by staff
This weekend is Labor Day weekend, and you know what that means – the State Fair, up-north cabin trips, and backyard BBQs. But there is still plenty happening this weekend. Namely: the Internet Cat Video Film Festival at the Walker Art Center tonight. News publications from all over the country are flying in to cover the event. It’s kind of a big deal. There’s also TONS of great live music happening this weekend, so read on and make your to-do weekend checklist!
xo, l’étoile
THURSDAY, AUGUST 30TH
Internet Cat Video Film Festival
@ Walker Open Field
1750 Hennepin Avenue S
Minneapolis
8:30–9:30 pm / All Ages / FREE
There is exactly one reason why God (and by God we mean Al Gore) invented that amazing superhighway of information we call the Internet. No, not porn, you smutty people – the real reason for the Internet is the ability to share videos of your cat being super cute or doing something adorable. No longer are we as humans limited to sharing these heartwarming moments with our mildly amused friends, now we can all experience cat related videos endlessly whist eating Cheetos (hot ones of course) in our underwear free from the judgments of the outside world. Recognizing how that availability has truly changed our world, and never an institution that shrinks from the celebration of a cultural zeitgeist, the Walker Art Center will this Thursday acknowledge the glory of the genre with an all cat video film festival. Where else will you get a chance to view a continuous stream of cat videos along with thousands of your fellow Twin Cities residents (Cheetos and underwear optional)? Wait, is this art? Who knows, and who cares? Program director Katie Hill says it’s intended as “more of a social experiment,” and we’re pretty sure it will attract a wide cross section of humanity because um, who doesn’t love to see tiny surprised kittens? If you’re feeling particularly active, join the Queer Bike Gang for a pre-show ride (meeting at the Walker around 6:30 pm). They encourage you to dress in cat sweatshirts (or hotpants), jungle prints, or better yet, just come dressed as a cat! That will really up your crazy cat lady/dad reputation. Feel free to LOL to your heart’s content at one of the more unique and bizarre entertainment offerings of the summer. -Anthony Enright
Click HERE for the Walker Art Center site
THURSDAY, AUGUST 30TH
Patio Nights @ City House: Jack Klatt & The Cat Swingers
@ City House
Upper Landing Park, Shepard Road & Old Chestnut Street
St. Paul
6:30–9:30 pm / All Ages / FREE
The final edition of the Minnesota Museum of American Art presented summer series, “Patio Nights” takes place tonight and definitely is prepared to go out in style. The music-focused event has welcomed an eclectic range of local musicians and introduced the museum to a new crowd of enthusiasts. This month alone, installments of the popular St. Paul series have featured performances from on-the-radar local bands like contemplative folk rockers, Brian Just Band and poetic Anglo-rockers Greycoats. Tonight’s show features a set fused with country, blues, western, swing and ragtime from locals Jack Klatt & The Cat Swingers. Their latest album, “Mississippi Roll” which features collabs with Charlie Parr and Spider John Koerner has already garnered media approval including being hailed as “one of the best local albums of the year by City Pages. Enjoy tasty nosh from Café 128 as well as drinks, happy hour specials until 7:30, art activities for the kids and a chance to learn about the MMAA’s exciting fall programming. -Juleana Enright For more on Patio Nights and the MMAA, check out Juleana Enright’s Culturator column HERE.
