Waylan St. Palan
'Twas the week before Christmas, and Madison is stirring with the sounds of the Madtown Emcee Battle, Paul Rowe & Martha Fischer, Cork n' Bottle String Band, and Waylan St. Palan & the Magic Elves.
Monday 12.20
NOTEWORTHY: U.S. formally takes possession of Louisiana Territories, 1803.
BIRTHDAYS: Former Milwaukee Brewers star Cecil Cooper, 1949; rock singer-songwriter Billy Bragg, 1957.
High Noon Saloon, 9 pm
It's a lyrical showdown a stone's throw from downtown. Watch local hip-hoppers DJ Pain 1 and Rickaby exercise their linguistic prowess and exchange a few rhymes.
Tuesday 12.21
FULL MOON
WINTER SOLSTICE
NOTEWORTHY: Bomb brings down Pan Am 747 at Lockerbie, Scotland, killing 270, 1988.
BIRTHDAYS: Oscar-winning actress/exercise-video mogul/serial trophy wife/Vietnam-era peace activist/born-again '60s sex kitten Jane Fonda, 1937; actor Samuel L. Jackson, 1948.
First Unitarian Society Auditorium, 7:30 pm
Baritone Rowe and pianist Fischer, both UW music professors, perform Die Winterreise, Schubert's incomparable 1827 song cycle. The songs tell of a rejected lover's snowy journey to oblivion, so nothing could be more appropriate for Wisconsin in December.
Wednesday 12.22
NOTEWORTHY: Shipyard worker-turned-Solidarity labor leader Lech Walesa takes oath of office as Poland's first freely elected president, 1990.
BIRTHDAYS: Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen, 1946; Tony-winning actor Ralph Fiennes, 1962.
High Noon Saloon, 6:30 pm
The bluegrass six-piece named after the liquor store on the corner of East Johnson and North Paterson is taking over the High Noon with a fiddle, a banjo, a bass and, of course, plenty of beer.
Thursday 12.23
NOTEWORTHY: Filmmaker Woody Allen, 62, weds Soon-Yi Previn, 27-year-old adopted daughter of ex-wife Mia Farrow, 1997.
BIRTHDAYS: Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder, 1964; Guns N' Roses/Velvet Revolver guitarist Slash, 1965.
Waylan St. Palan & the Magic Elves
High Noon Saloon, 9 pm
Call him Nate Palan, call him Waylan Daniel, call him Waylan St. Palan. Whatever his name is, the Hometown Sweethearts frontman is in from New York to give Madison his yearly gift of off-kilter Christmas carols and other holiday treats, along with his merry, mischievous band of elves.
