MARIJUANA DEATHSQUADS at ART-A-WHIRL: Waiting on shore as other musicians and artists tried to erect some kind of tarp thingie with 2x4's in the rain, Shawn Walker wondered aloud, "How late do they have a permit." Permit?! If there was any kind of legal licensing for Friday night's opening of the "Czeslaw Loop" show for Art-a-Whirl on the river in northeast Minneapolis, it would've had to cover everything from live music and outdoor movie projecting to housing construction and even fishing.

Walker was one of six (?!) drummer involved with Marijuana Deathsquads' floating set on the docks below the Sample Room, the mindblowing kickoff to the "Czeslaw Loop" electronic/multimedia production that continues today. Despite starting an hour late and being cut an hour short, the performance solidly wowed the couple hundred people watching from shore. It helped that the rain finally went on hiatus long enough for a clear hour-plus of droning, throbbing, quaking, howling free-form electro-improv jams.

Helmed by M.D. Squadron leaders Ryan Olson (Gayngs) and Stefon Alexander (P.O.S.), the team on Friday also included Martin Dosh, Isaac Gale, Mike Mictlan and Jeremy "Spyder Baybie" Nutzman. At least that's who it looked like was involved. Their only lighting was the Czeslawian psychedelic film footage projecting on them from shore. The drummers were all up front on a flat floating dock, and the vocalists and electronic gurus were tucked away in a houseboat behind them. At one point, somebody came floating by on another boat blowing a trombone to the music. I'm not 100 percent certain I really saw this, but it looked like some dude was also casting a fishing pole alongside the drummers as part of the show. Really, I'm not sure anybody could accurately describe what they saw down there on Friday. But I am quite sure they'll never forget it.

TOMMY STINSON AT FIRST AVE: Five years since he last played here with a band, Stinson didn't waste any time letting us know what he's been up to once he took the stage-he-rode-in-on late Friday night. "You guys get to be the test market," the ex-Replacements bassist told the half-full crowd after playing the first two of more than a half-dozen new songs."That's what happens when you're the home town."

The new stuff had all the comforts of home -- basically the same late-era-'Mats sound he has never really abandoned, but with a decade more of wisdom and weariness behind them and a feisty two-guitar band that included the Figgs' Mike Gent on guitar and Stinson's fiance Emily Roberts on backup vocals. Maybe the best new tune had a Keith Richards-ian snidely sung hook, "I love the way you destroy me." He also showed a new side in "Match Made in Hell," saved for the encore, with a playful bounce and rich melodic structure. Among the older highlights were acoustic versions of Bash & Pop's "Friday Night (Is Killing Me)" and "Nothin'" mid-show and, during the encore, Perfect's "Seven Days a Week" and his rowdy 2006 solo nugget "Motivation."

Anybody hoping that a famous local frontman would show up for the show got their wish, though maybe not the one they were thinking: Stinson's Soul Asylum bandmate Dave Pirner walked out with his hoodie up at the start of the encore and told an offensive Abe Lincoln joke he said he learned from Muhammad Ali. He then proceed to take part in a cover of "Teenage Kicks" by inexplicably throwing around a few guitars and slamming them to the ground ("Don't let him touch my guitars," Tommy admonished). He returned for "My Generation" and blew the lyrics a little bit.

Setting up for "Czeslaw's Loop"

Go figure: It took a member of Soul Asylum to show up and make it feel more like an old Replacements show, for better or worse.