Traditional Methods
The Gasthof

Northeast restaurant Gasthof zur Gemutlichkeit is known for many things: Schnitzel, accordions, that obnoxious cheer from “The Man Show” and lederhosen, but you might not know that it was once upon a time a bastion of underground hip-hop in the Twin Cities. Mario’s Keller Bar (where all the music happens) has been getting better and better in terms of the venue’s sound, and who can argue with a glass boot full of German beer? Speaking with Cecil Otter of Doomtree at their show there a couple of weeks back, I found out that the Doomtree crew spent a good deal of time honing their chops on Mario’s tiny, fake-pine-wreath-bestrewn stage, and this week, the Keller Bar welcomes live hip-hop b-boys (and girl) Traditional Methods. Recent releases by Kanser, and Atmosphere’s experiments with a live band, show the kind of refreshing effect having real human bodies playing instruments can have on hip-hop, but it’s nothing new to Trad Methods, whose Falling Forward graced more than a few top ten lists last year. A short hiatus was all they needed to get a little new life (literally, with the birth of Sarah White’s child), and now they’ve reconvened to take their rightful place in live band hip-hop. With Z-Man, Twisted Linguistics, Illicit and DJ Anton. 9:30 p.m. $7. 21+. 2300 University Ave. NE, Mpls. 612-781-3860. Steve McPherson

Paul Metsa CD Release
Grumpy’s Bar

Paul Metsa’s a busy man. During the past 25 years he’s fronted a band (Cats Under the Stars), performed multitudes of solo gigs and participated in national events like Willie Nelson’s Farm Aid V, the Million Man March in Washington, D.C., and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s Tribute to Woody Guthrie. Locally he’s been an activist for unions and a voice for ironworkers on the Range, and most recently he’s led the “Save the Guthrie” campaign. A folkie through and through, Metsa’s roots on the Iron Range well prepared him for life as a musical troubadour. After rediscovering a cassette tape he’d recorded at Mars Studios in Austin, Texas, in October 1990, Metsa decided to release the original material as an acoustic solo album this year, marking his quarter century in the Twin Cities music scene. The resulting CD, Texas in the Twilight, is a timeless gem of folk classics that are as provocative today as they were 15 years ago. Texas in the Twilight is also about as unplugged as it gets—simply Metsa on acousitc guitar and vocals and Booka Michel on castanets and bongos. The result is raw, but not rough; the songs pure and not tempered by layers of overdubs and engineering tricks, showcasing Metsa’s prolific talents as a songwriter and storyteller. Baby Grant Johnson opens the jam at Grumpy’s on Wednesday night. Also be sure to watch for information on the “Northeast Hootenanny 2005” event that Metsa is helping to organize for Sept. 23-25. 8 p.m. Free. 2200 4th St. NE, Mpls. 612-789-7429. Nancy Sartor

Northwest Strike Support: Residential Picket
AMFA Strike Headquarters

Don’t believe what the nightly news broadcast tells you about the Northwest Airlines mechanics, cleaners and custodians strike. Chances are, it’s wrong. Media portrayal of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA) strike has typically been to portray the mechanics as ready to cross the picket line en masse; portray the airline as running glitchless; and portray the union as evil. Needless to say, that’s a little misguided. Ten days into the strike, only two (that’s right, TWO) AMFA members had crossed the picket line. The strikers have garnered a lot of solidarity from other union members and the community—over a thousand people, including local politicians, at a rally last weekend—and some Northwest employees have even left their jobs rather than cross a picket line. If you want to do something to support the strike, there are many opportunities: give money or food, boycott the airlines, attend a rally, join the picket line ... On Thursday, supporters will be picketing Northwest’s top corporate officers at their homes. Transportation to residences will be provided. Make a sign and come along. 3 p.m. Meet at AMFA strike headquarters in the AmeriSuites parking lot on the 494 frontage road, 34th Ave. & I-494, Bloomington. Nathan Dean

Hockey Night
Triple Rock

There’s no hiding it: Hockey Night’s new record Keep Guessin’ sounds great, and just keeps getting better every time you listen to it. Just last night I was riding back from Hudson, Wis., with my friend Peter listening to the album and we talked about a lot of the things that make it such a fine debut on Lookout! Records. Firstly, it sounds like a label-record, which is not a knock on local records, which can sound great, but it definitely has the air and production of something that could be national. Secondly, the guitar playing is clumsy, sometimes out of tune and all the more beautiful for it. Thirdly, the really long instrumental intro on “Grim Break.” At least, I think it was “Grim Break;” it was pretty late. Hockey Night will be joined by TC mainstays Superhopper and relative newcomers Duplomacy, who not only write great tunes, but have one of the best-looking band websites I’ve seen recently. Come to think of it, so does Hockey Night. With seductive packaging like that, they’ll both be blowing up any day now, so catch ‘em in the relative, steel-brushed-and-black intimacy of the Triple Rock while you still can. With Superhopper, Stereotype Rider and Duplomacy. 9 p.m. $6. 21+.629 Cedar Ave., Mpls. 612-333-7499. McPherson

Best Friends Forever
The Hexagon

First of all, this show is free, and secondly, the Hexagon is a great venue, so there’s no reason not to go. After taking a break from being a band, but not being best friends, Briana Smith and Jessica Seamans are at it again, and, according to their label Hi Five’s website, “Nobody ever complains about their songs being dumb or stupid.” I imagine this quip is delivered tongue-in-cheek since they play the kind of bubbly, goofy pop which should by all rights fall flat on its face when delivered by two girls who lack something in terms of vocal and instrumental talent, but that’s only when it’s measured on the kind of scale that Steve Vai fans employ. Judged on its own merits, their music is the kind of silly fun that needs to be experienced live for full enjoyment. The last time I caught them, there were some ridiculous outfits and the songs mostly hewed to just what good friends these two bandmates are and how they’d die without each other. Three cheers for bands that don’t take themselves seriously. 9 p.m. Free. 21+. 2600 27th Ave. S., Mpls. 612-532-3688. McPherson