Click HERE for the Patio Nights site
Jack Klatt and the Porch Swingers
THURSDAY, AUGUST 30TH
Baltimore Annex Theater presents “Salome”
@ Medusa
you-know-the-spot
8 pm / Tix TBA
Though it may borrow its plot from a biblical story, don’t make the mistake in thinking Salome is anything like a Sunday school lesson. Touring theater performance, Baltimore Annex Theater is back in Minneapolis to test out their latest presentation an original adaption of the tale of Salome, King Herod, his wife Herodias and John the Baptist, fittingly dubbed Salome, and it’s far from holy. Anyone fortunate to catch their previous shows (Beowulf in the living room of the ShitBiscuit or their original nod to westerns, A Fistful of Flowers at the Paper Moose) can attest to the troupe’s amazing talent, not to mention their swashbuckling flamboyance and flair for the extreme. Prepare for version that highlights the story’s obsession with lust, desire, power, austerity and brutality via multimedia, puppetry, montage and grotesque accoutrements. -Juleana Enright
Click HERE for the Facebook invite
THURSDAY, AUGUST 30TH–MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 3RD
Minnesota State Fair Fine Arts Show & Crop Art Show
@ Minnesota State Fairgrounds
1265 Snelling Avenue
Ag-Horticulture Building & Fine Arts Building
St. Paul
9 am–9 pm daily / All Ages / FREE (with $12 fair admission)
Of all the strange and wonderful things to do at the Minnesota State Fair, perhaps no activity carries the heady mix of highbrow and populist that accompanies the Fine Arts Show. It has the cache of its own building far removed from the squealing masses of the Midway. Though a juried show, we consistently find the exhibition a surreal mix of genuinely stellar art from Minnesota’s deep and complex artistic community along with a selection of, well, more “unique” artifacts. Apparently the jury is rather selective with only about 14 percent of submissions making the cut, so we assume the diversity is intentional. Love it or hate it, the Fine Arts Show is never boring, and for many is the one time of year they actively seek out an artistic exhibition. If nothing else, it’s endlessly entertaining to listen to your fellow patrons’ critiques; they range from the insightful to the ridiculous, which I guess is a good way of describing art in general. For a less serious but no less technically accomplished exhibit, may we recommend you also check out the Crop Art located in the Ag-Hort building (alongside the fruit and vegetable displays). Some of the crop art pieces are really intensely crafted, while others are delightfully kitschy. Hit both buildings in one day and you’ll have a stellar microcosm of the State Fair in all its incongruous glory. -Anthony Enright
Click HERE for the Minnesota State Fair site
THURSDAY, AUGUST 30TH-MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 3RD
Live Music at the Fair
@ Minnesota State Fairgrounds
1265 Snelling Avenue
St. Paul
Various times / All shows except Grandstand free with $12 Fair admission
We’re in the midst of the Great Minnesota Get Together-on-a-Stick, and while eating, drinking, and checking out the pig pen are certainly on the to-do list, the standout this year has to be the eclectic musical lineup, which is perhaps cooler than it’s ever been. Sure, you’ve got your big name Grandstand acts – KISS and Mötley Crüe (last night), Journey, Pat Benatar and Loverboy (on Saturday), but for the first time, local music gets it turn to shine on ye olde Grandstand with Friday’s show featuring a lineup of some of the Twin Cities’ most well-known (and loved) acts: Semisonic, the Jayhawks, Dessa, Jeremy Messersmith, and Lucy Michelle and the Velvet Lapelles. (5 pm Friday, $35 in addition to Fair admission. Grandstand.) Hard-thumpin’ quartet 4onthefloor’s rollicking live show has garnered them one of the Twin Cities’ most popular acts of late, and frontman Gabe Douglas has the whiskey-soaked vocals to back up their claims to be a “stompin’ roadhouse blues” act. (6 pm Thursday. Free. Cafe Caribe Beer Garden.) The fair is littered with has-been, retro rock acts, but Wilson Phillips is one we can get behind. Any child of the ’90s will get nostalgic over their hit “Hold On.” We’re still holding on, ladies. (8:30 pm Friday & Saturday. Free. Leinenkugel Bandshell.) Cover bands are a dime a dozen at the fair, but Hookers & Blow are a cover band with a majorly bona fide rock pedigree – it features current and former members of the Honeydogs, Soul Asylum, The Bodeans, Brian Setzer Band, the Prairie Home Companion Band, The Dollys and more. ‘Nuff said. (7:30 pm & 9 pm Friday & Saturday. Free. Bazaar After Dark Stage.) In a city known for a strong jazz scene, jazz trio the New Standards stand out from the pack thanks to their knack for experimentation and pop hit reappropriation – their unique renditions of Britney Spears’ “Toxic” and the Flaming Lips’ “Do You Realize?” are as charmingly fun as they are dextrously arranged. (6:30 pm & 7:45 pm Friday & Saturday. Free. Heritage Stage.) Big-name pop, country and retro rock acts are a given at the Fair, but it’s pretty much unheard of for it to land a bona fide rap star. Wiz is best known for his huge rap hit “Black & Yellow,” an inescapable track if you’ve been to the club any given time in the last two years. (6:30 pm Monday. $29 reserved seating, $39 general admission. Grandstand.) -Jahna Peloquin
