Mark Sultan may not be a household name, but he's an incredibly busy and influential musician. Typically thrown into the "garage punk" genre, he's played with King Khan and BBQ Show (he is also known as BBQ), Almighty Defenders (with the Black Lips), Spaceshits, and Les Sexareenos. Currently he... More >>

Armin Van Buuren's brand of dance music is not in the usual vein. He has carved out a space in which he functions as an electronic folk singer of sorts. Without singing himself -- he has guests on nearly all of his singles -- the emotions stirred up by pushing buttons and mixing ultra-catchy... More >>

After breaking into the rap game in the early '90s with the help of the Notorious B.I.G., Lil' Kim has had no problem staying in the spotlight. As the self-proclaimed Queen Bee of hip-hop, Kim released a string of hit records before being incarcerated in 2005, but she still managed to turn that... More >>

The setting for the Shins long anticipated return to Minneapolis has shifted from an initial club gig at the Brick to the rather lavish confines of the Orpheum Theatre, a move which should suit frontman James Mercer's rather tranquil new numbers quite perfectly. Mercer is the only constant in... More >>

With Orchestra Hall about to close for extensive renovations, the old place will get a Crescent City-style sendoff courtesy of two bands steeped in traditional New Orleans jazz: the venerable Preservation Hall Jazz Band (pictured) and the relative upstart New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, led by... More >>

The lion's share of the press surrounding Kathleen Edwards's latest album, Voyageur, has been preoccupied with her romantic ties to our very own local-boy-made-Grammy-good Justin Vernon of Bon Iver. Considering the impressive career the Canadian alt-country songstress had already carved out... More >>

The Encyclopedia Show is a monthly co-production from SlamMN!'s Allison Broeren and Brave New Workshop's longtime cleanup hitter Mike Fotis. Each installment features an encyclopedia entry, such as "bears" or "explosives," as its jumping off point. Audience members submit specific subtopics,... More >>

1987 was a notable year for Minnesota: the Twins won the World Series, Prince released one of his best albums in Sign 'O' the Times, and St. Louis Park's own Coen Brothers released their first great comedy Raising Arizona. 1987 was also the year that Dr. Mambo's Combo was formed, and it just so... More >>

For all its ghastly subject matter, there's something inherently comforting about a classic murder mystery. Perhaps the satisfaction derives from the thrill of playing detective against an oddly amicable lineup of suspects. How many murder mysteries, for example, take place on an affluent... More >>

This Saturday, Cult Status Gallery will host its yearly group show featuring the work of a handful of talented ladies. And while the creative folks exhibiting in "Cult Sisters III Love/Hate" are all female, the gallery is quick to point out that the event isn't necessarily a women's art show.... More >>

There's a time for serious examinations of important issues of the day, and then there's a time for a door-slamming farce. Georges Feydeau was a master of the latter form, producing comedies that could be funny in any language. Gremlin Theater tackles "An Absolute Turkey," a new adaptation of... More >>

What do burlesque and dusty old museums have in common? Not much, unless you hit up the Historic Mounds Theatre for Burlesque at the Museum. Here, the extraordinary entertainers of Toil & Trouble will present their second show of the season. Think of it a little like Night at the Museum sans... More >>

Classroom drawing sessions are important for beginners; studio and freelance work help pay the bills; and setting up an easel by the lake is a nice way to spend an afternoon. Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art School is a slightly different experience from all of these things. Every fourth Sunday... More >>

Once again, the Science Museum of Minnesota is inviting its guests to enjoy the great outdoors with "The Big Back Yard." This year's exhibit will explore the delicate relationship between land and water. The nine-hole EarthScapes mini-golf course will examine what happens as landscapes erode... More >>

The current debate about including women and people of color in the conversation at local theaters fits in perfectly with Ten Thousand Things' latest work, Kira Obolensky's Vasa Lisa. Obolensky, who has previously adapted Crime and Punishment for the theater, has brought a Russian folk tale... More >>

Light Grey Art Lab's latest show, "Street Fortune," explores the people and places in the Twin Cities often overlooked or avoided. Think hobos, buskers, drug dealers, and shady cops in locations like alleys, dive bars, Dumpsters, and gutters. The collaborative exhibition features the work of... More >>

When Guthrie director Joe Dowling recently unveiled the main-stage slate for the upcoming 50th season, an online brouhaha was ignited over an alleged shortage of works reflective of gender and ethnic diversity at the storied institution. Even the Guthrie's most adamant social critics, however,... More >>

If the windows on Dylan Hicks's debut novel, Boarded Windows (Coffee House Press), are indeed boarded, it's because the high- and low-brow music, literary, and cultural notes that fill its pages are straining against the glass. But the thicket of references is not so daunting as to make the... More >>

Are you a night owl? Always on the lookout for something entertaining to do on the weekend that doesn't involve dance parties, the repetitive bar scene, or trying to make it through Saturday Night Live? Balls is always a sure thing. The weekly midnight cabaret is one of the longest-running open... More >>

Really, you can't stop the beat. Chanhassen may not be the epitome of cool, but here's something that may be worth the trip to exurbia. Based on John Waters's 1988 look back on his Baltimore youth and the televised dance shows that brought R&B to the lily-white neighborhoods, the musical... More >>

Ever since Marcel Duchamp turned a urinal upside down, signed it R. Mutt, named it Fountain, and submitted it to the Society of Independent Artists exhibit in 1917, interest in the everyday as art has continued unabated. In 2010, the Weisman Art Museum presented "Common Sense: Art and the... More >>

For "FLO(we){u}r," the Soap Factory will go from gallery to bomb factory. The experiment plays off a bit of World War I history, when terracotta manufacturers were employed by the military to create test bombs to toss out of planes. Clay bombs were filled with flour so they would leave white... More >>

"Her silent lines penetrate the marrow like a cry of pain," German novelist Gerhart Hauptmann wrote of Käthe Kollwitz's etchings. The suffering and desperation of early-20th-century victims of poverty and war were the artist's subjects. While she treated them, at times, with evocative... More >>

While some artists attempt to capture the landscapes of places they have traveled to, Margaret Pezalla-Granlund prefers to imagine the terrain of locations that no one has ever visited and probably never will. For her show at the Burnet Gallery at Chambers, she examines the creativity that... More >>

The spirit of SNDP -- First Ave's legendary '90s club-rave Sunday Night Dance Party -- lives on in a scaled-down size and a more day-job-accommodating Saturday night form in the Record Room's long-running Black. A sort of time-warp tonic for aging ravers, the night itself is the only real... More >>