June 09–15


Gogol Bordello (06/12)

The gypsy-punk rabble-rousers make another stand in the Twin Cities, this time outside at the Cabooze. The Brooklyn- by- way- of- Ukraine- and- elsewhere band does for Slavic Europe what the Pogues did for Ireland: Crib some traditional sounds, amp up the romantic melancholy and menace, add booze, and play it like punk rock is meant to be. Their albums are all rewarding -- frontman/ringleader Eugene Hutz's cracked lyricism especially -- but this is a band that has to be seen live. Count on woozy singalongs, relentless tempos, acrobatic theatricality and sleazy accordion and power-chord orchestration right out of a mythic, degenerate Europe. They're one of the few bands with any sense of Iggy-style abandon and risk; Hutz may get up close and personal with you. Everyone who sees their show comes away with a story; go get yours. Dusty Rose and the River Band open. -GEOFF CANNON

'Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination' (06/13–08/24)

If you've ever wanted to levitate, here's your chance. This touring exhibit, bound to be another hit for the Science Museum, is an ambitious melding of movie memorabilia and the science that created it -- either real or imagined. You can see Luke Skywalker's landspeeder and jump into a real hovercraft yourself. All six "Star Wars" movies are represented, but to this writer, the best props come from the oldest movies, such as a Yoda puppet and the costume for the dark lord himself, Darth Vader. -CHRISTINA SCHMITT

Red Stag Block Party (06/14)

The greenest festival of the summer is back, hosted by everyone's favorite "supperclub," the Red Stag. This year's edition will have a flea market featuring Familia Skate Shop and Fifth Element, a hula hoop contest, the North Star Roller Girls, organic food and beverages, and music from Lady Hard On, the Owls, Buffalo Jack and the Plow Boys, Mike Mictlan, DJ Paper Tiger from Doomtree, E.L.nO. and DJ Misses MCFeely. The event will be emceed by on-sabbatical surrealist comedy troupe Electric Arc Radio. -JAHNA PELOQUIN

USER PICK: Martin Zellar at Alive After Five (06/12)

Martin Zellar The monthlong downtown Minneapolis music/happy hour at Peavey Plaza is always a great way to blow off some steam after work, and take in the sights and sounds of the city. Martin Zellar is usually one of the biggest draws for this event. Just don't expect him to play that Zamboni song. Six Mile Groove opens. -camurphy66

June 16–22


Vita.mn Poolside Fashion Show (06/19)

Photo by Carlos Gonzalez 2007 Vita.mn Poolside Fashion Show Hot models in swimwear and hot beats on the rooftop of a swanky members-only club as the sun sets -- how can you go wrong? One of the top events of last summer returns, with beach-ready looks for women and men from Cliché, Macy's, Il Vostro Boutique and American Apparel. The event will also feature mini-makeovers from Pull Out a Plum Salon and music from DJs A-Ray and Richie Rivera. Stick around afterward for a "celebrity pool toss," for which the chance to dunk a local celeb will be auctioned off. A word to the wise: Wear a swimsuit under your clothes just in case you're the one getting tossed. -JAHNA PELOQUIN

Rock the Garden (06/21)

New Pornographers We get a limited supply of beautiful summer afternoons up here. Luckily, two of our finest institutions, the Walker Art Center and 89.3 the Current, have at least one of them covered in spades. The Rock the Garden party returns in time for the 20th birthday of the world-famous Sculpture Garden, so slap on the sunscreen and wish the big spoon well. Headlining the day is folk classicist Andrew Bird; supporting are power-pop genius army the New Pornographers, the homegrown and anthemic Cloud Cult and the spectral rural-soul auteur known as Bon Iver. -GEOFF CANNON

'A Midsummer Night's Dream' (through June 22)

Photo by Steve Rice This may be one of the most entertaining shows I've ever seen. You don't have to be able to follow all the dialogue to have a rip-roaring good time. So, if you're not a Shakespeare fan, now is the time to give the Bard a spin! -ayahoo

I loved the actors, costumes, music and high energy level. I would definitely recommend it to people who think Shakespeare plays are just men in tights reciting dramatic soliloquies. -mindgrapes

June 23–29


Twin Cities Pride Celebration (June 27-29)

