G. Love & Special Sauce
Friday 4.13
Wisconsin Film Festival
The ninth annual event runs April 12-15 in various locations, showcasing independent films, world cinema, new media and homegrown efforts. See Kent Williams' review here, a schedule here, and here for more information.
Hip Hop as a Movement
Through April 21
The annual confab features lectures, showcases, workshops and DJ battles, providing opportunities for both entertainment and education. This week's highlights at the UW Memorial Union include a youth conference called "Stop the Rail to Jail" (April 14, noon); an international B-boy/B-girl battle (April 14, 6:30 pm), and a concert featuring the Coup, Anomolies, Culture Shock Camp and Big Quarters (April 19, 7 pm).
Gay Rights Celebration
Olbrich Gardens, 7 pm
OutReach's event marks the 25th anniversary of the nation's first gay-rights legislation, featuring food, live music and comedy by Vickie Shaw.
Josh Farley
Wisconsin State Historical Society auditorium, 7 pm
The University of Vermont professor discusses the future of environmentalism in a talk called "'The Stern Report' on the Economics of Global Warming: Strengths and Weaknesses."
Tony CastaÃeda Latin Jazz Sextet
Performing Arts Center at Middleton High School, 7:30 pm
CastaÃeda brings his downtown Latin rhythms to Middleton, with help from the Dando Mambo Dance Company.
The Pearl Fishers
Overture Center's Overture Hall, 8 pm. Also Sunday, April 15, 2:30 pm
Madison Opera presents Georges Bizet's lush opera, which reunites three childhood friends with fatal results.
G. Love & Special Sauce
Barrymore Theatre, 9 pm
Who'd have thought G. Love's blend of blues, rock and hip-hop would have such legs? He's been a cult favorite since the mid-'90s, and recent collaborations with Jack Johnson and Tristan Prettyman suggest he'll have no trouble hooking yet another generation of laid-back college kids.
Leslie & the LY's Cafà Montmartre, 9 pm
YouTube star Leslie Hall managed to find a solid electro groove rapping and singing about cheesy, gem-adorned sweaters only an Iowa housewife could love. She's an ambulatory art project, and her 15 minutes show no sign of ending soon.
Screamin' Cyn Cyn & the Pons
King Club, 9 pm
The irascible local art-punks celebrate a CD release with help from New York's Mathematicians and Ouija Radio.
Juiceboxxx
Club 770 in UW Union South, 9:30 pm
Thanks as much to his wired stage antics as his nasal party rhymes, the Milwaukee geek rapper got a lot of love at South by Southwest this year.
Stephen Kellogg & the Sixers
High Noon Saloon, 9:30 pm
Kellogg's rootsy originals draw on the work of literate arena-fillers like Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen but have a more collegiate feel about them. Jason Spooner and Mike Droho (ex-Profits) open.
Saturday 4.14
Celebrate Madison
Monona Terrace, 11 am-6 pm
The tribute to Madison's diverse cultures features kids' activities and performances by the Cajun Strangers, the Natyarpana School of Dance and a half-dozen others. Free!
The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
Mitby Theater at MATC-Truax, 2 pm
This touring musical promises a magical afternoon, as four English children transported to the magical land of Narnia.
Duck Soup Cinema
Overture Center's Capitol Theater, 2 & 7 pm
Overture's delightful series brings back old-time vaudeville era with a lively variety show followed by a silent movie: Buster Keaton's The Navigator, accompanied live on organ.
Second City
Overture Center's Overture Hall, 8 pm
Chicago's legendary improv comedy troupe cultivated the talents of Bill Murray, Mike Myers and countless other comic geniuses. The latest fresh-faced stars-on-the-rise perform Second City's skits and songs.
Gidon Kremer & Kremerata Baltica
Wisconsin Union Theater, 8 pm
Violinist Kremer runs in fast company, having collaborated with Leonard Bernstein and other classical-music giants. With his Grammy-winning Kremerata Baltica orchestra, he'll perform works by Beethoven and Astor Piazzolla.
Ambrosia Trio
Mitby Theater at MATC-Truax, 8 pm
The accomplished NYC piano trio focuses on staples of the Classical and Romantic periods, throwing in the occasional Ives or Copland to keep you guessing.
Yo La Tengo
Barrymore Theatre, 8 pm
A couple decades on, the drone specialists are still exploring new territory -- a bodacious noise-fest one minute, a vanguard meditation on chamber-rock the next.
Butch Walker & the Let's Go Out Tonites
The Annex, 9 pm
On his last album, producer/tunesmith Walker mined the glory days of T Rex and David with stuttering, half-drawled vocals and glam-style swaggering that are custom-made for a whiskey-soaked barroom revel.
Jimmy Buffett Night
Harmony Bar, 9:30 pm
Chuck Bayuk & the Drunken Sailors put on tropic-theme shirts and play some tequila-friendly tunes for the benefit of the Atwood Community Center. Now if they could just import some of that mellow Caribbean weather....
North Mississippi All-Stars
High Noon Saloon, 9:30 pm
Guitarist Luther Dickinson has picked his way into in the upper echelon of from-the-gut blues and boogie players. This is an acoustic show, but that won't keep folks from movin' to the groovin'.
Jason Molina UW Memorial Union Terrace, 9:30 pm
Molina's strange, melancholic songs aren't exactly party music, but they are well worth hearing.
Sunday 4.15
Jerusalem Women Speak
Memorial United Church of Christ, 2 pm. Also Edgewood College's Predolin Hall, 7:30 pm; and Monday, April 16, 2650 UW Humanities Bldg., 7 pm
A Muslim Palestinian (Huda Abu Arqoub), a Jewish Israeli (Tal Dor) and a Christian Palestinian (Amal Nassar) share their hopes and fears on a tour subtitled "Three Women, Three Faiths, One Shared Vision."
Lionheart
Luther Memorial Church, 3 pm
The vocal ensemble presents rarely heard music from 16th century Spain, particularly that associated with the city of Toledo. Gregorian-chant alert!
Madison Area Music Awards Benefit
The Bean, 4 pm
The MAMAs get some fund-raising help from a big country contingent, including the Jessi Lynn Band, Wild Heart and Jim the Mule.
Catie Curtis
High Noon Saloon, 7 pm
The veteran singer-songwriter really delivers the goods on 2006's folk-pop Long Night Moon, with Curtis adding nuances to every line she sings.
Youngblood Brass Band
High Noon Saloon, 9 pm
The Youngblood-related Layered Arts Collective is behind this showcase of the horn-driven, hip-hop-addicted globe-trotters. They currently enjoy considerable airplay on college radio.
