Ten Minute Play Festival
@ Bedlam Studio

It’d be a hellified thing to see Bedlam Theatre get the kind of funding it deserves. Especially since big-time outfits get money thrown at them in buckets. The plucky ensemble has been kicking much ass on a shoestring. Can you imagine their production values with, say one-tenth of what fat houses blow on building changes and moving to even more luxuries confines? Who knows — maybe one day. Meanwhile, some of Twin Cities theatre’s tightest (if arguably most twisted) minds are back to making outlandish mayhem. It’s their third annual Ten Minute Play Festival. Sight unseen, I have to recommend Melissa Birch’s “John’s Gash” — ‘cause it’s directed by company lynchpin John Bueche. Another heads up: “Mutiny!,” created by Nikki Williams and the wryly inventive Maren Ward. June 9-13. Bedlam Studio, 514 1/2 Cedar Ave. S., Mpls. 612 341-1038. (Dwight Hobbes)

U.S Air Guitar Championships
@ The Triple Rock Social Club

You’ve all done it — just admit it. You’ve heard your favorite heavy-riffage song blasting over the stereo and pantomimed along, recasting yourself as the ultimate air employing axe-slinger. You were the best electric guitar player in the world at that very point. Guess what, superstar? Now you can compete for a world title. You don’t have to be a Van Halen groupie (Does any other band bring thoughts of air guitar to mind?) to take part in such an event, but you do need a little bit of courage, 60 seconds of music to mime to, and enough scratch to pay the small competition entrance fee. If you’re good enough to win, you can go ahead and compete in the world championships (in Finland of all places). While Olympic Air Guitar competition remains at best still a few years off, this is your best chance to flex your competitive air shredding muscles. 7 p.m. $6. 21+. 629 Cedar Ave. S., Mpls. 612-333-7399. (Louis Lenzmeier)

Franz Ferdinand
@ The Fine Line Music Café

Another import from that rockin’ town of Glasgow, Franz Ferdinand proves that the current Britpop revival, when done right, can manage musical catchiness while swiftly dodging cheesiness. Many have criticized the Franz for their cheekiness and been quick to dismiss them as fad-driven revivalists. Just as many, however, have been ready to heap praise upon them. These lads from Glasgow make good on their praise, crafting sexy Britpop hooks over even catchier lyrics, tight production and smart, complex melodies. I found myself secretly singing along to their single “Take me Out,” bringing a smile to my otherwise dismal day. Now the lads are ready to touch down on our shores for a short jaunt around the States with a truckload of hype preceding them. Oh yeah these guys like it when the audience is shaking their asses! With British counterparts Sons & Daughters, plus The Blood Arm. 8 pm. $12 adv/ $13 door. 18+. Sold Out. 318 First Ave. N., Mpls. 612-338-8100. (dubya)

The Collective & Bassprov
@ Bryant Lake Bowl

This sounds like a night for the guys. Minneapolis’ all-male comedy troupe The Collective is very excited about bringing their friends of Bassprov up from Chicago. That’s bass as in fish, not guitars. Bassprov is Joe Bill and Mark Sutton’s widely successful semi-scripted one-act improv fishing trip. Taking place on a boat, characters Donny and Earl drink beer and talk about such topics as raising children, political views, Shakespeare, social issues and marital problems, all based on audience suggestions. Over the past two and a half years, Bassprov has toured and played festivals around the United States and Canada, headlining the mainstage in their hometown Chicago. See what critics and audiences mean when they say that Bassprov is a “one of a kind” theater experience. Fri. June 11 – Sat. June 12. 10 p.m. $12. Bryant Lake Bowl, 810 W. Lake St., Mpls. 612-825-8949. (Katie Bodin)

Requiem
@ Red Eye

Red Eye’s 20th anniversary season continues with a production of “Requiem,” adapted by the company from the original script by historian and playwright Charles L. Mee, Jr. This free-wheeling compilation of fragments from Sophocles’ lost plays and other found text spins a compelling tale of lust, betrayal and murder in a passionate tribute to those who grabbed life by the throat and squeezed the living daylights out of it. June 11-26. Fri.-Sat. 8 p.m.; Sun. June 20 & Thu. June 26, 8 p.m.; Mon. June 21, 7 p.m. $12-$16. Red Eye Theater, 15 W, 14th St., Mpls. 612-870-0309. (Gyros Papadopoulos)

Israeli & Palestinian Voice: A Dialogue with Both Sides
@ ARISE! Bookstore

Remember when Flo was busted in Palestine (see Pulse 03/24/04 cover story)? Flo Razowsky, former cook and manager at Hard Times Café and dedicated peace worker, was arrested last March while protesting, non-violently against Israeli bulldozers that are creating a walled ghetto for Deir Qaddis and eight other Palestinian villages. Flo just returned from Palestine while working for the International Solidarity Movement, and will join author Cathy Sultan in an open format discussion about the important and often controversial Israeli-Palestinian conflict and related topics. Sultan, a Wisconsin housewife with personal ties to the Middle East, recently traveled to Jerusalem and the West Bank in an effort to gain an understanding of both sides of the conflict. Sultan offers an open-minded perspective on this complicated subject in her compelling book “Israeli & Palestinian Voices: A Dialogue with Both Sides.” All proceeds from the sale of this book will be donated to the International Solidarity Movement, an organization of Palestinian, Israeli and international activists dedicated to nonviolent resistance to the Israeli occupation. This is an important event for those who wish to gain a better understanding of this decades-old, ongoing conflict. 3-5 p.m. Free & Open to the Public. ARISE! Bookstore & Resource Center, 2441 Lyndale Ave., Mpls. 612-871-7110. http://www.arisebookstore.org. (Aaron Neumann)