Click HERE for the Minnesota State Fair site
The Jayhawks
THURSDAY, AUGUST 30TH
l’étoile magazine presents “Project Runway” Weekly Viewing Parties
@ moto-i
Second Level
2940 Lyndale Avenue S
Minneapolis
8 pm screening / All Ages / FREE
We here at l’étoile have always been big Project Runway fans, and this season featured one of our very own – Minneapolis fashion designer Raul Osorio. Join l’étoile and Raul to view the show while you sip cocktails, including $3.50 house wines and $4 good-luck cocktails, every Thursday on the second floor of moto-i. Vote for Raul as Fan Favorite throughout the duration of the season by tweeting hashtag #teamraul. The winner gets $10,000 at the end of the season, and Raul has promised to throw a huge party if he wins – and everyone’s invited! (One tweet per user will be counted as a vote within a five-minute period, so you can vote a lot. Vote here.). -Jahna Peloquin
Click HERE for the Facebook invite, HERE for Todd O’Dowd’s Q&A with the designer for l’étoile, & HERE for Todd’s recap of last week’s episode
THURSDAY, AUGUST 30TH
The Suburbs w/ The Magnolias
@ Minnesota Zoo Amphitheater
13000 Zoo Boulevard
Apple Valley
7 pm / $34-$46.50
If we had to pick one band from the ’80s that deserved to make it big, like really really big, on a national level, we’d pick – sorry, Hüsker Dü! Try harder, the Replacements! – the Suburbs, whose brand of angular, catchy damn New Wave music deserved much wider acceptance, especially decade-making hit “Love Is The Law,” which shoulda been in at least one John Hughes movie, no? The ‘burbs have been away forever, but have never really been gone – their frequent reunion shows are always welcome, and seeing them at the Zoo sounds like a great way to experience ‘em, even in the blistering heat. The newly-reactivated (and also awesome) Magnolias open. -Jon Hunt
Click HERE for the Music in the Zoo site
THURSDAY, AUGUST 30TH
The $50 Pyramid Taping live: Featuring Mayda & Joey Vincent
@ Grumpy’s Bar
1111 Washington Avenue S
Minneapolis
10 pm / 21+ / FREE
Haven’t you ever wanted to see local celebs make fools out of themselves? Perhaps while they are trying to answer questions in a booze filled version of TV’s $100,000 Pyramid, but with a lot less money and a lot more dirty talking. In an effort to spread the word about the $50 Pyramid this week there will be a live taping hosted by Ian Rans from TV’s Drinking with Ian. If you need even more encouragement besides being on TV, try FREE BEER ALL NIGHT for everyone in the audience. Okay, now you’re paying attention. The two stars playing for the big money are comedian and host of Filter Free Amerika podcast Joey Vincent and singer/badass Mayda. Yet, they need someone or a few someones to play against, only the fearless may apply. Well, maybe fearless is a little exaggerated, slightly brave is more like it. Whoever wins takes home the big bucks. Even the audience gets to cash in, pick your favorite contestant and do some private wagering. Remember people, private gambling is illegal…but encouraged! Oh yeah just in case you forgot, two words, free beer. -Alexandra Katz
Click HERE for the Facebook invite
THURSDAY, AUGUST 30TH
Wolf Lords w/ All Eyes
@ Icehouse
2528 Nicollet Avenue
Minneapolis
10:30 pm / 21+ / $5
Honestly: pretty much everything former Lookbook synthman/songwriter Grant Cutler does is awesome. He has a way with a gorgeous bed of synth or guitar low-key ambience and knows how to marry it to a magnificent tune. And you already love singer Aby Wolf from her work with Dessa and A. Wolf and Her Claws, right? The combination of the two is pretty much a guaranteed sure bet, as in the case with their joint project, Wolf Lords. Opening are All Eyes, an ensemble made up of some noteworthy Twin Cities musicians such as Alicia Wiley, Jake Hanson, Luke Anderson, and Joseph Christenson. -Jon Hunt
Click HERE for the Icehouse site
THURSDAY, AUGUST 30TH
Fuck Knights + Gabe Barnett & the Big House Rounders + El Le Faunt & His Traveling Circus + The Farmhouse Band
@ Turf Club
1601 University Avenue W
St. Paul
9 pm / 21+ / $6
