USA Cycling
2013 Cyclo-cross National Championships
The Cyclo-Cross National Championships in Verona get rolling this week, and it looks like conditions outside will provide perfect mud-and-slush slurry for the two-wheeled party. The calendar also includes: several art exhibits, including Young Blood at UW Memorial Union, Seen/Unseen at MMoCA, and Tandem Press: Twenty-five Years at the Chazen; a talk by Peter Skelly; Scott & Mike's Hammond Organ Nite and the Midwest Mix-Up Metal Mania concert; and, more live music from The Material Boys, Mike Reeb, Cork n' Bottle String Band, Natty Nation, and Saint Anyway.
Monday 1.7
NOTEWORTHY: Fire destroys Jamestown, Va., 1608.
Young Blood: Michigan's Urban Youth
UW Memorial Union Class of 1925 Gallery, through Jan. 22
Dan Farnum's photographs zero in on young people in his hometown of Saginaw, Mich., a national leader in violent crimes per capita. Farnum pictures them against a backdrop of economic trouble and mass exodus.
Tuesday 1.8
NOTEWORTHY: President George Washington delivers first State of the Union address, 1790.
High Noon Saloon, 6 pm
What would "Papa Don't Preach" sound like on a banjo? Find out as this bluegrass septet performs its specialty: Madonna's greatest hits.
Frequency, 8 pm
This thoughtful singer-songwriter has shared the stage with rootsy rockers such as Alejandro Escovedo and indie-pop types like Jeremy Messersmith, but a famous author is one of his main influences. See if you can guess which one at this show. (Or see Tour Stop.) With Robert J and Pete Berwick.
Wednesday 1.9
NOTEWORTHY: Last battle of American Indian Wars takes place, 1918.
Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, through June 16
Drawn from the museum's permanent collection, these modern works of painting, sculpture, printmaking and photography offer varying interpretations of the nature of reality. Featured are pieces by Sol LeWitt, Marsden Hartley and numerous others.
Cyclo-Cross National Championships
Badger Prairie County Park, Verona, starting at 9:30 am. Also Thursday-Sunday, Jan. 10-13
Now that all the New Year's revelry is behind us, it's time to turn our attention to the really fun stuff: two-wheeled mayhem! Cyclo-Cross combines the best (or worst, depending on your point of view) in off-road cycling, with daredevil climbs, heart-stopping descents, snow, ice, mud and blood. Plus food, beer, a Bicicle Shanty Competition and musical entertainment by the Greasy Gears, a "girlicious gang of bicycle-ridin', go-go-dancin' fiends."
Scott & Mike's Hammond Organ Nite
Fountain, 8 pm
Phat Phunktion guitarist Vince Jesse will join this dapper duo for a set of jazz, Latin swing and other loungey fare fit for a 1950s-era supper club -- or a cozy, Wisconsin-themed restaurant like the Fountain.
High Noon Saloon, 9 pm
Four local metal bands -- Climbing the Aggrocrag, the Faith Hills Have Eyes, Fault Line Empires, and Look, I'm Burning -- will display their technical wizardry, supported by fist-pumps, devil horns and perhaps even a mosh pit.
Thursday 1.10
NOTEWORTHY: Thomas Paine publishes Common Sense, 1776.
Tandem Press: Twenty-five Years
Chazen Museum of Art, through Feb. 3
The UW-affiliated press celebrates 25 years of innovative printmaking with works by Judy Pfaff, Suzanne Caporael, Robert Cottingham and others.
High Noon Saloon, 6 pm
Bluegrass is in the blood of these six Madison musicians, who've has been bringing joie de vivre to local bars and clubs since 1996.
Overture Hall Lobby, Overture Center, 6 pm
Imagine you're vacationing on a tropical island -- not ending a workday with a frigid jaunt to a snow-covered car -- as local reggae band Natty Nation plays a free concert.
Radisson Hotel Madison, 7:15 pm
Skelly, president of the Lincoln Fellowship of Wisconsin, opens the Madison History Round Table series with this panel discussion on "Abraham Lincoln in Wisconsin: Black Hawk War and 1850 Speaking Tour." Maybe Daniel Day-Lewis will put in an appearance.
High Noon Saloon, 9 pm
Armed with banjos, harmonicas and, on occasion, soda bottles, this Minnesota duo explore the nooks and crannies of the Americana genre, from blazing-fast bluegrass riffs to acoustic balladry. With the Sills.