Welcome to Event Horizon, your weekly roundup of the best events in Minneapolis, St. Paul, and beyond.
TUESDAY 7.9
The Magic Underground
Sisyphus Brewing
Sisyphus’s big thing is comedy, and the low ceilings and close-together tables in their back room make it a wonderfully comfy setting for standup shows. But that setup also makes Sisyphus the ideal venue… for magic. On the second Tuesday of each month, The Magic Underground comes to the brewery for a magicians’ open mic, with performers trying new close-up tricks for the first time in front of a live audience. (Want to try your hand? You can DM them on Instagram.) Expect some audience participation and a lot of laughs! $5. 7 p.m. 712 Ontario Ave. W. #100, Minneapolis; more info here.—Em Cassel
WEDNESDAY 7.10
Etran De L’Air
Turf Club
With their great 2018 debut, No. 1, this family band from Niger secured its place among the premier practitioners of bluesy Saharan rock, with its circular melodies, triumphant ululations, and flashy improvisations. The group’s 2022 follow-up, Agadez, was even more impressive—a bit more virtuosic, the rhythms less choppy. You’ll hear far less Hendrix in Etran De L’Air’s attack than you will in the heavy flights of Mdou Moctar, the most successful practitioner of this genre stateside. But judging from last year’s two-track Live in Seattle, they rock plenty. I missed ’em when they hit the Turf last July, and I’m not about to make that mistake again. $17/$20. 8:30 p.m. 1601 University Ave. W., St. Paul; find more info here.—Keith Harris
Shane Mauss
Fitzgerald Theater
Prepare your edible consumption accordingly for this one, which is being billed as a “journey into the mind of a psychedelic astronaut with a consciousness-expanding comedy experience… At the intersection of science, humor, and psychedelics comes ‘A Better Trip,’ the latest work from Shane Mauss.” A native of Onalaska, Wisconsin, Mauss has intermingled psychedelics with comedy for the past 20 years, having appeared on big-time pods like WTF with Marc Maron and You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes while hosting his own called Here We Are. In case there was any confusion around his trippy brand, Mauss starred in a 2018 documentary titled Psychonautics: A Comic's Exploration Of Psychedelics. “Mind-blowing visuals and custom animations” are promised for tonight’s show, which was once a 90-minute Vegas residency act. $25+. 8 p.m. 10 E. Exchange St., St. Paul; find more info here.—Jay Boller
THURSDAY 7.11
Vegan Night Market
Reverie Cafe + Bar
Tried and True Confections and Reverie Cafe + Bar have teamed up to host a series of Vegan Night Markets in the restaurant’s secluded patio. Sip a cocktail, enjoy live music, and wander the tree-canopied courtyard while you shop plant-based wares from 11 vendors including 7th & Poppy, Kiss My Cabbage, Vegan Witt, Devolve Vintage, and Mad Hare Vegan. Can’t make it tonight? The Vegan Night Market is also scheduled for August 8. Free. 5-8 p.m. 1517 E. 35th St., Minneapolis; find more info here.—Em Cassel
FRIDAY 7.12
North Star Nerdlesque Festival
Historic Mounds Theatre
During the summer months we’ve got music fests, food truck fests, theater fests, and beer fests. And, this weekend, we’ve got a big-ass burlesque fest. Over the years, North Star Nerdlesque Fest has blessed us with a huge multi-day lineup of performers with a focus on Midwest talents. And boy, there are a lot of performers. We’re talking about 20 different acts per show with no overlap between the three sets. There will be drag kings and queens, sexy and/or sultry sets, and plenty of delightfully ridiculous riffing (I mean, there’s a duo called the Fry Guys that pay homage to these McD’s characters). There will be folks from Ohio, Minnesota, and Chicago, as well as not-so-Midwestern states like Louisiana, California, and Arizona. $20-$38; $50-$75 weekend passes; $45-$115 VIP passes. 8 p.m. Fri.; 7 and 10 p.m. Sat. 1029 Hudson Rd., St. Paul; find more info here.—Jessica Armbruster
X
Varsity Theater
