Blues, hip-hop, 'musette' all on deck
There's so much going on this weekend, you're going to need a personal assistant and a limo to get you from event to event. Here are a few of the highlights:
Long known as the "UFO Capital of the World," Belleville is staking out another name for itself by fast becoming a yearly mecca for blues musicians and fans. The Belleville American Music Festival takes place Friday, July 11, and Saturday, July 12, at Belleville Community Park.
Only in its third year, the festival has attracted headliners like Louisiana slide guitarist Sonny Landreth and former Fleetwood Mac guitarist Jeremy Spencer. Spencer's appearance at the BAM Festival (10 p.m. Saturday) is one of only three in the United States; the night before, he'll be performing in Berwyn, Ill., and the night before that in St. Louis.
These three performances will be his first in the United States since the early 1970s, when he left Fleetwood Mac unexpectedly. Legend has it he told them he was going out to get a magazine at a nearby bookstore and never returned. Instead, he joined a Christian religious cult and has traveled around world since, performing only at select charity events.
A Norwegian promoter convinced Spencer to perform publicly again two years ago at the Notodden Blues Festival in Norway, backed by a group of Norwegian blues musicians. He's stuck with the same musicians for this tour and is plugging the 2006 album he recorded with them, "Precious Little," a mix of Spencer's trademark slide guitar blues and '50s rock'n'roll-tinged originals.
Give our flooded friends to the north a little help on Friday night, July 11, at 10 p.m. at the Brink Lounge (701 E. Washington Ave.), where a benefit show will be raising money for the Lake Delton Fund. Acts include dumate (hip-hop/reggae), Mind's Eye Rhyme (hip-hop/rock), and Echoes of Empire (prog rock). All the proceeds from the $10 cover charge go into the fund. A raffle and merchandise table also will get the charity dollars flowing.
The third annual Le Fete de Marquette has bumped its festivities up to four days of Francophile music, food and merriment in the square parking lot located at 50 S. Baldwin St. (around the corner from the usual Central Park site). Seventeen bands play over the course of the four days, including garage rockers Les Breastfeeders from Montreal (5:30 p.m. Friday, July 11), Senegalese Afro-pop star Fallou Dieng (9:15 p.m. Saturday, July 12) and Madison's only Cajun band, The Cajun Strangers (1:30 p.m., Sunday, July 13).
Looking to cap off Le Fete de Marquette with a Bastille Day celebration? Les Primitifs du Futur will play an evening of "musette" on Monday, July 14, 9 p.m. at the Crystal Corner Bar (1302 Williamson St.). Musette is a style of dance music developed in turn-of-the-century France that took the Parisian scene by storm in the 1930s and '40s with its blend of swing, polka, gypsy and Auvergne folk. Cake will be served. Viva la France!
If you miss Les Primitifs du Futur on Monday night, no worries. They're also playing at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 15, at the Dardanelles Restaurant (1851 Monroe St.).
