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MONDAY 10.12
Christopher Vondracek
Magers & Quinn
Even if you’re not familiar with Terry Redlin’s name, you’ve probably seen one of his paintings. Depending on your sensibility, you may have either winced at the Minnesota painter’s kitsch Americana or felt that his cheery landscape depictions brightened a room. In Redlin or Rodin: Essays on Midwestern Scenery, Christopher Vondracek takes Redlin’s appeal seriously, acknowledging the actual physical sources for the landscape the painter idealizes and examining the roots of the nostalgia he fosters. Vondracek, a Washington, D.C., correspondent for the Star Tribune, draws upon his childhood in southern Minnesota during the ’80s farm crisis for a short but wide-ranging book that’s part memoir, part cultural history, and part aesthetic appraisal. Tonight he’ll be in conversation with his colleague Reid Forgrave. Free. 7 p.m. 3038 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis; find more info here.—Keith Harris
THURSDAY 10.15
Ben Schwartz & Friends
Orpheum Theatre
I’m not sure how cancelled or uncancelled Thomas Middleditch is these days, but I can say with confidence that attending Middleditch & Schwartz, his two-man longform improv team that performed at the State Theatre in 2019, is perhaps the loudest I’ve ever laughed in public. Watching Mr. Schwartz (Parks and Rec, Comedy Bang Bang, Sonic) do improv is like watching a magic show, and I’m equally confident the “and friends” promised for this evening will produce must-see stuff. (This fall those live pals have included Comedy Bang! Bang! favorites such as Jessica McKenna, who’s in town Sunday with her fabulous Off Book show at the Fitz, Gil Ozeri, and Brandon Scott Jones.) Outside of improv, Schwartz has kept busy with roles in all those Sonic movies, the Nic Cage vampire flick Renfield, and the Roku show Die Hart. $63.60. 8 p.m. 910 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis; find more info here.—Jay Boller
Twin Cities Film Fest
Marcus West End/Edina Mann Theatre
This is the biggest film festival of a season that’s chock full of them, with 150 or so flicks screening at two venues as well as online. Categories include the basics, like horror and comedy, but there are also more niche tags, such as the environmentally focused “code red” and the “TCFF Changemaker Series,” which this year will showcase films exploring refugee experiences around the world. Big movies of 2026 include the Andrew Scott showcase Elsinore, Wild Horse Nine from writer/director/awards-magnet Martin McDonagh, and Out of the Woods, starring Frances Fisher, who’ll be present for a live conversation. Actors Jeremy Swift and Natalie Gold will also be in town for Welcome to the Fishbowl, and Moonlight will be screening in a 4K restored release for its 10th anniversary. 1625 West End Blvd., St. Louis Park; 3911 W. 50th St., Edina; find showtimes, prices, and more info here. Through October 24—Jessica Armbruster
Rakim with Room3
Dakota
Sometimes the tired old conventional wisdom is right: When it comes to MCs, there’s before Rakim and then there’s everything after. He unleashed a proliferation of rhyme styles that immediately made rappers a year his senior sound hopelessly old school. He’s old school himself now, if not prehistoric to today’s hip-hop fans, but when I caught the god in 2018 at the Varsity, he continued to dominate. I saw the local jazz combo Room3 backing Slum Village in this same club, and they’ll provide Ra with the music he deserves. $69.76. 7 & 9:30 p.m. 1010 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis; find more info here.—Keith Harris
FRIDAY 10.16
Saint Paul Art Crawl
Various Locations
What have artists in Lowertown, downtown, and West Seventh in St. Paul been up to lately? Find out at this three-day self-guided tour featuring opening receptions, special sales, pop-up studios, and parties. While the Spring Crawl is a multi-weekend event with designated neighborhoods each week, this Fall Crawl is a simultaneous, citywide party. Hot spots where you’re sure to find a lot to see and do include Union Depot, the Minnesota Museum of American Art, the Tilsner Artist Lofts, and the Schmidt Artists Lofts. Free. 6–10 p.m. Fri.; noon to 8 p.m. Sat.; 1–5 p.m. Sun. Find a list of locations and happenings here. Through Sunday—Jessica Armbruster
Twin Cities Horror Festival XV
The Crane Theater
Now in its 15th year, this horror festival continues to freak audiences out. The 2026 lineup features 14 different productions at the Crane Theater over 16 days. We’ve got location-based horror, including an ice shanty nail biter (Bicentennial Auger), a mysterious bloodbath (SHED), and a work set in Disney’s Haunted Mansion (There’s Room for One Thousand). There’s body and philosophical horror (Augmentation), sapphic vampire horror (Carmilla), and puppetry (Tales of Terror… from the Tomb). All shows come with a handy age rating system, as well as ratings for language and blood. 2303 NE Kennedy St., Minneapolis; find more info here. Through October 31—Jessica Armbruster
Heavens to Betsy
