Peacemakers, Poetry, Potluck
Warner Nature Center

Women Against Military Madness, which remains one of the Twin Cities’ most active peace organizations after more than a decade, will combine food and art this Wednesday with their Peacemaker Poetry Potluck. Twin Cities peacemakers who write or enjoy listening to poetry are invited to share and listen surrounded by the beauty of the Warner Nature Center in Marine, Minn. A potluck supper will follow. Poetry lovers can bring cold drinks, poems and folding chairs. 4 p.m. 15375 Norrell Ave., Marine, MN (about 1 hour east of the Twin Cities). 612-827-5364 or lagoclam@aol.com. Brian Kaller

Mary Logue, Pete Hautman
Once Upon a Crime

Golden Valley authors Mary Logue and Pete Hautman have both been called “mystery writers,” and their latest appearance is at the bookstore Once Upon a Crime in Uptown, but their writings are more vast, sophisticated and weirder than your run-of-the-mill John Grisham novels. Hautman’s “Doohickey” (2002) was a mystery and screwball comedy in one, but his subsequent novels have involved the troubled world of adolescence: “Sweetblood,” about a diabetic girl who believes herself to be a vampire, “Godless,” about a boy who invents a new religion, and his newest, “Invisible.” Mary Logue, who lives with Hartman, falls more neatly into the mystery category, with her Claire Watkins series and a few stand-alone mystery novels, but has also written children’s books and poetry. Logue will talk about her latest work, “Poison Heart,” and Hautman will discuss “Invisible.” 7 p.m. 604 W. 26th St, Mpls. 612-870-3785. Kaller

Searching for the Wrong Eyed Jesus
Bell Auditorium

In this voyeuristic road movie, singer/songwriter Jim White traverses the American South in a rusted out Chevy to bring us the sacred and secular musings of mountain people and coal miners, inmates and Pentecostals, juke joint patrons and tattooed trailer park queens. Oral tradition defines the Deep South, and with little to no wealth, everyone’s got a story to enrich their lives. One weathered old coot summed it up best when he declared, “Stories were everything and everything were stories.” Most often the stories are dark, gruesome tales—from the young inmate doing 120 years in prison for dealing drugs to the man who saw his father maimed (“…daddy lost his hands holding a stick of dynamite, smokin’ a Chesterfield. Blew ‘em right off. The meat of his hands stuck to the ceiling.”). These folks got something to say, and their matter-of-fact delivery is sincere, not sensational. For most the choice is simple: you’re either saved or you’re goin’ to hell, and anyone who needs a lesson on the Rapture can get it at Sheffield’s Café over fried catfish and coffee. Layered perfectly between road footage and interviews is an amazing soundtrack. Along with splices of locals playing banjo or singing a cappella three-part harmonies, catch unadulterated numbers by the Handsome Family, Johnny Dowd, David Johansen and more. Through Aug. 4. 7:15 & 9:15 p.m. & also 5:15 on weekends. 17th & University Ave. SE, Mpls. 612-331-3134 or mnFilmArts.org. Nancy Sartor

Love-cars, Cowboy Curtis
The Uptown Bar

A Love-cars concert is becoming comparable to a Westerberg sighting in terms of rarity. Granted, when Love-cars show up, you can expect odd-time-signature anthems for the hopelessly romantic, James Diers’ starry-eyed vocals gliding effortlessly across David King and company’s haphazardly strewn measures of polyrhythms, and not just a moment of recognition outside of Barnes and Noble near Lake Calhoun. Love-cars have always been criminally uderrated, boasting at least three songs (“Northwest Orient,” “CMS BFF,” “Shoestring”) that would have been just as “O.C.”-worthy as anything by the Hopefuls or Diers’ and King’s other project, Halloween, Alaska. Too bad Marissa actually was 16 when the last Love-cars album came out. Those of you more familiar with the electronic-ish Halloween, Alaska should come and see how they used to do it, back in the old days. Heck, they even used to stand up when they played. Well, not David King. Opening will be Cowboy Curtis, who play a similar brand of rock and will hopefully avoid the “criminally underrated” tag with the release of their next album in the near future. 8 p.m. $6. 21+. 3018 Hennepin Ave. S., Mpls. 612-823-4719. Steve McPherson

Weird War
The Triple Rock

The ensemble of Sebastian Thomson, MM, I.F. Svenonius and Alex Minoff are back with their crazy mix of anti-imperialistic rhetoric and explosive, grindy guitar work that, when combined, make for a music not unlike what one would expect if the Revolutionary Fathers (or at least George Washington and Samuel Adams, and then some of those drummer boys that were always hanging out with them) might have sounded like if they had decided to start a rock band instead of screaming “Freedom!” at the British. If Weird War had been our founding fathers instead of Washington and Adams, however, we’d still be saying a true “No” to taxes, disco would have been born decades earlier and never would have died, and there’d be a heck of a lot more topless beaches on U.S. shores. Check out their newest record on Drag City, If You Can’t beat ‘Em, Bite ‘Em. With Bridge Club and Stateline Motel. 9 p.m. $8. 21+. 629 Cedar Ave. S., Mpls. 612-333-7399. Holly Day

