Streetball & Block Party
Downtown Madison will be bustling with Moving Days this weekend amidst late summer fun. The calendar includes: Streetball & Block Party at Penn Park; a reception for the "Artists of Union Cab" show; productions of Picasso at the Lapin Agile, The Tempest, and The Cure at Troy: A Version of Sophocles' Philoctetes; a performance by Glenn Miller; Dane Dances, and the "Bounce" and "Funky Fridays" dance parties; more tunes from What Cheer?, Ari Herstand, Paleo, Taki Allstars, The No & Maybe Game, Aaron Williams & the Hoodoo, Sensuous Enemy, and Super Irie & the Rockstones, as well as at a NAMI-Dane County benefit show; and, the Family Motor Coach Association Convention.
Friday 8.12
PERSEID METEOR SHOWERS PEAK
NOTEWORTHY: IBM Personal Computer released, 1981.
BIRTHDAYS: Dire Straits singer-songwriter-guitarist Mark Knopfler, 1949; folksinger-songwriter-guitarist Suzanne Vega, 1959.
Family Motor Coach Association Convention
Alliant Energy Center, 9 am-4 pm. Also Thursday & Saturday, Aug. 11 & 13, 9 am-4 pm
Have you ever thought of giving it all up and hitting the open road in a house on wheels? Then you'll want to check out the wares at this convention, where manufacturers display motor homes featuring the very latest in RV technology. There also are seminars, entertainment and opportunities to socialize with motor home-minded people.
Just Coffee, 1129 E. Wilson St., 1:30 pm
Drawing on New Orleans, hip-hop and Bollywood sounds, the 19-piece brass band from Rhode Island plays a set at the east-side java co-op. At 2:30 p.m., the ensemble marches to the nearby Wily Street Co-op. What's the occasion for the parade? If you have to ask, you don't know enough about brass bands.
Monona Terrace Rooftop, 5:30 pm
Two Milwaukee groups -- the fiery salsa ensemble Nabori and the R&B-fueled Eddie Butts Band -- join local DJ Vilas Park Sniper for an evening of prancing and promenading. Pint-sized visitors can bunny hop, hokey-pokey or sit one out and work on a mural project while the grownups cut a rug.
Gallery at Yahara Bay, through Sept. 23
Hire a Union Cab and chances are your driver either has a new CD out or is a committed visual artist. Works by drivers in the latter category are featured in this show, which includes drawings by Philip Salamone and photographs by Jeremy Parker. Meet the crew at tonight's reception, 6-9:30 p.m. Whether you can also get a ride to the airport is anyone's guess.
510 N. Blackhawk Ave., 8 pm. Also Thursday & Saturday, Aug. 11 & 13, 8 pm
The brash, youthful "indie theater" troupe Quick and Dead Productions presents Steve Martin's 1993 play, in which Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso meet at a cafe.
Frequency, 9 pm
Madison native Ari Herstand visits from his new L.A. home, where he's been perfecting his live extravaganza of looping piano, trumpet, guitar and percussion -- and selling his recorded tunes to MTV and the CW. With Dan Rodriguez and Will Knox.
High Noon Saloon, 9:30 pm
The psych-folk singer-songwriter grabbed the attention of NPR nearly five years ago, when he was writing a song a day on a child-size guitar while traveling the country in his car. These days, he's doing a more polished tour to showcase Fruit of the Spirit, his first release for indie label Partisan Records. With Crane Your Swan Neck, Land of Vandals and the Quota.
UW Memorial Union Terrace, 9:30 pm
Led by Montego Bay-born singer Taki Beris, this local reggae band infuses its sound with a heavy dose of electro dub and scorching horn solos that are bound to get Terrace-goers tapping their Birkenstocks. With DJ Natural Selector.
Bounce featuring DJ Nate Manic
Cardinal Bar, 10 pm
Techno, deep house and downtempo master Nate Manic drops in from Chicago to kick off the bar's newest weekly dance party, which is intended to highlight electro, house, dubstep and other electronic delights. Notable music meisters Wyatt Agard, Staggerlee and Jorge Selva will also be on hand to serve up their latest concoctions.
Majestic Theatre, 10 pm
Local DJs Vinnie Toma and Dr. Funkenstein will unsheathe all sorts of vintage grooves at this free dance party, including stuff like Curtis Mayfield classics, booty shakers by Sly & the Family Stone and top-shelf old-school hip-hop.
Mickey's Tavern, 10:30 pm
Fueled by New Wave and possibly by Pixy Stix, this Madison quartet cranks up the spaz factor with its fantastically frenzied live performances. Grab a drink -- or a date -- and join the insanity. With Sexy Ester & the Pretty Mama Sisters.
Saturday 8.13
FULL MOON
NOTEWORTHY: East Germany seals border between East and West Berlin, 1961.
BIRTHDAYS: Emergency! star Kevin Tighe, 1944; recovering child actor Danny Bonaduce, 1959.
Overture Hall, 11 am
Miller, music director at Kirk in the Hills in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., plays music of Mozart, Bach, Louis Vierne and more on the mighty Overture organ. This is the last of the free organ concerts presented this summer by the Madison Symphony Orchestra.
Penn Park, noon-7 pm
For the first time, this 11-year-old event doesn't bear the name of founder and former school board member Johnny Winston Jr. But the tradition lives on in the form of food, music, bingo, fun for the kids and an all-day basketball tournament.
American Players Theatre, Spring Green, 8 pm. Also Tuesday, Aug. 16, 7:30 pm
The summer's final weekend of debuting APT plays begins with Shakespeare's romance. It's set on a supernatural island, where the magician Prospero whips up the spell of a lifetime in an attempt to restore order in the universe.
Harmony Bar, 9:45 pm
The accomplished blues-rock trio nabbed five Madison Area Music Awards in 2010 and has shared the stage with Los Lonely Boys, Taj Mahal and Jonny Lang (see Sensuous Enemy
Frequency, 10 pm
Two plucky programmers and an imposing front woman make up this local darkwave electronic trio, which pummels ears with drum sequences, EBM-style synths and heavy-duty vocals. With the Light Asylum.
UW Memorial Union Terrace, 10:30 pm
The reggae man from Madison, Jamaica, brings his dancehall chant to Madison, Wis., where he'll share tunes he's honed as an opener for the Wu-Tang Clan, Yellowman and DJ Jazzy Jeff.
Sunday 8.14
NOTEWORTHY: Thoreau jailed, 1846.
BIRTHDAYS: Emmy-winning comedian-author-actor-playwright Steve Martin, 1945; actress/Miss USA runner-up Halle Berry, 1966.
High Noon Saloon, 1 p.m.
The funk, rock and blues band Bonobo Secret Handshake are joined by Mud Room and Queenie & the Blue Cats at this fundraiser for the local chapter of the National Alliance for Mental Illness.
The Cure at Troy: A Version of Sophocles' Philoctetes
American Players Theatre, Spring Green, 7:30 pm
APT's final debut of the season is the great Irish poet Seamus Heaney's adaptation of the ripping ancient Greek yarn about a disabled archer and his bow, which everybody wants. APT producing artistic director David Frank directs.
