesday at, where else, Shank Hall.

The 29-year-old Milwaukee club takes its name from the classic 1984 mockumentary “This Is Spinal Tap,” which has a passing reference to a Milwaukee venue called Shank Hall. The real Shank Hall has a small styrofoam Stonehenge above the stage, another reference to the movie.

The parody rock band — which also features Michael McKean’s David St. Hubbins and Christopher Guest’s Nigel Tufnel — actually appeared at Shank Hall in May 1992, for a press conference ahead of a Riverside Theater show the following night. Shank Hall owner Peter Jest was the promoter behind that concert.

But this is the first time a member of Spinal Tap will actually perform at Shank Hall. Last month, Smalls released his first solo album, the hysterically heavy-handed “Smalls Change (Meditations Upon Ageing),” with such songs as “Hell Toupee.”

Smalls will actually be a special guest during singer-songwriter Judith Owen’s Shank set Tuesday. The connection? Owen is Shearer’s wife.

Tickets for the 8 p.m. show Tuesday are $25 at the box office (1434 N. Farwell Ave.), by calling (866) 468-3401 or visiting

RON FAIOLA / MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL "This is Spinal Tap" stars Michael McKean, Christopher Guest and Harry Shearer appeared in-character at a news conference at Shank Hall on May 21, 1992. Shank Hall is named after a fictitious Milwaukee club mentioned in "Spinal Tap."