by admin
With the weekend hitting in the middle of the week thanks to good ol’ Independence Day, we’re spitting out the What’s What a day early. Celebrate the Fourth with the Depot’s annual Diamond Dog Eating Contest, fight for your right to dance at Transmission, and check out fireworks on St. Anthony Main. Later this weekend, enjoy such all-American activities as Shakespeare in the park, Bruce Springsteen cover bands and generally dancing your face off. So get out your stars and stripes and show your gosh-darn American pride!
xo-l’étoile
Design by Caroline Royce
WEDNESDAY, JULY 4TH
The Depot’s Diamond Dog Eating Contest
@ The Depot Tavern
17 N 7th Street
Minneapolis
2 pm / FREE
You know how every once in a while – let’s say once a year – you just get that inexplicable urge to go out and see some guys stuff sausage down their throats while a crowd cheers them on? Us too! Well you can get your mind right out of the gutter, because of course we’re talking about the Depot’s third annual Diamond Dog eating contest. In a scant ten minutes, six brave souls will take on as many of the Depot’s signature bacon wrapped, deep fried hot dogs (on a pretzel bun!) as they can stomach to win the coveted title of Depot Diamond Dog Champion, and a year of non-stop bragging rights and peer admiration (oh, and some prizes and such). Bobby Kahn of Freeky Deeky and MPLS.TV hosts the raucous proceedings, with l’étoile editrix Jahna Peloquin serving as one of the guest judges. Will last year’s baby faced champion Eric Dahl prevail again, or will one of his challengers wrest the crown away. There’s only one way to find out! -Anthony Enright
Click HERE for the First Avenue site
Photo by Leslie Plesser
WEDNESDAY, JULY 4TH
Freedom From Pants VI
@ Soap Factory parking lot
518 SE 2nd Street
Minneapolis
Meetup @ 6 pm, rollout @ 10 pm / FREE
Are pants still a thing? We’re beginning to wonder as the crazy summer heat wave has made the very notion of wearing pants seem like a cruel and capricious flight of fashion tyranny. If the universe really wanted us to wear pants it wouldn’t keep sending us 90-plus degree days, right? Though you can forgo pants in the privacy of your own home, in most other situations some kind of covering for your lower extremities is de rigueur. One exception to that rule is the buoyant and festive Freedom From Pants bike ride, where two wheels, a pair of briefs and a bright smile are all that’s required. Hundreds of sexy bike enthusiasts will converge on the Soap Factory lot, careen headlong around the city in their skivvies and return to the starting point for a (presumably) scantily clad dance party. Come experience one of the twin cities’ biking community’s most freewheeling events, it’s the perfect place to show off your finest undies and escape the tyranny of pants. -Anthony Enright
Click HERE for the Facebook site
WEDNESDAY, JULY 4TH
Red, White & Boom
@ St. Anthony Main
420 Main Street SE
Minneapolis
10 pm / FREE
Celebrate Independence Day by seeing some of the biggest and best fireworks in the Twin Cities at Minneapolis’ annual Red, White & Boom celebration along the historic Main Street of St. Anthony Main. Enjoy the view of the Mississippi while listening to some great live music and watching the fireworks once the sun goes down. Be sure to show your pride and wear your patriotic best – and don’t forget the bug spray! -Chelsea Streich
Click HERE for the Red, White and Boom site
WEDNESDAY, JULY 4TH
D4th of July
@ Triple Rock Social Club
629 Cedar Avenue
Minneapolis
8 pm / 18+ / $12
Tonight is the 9th (or 10th) annual Dillinger Four Fourth of July show at the Triple Rock Social Club – and after all, what could be more all-American than D4? There is not many better was to celebrate the birth of our great nation than chugging High Life beers and crowd surfing at what is likely to be one of the rowdiest punk rock shows of the year. The energy is always high and Mr. Paddy Costello almost always takes his pants off. The classic Midwest punk rock kings never disappoint. It’s a full of full frontal, full force punk rock, plus beards, bellies, and one million beers (and tequila shots). Also adding to the party is, Frozen Teens, Brain Tumors, Turkish Techno and Victory. Happy D4th of July! -Danielle Morris
Click HERE for the Triple Rock Social Club site
WEDNESDAY, JULY 4TH
Tramps Like Us / The Fontanelles / Hand Sand Hands
@ 331 Club
331 13th Avenue NE
Minneapolis
7 pm / 21+ / FREE
There could be nothing more damn American (in a good way!) than spending your pre-fireworks hours at the 331 Club with Tramps Like Us, an excellent Bruce Springsteen tribute band made up of members of Gospel Gossip, Pony Trash and more who won Best Cover Band in City Pages‘ 2012 “Best of” list. They sound terrific, capturing as much of the wall of sound of a Springsteen show as humanly possible. The rootsy-as-hell, Wilco-ish Fontanelles play after the pryotechnics, along with the rough-and-ready, lo-fi droneisms of Hand Sand Hands. -Jon Hunt
Click HERE for the Facebook invite
WEDNESDAY, JULY 4TH
Bass Estate: America, Fuck Yeah!
