Fireworks!

It's Fourth of July weekend in Isthmus Picks for July 1-8

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Sweet Delta Dawn, Thursday, July 1, Lisa Link Peace Park, 5 p.m.: Madison Central Business Improvement District is sponsoring several concert series in the downtown area this summer. Kicking off this week is “Live & Local,” featuring Madison-area bands, solo artists and DJs every Thursday evening through September. On July 1 enjoy music by jam scene leaders Sweet Delta Dawn, who hosted the long-running “Hippy Hideout” series at the much-missed Frequency; July 8 features a hip-hop show anchored by Willie Wright.

Kathleen Ernst, Thursday, July 1, 7 p.m.: Kathleen Ernst will be reading from her new poetry collection, Balancing: Poems of the Female Immigrant Experience in the Upper Midwest 1830-1930 — a topic that may resonate with you if your family has lived in these parts for a couple generations. Ernst looks carefully at the first wave of pioneers, mostly New England Yankees, but also researched later immigrants from all over Europe. Balancing will be released on July 1 by Little Creek Press. Attendance is free, but pre-registration for the Mystery to Me Crowdcast stream is required. Ernst will sign books pre-ordered through Mystery to Me.

Rough Crossing, Thursday, July 1, American Players Theatre, Spring Green, 8 p.m.: You had us at Tom Stoppard. Rough Crossing, by the storied British playwright, is taken from another play (by the Hungarian playwright Ferenc Molnár). The themes are pure Stoppard — a meta look at theater, with wordplay and wit in every line of the script. This is all APT’s wheelhouse, to be sure. The cast features Kelsey Brennan, David Daniel, Jamal James, Josh Krause, James Ridge and Marcus Truschinski. In repertory through Aug. 7; the coming week includes performances at 8 p.m. July 2-3, 6 p.m. on July 4, and 7:30 pm, July 6-8. Tickets here.

National Women’s Music Festival, through Sunday, July 4: This annual fest celebrating women in the arts — and serving as a counterbalance to under-representation in the music industry — debuted in 1974 on the campus of the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, and has been taking place in Middleton since 2008. The 2021 edition will again be virtual (streaming on Mandolin), but there’s a silver lining to the fest remaining online: a festival pass is a super bargain at $50. That includes four days of stage performances (including Holly Near & Jan Martinelli, Big Bad Gina, Tammy Lynne Hall and many others), as well as a plethora of workshops, talks, film screenings, open mics and more. Find tickets and schedules at nwmf.info.

unscripted, Friday, July 2, Bos Meadery, 8 p.m.: Improvisation is the order of the evening during this showcase of comedy, storytelling and music, as a group of fearless performers will create...well, you'll just have to be there to find out what they come up with. Hosted by Shauna Jungdahl, the lineup includes Dana Ehrmann, Steve Horton, Cynthia Marie, Jake Snell, Glenn Widdicombe and Olivia Witt. What's sure to be a freewheeling evening will wrap up with a pair of rehearsed sets by visiting comics Horton (from Chicago) and Ehrmann (Milwaukee).

Monona Community Festival, Friday-Sunday, July 2-4, Winnequah Park, Monona: Communities across Dane County have festivals for July 4 but none epitomize the Independence Day traditions of the Midwest better than the one in Monona, in roomy Winnequah Park. It's exactly what a Fourth of July fest should be. A carnival. A beer tent. A keg toss. An art fair. Water fights. Food. And of course, fireworks lighting the sky. Bands include WheelHouse and the Zac Matthews Band (Friday, 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. respectively); Panchromatic Steel, Granny Shot and People Brothers Band (Saturday at 3:30, 5:30 and 8 p.m.), and, Sunday, before the fireworks at dusk, IMOK and The Hounds (5:30 and 8:30 p.m.). Because we like this festival, we're not going to mention the “wife carry championship” at 5 p.m. on the Fourth. We're just going to pretend it's not there.

DeForest Fourth of July, Friday-Sunday, July 2-4, Fireman’s Park, DeForest: It's Fourth of July all weekend long in DeForest with food and beer, plenty of activities for the kids, live music and, of course, fireworks. This annual celebration opens at 6 p.m. Friday with a kickball tournament and music by Crosstown Drive. Saturday will feature a car show and music from Echoes of Camp Randall (5 p.m.) and '80s hard rock experts Cherry Pie (8 p.m.). Sunday includes the Freedom Run (7:30 a.m.), a parade (noon), and music from SuperTuesday (7 p.m.) with a break for fireworks at dusk. A free safe ride program will be available after 9 p.m. all three nights.

Gin Mill Hollow, Saturday, July 3, The Vines, Sauk City, 4 p.m.: Up for an arts pilgrimage in the beautiful Wisconsin countryside? The relatively new venue of The Vines (it's a vineyard outside of Sauk City) is the spot for a celebratory summer 2021 concert series called Holla in the Vines. Madison-based Americana/folk band Gin Mill Hollow hosts the series; also on the bill this month are Miles Over Mountains (bluegrass) and Sunshine Daydrink (acoustic and Grateful-Dead-inspired). Your ticket includes camping onsite at no extra charge, which is ideal because good luck finding an open spot at Devil’s Lake. Concerts will continue on the first Saturday of the month through October; be sure to buy tickets online by 5 p.m. the day before the show.

