Who knew the Republican National Convention would amount to such a great week in live music?

Just the list of names for private GOP-friendly gigs next week is a lot more than what we usually see around Labor Day, including Gretchen Wilson, Daughtry, Sammy Hagar, LeAnn Rimes and Charlie Daniels. Of course, the undisputable truth is that more of the noteworthy musicians coming to town are doing so to protest the Republican agenda, or at least to try to change it. Foremost among these is Rage Against the Machine, who perform Wednesday at the Target Center.

"While there's a lot of clinking of champagne glasses and toasting one another and passing big checks back and forth inside the convention, there's a reality on the streets outside that will be represented by the bands playing to protest in Minneapolis-St. Paul," said Rage guitarist Tom Morello. "We'll be outside the barbed-wire fences throwing musical Molotov cocktails toward the fences."

Other big concerts going against the GOP grain include Monday's Take Back Labor Day rally on Harriet Island and Tuesday's free Ripple Effect festival at the State Capitol grounds, headlined by longtime political activist Michael Franti and his reggae/rock/rap band Spearhead. Franti said he is a true independent and has made it a practice not to endorse candidates. However, he did make it clear that his No. 1 issue will put him directly across the aisle from John McCain next week.

"I'm coming to [St. Paul] to join the voices saying we want our troops and our tax dollars to come back from Iraq," Franti said. "I've been to Iraq, and I've seen the futility and despair there. I feel strongly enough about the failure of our policies there to do what I can to change them."

Many local musicians are relishing the chance to be a bigger part of the rock-in-politics picture this year. A lineup of local all-stars is putting on Tuesday's Provention concert at the Fitzgerald Theater, including members of Semisonic, the Honeydogs and Suburbs. Lots more are performing at spark24, a 24-hour festival at Orchestra Hall.

"Whether you are liberal or conservative, having the national media focused on your community offers a rare spotlight," said Cloud Cult frontman Craig Minowa, whose band of staunch environmentalists will play at spark24 early Sunday. "We can let the world see that Minnesotans want to see some dramatic positive changes take place in our economy, environment and international relations."

Many curious RNC attendees are expected to make a quick swing by a notorious bathroom at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport before heading off to pursue weightier work. Fortunately, the fun won't stop there. The Minnesota AIDS Project, (www.mnaidsproject.org), in collaboration with the Colorado AIDS Project, is distributing a few thousand complimentary "safer sex kits," containing a condom and instructions for proper use. The unusual goodie bags also include troubling statistics: More than 56,000 new cases of HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, are diagnosed annually nationwide, as federal support lags. "HIV is a nonpartisan issue," said MAP spokesman Dave Folkens. "This is a public health issue, regardless of who wins in the fall." The condoms will be distributed at several Twin Cities bars, gay and straight. Folkens wouldn't predict whether Denver or St. Paul would have more takers. "Republicans. Democrats. You know, people are going to pick these up and, we hope, use them correctly."

Every few months, some Twin Cities locale pops up on a dubious Internet list cataloguing the "Best Places to Raise a Family" or the "Worst Dating Cities." For the most part, it's a bunch of baloney. But when LUX, a reputed European luxury magazine, named the Chambers Hotel the world's best art hotel this summer, the honor was legitimate and well-deserved. In its recent "Art and Architecture Special," LUX placed the Hennepin Avenue art palace at the top of a list that included similar glam destinations in such art-heavy cities as Berlin, Rome and -- the hottest market for contemporary art these days -- Hong Kong. Backed by Stein Hotels and Resorts, one of Europe's poshest hotel brands, LUX is taken quite seriously by its readership, a bespoke mailing list of "High Net Worth and High Influence Individuals" in London. Heralding owner Ralph Burnet's "top-notch batch of iconic, in-your-face art from the enfants terribles YBAs (Young British Artists)," LUX has placed Minneapolis on the radar of the European jet-set.

He was only in the band for its final year (1990-91), but the Replacements' replacement drummer Steve Foley told biographer Jim Walsh, "it will always be a treasure in my mind.

"Some days I walk down the street and go, 'God, I was in that fucking band?' Unbelievable. It is."

Foley, 49, died over the weekend of an apparent accidental drug overdose, said his sister, Colleen Foley. He was found at home in Minneapolis by co-workers Monday when he did not show up for his job as a car salesman.

LeeAnn Weimar, a Minneapolis concert promoter and close friend, said, "This is not your typical rock-guy-on-drugs story. He was really struggling, but we know he definitely wasn't trying to check out."

Prior to joining the Replacements in 1990, Foley performed with local rock stalwart Curtiss A for a decade. Some of the other Twin Cities bands he drummed with include Wheelo, Snaps, Bang Zoom, Trailer Trash, Things That Fall Down and the Suprees.