Though a perfectly fine Madison evening can be spent with a few beers and a couple of friends, the city has plenty of entertainment to offer this summer. Ranging from the Memorial Union to State Street and all around the city, Madison's attractions fit wherever they can. Check out some of the following shows and locations for something to do when sitting back on the porch gets a little old.
A quality summer evening is synonymous with the Memorial Union Terrace. Between the trademark chairs, the brats and the cool breeze rolling in from Lake Mendota, it is the place to be as the sun goes down. The summer offers a wide array of free things to do and see at the Union and especially the Terrace.
The Ark Band will perform on the Terrace stage early on in summer. This reggae band prefers to get out and play a live show, instead of sitting in a studio. They have only cut two albums in the past eight years, but have toured enough to compensate.
New to the Terrace stage this year are Lee Hawkins, the Buzzcocks and the Polkaholics. Other performers follow, with local acts Pat McCurdy and Natty Nation appearing in August.
Youngblood Brass Band will be rounding out the summer Aug. 9. Their recent release, center:level:roar has five horn players, two drummers and a sousaphonist along with an appearance by Talib Kweli.
Two events of special note this year are Rhythm and Booms and the Latin music weekend. Rhythm and Booms offers the Shakin' 78s at 8:45 p.m., a fireworks display and the Cashbox Kings at 9:30 p.m. June 28. Featured Latin music includes Bobi Cespedes with Chuchito Valdes, July 3, 9 p.m. and Que Flavor, a local group, July 5, 9 p.m.
Open mic night is every Wednesday except for the Buzzcocks show June 28. There is also Behind the Beat, a performance by a local jazz group every Friday night, from 5 to 7 p.m.
The theme this summer at Lakeside Free Cinema is \Nine Degrees of Kevin Bacon."" Nine movies take a cue from the familiar game and showcase a connection between each other.
""The River Wild"" starts things off June 16 and ""The Sound of Music"" finishes up Aug. 11. Other movies, showing at dusk Monday nights, include: ""A Midsummer Night's Dream,"" ""Star Wars"" and ""The Fall of the Roman Empire.""
The Hoofer Club will be sponsoring their kick-off June 12, at 8 p.m., with its Sailing Club kick-off June 17.
Art exhibits include: Justin Strom in the Porter Butts Gallery, Sachi Komai's pieces in the 1925 Gallery and Ju-Wen Hsaio in the Porter Butts and 1925 Galleries, all from June 7 to July 23.
For a complete list of events, visit http://www.union.wisc.edu/events.
If you are looking for something a little more classy than a show at the Union, head on down to the Capitol Square for some music from the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra.
This year is the 20th anniversary of Concerts on the Square. On each Wednesday at 7 p.m., from June 25 to July 30, the orchestra will invite everyone to settle down on a blanket and enjoy a wide variety of music.
This year starts off with Suzanne Beia, concertmaster of the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra. It wraps up with internationally-acclaimed violinist Jennifer Koh.
This year's festival will feature the old men and the young women of the blues. With Shemekia Copeland on one end and B.B. King on the other, these artists are sure to exemplify what is best about the blues.
Copeland will come to the stage with her usual swagger and shouting, ready to fire up the crowd early Saturday afternoon. She is the daughter of a Texas blues guitarist and can trace her roots back to Harlem. If there are any young women who can sing the blues like her, they are few and far between.
But this year's festival will not settle for just one woman with fire in her voice and blues in her body. Susan Tedeschi provides a supreme counterpart to Copeland. Tedeschi is fresh off the success of her recent release Wait for Me, and is known for live shows that can rattle rafters and upstage the following act. She will take the microphone with an unassuming air about her and let loose everything she's got a minute later.
Not to let the young women steal the show, the old men will have their say. Saturday night the five-star general of the blues, B.B. King, comes to the stage.
King's legacy is everything that he deserves, having made a lifestyle of the blues. He is a product of sharecroppers and the Mississippi Delta, one of the few men who can wear a suit and still have the blues. He's been around longer than most record labels and approaching 80 with grace. Despite it all-and perhaps because of it-his time on stage is sure to make every comfortable student and six-figure income businessman feel the blues.
Where King promises to enthrall the crowd with his guitar work, Charlie Musselwhite is sure to show everybody what a harmonica can do. His skill with the mouth harp is among the best and he is frequently compared to the late harmonica legend Sonny Boy Williams.
Bringing the festival to a close is Al Green. Though he's a little more of a soul singer than the rest, he's a welcome artist among the other blues musicians. Since joining the ministry in the mid-'70s, he's been recording and performing mainly gospel music, but has kept an R&B influence through all his work. Hopefully he'll wrap things up with something like his classic '70s soul performances.
The Madison Blues Festival takes place at Olin Park Aug. 23 and 24. Shows on the main stage start at noon and finish up around 11 p.m. Other artists include Mavis Staples, Jeff Beck, Sonny Landreth and Dr. John.
Admission is $60 in advance for two both days or $35 for a single show, $40 on the day of the show.
For something with a little less volume and a little more of a relaxed atmosphere, Folk at 4 exhibits local and national talent on the folk scene.
Folk at 4 offers an early show at 4 p.m. and another act around 5:30 p.m. The event takes place each Saturday at Lisa Link Peace Park on the 400 block of State Street. The concert series will run through Labor Day weekend and will finish with the Madison Folk Music Society's annual festival.
Some acts to check out this year are Peter Mulvey, originally from Milwaukee, and Harmonious Wail, a group from the Madison area. Mulvey found success early on with the Milwaukee band Big Sky and even garnered a Boston Award nomination for his song ""Rapture."" Harmonious Wail has been known to draw comparisons to Django Reinhardt and David Grisman.
For a complete list of artists, check out the Folk at 4 Web site at www.statest.com/folk_atfour.
