Keeping it Hot

If you’re bemoaning the fact that it’s August and summer is winding down, I don’t want to hear it! August in Madison is fantastic and absolutely summery thanks in part to two events held annually this month—and only this month.

Both Jazz at Five and Dane Dances are free weekly events open to the public. And both kick off this week, Jazz at Five today and Dane Dances on Friday.

Now in its sixteenth season, Jazz at Five is held, as you might expect, at 5 p.m. on Wednesdays on the 100 block of State Street, right where it meets the Capitol Square. The event offers two sets of live jazz music ranging in style and featuring local, regional and national performers.

Some listeners set up picnics at reserved tables, some bring or rent chairs and others simply stand and take in the music. Jazz at Five sets up a beer tent and other food and beverage vendors are on hand, too.

In case of rain, the concert takes place in Overture lobby, which is quite a nice setting as well. Decisions are made by 2 p.m.—call 310.4462 or tune in to WORT if the weather is questionable.

This season brings about:

The Francesca Johnson Quartet
This young Wisconsin jazz singer, who returned to Madison last year, has a voice that evokes the jazz tradition of the 1950s.
August 5, 5 p.m.

Mike Frost Project
Says Frost of his Chicago-based group, “We play straight-ahead jazz … Essentially we perform a modern-day version of an earlier style but in our own way.”
August 5, 6:30 p.m.

Tim Whalen Nonet
Innovative and unique, Whalen’s hard-swinging group plays with the intricacy of a big band but maintains the freedom of one much smaller.
August 12, 5 p.m.

Leo Sidran, Ben Sidran, Richard Davis, Joy Dragland and Louka Patenaude
This concert marks the first time these five Madison jazz legends, treasures and protégés perform together.
August 12, 6:30 p.m.

Seven Steps to Havana
This septet of international talent with musicians from Cuba, Mexico, Brazil, Ethiopia and America offers music combining salsa and jazz.
August 19, 5 p.m.

Jan Wheaton Quintet
Madison’s beloved jazz vocalist Wheaton credits Nancy Wilson, Billie Holiday and Roberta Flack among her influences.
August 26, 5 p.m.

Richie Cole
A master of the sax, Cole also has more than three thousand compositions and arrangements to his credit today.
August 26, 6:30 p.m.

For more information, call 310.4462 or visit jazzat5.org.

Celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, Dane Dances is held Fridays at 5:30 p.m. on the rooftop of Monona Terrace. Here, all members of the community are invited to get together and boogie down to sounds spun by DJ Laurie Mlatawou and well-known bands.

Ethnic food vendors offer snacks and cocktails and the Lake Vista Café has a special menu for the event each week.

In the case of inclement weather, call 261.4000 after 2 p.m. for an alternative location (either inside Monona Terrace or the Alliant Energy Center).

Here’s what to expect this season:

Christopher’s Project
This rhythm and blues and contemporary jazz group has opened for such legendary acts as The Temptations and The Supremes.
August 7, 6 p.m.

Grupo Candela
This twelve-member band offers up dance-worthy music styles ranging from salsa to merengue to bachata.
August 7, 8 p.m.

Altered Five
Made up of five southern Wisconsin music veterans, this group performs an exciting brand of “rockin’ rhythm ‘n’ blues.”
August 14, 6 p.m.

In Black ‘N White
This popular group has gotten crowds up and dancing throughout the Midwest, including at Milwaukee’s Summerfest.
August 14, 6 p.m.

Primitive Culture
This local band offers a unique blend of funk, blues and tropical rhythms.
August 21, 6 p.m.

BBI
A versatile group from Illinois, BBI plays everything from Motown to R&B to classic rock and dance hits.
August 21, 8 p.m.

Que Flavor
Traditional Afro-Cuban dance grooves and other Latin music styles categorize this Madison favorite.
August 28, 6 p.m.