@ Bar Abeline
1300 Lagoon Avenue
Minneapolis
9 pm / 21+ / FREE
Get ready to get down ‘n’ dirty, American style, when Wants Vs. Needs DJs Espada and Anton take over Bar Abeline’s Bass Estate DJ night in honor of the 4th. They join resident DJs Tyrone and Reesa Rex for a night that’s sure to add some fireworks to your night in the form of hot beats, hot bods and 2-4-1 drinks. After all, what could be more American than twofers? -Jahna Peloquin
Click HERE for the Facebook invite
WEDNESDAY, JULY 4TH
Transmission 4th of July
@ Clubhouse Jäger
923 Washington Avenue N
Minneapolis
10 pm / 21+ / FREE
This 4th, don’t let the action end with fireworks. After your ears settle from the cacophony of bursts and blasts, head down to Jager to embrace audible pleasure – an evening full of ’80s, synth, punk, post-punk, new wave, indie and so much more done as only DJ Jake Rudh can. Tonight’s Transmission celebrates the glorious day of Independence, plus the impending geekfest, CONvergence – kicking off Thursday. Ladies and gents, do your American part – get yer ass to the dancefloor. -Juleana Enright
Click HERE for the Clubhouse Jäger site
THURSDAY, JULY 5TH-SUNDAY, JULY 8TH
“Godfather” Marathon
@ Trylon Microcinema
3258 Minnehaha Avenue
Minneapolis
Part I: 7 pm Thursday, 3:30 pm Saturday & Sunday / $8
Part II: 7 pm Friday, 7 pm Saturday & Sunday / $8
“I believe in America.” Thus begins Francis Ford Coppola and Mario Puzo’s epic Godfather, wherein Don Vito Corleone makes his own Declaration of Independence from despotic mafia chieftains and becomes a symbol of free market success, while his youngest and most intelligent son and successor brings even greater profits at the soul’s expense. The Godfather saga is the Great American Novel as Film, a family’s mythological decline that has more in common with Thomas Mann than Scarface. Celebrating its fortieth anniversary, The Godfather is an accidental masterpiece released against the odds, a popular phenomenon that has since become a model for businessmen and foreign policy strategists (who then perhaps overlook Coppola’s tragic theme). It reinvigorated the struggling Marlon Brando, while helping launch the careers of Al Pacino, James Caan, Diane Keaton, Talia Shire, and Robert Duvall. But The Godfather Part II is a more impressive achievement. Coppola sets Pacino’s increasingly zombiefied Micheal alongside the ascendancy of young Don Vito (Robert De Niro) as a parallel of achievement and demise, heart and mind, making the Corleone story a historical hall of mirrors with melancholy symmetries, where peoples and places are constantly reflecting on each other through ritual and murder, a conflict that has only become more resonant. Has there been a more Michael Corleone-like historical spectacle than Barack Obama in a tux, addressing a press dinner after just signing off on Osama Bin Laden’s death? The Trylon presents a commemorative Godfather marathon this weekend, an exhausting but good-God gratifying journey that refuses to grow old. As a bonus, Saucy Bert’s will be serving their awesome meatball subs to audiences at the Thursday and Friday night screenings – an offer you can’t refuse. (Click HERE for the Niles Files’ Godfather sound montage.) -Niles Schwartz
Click HERE for the Take-Up Productions site
THURSDAY, JULY 5TH-SUNDAY, JULY 8TH
CONvergence 2012: Wonder Women
@ Doubletree by Hilton
7800 Normandale Boulevard
Bloomington
All Day-All Night / $100