Whether strutting their own original material or thrashing out innovative covers, Fuck Knights shows are simply among the very best live rock experiences in town, offering the perfect blend of dirtbag garage punk and scuzzy freakouts. Also on the lineup is Gabe Barnett – a kindred folkie spirit to Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan – and his band the Big House Rounders, as well as the vaudevillian ensemble El Le Faunt and His Traveling Circus, which reminds us of Tom Waits running off to join a very sinister circus in Russia. -Staff
Fuck Knights
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31ST
Wabasha Days #11: Retribution Gospel Choir w/ Fire in the Northern Firs + Laarks + Exile
@ Ecolab Plaza (across from Amsterdam Bar & Hall)
376 Wabasha Street N
St. Paul
4 pm / All Ages / FREE
True confession: I like Al Sparkhawk’s riffy, cheeseball, muscular AOR alter ego way more than his hushed, muted regular self in his better-known outfit Low. Their The Revolution EP was their corniest yet, and I loved it – it had just enough chunky Foreigner-isms to go ’round, and so many hooks you could hang an entire coat factory on ‘em. Best part: you’d never expect someone who plays shows you can’t even talk during to come off this rockin’, and do it so convincingly. It’s your last chance to attend this free series, and the great lineup is filled out by Fire in the Northern Firs, crafting some magnificent atmospherics to blow your mind to, plus Laarks and and Exile. -Jon Hunt
Click HERE for the Amsterdam Bar & Hall site
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31ST
Burger Night
@ Old Arizona
2821 Nicollet Avenue
Minneapolis
8 pm–1 am / All Ages / FREE
Local pop-up restaurant Burger Night has been quietly serving what many consider to be the Twin Cities’ best burgers at rotating locations throughout town. If you haven’t had a chance to try one, you’re missing out; they are by all accounts a decadent work of meaty art. So here, dear food lovers, is your chance to remedy that oversight, drink some fancy suds, hear great local music and benefit a good cause all at the same time. On the ingestible side, the event features hamburgers by Burger Night, build-your-own donuts by Donut Cooperative, and beer from Surly Brewing. The feast for your ears will be music by Tiger VS, Sleeping in the Aviary, Buffalo Moon and more. The proceeds help benefit Old Arizona’s programs which provide learning opportunities for underprivileged youth. Though admission is free, you will need to pay for your beer and burgers, so we recommend hitting the ATM beforehand. Don’t miss out on a cool show at a great venue, and join us in checking out a buzz worthy burger bash! -Anthony Enright
Click HERE for the Burger Night site
Buffalo Moon photo by Emily Utne
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31ST
Kill the Vultures + Andrew Broder
@ Icehouse
2526 Nicollet Avenue S
Minneapolis
10:30 pm / 21+ / $5
It’s a night of innovative hip hop and beats at Icehouse on Friday. While multi-instrumentalist and electronic wizard Andrew Broder is best-known for his work with the band Fog, he has also proved himself to be a talented beat maker on his own. For his set, he will be crafting and creating beats live from the stage. Kill the Vultures is a hip hop group that blends gritty jazz, industrial and tribal beats with raw, emotional lyrics and delivery. -Danielle Morris
Click HERE for the Icehouse site
Kill the Vultures
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31ST
Communist Daughter w/ The Parlour Suite and Actual Wolf
@ The Cabooze
917 Cedar Avenue
Minneapolis
8:30 pm doors, 9:30 pm show / 18+ / $5 advance, $8 at the door
I may have mentioned, here and there that I’m not overfond of the “beards ‘n’ banjos” genre. It just seems so goddam sexless, you know? That said: there have been some albums from that genre that have managed to transcend the problems of the genre. In other words: they’re more than just wistful, aching, or prettily melancholy. Communist Daughter’s latest, Lions and Lambs, is absolutely in that genre-transcendent wheelhouse. There are actual beards and actual banjos on this thing, and yet I adore the fuck out of it. I guess this is Johnny Solomon’s “addiction recovery album,” but lots of people have made shitty addiction recovery records (just ask original beardo David Crosby!) so it’s not just that. It’s that he manages to imbue this stuff with a drive and a power (borne, I guess, of real emotion), never falling into the “just pretty” trap and never afraid to actually rock a little if that’s what the shit calls for. Maybe they represent hope that music with beards ‘n’ banjos will amount to more than just a lot of pretty harmonies and quiet sensitivity. Or maybe they’re something new – a passionate, perfectly-dark hybrid between that and, you know, actual rock. And I’m all for it – Lions and Lambs is simply magnificent. -Jon Hunt Read Jon’s full review for We Will Rock You HERE.
