A Progressive party guide

Those whose politics lean hard left would have to search a long time before finding another gathering as loaded with luminaries as The Progressive’s 100th Anniversary Conference Friday through Saturday at Monona Terrace. The $295 ticket prices are steep, but choosier folks can get into morning and afternoon sessions for $50 a pop. For a full schedule of events, go here. Otherwise Decider put together this quick rundown of promising events, beginning with a round up of the music on offer at the magazine's Thursday night concert. (While you're at it, Decider also recently spoke with The Progressive's Matt Rothschild and blogged about the magazine's 100th-anniversary issue.)

Thursday
[UPDATE 11 a.m.: The promoter has announced that Thursday's concert is "sold out, or very nearly so," and that any remaining tickets will be at the Orpheum's box office, which opens at 4 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday.] Thursday night's all about a whoppin' big anniversary concert at the Orpheum Theatre, co-headlined by Ani DiFranco (an ideal match for The Progressive's mix of didactic politics and admirable, gutsy independence), the Indigo Girls, and Dar Williams. With Melissa Ferrick and Catie Curtis on the bill, the show's actually a nice $50 introduction to some of the highlights of contemporary femme folk. The odd guy out (well, not entirely) is Ed Hamell, who performs blistering one-man acoustic sets under the stage name Hamell On Trial. He's on DiFranco's Righteous Babe label, but it should be priceless to see the looks on some people's faces during his set. He is as hysterically crass as he is loveable, so don't be surprised if he recruits the audience into a shouted chorus of "FUCK IT!" for one of his songs, or dispatches Ann Coulter with lines like this: "There are some douches that'll never fail ya / lest they come up against Ann's genitalia." Master of ceremonies Peter Mulvey is a Milwaukee singer-songwriter who stops in Madison often and has a well-rounded discography of his own, spanning from sturdy folks sounds to some jazz influences.

Friday
Friday morning’s panels include two standouts: “Saving The Environment,” with global warming expert Bruce Johansen, essayist Terry Tempest Williams, and others; and “Upholding Human Rights” with The Progressive managing editor Amitabh Pal, Frida Berrigan of The New America Foundation, and Colombia Support Network’s Cecilia Zarate-Laun. After a half-hour break to wolf down some lunch, check out the always suave and literate Sen. Russ Feingold and the far less smooth and seemingly batshit-crazy Rep. Dennis Kucinich.

The afternoon sessions include two completely unsurprising panels—“The Peace Movement” and “Breaking Down The Prison-Industrial Complex”—riding shotgun with one that particularly piqued our interest: “The Politics Of Sports—Making Progressive Appeals To the Fans.” The latter will be led by Dave Zirin, a contributor to The Nation and Sports Illustrated, and frequent cable news talking head. Later that afternoon, the panels run the gamut from those that champion women’s rights to discussing the ills of corporate power, then all the way up to the granddaddy of progressive causes—taking on the entire empire. “Taking On The Empire” includes The Progressive editor and publisher Matthew Rothschild and heavy-hitting author Naomi Klein.

Friday night will likely peak during the $10 “Raise The Roof” gathering on the Monona Terrace rooftop between 6p.m. and 9 p.m. Yuks will be supplied by Whad’Ya Know’s Michael Feldman, sweet turns of phrase by poet Martin Espada, and fire and brimstone by Amy Goodman and Jesse Jackson.

Saturday
Saturday offers only one panel, but it’s a doozy: “How To Fight The Corporate Media,” anchored by incendiary academic Robert McChesney and, if all goes according to plan, rapper Chuck D. The afternoon is speaker-heavy, with notables like essayist and critic Katha Pollit, Capital Times columnist John Nichols, and Iraq war protestor Cindy Sheehan. In the event’s closing session at 7 p.m., political satire, journalism, and rugged good looks collide when Will Durst, Barbara Ehrenreich, Howard Zinn, and Robert Redford take the stage.