Here is this week's critics' choice calendar. The Guide provides an extended listing of events in and around Madison.
Friday 6.20
NOTEWORTHY: Detroit Race Riot breaks out, 1943.
Alliant Energy Center, all day. Through June 22. Isthmus Jazz Festival
UW Memorial Union, 4:30 pm-midnight. Also Saturday, June 21, noon-midnight
For this installment of our free jazz extravaganza, we found a headliner close to home: superstar bassist and UW professor Richard Davis (Saturday, Wisconsin Union Theater's Shannon Hall, 7:30 pm) -- see Music for a profile. The two-day event also features topnotch performers on the UW Memorial Terrace (including saxophonist Frank Catalano, Latin jazz ensemble Madisalsa and vocalist Jan Wheaton) and in the newly renovated Fredric March Play Circle (the Joan Wildman Quartet, the Dave Stoler Trio). See Music for more information.
Madison Children's Museum, 6-10 pm
The children's museum becomes a playground for adults, complete with sandcastle building, Brazilian music from the Handphibians and other activities that epitomize fun in the sun.
Bach Dancing & Dynamite Society
Stoughton Opera House, 7:30 pm. Also Saturday, June 21, Overture Center's Playhouse, 7:30 pm; & Sunday, June 22, Taliesin's Hillside Theater in Spring Green, 2:30 & 6:30 pm
The cheeky local chamber ensemble presents two programs in the second weekend of its summer series. "Take a Hike" features music inspired by the countryside from Amy Beach, Brahms and Mozart. "Hasta la Vista, Baby" focuses on Latin chamber music, including works by Astor Piazzolla and Osvaldo Golijov. Among the performers is clarinetist Alan Kay of the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra.
Barrymore Theatre, 8 pm
The trailblazers of lo-fi indie rock started up anew in 2010 after breaking up at the tail end of 2004. They'll perform material from their new LP, Cool Planet, which was recorded on vintage equipment. (See Tour Stop.) With Bobby Bare Jr.
Rock for Respite with Sister Hazel
Majestic Theatre, 8:30 pm
Sister Hazel, the alt-rock and country band known for the 1994 radio hit "All for You," bring songs old and new to this benefit for Gio's Garden, which provides resources to families of special-needs children. With Kings of Radio.
Peewee Hayes & the Cold Sweat Blues Band
Knuckle Down Saloon, 9 pm
With 50 years of performing experience, Tennessee bluesman Hayes brings a wealth of stories to the stage. His bandmates flex their musical muscles by throwing in hints of reggae, jazz and soul.
High Noon Saloon, 9 pm
This Steely Dan tribute act is also a local supergroup of sorts, featuring the talents of jazz artists like Dave Adler and Phil Lyons, plus rock notables like Freedy Johnston and the Gomers' Biff Blumfumgagnge.
Saturday 6.21
Everywhere, 8 am-9 pm. Music.)
Penn Park, 11 am
Juneteenth celebrates the freeing of the last African American slaves in 1865. The Madison event kicks off with a 10 am parade from Fountain of Life Church to Penn Park, where there will be food and all-ages activities.
Capital Brewery, Middleton, 2-9 pm
This horn-driven band of classic-rock aficionados celebrate 15 years of music-making with a visit from two former members who've started a blues and funk band called Soul Candy & the Traffic Jam. The Evan Riley Band will also perform.
American Players Theatre, Spring Green, 8 pm. Also Tuesday & Thursday, June 24 & 26, 8 pm. Through Oct. 5
Joss Whedon's cinematic adaptation of Shakespeare's comedy of wits was the talk of the 2013 Wisconsin Film Festival, but nothing quite compares to a traditional presentation under the stars in Spring Green. APT favorite Colleen Madden and rising star David Daniel portray Beatrice and Benedick, showing that love and loathing can be two sides of the same coin.
Good Style Shop, 8 pm
Pitchfork has compared this atmospheric act's songs to "a lived-in dream," but it's also fair to say that they make reality feel a bit more magical. With Non Travelin' Band and Spires That in the Sunset Rise.
Mother Fool's Coffeehouse, 8 pm
Bliss out with a cappuccino and a concert by this seven-piece pop ensemble, which gives world music a mystic feel by adding elements of '60s-era folk and psych-rock. With Scott Alexander.
Sunday 6.22
NOTEWORTHY: Cuyahoga River catches fire, spurring environmental movement, 1969.
