Artcetera: The stars come out for Spider John

Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue had nothing on fellow folk legend Spider John Koerner's "1,000th Moon Celebration." Step-dancers and songwriters, poets and pickers, storytellers and sitarists — even a yo-yo spinner — all brought their A-games for a variety show Monday marking the astronomy-obsessed "stargeezer's" 1,000th lunar cycle. As a full moon beamed on the Cedar Cultural Center, David Huckfelt recalled the time his group the Pines got the honor of opening for Spider John. Except Koerner decided to play the early set and wound up giving the Pines this immortal introduction: "Well, I'm going to play one last song and then something else is going to happen. But I won't know what it is because I'll be back home." Koerner himself took the stage twice to tell jokes and perform a few songs, even though he claims to be retired ("I like to say that my muscle memory has Alzheimer's"). The singer-songwriter, who turns 81 in August, always told people that his goal was "to live for 1,000 moons." Reaching that milestone at last, he raised a glass to toast his departed compatriots Dave Ray, Willie Murphy and Tony Glover (who will be memorialized at the Cedar on June 30). He played an unrecorded tune that ended with this wistful line: "Enjoy your time, and blow a little kiss when you wave goodbye." And he lived up to those words, closing the night with Leadbelly's "Goodnight, Irene" as performers and concertgoers alike joyfully sang along.TIM CAMPBELL

One of the Twin Cities' most successful rock bands of the 2000s and early 2010s, Motion City Soundtrack is gearing up for a comeback in 2020. The Minneapolis-reared quintet of Warped Tour and Epitaph Records fame has announced a string of reunion gigs starting New Year's Eve in Chicago. A Minneapolis show is mysteriously listed at the end of their January itinerary with the date and venue blurred out. Sources hint that the gig may be one of the opening shows for the new Fillmore in downtown Minneapolis. Co-founders Justin Courtney Pierre and Josh Cain have stayed close since the band called it quits in 2016, with Cain producing Pierre's 2018 solo album, "In the Drink," which the frontman continues to promote with his own band, including Minneapolis dates July 26 (opening for Jawbox at First Avenue) and Aug. 16 — a free outdoor gig at the Lake Harriet Band Shell that's part of the Star Tribune's Summer Music & Movies series.

CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER

The worst kept secret on Broadway is a secret no more: The Bob Dylan musical "Girl From the North Country" is headed to the Great White Way. Set in Duluth during the Depression and featuring 19 Dylan songs, the show debuted in London in 2017 and had a three-month off-Broadway run last fall. Previews begin Feb. 7 at the Belasco Theater, with a March 5 opening date that will make the show eligible for the 2020 Tony Awards.

CHRIS HEWITT

After heavy-metal screamer Ronnie James Dio's concert last weekend at Myth introduced the Twin Cities to hologram performances by deceased music stars, here comes a big-name hologram twin bill. Rock icons Buddy Holly and Roy Orbison will be resurrected in a 46-city North American tour that lands at Mystic Lake Oct. 17, featuring a live band and remastered audio of their hits.

JON BREAM

NEAL JUSTIN

It's official: The Southdale Library will move from its 46-year-old home at 7001 York Av. S. in Edina to a new location just up the street: Southdale mall. Library staffers got a thumbs-up Tuesday from the Hennepin County Board to negotiate a rental agreement with the mall's owner, Simon Property Group, which plans to demolish the empty Herberger's store and build a new structure for the library roughly the same size as the current facility. Look for a 2022 opening.

Rick Nelson

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