Sunday's Replacements poster party leads off more songs for Slim Dunlap

With fervor building over the remade Replacements' one and only hometown show Sept. 13 at Midway Stadium, many local scenesters are making sure the band's former guitarist Bob "Slim" Dunlap doesn't get lost amid the hubbub with a series of tributes/fundraisers.

Dunlap's mounting medical bills from a severe stroke were what first spawned the Replacements rebirth last year in the form of the "Songs for Slim" EP. The beloved singer/songwriter/guitarist and former First Ave janitor is still bed-ridden and receiving care at his home in south Minneapolis, where he just marked his 63rd birthday last week.

First up is "Kinda Like Some Artists: The Replacements Poster Show," a charity art sale and musical tribute happening Sunday in downtown St. Paul at the Hamilton Ink Spot space and the nearby Amsterdam Bar & Hall. Twenty locally rooted graphic artists have designed posters to commemorate the Midway Stadium show, including the Aesthetic Apparatus crew, Kii Arens, Tom Hazelmyer and Sam Anderson. The sale starts at 4 p.m. at Hamilton Ink, 375 Wabasha St. N. The music at the Amsterdam – mostly Replacements tunes and Dunlap's solo material -- will kick off at 7 p.m. and run all night with performers including Curtiss A, Crossing Guards, St. Dominic's Trio, Sons of Gloria, Doug Collins & the Receptionists, Pocket Genius and more.

On the eve of the Midway Stadium gig, Sept. 12, the Parkway Theater will host another multi-faceted show, "We Can't Hardly Wait: A Slim Dunlap Benefit," featuring an edited-down screening of the fan documentary "Color Me Obsessed: A Film About the Replacements" and another live tribute. Performers have not been named yet, but co-organizer Jon Clifford of Hi-Fi Hair & Records' also promised "a slew of our local heroes"

The Cabooze also just announced "Lovesick Blues: A Birthday Tribute to Hank Williams," led by Curtiss A and doubling as a Dunlap fundraiser later in September, on the 26th. Curtiss has been earning raves for his Hank tribute sets over the past year or two, and Dunlap frequently covered the late Alabama music icon's tunes during his shows, too. Dunlap got his start playing with A's team. Tickets for the show go on sale Friday at 11 a.m. for $10.

And there's still plenty of great merchandise to be hand in the "Songs for Slim" bin, too.

MOTHERLAND BENEFIT FRIDAY AT ICEHOUSE: Not related to Dunlap's cause other than it's also meant to offset medical bills and lend moral support, the Icehouse is hosting another worthy charity gig Friday dubbed "Motherland: A Benefit for Bobbie and Jeannie." Hard-grooving electronic dance-pop favorites Apollo Cobra – whose song "Motherland" provided the name -- will play their first show in a couple months as headliners, with Verskotzi and Astrobeard for openers (10 p.m., $10 minimum donation, tickets on sale here). The subjects of the show, Bobbie Anderson and Jeannie Piekos are moms of some of the event's organizers, each of whom were diagnosed with cancer around the same time. The concert will also feature a silent auction with items donated from around the music community and elsewhere.