Festival Foods Lights the Isthmus, Saturday, July 3, Breese Stevens Field, 6 p.m.: While this is a ticketed event at Breese Stevens Field, presumably the fireworks over the titular isthmus will be visible from places outside the storied stone walls. Inside, though, tickets ($10) allow you to relax in camp chairs (bring your own) for music by Rob Dz and Supa Friends (6 p.m.), Seasaw (7 p.m.), Bascom Hill (8 p.m.), and The Funkee JBeez (9 p.m.). Food and beverages will be on sale at the event, and admission for kids under 12 is free with a paying adult. There’s also a $45 all-you-can-eat option with rooftop access for the fireworks.

Nate Meng & the Stolen Sea, Saturday, July 3, Bierock, 5:30 p.m.: Bierock is celebrating its third anniversary with the return of Nate Meng & the Stolen Sea (their most recent performance, pre-pandemic, was also at Bierock). The eclectic ensemble has nabbed past Madison Area Music Awards for Unique Performer and World Performer. The anniversary celebration will also include a tap takeover beginning at 11 a.m. featuring five beers from Stone Brewing of southern California, including Enjoy by 7.4.21, a tangerine and pineapple double IPA freshest before July 4. Note: The band time has moved earlier to not conflict with the Milwaukee Bucks playoff game.

Capitol City Band season opener, Sunday, July 4, Rennebohm Park, 6 p.m.: Vying for the most red-white-and-bluey event of Independence Day is this concert, dubbed “Fireworks in Sound,” which kicks off the season for the Capitol City Band. Directed by Jim Latimer, the band is a fixture at the west side's Rennebohm Park. The band is sure to pull from a variety of genres from polka to pop, but will not ignore the holiday’s signature Sousa marches. As they say, “Bring a lawn chair and a friend” to this free concert. Concerts continue Thursdays, July 8 through Aug. 26, at 7 p.m.

Math in Games, Strategy and Invention, Sunday, July 4, Vilas Park Shelter, 7 p.m.: Looking for a different sort of holiday weekend activity for the kiddos on the Fourth? This math-themed talk and Q&A for kids entering grades 5-8 may be for you. It will be presented by Carnegie Mellon professor Po-Shen Loh (who also happens to be a graduate of Memorial High School). It's free to attend, but RSVPs are appreciated.

MOVED TO JULY 8: Concerts on the Square, Wednesday, July 7, Breese Stevens Field, 7 p.m.: The Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra's summer outdoor concert series returns to in-person performances for its 38th season, but don't start putting your blankets out on the Capitol lawn yet. The concerts will be hosted by Breese Stevens Field for a second year, and tickets ($10 general admission; $12 reserved seats) are required. The season kicks off July 8 (moved to Thursday due to weather) with “Summon the Heroes: An Independence Day Celebration,” featuring guest soloist Antonio Wu, a pianist and 2020 winner of the WCO Young Artist Concerto Competition. The series continues on Wednesdays through Aug. 4. For those who aren't quite ready to be in a crowd, the series will also stream at wcoconcerts.org.

R.B. Simon + Chris Stark, Wednesday, July 7, 7 p.m.: Join A Room of One's Own for a virtual conversation between a pair of Midwest writers about their new books. R.B. Simon is a Madison-based writer whose new poetry collection, The Good Truth, is described by Wisconsin poet Lisa Marie Brodsky as “a blazing manifesto of claiming identities within a gritty world.” Chris Stark writes poetry, nonfiction and novels, the latest of which, Carnival Lights, follows two teenage Ojibwe cousins moving from the reservation to Minneapolis at the end of the 1960s. Stark’s previous novel, Nickels: A Tale of Dissociation, was a Lambda Literary Award finalist. RSVP here for the Crowdcast link.

Horsegirl, Wednesday, July 7, High Noon Saloon, 8 p.m.: As part of a short Midwest tour, Chicago trio Horsegirl makes their first trek outside the Windy City to help reopen beloved Madison venue High Noon Saloon. Still in their teens, the group was recently signed to independent powerhouse Matador Records; the few recordings available so far are a perfect mixture of atmospheric, harmony-laden and noisy. Catch them before they blow up. Madison is well-represented on the bill by the catchy rock songs of Able Baker and slowcore pop of sylvie lou.

Milkweed Soup Tasting, Thursday, July 8, Olbrich herb garden, 10 a.m.-2 p.m.: In Stalking the Wild Asparagus, Euell Gibbons opines that the unopened flower buds of milkweed can be cooked and eaten like broccoli and young pods can be cooked and eaten like okra, but he doesn't say a word about milkweed soup. You can try it, though, in the Gibbons tradition of wild eating, at this drop-in tasting. The milkweed is grown in Olbrich’s Indigenous Garden, which is full of plants important to Native foodways.

Fiendish Phantoms, Thursday, July 8, Crucible, 8 p.m.: Join the Crucible for a night of rock anchored by The Fiendish Phantoms; it's the horror-themed rock/punk band’s first show since pre-pandemic times. Joining the lineup are a pair of Madison bands, pop-punkers The Brash Menagerie and hard rockers Fake News. The event is 21+ and there is a $5 cover charge.

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.