Monday 4.30
Marc Bamuthi Joseph
UW Music Hall, 7:30 pm
The charismatic performer specializes in hip-hop theater. He wraps up his UW residency with a night of poetry and dance.
Tuesday 5.1
John Martens
Chazen Museum of Art, 7 pm
The architecture specialist discusses the authentic Tibetan Buddhist temple being built in nearby Oregon in a lecture called "From Dharamsala to the Town of Dunn: Bringing the Traditional Buddhist Temple into the 21st Century."
Reduced Shakespeare Company
Overture Center's Overture Hall, 7:30 pm
The comedy troupe excels at squeezing something absurdly massive -- the complete works of Shakespeare, American history -- into a single fast-paced show. This time, they cut Hollywood down to size.
Jeffrey Siegel Mills Hall in the UW Humanities Bldg., 7:30 pm
The classical pianist returns for another enlightening "Keyboard Conversation" -- performance combined with patter. His subject this time is "Liszt: The Devil Made Me Do It," featuring such satanically inspired works as "Totentanz" and "Mephisto Waltz."
Wednesday 5.2
Loreena McKennitt
Overture Centerÿ½s Overture Hall, 7:30 pm
McKennitt's dramatic, multilingual "musical travel writing" floats at the intersection of arty folk-rock, atmospheric classical music and romantic world beat. On Ancient Muse, she explores the music of the Middle East and the Sahara, taking inspiration from Homer's Odyssey.
Jet
Orpheum Theater, 7:30 pm
The Aussie platinum-sellers put on a sweat-soaked old-school rock 'n' roll blowout every time they commandeer the stage. The Virgins open.
Los Straitjackets
High Noon Saloon, 8 pm
The surf 'n' twang kings celebrate the magic that happens with the mixing of musical cultures on their new Spanish language album, Rock en Espanol Vol. 1. The Fly-Rite Boys' Big Sandy (who appears on the CD) serves as guest vocalist.
Kris Delmhorst
Cafe Montmartre, 8 pm
A veteran of Cambridge, Mass.' endlessly fecund singer-songwriter scene, the honey-voiced Delmhorst is smart and accessible at the same time. In recent years, she's riffed on Robert Browningÿ½s poetry and reflected on the significance of Hurricane Katrina. Ana Egge opens.
Thursday 5.3
William R. Drennan
Borders West, 7 pm
Drennan discusses Death in a Prairie House, his chilling account of the 1914 murders at Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin. The book also functions as a compelling sketch of the architect's early years.
A Bitter Harvest
105 UW Psychology Bldg., 7:30 pm
The lecture series focuses on "Palestine, Israel and Lebanon Forty Years After 1967." This week, journalist Jonathan Cook discusses "The Threat from Within: Democracy and Demography in Israel and the Modern Zionist Ideology."
The Nylons
Overture Center's Overture Hall, 7:30 pm
Canada's jokey a cappella group is a Madison favorite, blending doo-wop and modern pop songs.
Electric Six
Annex, 9 pm
Lovably unctuous front dude Dick Valentine ramrods his equally groovy compatriots through a song list packed with orgasmic, disco-fueled grinding and sardonic arena rock. Test Your Reflex and Night Kills the Day open.
Ba Cissoko
High Noon Saloon, 9 pm
This best-selling African quartet employs two electrified kora players on energetic, spaced-out grooves that are nothing short of mesmerizing. They've already conquered Africa and Europe. Can America possibly resist their charms?
