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Critics' picks: The 9 best things to do and see in the Twin Cities this week

Critics' picks for entertainment in the week ahead.

By Star Tribune staff

January 19, 2023 at 11:20AM

Ani DiFranco (Daymon Gardner/The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Ani DiFranco

She is the ultimate DIYer, becoming an emancipated minor at 15, starting her own record label at 19 and carving out a truly indie career that has been the envy of many artists including Prince, with whom she recorded. Moreover, the Buffalo-reared, New Orleans-based singer-songwriter has been a social activist, lending her voice to the abortion rights and antiwar movements, among others. In 2020, she produced the Prison Music Project's "Long Time Gone" featuring the works of prison inmates. A year later, she released her own "Revolutionary Love," a compelling plea for compassion in troubled times, with a modern-day Gil Scott-Heron pop/jazz/soul vibe. A force of nature in concert, she will exercise her creativity in another arena this winter by authoring her first children's book, "The Knowing," due in March. Opening are Milwaukee's Peter Mulvey & SistaStrings. (7:30 p.m. Wed. First Avenue, 701 1^st Av. N., Mpls., $45, axs.com)

JON BREAM

'Rewind & Play'

The documentary/time capsule is even more compelling for what's not being said than what is. The mesmerizing subject is Thelonious Monk in outtakes from a 1969 interview that keeps his expressive face front and center. The jazz great tries to play along with his French interviewer, who professes to be a friend but keeps belittling him while shifting between English and French, a language the pianist patiently explains he does not understand. The treatment of Monk would be shocking, even if he weren't one of the legends of his field, and watching the film is a good reminder that many people still deal with these microaggressions on the daily. (7 p.m. Fri.-Sat., Walker Art Center, 725 Vineland Place, Mpls., $10-$12, walkerart.org)

CHRIS HEWITT

Turn Turn Turn

After emerging from the pandemic as one of the Twin Cities' best-loved new bands, the harmonious folk-rock trio of singer/songwriters Barb Brynstad, Savannah Smith and the Honeydogs' Adam Levy put all their live gigging of the past year and a half to good use on their rockier and more ambitious second album, "New Rays From an Old Sun." There's still a warm '70s Los Angeles breeziness in their three-part, Fleetwood Mac-ian vocal parts, but it's updated here with more of a psychedelic paisley-pop sheen — also very L.A.! — plus edgier and more emotionally wrecked songs. (7 p.m. Fri., the Dakota, 1010 Nicollet Mall, Mpls., $20-$30, dakotacooks.com)

CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER

The Bakken Ensemble

Over four decades, this Twin Cities chamber music group has been a quartet and a trio, and now features a rotating cast of collaborators, spearheaded by Minnesota Orchestra members of the present (cellist Pitnarry Shin) and past (violinist Stephanie Arado). They'll celebrate the Chinese New Year with pipa virtuoso Gao Hong soloing on Zhao Lin and Zhao Jiping's "Red Lantern," as well as John Corigliano's "Red Violin Caprices" and Billy Childs' "Unrequited" String Quartet. (4 p.m. Sun.; Antonello Hall, MacPhail Center for Music, 501 S. 2nd St., Mpls.; free-$25; bakkenensemble.org.)

ROB HUBBARD

Jamecia Bennett

After lighting up the Ordway last weekend with the Sounds of Blackness' meaningful "Music for Martin" concert, the sparkling singer returns to the clubs to present her jazz and R&B revue. She'll put her touch on blues and jazz standards, maybe offer a little Eurythmics and some originals. A veteran of stage musicals at the Guthrie, Ordway and Park Square theaters, Bennett is one of the Twin Cities' most electrifying live performers — a wondrous, showy force with a big voice, big presence, big personality and always lots of bling. (7:30 p.m. Sat.; the Dakota, 1010 Nicollet Mall, Mpls., $25-$35, dakotacooks.com)

J.B.

Addams RaveNcq Ball

Get in on the #WednesdayDance TikTok dance craze when the Nevermore Raven Ball themes its latest event around the Addams Family Netflix spinoff, "Wednesday." At the ball, aerial acrobats, cosplaying burlesque dancers and fire artists take on Wednesday's eccentrically goth dance moves. Aerialist Angela Higgins has another inspiration — Lady Gaga — and performing to her "Bloody Mary." The evening also features a fashion show, body painting and live art. (10 p.m. Fri., Ground Zero, 5 SE. 4th St., Mpls., $15 or $10 with a costume, LED lights, or all-white outfit, 21-plus, 612-378-5114, groundzeromn.com)

SHEILA REGAN

'Living'

"Love Actually" favorite Bill Nighy is a likely Oscar nominee for his subtly moving work as Mr. Williams, a midcentury Londoner grappling with the news that he has only months to live. It's a remake of Akira Kurosawa's "Ikiru" and, like that quiet classic, "Living" says it's never too late to alter the course of your life. (In theaters; showtimes and prices vary, sonyclassics.com)

C.H.

Suki Waterhouse

After touring with Father John Misty last year and nabbing in-demand Eau Claire, Wis., native Brad Cook to produce her music, this British model-turned-alt-pop singer is turning her viral TikTok fame and tabloid press from dating Robert Pattinson into a legit buzz as an indie music maker. Her Cook-produced EP for Sub Pop Records, "Milk Teeth," boasts dramatic and atmospheric balladry a la Lana Del Rey and FJM, and it includes updates of her prior viral hits such as "Good Looking." (9 p.m. Fri., Fine Line, 318 1^st Av. N., Mpls., $18-$35, axs.com)

C.R.

'A Tender Spirit, a Vital Form'

Behind the doors of the Katherine E. Nash Gallery at the University of Minnesota, there are exactly 100 works by Arlene Burke-Morgan (1950-2017) and Clarence Morgan (b. 1950), a couple in art and life. The two artists grew up in Philadelphia and moved to Minneapolis in 1992 when Clarence was hired by the U. A dynamic duo of sorts, they both ended up working primarily in abstraction but brought vastly different approaches to the canvas. Catch the public program and reception on Saturday 5-8 p.m. From 5-6 p.m., exhibition catalog essayists Robert Cozzolino, Tia-Simone Gardner, Bill Gaskins and Nyeema Morgan will speak about the show and art. Public reception goes from 6-8 p.m. Free, but reserve tickets via https://events.tc.umn.edu. (405 21^st Av. S., Mpls. Exhibition ends March 18. Hours: 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 11 a.m.-7 p.m. Wed. & Thu., 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Sat. 612-624-7530 or cla.umn.edu)

ALICIA ELER