Photo by Jerry Holt 2005 Pride Parade Whether you're in, out or anywhere between, Twin Cities Pride is a gay old time, even for the straight folks. With more than 450,000 people in attendance last year, it's obviously popular for a reason. Spanning a weekend, events range from free bowling at Elsie's "Fruit Bowl" to a St. Croix River cruise, drag shows in Loring Park and, of course, the over-the-top Ashley Rukes GLBT Pride Parade on Sunday. The highlight of this year's fest is Saturday night's concert in Loring Park headlined by 1990s R&B divas En Vogue and Deborah Cox. Hearing "Free Your Mind" should inspire some flamboyant excitement. -AMBER SCHADEWALD

June 30–July 6


RZA as Bobby Digital (06/30)

Getty Images As Wu-Tang Clan's chief producer, RZA has quite a legacy in the world of hip-hop. He has a long list of collaborative albums and productions, along with a few solo projects that didn't necessarily live up to expectations. This June, he's giving it another shot and releasing the album "Digi Snacks" under his alter-ego Bobby Digital, which he claims is for "fun." With a little bit of funk and RZA's ghostly confidence, maybe the album will be more on the exciting side, but if not, seeing him live is still the duty of all who claim to be Wu-Tang fans. Los Angeles R&B group Stone Mecca will open. -AMBER SCHADEWALD

Ten Second Film Festival & 'Artery 24' (07/04-06)

The dopest of July 4th traditions, Chris Penington's Ten Second Film Festival returns to the Soap Factory, cranking up just as the July 4th fireworks over St. Anthony Main are dying down. Volunteers will have to hastily sweep up the beer bottles, though, because the following afternoon the Soap launches "Artery 24," a nonstop marathon of fringe performance and new media work. With 24 hours of gigantic marionettes, magical couches, maps constructed of used Doritos bags, projections, dance and sculpture, the Soap seems to be aiming for the type of synaptic burnout usually associated with hallucinogenic drug use. If the tiny, indefatigable staff can pull it off, "Artery 24" may prove to be the art event of the summer. -GREGORY J. SCOTT

Drive-By Truckers (07/02)

Photo by Jason Thrasher I was born and raised in Minnesota, but there's something about the way the Drive-By Truckers tell the "gothic sagas" of the South that I can't get enough of. I caught them last time they came through First Ave and they put on a hell of a show. You have to assume they never get onstage without a cooler full of Amstel Light and a bottle of Jack. During the encore, Patterson Hood was pouring whiskey down band members' throats during their solos and they weren't missing a beat. [Dead Confederate opens.] -thejackal


July 7–13


Macy's Day of Music & Sommerfest

Photo by Darin Back Chris Koza Freeloaders and moneybags alike will enjoy this three-week spree of indie, jazz, polka and classical music concerts. Things kick off July 11 with the entirely free Macy's Day of Music: almost 24 hours of back-to-back, no-cost concerts on six stages that spread throughout Orchestra Hall and spill onto adjacent Peavey Plaza (the lineup will be announced later this month). On later dates, the plaza is the setting for even more gratis goings-on, with such revered local acts as Chris Koza (July 20), the Alarmists (July 25) and Happy Apple (July 31). But if you want to hear tributes to Paul Simon (July 20) or the Beatles (July 25), that's going to set you back about $30. Year after year, the Sommerfest finale is a semi-staged opera. It's a real treat for the ears, even if conventional operatic visuals are held in restraint, since Orchestra Hall's acoustics are exceptionally friendly to the unamplified, operatic voice, and the Minnesota Orchestra has all the tightest players. This year's installment: Verdi's "La Traviata" on Aug. 2. -CHRISTY DeSMITH

Bastille Day Celebration (07/13)

Photo by Margaret Andrews Foxy Tann Celebrate the independence of France in style at the annual fete hosted by French bistro Barbette. Leave your cargo shorts and T-shirts at home -- this block party demands a little more style than most. While there's no official dress code, you'll feel lame if you're not donning stripes and a beret. This year's event features live music from Faux Jean, Romantica, the Sensational Joint Chiefs and Foxy Tann & the Wham Bam Thank You Ma'ams, plus a mini-derby from the North Star Rollergirls, the Alt Bike & Board show, organic food and beverages, a flea market and more. -JAHNA PELOQUIN

July 14–20


Summer Music & Movies Mondays (07/14–08/18)

