Welcome to Event Horizon, your weekly roundup of the best events in Minneapolis, St. Paul, and beyond.
MONDAY 3.31
30 Days of Biking
All Around the World
This is more than a festival or one specific event; 30 Days of Biking is an experience, a challenge, a global community, and, maybe, a paradigm shift. 30 Days of Biking is a worldwide event with local roots; each spring participants vow to bike every day for the month of April, be it a short neighborhood trip or a full-blown multi-mile excursion. It’s a chance to feel more confident biking around town, to experience trails, and to see the world on two wheels (or one, you wacky unicyclers!). You won’t have to do it alone, as there are a bunch of friendly bike rides this month; Joyful Riders Club has an adorable Easter Bunny Ride coming up as well as their monthly slow-roll Fulton brewery get together. Or if pastries are more your thing, Perennial Cycle will host sweets-fueled jaunts every Saturday. If you want to get an early start, today’s official kick-off ride starts at 5:30 p.m. at Brackett Park. Watch the org’s Facebook page for updates on group rides, and sign up for the challenge at 30daysofbiking.com. Through April 30—Jessica Armbruster
WEDNESDAY 4.2
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Fest
The Main Cinema
What’s the biggest film festival in town? This buddy right here. For the past 44 years, MSPIFF has brought us a huge selection of soon-to-be award-winning films, hard-to-find international critics’ picks, and locally made gems. This year is no different with over 200 films to take in over 11 days. You’ll have to trim down your itinerary, of course, but a few highlights include the world premiere of Somalia in the Picture, a documentary about the Mogadishu film industry and one man’s quest to find a surviving print of a film he made in 1985; The Wedding Banquet, a queer comedy of errors starring Bowen Yang and Lily Gladstone; and a free screening of Pather Pachali, Indian director Satyajit Ray's groundbreaking 1955 film. Director Ang Lee will be in town for special screenings of Brokeback Mountain and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and the fest kicks off with the 2025 documentary Free Leonard Peltier (who has since been freed), followed by a reception featuring eats from Owamni. Selection categories include flicks made by Minnesotans, LGBTQ+ films, horror movies, films by Black and women filmmakers, kid-friendly fare, and so, so much more. Check out the complete fest schedule online and check in with Racket this Wednesday for more festival recommendations from our film aficionado Keith Harris. $17 per screening; $10 student rush; multi-show passes available. 115 SE Main St., Minneapolis. Through April 13—Jessica Armbruster
THURSDAY 4.3
Twins Home Opener
Target Field
On our Twins preview podcast, baseball writer Aaron Gleeman sewed plenty of seeds for optimism about this year’s hometown nine. Three games in and… well, we’re still waiting on those seeds to germinate, it seems. The Twins staggered outta the gate last week, losing three games to the St. Louis Cardinals without showing much of any offensive spark. Earlier this week, Rocco’s squad will play three against the division rival Chicago White Sox—who lost more games than any team ever last year—before returning home to break in Target Field for 2025. As usual, there’ll be a “baseball-inspired” breakfast on the plaza from 6 to 9 a.m., which in this case means breakfast bars plus hot dogs, chips, and ice cream for both humans and dogs. Gates open at 1 p.m., and the first 10,000 fans through ‘em score a City Connect Beanie—aka a winter cap styled to the team’s abysmal City Connect jerseys. Nelson “Boomstick” Cruz of the 2019 Bomba Squad is scheduled to toss out the first pitch, while Chanhassen Dinner Theatres will honor its late leader, Michael Brindisi, by having the cast of its Grease production sing the national anthem. Tickets? They appear plentiful through the team website and aftermarket sites. (Cool tip: Wait until moments before the game, and snag ‘em cheap through SeatGeek.) And, of course, it’s your duty as a Minneapolitan to skip work and patronize downtown’s various bars before and after the game. Also, check back at Racket this Tuesday when we’ll be reviewing all the new eats at Target Field and, later in the week, our annual grading of the team’s walk-up songs. $19-$146. 3:10 p.m. 1 Twins Way, Minneapolis; find more info here.—Jay Boller
Mark Guiliana
Icehouse