It’s the 4th of July Weekend, and nothing says fireworks like CONvergence. (Well, that and the actual act of saying “fireworks”.) The annual four day Sci-Fi/Fantasy convention takes place Thursday through Sunday at the Doubletree by Hilton in Bloomington, where thousands of fanboys and fangirls come together to celebrate their cultural heritage. And if that sounds boring, think of it more like a nerd meat market. Either description is apt. This year’s theme is Wonder Women, and the event celebrates the contributions of some of the industry’s most wonderous of women. Spend all day at panel discussions, getting autographs and hearing behind-the-scenes chats with Sophie Aldred (Ace from Doctor Who), Lyda Morehouse (author of the “LINK Angel” series) and others, then party all night in themed rooms with complementary drinks, food and costumes galore. See the CONvergence event page for more details, or view their full website for a full schedule of events. -Rob Callahan
Click HERE for the CONvergence site
THURSDAY, JULY 5TH
Pity Sex / The Funeral & the Twilight / The Shakin’ Babies
@ Hell’s Kitchen
80 S 9th Street
Minneapolis
10 pm / 21+ / $5
Rising from the satanic ashes of kindreds Christian Death and Dystopia, Minneapolis doom punk rockers The Funeral and the Twilight put just enough catchy hooks and melancholy melodies in their gothy shoegaze tracks to have you singing along to charmingly disturbing lyrics like “poke out your eyes with the dirtiest of fingers.” Oh come on, too much cheer is bad for you anyways. Tonight, don’t miss TFATT at the most apropos of spots, Hell’s Kitchen, with guests Michigan’s melodo-core Pity Sex and local lo-fi doo wop garage rockers, the Shakin’ Babies. Plus, peep through awesome screen prints courtesy of Forward Records. Come sad – leave happier. -Juleana Enright
Click HERE for the Hell’s Kitchen Underground site
Pity Sex
THURSDAY, JULY 5TH
Myrrh Tour Kickoff Show w/ Rifle Diet / Children of Euler
@ Hexagon Bar
27th Avenue S
Minneapolis
9 pm / 21+ / FREE
The local noise duo Myrrh – never to be confused with the Christian folk rock group of the same name (and oh, yes, there is one) – consists of viola master Jackie Beckey (Brute Heart, the Blackthorns) and Mother of Fire’s Andie Mazorol, a pair fans can attest are prime candidates for a lo-fi project. Join the band as they kick off their tour at the Hex by spitting out some organic kraut jams. Tonight’s show also features sets from Minneapolis crust punk rockers Rifle Diet and the four-piece Children of Euler, who play thrash metal about…wait for it…mathematics. YES. -Juleana Enright
Click HERE for the Facebook invite
Myrrh
THURSDAY, JULY 5TH
Cum on Feel the Noize Returneth
@ Clubhouse Jäger
923 Washington Avenue N
Minneapolis
10 pm / 21+ / FREE
You know you belt them in the shower, those classic, head-bangin’ ’80s hair metal power ballads. You may even harbor a few heavy duty crushes on the hot dudes that made gender androgyny a rock “it” factor. That’s why tonight is your night to shed the shame and join DJ Danielle Morris as she spins “macho hard rock” faves for your fist pumping and sing-a-long pleasure, back after a two-month hiatus. Sip down delish libations conjured up by the good lookin’ Jäger barstaff and drink specials including $5 Jameson and $2.50 Miller High Life Tallboys. Girls rock yer boyz; boyz rock yer girls; girls rock yer girls; boyz rock yer boyz…You get the picture. -Staff
Click HERE for the Facebook invite
FRIDAY, JULY 6TH
Mayor Daley / Skoal Kodiak / Hasps / Booker T & the MG’s Cover Band
@ Nick & Eddie Warehouse
1612 Harmon Place
Minneapolis
10 pm / 21+ / $6
