Weekend What’s What: 10/4-10/7

by staff

This weekend promises to be a chilly one. But don’t start hibernating yet – there are still leaves on the trees, bike rides to go on, and outdoor music fests and Oktoberfests to attend! It also marks the opening of the hotly anticipated “Dance Works III” at the Walker, celebrating a legendary collaboration between choreographer Merce Cunningham and Comme des Garçons fashion designer Reii Kawakubo. Then there’s the Twin Cities premiere of the new Clash documentary, which helps kick off next week’s Sound Unseen music fest; LGBT sci-fi convention Gaylaxicon; and the debut of the Soap Factory’s Haunted Basement. So layer up, get out there, and enjoy the snow-free weather while it lasts!

xo, l’étoile

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4TH

“Dance Works III: Merce Cunningham/Rei Kawakubo”

@ Walker Art Center
1750 Hennepin Avenue
Minneapolis

Exhibition Opening 5-9 pm, Opening Day Talk 6:30 pm (Runs through March 24, 2013) / All Ages / Exhibition and Opening Day Talk: FREE, Admission to Walker Art Center: $10

The third installment of the Walker’s “Dance Works” series celebrates Merce Cunningham, one of the greatest choreographers of the last century, and fashion designer Rei Kawakubo, founder of Comme des Garçons. “Dance Works” is a series of shows that feature The Merce Cunningham Dance Company Collection, while highlighting the choreographer’s frequent collaborations with artists of other mediums. Dance Works III focuses on his collaboration with Kuwakubo for his 1997 dance, Scenario. Kuwakubo, one of our most important avant-garde designers, created costumes for the production, as well as stage and lighting design. It was a true partnership that spanned visual and performance mediums. The two make a perfect pair, Kuwakubo who, though extremely forward-thinking, is still able to work in elements of play into her designs, and Cunningham, a brilliant composer of modern dance. The show became known as “Lumps and Bumps” due to unusual pools of padding in the costumes that further highlighted Cunningham’s desire to transform the human body into something entirely new. Fifteen years later, it still feels just as groundbreaking. -Beth Hammarlund

Click HERE for the Walker Art Center site

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4TH

Social Science at the Science Museum: Dead and Undead

@ The Science Museum of Minnesota
120 W Kellogg Boulevard
St. Paul

6-11 pm / 21+ / $15 ($10 for MPR and Science Museum members)

Join in on the rare opportunity to throw back a few drinks at the Science Museum’s “adult night” known as Social Science. The evening will include live DJs Simone Steppa and Frank Castle, demos, presentations, trivia and food sampling. Just in time for the spooky month of October, you’ll learn about the scientific side of the undead, the ghostly, and the grisly – about rabies and how it is related to the mythologies of vampires and zombies, and how to mummify a chicken and taxidermy a squirrel. As a special bonus, you’ll also be among the first to see the new “Lost Egypt” exhibition before it opens to the general public. Stop by, explore the museum and enjoy some cocktails at this awesome event. -Chelsea Streich

Click HERE for the Science Museum of Minnesota site

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4TH

Modern Radio Night feat. Sheridan Fox + Hollow Boys w/ DJs TRL + Biggie Schaals

@ Kitty Cat Klub
315 14th Ave SE
Minneapolis

9 pm / 21+ / FREE

Sheridan Fox is the guitarist in super-glammy ’70s-influenced power-pop/punk band Free Energy, who sound like the bastard son of
Thin Lizzy and some punk band or other (dunno which one. And KISS. Always KISS). They are just straight up fucking great. That’s all. Sheridan’s solo stuff is a kind of rough-and-ready pop/folk, and totally worth checking out. The Hollow Boys are a super-dark, Velvet Underground-y group with primitive drumming and a love of fuzz and simple chord structures and the beauty of darkness in harness. Their debut LP, When You Think Of Us, Pray For Us, is quite cool indeed, filled with catchy, super-short songs and great
singing/playing. Sounds like a great night, courtesy the always-interesting Modern Radio label. -Jon Hunt

