Not to be all rock radio morning show about it, but do you like weekends? If you're one of us Monday-to-Friday-ers who gets all Loverboy about it when the end of the week rolls around, all I can say about this Saturday is: You wanna be in the show? Come on baby, let's go!
And the rest of the week? Not so bad either.
Tuesday, January 23
International Reggae All Stars @ Bunkers
St. Dominic's Trio @ Driftwood
Karaoke With On Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34
Mickey Darling with Nick Wagen @ Fine Line
Jamasons Cinquante: An Epic 50th Birthday Extravaganza @ Granada
Kevin Gamble Trio @ Green Room
Twin Cities Latin Jazz Orchestra @ Jazz Central
The Dirty Shorts Brass Band @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Students Center Stage @ Orchestra Hall
All Nighter Tuesdays @ ROK Music Lounge
Mali Velasquez with runo plum @ 7th St Entry
Industrial Strength with DJ Sin @ Terminal Bar
Worker’s Playtime: Mike Munson @ 331 Club
January Conspiracy Series featuring Ben Cook-Feltz, Mother Banjo @ 331 Club
William Tyler & The Impossible Truth with Oscar Tengo @ Turf Club
The Mary Cutrufello Band @ White Squirrel
Pure Shifter (Tuesday Residency) with Junkies & Time Room @ White Squirrel
Wednesday, January 24
jonger with SYFN, and Baumgardner @ Amsterdam
MN Songwriter Showcase hosted by Nick Hensley @ Aster Cafe
The Sudden Lovelys @ Como Zoo Conservatory
Maggie's Wednesday: Linda Petersen @ Crooners
The Very Bad Days, Fever Pitch, the Flying T @ Driftwood
Miss Shannon's Swing Night @ Eagles 34
Trent Romens Band @ Green Room
- Yellow Ostrich 3rd Annual Winter Shindig Night #3 @ Icehouse—For the third year, Alex Schaff's Yellow Ostrich is hunkering down at Icehouse for a weekly January residency. Max and Jeremy Ylvisaker and Trash Date join Yellow Ostrich for the third week, and for the finale, Aesha Minor and Nat Harvie are on hand.
Maurice Jacox & the We Still R Band @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Students Center Stage @ Orchestra Hall
KFAI'S Desert Islands Presents Nici Peper hosted by Theyself @ Palmer's
In Solid Air @ Rok Music Lounge
Soul Trouvère @ Schooner Tavern
Ominous the Monster and Jake Giller with RUUCH, Tony Dent, Kelvino @ 7th St Entry
Harold’s House Party on KFAI with Potential New Boyfriend @ 331 Club
JoJo Green, Adam Bohanan, The Morning Kings, and Joan of Profile @ Turf Club
Sarah Morris and the Sometimes Guys with 4th Wednesday of the Month @ White Squirrel
Nights With Tim @ White Squirrel
Thursday, January 25
Disposable Days (EP Release) with Emma Jeanne @ Bryant Lake Bowl
Deletist, Full Catholic, Luddgang, Sock Hop Massacre @ Cloudland
Gwen Matthews and Dan Chouinard @ Crooners
Vic Volare with Steve Roehm @ Crooners
LGBTQ+ Twin Cities Latin Dance @ Eagles 34
Karaoke With On-Call Entertainment @ Eagles 34
Lucius with Jeff Taylor @ First Avenue
Private Oates, A Little Too Short to Be Stormtroopers @ Green Room
John Louis (CD Release) with Bad Posture Club, and Jon Rodine @ Hook and Ladder
Venus DeMars & All The Pretty Horses, Surly Grrly, and Mary Jam @ Hook and Ladder
Leslie Vincent + John Jamison @ Icehouse
Drums of Navarone @ Minnesota Music Cafe
The Front Porch Swingin' Liquor Pigs @ Palmer's
Rock the ROK Presented by Chuee @ ROK Music Lounge
Scott Allen & the List, Colby Kent & the Stomping Ground @ Schooner Tavern
Caleb Dee with The Dalmatian Club and Anna Graves @ 7th St Entry
Cross Pollination: Awful Offal @ 331 Club
Nothing But Joy and Mik Cool with Oftener and Hyooman @ Turf Club
Paul Cerar with Linus and Izek Rose @ Underground Music Cafe
Lucinda Williams Birthday Tribute with Carolyn Young and West Seventh Band @ White Squirrel
Michael Gay with Rachel Bearinger @ White Squirrel
Friday, January 26
Taylor James Donskey and Friends @ Aster Cafe
- Drone Not Drones @ Cedar Cultural Center—Once again, it’s time to gather up your bedding and head on down to Cedar-Riverside to immerse yourself in round-the-clock experimental music. Now in its ninth year, Drone Not Drones occupies the Cedar annually for a full 28 hours as dozens of musicians, from Minnesota and elsewhere, demonstrate the range of sounds and styles that can fall under the broader label of “drone music.” Highlights this year include San Antonio ambient performer Claire Rousay, Oakland experimentalist Chuck Johnson with former Minneapolitan Cole Pulice on sax, event inspiration Alan Sparhawk of Low, and pow wow music reinterpreter Joe Rainey, who’ll be collaborating with IOSIS. As always, this event is a fundraiser for Doctors Without Borders, who sadly can really use the support right now. And of course, if you’re not in it for the long haul, you can just pop in for a bit of drone, though you might be tempted to stay longer than you planned.
