Our Friday best: Courtney Barnett, Winter Kite Festival, 'An Officer and a Gentleman' at the Ordway and Lisa Fischer

Courtney Barnett

Escaping Australia's summer heat to come to the American tundra in January, Barnett offers a cool batch of sun-baked, laid-back songs on her latest album, "Things Take Time, Take Time." The content-sounding collection furthers her cool, Velvet-y guitar stylings and witty wordplay first heard in her 2015 hit "Avant Gardener." Should make for a nice midwinter warmup. New York opener Cassandra Jenkins has toured in Craig Finn's band and others'. (9 p.m. Sat., Palace Theatre, 17 W. 7^th Place, St. Paul, $40-$50, first-avenue.com)

CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER

Winter Kite Festival

Colorful kites of all shapes and sizes will once again fly over a frozen Lake Harriet. The winter outdoor experience is in partnership with the Art Shanty Projects, the four-weekend art festival where artists create temporary structures and interactive art experiences. The event includes games, activities, food trucks and a bonfire perfect for free s'more-making. New this year is a shuttle to avoid traffic congestion, which will run Saturday only from the Calhoun Executive Center to the lake. (Noon-4 p.m. Sat., 43rd St. and E. Lake Harriet Pkwy., Mpls., minneapolisparks.org)

MELISSA WALKER

Gerald Finley

ROB HUBBARD

Lisa Fischer

A former backup singer for the Rolling Stones and Tina Turner and a star of the Oscar-winning doc "20 Feet From Stardom," this mesmerizing vocalist combines the emotionalism and grace of R&B, the energy and abandon of rock 'n' roll, the warmth and intimacy of folk, the artfulness and grace of jazz, the pain and liberation of the blues, and the drama and soaring highs of opera. Backed by the simpatico combo Grand Baton, she reimagines classic songs and usually offers her lone hit, 1991's "How Can I Ease the Pain." (8 p.m. Sat., Hopkins Center for the Arts, 1111 Mainstreet, Hopkins, $45-$55, hopkinsartscenter.com)

JON BREAM

Winter Sound Garden

SHEILA REGAN

Two views of the Black experience

The Minnesota African American Heritage Museum and Gallery is currently showcasing work by two artists-in-residence. Kehayr Brown-Ransaw's exhibition "To Have Never Known" focuses on quilts made in response to his research about the transatlantic slave trade. In "Abstracproseality: Visual Notations From Dark to Light," artist Sean Garrison uses acrylic paintings and mixed media to portray pain, anger, joy and love in the African American experience. The artist is interested in people's initial take on it, and then how they feel later after deciphering the work's layered iconography. (1-5 p.m. Tue.-Fri., 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Sat. through June 30, free, 1256 Penn Av. N., fourth floor, Mpls., maahmg.org)

ALICIA ELER

Patty Griffin

C.R.

'An Officer and a Gentleman'

The Oscar-winning "Up Where We Belong" is included in this stage musical adaptation of the 1982 Richard Gere-Debra Winger movie, but the rest of the songs are ripped from a mid-'80s jukebox: Pat Benatar's "Invincible," Wilson Phillips' "Hold On," Yes' "Owner of a Lonely Heart." Somehow, those hits fit into the story of a Navy trainee whose romance with a feisty factory worker carries them "where the eagles cry on a mountain high." Perhaps the show will tell us why those eagles are crying? (7:30 p.m. Fri., 2 & 7:30 p.m. Sat., 2 p.m. Sun., Ordway Center, 345 Washington Av., St. Paul, $44-$117, 651-2224-4222 or ordway.org)

C.H.

Punch Brothers