Click HERE for the Facebook invite

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4TH

Ringo Deathstarr w/ Secret Colours + Gospel Gossip + Chatham Rise

@ Turf Club
1601 University Avenue W
St. Paul

The local psych-shoegaze scene is alive and well, and tonight’s lineup at the Turf is evidence of that. Locals Gospel Gossip and Chatham Rise round out the lineup of touring acts Ringo Deathstarr of Austin, Texas, and Chicago’s Secret Colours. Deathstarr are obviously fans of My Bloody Valentine, Sweredriver, Lush and their ilk, and though they don’t add much of a twist to the genre – apart from some lovely boy-girl harmonies – psych-shoegaze lovers are bound to be pleased by their well-orchestrated soundscapes, as they should be by the similar-sounding Secret Colours. Slightly more interesting is Minneapolis’ own Gospel Gossip, who are about to release a new three-song 7″ (which they’re celebrating with a release party on November 3, also at the Turf). The female-fronted trio is more dream-poppy than ever, laden with lush reverb and echoing distortion. -Jahna Peloquin

Click HERE for the Turf Club site

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 4TH

Butt Rocktober

@ 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 (and l’étoile contributor) Danielle Morris and Danny Sigelman as they spin “macho hard rock” faves, all on vinyl, for your fist pumping and sing-a-long pleasure along with metal music videos. 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

BEGINNING FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5TH (THROUGH WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 31ST)

The Haunted Basement

@ Soap Factory
514 Second Street SE
Minneapolis

6 pm-midnight / 18+ / $22 (NOTE: Opening nights October 5th & 6th are SOLD OUT)

Okay, so you’re the kind of fellow who’s lulled to sleep by The Exorcist. You think The Shining is for pussies. The Japanese horror collection is mere child’s play. Yeah, we get it, you can handle your horror…when safely ensconced by your giant LCD screen. But how brave, my little friend, will you be with there’s nothing standing between you and your worst nightmares? Enter: the Soap Factory’s long-awaited, long-feared Haunted Basement. Believe us, the artists behind this event don’t mess around. They painstakingly work to make every detail – every dim-lit bedroom, every satanic scene, every vomit stench – as terrifying as possible. As if the basement of the Soap Factory old digs isn’t scary enough, renowned local theater director Noah Bremer in collaboration with special effects makeup artist Kristen Leigh, the smell engineers from the St. Croix Sensory, and a talented team of local artists and costume designers join forces to scare the living shit out of you while highlighting the grotesque perversion of the mundane. Tickets sell out quick. So get yours now, or we’ll just assume you’re a weeny. -Juleana Enright

Click HERE for the Soap Factory site

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5TH

2011/12 Jerome Emerging Artist Exhibition

@ MCAD Gallery
2501 Stevens Ave. South
Minneapolis

Opening reception 6–8 pm (runs through November 6) / FREE

Emerging out of a field of over 200 Minnesota applicants, the five 2011 / 2012 Jerome fellows represent a diverse and promising group of talented artists. The group includes organic natural scupltural work by Gregory Euclide, delicate and expansive porcelain shard installations by Lauren Herzak-Bauman, and archival visual works by l’etoile fave Jehra Patrick. Richard Barlow’s exploration of emblems and constructs subvert the meanings and ideas of family images and imbues them with a spiritual component, while “science fiction archeologist” Alison Hiltner curates suitable alien forms to produce work that begins unfamiliar and resolves into something the viewer feels kinship with. The Jerome foundation is one of the unique and important organizations we have here in Minnesota supporting the car rears and work of local artists, come experience the exciting product of that support. -Anthony Enright

Click HERE for the MCAD site

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5TH

Scott Seekins presents “Modern Drawing, The Lost Art”

@ Cult Status Gallery
2913 Harriet Avenue S
Minneapolis

Opening reception 7 pm-midnight (runs through October 19) / FREE

For his latest show, local art icon Scott Seekins is turning the spotlight off himself and onto “the lost art” of drawing. A traditionalist and anti-technologist, Seekins avoids the Internet and all its trappings, preferring to carry his own mobile portfolio in a binder rather than on his phone. In that spirit, he presents a show featuring local artists ranging from established to up-and-coming working within the medium of drawing and illustration. But it wouldn’t be a Seekins show without at least a little bit of Seekins – the artist plans to include a handful of his own new drawings in the mix. His latest work has moved beyond his Britney Spears-centric pop art to a style inspired by cave paintings and Native American motifs, depicting animals, violence and historic massacres with Seekins himself drawn into the middle of the action. -Jahna Peloquin

Click HERE for the Cult Status Gallery site

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5TH

Emma Berg Sample Sale

@ June
3406 Lyndale Avenue S
Minneapolis

5-8 pm / FREE

After just showing a collection during last week’s fashion extravaganza Emma Berg is throwing a sale featuring her Fall 2012 collection, “Que Sera Sera,” a colorful collection of wools, silk, fringe and fur skirts, work-appropriate dresses and fun party dresses. Everything – and we mean everything - will be on sale. Sip on champagne and munch on some macaroons from Perfect Day Cakes as you shop Berg’s collection and June’s selection of quality designer resale. -Alexandra Katz Click HERE to see the full Fall 2012 lookbook.

