'Silver Wings and Golden Scales' opens Saturday at the Chazen.
Friday 4.6
Madison Children's Museum, 10:30 am
Hey kids, here's your chance to weave strips of construction paper into a beautiful basket all your own -- the better to tote your loot from the Easter egg hunt Saturday at 9 am on the Capitol Square.
Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, 5:30-8 pm
The splendid MMoCA celebrates its first birthday with one of its (more or less) monthly Friday soirees. This time there's music by the Hometown Sweethearts, plus cake and guided tours by those savvy docents.
Loft in the Lussier Teen Center, 7:30 pm
Pittsburgh punk vets Punchline have a taste for pop hooks and vocals, but they also employ urgent post-punk rhythms. That makes all the difference in the world. The Graduate, the Fold, Permanent Me and Call You Out also appear.
Bartell Theatre, 7:30 pm. Also Saturday (2 & 8 pm) April 7
This musical comedy is a strange, moving, disarmingly funny look at the autism-related disorder Asperger's syndrome. The show is presented by Encore! Studio for the Performing Arts, a theater company for people with disabilities.
Exene Cervenka & the Original Sinners
High Noon Saloon, 9 pm
American punk/country queen Exene Cervenka employs members of local horror-show instrumentalists Knuckel Drager in her band the Original Sinners, and for this show she's helping raise cash to fix KD's busted van. Knuckel Drager themselves are also slated to appear. The Apologists open.
The Annex, 9:30 pm
Former Toadies front man Vaden Todd Lewis rides ramrod on the Burden Brothers' basic, throbbing, '70s-influenced rock. It'll go down easy with a brewski or two. Leo, Apparently Nothing and the Cacti Hi Fi open.
Harmony Bar, 9:45 pm
Honeytribe singer/guitarist Devon Allman didn't grow up with famous dad Gregg Allman. Nevertheless, he has a knack for putting over soulful, Southern-flavored rock and blues.
Saturday 4.7
Silver Wings and Golden Scales
Chazen Museum of Art, through June 24
Installation artist Jennifer Angus covers the walls of the Chazen's Mayer Gallery with a mosaic-like arrangement of exotic insect specimens. Her collaborator, Scottish composer/musician Alistair MacDonald, shapes and abstracts recordings of Malaysian insects to provide the auditory component.
Jimmy Cheatham Memorial Jazz Jam
Inn on the Park, 7 pm
The late trombonist/educator Jimmy Cheatham helped make jazz far more prevalent at the UW during his tenure here. This appropriately swinging memorial benefits the Cheatham Black Music Education Fund.
Barrymore Theatre, 8 pm
Long, tall Ms. Ball's honky-tonk piano will motivate most any posterior. She's a firecracker, plain and simple. The Midwesterners open.
Wil-Mar Center, 8 pm
You gotta hand it to Werner: The veteran folkie is willing to stand up for what she believes. On her intriguing new CD, The Gospel Truth, she challenges church-endorsed truth with "agnostic gospel" music that embraces social activism and a moral code free from old-school dogma.
The Annex, 9 pm
Suffice it to say, Madison expats Locksley are doing quite well these days. Their bubblicious "Why Not Me?" provides the theme music for a new MTV show, their fresh-faced mugs were just featured on "Jimmy Kimmel Live," and Spin gave them a nice writeup in last month's issue. Their Beatlesque pop is hardly unique, but it's catchy. Scissors for Lefty and Ivory open.
Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band
High Noon Saloon, 9:30 pm
Reverend Peyton inhabits remarkably unaffected takes on rural blues and backwoods gospel. His band really isn't very big, but his understanding of soul-stroking sounds certainly is. The Everybodyfields open.
Sunday 4.8
High Noon Saloon, 9 pm
Philadelphia jazz-rockers Lotus tap into a lulling cosmic groove that touches on funk, house, techno, ambient sounds and world music. Expect a gentle cleansing of the synapses rather than a heavy-duty scrubbing.