Eddie Butts
This longtime Milwaukee-based band mixes jazz, pop and R&B.
August 28, 8 p.m.


For more information, call 358.5894 or visit danedances.org.


Photos courtesy of Mark Barrett of the Steinway Piano Gallery and Dane Dances.

Dance Revolution

Each Friday night in August, Laurie Mlatawou has job to do: Get Madisonians up and dancing and don’t give them a reason to sit back down.

Mlatawou—better known to some as DJ Laurie—provides the “pre-dance” music at Dane Dances, an annual event held on the Monona Terrace rooftop intended to bring together people of diverse backgrounds to break down barriers and enjoy a night of free entertainment.

At 5:30 p.m. Mlatawou starts the music and gets the crowd prepped for the first band at 6 p.m. Then she does the same at 7:30 p.m. before the second band hits the stage at 8 p.m.

“I only have thirty minutes to get people up and dancing,” she says.

Mlatawou draws on a handful of group-dance songs that are popular with the crowds. “They never fail to get people out and that’s my goal, to get people out dancing,” she says. “Because once they’re up, they don’t sit down.”

This summer marks Mlatawou’s fifth year of DJing at Dane Dances. But she’d attended the event for years as a member of the dancing public.

“For me, it’s the most beautiful multicultural event that Madison has,” she says. “Everyone is happy and smiling and feeling like a community together. It makes you really proud to be a Madisonian.”

While Mlatawou has DJed clubs and private event for years, playing music at Dane Dances is different—and an experience she always looks forward to. “It’s a huge audience,” she says. “There are literally thousands of people dancing to the music I play.”

She enjoys the diversity—of ages, shapes, ethnicities and abilities—that the event draws and how music and dance bring everyone together.

“It’s just super fun to watch everyone literally coming together,” she says. “Everyone is happy and smiling and feeling like a community.”

Mlatawou, who also hosts PanAfrica, a program Sundays 2–4 p.m. on WORT, says her DJ work complements her other work nicely. She’s a law student at UW–Madison and plans to be a civil rights attorney. The atmosphere at Dane Dances is something she hopes to create in her career.

“This is the way I want my world to be,” she says.

Dane Dances kicked off August 1. Here’s the lineup for the rest of the season:

August 8
DJ Laurie, 5:30 p.m.
In Black ‘n White, 6 p.m. Reggae, rock, soul and jazz.
DJ Laurie, 7:30 p.m.
Streetlife, 8 p.m. R&B, smooth jazz and contemporary.
Monona Terrace rooftop (rain location at Allliant Energy Center Exhibition Hall)

August 15
Unity the Band, 5:30 p.m. World beat and reggae.
DJ Laurie, 7 p.m.
Felicia Alima, 7:30 p.m. Urban R&B.
DJ Laurie, 9 p.m.
Duce Duce, 9:30 p.m. Hip hop and R&B.
Memorial Union Terrace (rain location at Memorial Union Rathskeller)

August 22
DJ Laurie, 5:30 p.m.
David Hecht & Primitive Culture, 6 p.m. Reggae, funk, world beat and R&B.
DJ Laurie, 7:30 p.m.
!Que Flavor!, 8 p.m. Traditional Afro-Cuban and Latin.
Monona Terrace rooftop (rain location at Allliant Energy Center Exhibition Hall)

August 29
DJ Laurie, 5:30 p.m.
Nellie Tiger Travis Blues Band, 6 p.m. Urban R&B.
DJ Laurie, 7:30 p.m.
MadiSalsa, 8 p.m. Traditions of Cuba, Puerto Rico and Dominican Republic.
Monona Terrace rooftop (rain location inside Monona Terrace)


Photos courtesy of Bill Patterson.

A Photo a Day

Many artists will tell you the key to being good at their craft is practice, practice, practice. And consistency is also a crucial part of the equation. 

Angela Richardson is learning this firsthand—in an entirely new way—through her latest artistic endeavor.