Click HERE for the Facebook invite

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5TH-SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7TH

A Tribute to Milos Forman

Screening of Walker Art Center’s Miloš Forman Regis Dialogue: 5 pm Friday
“One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest”: 7 pm Friday
“Valmont”: 4:30 pm Saturday
“Amadeus”: 7:30 pm Saturday

@ St. Anthony Main Theatre
115 Main Street SE
Minneapolis

Like the Polish Roman Polanski, Miloš Forman impressed the West with his artful films made on the other side of Iron Curtain (Loves of a Blond, Firemen’s Ball) before jumping the Commie ship and integrating himself with the New Hollywood rebels. A Jew oppressed by Nazis as a Czech youth, Forman’s subsequent experiences with the communists stirred an irreverent temperament, making him a perfect candidate to direct Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest in 1975, a film that I don’t believe would find much traction in more politically-correct periods. For Forman, the asylum that the incarcerated McMurphy (Jack Nicholson) makes his new home was where the director came from, Nurse Ratchet (Louise Fletcher) carrying equal resonance for the imposed conformities of West and East. Sweeping the Oscars with Cuckoo’s Nest, Forman stuck to rebels with Hair’s hippies, Mozart in Amadeus, the pornographers in The People vs. Larry Flynt, Andy Kaufman in Man on the Moon and Goya in Goya’s Ghosts. The Minneapolis Film Society celebrates Forman this weekend, beginning with Cuckoo’s Nest, followed by 1984’s Amadeus (probably the only Best Picture winner of its time that hasn’t aged), a masterfully designed adaptation of Peter Schaffer’s play of competitive composers Salieri (F. Murray Abraham) and Mozart (Tom Hulce), which marked with its production in Prague Forman’s return to his homeland. Also featured is Valmont, a picture that was overshadowed by a competing Laclos adaptation of the same year, Dangerous Liasons, with Colin Firth and Annette Bening instead of John Malkovich and Glenn Close. It was Milan Kundera, Forman’s teacher in Prague, who introduced the young director to the Laclos text, which is a fitting blueprint for the irreverent comedy and stirring human tragedy in his body of work. Forman’s world is a madhouse, and the embrace of madness is the key to rising above imposing strictures. -Niles Schwartz

Click HERE for the Film Society of Minneapolis-St. Paul site

FRIDAY OCTOBER 5TH-SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7TH

Gaylaxicon 2012

@ Doubletree Hotel Minneapolis-Park Place
1500 Park Place Boulevard
St. Louis Park

3 pm-midnight Friday, 9 am-midnight Saturday, 9 am-9 pm Sunday / All Ages / $90 registration

If you’ve always harbored lustful thoughts pairing Captain Jack Harkness and basically any other Torchwood character, were even the least bit curious in the transpecies relationship between Hans and Chewie, or read your full in Buffy/Faith, Xena/Gabrielle fan fiction Buffy and Faith, this weekend’s Gaylaxicon is definitely up your alley. The queer-specific version of CONverge and Crypticon Horrorcon, Gaylaxicon unites gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender fans to come together to explore the worlds of sci-fi, horror, comics, fantasy and gaming from a queer perspective. The event features panel discussions, a cabaret catwalk, films, food, a chocolate symposium, and a meet and greet with guests of honor including script editor for Doctor Who and the Sarah Jane Adventures, Gary Russell, Twin Cities local cyberpunk writer, Lyda Morehouse, comic artist/printmaker/associate professor, Barbara Schulz, gay fiction writer Kyell Gold, LGBT comics resource Prism Comics, and furry fiction publisher Sofawolf Press. For registration or info on obtaining a hotel room during Gay Con, peep Gaylaxicon’s website. -Juleana Enright

Click HERE for the Gaylaxicon site

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5TH-SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7TH

Woody Allen’s 1970s: “Manhattan”