First off, let me say how weird and kind of awesome it is that there’s a Booker T & the MG’s cover band – that’s a messed-up and completely beautiful idea, and we definitely approve. Hilariously-named headliners Mayor Daley from Chicago (of course) play a weird, droney, difficult kind of post-rock. It’s interesting but rough stuff, played quite seriously with a kind of skittering intensity. Openers Skoal Kodiak are even more messed-up sounding, blending unintelligible vocals into a buzzy, polyrhythmic sex stew. Hasps features former members of Gay Beast, full of guitar and electronic messed-up stuff. A night of Art rock, capital A. -Jon Hunt
Click HERE for the Facebook invite
FRIDAY, JULY 6TH
HOTEL w/ Slim Brit
@ Kitty Cat Klub
315 14th Avenue SE
Minneapolis
10 pm / 21+ / FREE
As the Facebook invite puts it, “Hotel is a party that doesn’t quit, just like America.” The longtime dance night from DJ Jonathan Ackerman features different guests each month, with this month’s featured DJ being Slim Brit. Did we mention it’s free?! So, spend your money on the things that really count – i.e., dranks – grab your ladies and your flashy gents and get ready to bust a move. -Jahna Peloquin
Click HERE for the Facebook invite
FRIDAY, JULY 6TH
Get Cryphy
@ First Avenue Record Room
701 First Avenue
Minneapolis
10 pm / 18+ / $3 adv, $5 door
The rowdy rap crew Get Cryphy is back and ready for more this Friday for their regular residency at First Avenue’s Record Room. Prepare to experience the bumpin’ beats of resident DJ darlings Jimmy 2 Times, Plain Ole Bill, Last Word and Fundo as they break it down in the venue’s intimate haven. Arrive early to enjoy drink specials and partake in giveaways from Phenom and Familia, then prepare to party down. -Staff
Click HERE for the First Avenue site
SATURDAY, JULY 7TH-SUNDAY, JULY 8TH (Continues July 14 & 15)
The Strange Capers present “The Comedy of Errors”
@ Powderhorn Park
3400 15th Avenue S
Minneapolis
2 pm / FREE (donations encouraged)
Our favorite Shakespeare in the park players the Strange Capers are back at it for another year with The Comedy of Errors, a sure-to-be-inventive twist on a classic. Under the direction of Guthrie regular Randy Reyes, the highly physical comedy hinges on mistaken identity – something the experienced troupe are sure to handle with aplomb. So grab your picnic basket, blanket and straw hat – after all, it isn’t summer until you’ve experienced Shakespeare in the park. -Jahna Peloquin
Click HERE for the Strange Capers site
SATURDAY, JULY 7TH
“Silverfish: New Work by Asia Ward & Amy Toscani”
@ Rosalux Gallery
4100 Van Buren Street NE
Minneapolis
Opening reception 7-10 pm, runs through July 29 / FREE
A silverfish is one of those creepy crawlys that you are never happy to find in your home; their otherworldly oddity is unnerving at best and repulsive at worst. There is however a delicate if alien beauty in the segmented shell of this creature that is clearly echoed in sculptor Asia Ward’s gorgeous, delicate abstract aluminum artwork. Asia’s sculptural work in metal has received quite a bit of well warranted attention as it’s both lovely and technically impressive. The awkward oddity of the silverfish (or any unexpected creature encounter) is richly evoked in the strange and alarming assemblages of sculptor Amy Toscani. Her projects retain evidence of their creation, lending them a home-made, found object, and even kitschy element that is thoughtful and slightly unnerving. Both artists are interested in stirring the emotions by exploring unexpected beauty and unconventional uses for familiar materials and objects, so this exhibit promises to be a significant showcase of local sculpture talent. -Anthony Enright
