Cheers will ring from the shores of Lake Monona and streets of Madison and Dane County this weekend as athletes compete in the Ironman Wisconsin Triathlon. The calendar also includes: the Midwest Quilt Expo and Monroe Street Festival; Kids for Peace Day; a Leo Villareal opening at MMoCA and the About Seeing exhibit at Overture; standup by Paula Poundstone; a production of The Good, The Bad and The Divas; the Attack of the Bass dance party; and, more live music from Get the Led out, Love and Theft, Dale Earnhardt Jr. Jr., Easy All-Stars, Glowing House with Exit Ghost, The Suburbs, Blueheels, Teengirl Fantasy, Tony Lucca, Trin Tran, and Laura Caviani.
Friday 9.7
NOTEWORTHY: Rapper Tupac Shakur shot and killed in Las Vegas, 1996.
Alliant Energy Center-Exhibition Hall, 9 am-6 pm. Also Thursday & Saturday, Sept. 6 & 8, 9 am-6 pm Wisconsin Public Television's event allows you to keep up to date with the latest in fabric. Expect lectures, demonstrations, shopping opportunities, and a dazzling exhibition of quilts.
The Good, The Bad and The Divas
Overture Center Playhouse, 8 pm. Also Saturday (8 pm) & Sunday (2 pm), Sept. 8 & 9
Fresco Opera Theatre mashes together opera and spaghetti Westerns with this production, which places arias from Italian operas in a western-themed plot. Hi ho, Puccini!
Barrymore Theatre, 8 pm
Celebrate the Barrymore's 25th anniversary with this rocking Led Zeppelin tribute act. They're not Page and Plant, but they perform Zep classics such as "Immigrant Song" and "D'yer Mak'er' with just as much passion.
Majestic Theatre, 8:30 pm
After this duo's single "Angel Eyes" topped the country charts in 2011, their self-titled 2012 LP broke the top 25 on the Billboard 200. With Chase Rice.
Inferno, 9 pm
Dive into the deep, heavy sounds of five Wisconsin DJs, including dubstep purveyors Manny Fresh, Dirty With a Touch of Class, and Joey P and Haggard. Milwaukee's Schwilly Z will unleash some funky breaks, and Madison's MSP will keep things fresh with some hip-hop and rapstep.
Sett at UW Union South, 9 pm
This isn't a NASCAR event or a glaring typo. It's a DJ set at this year's Union South Bash. Detroit natives Joshua Epstein and Daniel Zott will make hearts race with electronic pop and other dance-friendly delights from their personal collections of records and MP3s.
High Noon Saloon, 9:30 pm
On the heels of reggae-style tributes to Pink Floyd, Radiohead and the Beatles, this quartet has just released Thrillah, a tropical take on Michael Jackson's Thriller. Add a bit of Bogle to your Moonwalk during this performance. With Cas Healy and Tropical Riddims Sound System.
Rigby, 10 pm
Denver's Glowing House and Chicago's Exit Ghost will fill the Rigby with haunting indie-folk melodies from a pair of new albums.
Saturday 9.8
NOTEWORTHY: Star Trek premieres on NBC, 1966.
1500-3500 blocks of Monroe Street, 10 am-5 pm
One of Madison's most appealing thoroughfares shows its stuff, with entertainment, kids' activities, sidewalk sales, and a health and wellness fair. And don't forget that you can walk off all that good food in the nearby Arboretum.
Outside the Madison Children's Museum, 10 am-noon
When kids rally for peace, you've just got to listen. The annual event features performances and activities.
Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, through Dec. 30. Reception: Saturday, Sept. 8, 6:30 pm
Villareal uses light as a medium, from strobes to LEDs. His sculptures and installations are often inspired by nature, with computer-driven patterns. MMoCA presents his first major traveling museum survey. Saturday's reception features a 7 pm lecture by curator Joanne Northrup and music by Null Device.
Barrymore Theatre, 7:30 pm
The comedian has a gift for improv, evident in her gigs on The Tonight Show and NPR's Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! She cracked Comedy Central's list of the top 100 standup comics of all time. (See interview.)
Majestic Theatre, 8:30 pm
Formed in the Minneapolis burbs in 1977, this band blazed a New Wave trail through the Midwest in the 1980s. By 1983, they landed on the Mercury Records Roster and began opening for folks like Iggy Pop as their sound grew harder and funkier. Relive the memories -- or sample the goods of an earlier generation -- at this reunion concert. With German Art Students.
High Noon Saloon, 9 pm
This local quintet infuse rock 'n' roll with Americana soul at their engaging live performances. See how they sound on Weather Machine, a brand-new album they'll unveil at this show. With Control and Dietrich Gosser.
Sett at UW Union South, 9 pm
This pair of electronic-music makers may be young, but they marry vintage influences such as '90s techno and '70s synth experiments. See if their new album, Tracer, sounds old, new, borrowed, blue or something else entirely.
Terrace at UW Memorial Union, 9:30 pm
This Mickey Mouse Club alum was one of the most versatile finalists on the second season of The Voice. After earning a spot on the show with a performance of Ray LaMontagne's "Trouble," he returned to his roots with a cover of "...Baby One More Time," the first megahit by fellow Mousketeer Britney Spears. See how he fares before an eclectic Terrace crowd. With Mike Droho & the Compass Rose.
Mickey's Tavern, 10:30 pm
Few people can play keys, drums and guitar at the same time. Even fewer can do it blindfolded. Madison musician Steve Coombs, a.k.a. Trin Tran, can do it all. Request a demonstration as he performs songs from his new album, Dark Radar. With Stacian and Heroin Driver.
Sunday 9.9
NOTEWORTHY: Sony PlayStation debuts, 1995.
7 am
Participants swim 2 miles in Lake Monona, bike 112 miles, then run 26 miles through downtown Madison, finishing on Martin Luther King Boulevard (leaders at approximately 3:30 pm). Are they crazy? Superhuman? Or both? Let's line the streets to find out.
James Watrous Gallery in the Overture Center, through Oct. 14. Reception: Sunday, Sept. 9, 2-5 pm
This exhibition takes on an ambitious theme: the differences in how we see. It emphasizes works by Heidi Lasher-Oakes, Dan O'Neal and Thomas Linfield, but also draws from local collections, including such big names as Chuck Close, Victor Vasarely and Josef Albers.
Brink Lounge, 3:30 pm
Bring your own instrument to this concert by a talented Twin Cities jazz pianist. After exploring classical-music themes through improvised jams with saxophonist Pete Whitman, bassist John Schaffer and drummer Rand Moore, Caviani will perform with audience members during a free workshop (6 pm).
