A lively streak of summer music tour stops in Madison continues this week, with shows by The Dunewells, Amadou & Mariam, Milo Greene, and Pondamonium with Garbage and the Flaming Lips. The calendar also includes: Summer Speaks at the Steenbock Gallery, the opening week of Jazz at Five, and a performance by Freiburg Cathedral Girls Choir with Marjorie Frances Mayo.
Monday 8.6
NOTEWORTHY: President Lyndon B. Johnson signs Voting Rights Act, 1965.
Frequency, 7 pm
This English quintet pepper their lively pub-rock tunes with rootsy melodies and rich vocal harmonies.
Capitol Theater at Overture Center, 8 pm
This Malian blues duo met at a school for the blind, where they both performed in the orchestra. In the late 1990s, they added Cuban trumpets and Syrian violins to their guitar-and-voice compositions, earning a spot on Polygram's Emarcy label. Their latest album, Folila, features appearances by American movers and shakers like Santigold and TV on the Radio.
Tuesday 8.7
NOTEWORTHY: Congress approves Gulf of Tonkin resolution, 1964.
Steenbock Gallery of the Wisconsin Academy, 6:30 pm
Madison actor Michael Herold reads work by Wisconsin writers, including Aldo Leopold, Ben Logan and Kimberly Megna Yarnall. You may have seen Herold in Forward Theater Company's memorable Why Torture Is Wrong, and the People Who Love Them.
Frequency, 8 pm
The Los Angeles indie-folk quintet could be on the verge of a breakthrough, what with the buzzy single "1957"; the brand new, self-titled release; the touring with the Civil Wars; the recent appearance on Letterman; and, of course, a Madison gig. With Family of the Year.
Wednesday 8.8
NOTEWORTHY: Lights debut at Wrigley Field, Chicago, 1988.
100 block of State Street, 5 pm
The chic summer music series kicks off tonight with veteran saxophonist Charles McPherson, best known for his work in the 1960s and 1970s with bass giant Charles Mingus. Opening is Madison's Francesca Esmé Quartet, whose frontwoman has big pipes, a repertoire of intriguing originals, and an intimate way with a lyric.
Freiburg Cathedral Girls Choir, Marjorie Frances Mayo
Overture Hall, 7:30 pm
Accompanied by organist Mayo, the lasses of Freiburg, Germany, sing a program of Mendelssohn, Brahms and Purcell, as well as music by contemporary composers like John Rutter and Arvo Part. Celebrate Freiburg, y'all, for it is Madison's sister city.
Thursday 8.9
NOTEWORTHY: Nixon's resignation takes effect at noon and Vice President Gerald R. Ford takes oath of office as 38th U.S. president, 1974.
Pondamonium: Garbage, The Flaming Lips
Duck Pond at Warner Park, 3 pm Two alt-rock bands that rose to international fame in the 1990s -- homegrown rebels Garbage and winsome weirdoes the Flaming Lips -- headline this show, dubbed Music). Garbage play songs from their new album, Not Your Kind of People, which received a thumbs-up from Rolling Stone. The bill also includes experimental rockers Royal Bangs and hazy, noisy dreamweavers Dum Dum Girls. With the Congregation.
