Odyssey Con IX
Spring doesn't get any busier or more fun than this in Madison. The calendar for this final weekend of April includes: Odyssey Con IX, the Capital City Jazz Fest, the Crazylegs Classic, and Isthmus Green Day 2009; an anniversary show by Cycropia Aerial Dance and Spring Flight by UW Dance; performances of The Green Room and A Moon Between Two Houses; and a wealth of live music by Richie Havens, Nanci Griffith, the WCO, Backyard Tire Fire, the Perlman Piano Trio, Nick Moss & the Flip Tops, and Rocco DeLuca & the Burden.
Friday 4.24
NEW MOON
NOTEWORTHY: Rock icon David Bowie marries supermodel Iman, 1992.
BIRTHDAYS: Oscar- & Grammy-winning actress/singer Barbra Streisand, 1942; comedian Cedric the Entertainer, 1964.
Radisson Hotel, through April 26
The general-interest science-fiction and fantasy convention features music, panel discussions, gaming and a masquerade where you can channel your inner Frodo. The guest authors are Emma Bull and Patrick Rothfuss.
Quality Inn & Suites, Fitchburg, 7 pm. Also Saturday (11 am & 6 pm) & Sunday (11:30 am), April 25 & 26
The Madison Jazz Society's annual blowout turns our town into a mecca for fans of traditional jazz. Expect red-hot blowing from Bill Allred's Classic Jazz Band, the Bob Schulz/Bob Hirsch All Stars, the Chuck Hedges Milwaukee Connection and more.
Stoughton Opera House, 7:30 pm
Though he played the original Woodstock festival in 1969, Havens is rocking the suburbs this week with his distinctive mélange of folk, soul-laced cover songs and rhythm-heavy guitar playing. Harry Manx opens.
Boys & Girls Club of Dane County, 8 pm. Also Saturday (2 & 7 pm) & Sunday (2 pm), April 25 & 26
The Madison-based company celebrates two decades with A Life in Flight: Twenty Years of Aerial Dance, featuring trapeze work, a suspended ladder and more (see preview).
Bartell Theatre, 8 pm. Also Thursday (8 pm) & Saturday (2 & 8 pm), April 23 & 25
Encore Studio for the Performing Arts, the theater company for people with disabilities, winds down its season with this farce about, yes, live theater and its vicissitudes.
Barrymore Theatre, 8 pm
She's something of a musician's musician, and a number of Griffith's "folkabilly" tunes have achieved commercial success when recorded by other artists such as Bette Midler and Kathy Mattea. She'll put her own spin on them with her band, the Blue Moon Orchestra. Dana Erlandson opens.
UW Lathrop Hall, 8 pm. Also Thursday & Saturday, April 23 & 25, 8 pm
The UW Dance Program presents Spring Flight, featuring work by San Francisco-based choreographer Scott Wells and program artists Li Chiao-Ping, Chris Walker, Colette Stewart, Maureen Janson, Kate Corby and Karen McShane-Hellenbrand.
Overture Center's Capitol Theater, 8 pm
The Chamber Orchestra, hobbled by a strike that turned its season into a shredded mess, ends the indoor series on a note of comity. Labor and management are setting aside their as-yet-unresolved differences for this program of Rossini, Beethoven and Haydn featuring pianist Paavali Jumppanen and guest conductor Julian Wachner.
High Noon Saloon, 9:30 pm
Steady-rollin' rockers, swampy stomps and down-home country-folk that gives a big ol' tip of the hat to Neil Young are the talented, thoroughly unpretentious BTF's stock-in-trade. They're an Americana band for folks with a sense of musical history. With Jentri Colello, Musikanto.
Saturday 4.25
ANZAC DAY
NOTEWORTHY: St. Lawrence Seaway opens to shipping, 1959.
BIRTHDAYS: Oscar- & Tony-winning actor Al Pacino, 1940; actress Renee Zellweger, 1969.
Monona Terrace, 9 am-6 pm
Isthmus' event is a one-stop shop for all your questions, needs and desires relating to sustainable living. Visit an abundance of booths on health, gardening, transportation, etc., and check out speakers including Madison Environmental Group's Sonya Newenhouse, author Lisa Kivirist and GHC's Dr. Nancy Selfridge. There will be kids' activities, food and locally grown music by Launchpad bands. Never has saving the earth been so much fun.
Capitol Square, 9:45 am
The eight-kilometer run/wheelchair race and two-mile walk benefits the UW athletic department. The course finishes at Camp Randall, where you can glimpse grand marshal/heroic airline pilot Jeffrey Skiles and dance groggily at a post-race party featuring the Eddie Butts Band.
UW Humanities Building's Morphy Hall, 3:30 pm
Undergraduates Eleanor Bartsch (violin), Maureen Kelly (violoncello) and Thomas Kasdorf (piano) perform music of Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Schubert. Kids these days.
Harmony Bar, 9:45 pm
The Windy City combo keep the Chicago sound going with their lively electric blues.
Sunday 4.26
NOTEWORTHY: Chernobyl nuclear plant disaster, 1986.
BIRTHDAYS: Martial actor Jet Li, 1963.
Overture Center's Capitol Theater, 1 pm (Spanish) & 3 pm (English)
For the youngsters, the Mexican puppet theater Marionetas de la Esquina presents a story about neighbors and their shared fear of the dark.
Majestic Theatre, 8 pm
Steeped in electric blues, reedy-voiced Californian DeLuca performs brash rock on his signature instrument, the Dobro resonator guitar. He and his Burden roll into town on the strength of a sophomore release, Mercy.
