About our Festivals.
Orton Park Schedule, August 26 - 29
Orton Park Gazebo - Chris Hoppe
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Things are finally rounding into shape for the Marquette Neighborhood Association's 45th Orton Park Festival. Over the course of four and a half decades one thing is certain … we have no excuse for not getting this show right. This year we will revel from August 26thto the 29th under the stately oak and hickory trees in Madison's oldest park. A number of incredible acts including the Cycropia Aerial Dance Troupe have been confirmed to perform at our time-honored event. Each day will have its own special charm.
Cycropia Aerial Dance
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To fully respect the Cycropia performance we have added a Thursday Family Night show On that night the Cycropians can have the audience's full attention . The performance will have an early 8pm start time and there will be plenty of parking in the neighborhood. The Aerial show will be staged again in the mighty burr oak on Friday night.
Robert J
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Our talented local performers will join with celebrated musicians from around the nation and the world to create a musical tapestry of the highest order. This year we are paying tribute to four bands that helped establish the Orton Park and Marquette Neighborhood festivals as quality events. Tony Castaneda's Latin Jazz Sextet, Robert J and the Rowdy Prairie Dogs, Cris Plata and Extra Hot featuring Clyde Stubblefield and the Rousers truly
embody the dynamic spirit of our cherished festivals. It will be a joy to have them performing throughout the weekend.
Razia Said
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The popular International Dinner will once again be held on Friday night with dining choices from our fine local ethnic food vendors. Tony Castaneda's Latin Jazz Sextet will get the ball rolling with a salsa groove featuring Dave Stoler on keyboard at 5:30. We are very pleased to announce that one of the hottest world music acts on tour this summer, Razia Said, will be our featured performer on this evening. Singer and songwriter Razia Said's nomadic life has taken her across Africa to France, Italy, Ibiza, Bali and New York City, but despite these wanderings, her heart and soul remains inexorably tethered to Madagascar, the land of her birth. Her musical explorations have also been wide ranging, and over the years Razia has experimented with French chanson, rock, jazz and even smooth, Sade-style R&B. But it took reaching back to her cultural roots for Razia to uncover her true artistic calling as one of African music's most promising talents.
Carolina Chocolate Drops
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Saturday's lineup is almost complete and a number of formidable acts have been confirmed. The Carolina Chocolate Drops are taking the world by storm and will be totally captivating on the Orton Park stage. The NY Times recently reported , "Rhiannon Giddens is a powerful musician but not a virtuosic one; the same goes for Dom Flemons, who plays guitar, bones and jug, and Justin Robinson, the band's fiddler. Lucky for us. The Chocolate Drops aren't glib or pure or ritually brilliant; they don't make you stand back and feel humble. They dip into styles of Southern black music from the 1920s and '30s - string-band music, jug-band music, fife and drum, early jazz - and beam their curiosity outward. They make short work of their instructive mission and spend their energy on things that require it: flatfoot dancing, jug playing, shouting. And they remind you of something you probably hadn't thought much about when it comes to American traditional music, which is that youth has an advantage. The band formed five years ago; the three musicians learned a lot of their initial repertory from the black fiddler Joe Thompson, who's now 91 and lives near Durham, N.C. The group got traction in folk circles by setting its sights particularly on black string-band music from the Piedmont region of which there was more than the existing commercial recordings suggest." The band's CD, Genuine Negro Jig, is #1 on Billboard's Bluegrass Chart and #17 on the Heatseeker New Artist Chart!! This act's performance has been partially funded by a grant from the Southern WI Bluegrass Music Association.
Curley Taylor and Zydeco Trouble
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We certainly promise a great dance band at the ultimate slot each day at Orton and there is no finer than Curley Taylor and Zydeco Trouble. Taylor and his band hail from musical mecca, Lafayette, Louisiana, and they were featured at last year's La Fete de Marquette. This band's soul-infused Zydeco is infectious and Curley's crooning will be so fine under the stars.
Whitney Mann
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Saturday's truly Americana lineup features a nice variety of genres. Whitney Mann is making waves as a country artist and despite her youth she managed to land an opening
gig for the legendary Willie Nelson as his tour swung through town and packed the Overture Center. Robert J lived on Spaight St. for many year's and hosted a Sunday Night jam at Morgan's which is now the Alchemy and was an Orton Park Fest regular for many years . Like the mighty Mississippi River, Robert J.'s music flows from the many different genres that pepper the river's banks. Robert J and the Rowdy Prairie Dawgs' music encompasses elements of blues, rock n roll, R&B/soul and floor-stomping country.
