Weekend Culture Compass - Things to do other than see Nick Jonas

Thursday

Performance Art – Keith Hennessy/Zero Performance
Southern Theater
1420 Washington Ave. S.
$22
7:30 pm

In this postmodern world of Nintendo Wii and “Avatar” we often forget about the simple pleasures in life. You know, like watching a man in a fake beard and aviators sing an aching ballad with a stuffed rabbit in hand or watching that same man, stark naked, sitting in a chair with listening to Nirvana blasting in the background. Performance artist Keith Hennessy does all that wholesome hoopla and more in his live show “Crotch (all the Joseph Beuys references in the world cannot heal the pain, confusion, regret, cruelty, betrayal or trauma …).” Have yourself a ball (Warning: You just might see one).

Art – Art Form 1040: Re-Arted
The Gallery @ Fox Tax
503 1st Ave. N.E.
Free

Art Form 1040 adds a refreshing twist to the traditional, boring ol’ art gallery by featuring a collection of works by local artists that have been tweaked by contemporaries. It’s a chance to see the work of some wacky cats like Deuce Seven get flipped into something even wackier.

Music — Nick Jonas & The Administration
State Theatre
805 Hennepin Ave.
$37
7 p.m.

The youngest Jonas brois also the first to distribute his already minimal creativity into a “side project.” Only $37!

Judy Collins
Dakota Jazz Club and Restaurant
1010 Nicollet Ave.
$30-$65
7 p.m.

Judy Collins has made a name for herself by providing gorgeous interpretations of folk songs by artists like Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell with swan-like eloquence. In 2008, Cohen, Rufus Wainwright and Dolly Parton returned the favor, releasing a Judy Collins tribute album. The Dakota Jazz Club should provide a proper arena for her gracious folk.

Friday

Carnival – Saint Paul Winter Carnival
Rice Park
109 4th St. W.
Free

You don’t have to be an eight-year-old girl to enjoy magical unicorns sculpted from ice. Gentlemen and ladies everywhere come to the frosted banks of the mighty Mississippi to indulge in bitter ice carving battles, frostbitten parades and, of course, the endless liquor that fuels the Winter Carnival. You don’t need a coat when you’ve got a booze jacket. Um, booze.

Play – Rock ‘n’ Roll
Park Square Theatre
20 7th Pl. W.
7:30 p.m.
$15-40

When one thinks of rock ‘n’ roll, Czechoslovakian political drama rarely comes to mind. Yet somehow the two meld together beautifully in Tom Stoppard’s play about the two decades leading up to the Velvet Revolution. Overthrowing communists has never been so groovy.

Music — Dessa, Jeremy Messersmith, Cecil Otter and Aby Wolf
Fine Line Music Cafe
318 1st Ave. N.
$10-13
9 p.m.

Friday’s Fine Line performance is bound to be a literary affair with poetry-sacked musicians Dessa and Jeremy Messersmith. Dessa, whose cerebral hip-hop philosophy has landed her a position as professor at McNally’s hip-hop scholarship program, spits challengingly abstract rhymes that keep the listener on their toes.

Music — Fourth Annual TC Hip Hop Awards
First Avenue
701 1st Ave. N.
8 p.m.
$10/12

The fact that the Twin Cities have their own award ceremony to celebrate their hip-hop happenings serves as one of many testimonies to the undisputed greatness of the TC hip-hop scene. Among others, I Self Divine and Unknown Prophets will be spitting live. Best album? My money’s on Brother Ali.

Comedy — D.L. Hughley
Rick Bronson’s House of Comedy
408 E. Broadway
8 p.m., 10:30 p.m.

Instead of analyzing the recession, as he once did for CNN on “D.L. Hughley Breaks the News,” he is now a victim of it, getting laid off for the third time in three television show endeavors. At the time of this release, his stand-up at Bronson’s House of Comedy has not been canceled.

Saturday

Art – Get Lucky
Soo Visual Arts Center
2640 Lyndale Ave. S
$20, 35

Like gambling? Like art? Like winning art by gambling? Well, you’re in luck, my friend, because the SooVAC is hosting their annual fundraiser, and they’ll be raffling off a work of local art for five dollars. There’s music, food from The Red Stag and plenty o’ drinks to be had, but, man, wouldn’t it be sweet to win that raffle?

Art – Art Shanties
Medicine Lake
9699 17th Ave. N., Plymouth, MN
Free

It’s kind of a haul, but the wild Art Shanties project that’s happening on Medicine Lake cannot be missed. Various local folk’ll be setting up twenty different shacks out on the lake that function as everything from a sauna to a planetarium. Minnesotans are truly strange people.

Music — Modern Radio 10th Anniversary Extravaganza
Cedar Cultural Center
416 Cedar Ave. S.
$10
5 p.m.

Two things are clear surrounding this event: 1) Modern Radio, now almost a teenager, is among the top tier of local record labels and 2) this show will be radical. Vampire Hands, STNNNG, SKOAL KODIAK and The Plastic Constellations are playing.

Music — Red Pens, Zombie Season and Minor Kingdom
501 Club
501 Washington Ave. S.
10 p.m.
FREE

Red Pens, who were responsible for the best local album of 2009, are hot as coals barreling into the next decade. Zombie Season, who didn’t have too shabby of a 2009 themselves, will be joining them.

Music — Motion City Soundtrack
First Avenue
701 1st Ave. N.
$20
5 p.m.
Twin Cities pop punk sensations! If you enjoy Mark Hoppus’s and easy-as-1-2-3 sing-alongs, this one’s for you.

Culture to Consume

Watch this: We’re like Barack Obama; we’re with Coco. If you are too, make sure to faithfully tune into what Conan is calling “The sometime at night show with some white guy.” In prime time news, Tina Fey’s “Lesbian Yellow Sour Fruit” is back via “30 Rock.” Phew.

Listen to this: We’re excited for “A Badly Broken Code,” the debut of local Doomtree rapper Dessa. Pitchfork isn’t so into Editors’ “In this Light and on this Evening [3.7 score],” so maybe RJD2’s “The Colossus” should be your soundtrack for the first week of classes.

Read this: While “Eat, Pray, Love” scribe Elizabeth Gilbert’s new release “Committed” is getting plenty of buzz, we’ll be checking out “The Ticking is the Bomb” from the cynical but compassionate Nick Flynn (“Another Bullshit Night in Suck City”) and “The Unnamed,” from the witty, disenchanted Joshua Ferris.

Eat this: Orecchiette with Braised Rabbit at Bar la Grassa is an unforgettable experience, as is The Bulldog N.E.’s “Good Morning” dish — eggs, ham and American cheese piled burger-style on an English muffin with tater tots.

Drink this: One of the best local breweries is right near campus. Check out the Black H20 Oatmeal stout at Town Hall on Seven Corners.

Click this: Support local blog journalism by checking out the best of the decade lists on Culturebully.com. Get mad, feel understood and then nab MP3s by the likes of The National, Jens Lekman and Panda Bear.