The Madison visual artist and performer is known in a lot of circles around town (she’s a founding member and performer at Cherry Pop Burlesque, runs Dr. Sketchy's Anti Art School Madison and is often known by the stage name “Olive Talique”).

Yet Richardson is returning to an early love of photography by participating in Project 365 on the photo-sharing website Flickr. The premise of Project 365 is simple: Participating artists must post a photo every day for a year.

Of course, actually doing this isn’t so simplistic. Richardson has found the daily practice of taking and sharing a photograph has had profound and sometimes surprising impacts.

Richardson started her own Project 365 site on January 22 and has since captured such varied subject matter as a bird silh

ouetted in a tree, a piece of chocolate cake, doodles on a notebook page, a pair of legs (hers) in fishnet stockings and hot-pink stilettos, local architecture and myriad faces.

“I don’t have any preconceived notions,” she says of what scenes catch her attention. “I really do approach every day as, ‘OK, I’m going out into the world.’”

But over time—she’s now only about a third of the way into the project—she’s learned to spot a good shot.

“As I go along, my eye becomes more finely tuned,” she says. “When I see a picture, I know to 

stop and take it.”

When Richardson posts a photo, she also offers a written entry “to provide context, share info, vent, crack a joke, tell a story,” she explains on her site. In her words as well as her images, she typically presents a mix of humor, optimism, thoughtfulness and beauty.

When viewed together on Richardson’s site, the photos appear to have been chosen as a collective, not a piecemeal accumulation. That the images complement one another is testament to the strength of each person’s individual vantage point, she says.

“The fact that they look neat together is because it’s seeing the world through one person’s eyes,” she says. “I tend to be optimistic. I try to see the beautiful. I have faith in the world and I look for images that reinforce that.”

Taking the time to capture an image every day, as opposed to breaking out a camera only for special occasions, has had a slowing, almost meditative, effect on Richardson.

“It’s also taught me to look really carefully and pay hyper-attention to things,” she says. “I’ve been really moved by the fact that there’s absolute abundant beauty everywhere. It’s been very joyful in that way.”

Over the past few months, Richardson also has learned to trust the process, that she will get a photo every day, even if it comes later than she’d like. “Images are absolutely everywhere,” she says. “I can’t even escape them—and I mean that in the best way.”

She reached her one-hundredth-photo milestone just before Gallery Night last Thursday, and showcased her images at Winnebago Studios. She also hopes to have a show next year after she wraps the project.

Richardson isn’t sure what she’ll photograph before then or what her feelings on the project will be at that point. But she’s grateful for the chance to be “forced” into working on her photography on such a regular basis and adopting a daily practice.

“I didn’t really question the wisdom of that before, but I didn’t understand what that meant,” she says.

For more information on Angela Richardson—or to see her photography or purchase a print—visit her Flickr page or artist site, or email her at angela-art@charter.net.

Richardson’s photos shown above are Sometimes…, This is the beginning of a new story, Contrast and Ha ha ha!

COMING UP: A few events to check out this week

Jazz lovers should check out Tunes at Monona Terrace this evening when MadiSalsa Latin Jazz performs.

Madison Opera offers its first production of tragic opera Lucia Di Lammermoor on Friday and Sunday. Meanwhile Encore! Studio for the Performing Arts debuts its first full musical, Found Money, on Saturday; the production runs through May 24.

The Chazen Museum of Art transforms into a big top on Saturday with circus performers, entertainment and, of course, art. Also on Saturday is the Madison Area Music Awards at the Barrymore Theatre.

Don’t forget Mom this weekend. Olbrich Botanical Gardens presents a Mother’s Day Concert Sunday afternoon, while the UW Arboretum offers a Birding before Brunch walk, Mother’s Day Brunch and Mother’s Day Walk.

And next Tuesday through Sunday, Overture Center presents the musical comedy Monty Python’s Spamalot.