Music: 4 for outdoors

Thursday is the night of choice for the best outdoor-music series around town, which kick into high gear after the 4th. Only the Walker Art Center's popular Summer Music & Movies series in Loring Park -- on Mondays -- offers a change-up.

The formula behind these series is also quite similar: Community/business groups or museums use live music to lure people to their corners of the metro area, throwing in a pretty outdoor setting and varying food and drink options to add to the appeal. Sold!

Here's a rundown of what each has to offer.

6-9 p.m. Thursdays through Aug. 27. Movie follows. 6th St. & Selby Av., St. Paul. Free. MusicInMears.com.

The setting: Mears Park is a tree-lined oasis with a manmade stream running through it in St. Paul's Lowertown. Chairs and tables are set up, or bring a lawn chair. Ample free parking is nearby at night.

The entertainment: For the series' sixth year, the Electric Fetus' Clint Roberts helped assemble a hip lineup of acts you're more liable to see at the Turf Club or Entry. The movies -- sorely missed last year -- are classic crowd-pleasers such as "Sixteen Candles" and "American Graffiti." Ex-Trip Shakespeare mates Matt Wilson's and John Munson's new band the Twilight Hours plays next week, followed by pop/rock favorites the Melismatics (July 16) and the Hopefuls (July 23), plus Dan Israel (July 30), Lookbook (Aug. 6), Maria Isa (Aug. 20) and Jeremy Messersmith (Aug. 27).

Food & drink: Four Lowertown businesses alternate as the vendor each week: The Bulldog (Chicago dogs!), 4th Street Station (burgers), Señor Wong and Barrio (tacos). The good beer variety doesn't change, with Bell's Oberon, Lake Superior Kayak Kölsch and Pabst.

6-8 p.m. Thursdays through Aug. 13. Mill City Museum's Ruin Courtyard, 704 S. 2nd St., Mpls. $5. MillCityMuseum.org.

The setting: Imagine a band playing in a bombed-out French town during World War II and you get the picture of this unique concert venue alongside the Mississippi. For the first time in the series' six years, there's a cover charge, but it includes free museum admission (normally $10). Gives new meaning to "milling about" while waiting for the band.

The entertainment: It's a lineup straight off co-sponsor the Current (89.3 FM), with a little more Minne-centric diversity. The summer's busiest bespectacled indie-rock star, Jeremy Messersmith, kicks it off next week, followed by Gospel Gossip (July 16) , Caroline Smith (July 23), Charanga Tropical (July 30), First Communion Afterparty (Aug. 6) and the Butanes (Aug. 13).

Food & drink: The museum's D'Amico-run cafe sells sandwiches, salads and pizzas. The beer and wine is basic bottled fare, including Summit.

6:30-8:45 p.m. Thursdays through Aug. 6. Parque Castello, 149 Cesar Chavez St., St. Paul's West Side. Free. DistrictDelSol.com.

The setting: Parque Castello is a basic city park just off the main West Side drag of Concord Street with a playground and lots of grass. Bring a blanket or lawn chair.

The entertainment: Both the music and movies are steeped in Latino culture, especially Mexican. Cumbia band Sonora Café performs next week, followed by the 2002 comedy "Real Women Have Curves" at dusk. Future acts include the folkloric dance troupe Danza Mexica Cuautehmoc & Los Alegres Bailadores (July 16), Andean folk group Ecuador Manta (July 30) and West Side hip-hop queen Maria Isa (Aug. 6).

Food & drink: It's usually a neighborly mix of taco and ice-cream trucks and a Girl Scout stand, while nearby restaurants such as El Burrito Mercado sell to-go fare. No alcohol sales on-site, and BYOB is discouraged.

7 p.m. Mondays July 18-Aug. 10, Loring Park, Lyndale and Hennepin Avs. S., Mpls.

The setting: Just across the Whitney Bridge from the Walker, Loring Park is Minneapolis' miniature version of the Boston Common, with a lake, gazebos, fountains, transients and a large hill that makes for a natural amphitheater. Blankets are a must.

The entertainment: This year's series is a tribute to Paul Newman, with suitably cool and daring acts to match. Electro-rock all-star band Halloween, Alaska opens it up alongside "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof" on July 18. Future nights feature Roma di Luna with "Hud" (July 27), Gospel Gossip with "Cool Hand Luke" (Aug. 3) and the Beijing-based Mongolian folk group Hanggai with "The Hustler" (Aug. 10). Too bad local rapper Minnesota Fats didn't get the latter gig.

Food & drink: Co-sponsor Lunds will sell "picnic food" every week, including cheese and fruit plates and even sushi. La-de-da. No alcohol is sold on-site, and it's officially not allowed (although plenty of folks have been known to sneak in beer or wine in their coolers).

While it usually shuts down for the summer -- for reasons having to do with air-conditioning and college calendars -- the Cedar Cultural Center will remain open through July this summer. The West Bank mainstay just kicked off its inaugural free outdoor-music series, taking place every Thursday through July on its large patio with acts such as the Brass Kings next week and libations from alternating breweries such as Flat Earth and Rush River (6-10 p.m.). The cross-country Bicycle Film Fest also lands there next Friday and July 11 (BicyleFilmFestival.com), and the Deep Blues Fest's movie night is July 12. Fountains of Wayne has the lone indoor music gig on Tuesday, but since it's an unplugged show, the a/c should hold up.

A quirky freak-pop trio led by two sons of a band director from the small farm town of Wells, Minn., the Golden Bubbles opted to highlight their eccentricities by choosing July 4th as the date of their Minneapolis CD party. Their piano-pounded debut, "A Good Time Was Had By All," is full of playful, hyper, tongue-twisty pop verses reminiscent of early Ben Folds and some of Blur's whackest songs, with a little polka thrown in for good measure. It's fun stuff, if a bit trying in parts. Their party is at the Uptown Bar on Saturday (10 p.m., free). ... Resilient blues-punk-experimental quartet City on the Make holed up for the winter and spring and pounded out another disc, "Keep This on Fire," which it's promoting tonight at the 400 Bar (9 p.m., $10). ...

To hype their 12:30 p.m. gig today at Taste of Minnesota, the 757s are sending around a promo pic of their faces photoshopped over the leather-clad bodies of Judas Priest. We were hell-bent to post it on our blog, startribune.com/poplife. ...

Yours truly is the guest on "The Local Show" with David Campbell this Sunday on the Current (89.3 FM, 6-8 p.m.). We'll be sorting through the "best local albums of the year (so far)" list, which you can also see on startribune.com/music.

chrisr@startribune.com • 612-673-4658