Look Down CD Release Party
The Triple Rock

We’re all getting older, but the hot bands just keep getting younger. I first caught Look Down at their first release party (for their American Hustle EP) about a year ago at the Triple Rock, and they wowed with complex songs that recalled Modest Mouse. Having taken a spin through their new Afternoon Records release, as well as 24/7 Dance Force, I can say that they’re firmly in the camp of bands like the aforementioned, Pinback and the Dismemberment Plan, playing stop/start pop that doesn’t rely on distortion for emotional weight. It used to be you had to scream and yell over buzzsaw guitars to be thought of as punk, but Look Down proves you can just drop it in places and still get across the disenchantment and apathy of youth. Add to that a healthy dose of tongue-in-cheek pop culture references (see album opener “Zack Morris Phone” for your “Saved By the Bell” listening pleasure) and you’ve got a band that’s ready for wider exposure. With Superhopper and Aneuretical. 5 p.m. $7. All Ages. 629 Cedar Ave. S., Mpls. 612-333-7399. McPherson

Black Hippie Chronicles
Center for Independent Artists

On the heels of the recent, crowd-pleasing collaboration “David Daniels Meets Twisted Linguistics” (Acadia Café & Cabaret), Rasta bard Daniels performs his newest work, “Black Hippie Chronicles,” at the Center For Independent Artists. It’s an extended reverie dealing with the journey from an African-American middle class existence to arriving at an understanding and embracing of Rastafarian life. For almost a dozen years, the Rasta bard has brought to the theater stage works steeped in the themes culled from his exposure to reggae. And he’s received noteworthy acclaim. Denver’s Rocky Mountain News named his play “Malcolm X Meet Peter Tosh” the Cultural Event of the Year. Time Out New York magazine called “Kolorada,” a Western tale, a “must see” at the New York Fringe Festival. And there’s more, including the CD Talkin’ Roots, which sold out so quickly that Daniels hasn’t had time to arrange for a second printing yet. For the second half of this latest bill, Daniels steps back from center stage to be part of Talkin’ Roots Crew, an acoustic/ reggae/spoken word/jam band ensemble, featuring Van Nixon, Truth Maze, Charlie Braden, Dan Boldt, Dan Schauer and Isaac “Ike” Russell—the co-mastermind behind “David Daniels Meets Twisted Linguistics.” 9 p.m. $12. 4137 Bloomington Ave. S., Mpls. 612-724-8392. Dwight Hobbes

Lynda Barry
Fitzgerald Theater

In the bizarre world of (underground) comics, cartoonist Lynda Barry is a stalwart heroine, un-daunted by the strange breed of oft-chauvinistic-male-hipster-nerds who dominate the field. During her days at Oregon’s Evergreen State University, Barry befriended creative mastermind Matt Groening (“Life in Hell,” “The Simpsons,” “Futurama”), who, without her knowledge, first published her work in the school paper. Besides chumming with the likes of Groening, Barry credits monster movies and fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers’ Grimm as influential. From her long running strip “Ernie Pook’s Comeek” to her novel “Cruddy,” Barry’s raw and honest work fuses twisted sentiment with hilarious detail while tackling tough subjects, such as abuse, drug addiction, suicide and racism. This weekend Minnesota Public Radio welcomes Barry to the Fitzgerald Theater for its “American Humorist” series. The event will be recorded for broadcast on August 7. 7 p.m. $20 – $29. 10 E. Exchange St., St. Paul. 651-290-1221. Sartor

Festival of Appropriation
Varsity Theater

Now in its sixth year, the Festival of Appropriation—an annual fundraiser for the nationally syndicated radio program “Some Assembly Required” (heard here in the Twin Cities on Radio K)—maintains a breadth of visual, sound and performance art. Rosalux Gallery members, including John Alspach, Tara Costello, Jennifer Davis, John Diebel, Kate Pabst and Amy Rice, will display works of collage, assemblage and mixed media. This year’s event also spotlights turntablist performances by DJ Nikoless (Rhymesayers Entertainment), Plain ole Bill, Andew Broder (Fog) and Lori Barbero (Babes in Toyland, Koala). Doors 7 p.m. 18+. 1308 4th St. SE, Mpls. 612-990-0610 or assembly@detritus.net. Sartor

Brendan Benson, Robber on High Street
The 400 Bar

Power-pop is tougher than it looks. The big risk you take is that it all hinges on writing hooks, and if they aren’t falling into place, nothing else works. Fortunately for Benson, he’s got hooks a plenty. His recent V2 release Alternative to Love is a great alternative to mainstream rock, a guilty pleasure of a release full of shimmery summertime fun. Maxim’s imperfect Haiku (it’s 17 syllables, guys, not 16) review of Benson went “If all four Beatles/ Were inside the same guy/ They’d make this record.” That’s not quite the case, but he’s worthy of bigger stages than the 400’s, and after seeing the Frames there, I heartily advise you to catch big venue bands in small venues whenever you can. Interesting that here he’s playing with Spoon-ripoff Robbers on High Street after opening his tour with Spoon in New York City. Seriously, Britt Daniel might want to consider legal action, but since Spoon’s sound is one with so much potential, it seems unfair to limit it to one band. Expect a night of tight arrangements and rewarding melodies. 8 p.m. $10. 21+. 400 Cedar Ave. S., Mpls. 612-332-2903. McPherson