Hubbard Street Dance Chicago
Monday 4.28
Mike Shiley
Trip Commons in the UW Memorial Union, 7 pm. Also Tuesday, April 29, 7 pm
The guerrilla filmmaker has the guts to take on big issues. On Monday he'll screen Solving Immigration: The Truth Is Out There; and on Tuesday Inside Iraq: The Untold Stories.
Lions
Annex, 8:30 pm
Austin's psychedelicized Lions revel in the heavy, guitar-laden sounds of '60s giants like Blue Cheer and MC5. They're the kind of swirling sonic flashback that pretty much everyone can use once in a while.
Tuesday 4.29
Building a Visual Arts Legacy
Watrous Gallery in the Overture Center, through June 8
This exhibition features artists who've received the Wisconsin Visual Art Lifetime Achievement Award, honoring those from the 19th century to today with a unique vision. Included are photographer H.H. Bennett, painters John Steuart Curry and Warrington Colescott, and sculptor Helen Farnsworth Mears. This year's awards ceremony is on Sunday, May 4, at 1:30 pm at the gallery.
Medic Droid and A Cursive Memory
Orpheum Theatre's Stage Door, 6:30 pm
Medic Droid's fresh, techno-powered pop may just be the perfect soundtrack for a night of carefree partying. Pop-punkers A Cursive Memory co-headline.
Hans Sollinger
Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, 7 pm
The surgeon is a prime mover behind the UW Hospital's renowned organ transplantation center. His discussion of organ transplants' future will do your heart (and kidneys) good.
Foals
High Noon Saloon, 7 pm
The U.K. groovists are addicted to both quirky funk and urgent vocals. They're the band of the moment across the pond. Worrier opens.
Wednesday 4.30
Kirin Narayan
Wisconsin Historical Society, 5 pm
The UW anthropology professor and novelist discusses the ways in which ethnography and fiction can shed light on human societies.
Thursday 5.1
Chris Pureka
High Noon Saloon, 6:30 pm
The high, lonesome genderqueer singer-songwriter falls somewhere between alt-country and more pop-friendly folk. She manages to be passionate and intense without ever being maudlin.
Elaine Scarry
Chazen Museum, 7:30 pm
The Harvard literature professor has raised a few eyebrows with her studies of pain, torture and airplane crashes. Here, she discusses "Imagining Color in Proust and Murasaki."
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago
Overture Center's Overture Hall, 7:30 pm
The contemporary dance troupe draw from jazz dance, modern dance and ballet to form a high-energy hybrid all their own. Their welcome return to town includes "Extremely Close" and "Passomezzo."
Needtobreathe
Majestic Theatre, 8 pm
Now that they've branched out from a strictly Christian career, Needtobreathe are warming hearts and minds of all faiths with their achy-breaky melodic anthems.
The Cops
Annex, 9:30 pm
The politically minded Seattle band can stir up a thrilling set of anxious, punk-influenced rock as well as anyone. Last year's Free Electricity really was electric.
