Chris Botti
Winter break is waning in the Madison arts scene, so warm up this week with the first tastes of the upcoming season. The calendar includes: book readings by Marshall Cook and Ingrid Rose; the Bolz Young Artist Competition Finale; and, more live music from The Black Saints, Battlefields, Chris Botti with the Madison Symphony Orchestra, Boulder Acoustic Society, The Hussy, and Dead Larry.
Monday 1.11
NOTEWORTHY: Amelia Earhart becomes first woman to fly solo from Hawaii to California, 1935.
BIRTHDAYS: Bangles singer/guitarist Vicki Peterson, 1958; singer Mary J. Blige, 1971.
Tuesday 1.12
NOTEWORTHY: Mystery author Agatha Christie dies, 1976.
BIRTHDAYS: Shock-rocker/director Rob Zombie, 1966; supermodel Vendela Kirsebom, 1967.
Madison Senior Center, 1 pm
The local author discusses his latest novel, Walking Wounded: A Wartime Love Story, which is set in Madison during the Big One, World War II. Cook has written a slew of volumes including mystery novels, true-crime books, even time-management manuals.
Bolz Young Artist Competition Finals
Overture Hall, 6:45 pm
At this event, styled the Final Forte, the Madison Symphony Orchestra accompanies four youthful up-and-comers in the music world: violinists Alice Huang and Leah Latorraca, marimba player Greg Riss and pianist Joel Weng. Their families will be proud, and so will you.
Borders Books West, 7 pm
The psychologist and faculty member at Portland, Ore.'s Process Work Institute discusses School Violence: Studies in Alienation, Revenge and Redemption. She turns an analytical eye to the intensifying crisis of school violence and offers some solutions.
Frequency, 9:30 pm
Guitars? Crashing. Vocals? Yowling. Lyrics? Deliriously debased. This Milwaukee hard-rock combo pushes all the hard-rock buttons. With Highway 414.
Wednesday 1.13
NOTEWORTHY: James Joyce dies, 1941.
BIRTHDAYS: Seinfeld co-star Julia Louis-Dreyfus, 1961; actor Orlando Bloom, 1977.
Frequency, 10 pm
Whether Battlefields' songs should be classified as metal, post-metal or atmospheric hardcore is hard to say, but they're taking some interesting detours from the trail Neurosis and other sludge lovers have blazed. After preparing a bunch of 7-inch releases and rocking the socks off the 2009 CMJ festival, Milwaukee's Decapitado is working on a full-length album of aural aggression for 2010. Catch a whiff of it before it hits the bins and the Internet. With Wife.
Thursday 1.14
NOTEWORTHY: Green Bay Packers rout Oakland Raiders 33-14 in Super Bowl II, 1968.
BIRTHDAYS: Filmmaker Steven Soderbergh, 1963; rapper LL Cool J, 1968.
Chris Botti with the Madison Symphony Orchestra
Overture Hall, 7:30 pm
The pop-jazz trumpeter, who toured with Paul Simon and Sting and briefly fronted the house band on The Caroline Rhea Show, teams up with the hometown orchestral outfit for a program that's sure to be night of smoothness.
High Noon Saloon, 9 pm
As you may have guessed, acoustic instruments are this Boulder band's bread and butter. They use fiddles, ukuleles, accordions and upright basses to turn roots music and old Appalachian ditties into something completely modern and fun to watch. The Kentucky Waterfalls open.
Frequency, 10 pm
The uninitiated may compare the dynamic girl-guy garage duo that is the Hussy to Meg and Jack of the White Stripes, but they're more into rocking the crap out of their instruments than selling their singles to Coke and car companies (see Music). Check out their newest songs on the 7-inch split they're releasing tonight with Milwaukee garage kings the Zygoteens, who will also play a set. Also playing: The Midwest Beat, Screamin' Cyn Cyn & the Pons, DJ 45 Freakout.
Alchemy Cafe, 10 pm
This Iowa City band have a thing for psychedelic classic rock, but they know how to funk up a tune as well. And that's just the beginning: They've recorded an EP with Miles Nielsen of Cory Chisel's band the Wandering Sons, shared a bill with the Flaming Lips and rocked the 10,000 Lakes Festival.
