Make sure to take full advantage of this weekend and its longest days of the year. The fun around town includes: Juneteenth and an anniversary party for the UW Arboretum; Blues Picnic in the Park and the second Senior Scenester Reunion; productions of Thrill Me, Lounging Around, and The Philanderer; a new Rooftop Cinema; and, live music from The Ghostwrite, DJ Rekha vs. DJ Vadim, The Detroit Cobras, Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band, Reptile Palace Orchestra, Plexi 3, Speedsquare, The Coathangers, The Rural Alberta Advantage, and Mark Mallman.
Friday 6.19
JUNETEENTH DAY
NOTEWORTHY: Julius and Ethel Rosenberg executed, 1953.
BIRTHDAYS: Rock sister Ann Wilson, 1950; judge Paula Abdul, 1962.
The Ghostwrite
Frequency, 5:30 pm
Robby Lester's solo folk-punk project, inspired by such heavy hitters as Propagandhi and Bad Religion, stops in from Baltimore to spice up your happy hour.
Thrill Me: The Leopold and Loeb Story Reptile Palace Orchestra Plexi 3, The Hussy Speedsquare, Czarbles Sunday 6.21 Arboretum Anniversary The Coathangers The Rural Alberta Advantage Mark Mallman
Bartell Theatre, 7:30 pm. Also Saturday (7:30 pm) & Sunday (2 pm), June 20 & 21
Music Theatre of Madison presents the Madison premiere of Stephen Dolginoff's off-Broadway musical, accompanied on piano. It features two actors as Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, who tried to commit the perfect murder in the 1920s. (See
Harmony Bar, 9:45 pm
The one-of-a-kind local act takes you on a journey through rock, funk, world- and lounge-music sounds. A journey is always fun in summer.
Cafe Montmartre, 10 pm
Milwaukee punk/powerpop idols Plexi 3 team up with Madison's favorite new drunk-thunk garage-punk duo for a hyperactive night of tunes.
Frequency, 10 pm
Named after a triangular measuring tool, Asheville, N.C.'s Speedsquare makes tons of fantastic angular sounds as well, as do local prog gods Czarbles. Also playing: the Moment, the Projection People.
FATHER'S DAY
SUMMER SOLSTICE
NOTEWORTHY: U.S. Supreme Court rules that Constitution protects flag-burning as an expression of political protest, 1989.
BIRTHDAYS: Cartoonist Berke Breathed, 1957.
UW Arboretum Visitors' Center
The grand experiment in ecological restoration celebrates its 75th birthday with a naturalist-led walk (8:30 am), a historical presentation and cake (12:30 pm), an artist talk (2 pm) and a night walk (8 pm).
Brink Lounge, 6 pm
Atlanta's razor-sharp all-girl punk band are taking a brief vacation from grungy big-city bars, bringing their sneers and barbs to the hotel-lounge atmosphere of the Brink. The Stoves, Noise Floor and Quixy open.
High Noon Saloon, 8 pm
The Toronto three-piece recently landed a record deal with Saddle Creek Records after being the eMusic Featured Artist of the Month last November. Expect a big rerelease of their 2008 album, Hometowns, next month, plus a show full of songs about maple leaves, mountain ranges and other bits of the Canadian landscape. Two other poppy indie-rock outfits, the Celebrated Workingman and Meridene, open the show.
Frequency, 9 pm
The Milwaukee-bred frontman of the glammy synth-pop group Ruby Isle has a new solo LP (Invincible Criminal) that's about to drop.