@ Trylon Microcinema
3258 Minnehaha Avenue S
Minneapolis

7 pm & 9 pm Friday & Saturday, 5 pm & 7 pm Sunday / $8

“The food here is really terrible. And such small portions.” Fortunately, Annie Hall‘s opening joke only half-applies to Woody Allen’s body of work, the first act of which is the Trylon’s October weekend series. The 76-year-old Allen is currently at a point when every film is tiresomely laid out as “a return to form” or some such nonsense, something that only Midnight in Paris could concretely affirm. But it feels like there’s an Allen surge, as I keep on running into younger people taken with his films, old AND new. Reevaluations of dismissed efforts (Hollywood Ending, Cassandra’s Dream) meanwhile show that maybe we were too hard on him. The Trylon’s ’70s series revels in the Woody on which everyone agrees, the zany comedian with guilty escapades of sex and trying to blot out existential despair with making fun of death: the political satire Bananas, the futuristic Sleeper, the literary Love and Death, culminating with Annie Hall. The series appropriately is bookended with the Bergman-esque drama Interiors and this weekend’s opener, Manhattan, a lovely ode to Woody’s home turf, gorgeously photographed by Gordon Willis and scored with Gershwin. A human comedy about relationships, Manhattan continued Allen’s veer into more serious territory, where the uncomfortably autobiographical probably alienated some of his earlier fans (maybe the inspiration for his next film, Stardust Memories). But it’s also the key predecessor for the masterworks he churned out in the following years (Hannah and Her Sisters, Crimes and Misdemeanors). The fine cast includes Allen and his muse from the period, Diane Keaton, along with Meryl Streep, Michael Murphy, Anne Byrne, and Mariel Hemingway as Allen’s 17-year-old girlfriend. -Niles Schwartz

Click HERE for the Take-Up Productions’ site

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5TH

Michael Chapman

@ Icehouse
2528 Nicollet Avenue S
Minneapolis

7 pm (6 pm doors) / All ages / $10 suggested donation

We probably lose our British Folk cred by admitting we didn’t know a damn thing about Michael Chapman before writing this entry, but having now given a spin to Fully Qualified Survivor – out on Harvest, home of Pink Floyd and Kevin Ayers, featuring a hungry young Mick Ronson (of the Spiders from Mars!) on electric guitar, and now reissued by Light In The Attic, one of my fave reissue labels – we can say that the guy was flat-out brilliant, not a million miles off from the late, great John Martyn or Bert Jansch. We’re planning to listen deeper, and you should too – apparently this is his first time in Minneapolis, and apparently he puts on a mind-blowingly great show. Another in a series of terrific, inventive shows at Icehouse, who are becoming known for ‘em. -Jon Hunt

Click HERE for the Icehouse site

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5TH

Dark Dark Dark Album Release w/ Mountain Man + Emily Wells

@ Cedar Cultural Center

8 pm (7 pm doors) / All Ages / $13

Nona Marie Invie, the lead singer of Dark Dark Dark, isn’t depressed, per se. Melancholy, sure – the kind of melancholy you get on a crisp fall day when you’re biking around town and maybe you’ve got a head full of disappointment and vaguely broken dreams. But never, you know, suicidal. Which means she’s the kind of down that makes for lovely, fragile, moody-as-fuck chamber pop (especially if you add in a few perfectly forlorn fuzz-guitar lines and, if you’ve got ‘em, a couple shuffle beats) that never once sounds defeatist or morbid. The band’s latest, Who Needs Who, is a great album – a mood-sustainer to be sure, but filled with terrific songwriting that’s filled with delightfully forlorn melodies that’ll be the perfect tonic for those moments of nostalgia/heartbreak that surface at this point in the year. -Jon Hunt / Click HERE to read Jon Hunt’s full review of the new album in We Will Rock You.

Click HERE for the Cedar Cultural Center site

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5TH

Put a Rock on It: A Concert for the Freedom to Marry

@ Ritz Theater
345 13th Avenue NE
Minneapolis

7 pm / All Ages / $20

Vote No and support the freedom to marry! Hosted by Minnesotans United for All Families, proceeds of this event will be donated to the Vote No campaign which supports voting against the Constitutional Amendment to ban marriage for same-sex couples. Featuring live music from hip hop duo Kill The Vultures, venerable local alt-country rockers The Honeydogs, the desert rock-copping Red Daughters, melodic pop band the Beatifics and indie-folk band Bethany Larson and the Bee’s Knees. Enjoy the tunes, support the cause and vote no on November 6. -Chelsea Streich