Time Out once said Giuliana is “what happens when you add hard bop drum masters Elvin Jones and Art Blakey to a 1980s Roland 808 drum machine, divide the result by J Dilla and then multiply to the power of Squarepusher,” which might be a tiny overstatement but does indicate the esteem in which this cross-genre drummer is held. Equally comfortable in rock, jazz, or electronic settings, Guiliana has played with St. Vincent, Brad Mehldau, and Meshell Ndegeocello; he may be most broadly known for his work on Blackstar, David Bowie's 2016 final album. His first solo album, Mark, is truly solo—Guiliana plays all the instruments, sliding from the electronic and the acoustic with ease and blurring the boundaries between the two. It should be a treat to see him in this small club setting. $25/$30. 8 p.m. 2528 Nicollet Ave., Minneapolis; find more info here.—Keith Harris
Public Functionary x Meet at Mia "Giants"
Minneapolis Institute of Arts
If (like me) you still haven’t made it to Mia for “Giants,” the exhibit of 100 works from Black artists drawn from the collection of Alicia Keys and Swizz Beatz, maybe one of these Thursday night gatherings, thrown by art event planning experts at Public Functionary, will get you over there. This week features beats from DJs Keezy and Sci-Fi while Olu Famule (Cinefilmu) presents experimental shorts from three emerging local Black filmmakers. Next week (April 10), textile/digital artist Za’Nia Coleman conducts a roundtable with other artists, speculative fiction writer Taiwana Shambley will oversee a workshop, and a DJ set from Sarah White provides the sonic backdrop. The final event on April 17 features a raft of performers, including Sol Salvation Choir and Greg Grease, DJ McShellen and DJ Afro, and BLAQ Dance Collective. Free. 5-9 p.m. 2400 Third Ave. S., Minneapolis; find more info here. Thursdays through April 17—Keith Harris
FRIDAY 4.4
Bright Eyes
Palace Theatre
Longtime Bright Eyes fans, of which I am one, are accustomed to seeing a well-lubricated Conor Oberst onstage. But last year distressing videos emerged of the frontman/bandleader acting especially erratic on tour, slurring and threatening self-harm. In September, “vocal problems” were cited as the Omaha group canceled the year’s remaining dates. (That month’s very solid LP, Five Dice, All Threes, made several references to suicide.) That’s a roundabout way of saying: We’re hoping Oberst is taking better care of himself, because the 45-year-old singer-songwriter is one of his generation’s best. Decades removed from the “Next! Bob! Dylan!” hype that overwhelmed his early career, all the indie-folk troubadour does is release great music, with 2016’s barebones solo album Ruminations and his recent "Companion" series of reimagined Bright Eyes albums serving as particularly stirring examples. Opening are ol’ Omaha emo running buddies Cursive. Speaking of! Bright Eyes and Cursive just released a fun mashup of their respective songs, “Lover I Don’t Have To Love" and "The Recluse," to benefit Oberst's LGBTQ+ nonprofit, the Poison Oak Project, timed to Trans Day of Visibility. $63-$135. 7:45 p.m. 17 W. Seventh Place, St. Paul; find more info here.—Jay Boller
April Star Party
Bell Museum
Just being realistic here: Right now, the weather on Friday isn’t forecast to be ideal for stargazing. But should the skies clear up before Friday night, you’ll have the opportunity to use the Bell’s high-powered telescopes to see deep-space objects otherwise unobservable to the human eye. Inside, cloudy or not, the museum’s astronomy experts will guide you through the night sky in the planetarium (free shows are offered on a first-come, first-served basis), and other hands-on astral activities are scheduled throughout the evening. Free. 9-10:30 p.m. 2088 Larpenteur Ave. W., St. Paul; find more info and RSVP here.—Em Cassel
Bob Dylan
Mayo Clinic Health System Event Center
What more is there to say about Dylan that we (here, here, and here) or anybody else hasn’t already said? Robert Zimmerman, 83, of Hibbing is simply the best, and this “Rough & Rowdy Ways Tour” stop might be one of your last chances to catch him live. (The 2020 album for which it’s named, his 39th, has no business being so damn good… OK, I guess there is plenty more to say about Dylan!) He's also in Wisconsin—Eau Claire on Saturday, Green Bay on Sunday—through the weekend. $140-$568. 6:30 p.m. 1 Civic Center Plaza, Mankato; find more info here.—Jay Boller
SATURDAY 4.5
See/Saw Party
Eagles #34
