Here is this week's critics' choice calendar. The Guide provides an extended listing of events in and around Madison.
Friday 7.11
NOTEWORTHY: First transatlantic satellite TV transmission received, 1962.
Wisconsin Academy's Watrous Gallery, through Aug. 24. Reception & artist talks: 5:30-7:30 pm
Robbins' "Anatomy of a Weekend" features large-scale photomontages of suburban rituals, while Yeager's "Making Adjustments" presents colorful mixed-media sculptures that suggest a variety of tools and toys.
Overture Center Art Exhibitions
Overture Center Galleries I-III, through Sept. 7. Receptions: 6-8 pm
Three nature-themed shows open at Overture Center's galleries. In Gallery I is "From Farm to Fork," in which S.V. Medaris and Alicia Rheal use wooden cutouts and paintings to explore animals' roles as agricultural assistants and companions. Stephen Enriquez and Richard Ely both address outdoor landscapes in Gallery II's "Plain Nature, Playful Nature," the former through paintings and the latter through torn sheets of tissue paper. Printmakers ponder nature's power and powerlessness in Gallery III's "The Printed World: Artists as Visual Ecologists."
Brink Lounge, 6 pm
Hodge is a Chicago-based singer who's served on the Berklee College of Music faculty. This show celebrates the release of a lively blues album, Roots Don't Lie.
UW Vilas Hall-Mitchell Theatre, 7:30 pm. Also Thursday (7:30 pm), Saturday (2 & 7:30 pm) & Sunday (2 pm), July 10, 12 & 13. Through July 27
University Theatre presents a cabaret staging of this sharp, whimsical satire of rural life, in which two actors portray more than 20 small-town Texas characters.
Frequency, 8 pm
Watch this punkish rock band play songs from their latest album, Givin' Up on Free Jazz, like the dance-friendly "Fingers Crossed." With the Brooklyn What and Heavy Looks.
Majestic Theatre, 9 pm
Funk and soul-infused jazz with a fierce horn section dominate this New York Afrobeat act's style. With Electric Citizen and DJ Phil Money.
UW Memorial Union Terrace, 9:30 pm
This jam band's specialties are vocal harmonies and a strong bluegrass element with a psychedelic twist.
Saturday 7.12
Luther Memorial Church & UW campus venues, through July 19
This year's early music extravaganza centers on Italian works from the 1300s through the 1600s. There will be lectures, workshops and a Renaissance-themed costume ball (UW Memorial Union's Great Hall, Monday, July 14, 7 pm), plus the courtly strumming of Ex Umbris (Tuesday, July 15, UW Music Hall, 7:30 pm) and a Toronto Consort presentation featuring dances, vocal works and more from the world of Leonardo da Vinci (Luther Memorial Church, Saturday, July 12, 7:30 pm).
Capitol Square, 9 am-6 pm. Also Sunday, July 13, 10 am-5 pm
The Madison Museum of Contemporary Art turns the Capitol Square into an enormous open-air art market, featuring over 450 artists from around the country. You can ogle their wares along with a couple hundred thousand other art lovers and help support the MMoCA in the process. The event also features food, music, kids' activities and lots of people-watching opportunities.
Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and the Monona Terrace Esplanade, 9 am-6 pm. Also Sunday, July 13, 10 am-5 pm
This is the local complement to the Art Fair on the Square, with 140 Wisconsin artists and craftspeople showing their high-quality ceramics, art glass, painting, jewelry and more. This year's featured guest is graphic artist Mark Mueller.
Central Park, 4-11 pm. Also Thursday (4-11 pm), Saturday (noon-11 pm) & Sunday (10 am-10 pm), July 10, 12 & 13
The annual Bastille Day bash takes over the new Central Park with four days of French-themed food and fun, with proceeds benefiting the Wil-Mar Center. Musical emissaries from several Francophone regions will visit, including Quebecois folk act La Vent du Nord (Friday, 5:30 pm) and Louisiana blues belle Marcia Ball (Sunday, 8:30 pm). In addition to hosting a kids' masquerade with music from DJ Nick Nice (Saturday, 3 pm), an electronic music stage will bring house-music heavy hitters Mark Farina (Friday, 9:30 pm) and Derrick Carter (Saturday, 9:30 pm) to the park, and then to the High Noon for post-Fête parties on Friday and Saturday. (See Music.)
Breitenbach Stadium, Middleton, 5 pm
The women's tackle football team take on the Houston Energy in the IWFL Western Conference Championship. They're only one game away from a chance at the World Champshionship. Go Blaze!
Bartell Theatre, 7 pm. Red carpet at 6 pm & party at 9:30 pm
Celebrate the best work of local theater (Stage Q, Madison Theatre Guild, Strollers, Mercury Players) with this awards-show extravaganza, complete with red carpet.
