Summer fun overflows once again this weekend, starting with the trio of WaunaFest, Atwood Summerfest, and Opera in the Park. The calendar also includes: Art Lives Here and openings at the Chazen and MMoCA; a Lincoln Bicentennial Celebration; Old Times at APT; a Mad Rollin' Dolls bout; a MAMAs showcase; more live music by Dwiki Dharmawan, Corey Smith, dumate, Retribution Gospel Choir, Monte Montgomery, The Riverdales, Birdlips, and The Kominas; book readings by Maryann Lesert and Woody Tasch; and, the opening of Restaurant Week.
Friday 7.24
NOTEWORTHY: U.S. Supreme Court unanimously rules that President Richard M. Nixon must deliver subpoenaed White House tapes to Watergate special prosecutor, 1974.
BIRTHDAYS: Actor/wild man Michael Richards, 1949; actress/singer/fashion terrorist J. Lo, 1970.
Centennial Park, Waunakee, July 23-26
The season of fairs rolls on. This one takes place up in Waunakee, Madison's neighbor to the north, and promises food, carnival rides, sports touraments, music (Shiloh, Super Tuesday, Bob Klinger Band). You know, the usual.
UW Memorial Union Terrace, 5 pm
For this week's Behind the Beat performance, the Terrace showcases Java, an Indonesian island rich in musical tradition, including a tradition of building upon other cultures' sounds. Dharmawan threads jazz piano into this patchwork, along with themes of world peace and multiculturalism. Also playing: Dewa Budjana & Saat Borneo.
Bartell Theatre, 8 pm. Also Saturday (8 pm) & Sunday (2 pm), July 25 & 26
Madison Theatre Guild presents the stories of several local artists, with a different group at each performance of the three-day run. On hand to tell their tales are a poet, a photographer, some painters, an actor and other members of the creative class. Proceeds benefit the Bartell Theatre Foundation.
American Players Theatre in Spring Green, 8 pm. Also Sunday, July 26, 6 pm
APT's second production in the new indoor Touchstone Theatre is Harold Pinter's 1971 play, presented in a taut production, about a couple whose lives are disrupted when an old friend pays a visit. They talk about old times. This being Pinter, there's emotion.
Majestic Theatre, 9 pm
The Georgia singer has carved out a lucrative career in music thanks to a forward-thinking business model: play lots of shows everywhere, don't charge too much for them, give away the tunes on the Internet, and mine comfortable themes like boozing and nostalgia in tautly performed songs. With Mike Droho, Mark Croft.
UW Memorial Union Terrace, 9 pm
The local hip-hop project releases a new album, We Have the Technology. Listen to one of the tracks in this week's MadTracks review. With Rob Dz and Weapons of Mass Defunktion.
High Noon Saloon, 10 pm
Don't expect a hand-clapping rendition of "Amazing Grace": RGC is the hard-rockin' side project of Low's Alan Sparhawk. Check out this week's Tour Stop for details. The Arge and Newmatica open.
Saturday 7.25
NOTEWORTHY: Newport Folk Festival audience boos plugged-in Bob Dylan, 1965.
BIRTHDAYS: Pioneering test-tube baby Louise Brown, 1978.
Delight in Design: Indian Silver for the Raj
Chazen Museum of Art, through Oct. 4
The Chazen presents a collection of more than 150 pieces of silverware made for Europeans by Indian smiths during the years of the British Raj, 1858-1947. The stunning contradictions of colonialism look to be on full display, which should be impressive.
Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, through July 2010
The museum concludes a series of looks at major modernist styles (other exhibits covered abstract and expressionist styles, natch) with this collection of realist works. Look for paintings, prints and more by the likes of Henri Matisse, Andrew Wyeth and Thomas Hart Benton.
Lincoln Bicentennial Celebration
Camp Randall Stadium, 11:30 am
Honest Abe Lincoln, the first Republican president, was born 200 years ago. Seems like a long time, but it turns out the guy's message still resonates. Civil War reenactors, Gov. Doyle and actors playing Lincoln and others will be around, as well as the Wisconsin 1st Brigade Band, which will play period songs on period instruments.