Photo by Brian Peterson "Double Indemnity" was screened at Summer Music & Movies a few years ago. Hundreds of urbanites will converge on Loring Park on Mondays this summer, ostensibly for a free outdoor rock concert and an open-air screening of a classic movie. But this happening also offers the most concentrated collection of alt eye candy in all the Twin Cities. Good-looking rock dudes with long, skinny torsos turn friendly games of Frisbee into filthy displays of bravado. Hot mamas arrive in peasant dresses nearly as overstuffed as the vintage picnic baskets they carry. A horny hipster will encounter more asymmetrical haircuts and Peterbilt ball caps than even in his/her fantasies. If, perchance, you are truly interested in the official entertainment, then you'll want these handy facts: This year's series features a high-quality assortment of election-themed flicks handpicked by Walker Art Center curators, ranging from Frank Capra's "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" (1939) to John Frankenheimer's 1962 masterpiece "The Manchurian Candidate." (Music acts are yet to be announced.) Rest assured that the mating rituals go dormant just as soon as the film starts to roll. -CHRISTY DESMITH

'Hedwig and the Angry Inch' (07/18–08/31)

This show always inspires lots of questions. Is Hedwig a drag queen or a transsexual? Male or female? Which is better -- the play or the movie? This summer, we can add a new question to the list: The Jungle is doing a rock musical? It sure is. The Jungle's Joel Sass (director of 2006's acclaimed gender-bender, "I Am My Own Wife") directs this classic about an underappreciated rocker living in the shadow of her ("her"?) ex-lover, Tommy. A heartwrenching story, cult status, gender indeterminacy and glam rock, and it's at one of the most respected theaters in town -- what more could you ask for? -DANIELLE KURTZLEBEN

July 21–27


10,000 Lakes Festival (07/23–26)

Photo by Jeff Gentner / Getty Images Wayne Coyne of the Flaming Lips plays at Bonnaroo. They redefined the way we think of indie-rock performance, and in 2006 they even put their own hypervisual mark on the Minnesota State Fair. Now one of America's best live bands of the past 15 years, the Flaming Lips, seems poised to reinvent the northern- rural- psychedelic- hippie- jam-band festival. Which means 10,000 Lakes revelers can expect more giant human bubbles, more confetti bazookas, more laser-pointer symphonies, and undoubtedly some new surprises for their July 25 headlining set. The Lips' edgy '06 release "At War With the Mystics" holds up even better in an election year. The rest of 10KLF's lineup is a tad more predictable: the Grateful Dead-copping Dark Star Orchestra headlines July 23; Michael Franti and Spearhead and George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic square off on July 24, and founding Dead bassist Phil Lesh and Friends are paired with Leftover Salmon on July 26. Plus many other performers, camping, and whatever hippie hijinks usually transpire. -SIMON PETER GROEBNER

July 28–August 03


Minnesota Fringe Festival (07/31–08/10)

Photo by Joel Koyama From the 2007 Fringe Festival It's a Twin Cities tradition, an oasis in the usual summer theater drought. Hundreds of performances -- 874 last year. Cheap shows. You probably know someone in it. Cool buttons that also give you discounts around town, and street cred. Really, there's no excuse not to go to the Fringe. Come out, buy your button, and watch everyone from your average Joe and Jane to established theater companies as they prove why Minneapolis is a great (and prolific) theater town. Performances take place in the Northeast, North Loop, West Bank and Uptown neighborhoods, plus BYOV (bring-your-own-venue) site-specific performances in various locations. -DANIELLE KURTZLEBEN

Triple art-fair weekend (08/01–03)

Photo by Margaret Andrews 2006 Powderhorn Art Fair Every first weekend in August, a trio of art fairs descends upon Minneapolis, each a white-tent village brimming with good intentions -- if not always captivating objects of interest. To the chagrin of any hipsters left in the neighborhood (and any wayward motorists), the corporate-leaning Uptown Art Fair (Fri.-Sun.) overruns Lake and Hennepin, choking the region with a Jack FM smorgasbord of turned wooden vessels, watercolor landscapes and homespun jewelry. For a more grassroots vibe, head east to Powderhorn Park. Sort of the hippie offspring of the Uptown behemoth, the Powderhorn Art Fair (Sat.-Sun.) is the result of a disenchanted crew of artisans who broke away from the Uptown fair in 1990. The Loring Park Art Festival (Sat.-Sun.) boasts the sexiest venue of the three, nestled beneath the Minneapolis skyline in the pond-spotted urban green space. -GREGORY J. SCOTT

