From today's A-List: "Nobody owns Halloween like First Avenue. Their annual costume bash in the Mainroom brings out the sexiest, funniest, and most elaborate outfits you'll see all day, complete with $1,000-plus in cash prizes and 2-4-1 deals all night long. (Nostalgics will remember First Avenue ownership of Tuesdays as well.) Parties in the smaller rooms flank the main event: "Hallowiener" in the 7th St. Entry features great bands that treat every show as Halloween, so expect them to take it up a notch: Faggot, Wrath, Brother & Sister, the Future, and Diesel on the Rocks. In the VIP Room upstairs, dance to hip hop, reggaeton, R&B, and reggae spun by DJs Verb X, Bodhisatva, and Defiant."

18+, $6 in the Mainroom w/ free crossover to the VIP Room; 21+, $3/$6 without costume in the 7th St. Entry. 8:00 p.m.

Elsewhere

Sonny Rollins @ Ted Mann
Barebones @ Hidden Falls Park
Velella Velella @ Turf Club
Halloween Party @ Triple Rock
Glenn Danzig tribute @ Big V's
Trail of Terror @ Ren Fest Grounds
World's Largest Trick or Treat @ MoA

These events and more at the A-List.

GWAR @ First Avenue

From today's A-List: "How do you celebrate Halloween when your average day consists of dressing up in grotesque foam rubber costumes, drenching people in fake blood (among other bodily fluids), and singing songs about death, dismemberment, and demented sex monsters from outer space? Only GWAR knows. After 11 albums, five full-length videos, countless personnel changes, and two decades spent touring the world with their scatological circus, GWAR trudge on with the stamina of the intergalactic barbarians they claim to be. Their latest release, this year's Beyond Hell, is a concept album about the band's quest through the underworld to defeat Satan in an "eviler than thou" pissing contest. Few bands have the talent, guts, manpower, or sense of humor to pull off this kind of spectacle; GWAR's done it for 20 years and the schtick still isn't old. Bring safety goggles."

With Red Chord and Municipal Waste. All ages. $15/$18 at the door. 5:00 p.m.

Elsewhere

James Blunt @ Northrop
Meg Tilly @ Amazon and Borders
Sparta @ Fine Line

These events and more at the A-List.

Trail of Terror @ Ren. Fest Grounds

From this weekend's A-List: "Brought to you by the Minnesota Renaissance Festival (though not nearly as creepy), this annual event is so obviously a labor of love and creativity that the communal vibe endures even as the long wait for the haunted hayride becomes its own kind of horror. The haunted maze consumes less time, but go through both lines anyway—the shocks are freshly reimagined every year, and the cold sweetens the anticipation of hot cider and a bonfire."

$14.95. 7:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. For more info call 1.800.966.8215 or go here.

Elsewhere

Saturday

Gang Gang Dance @ Walker
Islands @ First Avenue
McCoy Tyner Septet @ Ted Mann
Pet Shop Boys @ Orpheum
Shattered (closing) @ Playwright's Center
Barebones @ Hidden Falls Park
Haunted Housewarming @ 331
The Deaths @ Hexagon
Elected @ Triple Rock
Xiu Xiu @ Triple Rock
Radiators @ Trocaderos
Dracula @ State
Paul Shambroom (closing) @ Weinstein
Chris Pureka (CD release) @ Acadia
Frank Morgan & George Cables @ AQ

Sunday

Bob Dylan @ Xcel
Del tha Funkee Homosapien @ First Avenue
Jerome artists (closing) @ MCAD
Sylvia (closing) @ Pantages
Moonspell @ Station 4
Anathalo @ Varsity
Indigo Girls @ State
The Ark @ 7th St. Entry
Angie Stevens @ 400 Bar
Hockey Night @ Triple Rock

These events and more at the A-List.

Stones Throw 10th Anniversary Tour @ Triple Rock

From today's A-List: "There's indie rap, and then there's Stones Throw. The imprint that gave us Madvillain and Quasimoto also released a good number of rare funk reissues (from The Funky 16 Corners to Kashmere Stage Band's high school blowout Texas Thunder Soul), outsider weirdo-soul (Gary Wilson, Dudley Perkins), new-school underground East Coast hustlers (Roc 'C', MED), and the best sample-based record in the last five years (J Dilla's final epic, the overwhelming Donuts). You can pick up the recent comp Chrome Children for a good cross section of where Stones Throw's at in '06, but it's also worth catching this live show. Label founder Peanut Butter Wolf serves as tour guide on the turntables, with appearances from Madlib (article here), Percee P, and other top-flight underground MCs."