Ex-Pitchfork staffer Evan Minsker was a casualty of that site’s brutal 2024 layoffs. But rather than slinking away from music journalism, Minsker started his own publication, See/Saw, which focuses on the garage punk he didn’t always get to cover at his old day job. Based in Menomenie, Wisconsin, See/Saw is the digital equivalent of an old punk zine, bolstered by 21st century adjustments like a podcast. It’s been around for a full year now, and Minsker is coming to the big city to celebrate with the sorts of bands that you’ll read about on See/Saw. The lineup includes Montreal’s Retail Simps, Judy and the Jerks outta Mississippi, Minneapolis’s own Neo Neos, Cincinnati’s Artificial Go, Detroit’s 208, Denver’s Abi Ooze, and the new Twin Cities band Panel. On Friday there’s a pre-party at Cloudland with Feeling Figures (Retail Simps in a different configuration), Chicago’s Answering Machines, and locals Bermuda Squares and Yuasa-Exide. That’s way more than one year’s worth of rock. $30. 6 p.m. 2507 E. 25th St., Minneapolis; find more info here.—Keith Harris
Hands Off! Mass Mobilization
Minnesota State Capitol
If you’re anything like me, you suffer from a spat of mini brain aneurysms each and every morning while reading the national news. When Trump was elected last fall, Racket assembled a massive list of orgs—LGBTQ+, environmental, reproductive justice, antiwar—to help readers steer their anger toward something resembling productivity. Today at the Capitol, however, is more about transmitting that white-hot rage in the loudest, most visible format possible. Organized by Indivisible Twin Cities, 50501MN, and Women's March MN, the Minnesota installment of the national Hands Off! protest wave is intended for, per those organizers: “Whether you are mobilized by the attacks on our democracy, the slashing of jobs, the invasion of privacy, or the assault on our services—this moment is for you. We'll be part of a massive, visible, national rejection of this crisis. Our goal is to show that the people—the majority—are taking action to stop the corruption and power grab.” If nothing else, there’s a more-than-zero chance it’ll annoy this whiney, (allegedly) ketamine-addicted baby with an (alleged) botched dick surgery. Free. Noon. 75 Rev Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd., St. Paul; find more info here.—Jay Boller
The Hard Quartet
First Avenue
It’s always cute when a few older fellas get together and start a band. The Hard Quartet is Stephen Malkmus, Matt Sweeney, Jim White, and Emmett Kelly, and I won’t bother listing their credits—either you know them already or they won’t mean much to you. Their self-titled debut is hardly “hard,” but it does feature plenty of inventively wayward indie guitar. My fave is “Rio’s Song,” which sets Kelly’s warble against Malkmus’s little guitar flurry, and reveals just the nicest little chord change in the chorus. With middle-aged hobbyists like this, it’s all in the details. Buzzy power-pop Anglophiles Sharp Pins and Ryan Davis are also set to perform. 18+. $50. 8 p.m. 701 First Ave. N., Minneapolis; find more info here.—Keith Harris
Studio Ghibli at the Parkway
Parkway Theater
Founded in 1985, Tokyo-based Studio Ghibli has been bringing us works in its unique style and whimsy for nearly 40 years. You know their schtick: Quirky characters go on an unexpected adventure, told via vibrant colors and a sweeping musical score. SG movies are also notable for what they are not: When Hanna-Barbera was recycling animations in the ‘80s, Hayao Miyazaki’s Ghibli crew was painstakingly hand-drawing and painting cells with watercolors. When Disney shuttered its hand-drawn animation department in 2009, Ghibli would keep doing its thing, save for a sole 2020 computer-animated collaboration (The Earwig and the Witch). This series at the Parkway features a selection of core offerings from Ghibli, starting with Spirited Away, a tale of a girl who takes a job at a magical bathhouse after a witch turns her parents into pigs (it’s more whimsical than it sounds). Next week is Howl’s Moving Castle, a magical rom-com of sorts where a no-nonsense young woman is turned into an old lady via a witch’s curse—and it turns out being old is pretty fun! Next up is the iconic My Neighbor Totoro, Miyazaki’s ode to rural life and befriending giant gentle creatures (as well as an unintentionally terrifying cat bus). Finally, we have Ponyo, about a goldfish that turns into a human girl and befriends a little boy. $7/$10 adults; $5/$8 kids; $20-$28 all-movies pass. 1 p.m. Saturdays. 4814 Chicago Ave., Minneapolis; find more info here. Through April 26—Jessica Armbruster
Romance Book Fair
Inbound BrewCo.
