Moving Days will keep the streets around central Madison buzzing this weekend as the season starts its transition. The calendar includes: the grand opening of the new Madison Children's Museum; India Day and Triangle Ethnic Fest; Dane Dances and Michael Feldman's Whad'Ya Know Silver Jubilee; productions of Company and Major Barbara; performances by Wyatt Smith and Annie and Rod Capps; WJJO Band Camp; and, more live music from Lucha Libre, Afro Zep, Sunspot, Fang Island, Dessa, and Direct Hit!
Friday 8.13
NOTEWORTHY: Julia Child dies, 2004.
BIRTHDAYS: Olympic speed skater Shani Davis, 1982.
Monona Terrace, 5:30 pm
Countywide parties are even more fun than citywide parties. The free event features the Ladies Must Swing big band and the Latin-style Grupo Candela.
Michael Feldman's Whad'Ya Know? Silver Jubilee Celebration
Wisconsin Union Theater, 7:30 pm
Feldman's nationally syndicated radio show, produced right here by Wisconsin Public Radio, celebrates 25 years of world-class wit and wisecracks. Musical guest Robbie Fulks will give the party/broadcast a boost, and Feldman himself will surely be loaded for bear. (See Radio.)
Middleton-Cross Plains Area Performing Arts Center, 7:30 pm. Also Saturday and Thursday, Aug. 14 & 19, 7:30 pm
Middleton Players Theatre presents the seriously adult musical by Stephen Sondheim and George Furth, about a chronically single man on his 35th birthday.
Inferno, 9 pm
Lucha Libra will heat up the fetish-friendly venue with their reggaeton-spiked hip-hop, which includes some super-slick Spanish-language rhymes. Also playing: Kiwi and DJ David Muhammad.
UW Memorial Union Terrace, 9:30 pm
Eight Chicago musicians with a Fela Kuti fixation get together a few times a year to perform Led Zeppelin tunes with an Afrobeat twist. Hit the Terrace to find out how "Stairway to Heaven," "Immigrant Song" and other Zep classics sound with an infusion of funky horns, complex rhythms and West African chants.
Saturday 8.14
NOTEWORTHY: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signs Social Security Act, 1935.
BIRTHDAYS: Actress/Miss USA runner-up Halle Berry, 1966.
Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., 9 am-1 pm
Eat some curry, check out the cultural showcase, and get a cool henna tattoo.
Madison Children's Museum Grand Opening
100 N. Hamilton St., 9:30 am-5 pm. Also Sunday, 9:30 am-5 pm
The museum's spectacular new facility is ready for business, ushering in a new era for Madison kids. The doors open at 9:30 am on Sunday, but at 9 am families are invited for a pre-opening parade around the block. Expect performances, workshops, demonstrations and many hushed expressions of awe.
Overture Hall, 11 am
The Madison Symphony Orchestra's free Farmers' Market Concerts continue. Smith gives Overture's formidable organ a workout with music by Bach, Mendelssohn and Langlois.
Overture Center Rotunda, 11 am
The husband-and-wife folk duo are a fixture of the Ann Arbor coffeehouse circuit, but this week they're bringing their latest album, a rootsy Americana affair called My Blue Garden, for a special concert sponsored by our city's Wild Hog in the Woods coffeehouse and the Madison Folk Music Society. With Small Potatoes.
Willow Island at Alliant Energy Center, 11 am
Hard rockers, rejoice: Local radio station WJJO (94.1 FM) has recruited nearly a dozen bands for this year's blowout, including Godsmack, Sevendust, Buckcherry, Dope and Anew Revolution. (See Tour Stop.)
American Players Theatre in Spring Green, 8 pm. Also Tuesday & Thursday, Aug. 17 & 19, 7:30 pm
APT presents a funny, intelligent play by George Bernard Shaw. Well, that describes all Shaw plays, but this is one of the best, as a major in the Salvation Army frets over a charitable donation from an armaments manufacturer.
Annex, 9 pm
The local rock band's latest act isn't just a concert; it's a multimedia performance that involves theater, video, live music and a computer-obsessed everyman named Joe. Learn more about the project in this week's music column, then take part in a live filming of the spectacle at the show. Also playing: Government Zero.
UW Memorial Union Terrace, 9:30 pm
The indie rock band formed by a posse of printmakers at the Rhode Island School of Design features three guitarists and a sound so epic that it landed them a gig opening for the Flaming Lips this summer. Get to know the songs from their self-titled debut at this performance.
Sunday 8.15
NOTEWORTHY: Woodstock begins, 1969.
BIRTHDAYS: The The singer Matt Johnson, 1961; actress Natasha Henstridge, 1974.
The triangle of Regent Street, South Park Street and West Washington Avenue, 11 am-6 pm
The fest shows that all races, colors and creeds can party in peace. The diverse lineup of entertainment includes Hmong Keng Players, 608-B-boy Alliance, Italian Folk Dancers of Madison and Viv Ncaus Hmong Dancers. There will also be kids' activities and ethnic food.
High Noon Saloon, 8 pm
The author, emcee and spoken-word performer from Doomtree, the Minneapolis hip-hop collective co-founded by alternative rap sensation P.O.S., returns to Madison to showcase her long-awaited debut LP, A Badly Broken Code, which was released in January. With Matthew Santos, F. Stokes and A.N.T.
Frequency, 8 pm
The Milwaukee pop-punk band has a knack for funneling the coolest parts of '90s-era Warped Tour shows into crisp, snappy and catchy-as-hell tunes that rarely top three minutes. If their recent popularity on Bandcamp is any indication, these guys ought to have a label -- and a much larger fan base -- before the end of the year. With the Runaway Sons, Our Judgement, the Tattle Tales and Eric Sommer.
