Galactic
Valentine's Day opens a week in Madison that promises both warm weather and hot spirits. The calendar includes: the 'Reel Love' Cabaret; a Travel Adventure film screening; talks by Don Nichols & John Torinus, and Dave Zirin; Distill America; a performance by Hilary Hahn with Valentina Lisitsa; and, more live music from Bobby Long, The Memorials, As I Lay Dying, Deerhoof, White Ghost Shivers, and Galactic with Corey Glover & Corey Henry.
Monday 2.14
VALENTINE'S DAY
BIRTHDAYS: Actress Meg Tilly, 1960.
Overture Center's Capitol Theater, 7 pm
Beckie Menzie and Tom Michael, Chicago's After Dark 2007 Cabaret Artists of the Year, serenade the crowd with love songs from the movies and the stage, including selections from An American in Paris and The Wizard of Oz.
Cuba: A Road Journey from Havana to Santiago
Wisconsin Union Theater, 7:30 pm
Time for another screening in the Union Theater's decades-old Travel Adventure Film Series, this one about a nearby island nation most Americans don't visit.
High Noon Saloon, 8 pm
This English singer-songwriter doesn't just enjoy playing folky tunes; he wrote his senior thesis on the social impact of American folk music at London Metropolitan University in 2009, then signed to Dave Matthews' ATO Records in 2010. Watch him blend his musical talents and academic interests as he plays tunes from his brand-new album, A Winter Tale.
Tuesday 2.15
NOTEWORTHY: U.S. battleship Maine blows up in Havana harbor, 1898.
Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, 7 pm
The topic of this Academy Evenings event is jobs, jobs, jobs. Specifically, it's a discussion of how to create good ones for Wisconsinites with journalist/entrepreneur Torinus and UW economics and public policy professor emeritus Nichols.
Frequency, 9 pm
Thomas Pridgen, the drumming prodigy who rocked the Mars Volta from 2006 to 2009, just launched an Afro-punk outfit called the Memorials. If all goes according to plan, they'll melt fans' faces with thrash, hard rock and a wallop of soul. With Just Like Vinyl and Orphan Bloom.
Wednesday 2.16
BIRTHDAYS: Rapper/actor Ice-T, 1958.
Barrymore Theatre, 7 pm
After five full-length albums, this San Diego metal quintet haven't lost any of their luster; if anything, they've gained a little shine. Their new release, The Powerless Rise, is one of their most collaborative and powerful, and likely to be one of their most popular. With Winds of Plague, After the Burial and Burn the Ides.
High Noon Saloon, 8 pm
This San Francisco band mix noise with pixie-stick melodies, plus rhythmic lyrics that sounds like nonsense but often reveal something more -- if you can figure out what they're saying. This performance will feature their 10th studio album, Deerhoof vs. Evil. With Ben Butler & Mousepad.
Thursday 2.17
NOTEWORTHY: Former Milwaukee resident Golda Meir sworn in as Israeli prime minister, 1969.
BIRTHDAYS: Actress Rene Russo, 1954; Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong, 1972.
Distill America: A Celebration of American Distilling
Edgewater Hotel, 7 pm
Sample the best in American spirits -- including some Wisconsin products -- at this get-together. Meet distillers, too.
Barrymore Theatre, 7 pm
Everyone's go-to sports lefty screens the documentary Not Just a Game: Power, Politics & American Sports. It's based on his book The People's History of Sports in the United States.
Hilary Hahn with Valentina Lisitsa
Wisconsin Union Theater, 7:30 pm
Join Grammy-winning violinist Hilary Hahn, accompanied by pianist Valentina Lisitsa, for Tartini's "Variations on a Theme by Corelli," Bach's Violin Sonata No. 1, Beethoven's Violin Sonata No. 5 and other classical delights.
High Noon Saloon, 8 pm
The High Noon Saloon will truly feel like a saloon at this show by White Ghost Shivers, a string band that delves into early 1920s and 1930s music, mixing in bits of jazz, vaudeville, ragtime and the hilarious old-time blues style known as hokum. With the Modern Sounds.
Galactic with Corey Glover & Corey Henry
Majestic Theatre, 9 pm
This New Orleans ensemble will fire up the Majestic with a just-released album, Ya-Ka-May, which blends the Big Easy brass and jazz traditions with a heavy dose of funk and much more. Two special guests -- Corey Glover, the dynamic singer from funk-metal band Living Colour, and crowd-surfing Rebirth Brass Band member Corey Henry -- are bound to make the show extra hot. With the Bridge and Pimps of Joytime.
