Twin Cities Jazz Festival
There are so many commendable things about this terrific annual event: It's outside and inside in various locations with local and national names offering a wide range of sounds under the jazz umbrella — and, best of all, it's free (with a few exceptions). The main action is in Mears Park in St. Paul's Lowertown, where the Emmet Cohen Trio and Matthew Whitaker Quintet will be featured on Friday evening and the Treme Brass Band will headline on Saturday. Other venues, from the St. Paul Hotel to Dual Citizen Brewing, will present Ginger Commodore, Blue Ox Jazz Trio and Steve Clarke & the Working Stiffs, among many others, in the 24th TC Jazz Fest organized by Steve Heckler and crew. (Fri.-Sat. twincitiesjazzfestival.com for schedule)
JON BREAM
TC Pride concerts
Probably the biggest act yet to headline a Pride party in Minneapolis, Canadian pop singer Carly Rae Jepsen became a hero to the LGBTQ community via the music video for her 2012 megahit "Call Me Maybe." She has churned out lots of prideful dance club jams and pop anthems since then, including her dramatic new single "Western Wind." Her appearance at the Armory is a first for Pride festivities, but the concert will be preceded by the usual daytime festival on Saturday with music by Nunnabove, the Von Tramps, Rebel Queens and many more in Loring Park, where rock heroes Tina & the B-Sides, the Roxxy Hall Band, Prairie Fire Lady Choir and others perform Sunday. (Jepsen: 8 p.m. Sat., the Armory, 500 S. 6th St., Mpls. $50, ticketmaster.com)
CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER
'You'll Like My Mother'
There was a great run of kitschy, over-the-top domestic horror movies in the late 1960s and early '70s, and one of the most fondly remembered is this Grand Guignol gem, which was shot at Duluth's Glensheen Mansion several years before the famous murders there. Patty Duke plays a fresh-faced pregnant widow who travels to Minnesota to get some loving from her mother-in-law, played by Rosemary Murphy. Let's just say she turns out to be less than loving. (7:30 p.m. Mon., Heights Theater, 3951 Central Av., Columbia Heights, $12, heightstheater.com.)
CHRIS HEWITT
Minnesota R&B Music Experience
Here comes yet another chance to relive some vintage R&B. Headliner Keith Sweat helped pioneer New Jack Swing in the late '80s with "I Want Her" and "Make You Sweat." Also appearing will be Tamar Braxton, the "Love and War" hitmaker and reality TV star; Tevin Campbell, known for the Prince-produced "Round and Round" and his role in the film "Graffiti Bridge"; 112 of "Peaches & Cream" renown; Silk, remembered for the 1993 smash "Freak Me," and Minnesota's own Next, which scored with the No. 1 hit "Too Close" in 1998. (8 p.m. Fri. Target Center, 600 1st Av. N., Mpls., $65-$250, ticketmaster.com)
J.B.
Minnesota Beethoven Festival
Founded in 2007, this three-week collection of concerts in the Mississippi River town of Winona always boasts an impressive roster of international classical musicians. This year's edition of America's most celebrated piano competition, the Van Cliburn, just wrapped up in Texas, and the festival opens with a past winner, Olga Kern, performing a recital that's mostly Russian romantics (3 p.m. Sun.). Then Australian violinist Ray Chen is joined by pianist Julio Elizalde for music of Beethoven, Giuseppe Tartini and others (7:30 p.m. Wed.). Concerts continue through July 17. (Page Theatre, St. Mary's University; $25; mnbeethovenfestival.org.)
ROB HUBBARD
'Q-Stage: New Works Series 2022'
A performance art festival formerly hosted by the now closed 20% Theatre Company lives on under the leadership of Lightning Rod, a queer, trans, people of color-led Twin Cities arts group. Among the works this weekend will be a lecture/duet about death, plants and love created by Judy H Shuǐ Xiān and Maddie Granlund, plus works by artistic co-director Marcela Michelle and core artist Valerie Oliveiro. Next week, take in Ricardo Beaird's "Kinfolx," which is about a queer council deciding whether or not to leave Earth, and "Datura," by aegor ray, about a vampire and a lake spirit. (7:30 p.m. Fri. & Sat.; 7:30 p.m. July 1-3, Red Eye Theater, 2213 Snelling Av. S., Mpls., $7-$77, redeyetheater.org.)
SHEILA REGAN
Last chance to see Ta-coumba T. Aiken's solo show
The 2022 Guggenheim fellow and longtime St. Paul-based artist Ta-coumba T. Aiken closes his exhibition "Awakening" at Dreamsong gallery this weekend. His abstract work is often described as "channeling the ancestors through form and color." This will be the last chance before the show closes to meet with the artist and get a copy of his catalog, which includes essays by Walker Art Center curator Siri Engberg and artist Seitu Jones. (Sat., 3-5 p.m., at 1237 NE. 4th St., Mpls. dreamsong.art)
ALICIA ELER
Art and virtual reality extravaganza
St. Louis Park-based virtual reality lab REM5 throws its annual ESC: Experimental Sensory Collective, the largest XR art event in the Midwest. Technology and art collide in this immersive event, which features local and underrepresented digital creators. Augmented reality, live art, VR, synthwave and more out-of-body experiences await. (REM5 Virtual Reality Laboratory, 4950 W. 35th St., St. Louis Park. Sat., 7-11 p.m., $25-$35. rem5vr.com)
A.E.
Blue Ox Music Fest
Returning to June after bumping to August last summer, the famously familial and laid-back roots music campout in Eau Claire, Wis., is also sticking to the core bluegrass/string-band sounds that define its homegrown host band, Pert Near Sandstone. Friday's headliner is Old Crow Medicine Show, and Saturday features Bela Fleck's My Bluegrass Heart ensemble along with veteran pickers Sam Bush, Punch Brothers and the Del McCoury Band. Other acts through the weekend include Samantha Fish, Joseph, Paul Cauthen, Cedric Burnside, Fruition, Erik Koskinen and Mae Simpson (Noon-midnight Fri. & Sat., Pines Music Park, Eau Claire, Wis., $239/three-day, $219/two-day, $119/Sat. only, blueoxmusicfestival.com)
C.R.
Culture Swap
The Iraqi and American Reconciliation Project and the American Swedish Institute partner this weekend for an Iraqi and Swedish Cultural Exchange. The international celebration seeks to embrace diversity and foster authentic relationships. The event features Iraqi and Swedish dancing, sweets, crafts and games. Award-winning violinist Layth Sidiq joins Minnesotan nyckelharpa player Renee Vaughan and other musicians to perform Iraqi and Swedish music. (4-7 p.m. Sun. $5. American Swedish Institute, 2600 Park Av. S., Mpls. 612-871-4907. asimn.org.)
MELISSA WALKER