Click HERE for the Minnesotans United for All Families site

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5TH

David Leibe Hart w/ Queen of France + Tickle Torture + Sherbetty + Postina

@ Amsterdam Bar & Hall
6 W 6th Street
St. Paul

7 pm / 21+ / $8 advance, $10 door

If the name David Leibe Hart doesn’t ring a bell, his face should. The Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! regular is known for his charmingly awkward and off-key singing, typically accompanied by a puppet dummy. Leibe Hart is an interesting anomaly – some allege that Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim have exploited him and other show “characters” like James Quall, while some defend him as an interesting, if eccentric, character worthy of the spotlight. Either way, he’s a cult personality worth paying attention to. Opening are four-piece indie popsters Queen of France and one-man electro dance party Tickle Torture. -Jahna Peloquin

Click HERE for the Amsterdam Bar & Hall site

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5TH

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, and Last Word 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 – plus a few passes to Zombie Pub Crawl 8 – then prepare to party down. -Staff

Click HERE for the First Avenue site

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5TH

Hotel

@ Kitty Cat Klub
315 14th Avenue SE
Minneapolis

10 pm / 21+ / FREE

Hotel is a party that doesn’t quit. The longtime dance night from DJ Jonathan Ackerman and guest DJs Slam Dunkapher and Kolby Kobes will throw down Top 40 jams, down ‘n’ dirty rap jams, and classic hip hop. 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. -Staff

Click HERE for the Facebook invite

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 5TH

Private Stock

@ Clubhouse Jäger
923 Washington Avenue N
Minneapolis

9 pm / 21+ / FREE

The crate-digging Disco Devils haul out all their best 12″ vinyl every month to bring you Private Stock, a night of club hits and misses from the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s, from classic funk, R&B, and hip hop. Catch all the chart toppers, one hit wonders, underground classics and other musical gems culled from deep in the Disco Devils’ vaults. Best of all, it’s all on vinyl, the way music should be heard. -Danielle Morris

Click HERE for the Facebook invite

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 6TH

West Bank Walking Tour

Starts @ Nomad World Pub
501 Cedar Ave
Minneapolis

10 am-noon / All Ages / $15 ($10 Minnesota History Center members)

Maybe you’ve moshed and Triple Doubled at the Triple Rock, drank waaaay too much coffee and indulged in vegan french toast at Hard Times, and disregarded cleanliness standards for a killer hot dog at the Weinery, but do you really know the West Bank? Dubbed “timeless” and “Minneapolis’ answer to the Haight Ashbury,” by Jim Walsh, the West Bank is one of the cities’ most soulful, story-matic neighborhoods whose halcyon music scene boasted expats like Bob Dylan and Bonnie Raitt, local legends Spider John Koerner, Lazy Bill Lucas, Judy Larson and Willie Murphy. Saturday, as part of the Minnesota History Center’s History Crawls, join your fellow West Bank enthusiasts for a walk down memory lane as the walking tour recounts the lore of the West Bank’s music scene. Leave from the Nomad, wander around Cedar Ave, hitting up neighborhood haunts like Palmer’s, the Triangle Bar and the original Electric Fetus, and don’t be surprised if you encounter some big West Bank personalities on your journey. Miss the tour the first time? Don’t worry the West Bank Walking Tour strikes again Saturday, October 20. Same time; same place. -Juleana Enright

Click HERE for the Minnesota History Center site

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 6TH

“Shadow Walker: New Work by Mark Wojahn” Closing Day Artist Talk

@ Rogue Buddha Gallery
357 13th Avenue NE
Minneapolis

Discussion at 3 pm / FREE

Born a fraternal twin, local filmmaker/multi-disciplinary artist, Mark Wojahn has long been intrigued by concept of alter egos. In his latest solo exhibit, “Shadow Walker,” Wojahn expands on his documentary work and explores the second self antitheis showcasing a series of photo paintings dubbed “Doppelgängers.” Using multiple layers of texture and paint, Wojahn transforms photographs into antiqued images of evil twins. Be afraid; be very afraid. Also showing in the “red room,” aka Rogue Buddha’s Accent Gallery: new darkly carnivaleseque sculptor work by local favorite Michael Thomsen. -Juleana Enright

Click HERE for the Rogue Buddha Gallery site

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 6TH

Irrigate Arts presents Canvas/Jazz Jam

@ The Lyric and Carleton Artist Lofts Amphitheater
2285 block of University Avenue
St. Paul

