Madison will enjoy the longest days of the summer this weekend, busy with celebrations that include Middleton's Big Event, Jazz in the Park, Blues Picnic in the Park, Juneteenth Day, Fruit Fest, and the Midwest Log Rolling Championships. The calendar also includes: Rooftop Cinema; a recording by Zane Lamprey; performances by the Threshold Singers of Madison, Li-Chiao Ping Dance Company, and the Bach Dynamite & Dancing Society; APT's production of All's Well That Ends Well; and, live music by the Lucas Cates Band, TeenyTinyGrover, The Selfish Gene, DJ Kool Herc, The Midwest Beat with Tim Schweiger & the Middle Men, Boo Bradley with Tracy Jane Comer, CocoRosie, Wayne Baker Brooks, Kings Go Forth, The Jimmys, and Sarah Donner.
Friday 6.18
BIRTHDAY: Grammy-winning Rock & Roll Hall-of-Famer Paul McCartney, 1942.
Brink Lounge, 8 pm
The amiable acoustic rock band nabbed the "Rock Performer of the Year" title at this year's Madison Area Music Awards a few weeks ago and will introduce a brand-new album of material at this show. Come on down and predict if they'll be in the running for 2011.
Inferno, 9 pm
This DJ evening of New Wave, hair metal, Eurotrash and synthpop gems is rightly being billed as an '80s explosion. Incorporate this theme into your wardrobe and gain free admission to what's sure to be a crazy, campy night of long-retired dance moves ranging from the Typewriter to the Running Man.
Club Tavern, 9 pm
The winners of Isthmus' 2009 Band to Band Combat contest will bring their 1990s-inspired indie rock to the historic Middleton boarding house-turned-bar, one of the few Madison-area watering holes that stayed open -- and served beer -- during the Prohibition era.
UW Memorial Union Terrace, 9:30 pm
In the 1970s, Kool Herc became a legend by pioneering a breakbeats-focused DJing style that formed the perfect underpinnings for spoken rhymes that later became known as rap. With AfroFlow, which builds upon this tradition by blending funky African beats with spoken-word messages. Also: Clyde Stubblefield. See Tour Stop.
Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, 9:30 pm
The series screens short indie films each Friday in June on MMoCA's rooftop sculpture garden. This week's theme is "The Sight of Music."
Majestic Theatre, 10 pm
The comedian is best known for hosting Three Sheets, the alcohol-imbibing-themed travel show that hopped from cable channel to cable channel. These days he's expanding his cable-drinking-show portfolio as he tapes Drinking Made Easy for HDNet. Tonight he's joined by Steve McKenna and Marc Ryan.
The Midwest Beat, Tim Schweiger & the Middle Men
Frequency, 10 pm
Double your pleasure, double your fun with music ranging from tart to bubblegum. Two of Madison's power-pop powerhouses are releasing new albums, and this is your chance to get a first taste of them live. With Blueheels.
Saturday 6.19
JUNETEENTH
NOTEWORTHY: Julius and Ethel Rosenberg executed, 1953.
Saturday, 8 am onward, Middleton
Middleton upholds its reputation as one of Money magazine's Best Places to Live with this community-wide celebration, featuring music, food, sales and activities, capped by 9:30 pm fireworks near the Greenway Station parking ramp.
Wingra Park, 9:30 am-8 pm
The free event in one of Madison's prettiest spots features El Clan Destino, the Tony Castañeda Latin Jazz Sextet and the Edgewood College Jazz Ensemble.
Overture Center's Rotunda Stage, 11 am
Two similarly themed music series are on hiatus this summer: the Madison Folk Society's Folk on State and the Wild Hog in the Woods' Friday night concerts. But the groups are combining forces for summer bills at Overture, including this one with old-school blues-meisters Boo Bradley and esteemed singer-songwriter Comer.
Warner Park, 11:30 am-9 pm
This event is so fun that, frankly, it's hard to come out of it feeling blue. The musical lineup includes local and regional acts who get deep into the groove: Tate & the 008 Band, the Shake Daddys, Joe Nosek's Blues Kids, the Cash Box Kings, Rev. Raven and the Chain' Smokin' Altar Boys, John Primer and Grana' Louise.
Penn Park, noon-6 pm
Juneteenth celebrates the freeing of the last African American slaves in 1865. The Madison celebration kicks off with an 11 am parade starting at Fountain of Life, 655 W. Badger Rd., and proceeds to Penn Park for an event with music acts including Rick Flowers & the Juneteenth Band.
900 block of Williamson Street, 2-10 pm
Madison's Pride festival isn't until August, so get a jump on celebrating the lesbian/gay/bisexual/transgender/queer/allied community at this confab, featuring bands, DJs and -- wouldn't be a queer fest without 'em -- drag queens.
Mitby Theater at Madison College-Truax, 7:15 pm
Catch a public performance by this a cappella group, which mostly sings palliative songs, privately, for seriously ill people. There's also a screening of the film Holding Our Own: Embracing the End of Life.
UW Lathrop Hall's H'Doubler Performance Space, 7:30. Also Sunday, June 20, 1:30 pm
The UW dance department's Li presents a concert that accompanies her new, weeklong summer dance camp. Camp participants and faculty dance in works choreographed by Li, Cynthia Adams, Emily Miller, Liz Sexe and Collette Stewart.
Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society
Overture Center's Playhouse, 7:30 pm
The playful chamber ensemble performs another of this summer's novel-themed programs: The Sound and the Fury, with music of Schumann, Brahms, Kristin Kuster and more. (Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society also performs Friday at the Mineral Point Opera House and Sunday at Taliesin in Spring Green.) See review.
American Players Theatre, Spring Green, 8 pm. Also Wednesday, June 23, 7:30 pm
Medical magic adds to the intrigue and confused love play of Shakespeare's comedy, in which APT veteran Jim DeVita should have plenty of fun as Parolles, the pompous soldier of fortune who suffers one of theater's most famous comic humiliations.
Barrymore Theatre, 8 pm
Sisters Sierra and Bianca Casady lured many music fans to the nascent freak-folk movement in 2004 when their exquisite, electronica-laced debut, La Maison de Mon Reve, appeared in record shops and on college radio stations. Since then, they've refined their sound and delved deeper into their fascination with Billie Holiday's vocal technique, culminating in a new CD, Grey Oceans, last month. With Diane Cluck.
Crystal Corner Bar, 9 pm
Son of Chicago blues legend Lonnie Brooks, guitarist Wayne keeps a foot in old-school Windy City blues, but he also adds contemporary touches.
UW Memorial Union Terrace, 9:30 pm
Milwaukee is riding high on the neo-soul tidal wave thanks to the funky offerings of this 10-piece ensemble, which was featured on NPR's All Things Considered last month, shortly after the release of its debut album.
Harmony Bar, 9:45 pm
Stacked with horns, Jimmy Voegeli's ensemble brims with Chicago blues and bursts with New Orleans funk.
Sunday 6.20
FATHER'S DAY
BIRTHDAY: Beach Boy Brian Wilson, 1942.
Midwest Log Rolling Championships
Wingra Canoe and Sailing Center, 11 am-5 pm
The rustic pastime of log rolling isn't just an exhibition sport. There are winners and losers. Find out who is the best at this competition.
Project Lodge, 7:30 pm
If her MySpace page is any indication, the quirky indie songstress is having an identity crisis, claiming to be from New Jersey, New York, Boston, Philadelphia and London. This sense of belonging everywhere and nowhere at once works to her favor in performance, though, as she bridges the gap between the catalogues of Ben Folds and Regina Spektor. With John Statz.