Fine Line
The most exciting reunion tour of 2026 might just be slipping past a lot of people who should care. Maybe you scanned the listings and thought, “They can’t possibly mean that Heavens to Betsy.” But yes they do: Corin Tucker and drummer Tracy Sawyer have reunited. Listening back now to the duo’s 1994 riot grrrl landmark Calculated, you might hear the inchoate ingredients that would cohere into the world-beating sound of Sleater-Kinney, but this is from Tucker juvenilia. First off, it’s meaner than S-K. “I've got a knife that's sharpened/Exactly for one white boy/My target is your heart/And the knife will go deep, the knife will go inside,” Tucker threatens, employing a sense of dynamics that recalls early PJ Harvey, and I don’t know that she ever screamed as chillingly as on “Stay Away.” Now all I wanna know is when are Carrie Brownstein and Becca Albee gonna get Excuse 17 back together? With Tuffie and Scrunchies. 18+. $38.69. 8 p.m. 318 N. First Ave., Minneapolis; find more info here.—Keith Harris
SATURDAY 10.17
Digable Planets
Fillmore
Thirty years of Blowout Comb—now that’s worth celebrating. At the time, this sophomore joint was intended as one of those course corrections that good-natured rap crews felt compelled to make; the problem wasn’t that too many white kids dug this BK rap trio’s Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space), but how too many white kids dug them—see also: De La Soul Is Dead. Reachin' was plenty Black, but Blowout Comb proclaimed “It’s nation time.” From this historical distance, the follow-up sounds as jazzy as its predecessor, only slightly less playful, and still spacey if not quite so extraterrestrial. Ishmael “Butterfly” Butler, still in the rap game with Shabazz Palaces, is the wise observer while Craig "Doodlebug" Irving is the more active participant in streetlife. And if I can’t say for sure that no female MC has ever rapped with the smooth chill of Mariana “Ladybug Mecca” Viera, certainly no one else namechecked Eric Dolphy, Bahamadia, and Derrick Bell in the same verse. $60–$135. 7 p.m. 525 N. Fifth St., Minneapolis; find more info here.—Keith Harris
K-pop Halloween Bash
Union Depot
OK, you can no longer pretend to not understand the K-pop craze—the Star Tribune was doing biz trend pieces on it two years ago (gift link, if you must). Whether it’s KPop Demon Hunters, BTS, or double-fried chicken wings in Richfield, the Korean Wave’s global cultural takeover has no doubt captured your kid’s imagination, and that’s what today’s spooktacular K-pop bash at the Depot is all about. We’re talkin’ dance challenges and workshops, live performances, costume contests, vendors, and raffle prizes. Pregame with hot bowls of bibimbap at Hilltop's Dong Yang and some BLACKPINK on the ol' car Bluetooth; it’s the age of South Korea—just ask your kids. Free; RSVP here. 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. 214 Fourth St., St. Paul.—Jay Boller
Saturn Video Grand Opening
Saturn Video
When we caught up with Sierra Parham in July, the Saturn Video founder was still looking for a permanent home for her pop-up video rental operation. Well, she found one! Saturn Video lands in Minneapolis’s Seward neighborhood this weekend, with a grand opening party and sidewalk sale on Saturday. There’s also an “after hours” opening party on Sunday with DJ sets, zine making, tarot reading, and a curated film program. Free; $10 suggested donation on Sun. 2–8 p.m. Sat.; 5–10 p.m. Sun. 3201 E. 25th St.; find more info here. Also Sunday—Em Cassel
Inside Out 5 Block Party
Pillsbury House + Theatre
The theme of this year’s Inside Out, the annual block party hosted by Pillsbury House + Theatre and KRSM Radio, is “vitality.” Pillsbury House + Theatre recently conducted a survey that found that south Minneapolis residents identified “mental health, burnout, access to resources, and opportunities for connection as top community priorities.” My fellow south Minneapolitans, does this resonate with you? Because lemme tell ya—it does with me! In response, Inside Out 5 will have wellness activities, family-friendly programming, food from Cooks of Hope, and opportunities to connect with orgs that support local residents. PH+T artists. On screen throughout the Pillsbury Creative Commons building there’ll be documentary shorts from All at Once, Drag Story Hour, Queen Drea, and Body Watani. A healthcare “imaginarian” will offer an interactive way to explore what the future of healthcare could actually look like outside of our current dystopia. Brass Solidarity and KRSM DJs will provide tunes. Free. 1–5 p.m. 3501 Chicago Ave. S., Minneapolis; find more info here.—Em Cassel
SUNDAY 10.18
Off Book
Fitzgerald Theater
Each and every week Jessica McKenna and Zach Reino do something incredible on their hit podcast Off Book: The hilarious musical improvisers create an entire damn musical from scratch. “Every episode of Off Book is an amazing feat of comedic and musical synchronicity—even the ads are must-listen,” Vulture once raved. As such, tonight’s live show at the Fitz is sold out, but we’re using this blurb real estate as a way to recommend a new-to-you pod that, per its UCB vet creators, “combat[s] the notion that musicals should be ‘carefully crafted’ or ‘thought out at all.’” Band director Scott "King of Pianists, Pianist of Kings" Passarella is on the road for this theater tour of Off Book. Sold out. 8 p.m. 10 E. Exchange St., St. Paul; find more info here.—Jay Boller