2-4 pm / All Ages / Free

Jazz implies an element of improvisation. Painting, not so much. But this Saturday, a cross-section of arts are presenting the Canvas/Jazz Jam, the kind of art and music jam that’s not typically open to the public, but instead takes place in artist lofts and studios late at night. Now it’s time for appreciators to witness the process, an “art and music jam” that experiments with the interplay of music and canvas, as part of the ongoing Irrigate Arts initiative, an artist-led creative placemaking initiative spanning the six miles of the Central Corridor Light Rail Transit line in St. Paul. Jana Nyberg Group will be bringing their signature poppy jazz, while painter Erik Pearson paints live, taking inspiration from their music. St. Paul Classic Cookie Company will be manning the refreshment stand, thus Canvas/Jazz Jam will be bringing together the three keys to a successful event: art, music, and cookies, all in an effort to draw attention to the community of artists along the corridor. -Beth Hammarlund

Click HERE for the Irrigate Arts site

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 6TH

Peter Geyen Art Preview

@ Know More Funny Business
20 Grove Street #72
Minneapolis

4:30–9:30 pm / FREE

Swing on over to Nicollet Island for a peak at the newest batch of mixed media artwork from Minneapolis artist Peter Geyen before it moves to a more public venue (at the Crystal Court in the IDS Center from October 26th through November 11th). Geyen’s always-intriguing work combines objects in mysterious and compelling ways that constitute a dialogue with historical forms, cultural concepts and the viewer. The interplay of shapes and ideas in Geyen’s work along with impressive artistic technique makes his work rich and complex in a way that makes it essential to experience in person. The intimate setting for this exhibit, added benefit of local music (Patty & the Buttons and the Cactus Blossoms) along with snacks and drinks lend the exhibit a familial friendly atmosphere. Come out and party and experience Geyen’s fascinating new work in person. -Anthony Enright

Click HERE for the Facebook invite

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5TH

Cirque du SoGay IV

Starts @ Minnesota AIDS Project
1400 Park Avenue
Minneapolis

3 pm registration, 4 pm ride, 8 pm party (’til midnight) / All Ages / $5

It’s time for the fourth annual scavenger hunt/bike tour of the LGBTQ spaces in the Twin Cities. Throw a pair of fresh rubbers on your bicicleta, because it’s time for Queer Bike Gang’s Cirque du SoGay #4! It’s a day of choices and whatever tickles your fancy is the theme. Take either the virgin route (15 miles) or the harder, faster route (30 miles) and bike to your hearts desire or just drink, dance and feel dainty, it’s up to you. On this holiday of bikes, ostentatious outfits, performances, prizes, and worthy causes, anything goes. This year’s theme is Hott & Healthy Queers, which will feature your favorite LGBTQ health establishments, and Nice Ride MN will be there giving out free helmets to participants while they last. It culminates at Intermedia Arts with a queertastic award ceremony with prizes for categories including “condom cruise-aider” and “hottest hott mess” and the Ms. Cirque du So Gay 2011 lip-synch-for-your-bike dance-off for the chance to go home with a new Surly single speed. Helmets are required (for safety and redeeming prizes). You can register online at www.queerbikes.org/cdsg through 5 pm on Friday. -Staff

Click HERE for the Queer Bike Gang site

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 6TH & SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7TH

Mighty Swell Vintage 2 Year Anniversary & Fall Sale

@ Mighty Swell Vintage
3109 E 42nd Street
Minneapolis

10 am-7 pm Saturday, noon-5 pm Sunday / FREE

Clothing, accessories and home decor, oh my! Get a vintage dress, jewelry, shoes, handbags, home decor and housewares, or whatever else you are in to. Doubling as Mighty Swell’s two year anniversary sale, they’ll have plenty of things to help spice up your fall wardrobe. There will also be a bake sale, extra special $5 grab bags and more! -Alexandra Katz

Click HERE for the Facebook invite

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 6TH

Sound Unseen presents “The Rise and Fall of the Clash”

@ Ritz Theater
345 13th Ave NE
Minneapolis

7 pm / $12 advance, $15 door

To wet your whistle as Sound Unseen preps its upcoming festival next week, check out the glory, filth, fury, rise, fall, bumps, bruises, aches, pains, and legend of the Clash. A new documentary using loads of new footage with rehearsals, performances, and interviews, The Rise and Fall of the Clash makes the iconic rockers’ name a bearer of multiple meanings. The conflicts and collaboration – combat rock indeed – between Joe Strummer and Mick Jones plays out the familiar story of small-time rock and roll dreamers hitting the big time by attacking mainstream bourgeois pop excesses and posturing. They created a series of great records, each distinct as a project from each other, but fraternal bonds were increasingly gobbled up by the lifestyle their talent afforded them. Come 1985, the Clash exit stage right, and enter Duran Duran. Interestingly, one of Strummer’s first moves after the break-up was to serve as a consultant and composer on Alex Cox’s Sid and Nancy, a classic about the decay of Clash contemporaries the Sex Pistols, the rock star passion and euphoria finally killing off Sid Vicious. It was as if Strummer needed to reflexively soothe the wounds of his band’s break-up by immersing in the injuries of a rival (Johnny Rotten, you can imagine, was not amused). The opening screening of the Clash film features a Q & A with director Danny Garcia. -Niles Schwartz