18+. $15. 8:00 p.m.

Elsewhere

Electric Six @ First Avenue
Halloween Hootenanny IV @ the Garage
Ann L. Burckhardt @ Cook's of Crocus Hill
Winter Blanket (EP release) @ Turf Club
Maureen Ogle @ Coffman Union
Frank Morgan & George Cables @ Artists' Quarter
Dracula @ State Theatre
Amy Rice (closing) @ Augsburg
O.A.R. @ Target Center
Vince Gill @ O'Shaughnessy
Kid Dakota @ Nomad
The Radiators @ Trocaderos

These events and more at the A-List.

Negativland @ First Avenue

From today's A-List: "While they've sidelined the spectacular antics that earned the ire of sundry recording-industry bigwigs back in the 20th, plunderphonics pioneers Negativland haven't stopped challenging consensus notions of 'intellectual property'--and being engaging as fuck about it. Built entirely from appropriated sounds, last year's No Business finds the California-based sound artists and media pranksters exploring copyright issues with the help of Ethel Merman, the Beatles, and former National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences president Michael Green, whose anti-downloading speech at the 2002 Grammy Awards ceremony finds its way into the unsettling 'Downloading' (with a few changes here and there, of course)."

18+. $12/$14 at the door. 7:00 p.m.

Elsewhere

L.A. Guns @ Myth
Chooglin' @ Turf Club
Grassy Knolls @ Cedar
G8 (CD release) @ Varsity
Katherine Lanpher @ Fitzgerald
Friends Like These @ Triple Rock

These events and more at the A-List.

Michael Franti & Spearhead @ Trocaderos

From today's A-List: "I'll put Michael Franti's last three CDs up against the most recent trio from any other contemporary musician out there--they're that good. Accompanied by his ace band Spearhead, he's the Gil Scott-Heron of the 21st century, wielding a sound that encompasses the warm quilt of neo-soul, the brisk edges of hip hop, the thomp of rock, and the cool hitch-in-stride of reggae. But it's his serrated political science--cant-free and aggressively pacifistic--that sends him to the head of the working class. If his latest, Yell Fire!, is less enthralling than Everyone Deserves Music (2003) and Stay Human (2001), it's only in comparison to those desert-island keepers." Read the rest here.

With State Radio. 18+. $18/$20 at the door. 7:00 p.m.

Elsewhere

Cafe Accordion Orchestra (CD release) @ Dakota
Hold Steady @ First Avenue
9' x 22': A Dance Lab @ BLB
Transmission @ Hexagon
The Gleam @ Triple Rock

These events and more at the A-List.

Hold Steady @ First Avenue

From Nate Patrin's review of the new Hold Steady record: "There is a point on Boys and Girls in America that marks the line the Hold Steady have apparently crossed. It's the chorus on the second track, a churning anthem dubbed 'Chips Ahoy!,' where it's a bit hard to tell just what Craig Finn is singing (...singing?) because he can't quite shout loud enough to be heard over a traffic-jam racket of 'oh-oh-ho-oh-oh-hohhhh-oh' backup vocals and monolithic rhythm/piano/organ/guitar/guitar/guitar/guitar! noise. Welcome the new(ish) Hold Steady: slicker, more obvious (if more relatable), more riffs, more force, more exclamation points, more debt to the classic-rock company store, more backup singers, and more melody from one Craig Finn, owner of rock's greatest hectoring narrative yell. If 'less is more'--as guitarist Tad Kubler described the formative structure of this record--this album must've been made with practically nothing." Read the rest here.

With Sean Na Na. $15. 18+. 8:00 p.m.

Elsewhere

Figurines @ 400
Dan Israel @ 331
Barry Lopez @ Borders
Dave Holland @ Dakota
Barbra Streisand @ Xcel
Choplogic/Parts for All Makes (dual CD release) @ Turf Club

These events and more at the A-List.