Frequency, 9 pm
Drummer Brad Hawkes is the creative force behind this electronic act, which also includes vocals and keyboard playing by his wife, Kara. They'll release a new album, Hivernal, at the show. With Nude Human, William Z. Villain and DSM-5.
UW Memorial Union Terrace, 9:30 pm
Inspired by New Orleans' musical traditions, Zaramela fuse blues, hip-hop, rock and jazz. With Maffa Rico and Ben Karbank.
Sunday 7.13
Frequency, 8 pm
This experimental guitarist describes his work as "Cosmic Americana." To find out what that means, listen to "Downs & Ups" from his 2012 album Kenzo Deluxe. With Solar Motel Band, Spires That in the Sunset Rise and Disembodied Monks.
Monday 7.14
NOTEWORTHY: Parisians storm Bastille during French Revolution, 1789.
The Viper & His Famous Orchestra
Mickey's Tavern, 5:30 pm
With strings, toy piano, stylophone and more, this whimsical jazz, pop and country act crafts what it describes as "the kind of music your great-great-grandparents warned your great-grandparents about."
High Noon Saloon, 8 pm
Queens of the Stone Age fans should dig the sound of this hard-rocking band from Eugene, Ore. With Cold Black River.
Tuesday 7.15
NOTEWORTHY: Twitter launched, 2006.
Capitol Square, noon
Grab a bite from one of the Capitol-area food carts, then wash it down with some refreshing roots tunes at this free Lunch Time Live concert.
Frequency, 8:30 pm
Imagine a rockabilly version of Keller Williams for a sense of what Bruno Esposito's one-man band sounds like. With Nellie Wilson.
Wednesday 7.16
NOTEWORTHY: District of Columbia established as capital of U.S., 1790.
Alliant Energy Center, through July 20
Check out the rides, the livestock, the circus acts and the food you probably shouldn't eat but will anyway. Main-stage entertainment on Wednesday is rapper Kat Dahlia (7 pm), and on Thursday it's rockers Otherwise (7 pm).
Olbrich Gardens' Bolz Conservatory, 10 am-4 pm, through Aug. 10
This delightful annual event appeals to our sense of wonder and is educational at the same time, as more than a dozen species of butterflies take over the conservatory.
Capitol Square, 7 pm
The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra celebrates balmy summer nights with Mozart's sprightly "Eine Kleine Nachtmusik" and Tchaikovsky's passion-filled Sixth Symphony. With solos by WCO concertmaster Suzanne Beia, Mendelssohn's haunting Violin Concerto should be a highlight of the evening.
Overture Hall, 7:30 pm
The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer wrote and recorded numerous radio hits in the 1970s and '80s, including "Running on Empty" and "Somebody's Baby." Equipped with a guitar and a piano, he'll dig into his entire catalog of songs.
High Noon Saloon, 8 pm
This Australian act frequently draw comparisons to Mumford & Sons. The Guardian says their 2013 album, Harlequin Dream, is "seductive stuff, pushing all the right wistfulness/optimism buttons." With Kris Orlowski and Hannah Luree.
Frequency, 9 pm
The former Walkmen member just released a debut solo album, Liberation! The title isn't a reference to his band's breakup, but to his childhood steeped in Eastern religion. With Icarus Himself and Skyler Skjelset.
Thursday 7.17
NOTEWORTHY: Disneyland opens, 1955.
Arboretum Cohousing, 7 pm
This all-acoustic bluegrass act, featuring a blend of folk and country, has twice played on NPR's A Prairie Home Companion. Expect songs from their upcoming sophomore album, Something to Someone.
Overture Hall, 7:30 pm
Known for his ribald contributions to the Blue Collar Comedy Tour, this cigar-puffing comic starred in one of Comedy Central's highest-rated standup specials. Even if raunchiness doesn't usually faze you, you're bound to leave the show feeling dirtier than when you arrived.
That's What She Said: Perfection
Brink Lounge, 7:30 pm
The Bricks Theatre stages its fifth iteration of "That's What She Said," a storytelling series in which local women share true stories based on a variety of themes. You'll be moved to tears and laughter.
Majestic Theatre, 8:30 pm
Schneider inherited musical talent from his opera-singer mom and developed a rock 'n' roll identity in the Ugly Americans and the Scabs in the 1990s. With Dawn & Hawkes.
UW Memorial Union Terrace, 9:30 pm
The beguiling singer's 2012 album, Tramp, catapulted her into the limelight and onto many critics' year-end best-of lists. She raises the bar even higher on her new release, Are We There, which should leave the Terrace crowd spellbound. (See Tour Stop.) With Jana Hunter.
Edited by the guy in the lamp shade
