Turn the heat up

Live music continues cautiously returning, and more Isthmus Picks for April 15-22

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Voices of Color, Thursday, April 15, 10 a.m.: The Madison Senior Center sponsors this monthly webcast featuring conversations with community leaders of color. In April, host Melvin Hinton talks with Shelia Stubbs, a Dane County board supervisor since 2006 and a state Assembly representative since 2019. To participate in the Zoom livestream, contact Gary Flesher: gflesher@cityofmadison.com or 608-266-6581.

From Awareness to Action: Identifying, Intervening, and Reducing Microaggressions, Thursday, April 15, 3 p.m.: The Counterpoint Speaking Series from the Madison College Office of Equity, Inclusion and Community Engagement aims to provide a discussion space to "disrupt and challenge whiteness and dominant narratives;" the April 15 lecture examines the effects of microaggression on marginalized communities. Speaking will be a leading researcher in the mental health field: counseling psychologist Kevin Nadal, a professor at both John Jay College of Criminal Justice and Graduate Center at the City University of New York, author of 10 books, and an activist helping expose the harms of subtle discrimination. The lecture is free and open to all, but registration is required.

John Widdicombe Jazz Ensemble, Thursday, April 15, Otto's Restaurant, 5 p.m.: Warmer weather means outdoor music is ramping up again, for the time being in socially-distanced fashion, of course. Otto's Restaurant & Bar continues its tradition of summertime music on the patio with happy hour music Tuesdays through Fridays. Thursdays will feature jazz by bassist John Widdicombe (a longtime Piper Road Spring Band member) and a rotating cast of players. April 15 includes violinist Jon Vriesacker, keys by Larry Stout and drummer Ron Hansen; Stout and Hansen also join Widdicombe on April 22, along with Richard Slayton on saxophone. Reservations are required; call 608-274-4044.

Jet Line, Thursday, April 15, 6 p.m.: Truax Field in Madison is currently slated to receive a squadron of F-35s in 2023. Burlington, Vermont, already has them (Isthmus reporter Dylan Brogan visited Burlington in 2019). What has life been like for residents living in the flight path? Documentary filmmakers Patrick McCormack and Duane Peterson III feature the voices of Burlington residents in the new short Jet Line, and will talk about the film following a free virtual screening; register here.

Chuck Collins, Thursday April 15, 7 p.m.: In a society where income inequality was already rampant, the pandemic has made matters even worse. Author Chuck Collins will discuss his new book, The Wealth Hoarders: How Billionaires Spend Millions to Hide Trillions, with Norm Stockwell, publisher of The Progressive magazine. Collins interviews members of the moneyed class and shows how those with wealth and power fix things so the status quo continues. The "haves" continue to have, while the have-nots languish. Collins also recommends policies that democratic nations can implement to end this unjust system. Collins is the director of the Program on Inequality and the Common Good at the Institute for Policy Studies. Supporters of The Progressive can receive an autographed copy of the book for a donation of $50 or more. The livestream will be on the magazine's YouTube channel or Facebook.

H'Doubler Concert , Friday-Sunday, April 16-18: This annual showcase of new works by UW-Madison Dance Department students is named for Margaret H'Doubler, who helped create the curriculum for a dance major at UW — the first such program in the U.S. This year's program will be staged on three separate livestreams on the department's YouTube channel (Friday and Sunday at 2:30 p.m., and Saturday at 8 p.m.), featuring mostly solo creations by 13 student choreographers.

¡Sabores Latinos! Friday, April 16, 5:30 p.m.: This past year has brought many back into the kitchen or into the kitchen for the first time. By now, though, we may be getting a bit bored with our go-to dishes, whether that's a burger or stir-fry or even something more complex. This virtual cooking class featuring Sujhey Beisser of Five Senses Palate will instruct participants in creating dynamite Latin flavors, specifically beef or mushroom empanadas and the secret behind guasacaca, the thin avocado salsa that makes literally everything taste better. Sujhey will also show class members how to make a mean sangria, alcoholic and non-alcoholic versions. Registrants will receive a grocery list, a supply list, and a copy of the recipe that should be purchased ahead of time. The class will be live but you can also participate via a recording at your convenience. The first 40 people to sign up for the live class will receive a $5 gift card toward the purchase of their ingredients at the Willy Street Co-op. Organized by students from Madison College, this fundraiser supports the Centro Hispano BECAS (education scholarships) Program. Donate and register here.

Pops Fletcher & the Hucksters, Saturday, April 17, Tyranena Brewing Co., Lake Mills, 4-7 p.m.: Another revered outdoor space getting rolling for the season is the beer garden at Tyranena in Lake Mills. Weekly music starts for the season with funk-rock-blues band Pops Fletcher & the Hucksters. Bandleader Fletcher (aka Beloit native Matthew Goodwin) has been playing music of all kinds in Wisconsin and further afield since the 1960s. Music at Tyranena takes place on Saturdays through April, and adds Fridays starting in May.

Amy Cutler, through May 16: The Madison Museum of Contemporary Art has reopened its galleries with limited hours (noon-6 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays) and social distancing rules in place. Through mid-May, the work of Amy Cutler is highlighted. Detailed drawings and prints of mostly women engaging in “curious activities — from sewing stripes onto tigers to delivering elixirs while wearing boot-shaped wooden stilts" form the heart of Cutler's provocative, illustration-like, narrative work. Reservations are not needed but a mask is.