Click HERE for the Cabooze site
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31ST
E.L.nO w/ All Tomorrow’s Petty
@ Lee’s Liquor Lounge
101 Glenwood Avenue N
Minneapolis
9 pm / 21+ / $10
Not only is Lee’s Liquor Lounge the epitome of Minneapolis cool, it is also known for some of the best live music in the Twin Cities and will be featuring cover band extraordinaire E.L.nO this Friday. A local favorite, The Electric Light (Not) Orchestra includes former members of Accident Clearinghouse, Detroit, Billy Johnson’s Roadshow and Manplanet, not to mention the ultra-charismatic frontman David Campbell of 89.3 the Current, dressed to the nines in Afro-tastic ’70s drag. Also performing is cover band All Tomorrow’s Petty covering you-know-who and Current DJ Jill Riley will be spinning the tunes throughout the night. Expect to hear some great music, see some crazy Afros and dance the night away. -Chelsea Streich
Click HERE for the Lee’s Liquor Lounge site
E.L.nO photo by Marky Sparkly
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31ST
The Evening Rig Album Release Show w/ It’s Criminal + Dirty Hits
@ Triple Rock Social Club
629 Cedar Avenue S
Minneapolis
8 pm / 18+ / $8
It’s a night of country rock and power pop Friday at the Triple Rock. As a special treat the evening is hosted by Mr. Brian Shuey. Up first is dirty, gritty riff rockers It’s Criminal, who’s sound can be described as something like AC/DC meet early Aerosmith. Also playing are the Dirty Hits, a power pop group who plays angular riffs fast and hard. Headlining is the Evening Rig for the release of their album, Nothin’ to Hear Here. They play a brand of power pop that is distinctly Minneapolis. Obviously influenced by the Replacements, they blend it into their own sound with sometimes country twang, and sometimes sentimental lyrics and sincere delivery. -Danielle Morris
Click HERE for the Triple Rock Social Club site
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31ST
UMAMI + bollywood
@ Turf Club
1601 University Avenue W
St. Paul
9 pm / 21+ / $6
We dunno much in the way of facts about bollywood (all lowercase) – their website is scant on ‘em (but heavy on music). Which means we can tell you that their music is electronic, distorted, darkly psychedelic and slightly evil, but with some absolutely terrific melodies – check out “Young,” from one of their self-released 7-inchers for a great example. It’s messed up, sure, and throbbing, but is, somehow, almost impossibly, a little bit pretty. Which might not even be what they intended, but la-de-da, that’s where it ends up. UMAMI (all caps) fit with them perfectly, playing a similarly distorted, electronic based music, heavy on the live percussion and the rock and roll posing, almost like a darker, danker Talking Heads. -Jon Hunt
Click HERE for the Turf Club site
UMAMI
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31ST
Teenage Moods Tape Release w/ Crimes, France Camp, The Mystery Train
@ Hexagon Bar
2600 27th Avenue S
Minneapolis
10 pm / 21+ / FREE
Just when tape cassettes seem to have hit rock bottom, going for pennies on the dollar at thrift shops, the underground music scene has brought them back. Think about it – what could be more exclusive than a tape-only release? You can’t swipe it off the Internet or listen to it on your iPod. The latest locals to do a cassette-exclusive pressing are garage rockers the Teenage Moods, who celebrate their tape release with a show at the Hex. The band sort of sounds like a more fuzzed-out Zombies mixed with sunny folk pop, and their grungey-garagey pop tunes harken back to the teen spirit-smelling days of Nirvana. Also on the lineup are self-described “surf/folk/slut” band France Camp, whose sound is reminiscent of early White Stripes, keeping it simple with slick guitar lines, swinging drum beats and catchy vocal melodies. Opening are Americana punk rockers Mystery Train. -Staff
Click HERE for the Facebook invite
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31ST
Teengirl Fantasy w/ Gatekeeper + DJ Soviet Panda
@ 7th Street Entry
701 1st Avenue N
Minneapolis
8 pm doors / 18+ / $12 advance, $14 at the door