X is one of those veteran bands you go to see out of respect and leave shaking your head at their impossible durability. John Doe and Exene Cervenka will celebrate the 40th anniversary of their divorce next year, yet they still bark out memories of their anarchic union like it was yesterday. Billy Zoom props himself up in the corner and shoots off his arsenal of punked up rockabilly riffs without breaking a sweat. And let us now praise D.J. Bonebrake, the drummer who holds it all together—dude hasn’t lost a step. But great live band or no, nobody expected X’s 2020 album Alphabetland, the band’s first in 27 years, to fume and bristle and rush headlong into the abyss so convincingly. Exene, a conspiracy theorist in real life, sounded merely angry and confused here—and, well, who amongst us isn’t? They’ve got another album, Smoke & Mirrors, due in August, and I wouldn’t rule out a second lightning strike. $48. 7 p.m. 1308 SE Fourth St., Minneapolis; find more info here.—Keith Harris
UnderCurrentMPLS 13 Year Fartaversary - Benefit for Carly
Palmer’s Bar
Over the past 13 years, UnderCurrentMPLS has shot video of a ridiculous number of live performances, creating an invaluable document of local punk and more as it happened. And if we’ve still got an internet in 13 years, this archive will be a true gift to historians. There are way too many acts to shout out individually playing this two-day extravaganza (Friday night, all day Saturday) but RIOTGRRRLDARKO, Shrimp Olympics, and Citric Dummies are among the names that leap out. And if there's anyone you don’t recognize, it’s a safe bet you’ll be able to research them on UnderCurrentMPLS’s YouTube channel. This event is also a fundraiser for Carly Olds, the former UnderCurrentMPLS documentarian who’s been diagnosed with ALS. $15 Fri.; $20 Sat.; $30 both days. 5 p.m. Fri.; 12:30 p.m. Sat. 500 Cedar Ave. S., Minneapolis; find more info here.—Keith Harris
Twin Cities Tattoo Festival
Saint Paul RiverCentre
Tattoo who?! Tattoo you! Racket is a tat-friendly website, despite the fact only 25% of its ownership group “has ink,” as they say. (Can you guess whether the author of the previous sentence has any?) This annual celebration of tattoo culture brings nationally known artists (click here for a list of ‘em), educational seminars, vendors, contests, and a whole lot more to the ol’ RiverCenter, the semi-recent setting of a less cool AI networking event. $30 daily; $65 three-day pass. Noon to 10 p.m. Fri.; 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sat.; 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sun. 175 Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul; find more info here. Through Sunday—Jay Boller
SATURDAY 7.13
MN Dragon Boat Festival
Lake Phalen
Need a break from the sailboats on Lake Harriet or Bde Maka Ska? I don’t know why, but if you need to you can change up your sightlines this weekend at the Dragon Boat Festival. We’re talking about those long, colorful canoe-like boats that take around 20 people to operate. Watch them race from the shore, and enjoy cultural performances, live music, food trucks, and beer while you gaze. Click here to read a nice Sahan Journal story about the Dragon Boat Fest returning from a four-year hiatus. Find more details at dragonfestival.org. Free. 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. 1400 Phalen Dr., St. Paul.—Jessica Armbruster
10 Years of Awesöme
Bauhaus Brew Labs
Have you ever noticed that Bauhaus’s initials are BBL? I think about it all the time. But while butt lift trends may come and go, Bauhaus Brew Labs has become a constant in northeast Minneapolis, where they’ve been slingin’ Wonderstuff and Short Pants (and one of the most impressive lines of locally made NA beers) for a full 10 years now. This weekend, they’ll celebrate that milestone anniversary with a lineup of classics and new brews, live music, food, and games. Gemütlichkeit! Free. Noon to 10 p.m. 1315 Tyler St NE, Minneapolis; more info here.—Em Cassel
Return of the Goats
Insight Brewing
Michael Jordan and Lebron James making a joint appearance at a northeast Minneapolis brewery?! Not quite… but we’ve got the next best thing: Honest-to-god barnyard goats from animal therapy operation Goat Shine kickin’ it, petting zoo-style, all day at Insight. Also making appearances are the Northeast Minneapolis Farmers Market, live music, yard games, and the Parrillas Express food truck, the latter of whom better keep smoked goat off the damn menu, at least for today. In an effort to puff up this fairly straight-forward blurb, please enjoy these 10 amazing facts about goats. Free. 1-7 p.m. 2821 E. Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis; find more info here.—Jay Boller
7th Annual St. Paul Food Truck Festival
Union Depot
