Westside Andy

Calling all our motorcycle riding friends! There’s a benefit ride for Donna Linderman this Saturday. Donna’s the wife of Westside Andy and she’s been diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer.

The fun starts with a motorcycle ride and is followed by a pig roast, and live music from two bands..the Westside Andy- Mel Ford Band at 4 and Peter Egan & The Defenders at 7. Camping is available as well.

The event starts and ends at Rick’s Garden Center, 714 Taylor Lane in Stoughton. Rick and Deb say you don’t have to take part in the ride to attend the party afterward.

More info here.

Do you like beer? Do you like drinking it, learning about it, exploring new flavors?

Then Madison Craft Beer Week is for you! It goes from April 29-May 8, and features all kinds of beer related tastings and events. I perused the website and these are some of the ones I found to be most compelling.

Learn how to make beer based cocktails, Saturday April 30 at Underground Kitchen. It says they run the gamut from apertif to dessert.  I generally like to have cocktails and beer on completely different days, but this sounds interesting.

Biking and beer! On Sunday May 1 you can go on a New Belgium bike ride, starting at Dexter’s Pub at 1pm. They’ll have a bunch of New Belgium beers on tap and giveaways as well. After you’ve tried a few, pedal over to Ivory Room, Madhatters and Memorial Union for 1 hour stops at each place. And you thought the only thing New Belgium had to do with biking was the Fat Tire logo!

Create some Bedlam! Ale Asylum celebrates the re-release of Bedlam! IPA, and invites you to design a teddy bear to represent your darkest inner bedlam and you get a free pint of this hoppy beer. Starts at 4pm Sunday.

Monty Python’s Holy Grail Night at The Cooper’s Tavern, from 5-11pm Thursday May 5th,. Dress as your favorite character from that wild movie and your first pint is on the house. Best costume gets a $50 gift certificate.

For me, every week is Craft Beer Week, but this week it appears I have some extra reasons to raise a glass. Cheers!

More info on Craft Beer Week here.

Beth Kille

You probably already know that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, with plenty of events going on to support the cause.

Tonight, you can help out by checking out some live music during the annual Women Rock for the Cure event, with live music at seven different venues, and proceeds going to Susan G. Komen for the Cure in Madison.

Many of the bands are made up of women or have female members.

Highlights include Project M contestant Beth Kille at the Brink Lounge at 7:45pm, and a little later on in the evening you can catch Blue Beyond at 11:15 at Hemingway Lounge.

Click here to see the full schedule…which also includes some establishments with food and drink specials benefiting Komen.

You can also buy Women Rock for the Cure t-shirts at Smart Motors in Madison.

For a lot of people..the Willy Street Fair is bittersweet. It’s one of the city’s best, most unusual neighborhood festivals, but it also marks the end of summer.  If you’ve never been there..it’s hard to explain. Mix in some tie-dye and political activism with great live music, food and beer, and throw in some bubbles for good measure, and that might give you a bit of an idea.

Saturday, the Willy Street Fair features 3 stages with a variety of live music options on the 800 block of Williamson Street.  This year, the Fair is continuing its relationship with the Madison World Music Festival to bring some really outstanding entertainment our way. Click here to see the entire World Music Festival schedule. (It actually gets underway Thursday at the Wisconsin Union Theatre).

As I looked at the list, one act really jumped out at me as one to see. Sierra Leone’s Refugee All Stars are a group of musicians who escaped the horrific violence of Sierra Leone’s civil war, landed in a West African refugee camp and formed a band to keep their spirits up and their hopes alive. You can catch their performance Saturday at 7:15pm.

You never know who you'll meet at the parade!

Sunday the fun continues on the 800 to 1000 blocks of  Willy Street, starting off with the world’s coolest parade at 11am. This is not your typical “bring out all the fire trucks and Shriners’ kind of parade. In fact, any one can join this rag-tag assemblage! Look for Triple M’s Gabby Parsons and some lucky Triple M listeners waving to the crowd from a super-snazzy convertible.

There are five stages filled with a wide variety of acts on Sunday. Here are my picks:

The Jimmys 4pm on the Main Stage. Led by Triple M’s favorite rock and roll farmer, the newly married Jimmy Voegeli on keys, the Jimmys are guaranteed to get our mojo working!

Wayne Baker Brooks 5pm on the Main Stage: Wayne continues the rich heritage of his dad Lonnie Brooks, with a “liquid fire” guitar style and passionate vocals.