Did you happen to see any videos of the massive line outside Inbound for its adult book fair in January? Yeah, it was intense. So, knowing that, and knowing that 1.8K people have already registered for this romance-themed version on Facebook… I’m just saying, maybe get there early or don’t bother getting there at all! If you do manage to get inside, you’ll find books and crafts from local shops and makers, plus A Court of Thorns and Roses trivia (noon), a romance keychain-making station, and readings and signings from local authors (2-5 p.m.). Free. 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. 701 N. Fifth St., Minneapolis; more info here.—Em Cassel
Whose Live Anyway?
Orpheum Theatre
Can you believe Whose Line Is It Anyway? has aired for 21 seasons and counting? That demonstrates Americans have a remarkable appetite for improv comedy, and an upcoming Racket feature story will survey the state of the local improv scene. Until then, you can get 90 minutes of top-tier improv from Ryan Stiles (428 episodes of Whose Line?), Greg Proops (87 eps), Jeff B. Davis (61 eps), and Joel Murray (zero eps, but remember his great Mad Men run as Freddy Rumsen?). As always, they’ll be taking audience suggestions to spark the yes-and hijinks, so spring for a primo seat if you wanna be part of the show. $85-$98. 7:30 p.m. Orpheum Theatre, 910 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis; find more info here.—Jay Boller
ONGOING
Last Week: “A Thousand Nesting Dolls”
The Museum of Russian Art
Did you know that the largest collection of Russian nesting dolls in the U.S. is located right off the Diamond Lake entrance to I-35W? Now that you know, how do you feel about that? The Museum of Russian Art will begin presenting its Matryoshka dolls (to use the proper Russian term) to the public; they’ll be on display until March 9. And since it’s likely been a while since you popped in at TMORA (I myself am always overdue for a visit), while you’re there, be sure to take in Alexander Viazmensky’s watercolors of Russian mushrooms, a recently opened exhibit. 5500 Stevens Ave., Minneapolis; find more info here. Through April 6—Keith Harris
Ukrainian Lenten Fish Fry
Ukrainian American Community CenterEven passive news consumers might’ve noticed the diplomatic (word used very lightly) tantrum thrown inside the White House last week. Thankfully, delicious options for Ukrainian solidarity do exist right here in Minnesota. Consider this Lenten fish fry, which benefits both the UACC and the Cheremosh Ukrainian Dance Ensemble. We’re talking generous plates of fried fish, coleslaw, French fries, and—crucially—varenyky (aka perogies). Beer and wine are available via the cash bar; ambiently positive geopolitical vibes are available for all diners. Also, gotta mention it: This animated fish chef is worth the price of admission. $15 adults; $10 kids. 4:30-7:30 p.m. 301 NE Main St., Minneapolis; find more info here. Fridays through April 11—Jay Boller