Listening to the dreamy bedroom-pop Teengirl Fantasy produces you’d hardly believe the duo connected over a love of classic house and techno. Maybe it’s because instead of queuing triggered loops and relying on ready-made samples, the pair opted for a more organic angle, improvising over loops to create maximalist textures and intricate compositions. The result is hyper rhythmic, danceable and a thrill-ride to watch live. While Teengirl Fantasy may be more on the popular side of the electronic radar, we’d definitely encourage you to head down early for Chicago-based opening act Gatekeeper. Demented and celebratory, Gatekeeper’s debut LP (released on the L.A.-based Hippos in Tanks label) demonstrates the duo’s acumen for pop horror and their synthesizer-driven take on soundtrack music. Think Front 242 meets John Carpenter and expect a blend of industrial discotheque, angelic choirs, 303 basslines and a trippy set of accompanying visuals. Minneapolis’ own Too Much Love resident DJ Soviet Panda drops tracks between sets. -Juleana Enright
Click HERE for the First Avenue site
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31ST
The Pleasure Principals
@ Clubhouse Jäger
923 Washington Avenue N
Minneapolis
10 pm / 21+ / FREE
In the mood for Michael and Janet, Stevie Wonder, Stevie Nicks, Billy Idol, and Billy Ocean all under one roof? If you’re catching what we’re throwing out, you know Jäg is the place to dance tonight. With Mike 2600 out of town, DJ Damien Espada is joined this month by fellow Wants Vs. Needs DJ Petey Wheatstraw. Prepare yourself for a night of funk-filled, unadulterated, pop-tastic pleasure as you dance to the sophisticated spinnings and double DJ remakes of old school classics. -Staff
Click HERE for the Facebook invite
FRIDAY, AUGUST 31ST
BOMP
@ Enter behind the Crooked Pint
501 Washington Avenue S
Minneapolis
10 pm / 18+ / $5 with RSVP, $10 without
Get ready for a delirious dance fest. The raucous monthly dance night that formerly called the Bedlam Theater and Nick and Eddie home recently has been popping up at various locations throughout the Twin Cities, giving the dance night an anything-can-happen twist. The whole DJ crew is back in action: the Moongoons, Plain Ole Bill, Jimmy2Times and Shannon Blowtorch, and they’re ready to throw down. And be warned – it’s Jonathan Ackerman’s birthday, so things are bound to get extra-rowdy. -Staff
Click HERE for the Facebook invite
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 1ND & SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 2ND (CONTINUING THROUGH SEPTEMBER 23RD)
“The Return of King Idomeneo: A Picnic Operetta”
Saturday: @ North End Urban Farm
425 W. Maryland
St. Paul
Sunday: @ Alexis Bailey Vineyard
18200 Kirby Avenue
Hastings
4 pm / All Ages / $10 to $20 (suggested donation)
In case you were wondering, an Operetta is pretty much an Opera albeit typically a bit on the lighter and more comedic side, so the tragedy will at least have a funny side. Think of it as the precursor to the modern musical, light, frothy and meant to entertain. Performance company Mixed Precipitation aims to bring this form into a socially engaging context by staging updated, unique versions of a classic Mozart Operetta in community gardens and parks throughout the Twin Cities. These ‘Picnic Operettas’ celebrate the urban ecosystem with a collaborative multi-disciplinary performance designed to engage both the audience and the venue. Now in its fourth year, the company presents The Return of King Idomeneo, a festive classically inspired tale that draws on Greek myth and legend. Never slaves to convention, Mixed Precipitation has interpreted the music with a 1950’s and 60’s doo-wop and street corner vibe, for something truly unique. The performances run through September 23rd in different venues, so if you can’t make it this weekend check out one of the future dates. -Anthony Enright
Click HERE for the Mixed Precipitation site
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 1ST
Lowertown Bike Shop Alley Party
@ Lowertown Bike Shop
The Jax Building
253 East 4th Street #76
St. Paul
2-9 pm / All Ages, 21+ to drink /
You want great music? You want PBR beer? You want to ride bikes? Then the Lowertown Bike Shop Alley Party is calling your name. Listen to the musical stylings of Kristoff Krane, a rapper with a gift for freestyling, a love for elliptical beats and rhymes with Zen-like ruminations on life, family, and mortality. Or check out Omar Bliss’ new-soul, jazz-infused hip-hop, which features haunting lines about his childhood growing up in one of St. Paul’s roughest neighborhoods. If you are looking for something dark, you will definitely enjoy Crimes – a band based off of fictional criminals that rocks out with some scary yet alluring tunes. Also playing is Liquor Beats Winter, a blues-based, trumpet-loving rock ‘n’ roll band. Dr. Tinkerpaw will lead you throughout the evening with a little magic up his sleeve provided by Pandomenium Medicine Show. There will be arts and crafts and enough smoked meat to bring the whole family. -Alexandra Katz