2000-2100 blocks of Atwood Avenue, noon
Nearly a dozen musical acts gather in the Schenk's Corners neighborhood, along with food carts and other vendors, to raise money for the Goodman Community Center. Highlights include a disco party with VO5 (2:40 pm) a blues set by Milwaukee's Perry Weber & the DeVilles (3:30 pm), the powerpop of the Magic 7 (5:45 pm) and the roadhouse roots-rock of the Rousers (6 pm). It's an east-side tradition, so enjoy.
Alliant Energy Center's Exhibition Hall, 6 pm
You're used to watching our roller derby squad do its thing in the dead of winter, but here's the chance to see some exciting summer exhibition action as Madison's Dairyland Dolls all-star team hosts the Arch Rival Roller Girls of St. Louis, plus a bout between the two cities' B-teams.
Memorial Union Terrace, 8 pm
Several winners from this year's Madison Area Music Awards competition -- Sunspot, Gladstone and Danielle Brittany, VO5 -- join forces to raise money for the awards show and its charity arm, which provides musical instruments to local kids.
Garner Park, 8 pm
Who says you need a tuxedo to see an opera? In this free event, Madison Opera invites everyone to spread out lawn chairs, blankets and picnic dinners for an evening of operatic and Broadway favorites. The performance features four guest soloists, the Madison Symphony Orchestra and Madison Opera Chorus, all under the direction of John DeMain. It also includes a preview of Madison Opera's upcoming season in the Overture Center (where, sadly, you can't bring a picnic dinner).
Club Tavern, 8:30 pm
All the guitar magazines have recognized Montgomery multiple times for his unique approach to acoustic guitar. Blues, rock, deft pop material -- he does it all.
The Riverdales, Shot Baker, Jetty Boys
Majestic Theatre, 9 pm
The Riverdales' brand of punk isn't particularly deep, though you might not want it to be if you're a raging liberal. (Frontman Ben Weasel of Screeching Weasel fame isn't apologetic about having voted for McCain; he even mentioned it on his now-defunct radio show "Weasel Radio.") It sure is catchy, though, especially if you like the Ramones or the Queers. Shot Baker and the Jetty Boys warm things up with some pop-punk awesomeness.
Sunday 7.26
NOTEWORTHY: Paul Reubens busted for allegedly exposing himself in a Florida adult movie house, 1991.
BIRTHDAYS: Rolling Stone/Glimmer Twin/Rock & Roll Hall-of-Famer Mick Jagger, 1943; actress Sandra Bullock, 1964.
Restaurant Week
Local restaurants, through July 31
Foodies on a budget love this event, wherein eateries like Harvest, Ruth's Chris and Inka Heritage offer special three-course dinners for $25. There are 30 participating restaurants (see Maryann Lesert
A Room of One's Own, 2 pm The Michigan author discusses her debut novel, Base Ten, about an astronomer struggling to balance her family and career ambitions. The book is part of the National Science Foundation and the Feminist Press' Women Writing Science project.
Project Lodge, 7 pm
The D.C.-area duo makes lovely nu-folk with organ, banjo, guitar and a smattering of Eastern philosophy. Also playing: This Frontier Needs Heroes, Attack Ponies.
Morphy Hall in the UW Humanities Building, 7:30 pm The veteran venture capitalist talks about his book Inquiries Into the Nature of Slow Money: Investing as if Food, Farms and Fertility Mattered. The idea of slow-money investing is inspired by the slow-food movement and likewise emphasizes small and local. Could be something.
Frequency, 9 pm
The Boston-based Taqwacore torchbearers make music about Islam, but it's not quiet meditations on the Koran: It's punk rock -- the socially conscious kind -- through and through. The group's first single, "Rumi Was a Homo (But Wahhaj Is a Fag)" rallies against homophobic comments by Siraj Wahhaj, leader of the popular Brooklyn, N.Y., mosque Al-Taqwa, and was featured on MTV Desi. Also playing: DAFINO w/Sour Face Ann and Al Thawra.
