I know you're slowing down, staying in, entering hibernation mode. But something on the list below might just rouse you from your spirit-sealed slumber.
Tuesday, November 19
Mr. Sam with Michael Gay @ Aster Cafe
International Reggae All-Stars @ Bunker's
- Jess Williamson @ Dakota—Various gems are scattered throughout the discography of Jess Williamson, though the L.A.-based singer-songwriter evolved into her finest form with last year’s Time Ain't Accidental. On it, the Texas-born indie vet embraces twang, constructs a cohesive universe of cosmic heartache, and cements herself as an S-tier lyricist. Top to bottom, it was far and away my favorite album of 2023. Williamson, similar to her Plains bandmate Katie Crutchfield (Waxahatchee), is able to deliver emotional haymakers via expert inflection and detail—find me a more devastating song than “Stampede.” But she’s also funny, paging through Raymond Carver at a poolside bar during a doomed romantic rendezvous, and musically adventurous, deploying drum machines and horns to liven up the country-folk foundation of her songs. Fans of Townes and Lucinda should run—not walk!—to the Dakota, where Williamson will be performing solo and acoustic.—Jay Boller
Johnny "Hot Hands" Kovarik @ Dark Horse
St. Dominic's Trio @ Driftwood
Karaoke With On Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34
- Say Anything @ Fillmore—When Max Bemis arrived on the emo scene, nothing about his 2004 Say Anything debut, ...Is a Real Boy, suggested the band was destined for a smooth career. That album, which is being celebrated in full tonight, is considered a masterpiece of the genre—sprawling, complex, fun, frustrated, and lyrically adventurous. It came with a prepackaged origin story about how Bemis suffered a full-on mental breakdown while recording it, and 20 years later fans still worry about the frontman, now a 40-year-old married father of five. The latest Say Anything album, May’s …Is Committed, has moments of brilliance ("Say Anything, Collectively, Made Love to God," "Psyche!"), but it also has a song titled “On Cum” and another, “I, Vibrator,” written from the perspective of his wife’s sex toy. (We, correctly, slammed the latter song here.) Like most of the mostly strong entries into SA’s discography, you take the good with the ummm. Thankfully, Redditors report this run of Real Boy anniversary shows is going off without a hitch.—Jay Boller
Toni Romiti with Karson Blu and AkediaTheRapper @ Fine Line
Amigo The Devil with TK & The Holy Know-Nothings and Rattlesnake Milk @ First Avenue
HebbaJebba (Album Release) with USPop & Nikki Lemire with Burning Blue Rain @ Green Room
Explosion Big Band @ Jazz Central
Fuzzy Math @ Metronome Brewing
River City Jazz Orchestra @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Native Sun with Northern Hammer and Mystery Meat @ 7th St Entry
Artist Showcase @ Sociable Cider Werks
Cody Manson with Avion, Big Smoke, $edulous, Ice Kings @ Studio B
Industrial Strength with DJ Sin @ Terminal Bar
Worker’s Playtime with Borrowed Light Press @ 331 Club
November Conspiracy Theory featuring Sammie Jean Cohen, Wild Lyre @ 331 Club
Ballyhoo with Keep Flying @ Turf Club
The New Havoline Supremes @ White Squirrel
Connie Evingson, Michael Monroe, & Dane Stauffer @ Women's Club of Minneapolis
Wednesday, November 20
Shady Baby's Open Mic @ Acadia
Phora with Tyla Yaweh @ Amsterdam
- White Boy Summer (Thomas Abban & L.A. Buckner) @ Berlin—Two local musicians with chops to spare (Abban on guitar, Buckner—as you read here—on drums) team up to "explore the entire spectrum of the African musical diaspora with reckless abandon." That spectrum might just be too expansive to cover in one night, but it should be fun to watch them try. Oh, and Buckner and his regular band, BiG HOMiE, will also be at the Dakota on Friday.