Union Depot isn’t just a train stop; in the summer it also hosts food trucks of all kinds at the Food Truck Festival. Over 50 of ‘em will be stopping by for a free party featuring live music, giant checkers, cornhole games, and hammerschlagen. Oh, and there will be food, whether you’re looking for woodfired pizza, fancy donuts, fruit salads, deep fried egg rolls, or skewered meats, you’ll have options. Wash it all down with a local brew, cider, or NA drink and feel sated… until the next weekend festival. Find more info at mnfoodtruckfestival.com/st-paul. Free. 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sat.-Sun. 390 E. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul.—Jessica Armbruster
SUNDAY 7.14
Bastille Day
Alliance Francaise MSP
Today’s your day, Francophiliacs: After celebrating America’s France-assisted independence earlier this month with hot dogs and fireworks, we turn to a national freedom fest that’s more about crepes, macarons, and stinky cheeses. You’ll find all of that and more and Alliance Francaise MSP’s annual Bastille Day bash, which promises: live music (Whale in the Thames, Afrocontigbo, Francine Roche Trio, Maude Caillat), a vintage Citroën cars parade, kiddos storming the bouncy castle, drinks, food (Oh Crêpe!, The Brick Oven Bus, Boulangerie Marguerite, Nikkolette's Macarons, France 44), and a whole lot more. Organizers are also promising an appearance from “Marie Antoinette herself”... curious what that means! At 8 p.m., there'll be a ticketed “French Transmission” afterparty with DJ Jake Rudh. Free. 3-7 p.m. 227 Colfax Ave. N., Minneapolis; find more info here.—Jay Boller
ONGOING
Twelfth Night or What You Will
Various Locations
At one time, theater was entertainment for the masses. And this may be most apparent in one of Shakespeare’s most soapy works, Twelfth Night. The hallmarks of great trash TV are all here: mistaken identities, twins, forged love letters, romantic overtures. When twins Sebastian and Viola are separated via a shipwreck, Viola opts to disguise herself as a gent and the women (and men) come calling. Throw in the antics of a drunk uncle and you have yourself a 400-something-years-old romcom. This summer you can see it in the parks of the Twin Cities and surrounding ‘burbs thanks to Classical Actors Ensemble’s free summer series. Find times and locations at classicalactorsensemble.org. Through July 14—Jessica Armbruster
Liz Goes Boom!
The Heights
In the mid ’60s, dissatisfied with her career and ready to take chances, Elizabeth Taylor began actively seeking out directors she wanted to work with and roles she wanted to play. This effort resulted in what the Heights is calling her ”five insane masterpieces.” The earliest of these you probably know: Watching a middle-aged, alcoholic wife and husband (Taylor and her frequent husband, Richard Burton) joust with each other and torment a younger couple over the course of an evening in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? remains a wonderfully excruciating experience. The other four films in the series rarely screen anywhere. Reflections of a Golden Eye is a John Huston film adapted from a Carson McCullers novel that places Taylor opposite Marlon Brando. Andy Warhol appears in The Driver’s Seat (Identikit), a 1974 adaptation of a Muriel Spark novella that broke audience brains at the time. Secret Ceremony is one of two collaborations with director Joseph Losey that will be screening, the other of which, BOOM!, is John Waters’s favorite movie. An exciting series. $12. 3951 Central Ave. NE, Columbia Heights; find dates, showtimes and more info here. Through July 31—Keith Harris
The Long Take
Trylon
This series brings you just what it says: movies featuring long, uninterrupted takes. And fittingly, it’s a long series, running throughout the summer. But though they all include at least one bravura sequence, these films offer much more than just flashy technique. Orson Welles’s Touch of Evil (showing again tonight and tomorrow) got things rolling over the weekend, and in the weeks to come you’ll get a chance to check out international arthouse champs like Tarkovsky and Antonioni, modern Asian greats like Hong Kong action master Johnnie To and Park Chan-wook, and movies you can never see too often, like Children of Men and Goodfellas. Let me put in a special word for the elegant The Earrings of Madame de…, directed by the incomparable Max Ophuls, a man so in love with long takes that James Mason once wrote a poem about him that began *extremely James Mason voice* “A shot that does not call for tracks/Is agony for poor old Max.” 2820 E. 33rd St., Minneapolis; find complete showtimes and more info here. Through August 27—Keith Harris
