We don't need no classical education
It's your second chance to see Twin Cities Ballet's take on Pink Floyd's "The Wall," which premiered last year at the Cowles Center. With live music by the Pink Floyd tribute band Run Like Hell, the show channels the angst of Roger Waters' rock opera with the classical vocabulary of ballet. It's based on the original 1979 Floyd album rather than the subsequent film, featuring hallucinatory costume and set designs by Jimmy Longoria. Sheila Regan
7:30 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 2 p.m. next Sun. Ames Center, Burnsville. $26-$42, ames-center.com.
History Theatre's Raw Stages is a January tradition and a preview of things to come. The fest features semi-staged readings of four new plays: "Superman Becomes Lois Lane," about trans politician Susan Kimberly; "The Gordon Parks Play" by Harrison David Rivers (pictured); "Not for Sale," about housing segregation in Minnesota; and "Runestone! The Rock Musical," a takeoff on Alexandria's history-or-hoax Kensington Runestone.
Chris Hewitt
7:30 p.m. Fri., 2 & 7:30 p.m. Sat., 2 p.m. next Sun. History Theatre, St. Paul. $15-$30, historytheatre.com.
Arguably the hottest member of Harlem's A$AP Mob as its members move past the death of founder Yams, 22-year-old A$AP Rocky has been showing off his artsy side and knack for showmanship. He holed himself up in a glass box at Sotheby's in New York for his live "Lab Rat" experiment, a fitting setup for his experimental and often just plain whack third album, "Testing." He's returning to Minneapolis a week before his crew's Yams Day tribute at Barclays Center.
Chris Riemenschneider
8 p.m. Tue. Armory, 500 S. 6th St., Mpls. $43-$73, ticketmaster.com.
At 21, she was a well-liked and rising drummer on the Twin Cities blues-rock scene. Having made friends in the local community for years, Sarah Papenheim was attending college in Rotterdam, Netherlands, when she was murdered last month. A host of Minnesota musicians will play a benefit for Papenheim's family. The lineup includes Jellybean Johnson, Trailer Trash, the Shackletons, Alexi Rossi and Papenheim's neighbor in Andover, Joyann Parker.
Jon Bream
4 p.m. Sun. Cabooze, Mpls., $10, cabooze.com.
The plight of laborers — and the tense relations between mill workers and corporations — is the topic of a Minnesota Historical Society guided tour. The tour travels through the historic Washburn "A" Mill and highlights the role of organized labor, divided across race, gender and class lines. A guide will discuss the 1903 and 1917 milling strikes and the truckers strike of 1934. Learn about Nellie Stone Johnson, the union organizer and first black person elected to public office in Minneapolis.
Melissa Walker
2 p.m. next Sun. Mill City Museum, Mpls. $16, mnhs.org.
Lovers of American music can really gorge at the Minnesota Orchestra's American Expressions festival. Thursday and Friday feature Artie Shaw's Clarinet Concerto, Copland's Clarinet Concerto and symphonies by Barber and Hanson. Saturday and next Sunday will see a rare performance of Florence Price's First Symphony, plus Schuman's "New England Triptych" and Steve Heitzeg's "American Nomad" with trumpeter Charles Lazarus.
Terry Blain
11 a.m. Thu., 8 p.m. Fri.-Sat., 2 p.m. next Sun. Orchestra Hall, Mpls. $12-$102, minnesotaorchestra.org.
Settling in for a weekly residency gig, harmonious retro-twang siblings Jack Torrey and Page Burkum of the Cactus Blossoms have a new album coming out in March, titled "Easy Way." Rolling Stone just premiered the jaggedly rocking single "Please Don't Call Me Crazy." They'll spend the month wood-shopping the new material while revisiting some of the old nuggets they used to perform every week at the Turf. Pal and perfect-fit partner Frankie Lee opens the first show.
C.R.
8 p.m. Mondays in Jan. Turf Club, St. Paul. $20, etix.com.
With "Asunder," composer and jazz pianist Vijay Iyer first sought to reflect the broken, anxious feel of American life today. Instead he opted "to imagine unity anew" with "an ear toward pleasure." The Midwest premiere shares a bill with multi-instrumentalist Tyshawn Sorey's improvisatory "Autoschediasms." St. Paul Chamber Orchestra artistic partner Pekka Kuusisto also conducts Beethoven's "Creatures of Prometheus Overture" and Ravel's "Le Tombeau de Couperin."
T.B.
11 a.m. & 8 p.m. Fri., 8 p.m. Sat. Ordway Concert Hall, St. Paul. $12-$50, thespco.org.
Family Day at the Minneapolis Institute of Art is getting soft and furry with art-making activities. Craft a creation with colorful pompoms, make a textile pattern with felt or a soft sculpture. The break dancers from BRKFST perform and teach the audience how to make some savvy moves. Art carts feature modern and African works. Guests can also tour highlights from the museum's collection.
M.W.
11 a.m.-5 p.m. next Sun. Minneapolis Institute of Art. Free, artsmia.org.