Spring into Action, April 18-24: Is spring making you antsy to engage more with the world after the last year? It would be hard to find a method you can feel better about than the annual week of volunteer opportunities coordinated by United Way of Dane County for various local nonprofits. A range of activities, from painting to packing food pantry boxes to website development, is available for during the week and ongoing. There’s also some virtual volunteering. Find your project here. The United Way also announced its 2020 Community Volunteer Award winners on Tuesday.

Sifting and Winnowing and Film Burning: The Film UW Restricted, Sunday, April 18, 6 p.m.: During the early 1960s, Wisconsin NAACP president Lloyd Barbee and UW Extension filmmaker Stuart Hanisch started a hidden camera film project to expose housing discrimination in Madison. Although it began with the support of the university, the institution eventually legally barred it from being shown. The footage has been recently rediscovered, the legal hurdles have been cleared and the project will be screened during a livestream (register here) from PBS Wisconsin and the UW Public History Project. Discussing the film will be historian Betty Banks, YWCA Madison CEO Vanessa McDowell, Daphne Barbee-Wooten and Rustam Barbee.

Lewiston/Clarkston, through April 25: This innovatively structured play (or rather, two linked plays with what would be, during an in-person performance, a communal audience dinner at intermission), is coming to us from Forward Theater. It will be filmed live at the Playhouse at the Overture Center and available on demand through April 25. Both plays deal in different ways with the legacies of 1800s explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark on the contemporary American landscape. The scheduled talkbacks should prove interesting, especially a Q&A with playwright Samuel D. Hunter (7 p.m., April 18; note time/date change); talkbacks on Zoom with the actors and directors take place at 8:30 p.m. on April 15 and April 21 and 4 p.m. on April 18 and April 25. As for the food, Forward has partnered with Ian's Pizza, Quivey's Grove and North and South Seafood & Smokehouse for delivery to eat between Lewiston and Clarkston. Find tickets here, and more info on talkback links and food choices at forwardtheater.com; read Gwendolyn Rice's review here.

Going Forward with Equity on Climate Change, Tuesday, April 20, 7 p.m.: The subtitle of this panel discussion explains the topic perfectly: "What do we gain when we include diverse communities in the conversation about climate change? And what do we lose when we don’t?" Panelists include Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes (chair of the Governor’s Task Force on Climate Change), UW doctoral students Dorothy Lsoto and Yaa Oparebea Ampofo, Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center associate director Yiying Xiong, and University of Arizona assistant professor Andrew Curley; moderating is Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services Secretary Dawn Crim. Sign up here for a link to the livestream, a part of the Discovery Building's Crossroads of Ideas public lecture series.

Jumping Worms: The Impacts of a New Soil Invader, Wednesday, April 21, noon: Anyone who took a walk outside this past Sunday morning is certainly familiar with earthworms, which were seemingly everywhere on the streets and sidewalks after the rain. There's a new variant being found in Wisconsin that has proven quite destructive: jumping worms. Though smaller than the familiar nightcrawler found in Wisconsin, their effect on the soil is far more harmful; as they chew through decomposing vegetation and soil, they leave behind pellet-like, crumbly matter that is also devoid of nutrients needed by plant life. Learn how to help slow the spread of these invaders during this free webinar by UW Arboretum ecologist Brad Herrick; register here for the Zoom link.  Also: The Arboretum will be conducting a public survey of the impact of the worms on plants this summer; sign up here to participate.

Martha Bergland, Wednesday, April 21, 2021, 7 p.m.: You know all about Aldo Leopold and John Muir, Wisconsin-associated naturalists. You know about John Jay Audubon, the great chronicler of North American birds. But what do you know about the Birdman of Koshkonong? This Swedish settler (aka Thure Kumlien) was an ornithologist, botanist and naturalist who settled near Lake Koshkonong in 1843. He sent bird specimens to all the major museums and was the first curator of the new Milwaukee Public Museum. Kumlien deserves more recognition and Milwaukee writer Martha Bergland's new biography from the Wisconsin Historical Society Press, The Birdman of Koshkonong: The Life of Naturalist Thure Kumlien, will uncover his contributions to ornithology. Bergland will appear on "Book Bites," a series of brief Facebook Live book talks from the Wisconsin Historical Society Press on the WHS Press Facebook page on the first and third Wednesday of each month.

Ocean Vuong, Thursday, April 22, 7 p.m.: Despite having published several well received volumes of poetry and receiving a MacArthur "Genius" grant, among other accolades, Ocean Vuong may be best known for a November 2020 internet flap known as "Metaphorgate." Granted, unless you are hooked into online poetry buzz, this heated debate may have escaped your attention. Suffice it to say, Vuong's Instagram opinings on metaphor were not welcomed in all quarters. Good news, Vuong will be reading from his 2019 novel On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous, which deals in part with race, class, masculinity and family, and participating in a Q&A in this free livestreamed event from the Wisconsin Book Festival and the Wisconsin Union Theater. Register here.

We hope it's handy for you to find the Picks in a single weekly post. The individual Picks can still be found in the usual places online: collected here, and sprinkled throughout all the events.