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Learn about the birds and the bees in Madison rock

Katjusa Cisar  —  10/07/2008 12:38 pm

Two local bands are joining up Thursday night, Oct. 9, to celebrate new albums. Local jangle rockers the National Beekeepers Society just released the darkly catchy "Pawn Shop Etiquette."

And a song off Sleeping in the Aviary's new "Expensive Vomit in a Cheap Hotel" got a hat tip this month on Paste magazine's CD sampler (along with fellow Madisonians Pale Young Gentlemen, who also just came out with a new album). The show starts at 10 p.m. at the Frequency, 121 W. Main St. The Blueheels and A Paper Cup Band open. Cost is $5.

Bluegrass great Ricky Skaggs will be teaming up with pianist Bruce Hornsby this Thursday at 7:30 p.m. at the Overture Center, 201 State St. Hornsby has a background in classical, jazz and rock, and toured with the Grateful Dead for two years in the early '90s.

Together with Skagg's Grammy Award-winning traditional mandolin picking, the duo creates "a neverland where rural purity embraces modern convolutions," according to a concert review last year in the New York Times.

Mike Farris and the Redemptive Power of Music opens with a fusion of rock, soul and gospel. Tickets cost $35 to $65 and are available at (608) 258-4141, at www.overturecenter.com or at the Overture's box office.

Wu-Tang Clan members are really making the rounds here in Madison this fall: first GZA's stop at the SoCo Music Festival in September, then Cappadonna this Friday, October 10, at Con Safos, 5100 Erling Ave. in McFarland. Method Man comes to town October 26, also at Con Safos. Cappadonna is touring now in support of his latest solo album, "The Cappatilize Project." Local groups dumate and Know Boundaries open, and DJ Fusion, voted Madison's best DJ at the 2008 Madison Area Music Awards, wraps up the afterparty. Doors open at 7 p.m. and tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door.

Stephin Merritt of Magnetic Fields doesn't like to perform, so his appearance here in Madison on Saturday, Oct. 11 is a rare treat. Reviews from this year's tours report that he still puts on a good performance.

Magnetic Fields' latest, "Distortion," emulates Jesus and Mary Chain's "Psychocandy" by taking sweet pop songs and distorting them into fuzzy anthems. Songs like "(I Hate) California Girls" is a clever subversion of Beach Boys' fare. Magnetic Fields play the Capitol Theatre in the Overture Center, 201 State St., at 8 p.m. Tickets are $30 and available at (608) 258-4141, at www.overturecenter.com or at the Overture's box office.

Mama Digdown's Brass Band recently served 500 plates of free pasta and eight kegs of beer at their 15th Anniversary Party in September. Check 'em out again this Saturday, Oct. 11, at Cafe Montmartre, 127 E. Mifflin St.

Chafo opens at 9:30 p.m. No free pasta, but $8 will get you a serving of Mama's get-down grooves in the New Orleans style.

A crew of rock musicians who weren't even born 15 years ago will be debuting at the Madison Music Foundry on Saturday for the company's Two Year Anniversary Show. In addition to providing rehearsal space by the hour and month, the Foundry started a Rock Workshop this summer for middle and high school kids, and the first three bands out of the program are ready to show us what they've got. (Band names still in negotiation.) Local headliners include Blake Thomas, El Valiente, The Projection People and Dissent And Revolt. The free show is all ages and runs from 5 p.m. to midnight. Snacks, soda and Capital Brewery beer provided. Find it at 2818 Index Road (off Fish Hatchery Road).

Remember when Arnold Schwarzenegger called the California legislature a bunch of "girlie men" back in 2004? Well, Atlanta, Ga., folk-rock band Girlyman had the name first. They'll be bringing their sweet three-part harmonies to the High Noon Saloon, 701 E. Washington Ave., on Saturday, 7 p.m. Tickets are $12 in advance, $14 at the door.

Grammy-nominated guitarist Tommy Emmanuel got butterflies in his stomach the first time he heard Chet Atkins on the radio at age seven in his native Australia. For decades now, he's made a name for himself with his unique picking technique and lively concerts. It earned him the title of "Best Acoustic Guitarist" this past spring in a Guitar Player Magazine reader poll. He performs at the Majestic Theatre, 115 King St., on Sunday, Oct. 12 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $30 and available at www.majesticmadison.com.

Portland-based musician Chris Robley writes and sings tender stories of unwanted babies, buried emotions and "Faulkner's south." His latest album, "The Drunken Dance of Modern Man in Love," artfully layers fevered lyrics over a reeling pop orchestration. Robley usually tours with a six to eight piece band, but he'll be playing a solo acoustic set on Tuesday, Oct. 14, 9:30 p.m. at Cafe Montmartre, opening with the Melismatics for Madison/Milwaukee lounge rockers Time Since Western. It costs $6.

Katjusa Cisar  —  10/07/2008 12:38 pm