1 A long time ago, there was a sweet red lighthouse keeper's cottage at the end of Duluth's Park Point. It had a green roof, and windows with white shutters, if the colorized old postcard can be believed, and it looked like a great wild place to live. There were log cabins on Park Point, too, and a trolley car to take you to them. "Lost Duluth," by Tony Dierckins and Maryanne Norton, is a softcover compendium of Duluth's torn-down past. It will make you sigh wistfully at all the beauty, all the grandeur, all the flying buttresses and chandeliers and elegance, in the once-gritty little city. zenithcity.com

2 Powerhouse actor Greta Oglesby leads an honor-roll cast in "The Amen Corner," James Baldwin's meaty first play, staged by Penumbra Theatre at the Guthrie. The plot centers on conflicts between the spiritual and the carnal, pastor and congregation, parent and child. As a storefront pastor, Oglesby displays a stern, self-blinding righteousness while Austene Van is sublime as a schemer who works her will in the church. Lou Bellamy's culturally authentic production infuses the drama with such tambourine-shaking and foot-stomping music, it sometimes feels like a church service. Though June 17. penumbratheatre.org

3 Do imbibing Minnesotans know how lucky they are to have a cocktail bar like Bradstreet Craftshouse? Get reacquainted with the three-year-old mixology den by checking out its summer drink menu. At the top of the list is the Long Drop, a tongue biter made by Bradstreet's nationally renowned consultant Toby Maloney. The master bartender makes the drink with the artichoke liqueur Cynar, Fernet Branca, lemon, ginger syrup and 50-50 bitters. It's the perfect late-night summer sipper. www.bradstreetcraftshouse.com

4 Just in time for summer comes one of the sunniest indie-rock albums of recent memory (which admittedly isn't saying much in these tortured times). In "The Only Place," the sophomore record by L.A. duo Best Coast, singer/guitarist Bethany Cosentino comes off as the California-girl answer to the Lemonheads' Evan Dando, spinning simplistic and scrappy pop-punk ditties into giddy, bright-eyed, lovelorn gems, with producer Jon Brion (Fiona Apple, Kanye West) providing polish here and there.

5 Jack Black does the most restrained and human-scaled work of his career as a prim, gentle Texas mortician in "Bernie," a one-of-a-kind comedy based on the real-life homicide of a rich, mean old lady. With terrific performances also from Shirley MacLaine and Matthew McConaughey, director Richard Linklater has created a loopy nonfiction marvel that challenges the boundaries of "what's funny." It's like "In Cold Blood" written by Flannery O'Connor instead of Truman Capote.