Cris Plata and Extra Hot
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Cris Plata and Extra Hot probably played at the first ten Waterfront Festivals. Cris is a great singer/ songwriter/ musician and standup kind of guy. His story is certainly not one of advantage and he came to this region from San Antonio with his family as they worked the harvests. He met his wife and bass player, Ann, detasselling corn. Cris' songs reflect his work ethic and love of life and family. Guitar whiz Ernie Conner and the legend, Clyde Stubblefield, are the not too shabby rest of this Tex-Mex quartet.
We do also know that our signature Jazz Brunch will begin as always at 9:00am Sunday and will feature the stunning Jazz stylings of Sally DeBroux backed by Laurie Lang ,Jon Becker and Chris Wagoner. Neighbors provide the baked goods and our coffee shops will donate the caffeine for this intimate gathering under the 30 x 60 tent in the northeast corner of the park. Carol Hoyer, Maria Swift and Bruce and Ginnie Woods have resolutely put the Brunch together for the past several years and should be thanked for their community spirit and baking skills.
Sunday is shaping up to be a solid day of music with one featured artist slot left to be filled. Cat Capallero and Andrew Rohn are two of the Marquette Neighborhood's shining stars. Their musical theater successes have far exceeded the community theater tag. Temp Slave, Walmartopia and In The Beginning were all brilliant in their own right with the Wal-Mart send-up rising to national recognition and an Off-Broadway run. In The Beginning was previewed at last year's Orton and in the same slot this year Andrew and Cat and friends will unite as the Rohnalleros to reprise outstanding songs from their musical repertoire. The husband and wife team were just on the Mad Toast Live show at the Brink and impressed with the range, power and whimsy of their song list.
The Getaway Drivers
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The up and coming Getaway Drivers (cabbies by day at some point) were just seen at the Capital Theater opening for and joining on stage The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Their set list is an impressive collection of rocking originals with a bit of a twang and will be lots of fun under the Orton canopy. A bunch of familiar Eastside faces in this band.
The Rousers
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There is not a band in town that can get a crowd going like the Rousers. It is a pleasure to watch the band's not-too-subtle approach to ramping up the dance floor intensity. They are non-stop excitement with Jagger-esque Frank Furillo at the wheel of this careening, carousing quintet. What will make this Rouser appearance special is the life-long friendship of Furillo with our featured performer, Dave Alvin of the Blasters and X and The Knitters fame. Furillo and Alvin played in bands together in Los Angeles in their teens and we are hoping that there will be some synergy on the Orton stage.
Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women
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Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women is Alvin's new, one-of-a-kind undertaking. The plan converged soon after Alvin's friend and musical collaborator Chris Gaffney, part of Alvin's backing band The Guilty Men, succumbed to liver cancer. Alvin enlisted multi-instrumentalist Cindy Cashdollar to assemble a band for a one-time concert, and the gig worked so well Alvin decided to take the ensemble into the studio, resulting in the debut recording from Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women. The outfit includes Cashdollar, who has backed everyone from Bob Dylan to Asleep At The Wheel; guitarist Nina Gerber, who has supported Nanci Griffith, Eliza Gilkyson and vocalist Christy McWilson (Alvin produced her group The Picketts); bassist Sarah Brown, who has toured with Alvin and Billy Bragg; Rounding out the large group is drummer Lisa Pankratz, who has performed with Rosie Flores, The Derailers, and Alvin. This is no novelty act: the musicians complement each other in numerous ways, combining country, folk, blues, rock, and New Orleans influences. Alvin continues his penchant of moving forward by looking backwards. He reflects on the music that inspired him as a youngster, examines several issues that persistently plague his home state of California, and observes how history affects both the present and the future.
Cindy Cashdollar
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Of course the Wil-Mar Center staff of dedicated volunteers will be grilling up a storm and serving up slices of Glass Nickel Pizza. Lao Laan-Xang, Jamerica, Café Costa Rica, Plaka and The Chocolate Shoppe will be on hand to meet every culinary craving.. On all three days we do some fundraising with the sometimes tedious, sometimes entertaining but always-lucrative MNA auction. Joanna Donovan and friends revived the Orton Park cakewalk three years ago and it was a huge hit. So whip up your most decadent sweet treat, bring it down to the park at 2pm on Sunday and see it consumed sans-utensils by some ecstatic youth.
Wildwood is creating the Orton Park T-shirt to be on sale throughout the weekend. There will be lots of vendors with neighborhood ties on hand and kids games overseen by the East High Soccer Boosters and BINGO in the tent run by the neighborhood Boy Scout troop. The Crystal Corner staff under the battle-tested scrutiny of John Durand will keep the spigots set at maximum flow in the two beer and wine gardens. The second garden should keep the lines down at peak hours. We encourage festival-goers to leave their coolers at home and support the free festival by purchasing food and beverages benefiting the Wil-Mar Center and MNA. To become a sponsor, to contribute to the auction or to volunteer, call 241-7143.
This year's generous sponsors include:
