The word "Kony," referring to a Ugandan guerrilla/war criminal, was spraypainted on the "Spoonbridge and Cherry" sculpture in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden early last Saturday. By midday Monday the Walker's crew had cleaned the graffiti off the scupture, but the incident is still being investigated.

Walker Art Center, which owns the sculpture and trains 24-hour surveillance cameras on the Sculpture Garden, observed people entering the garden about 1:30 a.m. Saturday. Security staff immediately notified Minneapolis police, who arrived within 10 minutes.

"The police met a couple people leaving" the garden, said Walker spokesperson Ryan French. However, the Walker didn't realize that the sculpture had been vandalized until dawn on Saturday, when the word "Kony," sprayed with black paint, was visible in the bowl of the spoon. A nearby brick wall was tagged with "WTF Kony?" in green.

"Kony" refers to Joseph Kony, leader of the Lord's Resistance Army, a Ugandan guerrilla group accused of abducting children and forcing them to become sex slaves and child soldiers. He has been indicted for war crimes but remains at large. A film about his activities, "Invisible Children," became a YouTube sensation this spring. This weekend a grassroots group, also operating under the name Invisible Children, staged events around the country to call attention to Kony's alleged crimes. The Walker had not received any Kony-related protest information prior to the vandalism, French said.

"Nothing was delivered to us and we don't know if this was linked to that or not," French said. "It could just be someone who was riding along with the activities elewhere in the city. We're leaving it up to the police to discover."

The vandalism shocked Kony protester Gawolo Kpissay, a Liberian-born Minneapolis artist who helped distribute anti-Kony fliers in Uptown from Friday night through early Saturday morning.

"I think that it's super-disrespectful to deface someone's art," Kpissay said.

"We think we have a good system with the Minneapolis Park Police and the Minneapolis Police Department, but we're certainly looking into whether there are other things we could do to make things safer for the artworks.

"As an institution, and speaking personally, I'm shocked that people would deface such a beloved object in the Twin Cities and the Sculpture Garden," French said. "There were people out there Saturday in the rain and they weren't happy either. Fortunately, we have a great crew and are really happy that it's cleaning up so well."

Trampled by Turtles and Poliça owe Tom Waits a great big thank you. The two ascending Minnesota bands each picked up the national TV spots that the singer-songwriter icon postponed this week, for reasons not explained.

TBT filled in for him Tuesday night on "The Late Show With David Letterman," appearing after Amy Poehler. A Letterman representative attended the band's concert at New York's Webster Hall last week with an eye for booking them in the future, according to the band's publicist. Lo and behold, the date opened up for them right away. Perhaps "The Late Show's" Thunder Bay, Ontario-reared bandleader Paul Shaffer is also hip to the Duluth pickers since they're roughly from his neck of the woods. Performing "Alone" on Tuesday, the band shaved a little off the beginning of the song but added quite a bit of heft and speed to the ending. Both Dave and Paul genuinely seemed impressed.

Poliça earned Waits' second postponed TV spot Wednesday on "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon." It came one night after President Barack Obama's much-ballyhooed appearance on Fallon. The lead guest before Channy and the boys was the cast of "30 Rock." Fallon's staff might have grown hip to Poliça through its affiliation, er, affiliyation with Gayngs, which performed on the show in 2010.

Last Friday night, Hal and Kara Lovemelt celebrated their marriage in a big way. The couple -- best known for running their Playatta video playground at such dance nights as Recess and Menergy -- were wed last fall at the North Shore, and they actually did take "Lovemelt" as their new shared legal surname.

Video of the ceremony played on the in-house monitors at the Varsity Theater on Friday for the Lovemelts' public reception/celebration/show. The event was an epic "re-enactment" of the wedding, involving four video screens and a combination of live performance, video puppetry, and visual effects, with live music by an ensemble including Grant Cutler, Jake Badnrad and Tecon Johnson. The story involved Hal and Kara going on an interstellar journey, going under the sea, engaging in a dance battle and finally trading wedding vows.

The show then turned into a dance party, after which many attendees decamped to a downtown warehouse for more dancing -- and a surprise appearance by Bobcat Goldthwait, the '80s comedy icon who was in town to perform at the Acme Comedy Co. It was a perfectly odd ending to a wonderfully weird night.

This Thursday is the annual Dining Out for Life day, when more than 180 Minnesota restaurants donate a portion of their sales to benefit the Aliveness Project (a Minneapolis nonprofit that provides meals, a food shelf and other services for people with HIV/AIDS) and the Rural AIDS Action Network (which provides HIV testing, support groups and case management in rural Minnesota). Last year's event raised $197,000. For a list of participating restaurants, go to www.diningoutforlife.com/minneapolis.

Besides First Avenue and the Gay 90's, few downtown nightclubs have lasted as long as the Saloon. The gay bar, owned by John Moore and James Anderson, is celebrating 35 years in business with a weekend of festivities. On Friday, they're throwing a wedding-themed party to benefit Minnesotans United for All Families. There'll be a couples photo booth, plus a bouquet toss. Then on Saturday, "RuPaul's Drag Race" winner Raja will perform. (9 p.m. Fri.-Sat. 830 Hennepin Av., Mpls. $5.)

The Avett Brothers, who blend bluegrass, punk and pop, will return to the block party on Saturday, July 7. Appearing before them will be Fitz & the Tantrums, the retro-cool Los Angeles soul band that was a hit at the party last year, and, probably the hippest booking of the weekend, the Lumineers, a Denver acoustic folk-pop group that suggests early Bob Dylan fronting a coed Mumford & Sons.

A secondary stage will feature jam-band faves O.A.R., Sacramento rockers Cake, London groovy pop duo Graffiti6 and Las Vegas rockers Imagine Dragons. A Vita.mn-sponsored third stage will focus on local acts, including A. Wolf & Her Claws, Phantom Tails, Prissy Clerks, Farewell Milwaukee and Lucy Michelle & the Velvet Lapelles.

Tickets cost $70 for a two-day pass or $40 for one night through June 25. Thereafter, prices are $80 and $45. Starting May 5, tickets will be available at Ticketmaster outlets, 1-800-745-3000, www.basilicablockparty.org or Barrio restaurants. Members of Cities 97's Frequent Listeners Club can buy tickets on May 3.