ONGOING
Skyline Mini Golf
Walker Art Center
Warmer weather means it’s putt-putt season in Minnesota. Yeah sure, you can play mini-golf year-round in the North Loop, but it’s just not as whimsical an experience when you drop a course into a dimly lit bar with a “hot young singles only” vibe. The Twin Cities’ only putt-putt in the sky is back at the Walker, featuring 10 quirky holes made by local artists. New this year is Indhaha Dayaxa–Eyes of the Moon by Ifrah Mansour, a Minneapolis-based Somali artist who you may have seen performing at the Minnesota State Fair, featured on TPT’s Minnesota Original, or exhibiting works at the Mia. Return holes this year include the hot dog one, the one where you race via color, the one with ping-pong paddles, and the pool-hall one. Bring sunscreen and enjoy those views of Loring Park, downtown Minneapolis, and the endless Hennepin-Lyndale traffic jam. $12. 725 Vineland Place, Minneapolis; reserve a time and find more info here. Through October 18—Jessica Armbruster
SpoOOoOOooky Bar Pop-Ups
Multiple Locations
Good news for people who love to drink themed cocktails while surrounded by spooky kitsch: It’s Halloween bar pop-up time! Over in south Minneapolis, Creekside Supper Club is now Creepside Supper Club (love it), with a seasonal drink menu and killer decor; Nico's Taco and Tequila Bar in Uptown has been transformed into a House of Halloween. X-mas Slay is back at Bina’s in Northeast, and the Haunted Basement Bar has returned to Travail’s Basement Bar in Robbinsdale—this year, with a horrifying harvest supper twist. (“Remember…Once you’re part of the family, you’re always part of the family.”) Meteor will transform into the Black Lagoon on Thursday, and Thursday is also the start of Tavern of Terror at Twin Cities 400 Tavern. Have fun out there, creeps and freaks!—Em Cassel
Sever’s Fall Festival
Sever’s Farm
Getting lost in a corn maze is wholesome fun—or the start of a horror movie. It’s probably going to be the latter when we’re talking ‘bout this annual Shakopee harvest fest. Since 1997, Sever’s has created a huge maze annually for you to explore (generally it takes 30–40 minutes from start to finish), but once you make your way out there’s still a ton to see and do. There’s a petting zoo, there are hay rides, there are hay sculptures, there’s a live music stage, fields of pumpkins, zip lining, and corn pits. New this year is a mega-jump BMX bike show. $19. 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sat.–Sun., plus Thu.–Fri. Oct. 15–16 (MEA week). 3121 150th St. W., Shakopee; find more info here. Through November 1—Jessica Armbruster
“Cream of the Crop: The Second Harvest”
Minneapolis Institute of Art
Last year, for the first time, the Minneapolis Institute of Art exhibited a selection of crop art from the Minnesota State Fair. “[Crop art is] an interesting crossover between folk art and fine art, it’s a kitschy Minnesota tradition, and it’s something sort of uniquely Minnesotan,” Rob Bedeaux, Mia’s head of marketing and communications, told Racket at the time. “Cream of the Crop,” as the show was perfectly titled, was a hit. It was so popular that Mia brought the show back this year, with more than 20 pieces of art, including five that won best in show ribbons from the fair. 2400 Third Ave. S., Minneapolis; find more info here. Through November 29—Em Cassel
“Roots”
All My Relations Arts
This fall/winter exhibition from All My Relations Arts showcases Native artists from across the regions of Turtle Island, the name many Indigenous peoples use to refer to the Americas. It’s part of a new juried series that will “shed light on how the Western colonial construct of borders was designed to divide Native nations and perpetuate cultural divisions through the systematic removal of Indigenous peoples from their ancestral homelands,” according to AMRA. The first exhibit in this series focuses on the Midwest region. 1414 E. Franklin Ave., Minneapolis; find more info here. Through December 12—Em Cassel
“Olalekan Jeyifous: Hydricosmic Litanies”
Walker Art Center
Recently, Racket ran a story by Drew Ross about what trash and treasures might surface if we were to drain the Mississippi River gorge. By curious coincidence, a new exhibit at the Walker constructs imaginary artifacts from composite, fictional cultures that might be found in the river. In his first solo show, “Hydricosmic Litanies,” the Nigerian-born artist Olalekan Jeyifous, also known as Lek, draws upon Yorùbá, Dakota, and Ojibwe traditions to create stories about the interaction between peoples and the river. You should check out Jeyifous’s Insta for a taste of what his art is like. 725 Vineland Place, Minneapolis; find more info here. Through January 3, 2027—Keith Harris
