This usually quiet post-semester pre-summer week in Madison offers more than the standard fare. The calendar includes: Wisconsin Fashion Week; the Wetland Gems celebration and the Independent Erotic Film Fest; and live music by Meiko, The Used, Venice Gas House Trolley, The HoneyPot Crew, Con Vivo, Black Moth Super Rainbow with School of Seven Bells, and F. Stokes with Bi-Polar Bear.
Monday 5.18
NOTEWORTHY: Mount St. Helens explodes, 1980.
BIRTHDAYS: Writer/actress Tina Fey, 1970.
Cherokee Marsh, 11 am-4 pm
The Wisconsin Wetlands Association's new Wetland Gems program centers on a list of worthy wetland sites around the state. The list is announced at this event, which features remarks by Mayor Dave Cieslewicz and Lt. Governor Barbara Lawton, as well as tours of Cherokee Marsh, itself a gem.
Majestic Theatre, 8:30 pm
Singer-songwriter Meiko is truly a self-made sensation: Without any help from a label, her self-titled debut rose to No. 35 on the iTunes Top 100 chart in 2007, and her LP became the best-selling album on Amazon.com last November. Numbers aside, her brand of pop is tailored to please both primetime TV watchers and indie-loving club-goers. Cory Chisel & the Wandering Sons and Daniel & the Lion open.
Tuesday 5.19
VICTORIA DAY (CANADA)
NOTEWORTHY: Marilyn Monroe sings "Happy Birthday" to President Kennedy at Madison Square Garden, 1962.
BIRTHDAYS: Guitar-smashing Who singer/songwriter/guitarist Pete Townshend, 1945; singer/actress Grace Jones, 1948.
Various venues, through May 24
The local couture crowd sets out to prove that Wisconsin fashion is no oxymoron. Highlights include Wednesday's Fashion for All Abilities (Inn on the Park, 6:30 pm), Friday's Streetwear and Emerging Designers Show (Urban Courtyard, 345 W. Washington Ave., 7 pm), and an all-day Overture Center extravaganza on Saturday, featuring runway shows with styles for him and her (see preview).
Barrymore Theatre, 7 pm
The Utah quartet play hard rock -- some call it screamo -- whose energy is presumably informed by hardscrabble youths in the Beehive State. They've been at it for years now.
Mad Toast Live: Venice Gas House Trolley
Brink Lounge, 7:30 pm
The funk and avant-garde jazz of Venice Gas House Trolley scream "hipster" in the old sense of the word -- poetry-writing, rhythm-loving beatniks sipping coffee and nursing papercuts rather than MacBook-induced eyestrain. Catch the band in an appropriately chilled-out environment at the popular weekly variety show "Mad Toast Live." Also playing: Daniel & the Lion.
Majestic Theatre, 8 pm
This touring show features short erotic films that were entered into the Independent Erotic Film Festival held by the fine folks at San Francisco's Good Vibrations. That's the outfit that's helping keep sex positive for you and me.
Wednesday 5.20
NOTEWORTHY: Charles Lindbergh takes off from Long Island on first solo nonstop trans-Atlantic flight, 1927.
BIRTHDAYS: Go Go's singer-guitarist Jane Wiedlin, 1958; rapper Busta Rhymes, 1972.
Inferno, 9 pm
The name sounds a bit like an alter ego of the characters from Winnie the Pooh, but it's actually a collective of 11 local electronic music lovers -- including DJs StickeeFingazz, Techsmith and Deez -- playing drum-n-bass, techno, house and more.
Thursday 5.21
ASCENSION
BIRTHDAYS: Green Bay running back Dorsey Levens, 1970; actress Fairuza Balk, 1974.
First Congregational Church, 7:30 pm
The chamber-music ensemble's "Romantic Ruminations" program features works by Schumann and Brahms.
Black Moth Super Rainbow, School of Seven Bells
High Noon Saloon, 9 pm
School of Seven Bells -- one part Secret Machines to two parts On! Air! Library! -- takes abstraction and dreaminess up a notch while BMSR crafts songs that make you feel old and young, lost and found at the same time. Find out how in this week's Tour Stop.
Café Montmartre, 9:30 pm
F. Stokes, up from Chicago, and Bi-Polar Bear, in from Brooklyn, N.Y., bring some experimental hip-hop awesomeness to the DJ decks for your listening pleasure. Also spinning: Vinnie Toma, Rambunxious.