Vans Warped Tour (08/03)

Photo by Cheryl Ann Guerrero Logan Mozey skates during the Vans Warped Tour in Minneapolis in 2006. Concert forecast: Expect heavy, loud, fast bursts of amplified testosterone energy. The bands listed on this leg of the Warped Tour don't immediately pop out as big buzz bands (Be Your Own Pet will not be playing this one), but the show still promises to be a good day of thrashing for young skater punks. There are bands definitely worth checking out -- the Bronx, Against Me and Street Dogs -- and a chance to discover the next cool thing by yourself, for yourself. -CHRISTINA SCHMITT


August 4–10


County fairs & demolition derbies (Various dates and prices, statewide)

Photo by Jeffrey Thompson Nick Vought of Farmington hustled to get his car prepared for the demolition derby at the 2007 Dakota County Fair. How's this for a great day trip during the dog days of summer: demolition derbies! Virtually every county fair in the state has one, and while they're all basically the same and bizarrely dangerous (we like the compact-car heats the best), they're all a great way to experience some rural Minnesota color. Put on a torn Lynyrd Skynyd T-shirt and acid-wash miniskirt or jeans, and you're ready to go. Get a seat in the grandstand and root for the one Danica-type woman who seems to win every time. Just don't let anyone overhear you saying something as pretentious as, "This is a great way to experience some rural Minnesota color." We're partial to the county fairs south and southeast of the Twin Cities, like this week's Mower County Fair in Austin (Aug. 5-10) and the Dakota County Fair in Farmington (Aug. 4-10). Steele County's fair in Owatonna (Aug. 12-17) is also solid, and for a smaller one with better scenery, check the Wabasha County Fair in Wabasha (July 16-19), which looks just like the set of one of those sweet Hollywood movies that pander to the moral-values heartland. -SIMON PETER GROEBNER

August 11–17


Macy's Glamorama (08/15)

Cyndi Lauper The city's biggest fashion production of the year returns to the Orpheum for what many suspect will be its swan song. The big-budget, fireworks-packed show will feature fall 2008 collections from designers like Marc Jacobs, Donna Karan, Tibi and C'N'C Costume National. The long-running show (which debuted in 1992 as "Fash Bash") always features a major musical guest, and this year is no different: Cyndi Lauper and MC Hammer co-headline. The show will be followed by a no-holds-barred post-party. All proceeds benefit the Children's Cancer Research Fund. -JAHNA PELOQUIN

Renaissance Festival (08/16–09/28)

Photo by Jane Hwang Yes, RenFest is kind of expensive and dirty, but there's a lot to love about it. Some people go for the arts and crafts, while others go to watch the unique theatrical, musical and comedy performances. Vita.mn's CityGal goes for the mead. The turkey drumsticks and beer cheese soup in a bread bowl are not to be missed. And where else can you throw tomatoes at the face of a man who's paid to insult you? If you can't hit him, they may still let you throw axes or knives at inanimate targets for the chance to win a prize. It's worth the drive to Shakopee. -thejackal

August 18–September 01


Backstreet Boys at the State Fair (08/23)

Photo by Michael Latz / Getty Images Backstreet's back! Possibly inspired by the success of former boy bander Justin Timberlake, the Backstreet Boys have launched a "Larger Than Life" comeback. Since the boy-band pop bubble burst in the early 2000s, the group floundered with genre-crossing attempts to branch out, and we didn't "Want It That Way." But they "Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)" and got back to their trademark dance-pop sound with the release of the album "Unbreakable" last fall. Though it received decent reviews, the album barely made a dent in the charts, so it's "Now or Never." -JAHNA PELOQUIN

Counting Crows with Maroon 5 (08/26)

Maroon 5 The other night I wandered into Bullwinkle's for a few $5 pitchers of beer. The soundtrack was "August and Everything After," one of those CDs I wore out in high school during the '90s. As I looked around the rundown but relaxing loft, I started to remember why I had liked Counting Crows so much back then. Surprisingly, I remembered the lyrics to "Mr. Jones," "Round Here" and "Rain King," most likely due to their extreme overplay on 93.7 The Edge. By pitcher three, I had agreed to go to Mystic Lake in August with my date to lose some quarters and see a band that actually can write some pretty amazing songs. -kdgrrl5