Minnesota State Fair
St. Paul

It’s the time of the season when people adamantly identify themselves as members of one of two camps: Fair-goers and non- Fair-goers. The former, of which I am a life-long member, revel in the pedestrian appeal of aimless (and often multiple) meanderings through the Great Minnesota Get Together—searching for the latest snack-on-a-stick sensation, rummaging through tchotchkes at the International Bazaar or simply planting themselves at the Beer Garden for icy cold hops. Sure the Grandstand shows are mostly B-squad entertainment, and yeah the Midway’s crusty carnies have been replaced by clean shaven, golf-shirted gamers, but the State Fair’s people watching is second-to-none and well worth the price of admission. Frankly, some of the human specimens I’ve encountered rival any farm kid’s show pony as blue ribbon entertainment. That being said, the poultry barn has been a priority destination for the last couple years, and a chance for this city girl to marvel at the grandiose array of feathered fryers—some of which border on regal. Speaking of fried, not every consumable good has to be grease coated—frozen cider pops in the Horticulture building are a refreshing treat and a steal at a buck apiece. 6 a.m. – midnight daily & until 9 p.m. on Labor Day. Through Sept. 5. Free - $9. 1265 N. Snelling Ave. St. Paul. 651-288-4400 or mnStateFair.org. Sartor

Captain Chaos
Arise! Bookstore

After spending the summer touring on a yellow school bus with a few dozen other folks, the indefatiguable Chris Clavin (of Ghost Mice and Operation: Cliff Clavin) is back on tour. The co-founder of the lefty folk-punk outfit Plan-It-Records is hitting the road by himself this time, playing under the lovably anarchist name Captain Chaos. Though he’ll be performing his acoustic sets sans the other half of his band, one is sure to hear some Ghost Mice tunes at the show. The event is second in a series of outdoor acoustic nights at Arise! Bookstore. A few opening acts are TBA, but one in particular is not to be missed: Ba Ba Blacksheep, whose huggably-wistful tunes are played by just one human, plus two stuffed animals on keyboard and metronome. Let me tell you, that stuffed Gizmo can rock it hardcore! 6 p.m. Free. All ages. 2441 Lyndale Ave S., Mpls. 612-871-7110, AriseBookstore.org. Michelle Lee

MMAA CD Release w/ Kill the Vultures, Dosh, P.O.S., Tin Horns
MN Museum of American Art

As a venue, the Minnesota Museum of American Art’s terrace has a lot going for it. Set high atop the banks of the Mississippi and festooned with non-denominational strings of lights, the fenced-in plaza has been the sight of some truly fantastic shows, including an illuminatingly stripped-down Mark Mallman set and a host of odd-yet-inspired pairings, like Askeleton sharing the stage with Kill the Vultures. Apparently, while we’ve all be enjoying the music and the reasonably priced beverages, Ollie Dodge has been recording the shows, because now they’re releasing a CD compilation of live performances entitled Art Hear. Your cover charge not only grants you access, but also a free copy of the disc, which features unreleased songs by Malachi Constant and Digitata, plus music from P.O.S., Coach Said Not To, Nicole Darcy and Tin Horns. Many of those same acts will be playing this here show, and who knows? Maybe you can get everyone’s autograph on the disc, wait until they’re all famous, sell the CD on eBay and more than recoup your cover, living out the rest of your days in opulence. Just a thought. 6 p.m. $10. All Ages. 50 W. Kellogg Blvd., St. Paul. 651-266-1030. McPherson

Labor Day
Harriet Island

In the 120 years since St. Paul’s first Labor Day celebration, American employees have seen many victories and defeats. Many of the radical ideas promoted at that first picnic—weekends off, a ban on child labor, equal pay for women and African-Americans—have been won, but the movement itself is at a crossroads; the AFL-CIO split apart last month and Northwest Airlines workers are in the middle of a difficult battle. It is a perfect time for a reinvigorated movement, and this weekend’s rally at Harriet Island is a start. The celebration will feature music, food and games, as well as speakers like Garrison Keillor, Sen. Mark Dayton, Congress member Betty McCollum and radio host Wendy Wilde. In addition, retired Army colonel and United Auto Workers member Rod Haworth will highlight the AFL-CIO’s resolution to bring the troops home. 5 p.m. Harriet Island, south side of the Mississippi River. Free. For more information call the St. Paul Area Trades and Labor Assembly at 651-222-3787. Brian Kaller

The Silence of the Loons
Once Upon a Crime

The Minnesota Crime Wave is a group of four local mystery writers who joined forces and who now tour together to help promote each others’ books. On a recent trip across the state in their “Crimemobile,” they hatched a plan for an anthology of Minnesota mysteries, each written by a local author. Moreover, each writer was given a list of clues—a page torn from a dictionary, a headless Barbie doll, a dirty ballet slipper and so on—and had to use at least four of them in their story. Minneapolis’ Nodin Press has just released the compilation of these stories, “The Silence of the Loons,” and all 13 authors will host a launch party in Minneapolis. 7 p.m. Free. 604 W. 26th St., Mpls. 612-870-3785. Kaller