Lowertown Sounds
Mears Park
Proper, functioning cities should rock. With the annual, free, weekly, outdoor Lowertown Sounds program St. Paul is privy to this in ways Minneapolis could really learn from. When this year’s lineup was announced, organizers noted that over half of the acts are new this summer. Non-musical offerings include great beer from Wabasha Brewing Co., Dual Citizen Brewing Co., Utepils Brewing, and MetroNOME Brewing, plus wine from Alexis Bailly Vineyard and a rotating cast of 20 food trucks. Free. 6-9:30 p.m. 221 5th St. E., St. Paul; find more info here. Weekly through August 29—Jay Boller
TC River Rats
Mississippi River
What is Ratagascar? It’s not a place (we checked); it’s not a movie about a vermin chef (we think). It’s this summer’s thematic show from the Twin Cities River Rats, the local water skiing crew that has been carving up the Mississippi River since 1979. Specifically, the Rats say, “Ratagascar is filled with adventure, including high-flying jumps, tall pyramids, powerful balancing acts, and barefoot tricks.” Hm, sounds a lot like all River Rats shows, but there ain’t a damn thing wrong with that. As always, this team of rivertop tricksters performs for free and for the whole family. Bring some chairs and blankets, buy some concessions, and enjoy a Minneapolis summertime institution. Free. 6:30 p.m. 1758 West River Rd. N., Minneapolis; find more info here. Thursdays through August—Jay Boller
Keith Haring: Art Is for Everybody
Walker Art Center
Keith Haring was a hugely influential artist in the 1980s and, whether you know it or not, he still is today. The Pennsylvania-raised, NYC-based artist first gained notoriety in the early ‘80s for his subway graffiti art, adorning unused black ad space with crawling babies, barking dogs, and UFOs. A year or two later, he would emerge with projects above ground, including a billboard in Times Square, a mural on the Lower East Side, and the covers of Vanity Fair and Newsweek. His friends and collaborators included Madonna, Grace Jones, and Jean-Michele Basquiat. Regardless of his meteoric rise, Haring wanted his art to be approachable, accessible, and affordable, so he kept most of his pieces in the public sphere. Though his work was crowd pleasing, it was also political, whether it was celebrating queer love, calling for an end to apartheid in South Africa, or promoting safe sex. Though Haring died in 1990 from complications from AIDS, his prolific collection and enduring messages live on. For “Art Is for Everybody,” over 100 works and archival pieces will be on display at the Walker, including ephemera from his 1984 residency at the museum. 725 Vineland Place, Minneapolis. Through September 8—Jessica Armbruster
Skyline Mini Golf
Walker Art Center
Speaking of stuff to do on rooftops, Skyline Mini Golf is also back this week. While some putt-putt courses aim for putting green realism others go full spectacle. At the Walker, it’s all about the latter, with holes featuring giant hot dogs, mirrored surfaces, tiny odes to the cities, and wacky opportunities to become an obstacle for putters yourself. Don’t expect to work on your handicap here; this course takes mini golf almost to the point of parody as you’ll find yourself testing your skills at ping pong, pool, and Plinketto. Just roll with the chaos–that’s part of the fun. $12 ($10 Walker members and ages 7-18); free for ages 6 and under with paid adult. 725 Vineland Place, Minneapolis. Through October 6—Jessica Armbruster
Warehouse District Live
Downtown Minneapolis
The fate of Open Streets may be uncertain this season, but every weekend a part of First Avenue will be closed to cars—and not just for construction reasons. Described as “an enhanced pedestrian zone,” Warehouse District Live will offer things that big cities normally have in their downtown areas: food trucks, extended seating areas, and more public bathrooms. Wow! So do some bar-hopping, sit outside and eat, walk in the middle of the street, and wonder why so many exurban Twitter users are so scared of downtown. Free. 7 p.m. to 3 a.m. Fri.-Sat. First Avenue, between Fifth and Sixth Streets, Minneapolis; find more info here. June 7 through October—Jessica Armbruster