Joan Jett @ First Avenue

From today's A-List: "Though it's true that she never really went anywhere, Joan Jett is back. Sinner, the tough new studio disc she released earlier this year, kicks as hard as anything she did in her early-'80s heyday—maybe harder, if you don't have a terribly high opinion of George Bush or Donald Rumsfeld, both of whom she nails on "Riddles." Jett's live show remains sharp, too: Dangerously svelte in a leopard-print bikini top onstage at CBGB this past summer, she sent nostalgia trippers packing with a fresh guitar snarl and undimmed queer-core fury. Openers Eagles of Death Metal, a self-consciously sleazy groove-punk act featuring Queens of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme on drums, love rock 'n' roll."

With Valient Thorr. 18+. $25. 7:00 p.m.

Elsewhere

Edie Brickell @ Fine Line
Roe Family Singers @ 331
Punk Bowling @ Memory Lanes

These events and more at the A-List.

Monday's Joan Jett show at First Avenue took on added significance when Jett's former Runaways bandmate Sandy West died Saturday after a long battle with lung cancer. The Runaways made their debut Twin Cities appearance in 1976 at the State Theatre, sandwiched between the Suicide Commandos and The Ramones.

Wrote Christy Lindsay for the Runaways website:

"(Sandy) left an indelible mark on rock music as a founding member of The Runaways, which featured fellow rockers Joan Jett, Lita Ford and Cherie Currie, and as a leading inspiration for a number of notable musicians, both male and female. Many young musicians can trace their inspiration directly to the first time they heard 'Cherry Bomb.'

"The Runaways toured the world several times, often headlining with opening acts like Tom Petty and Cheap Trick. Their discography includes over 60 albums, singles, bootlegs and compilations. Their music has been included in dozens of rock and punk collections, has appeared in several feature films including Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway and Detroit Rock City, and has been covered by numerous bands, from The Street Walkin' Cheetahs to Guns 'N' Roses. They were nominated for the Hollywood Rock Walk, and bootlegs of Runaways performances are still highly prized amongst rock and roll collectors around the world.

"After the band broke up, Ms. West continued to perform as a drummer, guitarist and vocalist with The Sandy West Band. As a solo artist she recorded a highly collectible EP CD and numerous videos, and continued to enjoy the adoration of a dedicated cult following.

"She will be remembered by more than one generation of fans as a strong part of their musical landscape, but her impact was felt far outside of the music industry as a loyal friend, loving confidante and strong defender of those she loved most. Her strength as a player, passion as a person, and dedication as a friend will be remembered always by friends, fans and fellow musicians alike.

"Runaways vocalist and life-long friend, Cherie Currie had this to say: 'Sandy West was by far, the greatest female drummer in the history of rock and roll. No one could compete or even come close to her, but the most important was her heart. Sandy West loved her fans, her friends and family almost to a fault. She would do absolutely anything for the people she loved. It will never be the same for me again to step on a stage, because Sandy West was the best and I will miss her forever.'"

Sandy West and Joan Jett

The Runaways: Joan Jett, Lita Ford, Vickie Blue, Sandy West.

Clockwise: Ford, West, Blue, Jett, Cherie Curry.

David Sedaris @ Orpheum

From today's A-List: "Besides the hilariousness of David Sedaris, I can't think of anything in the cultural world that my four parents, sundry friends, and all my cousins (Republicans and Democrats alike) agree on. He's a point of American consensus free of a 'point,' so naturally there's a backlash. But even if you suspect that the memoirist and public radio commentator has been blessed with unusually good material in his too-weird-for-sitcom family (and judging from his sister, Strangers with Candy star Amy Sedaris, he has), there's a real art to his gliding irritability. His version of real people, even himself, can't be the whole story, yet he rarely seems to fudge for anything but a focused laugh (he reaches for those punch lines). Sedaris enjoys his own smallness and discomfort without celebrating it. Like a quieter, literary version of Larry David in Curb Your Enthusiasm, he's a man of the people--just on his own, very specific terms.

$22-$37. 8:00 p.m

Elsewhere

Saturday

Laura Harley @ Acadia
Rollergirls @ Roy Wilkins
Gin Blossoms @ Fine Line
Big Ditch Road (CD Release)@ Hexagon
Plastic Constellations @ Triple Rock
G.S.T. @ Fusion (formerly French Press)
The Hook Up (fe. Black Blondie) @ Dinkytowner
Todd Norsten (closing) @ Midway Contemporary Art

Sunday

RatDog @ Fitzgerald
ARENA @ Southern
Bouncing Souls @ First Avenue
A Whisper in the Noise @ Triple Rock
Widespread Panic @ Northrop (with this dude opening!)

These events and more at the A-List.