Madison Jazz Society Year-End Party
Coliseum Bar, 1 pm
This free event featuring performances by the Dixie Sizzlers and Madison Jazz Orchestra kicks off the society's yearlong 30th anniversary celebration.
WORT Bluegrass Benefit with Mad City Jug Band
Capital Brewery, Middleton, 1 pm
This benefit for the community radio station features a local hokum revival act that performs songs from the 1920s through the 1960s. With Krause Family Band and No Name String Band.
Overture Center's Capitol Theater, 7 pm. Red carpet event in Overture Lobby, 6 pm
The 11th annual celebration of local musicians' achievements is a chance to dress up like a Hollywood star and rub elbows with some very talented neighbors (see Music). The winners of dozens of categories will be announced between performances by the Dang-Its, Modern Mod, Annabel Lee, Son Contrabando, Kyle Henderson and others.
Broom Street Theater, 7 & 9 pm
Kathie Rasmussen Women's Theatre examines gender roles and typecasting in this production inspired by Music Theatre of Madison's Miscast. It's the kind of evening where you might see a woman play Hamlet or a manly man portray Southern belle Blanche DuBois.
Overture Hall, 7:30 pm
This globetrotting Pink Floyd tribute band put on a light-and-laser show featuring songs from all 14 of the legendary psych-rock act's studio albums.
High Noon Saloon, 8:30 pm
Shoegaze and black metal converge in this San Francisco act's intense songs, which explore dark themes with an appealing combination of warmth and iciness. The concert is bound to feature tunes from 2013's Sunbather, which received raves from NPR and ALARM. With Pallbearer and Wreck & Reference.
Monday 6.23
NOTEWORTHY: College Board administers first SAT exam, 1926.
Frequency, 7:30 pm
The Nashville-based singer-songwriter has a fun, funky style informed by soul and R&B. She's also written songs with several famous musicians, including John Oates of Hall & Oates fame. With Zachary Scot Johnson.
High Noon Saloon, 8 pm
This rock act from San Antonio emerged this year with "This Is the Time (Ballast)," a single that showcases their hard-hitting songwriting. Frontman Jonny Hawkins' powerhouse vocals are the icing on the cake.
Tuesday 6.24
Majestic Theatre, 8 pm
Often compared to the Killers, Neon Trees perform indie pop with a New Wave twist. They're best known for their 2012 hit "Everybody Talks" and the 2014 single "Sleeping with a Friend." With Smallpools and Nightmare & the Cat.
Wednesday 6.25
NOTEWORTHY: Jews in Poland's Czestochowa Ghetto stage uprising against Nazis, 1943.
Capitol Square, 7 pm
Picnic season on the Capitol lawn will be in full swing just in time for the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra's first al fresco pops concert of the summer, dubbed "Midsommer Stars." The evening's guest artist is pianist Isabella Wu, winner of the 2014 Young Artist Concerto Competition, and the program includes Rachmaninov's ravishing Second Symphony.
Thursday 6.26
NOTEWORTHY: Saint Lawrence Seaway opens, giving oceangoing ships access to Great Lakes, 1959.
Covenant Presbyterian Church, 7 pm
Virtuoso violinist Brian Wicklund of the acoustic act the Barley Jacks has prepared a sampler of bluegrass, Scottish and swing selections, as well as old-time numbers from Appalachia, to highlight several fiddling styles. He'll be joined by Shauncey Ali of local band Graminy and Katie McNally, a nationally touring player who specializes in Celtic music.
Ancora Coffee-King Street, 8 pm
Bartman combines folk music from Eastern Europe and the Americas with indie rock and pop, inviting comparisons to Beirut. For a taste, check out "Granada" off his 2013 album, Misery Makes Strange Bedfellows.
SummerJam with Mark Joseph and Midwest Jam Collective
Majestic Theatre, 9 pm
The sixth edition of this summertime series begins with the epic guitar-rock of Midwest Jam Collective, plus original funk and reggae tunes by Mark Joseph. With Electric Spanking, Flowpoetry, Dudley Noon and DJ Kayla Kush.
UW Memorial Union Terrace, 9:30 pm
This Nashville five-piece ran each song on their debut album, 2013's Youth, through a TASCAM four-track cassette recorder to give the record a raw, unproduced feel. "Thunder Clatter" provides a good introduction to their sound.
Mr. Robert's, 10 pm
Having performed alt-rock with the Violent Femmes in the '80s under the name Drake Scott, this multi-instrumentalist now plays experimental and avant-garde music under a variety of aliases. With Exploding Sons and Nikk.
Edited by Master Blaster
