Suzanne Vega
Monday 10.1
Red Stick Ramblers
High Noon Saloon, 8 pm
The Baton Rouge band tear into a half-dozen roots styles, including Cajun fiddle music, Western Swing, jazz from the '20s and '30s, and blues.
Deerhoof
UW Memorial Union Rathskeller, 9:30 pm
Even in their quietest moments, the San Francisco art-punks are poised to explode. Singer Satomi Matsuzaki may sound like a sweet pixie, but she's wired into a pile of parti-colored C-4.
Tuesday 10.2
Tamar Jacoby
Overture Center's Capitol Theater, 7 pm
The Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters continues its series on immigration with a talk by Jacoby, a scholar from the Manhattan Institute. She offers a conservative view of immigration reform.
Ann Packer
Borders West, 7 pm
The former Madisonian made a splash with her first novel, the locally set Dive from Clausen's Pier. She reads from her followup, Songs Without Words, which also examines an emotional response to crisis. The relationship of two lifelong female friends is tested when one of their daughters tries to commit suicide.
Jane Guskin
Rainbow Bookstore Cooperative, 7 pm
The editor of Weekly News Update on the Americas discusses her book The Politics of Immigration, a rebuttal to the anti-immigration forces.
John Elder Robinson
Borders East, 7 pm
Robinson is the author of Look Me in the Eye, in which he describes growing up with Asperger's syndrome before the diagnosis even existed. He'll discuss his tragicomic attempts to fit in with the crowd.
Red Elvises
Annex, 9:30 pm
Sure it's shtick, but after all these years, the Red Elvises' accent-heavy takes on surf music and classic rock 'n' roll are still good, stupid fun.
Wednesday 10.3
Porchlight Benefit
Majestic Theatre, 5:30 pm
Jazz star Ben Sidran, aggressive Latin jazzers El Clan Destino and cabaret rockers Pale Young Gentlemen join Whore du Jour and the Midwest Beat at an all-night soiree for Porchlight, which helps the homeless make the transition to permanent housing.
Sam Gilliam
Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, 7 pm
The abstract artist's 1970 painting "Carousel," a 75-foot expanse of canvas, has been draped in MMoCA's three-story lobby. In this lecture he sheds light on both the work and his career.
Silverstein
Loft in the Lussier Teen Center, 7 pm
Their boyish lead singer is indistinguishable from a hundred other sensitive emoters, but the emo/screamo vets have a knack for assembling hardcore-informed musical backdrops.
America
Overture Center's Overture Hall, 7:30 pm
If it seems like forever since the airy folk-rockers rode in on "A Horse with No Name," well, it has been. Although James Iha and Ryan Adams are admirers of the '70s hitmakers, nostalgic baby boomers still make up their core following.
Thursday 10.4
Jean Feraca
Borders West, 7 pm
The Wisconsin Public Radio host discusses her new memoir, I Hear Voices. It's a candid look her faith, her family and her various bumps on the road to fulfillment.
Suzanne Vega
Barrymore Theatre, 7:30 pm
Vega's first album in years, the New York-centered Beauty & Crime, is particularly strong when she describes the gentrification of old bohemian neighborhoods and the effect 9/11 has had on ordinary New Yorkers. Her show is a benefit for the Madison chapter of Amnesty International. Richard Julian opens.
Matt Nathanson
Majestic Theatre, 8 pm
The polished San Francisco singer-songwriter is no neophyte, but his current single, "Car Crash," may be the earnest, middle-of-the-road vehicle that takes him to the theater-packing level. Looking for some unadulterated "Hey, it'll be all right!" uplift? Nathanson's your troubadour. Cary Brothers and Kate Voegele open.
3 Inches of Blood
Annex, 9 pm
The Vancouver band jack up the old-school metal of Judas Priest and Iron Maiden with punishing beats and machine-gun guitars. Their preference for episodic tunes about fantastical epic battles makes them a must for adolescent Wagnerians. Leave the Limbs You've Lost, and Divine Heresy open.
Baghdad Scuba Review
High Noon Saloon, 9 pm
The progressive, politically minded jam band fete their new CD, Testing the Waters. Run Side Down and Minglewood make it a jam trifecta.
