Holly Golightly
Friday 9.21
Quilts in Bloom
Olbrich Botanical Gardens, through Oct. 7
This exhibition features dozens of locally made quilts, all with botanical designs. Olbrich pairs them with a selection of fall plants, the perfect blend of art and nature.
Death of a Salesman
Overture Center Playhouse, 7:30 pm. Also Saturday (4 & 8 pm), Sunday (2 pm), Wednesday & Thursday (7:30 pm), Sept. 22, 23, 26 & 27
The Madison Repertory Theatre presents the canonical work that can chill you today as much as it did in 1949. In Arthur Miller's play, tragic salesman Willy Loman chases the American Dream.
Funnel
Broom Street Theatre, 8 pm. Also Saturday (8 pm) & Sunday (2 pm), Sept. 22 & 23
Ethan Mutz's new play is a twisty mystery that covers everybody's favorite subjects: love, hate and revenge.
Andrew Garland & Martha Saywell
Mills Hall in the UW Humanities Bldg., 8 pm
Accompanied by Saywell on piano, UW guest artist Garland will wrap his resonant baritone around songs by living American composers: Stephen Paulus, Jeffrey Wood and Lee Hoiby. Free!
Bela Fleck & the Flecktones
Orpheum Theatre, 8 pm
A banjo man for the modern age, Fleck hops from genre to genre with gusto. This year's album with jazz pianist Chick Corea won't get an airing, but you can bet pretty much everything else will during the Flecktones' relentless jam session.
Redman
Barrymore Theatre, 9 pm
Redman must have put down the smoke when he was working on the funky nonsense that bulks up his first solo effort since 2001, Red Gone Wild. It's witty, weird and old-school enough to distinguish him from this year's crop of swaggering wannabes. Smokes, Kidz in the Hall, Akir and the Crest also appear. If you're going, bring along a nonperishable food donation for the Community Action Coalition.
Venice Gas House Trolley
King Club, 9 pm
Adam Pergament and his band celebrate a new CD that captures their distinctive take on Beat poetry and jazz-inflected '60s jamming.
The Bad Plus
Annex, 9:30 pm
Never afraid to break away from the usual standards, the adventuresome piano trio (which includes Madison expats) brings a jazz sensibility to unlikely tunes by Rush, Tears for Fears and David Bowie on their latest effort, Prog.
Saturday 9.22
Kids for Peace Day
9:30 am-1 pm
The Madison Children's Museum marks the United Nations' International Day of Peace with free admission, music, dance and a noon parade around the Capitol Square, complete with floats and puppets. Are you listening, world leaders?
Kids in the Rotunda
Overture Center Rotunda, 9:30 am, 11 am & 1 pm
Circus Boy, a former Ringling Bros. performer, offers a free show of stunts, juggling and balancing acts. Make way for the giant unicycle.
Gypsy
Overture Center's Overture Hall, 2 & 8 pm. Also Sunday, Sept. 23, 2 & 7 pm
A touring company presents the classic Broadway musical about a pushy stage mother whose daughter becomes famous as burlesque dancer Gypsy Rose Lee. The score by Jule Styne and Stephen Sondheim includes "Let Me Entertain You" and "Everything's Coming Up Roses."
Oakwood Chamber Players
Oakwood Village Auditorium, 7:30 pm. Also Sun., Sept. 23, 2 pm
In a concert called "Autumn Winds," the local chamber ensemble presents Schubert's "Sonatensatz," Poulenc's "Sextet" and local composer Douglas Hill's "Scenes from Sand County" for mixed ensemble and narrator. Hill lectures 45 minutes before each concert.
Charlemagne
King Club, 9 pm
Former Madisonian Carl Johns returns bearing a boss new pop-rockin' Charlemagne album and a retooled version of his globe-hopping unit. The Grizzlies and Icarus Himself open.
Holly Golightly & the Broke-Offs
Cafe Montmartre, 9:30 pm
Thee Headcoats alumna Holly Golightly sings her latest renditions of old-timey country and backwoods blues. Clearly, the clever Brit has spent some quality time studying American folk. Blake Thomas and Eilen Jewell open.
Tigercity
Club 770 in UW Union South, 9:30 pm
Sometimes Tigercity's falsetto vocal parts, cheesy synth lines and throbbing rhythm tracks flow straight from Hall and Oates. But the disco-friendly Brooklynites can also come across as a less robotic Daftpunk. Stylofone also appear.
Ryan Shaw
High Noon Saloon, 9:30 pm
The Georgia-born dynamo is inspired by classic soul and R&B, channeling Wilson Pickett, Sam Cooke and the young Stevie Wonder through his powerful tenor voice. Vibe Syndicate opens.
Denison Witmer and Marla Hansen
UW Memorial Union Terrace, 9:30 pm
Witmer's jewel-box folk-pop isn't exactly the ideal soundtrack for this boisterous biergarten, but the show's free and he's always worth catching. Marla Hansen, violist for Sufjan Stevens and My Brightest Diamond (and a UW grad), opens with material from her new CD.
Sunday 9.23
Eugene Alcalay
Chazen Museum of Art, 12:30 pm
The Romanian-born pianist offers a Franz-heavy program of Liszt and Schubert.
Martin Sexton
Barrymore Theatre, 7:30 pm
Don't confuse Sexton with the herd of forgettable guitar strummers who'll pack club calendars this fall. He's one of the most creative singer-songwriters around, and his new Seeds is a substantial, blues-soaked document. The Ryan Montbleau Band opens.
