Heatbox
This may be a relatively quiet week in town, but there are always words and tunes to be found. Good bets include: the Madison Young Playwrights Festival; book readings by Elizabeth Berg, and Patrick Jones with Margaret Rozga; and live music by Lightning Dust, Forever the Sickest Kids, Heatbox, and All Tiny Creatures with Pushmi-Pullyu.
Monday 5.11
NOTEWORTHY: United Nations admits Israel, 1949.
BIRTHDAYS: Perky original MTVJ Martha Quinn, 1959.
Madison Young Playwrights Festival
Overture Center's Playhouse, 7 pm
There's not much good to say about the vanishing of Madison Repertory Theatre, but at least some former Rep staffers were able to take over this event from the company's schedule, in which local actors perform one-act plays selected from scripts submitted by high school and middle school students. Nothing like youthful verve to make us feel a little better after a colossal arts bummer.
High Noon Saloon, 8 pm
The folky side project of Black Mountain members Amber Webber and Joshua Wells visits town to preview its forthcoming album, Infinite Light, which is scheduled to hit stores in August. Cedarwell and Michael Sienkowski open.
Tuesday 5.12
INTERNATIONAL NURSES DAY
NOTEWORTHY: Soviets declare end of Berlin blockade, 1949.
BIRTHDAYS: Actor Gabriel Byrne, 1950; skateboard great Tony Hawk, 1968.
Borders West, 7 pm
The Midwestern author has written numerous novels, including her latest, Home Safe, about a writer who confronts her recently deceased husband's secrets.
Wednesday 5.13
NOTEWORTHY: Velcro gets registered trademark, 1958.
BIRTHDAYS: Visionary rocker Peter Gabriel and Grammy-winning Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Stevie Wonder, 1950.
Rainbow Bookstore, 7 pm
In the 1960s Milwaukee was a civil-rights flashpoint, and Jones chronicles those days in his new book, The Selma of the North: Civil Rights Insurgency in Milwaukee. Rozga participated in the Milwaukee events and has just published a book of poems about the experience, 200 Nights in One Day.
Thursday 5.14
BIRTHDAYS: Talking Heads singer David Byrne, 1952; filmmaker Sofia Coppola, 1971.
Majestic Theatre, 6:30 pm
Blending emo and metal, the six-piece Dallas band has existed just three years but has made a serious dent in the Billboard charts, and recently won itself some street cred after an unfortunate police incident in Philadelphia (see Tour Stop). White Tie Affair, the Friday Night Boys, A Rocket to the Moon and Cash Cash open.
Annex, 9 pm
How often do you get to hear an a cappella artist and his band beatbox an ode to "The Bitches of the Milky Way"? Here's your chance to do so -- and pick up a copy of the Minneapolis artist's new CD, System. Kinetix opens.
All Tiny Creatures, Pushmi-Pullyu
Café Montmartre, 9:30 pm
Two relatively new groups with electronic interests and experimental flair show off what they've been working on over the winter.
