Eric Ryan Anderson
Branford Marsalis Quartet
February bows out this week, with the changing season set to the sounds of the Middleton Community Orchestra and Branford Marsalis Quartet. The calendar also includes: a Johnny Cash Birthday Bash concert; shows by Evan Murdock & the Imperfect Strangers, The Jealous Sound, and Bosnian Rainbows; and, a talk by Tiya Miles.
Monday 2.25
NOTEWORTHY: Pope Pius V excommunicates Queen Elizabeth I of England, 1570.
Tuesday 2.26
NOTEWORTHY: Napoleon Bonaparte escapes from Elba, 1815.
Evan Murdock & the Imperfect Strangers
High Noon Saloon, 6 pm
This Kentucky Waterfalls alum will release his first solo album, Feel Bad No More, with a backing band that includes Count This Penny's Amanda Rigell and North Country Drifters' Ben Wolf (see Music).
Majestic Theatre, 8 pm
Liam Ford, Robby Schiller, Dietrich Gosser, the Midwesterners and Earl Foss & the Brown Derby will perform their favorite tunes by the Man in Black, on what would have been his 81st birthday. See if anyone's brave enough to cover his 2002 rendition of Nine Inch Nails' "Hurt."
Frequency, 9 pm
With former members of '90s bands such as Jawbox and Knapsack, this group is a reminder that emo was once a dramatic, confessional extension of the hardcore scene. Don't expect a throwback sound, though. After a nine-year hiatus, the band released A Gentle Reminder, a thoroughly modern indie-rock album whose title track landed on Daytrotter's Best Songs of 2012 list. With Overtalk.
Wednesday 2.27
Middleton-Cross Plains Area Performing Arts Center, 7:30 pm
The ambitious ensemble will tackle a selection from Wagner's opera Götterdämmerung, and concertmistress Alice Bartsch will solo on Saint-Saëns' Violin Concerto No. 3 in B minor, which provides an excellent stylistic contrast.
Majestic Theatre, 8:30 pm
Mars Volta guitarist Omar Rodriguez-Lopez has joined forces with Teri Gender Bender, vocalist from the kick-ass Mexican garage-punk band Le Butcherettes, to form this new project. Be among the first to hear their debut album, Torn Maps, in concert. With Marriages.
Thursday 2.28
NOTEWORTHY: First Gulf War ends, 1991.
UW Conrad A. Elvehjem Building, L160, 7:30 pm
The University of Michigan professor gives a talk called "Haunted Emancipations: Seeking Ghosts of Slavery in the South." She focuses on a supposedly haunted house in Savannah, using it to examine race relations past and present.
Overture Hall, 7:30 pm
Marsalis' wonderfully titled 2012 record, Four MFs Playin' Tunes, was named iTunes' best instrumental jazz album of the year. See what else the saxophonist pulls from his sprawling discography, which includes the 1992 Grammy winner I Heard You Twice the First Time.
