Avant Gardener rocks First Ave
Due to her commitment to Rock the Garden last year and her fast ascent in the interim, Courtney Barnett never got the chance to play First Avenue — and now she's too big for it. Nonetheless, the best-new-artist Grammy nominee booked a two-nighter there. An Aussie offering echoes of Kurt Cobain, Lou Reed and Liz Phair in her own unique voice, she made her mark with the vivid, droll 2014 song "Avant Gardener" and then topped many critics' year-end lists with 2015's "Sometimes I Sit and Think, Sometimes I Just Sit." Rosemount native Alicia Bognanno's mighty band Bully is a perfect opener.
Chris Riemenschneider
8:30 p.m. Tue. & Wed., First Avenue, Mpls., sold out.
With hoverboards, color-guard flags and giant inflatable water balls, James Sewell Ballet immerses itself in the world of high school marching bands for its new work "Band It." Set to music by BandQuest (a series of scores for student bands put out by the American Composers Forum), the work pairs JSB dancers with student musicians for a high-energy spectacle.
sheila Regan
8 p.m. Fri.-Sat. & April 29-30, 2 p.m. May 1, Cowles Center, Mpls., $20-$36, thecowlescenter.org
Maybe you know him as Leon Black from Larry David's "Curb Your Enthusiasm." Maybe you know him from BET's "The Real Husbands of Hollywood" or from his own NYC-centric talk show "Four Courses with J.B. Smoove." Maybe you've seen him steal scene after scene from Ice Cube in "Barbershop: The Next Cut." Now you can see Smoove, he of high energy, expressive face and quick tongue, do his stand-up act.
Jon Bream
7:30 p.m. Sat. Skyway Theatre, Mpls., $29.95-$32skywaytheatre.com
Fresh from two sold-out nights at Dizzy's in New York City, Nancy Harms, the jazz thrush originally from Clara City, Minn., will celebrate the release of her wonderful new album, "Ellington at Night," which demonstrates her ability to be yearning, coy, sexy, playful, knowing and irresistible. The New York-based singer has already presented her Ellington repertoire in England, France, Denmark and Italy.
Jon Bream
7 & 9 p.m. Mon. Crooners, Fridley, $15-$40, croonersloungemn.com
Celebrate National Poetry Month with a melding of minds and styles headlined by famed wordsmith Saul Williams. The title of the evening, "No One Ever Does," is taken from a track on his third album, "The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust." The piece will get a new treatment as Williams performs with the daring Mivos Quartet. The evening also includes Williams' "NGH WHT," and works by Jace Clayton and Ted Hearne.
Rohan Preston
7:30 p.m. Tues., James J. Hill Library, St. Paul. $15, liquidmusicseries.org.
Moving Company has devised a new work from three writers and filmmaker Francois Truffaut. "Every Sentence Is for the Birds" studies an encounter between a doctor and a "wild child" and asks "what do they learn from each other?" Suzanne Warmanen and Nathan Keepers, two veterans of the company, perform under the direction of Dominique Serrand. The production includes work by writers Peter Handke, Denis Diderot and Maria Montessori.
Graydon Royce
7:30 p.m. Thu.-Sat. Ends May 22; Lab Theater, Mpls.; $22-$32, themovingco.org
Spring flourishes with "Art in Bloom" at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. The four-day festival uses lavish arrangements of fresh flowers to interpret art in the museum's collection. Floral designs imitate Renaissance and impressionist paintings, play with Pop art, reinterpret Chinese screens, African sculpture, American Indian jewelry and more. Check out tours, lectures, demonstrations, kid fun and a bloom-filled shop.
Mary Abbe
10 a.m.-9 p.m. Thu.-Fri.; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat.; 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sun. Free. Minneapolis Institute of Art. artsmia.org
Minnesota Jewish Theatre Company stages "Bad Jews," a piece by Joshua Harmon that works the familiar territory of family tensions in the wake of a patriarch's death. Hayley Finn directs the story of two cousins battling over the inheritance based on the idea of who is more righteous — or whether that should matter at all. The cast includes Miriam Schwartz, Adelin Phelps, Michael Hanna and Michael Torsch.
Graydon Royce
Opens 8 p.m. Sat. Ends May 22. Highland Park Community Center, St. Paul; $20-$32, mnjewishtheatre.org
Travel from the past to the present as the Union Depot and the Minnesota Transportation Museum celebrate Train Days. At the depot learn about the historic and the current role of railroads for freight and travel. At the museum listen to stories about trains, meet engineers and enjoy activities at Choo Choo Bob's Corner. To avoid parking snafus get a free ride to the depot on Metro Transit buses or the Green Line and then take vintage buses.
Melissa Walker
10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sat.; 11 a.m.-3 p.m. May 1. Union Depot, St. Paul, free, uniondepot.org