Click HERE for the Rosalux Gallery site
Art by Asia Ward
SATURDAY, JULY 7TH
The Magnolias
@ 7th Street Entry
701 1st Avenue N
Minneapolis
8 pm doors / 18+ / $7
The Magnolias – John Freeman and whoever he wants to have with him at any given time – have been a Minneapolis staple since 1984, pretty much helping to define the “Minneapolis sound” along the way: tight, buzzy, punk-inflected shit with power-pop overtones and tons of hooks. Think the Buzzcocks, early Jam before all the soul kicked in, the Replacements, and a touch of Peter Perrett. They’ve been on-again, off-again for years, but now they’re definitely back, sporting a tight lineup drawn from different ears of the band and new material (the totally-unchanged-in-the-best-way Pop the Lock LP). They’ve never received their fair dues, really – they’ve always been more stalwarts than legends, but they deserve accolades for some terrific songs and killer liver shows. -Jon Hunt
Click HERE for the First Avenue site
SATURDAY, JULY 7TH
Uncanny Valley / Enola Gay / Prostate / DJ Albert
@ Club Med
You know the spot
10 pm / tix TBA
It’s a cool night of some very fresh electronic music on Saturday night at Club Med/Glebb Bacon/MedxxA (a secret location, message the Facebook invite for details). Uncanny Valley from Oakland, California has a sound that is coolly hypnotic and strangely unsettling at the the same time. Uncanny valley is also the name of a hypothesis in the field of robotics which refers to that when human replicas look and act almost exactly like human beings it cause a response of revulsion among human observers, so it’s a perfectly apt name considering that the band sounds like the soundtrack for the next Blade Runner movie – super sleek, sexy sci-fi. Also playing is Enola Gay, which rose from the ashes Chelsea Boys, sounding like they got a hip-hop makeover. Sexed up, dancey club beats with the added vocals of Sypder Baybie Raw Dawg make for a sounds just right at the basement show as well as the fancy ass club. Also on the bill are Prostate, Sister Midnight from Iowa City, and a DJ set by electronic music wizard Albert. -Danielle Morris
Click HERE for the Facebook invite
Uncanny Valley
SATURDAY, JULY 7TH
House Party 97
@ Honey
205 E Hennepin Avenue
Minneapolis
10 pm / 21+ / 45
Party like it’s 1997 when monthly dance night House Party 97 hits Honey this weekend. It’s all ’90s music, all night from DJs Jonathan Ackerman, Slamdunkapher and Dan Berube. DJ Jimmy2Times calls it “the most fun ever,” so you know it’s good, right? Besides, children of the ’90s can’t hate. We love our nostalgia with only a dash of irony. -Jahna Peloquin
Click HERE for the Facebook invite
SUNDAY, JULY 8TH
The Young w/ Wild Child / Ex Nuns
@ Triple Rock Social Club
629 Cedar Avenue
Minneapolis
8 pm / 18+ / $7
The Young, a Matador band from Austin, TX, traffic in a kind of twangy, Western punk that reminds us a lot of a young, hungry Westerberg on tons of mescaline – in other words, tons of melody, raspy vocals, and punk energy, but a druggy, 13th Floor Elevators stomp. Openers Wild Child are hardcore in the old way: fast, loud, more fast, more loud, pure punk thrash. Ex Nuns, a new band that traffic in what’s described as “loud and shoegazey local goodness.” -Jon Hunt
Click HERE for the Triple Rock Social Club site
Editor in Chief: Jahna Peloquin / Contributors: Juleana Enright, Anthony Enright, Jon Hunt, Rob Callahan, Niles Schwartz, Danielle Morris, Chelsea Streich, Jahna Peloquin