The Outstanding Achievements in the Field of Excellence, Little Man, the Unnamed @ Cloudland
Django Reinhardt Birthday Celebration with the Ryan Picone Quartet @ Crooners
The Soul of Daryl and John: Songs of Hall and Oates @ Crooners
Maggie's Afterglow: Thomas Bruce and Rick Carlson @ Crooners
BC Collective, Trusion, Grey Duck @ Driftwood
Miss Shannon's 4th Friday Sock Hop featuring Lena and the Lovekills @ Eagles 34
The Current's 19th Anniversary Celebration with Lucius, BER, and Abraham Alexander @ First Avenue
A Tribute to Dolly Parton @ Fine Line
Lucius with Jeff Taylor @ First Avenue
Corsair (Album Release) @ The Garage
Wandering Eye (WEEN Tribute) with REVO (DEVO Tribute) @ Hook and Ladder
Brass Elephant with Street Hassle and The 99ers @ Hook and Ladder
Sixth Annual Minneapolis SongSLAM @ Icehouse
Paul Hecht and Kat Sherman @ Jazz Central
The Gated Community @ KJ's Hideaway
Hoang with Caslow, Kepik, Red Comet @ The Loft
Ray Covington Anthology Tour @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 in Concert @ Orchestra Hall
Cassie Pilgrim Plays Strauss’ Oboe Concerto @ Ordway
Trigger Armada, Blur Curve, and Self-Destruct Sequence @ Palmer's
Mary Chapin Carpenter & Shawn Colvin @ Pantages Theatre
Nothing But Nice @ Pilllar Forum
Forever 21, Fauna Sauna @ ROK Music Lounge
Sunshine & the Night Walkers @ Schooner Tavern
Manias, Flavor Crystals, Moy Dukksen @ 331 Club
McNasty Brass Band with Gifted Handz and room3 @ Turf Club
White Line Darko, Civil Decline, Amateur Hour @ Underground Music Venue
Ascen/Dance Presents: YULE BALL @ Uptown VFW
Feels So Close: An EDM Golden Era Dance @ Varsity
The Collaboratory 4th Fridays @ White Squirrel
Friday I'm In Love Dance Party @ Zhora Darling
Saturday, January 27
Tunde Olaniran: Chaotic Good @ Amsterdam
The High 48’s Bluegrass Brunch @ Aster Cafe
70s Magic Sunshine Band @ Bunkers
Clidesfeld, Ginny and the Fizz, Ray Gun Youth @ Caydence
Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society @ Crooners
Maggie's Afterglow: Thomas Bruce and Rick Carlson @ Crooners
Blue Note Records 85th Anniversary Tour @ Dakota
Hay Bale, Short Pay Riders, Down on Curfew @ Driftwood
Cindy Lawson with Parishes @ Dusty's
Just Luv, Inc., Speed Riders, Mean Magic @ Eagles 34
- Armand Hammer with Quelle Chris @ Fine Line—Is billy woods the absolute best at what he does right now? His rhymes are somehow both allusive and concrete, never crystalizing into a linear narrative but rarely drifting into the ether. With We Buy Diabetic Test Strips, he and his partner in Armand Hammer, Elucid, are responsible for the album title of the year (sorry, Lana), which includes song titles like “Woke Up and Asked Siri How I’m Gonna Die.” The production on a few of these tracks are a little, well, out, as they say in jazz, the rhymes tending toward the abstract, but whenever you get a bit woozy they yank you back in with a line like “Don't invite me to your house, ask me to remove my shoes and your floors ain't clean.” And yet, the Armand Hammer record is probably woods’s second-best album of the year, after maps, a collaboration with producer Kenny Segal. Damn. Recently, woods has swung through here a few times, both solo and with Armand Hammer, playing venues as varied as the Green Room and Dakota. You can’t say you haven’t had plenty of chances to catch him live.
Magic City Hippies with The Palms and Josh Fudge @ First Avenue
The 19th Annual Tribute to The Last Waltz ft. Big Pink with The Belfast Cowboys @ Fitzgerald Theater
- Gully Boys, Mike Kota, Brunette, Denim Matriarch @ Green Room—Happy birthday, Green Room! The newish Uptown music venue is celebrating its one-year anniversary with a return performance by the band that kicked things off in February 2023, Gully Boys. Also in the house will be singer-songwriter Mike Kota, catchy AF rockers Brunette, and prog quintet Denim Matriarch.