Click HERE for the Facebook invite
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 1ST
Shellac 20th Anniversary w/ Bellini and STNNNG
@ First Avenue
701 First Avenue N
Minneapolis
6:30 pm / 18+ / $12
Much-beloved (and just as often vilified) engineer/producer/auteur Steve Albini’s rock project, which sounds about like you’d expect it to – angular as fuck, punk as hell, more melodic than he probably thinks it is (part of me wants to perversely call it power-pop, just ’cause I know he’d hate it), and pretty goddamn cool, considering what a deliberately and resolutely anti-commercial path the band has taken (in the best of all possible ways). They’re been around for 20 years – come celebrate it with a genuine goddamn legend – one of the few still out there. Openers Bellini (featuring members of Girls Against Boys and Don Caballero) play a kind of aggro/mathy deal, and we, of course, dig local openers STNNNG, who shout, cajole and write damn fine punk-rock. -Jon Hunt
Click HERE for the First Avenue site
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 1ST
CLAPS + Blood and Sun + All Eyes + Temple + DJ Jared Flair
@ Turf Club
1601 University Avenue W
St. Paul
9 pm / 21+ / $6
First off, how cool is it that people are releasing cassettes these days? We love when old formats are resurrected and kept alive, and the DIY quality of tapes is something we miss terribly. They’re the perfect format for the chilly, brit-synth-influenced CLAPS, which recently released its latest, Glory Glory, exclusively on tape cassette – you can just about imagine playing this stuff in your Ford Festiva or something in the mid-’80s. Blood & Sun, meanwhile, evoke such ’80s goth bands as Fields of the Nephilim. -Jon Hunt
Click HERE for the Turf Club site
CLAPS
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 1ST
House Party 97
@ Honey
205 E Hennepin Avenue
Minneapolis
10 pm / 21+ / $5
Children of the ’90s unite – we love our nostalgia with only a dash of irony. You can party like it’s 1997 when monthly dance night House Party 97 hits Honey this weekend. It’s all ’90s music, all night from resident DJs Jonathan Ackerman (who’s celebrating night #2 of his birthday) and Dan Berube, who’ll be joined this month by DJ So Gold. It’s so ’90s. -Jahna Peloquin
Click HERE for the Facebook invite
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 2ND
ROSCO (aka Sterling Roswell from Spacemen 3/Darkside) w/ Flavor Crystals + The Volta Sound + Chatham Rise
@ Turf Club
1601 University Avenue W
St. Paul
8 pm / 21+ / $8
An evening of beautiful, droney psych/shoegaze, exactly the kind of stuff we love at l’étoile Central. Headliner ROSCO, aka Sterling Roswell, was the drummer with Spacemen 3 on their seminal Perfect Prescription LP and went on to join the drone-based spinoff The Darkside before striking out on his own. Flavor Crystals just released an excellent LP, 3, a magnificent collection of deeply trippy slabs of sound. The Volta Sound are highly droney darkrock, very much in the vein of Brian Jonestown Massacre. And we absolutely adore Chatham Rise, who perfectly capture the echo-drenched, floaty sound of early ’90s shoegaze without ever falling prey to soporific-ness. -Jon Hunt
Click HERE for the Turf Club site
SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 2ND
American Cream + Soft Cops + T’Bone (Chicago) + The Miami Dolphins
@ Hexagon Bar
2600 27th Avenue S
Minneapolis
10 pm / 21+ / FREE
We’ve never heard of American Cream, but it turns out that the STNNNG side project is worth checking out, if for no reason other than sheer rock ‘n’ roll noisage, and the chance to watch Ben Ivascu (whose other band, Poliça, you may have heard of) totally wail on the drums. Also playing are brand-new two piece Soft Cops; Chicago-based “dad rock” band T’Bone, which channels classic ’70s rock with aplomb; and the female-fronted, self-proclaimed “surfpunk horrorsurf” band Miami Dolphins. -Jahna Peloquin
Editor in Chief: Jahna Peloquin / Header design by Caroline Royce / Contributors: Juleana Enright, Anthony Enright, Jon Hunt, Danielle Morris, Chelsea Streich, Alexandra Katz, Jahna Peloquin.