Kinda Fonda Wanda @ Can Can Wonderland
Bad Posture Club with Voulouse @ Cedar Cultural Center
Kitchen Patrol and Joe @ Day Block Brewing
Giant Valley String Band @ Driftwood
Miss Shannon's Swing Night @ Eagles 34
Easy Honey with The Dalmatian Club and Kiernan @ Fine Line
Open Mic with host Neal Dimick @ Ginkgo Coffee
Vic Volare's Cocktail Karaoke @ Granada
JCS: Creative Collaborations @ Jazz Central
Emmy Woods @ Metronome Brewing
Maurice Jacox & the We Still R Band @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Mortiholics Residency @ Mortimer's
Palace the Band with Luciana Grace and Jist @ Pilllar Forum
Swamp Poppas @ Schooner Tavern
Hunter Root with Eli Gardner @ 7th St Entry
Breakers Paradise @ Terminal Bar
Harold’s House Party on KFAI with Paul Barry @ 331 Club
Brother Jon and Frensz @ 331 Club
Cameron Whitcomb with Emmy Woods @ Turf Club
My Cousin's Girlfriend's House @ Underground Music Venue
St. Paul Mudsteppers @ White Squirrel
Story Night, Buried Animals, & Paper Beast @ Zhora Darling
Thursday, November 21
Leanna Firestone with Brye @ Amsterdam
Matthew Griswold + Joan of Profile @ Aster Cafe
Fiesta: Breaks Edition @ Bar Zia
Queer Cumbia Dance Party @ Black Hart
Jaybee & the Routine @ Bunker's
Paul Metzger with Krissy Bergmark @ Cedar Cultural Center
Emily and the Space Butterflies (Album Release) @ Day Block Brewing
Simple Motion, the Outcats, the Sigtones @ Driftwood
KFAI's Funkraiser @ Dual Citizen
LGBTQ+ Twin Cities Latin Dance @ Eagles 34
Karaoke With On-Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34
Dangerbad, Paper Beast, Moon Pail @ Eagles 34
Snotty Nose Rez Kids with Travis Thompson and Bigg Kiaa @ Fine Line
Nate Smith with John Morgan @ First Avenue
Greenway Buskers @ Ginkgo Coffee
Fever Candlelight: A Tribute to Queen @ Granada
Snapped Live Band Open Night @ Green Room
Drew Christopherson Vinyl DJ Night @ Icehouse
Better Lovers, Cloakroom, Full of Hell, Spy @ The Lyric
The Brian Givna Quartet @ Metronome Brewing
Curtiss A & Dark Click @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Mary Elias's Young Relics @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Mega Musicals featuring Andrea Ross @ Orchestra Hall
Riddim Driven with DJ I Roach @ Palmer's
Ecphasis with Timberiver, Disembodied Humanity @ Pilllar Forum
Mubbla Buggs @ Schooner Tavern
Adam Ezra Group with Josh Joplin @ 7th St Entry
- Sun Dogs @ Northrop—This Liquid Music event, which pairs up film and music, with new soundtracks performed by the ensemble Alarm Will Sound, could be something special. Among the directors are Thai slow cinema great Apichatpong Weerasethakul and the French crafter of West African reveries Mati Diop. Composers include Blood Orange-man Devonté Hynes and ghazal reworker Arooj Aftab.
Tall Heights with Dug and Seven Pines @ Turf Club
The Braymores, Chutes @ Underground Music Venue
Sunshine Emblem and friends 01: A Sunken Ship Irony @ Uptown VFW
Eleusis Events Presents KATHARSIS: An Eclectic Dance Ritual.@ Uptown VFW
Devaney & Friends with the Changeups, Stone Arch Rivals @ White Squirrel
Friday, November 22
The Motet with Ethno @ Amsterdam
Atliens with Ghengar, Ravenscoon B2B Ahee, Stoned Level B2B Muerte, and Gunpoint @ Armory
Matthew French with Superior Siren @ Aster Cafe
Sorry For Party Rocking @ Bar Fly
Adam Harder Nussbaum Quintet @ Berlin
Haihli with Jantzonia @ Bryant Lake Bowl
Flowtus, Natalie Fideler, EFMI @ Can Can Wonderland
Monarch, Syfn, Leslie @ Caydence Coffee & Records
The Band of Heathens with Chris and Ari Silver @ Cedar Cultural Center
Loss Leader, Miracle Debt, Dingus, Powerdam @ Cloudland
Maggie's Afterglow: Dorothy Doring with Rick Carlson @ Crooners
The JoAnn Funk Trio @ Crooners
LA Buckner & BiG HOMiE feat. Kavyesh Kaviraj @ Dakota
Cronwood, My Cousin Dallas @ Driftwood
Miss Shannon's 4th Friday Sock Hop with Honky Tonk Jump @ Eagles 34
Mark Ambor with kenzie @ Fine Line
Dylan Gossett with Waylon Wyatt @ First Avenue
Super Hecking Valid, The Dirty Pretty, The Esoteric Revival, Down on Curfew @ The Garage
Tin Cash Telephone, Roady Tate @ Ginkgo Coffee
Trent Romans Band, JoJo Green, Clay Fulton & The Lost Forty @ Hook and Ladder
LAAMAR with The Holy North and Yonder @ Hook and Ladder
Dilly Dally Alley with 26 Bats!, Rabeca, + Big Blue Moon @ Icehouse
Chris Hepola: House on Fire Band @ Jazz Central
Lux String Quartet @ Metronome Brewing
Corey Medina & Brothers @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Juliet Farmer Release Show with The Envies + Absolutely Yours @ Mortimer's
Søndergård Conducts Mozart’s Requiem @ Orchestra Hall
Ophiuchus! with Los Pinches Gûeys, Black Wine @ Palmer's
The High 48s with LaPlant Road @ Parkway Theater
Zaq Baker with Dingus and Big Lex Noens @ Pilllar Forum
Jiggs Lee Invasion @ Schooner Tavern
Dogpark with Meyru @ 7th St Entry
Galleon, Cause for Cancer, In Solid Air @ Terminal Bar
- Ahem, Vanity Plate, Wish Wash @ 331 Club—What a great little local indie lineup. Both Ahem's Avoider and Wish Wash's self-titled are worth your time, and the latter sounded great when I caught them at the 331 last month. Vanity Plate I'm less familiar with, but on first listen, their new Garden Path EP, defined by Jazmine Schultz's chirpy vocals, is a keeper. And of course this is a 331 show so it's free (but bring cash to tip the bands, ya cheapskate).
