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The North by Midwest Music Festival will take over the St. Paul Eagles Club tonight and the Wild Tymes tomorrow night for two great lineups of KFAI and DEMO-curated rock 'n' roll. See below for the set times and info for this weekend's festival acts; both nights are free and 21+.

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The Walker announced that the time-honored tradition of Music & Movies in the Park is on hiatus this year, which is a shame. We Minnesotans have a commitment to effective use of summer time that's ingrained in us at a cellular level, and nothing spoke to that quite like seeing a show AND watching a movie AND sitting outside all at the same time -- especially when it's FREE.

So if you're like us here at Gimme Noise, after hearing the news, your mind started racing trying to figure out the closest thing to a substitute. Luckily we still have plenty of great shows in clubs all over the Twin Cities, and some even have patios! Drown your sorrows, watch some rock, and if you're really missing the movie series, watch something on your iPod -- but don't miss these awesome show picks, some free, some for a pittance of a cover:

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We just caught wind of new artist Jemibook, and were surprised to see that she already has what looks like a professionally shot music video for one of her ukulele and slide guitar-soaked ballads, "Undo." If you dig the song below as much as we do, you can check out Jemibook at her EP release show on Friday, May 7 at Galactic Pizza with Claw Like Things and Shit Yeah Girl!

Undo - Jemibook from Benjamin Wilson on Vimeo.

​Black Blondie are preparing to embark on a tour that will take them through the Southeast corner of the country this month, and to ensure a proper send-off they will be playing a hometown kick-off show tonight at the XYandZ Gallery (3258 Minnehaha Ave. S.) with DJ Turtleneck. Tonight's show is $5 and kicks off at 9 p.m., click here for more info on tonight's show and see below for the band's complete tour schedule.

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​The Arizona immigration bill passed last Friday has galvanized our entire country, from the President on down, with cities everywhere passing economic boycotts and official travel bans, every op-ed page in fury or assent, every Republican left shrugging in confusion, Shakira on an airplane, and federal action being debated in both branches of Congress (that debate not happening is the reason Arizona's hawkish representatives passed the bill in the first place, by the way).

It also now has a (re-conceived) theme song.

Rhymesayers rapper and busy activist Toki Wright re-recorded Public Enemy's "By The Time I Get To Arizona" immediately after researching Arizona's divisive law. Originally directed at the Arizona politicians who opposed making Martin Luther King Day a national holiday, now it's sung in solidarity with America's immigrants, whose situations so rarely get discussed and understood, and with an admirably faithful Chuck delivery that Wright took a fair amount of time perfecting. "I had to go back in line by line," he says. The "process included going in and listening to Chuck, trying to match 
his scheme, and recording my version. Wash, rinse, repeat."

Sounds like Toki and Chris Coleman need to have a pow wow and just hammer this damn thing out.

mp3: Toki Wright, "By The Time I Get to Arizona Redux"

​It's been 10 years since Sound Unseen began its yearly showcase of the most promising music-related films, a nice round number on which to expand, or straight-up double in size. So of course that's exactly what they're doing: the first annual Sound Unseen International, Duluth will be taking place June 2nd through 4th, kicking off the fest at the Sacred Heart Music Center just a few blocks in from the harbor.

Sound Unseen's Vilay Dethluxay explained the gist: "We've got Pizza Lucé as our partners to host our nightly music headquarters for the duration of the festival. Every night after a film, patrons can saunter over there to see bands presented by Sound Unseen. Some highlights so far will be Charlie Parr, Roma di Luna, Bight Club and Heiruspecs. Our opening night gala will be at the historic Greysolon Ballroom and local music darlings Solid Gold will make their debut to Duluth that night as well."
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A new single of synth ambiance, baby grand, tight little drum, Jame Foxx for some reason, and a chorus of Ems singing about moving on from the past few years of stuttered releases, promotions, and relatively bad records. Here we hear Marshall apologizing (twice) for Relapse, "let's be honest, that last Relapse CD was ehh" and saying "I'll never let you down again I promise," framing a comeback that's more sidestep and rolled-up sleeve than personal revolution. Eminem is still Eminem, and despite the long-ago set sun over the era of "My Name Is" success, dude seems laser-focused on not sucking anymore. Feed the whole universe beans and fuck it!

​We just received an update from the Walker Art Center announcing its summer events, and the release came with this surprising twist: "Due to the density of programming being organized by the Walker, Music & Movies in Loring Park will take a hiatus this summer." For those who live near Loring Park, the Monday night Music & Movies events in the summer have been a longstanding tradition of free neighborhood entertainment, and we're sad to see this event canceled for the coming summer, especially on the heels of awarding it the Best Place for a First Date in this year's Best of the Twin Cities issue.

Rather, the Walker seems to be shifting its focus to holding events on its own grounds, and has announced a series of films and performances that will be taking place on their grassy hillside with a program called Walker's Open Field. See below for the two music highlights coming up this summer.

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Hip-hop festival Soundset (winner of this year's Best Festival award in City Pages) has just released a promo video for its 2010 lineup, which is taking over Canterbury Park on May 31. Tickets are on sale now; head over to SoundsetFestival.com for more information.

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I'm gonna tell you somethin', and then you're gonna judge me.

I really, really like Tool.

Now that that's out of the way, I'm gonna tell you that Shooter Jennings, progeny of country legends Waylon Jennings and Jessi Colter, just put out a concept album under the band name Hierophant. I've never been much of a Shooter fan, but from the sounds of the first track on the album, called Black Ribbons, Shooter's also a Tool fan. Shooter Jennings does Tool, track one. Let's listen on.

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