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77 Square is the definitive arts, culture and entertainment guide for Madison, Wis., and the surrounding area.
It's time for the Clockmaker Music Festival
It all started on the Fourth of July in 2005, the summer before their senior year of high school. The guys had just been to Summerfest and were pumped up to start their own music festival.
So with a month or so of planning, they put together a lineup of four bands that August in a friend's barn in Helenville, Wis., and named it "Petestock" in honor of their buddy Pete Bruckbauer's 18th birthday.
Those were the humble beginnings of the Clockmaker Music Festival, which presents eight bands this Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 23-24, from 3 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. The outdoor shows will take place at "30 on the Square," the stage at the top of State Street where it meets the Square. It's free, but all donations after expenses go to Invisible Children (www.invisiblechildren.com), a charity that helps out kids fleeing the rebel army in war-ravaged northern Uganda.
The seven organizers are all in college now, most at the UW and some at universities out of state, but they all came together this summer to plan the festival. They dropped the name "Petestock" and settled on "Clockmaker," named after a fake movie they made a trailer for in high school.
Selecting the lineup has been a collaborative process, said Bruckbauer. "We all have to agree on a band. We were looking for musicianship and the quality of music, not genre."
Madison pop-rockers the Selfish Gene headline on Saturday night at 7 p.m., while Sunday headliners Chafo grooves reggae and funk beats, also at 7 p.m. Chafo's performance will feature the local hip-hop trio Ra Fury.
The rest of Saturday's lineup includes Bad James at 3 p.m., the Trapper Schoepp Band at 4:15 p.m. and Stukenberg at 5:30 p.m. On Sunday, Red Romero will jump-start the rock at 3 p.m., followed by Charles Kim of Sol at 4:15 p.m. and Company of Thieves at 5:30 p.m.
While you're in the giving mood, head over to the Frequency, 121 W. Main St., on Saturday at 10 p.m. to support a bunch of regional bands, which are doing a Community Action Coalition food pantry benefit.
The $10 cover will help out more than 40 food pantries around southeastern Wisconsin.
Coming down from Minneapolis for the benefit are Apparently Nothing (soaring sensitive-guy power pop) and White Light Riot (fist-pumping, slick indie rock). The local bands include new all-female garage pop trio Hula and the Ooh La Las, and a resurgence of Ladybeard, the on-again, off-again post-punk pranksters.
Next Wednesday, Aug. 27, head over to the High Noon Saloon, 701 E. Washington Ave., for some fuzzy roots reggae to soothe the mid-week slump.
J-San and the Analogue Sons will kick out some dreamy wah-wah dub and bring an overall sunny vibe from their hometown of Ithaca, N.Y. Local opener Roots Collective will keep things grounded with straight-up reggae and funk jams. The show will start at 9 p.m., and the cover is $8.