Purgatory Hill w/Pat MacDonald + Melanie Jane. 5:50pm on the Underground Stage. Yes, that Pat MacDonald, whose future was so bright he had to wear shades back in his Timbuk3 days. But don’t expect to hear that song. This band’s music is described as “a shocking reinvention of blues and rock music.”

That’s just a tiny sliver of what you can experience on Saturday and Sunday. There’s also a kids stage, a folk stage and a culture stage.  See the complete schedule here.

The Willy Street Fair is a benefit for Commonwealth Development and the Wil-Mar Neighborhood Center, so you can have a good time and know you’re doing good at the same time. See you there!

–Kitty Dunn..Willy Street Fair attendee, 20 years and counting! (Thanks to Gabby for the pics)

Around 130 riders started off this morning on the ACT 8 Aids Ride from Olin Park in Madison and are on their way to Baraboo where they’ll spend the night.

The 4-day  300-mile ride also has overnight stops in Spring Green and Albany before thy end up back in Madison for the emotional closing ceremony on Sunday.

The riders will be going through a lot of other little towns too..and you’re encouraged to cheer the riders on.

Click here to find a list of cheering stations..and the approximate times the riders will be arriving.

Proceeds from the ride benefit the Aids Network in Madison. Last night more than $300,000 was raised!

Between sets on the Triple M stage at Art Fair on the Square this past weekend I had a chance to meet Andy Fletcher.  He’s from Waukesha, WI and was actually set up in the Art Fair off the Square. We talked at length about his art.  I like how he’s trying to find the right balance between abstract and the detail in his sketches.  We both agree that music and visual art when left open to interpretation is what causes feeling or connection to a piece.

We also share a love of the land and earth.. and got into quite a discussion about the catastrophe going on in the gulf.

The day before he scored a blue ribbon at Art Fair on the Square I knew I had to have one of his paintings.

What a busy weekend of great events it’s going to be in Madison, so of course, I’ll be out of town. I AM going to do something really fun in Minneapolis… a festival Friday night with Weezer, One EskimO, Eric Hutchinson and Grace Potter, just to name a few. But what I’m going to miss, amongst others is:

La Fete De Marquette 8th-11th with lots of great performers, including Marcia Ball and Sonny Landreth. It’s the weekend for Art Fair  On ( and Off) the  Square. Some of the artists on the Triple M music stage include Mark Croft, Natty Nation and the  Selfish Gene.

If you like blues, Jonny Lang will be at the Capitol Theater on Sunday and for fans of laughter, comic Patton Oswold will be at the Majestic.

The weather is supposed to be wonderful, so get out and discover why Madison is one of the greatest cities in America!

For the weekend of June 18

1)Clyde Stubblefield at the Memorial Union Terrace, Friday at 9:30pm. The original funky drummer for free!

2)Madison Blues Society Picnic: Saturday 11:30am-9:00pm at Warner Park. Free blues picnic with a great lineup all day. One difference this year–they’re asking you NOT to bring any carry-ins. Plenty of delicious beer and food available in the park. Lots of post-blues picnic performances at area bars as well.  Always entertaining–the Cash Box Kings (pictured above), who play at 2:45.

3)Lou & Peter Berryman at the Harmony Bar, Sunday night 7-9pm. True Madison originals..that have to be seen and heard to be appreciated. Ask them to perform the official Madison song for you! (Madison has five officials songs; they created one of them.) $12.

Freaky Band Name of the Week: Charlie & The Tree, 5:30pm Friday at the Come Back In. From Madison, they play blues, K-pop, and jazz. What’s K-pop?

World Naked Bike Ride Madison happens this Saturday.  The ride is organized to promote energy independence and positive body image.  The BP oil catastrophe in the gulf could provide additional incentive for some and increase turnout.

I just wonder what people will do with their bouncy bits.  We could see some creative use of paint, duct tape and other household items.

The 90 minute ride will start at 11a Saturday and wind thru 8 miles.  There’s talk of a possible swing around the square during the Farmer’s Market.  That could be awkward.  To join the group and get the latest from organizers click here.

Landon Pigg grew up singing commercial jingles and now has established himself as a memorable songwriter in his own right.  I know you’ve heard his song, “Falling In Love At A Coffee Shop” in those AT&T commercials or on Grey’s Anatomy.

He’s recently collaborated with Lucy Schwartz on a song called “Darling I Do” which is featured on the Shrek Forever After soundtrack.

Catch him live tonight at the High Noon Saloon with Madi Diaz and Mikey Wax.  Cover is only $12 and showtime is 9pm.