Not Quite Brothers with Rebel Queens @ Turf Club
Final Decision, Habeas Corpus, Exiled IA, Kalot @ Underground Music Venue
Kelly Hunt & Kelley Smith @ White Squirrel
Queen Jeanne with the Sparks @ White Squirrel
MegaMusicals featuring Andrea Ross @ Woman's Club of Minneapolis
Second Hand Dan @ Zhora Darling
Saturday, November 23
Dylan Hicks & Small Screens with Sam & I @ Aster Cafe
Carpel/Goodroad/Hurtado @ Berlin
70s Magic Sunshine Band @ Bunker's
Pretty Pretty Please, Owen Trelstad, and Administrative Leave @ Can Can Wonderland
Val Son, Little Fevers, Delicate Friends @ Cloudland
Maggie's Afterglow: Dorothy Doring with Rick Carlson @ Crooners
Slovechev, Soul Trustees @ Driftwood
Jef Cierniak Triptet @ Driftwood
5 Cent Reality, Chandlers House @ Dusty's
Pond with Fazerdaze @ First Avenue
Rise of the Clockwork, Corsair, Sons of Bliss, Good Trouble @ The Garage
Curtis & Loretta @ Ginkgo Coffee
Bollywood Party - All White @ Green Room
Gently, Gently with Crush Scene, & KYM and the Kick @ Hook and Ladder
Basement Apartment, Denim Matriarch, & Muun Bato @ Hook and Ladder
Bain featuring Nicolay (Album Release) @ Icehouse
Ethan Ostrow Quartet ft. Nick Marziani @ Jazz Central
High & Mighty @ Minnesota Music Cafe
DJ Bryan Angeles @ Modist Brewing
Souvin Khamchaifue and Hmoob Yan @ Myth Live
Søndergård Conducts Mozart’s Requiem @ Orchestra Hall
Art Beagle Backup Band @ Padraigs
Cory Wong ft. Mark Lettieri with Couch @ Palace Theatre
Mama Digdown's Brass Band and Southside Aces @ Parkway Theater
Erin McCawley's Harrison Street Band @ Schooner Tavern
Porch Light with Callback, Squirm and Emily Rhea @ 7th St Entry
Bellerpuss, Atomic Lights, YUHH @ Terminal Bar
FénixDion, Valors, Corner, Chef! @ 331 Club
Radiochurch with Aiden Intro and Beemer @ Turf Club
Huntsmen, Another Heaven, Mold, & Cache @ Underground Music Venue
Erik Koskinen Band + Robinella @ Uptown VFW
Jessica Audiffred Presents Rave New World @ Varsity Theater
Cassie Brady Trio with Taylor James Donskey @ White Squirrel
Color Chord with Red Eye Ruby, Joan of Profile @ White Squirrel
Dust of Suns Ensemble @ Woman's Club of Minneapolis
Products Band, Cult Vibes, & Panel @ Zhora Darling
Sunday, November 24
Swing Brunch with Patty & the Buttons @ Aster Cafe
Curated by Adam Linz (feat. Le Percheron) @ Berlin
12 Rods, Mellow Cassette @ Cloudland
Robert Everest (Album Release) @ Crooners
Corky Siegel & Ernie Watts @ Dakota
Phine Friends, Shotgun Ragtime @ Driftwood
Emerson Woodshed Collective @ Dual Citizen
Twin Cities Country Dancers @ Eagles 34
Karaoke with Reina Starr @ Eagles 34
guardin with kennedyxoxo @ Fine Line
IDKHOW with ALEXSUCKS @ First Avenue
Self-Evident, Museum of Light, Dug @ Icehouse
Sunday Jazz Series: NxtGn @ Metronome Brewing
Cory Wong ft. Mark Lettieri with Couch @ Palace Theatre
Church of Cornbread @ Palmer's
Eat Lava with Reticent, Briefly Gorgeous, Gridlick, H. Rex @ Pilllar Forum
Nate Bergman with Ryan Gebhardt and Molly Maher @ 7th St Entry
Bumblebee Music @ Sociable Cider Werks
Jon Edward’s Trio (with Charlie and Mikkel) @ 331 Club
The Real Chuck NORAD @ 331 Club
The Stondest with Lost Evidence, Observant @ White Squirrel
Monday, November 25
Canin & Carinda's Variety Open Mic @ Acadia
Kindohm & Jesse Whitney @ Berlin
Irish Christmas in America @ Dakota
Tango Desperados Practilonga @ Eagles 34
World Music Monday @ Eagles 34
November Mondays, Curated by Mike Lewis @ Icehouse
Auto-Tune Karaoke @ Mortimer’s
Boots & Needles, John Niemann @ Schooner Tavern
