Joe Oliva / Jetpix.com
Summer in Madison achieves an early apex this weekend with the annual preemptive Independence Day celebration that is Rhythm & Booms. There's much more on tap, though, including Oregon Summer Fest; The Winter's Tale at APT; a F5 photo opening and the Tenney-Lapham Art Walk, Drums on Parade; and live music by our local Bach fanatics, Katie Todd, Davy Knowles & Back Door Slam, Diplomats of Solid Sound, Imperial Battlesnake, The Scurvies, and Moira Scar.
Friday 6.26
NOTEWORTHY: President John F. Kennedy declares himself a jelly doughnut during visit to West Berlin, 1963.
BIRTHDAYS: Three-time Tour de France champion Greg LeMond, 1961; actor Chris O'Donnell, 1970.
Kiser Fireman's Park, Oregon 5 pm-1 am. Also Thursday (5-11 pm), Saturday (9 am-1 am) & Sunday (10 am-7 pm), June 25, 27 & 28
The southern burb celebrates itself, and why not? There's a softball tournament, a carnival and music of VO5, Screamin' Cucumbers, Super Tuesday and the Britins.
Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society
Stoughton Opera House, 7:30 pm. Also Saturday, June 27, Overture Center Playhouse, 7:30 pm; and Sunday, June 28, Taliesin's Hillside Theater in Spring Green, 2:30 & 7:30 pm
The local chamber ensemble wraps up its "Haydn Seek" series, featuring topnotch musicianship and playful presentation. In the final program, Bach Dancing continues its practice of mixing the familiar and the less familiar, presenting the all-Haydn "London Bridge" program and "Pin the Tail on the Donkey," with music of Haydn, Brahms and the Iranian composer Behzad Ranjbaran.
Mother Fool's Coffeehouse, 8 pm
Chicago songsmith Katie Todd has been teetering on the brink of stardom since she and her band landed iTunes' "Artist of the Week" spot a few years ago. You may also recognize her voice from Animal, the newest album by Margot & the Nuclear So and So's.
Majestic Theatre, 8:30 pm
After doing a round of solo opening gigs for Jeff Beck earlier this year, the red-hot blues rocker rejoins his band to promote a new album, Coming Up for Air. Aaron Williams & the Hoodoo and the A.J. Love Blues Band open.
Saturday 6.27
NOTEWORTHY: Stonewall riots erupt, 1969.
BIRTHDAYS: Cowboy Junkies vocalist Margo Timmins, 1961; Tobey "Spiderman" Maguire, 1975.
Warner Park, noon-11:30 pm
The Independence Day extravaganza packs many pleasures into one long day: bands, bingo, baseball, booms. The decorated-bike parade, military demonstrations, flyovers, skydivers and carnival are a prelude to the choreographed fireworks show at dusk, which lasts over a half-hour and pumps 15,000 shells into the air. Somewhere, the Founders are smiling.
UW Memorial Union Terrace, 8 pm
They may be from Iowa City, but they're making some of the hottest Memphis soul around. Catch them as they burn up the Terrace for one night only, and take in those fireworks across the lake while you're at it. With Kings Go Forth.
American Players Theatre, Spring Green, 8 pm. Also Thursday & Wednesday, June 25 & July 1, 7:30 pm The peerless outdoor theater rolls out another production with the June 25 premiere of Shakespeare's 1623 romance. A king becomes convinced his wife has been unfaithful, setting off a series of tragic events that can only be set right by the power of young love.
High Noon Saloon, 10 pm
The Chicago metal combo delivers sharp, high-energy riffs and thundering rhythms, and their CD Sentinels of the Hardland has just been reissued by local label Crustacean, That's the occasion for this gig. With the Skintones, Bon Squad.
Tornado Club's Corral Room, 10 pm
Ever wondered what Alaskan punk sounds like these days? This Fairbanks group rocks about political themes with hard-hitting melodies and a bit of Dungeons and Dragons flair -- before throwing their beers in your face. The Gusto and the Transgressions open.
Sunday 6.28
NOTEWORTHY: Austrian Archduke Francis Ferdinand assassinated at Sarajevo, 1914.
BIRTHDAYS: Actor and former Madison resident John Cusack, 1966.
Steenbock Gallery of the Wisconsin Academy, through Aug. 7
The photography collaboration F5 shares a name with a group of Czech photo-surrealists from the 1930s. The Madison-based incarnation is the five woman photographers in this show, which you can check out at the reception (Sunday, June 28, 2-5 pm).
Tenney-Lapham neighborhood, 1-5 pm
View the wares and the home studios of 11 artists -- painters, printers, photographers, more -- who reside in these homey east-side environs. Collect a map at 408 Washburn Place, or Burnie's Rock Shop if you prefer (see Arts Beat).
Middleton High School's Breitenbach Stadium, 6 pm
The Madison Scouts host drum corps from around the country, here to make noise in a Drum Corps International regional event. Their volume level will erase your memories of the booming at Rhythm & Booms.
Frequency, 9:30 pm
Take two people, eight instruments, a half-dozen monster costumes and a ton of noise, and you've just begun to describe the mind-bending show San Francisco's Moira Scar puts on. Pushmi-Pullyu, The There Was a Mans and DB Pedersen open.