Dave Rave & The Governors, Scott Allen & The List @ Hook and Ladder
Rocksteady Breakfast, Lost Island Society, Socktopus, Push & Turn @ Hook and Ladder
The Ocean Blue with DJ Jake Rudh @ Icehouse
Geoff LeCrone Quintet @ Jazz Central
The High & Might Band @ Minnesota Music Cafe
Reformation Dance Night: Life of the Party 2024 @ Mortimer's
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 in Concert @ Orchestra Hall
Cassie Pilgrim Plays Strauss’ Oboe Concerto @ Ordway
Savage Moods, Night of Joy, and Little Lizard @ Palmer's
Lissie's Midwinter Residency with Chris Koza @ Parkway
Airship Caravan, Lost Evidence, Rob Daniel Band, 1947 @ ROK Music Lounge
killusonline with RIOTGRRRLDARKO, CA$UAL, and Popstar @ 7th St Entry
Barely Alive with Delta Heavy, Ace Aura, Godlands @ Skyway Theatre
TC Ramblers Honky Tonkin' @ Terminal Bar
Red Eye Ruby, Color Chord, The Johnny Sincerely Orchestra @ 331 Club
A Ladies Affair Female Showcase @ Underground Music Venue
- Digable Planets with Kassa Overall @ Varsity—One of my great “history will prove me right” moments was preferring this spacey, jazzy hip-hop trio to conscious pop-rap chart toppers Arrested Development, and I swear, this was a choice some of us felt we had to make in the ’90s. With their trippy names (Butterfly, Doodlebug, and Ladybug), laidback flow, and cool-jazz samples, the group that released Reachin' (A New Refutation of Time and Space) felt like they lived in a world all their own, or were at least in search of one, yet they also released what’s probably the only great pro-choice rap song. The rhymes and attitude firmed up a bit on Blowout Comb without losing any of their cool. And then that was that. Rap had no shortage of such beautiful dead ends in those days, bursts of creativity that brought forth no stylistic descendents or future echoes. Still, Ishmael “Butterfly” Butler did go on to become the prolific abstract rapper Shabazz Palaces. A nostalgia show, yes (trust, I did not pay $100 to see them in 1994) but nostalgia for a moment that’s easy for the writers of history to overlook.
Ashes From Stone @ White Rock Lounge
Martin Devaney @ White Squirrel
Saturday Is Instrumental with Big Trouble @ White Squirrel
Anothernight with A Sunken Ship Irony, Red Lovely @ White Squirrel
Lifestyle Shakes, Spit Takes, Pals @ Zhora Darling
Sunday, January 28
Swing Brunch with Patty & the Buttons @ Aster Cafe
Mary Bue & The Scarlet Goodbye @ Bryant Lake Bowl
Cloudland Laid Back Sundays @ Cloudland
Nathan Griner with Matthew Probst @ Como Zoo Conservatory
Story Tellers: Songs of James Taylor, Billy Joel and Cat Stevens @ Crooners
BluLuna featuring Dean Magraw and Rick Carlson @ Crooners
Patty Peterson Presents: Jazz Women All Stars with Lucia Newell @ Crooners
- Cécile McLorin Salvant @ Dakota—Salvant has been all but universally acclaimed as the most inventive jazz vocalist of her generation, and her grasp of conceptual frameworks is almost as exciting as her technical ability. Her execution matches her ambition. Last year at the Walker, she collaborated with a 13-piece orchestra to perform her work Ogresse: Envisioned, which also included visuals and costumery she had a hand in designing. Also last year, she released Mélusine, a collection of originals and rearranged traditional songs, sung in French, Occitan, English, and Haitian Kreyol; it offered her twist on the old folktale of a woman who becomes half-snake once a week.
Phine Friends, Shotgun Ragtime @ Driftwood
Twin Cities Country Dancers @ Eagles 34
Karaoke with Reina Starr @ Eagles 34
Kai Brewster's Millions, Andy Holmaas Band, and Super Secret Very Special Guests @ Green Room
George Scot McKelvey @ Icehouse
Jaspar Lepak (Album Release) with Haley E. Rydell @ Icehouse
Murf, Time Room, Gay Witch Abortion @ Mortimer's
Cassie Pilgrim Plays Strauss’ Oboe Concerto @ Ordway
Church of Cornbread @ Palmer's
Black Widows' Open Mic @ Palmer's
Juice with The Get Together @ 7th St Entry
The Real Chuck NORAD @ 331 Club
Lonesome Dan Kase, Kismet Rendezvous @ White Squirrel
Saint Paul Songwriter Rounds @ White Squirrel
Monday, January 29
Tango Desperados Practilonga @ Eagles 34
Auto-Tune Karaoke @ Mortimer’s
DJ Nanobyte Presents Byte Nyte @ Palmer's
The Cactus Blossoms with Clare Doyle @ Turf Club
Urban Hillbilly Quartet @ 331 Club
Matt Arthur Contraption @ 331 Club
Enter the Void Further with American Cream, New Confusion, Michael Moore @ White Squirrel