Click HERE for the Sound Unseen site

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 6TH

Legs McNeil + Gillan McCain Reading

@ The Belmore/The New Skyway Lounge
25 N 4th Street
Minneapolis

8 pm / All ages / FREE

Saturday is a unique opportunity to check out some new restaurant digs and gain some serious punk knowledge at the same time. Its a special reading by Punk Magazine founder and authors of seminal punk rock bible Please Kill Me: An Oral History of Punk. The book tells the story of the New York punk scene which laid roots in the late 1960s with the Velvet Underground, Iggy Pop and the Stooges, the Ramones, the New York Dolls, Blondie, Television, and everyone in between featuring the ultimate sex, drugs, and rock and roll stories, as told by those who were there. On Saturday, the authors will be reading excerpts from this tome as well as material from his new book as well at Doug Anderson of Nick and Eddie fame’s soon-to-be-opened venue (note, no liquor or food will be available, so BYOB). Any fan of rock and roll would not want to miss this. -Danielle Morris

Click HERE for the Facebook invite

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 6TH

CosmiQue

@ at Graves 601 Hotel
601 1st Avenue N
Minneapolis

9 pm-2 am / 21+ / FREE

This Saturday sees the kickoff of new weekly all-vinyl night, CosmiQue, housed in slick, sleek confines of Graves 601 Hotel’s Cosmos bar. An all-star lineup of DJs will circulate through every week, with week #1 featuring the likes of Eric “DJ Dog” Anderson, Mike “DJ Fathertime” Elias, Brian Engel (Hipshaker, Hotpants), Eric Foss (Secret Stash Records), Paul Harding (Radio K International), “Steely” Dan McAllister (KFAI’s Kinda Cloudy, Worldwide Discotheque), Derek Olson, Danny Sigelman and Geoffrey “GD Overdrive” Trelstad. Drink specials all night include $3 PBR & Tecate, and $5 house red and white wines, bubbly and Margaritas. -Jahna Peloquin

Click HERE for the Facebook invite

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 6TH

TOO MUCH LOVE: Moving Out

@ First Avenue Mainroom
701 1st Avenue N
Minneapolis

10 pm / 18+ / $3, $2 with college ID, $1 with Foursquare check-in

We’ve been getting down at Soviet Panda’s weekly Saturday night dance party TOO MUCH LOVE since it first debuted five years ago. After an impressive run, it’s bidding adieu to the First Ave Mainroom with one last hurrah tonight before moving up to the Record Room starting next week. But don’t fret – they’ll be throwing one big Mainroom bash every last Saturday of the month, beginning with the Halloween bash TOO MUCH BLOOD on October 27. So say your sorta-goodbyes and celebrate the end of era on the dance floor, where Soviet Panda will be spinning his dance-ready mix all night and enjoy 2-4-1s before midnight. -Jahna Peloquin

Click HERE for the First Avenue site

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7TH

Butcher & the Boar’s Boarfest

@ Butcher & the Boar
1121 Hennepin Avenue
Minneapolis

Noon-10 pm / 21+ / FREE, rain or shine

We’ve got a chilly weekend ahead of us, but some steaming sausages, brews, and Butcher and the Boar’s newly heated beer garden patio will be sure to warm you up. On Sunday, the Boar hosts its first annual Boarfest on its beer garden patio, where BATB’s staff will be grilling up oysters, peel-and-eat shrimp buckets, boar brats and footlong hotdogs, and offering up some house made pretzels, Oktoberfest beers, $3 bourbon shots and additional drink specials. The all-day event will round out with live outdoor music from Tim Mahoney, City on the Make, Drew Peterson, Jack Brass Band, and Luke Warm and the Cool Hands. -Jahna Peloquin