Devendra Banhart, Joanna Newsom
@ The Woman’s Club Theater

Proof that the only thing better than a concert bill featuring one crazy folkie is a concert bill featuring two crazy folkies! NYC’s dangerously haggard looking Devendra Banhart has been wowing critics and forcing lyric decipherers to scratch their heads ever since bursting onto the scene as a 21-year-old home recording nomad on his 2002 debut — an album title so lengthy and tongue-twister worthy it’s referred to only in shorthand by it’s first few words, Oh Me Oh My … With eery song titles like “Lend Me Your Teeth” and an equally disquieting vocal howl (not to mention pretty shoddy recording equipment), Banhart’s debut managed to conjure up all that was right with the dark and spooky side of folk music. His recently released follow-up, Rejoicing in the Hands builds upon the foundation of his debut (albeit with markedly better recording fidelity).
Meanwhile, on the other side of the country from young Devendra, an equally quirky and challenging tunesmith was honing her craft (one upping the weirdness quotient by ditching the tired acoustic guitar format and performing on an autoharp!). Joanna Newsom is her name and the combination of her child-like coo, densely literate wordplay and flat-out mesmerizing auto harp work as displayed on her debut for the prestigious Drag City Record label, The Milk-Eyed Mender, has already forced the critics in her San Francisco base of operations to bow before her feet. Two beautifully strange musicians certain to have lengthy careers ahead of them, the Twin Cities is lucky to catch them so early in their creative journeys. With Vetiver. 8 p.m. $11. All Ages. 410 Oak Grove St., Mpls. 612-870-8001. (Rob van Alstyne)

Jesse Malin
@ The 400 Bar

Jesse Malin wears a lot of hats — Bruce Springsteen’s acolyte, Ryan Adam’s drinking partner, kick-ass blue collar rocker — but it’s only the last one that really matters. Following up his Adam’s produced solo debut (the stellar Fine Art of Self-Destruction), Malin’s second effort, The Heat (due out at the end of this month on Artemis Records), presents a slightly more refined and low-key take on the trusty folk-rock of his debut. Despite this being only the second proper Malin LP the man is no spring chicken (you don’t get a beer soaked crooning voice like that just mowing the lawn). He cut his songwriting teeth in trashy New York glam-rockers D Generation before discovering denim and the acoustic guitar upon the band’s demise. Despite the new softer exterior, however, Malin remains a punker at heart. Rock ‘n’ roll enough to call Tommy Stinson a close friend anyone who stumbles into the 400 on Saturday can rest assured they’ll be presented with a nice fist pumping set. With Squad Five-O. 9 p.m. $7. 21+. 400 Cedar Ave. S., Mpls. 612-332-2903. (van Alstyne)

Maritime, Snailhouse
@ The Triple Rock Social Club

Already making their third swing through town, this time Maritime finally have a record to push at the merch table. Although recorded last summer, it took a year before Maritime’s debut, The Glass Floor, reached stores. The album proves worth the wait, however, as ex-Promise Ring frontman Davey Von Bohlen’s lispy rasp is in fine form on this set of placid tunes. The days of Nothing Feels Good are long in the past, so anyone expecting rapid-fire power-pop will be shit out of luck, but for those who don’t mind an exceedingly pleasant and focused set of midtempo pop then Maritime is just what the doctor ordered.

Helping Maritime on touring guitarist duties and also performing his own set is Canadian indie-music mainstay Michael Feuerstack (aka Snailhouse). Former leader of the Wooden Stars and close pal of Canuck chanteuse Julie Doiron, Feuerstack has had his hand as the main man or a key collaborator in most of the best Canadian college rock of the past decade. He’s currently shopping the follow-up to his 2001 double album, The Opposite is Also True (an interesting exercise in which Feuerstack recorded the same album twice, placing drastically different versions of the songs on each disc). His dark electric indie-folk should appeal to any fans of Songs:Ohia or the various guises Will Oldham employs. This is one of Feuerstack’s first trips as a touring musician stateside, so be sure to make him feel welcome. With Kingdom of Ghosts, The Slats. 9 p.m. $7. 21+. 629 Cedar Ave. S., Mpls. 612-333-7399. (van Alstyne)

Juliana Hatfield
@ First Avenue

If you’ve never heard Juliana Hatfield’s work before, she may catch you a bit off guard. Scratch that - she may scare the hell out of you. Hatfield has always taken introspective pop to uncomfortably extreme degrees and her new album, Exile Deo, is no different. The record focuses on dysfunctional behaviors and the people who can’t stop repeating them, chronicling doomed relationships and lingering regret in lurid detail. Quite the party, huh? Hatfield’s still arguably best known for her “Spin the Bottle” track on 1994’s Reality Bites (it’s been 10 damn years already!) soundtrack, but her cult fans will remember that she cut her teeth with the Blake Babes out in the New England area and was a key figure in the Lemonheads during their It’s A Shame About Ray heyday. It’s good to see some artists survived the buzz bin intact. With the Damnwells, Valet. 8 p.m. $8 adv/ $10 door. 21+. 701 First Ave. N., Mpls. 612-338-8388. (Lenzmeier)