Madison stages play host to a wealth of speeches and singing this week. The calendar includes: talks by Kaleem Caire and John Nichols; Mad Toast Live with the Intemperance Collective; a series of concerts presented by the American Choral Directors Association; a benefit show for the Wil-Mar Food Pantry; a performance by Jim Van Slyck; and, a show by the Chicago Afrobeat Project.
Monday 2.6
NOTEWORTHY: Apollo astronaut Alan B. Shepard tees off on the moon, 1971.
UW Grainger Hall, 7 pm
Caire, Urban League of Greater Madison CEO and prominent advocate of the ill-starred Madison Preparatory Academy, gives a talk called "Why the Charter School Movement Has It Wrong and How We Can Make It Right." The lecture is part of the "Getting Real" series on hip-hop culture, presented by the UW's Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives.
Tuesday 2.7
NOTEWORTHY: Beach Boys co-founder Carl Wilson dies, 1998.
Brink Lounge, 7 pm
Smoky-voiced singer Anna Purnell, whom many locals know from her 15-year career with Balkan bad-asses Reptile Palace Orchestra and the lounge act Chick Singer, flaunts her vocal chops under a new guise: the Intemperance Collective, an acoustic outfit of Eastern European folk junkies. Learn more about the group as hosts Chris Wagoner and Mary Gaines interview her, then revel in its sounds during a live performance, which the show will podcast in the near future. With Gregg Willard.
Wednesday 2.8
NOTEWORTHY: Anna Nicole Smith dies, 2007.
American Choral Directors Association Concerts
Overture Center, 7:30 pm. Also Thursday, Feb. 9, 7:30 pm
If you're a choral-music groupie, you're in luck. Choral directors and singers descend on Madison for a series of workshops and public concerts. Tonight it's the a cappella singing of San Francisco's Clerestory, and on Thursday the Czech Youth Choir and the Kansas City Chorale sing.
Thursday 2.9
NOTEWORTHY: Beatles' live debut on The Ed Sullivan Show, 1964.
UW Memorial Union-Tripp Commons, 5 pm
The progressive journalist discusses his latest tome, Uprising: How Wisconsin Renewed the Politics of Protest. Man, he writes a lot of books.
Overture Center's Capitol Theater, 7 pm
A fixture at famed venues such as New York City's Kennedy Center, the award-winning cabaret performer offers a tribute to pop icon Neil Sedaka that has earned praise from Sedaka himself. See it live at this ebullient show.
Wil-Mar Center Food Pantry Benefit
Crystal Corner Bar, 7:30 pm
Milwaukee's Mt. Zion Sound System and Madison's Kingtown Rockers kick off the Wil-Mar Center's food drive with a tropical dance party as the bar serves up liquid sustenance. With Tropical Riddims Sound System.
High Noon Saloon, 9 pm
These veterans of the Wakarusa Music Festival and Chicago's tuneful Occupy rallies infuse Afrobeat music with rock 'n' roll energy and the experimental flavor of a free-jazz concert.