Click HERE for the Facebook invite

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7TH

Day of Dignity Block Party

@ Masjid An-Nur
1729 Lyndale Avenue N
Minneapolis

11 am-6 pm / FREE

Help out your fellow neighbors in need at the 2nd annual Twin Cities Day of Dignity block party! This event will feature live music from Atmosphere and Stalley. Also included for those in need: free food, clothes and medical services. Come for the cause, stay for the music. -Chelsea Streich

Click HERE for the Twin Cities Dignity site

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7TH

Slam Academy VJ & Live Video Performance Workshop

@ Slam Academy
1006 Marquette Avenue
Minneapolis

7-9 pm / All Ages / FREE

Tonight sees the debut of the Slam Academy, a locally-based, locally-founded academy whose futuristic tech classes would make WarGames‘ David Lightman all swoony. Taught by experienced instructors and electronic cognoscente hailing from the Twin Cities and founded by DJ and music producer James Patrick, the school offers crash courses in electronic arts that go beyond simply teaching technological tricks but instead help students fine tune their skills and transform their hobbies. Slam Academy offers specialized, hands-on, unique courses from the ultra rare – Intro to VJing and Circuit Bending – to more specific skill set workshops, like Writing Music for Video Games and Film Scoring. The first, free edition will be taught by Hal Lovemelt (aka Time Squid), founder of interactive event video service company PLAYATTA! and co-producer of the late, great public access show, Freaky Deeky. So whether you’re serious about honing your VJ skills or just curious to give it a shot, it’s a great chance to preview the class for free. -Juleana Enright / Click HERE for Juleana Enright’s column on Slam Academy in The Culturator.

Click HERE for the Slam Academy site

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7TH

North Star Bartenders’ Guild presents: Sunday Sippers Redux

@ Eat Street Social
18 W 26th Street
Minneapolis

7–9:30 pm / 21+ / $20 advance, $25 door

Howdy partner, looking for a spot of Sasparilla? Um, no? Well of course not, you’re hankering for a drop of that sweet, sweet nectar of the gods…whiskey! Well, you are in luck little cowboys (and girls) as North Star Bartenders’ Guild Sunday Sipper’s Series continues this week with a celebration of whiskey from High West Distillery. Mat Garretson of the distillery along with Jesse Held and Joshua Augustin of NSBG will present a whiskey symposium, demonstrate 6 original cocktails and host a build-your-own-cocktail table. Light appetizers will be served so you don’t get too tipsy as you imbibe and mingle. We promise you’ll walk away having learned something about this classic spirit and have a great time doing so. -Anthony Enright

Click HERE for the North Star Bartenders’ Guild site

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7TH

Rockstar Storytellers: The Horror Show

@ Bryant Lake Bowl
810 W Lake Street
Minneapolis

7 pm / All Ages / $15, $12 if you wear a Fringe pin or pajamas, or carry a blankie

Be prepared to enjoy two of l’étoile’s favorite things: Rockstar Storytellers and Halloween. Well, maybe not Halloween specifically, but HORROR. The theme of this year’s annual horror show is a scary slumber party (thus the discounted tickets for patrons willing to carry blankies or show up in jammies), so if you were the one to freak out and hide in the bathroom when your friend told The Golden Arm in the basement, you might want to skip this event. Wuss. Have a little pride, man. Maybe you could take advantage of this evening of spookiness to redeem yourself. Besides, the theater’s dark. People probably won’t be able to see that you’re closing your eyes and plugging your ears. -Beth Hammarlund

Click HERE for the Bryant-Lake Bowl site

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 7TH

Mike Watt & The Missingmen

@ Turf Club
1601 University Avenue W
St. Paul

8 pm / 21+ / $13

We shouldn’t have to tell you who Mike Watt is, right? You all know Minutemen, you all know fIREHOSE. You all know he’s now in the Stooges which says a fuck of a lot about his abilities. You know he still plies a kind of brutal, bass-driven punk/post punk combo that occasionally delves into weird, dissonant prog territory and weird poetry – he hasn’t changed a jot, really. The man is a legend, straight up, and the chance to see him in the intimate setting of the Turf Club is something you can’t/shouldn’t pass up. His backup band the Missingmen are great – angular stabs of fucked-up guitar and brutal, pummeling drums and the kind of speed/accuracy he’s been known for since back in the day. -Jon Hunt

Click HERE for the Turf Club site

Editor in Chief: Jahna Peloquin / Header design by Caroline Royce / Contributors: Juleana Enright, Anthony Enright, Jon Hunt, Beth Hammarlund, Niles Schwartz, Danielle Morris, Chelsea Streich, Alexandra Katz, Jahna Peloquin.