Nightmare on Sesame Street
Walker Community Church

Southside Family School students’ annual theatrical battle is between corporate power and social justice. In this year’s “Nightmare on Sesame Street,” the Bad Guys, led by corrupt CEO Brickhead Brainy, have wrecked the weather and are using state-controlled media to promote child labor in toxic environments. But brave and resourceful kids fight back! Satirical wit is liberally laced with a music score that includes original rap, reggae classics and songs by Nina Simone, John Lennon and folk legend Odetta, plus parodies like this, from “My Favorite Things”: “Bright shiny prisons with easy admissions/ Pretty new products with toxic emissions/ Pricey new condos all tied up with strings/ These are a few of my favorite things…” Through June 9. 7 p.m. Free. 3104 16th Ave. S., Mpls. 612-722-6612. LYDIA HOWELL

Accidental Death of An Anarchist
Minneapolis Theatre Garage

Italian satirist playwright Dario Fo (b. 1926) once said, “Our homeland is the whole world. Our law is liberty. We have but one thought, revolution in our hearts.” His play “Accidental Death of an Anarchist” is a perfect blend of satire, irreverence and irony in telling the story of how the man accused of bombing a bank and whom the police claim “accidentally fell” out a fourth floor window of a police station, exposes more than the police department’s ham-fisted cover-up of his death. The arrival of a maniac disguised as a high court judge and a shrewd reporter soon have the police inspectors in a scuttle to retract their story. Directed by co-artistic director Liz Neerland, translated by Simon Nye, the play closes Nimbus Theatre’s 2005-2006 season with guffaws galore. The stellar cast includes Dave Gangler, David Lind, Joe Herman, Tiffany Givens, Shannon Troy Jones and Hope Moy. Your funny bone will be tickled, if not broken accidentally by the slapstick comedy and effusive dialogue. Fo’s farce was originally seen by nearly a half million Italians shortly after a series of bombings took place in Milan in 1969, where police held anarchists and arrested a railway worker/anarchist named Pinelli. Soon after his arrest, Pinelli “accidentally” fell out the fourth-floor window of the police station. At the time, Fo’s play was his response to the widespread police corruption of Italy in the 1960s. Today it provides a comical but solemn look at how imprudent those we trust to protect us can really be. Through June 18. Thu. – Sat. 8 p.m. $12. 711 W. Franklin Ave., Mpls. 651-229-3122 or NimbusTheatre.com. JENNIFER NEMO

HOT PICK OF THE WEEK
Rob Skoro
The Nomad

Mr. Skoro may have debarked for Philadelphia just after the release of last year’s That These Things Could Be Ours, but that doesn’t mean he hasn’t left a part of himself here. Like the saying goes, you can take the boy out of Minnesota but you can’t make him drink. He has to do that on his own, and on his own is how he returns to us this time for a solo set at the Nomad. As talented and crack as his band has been every time I’ve seen him with a full coterie of musicians, I’ve always preferred the intimacy and vulnerability of his solo acoustic shows. One of the things Skoro is best at is crafting deceptively intricate pop songs with beautiful melodies, and when you strip away all the trappings, songs like “The Package” and “All the Angles” blossom in the open space. Which is to say nothing of “2318,” a strong contender for the Can Never Be Overplayed Hall of Fame alongside “With or Without You” by U2. Would that we lived in a world where Skoro’s ode to the 2300 block of Something Avenue came on as often at the grocery store. With The Vestals and JoAnna James. 9 p.m. $6. 21+. 501 Cedar Ave. S., Mpls. 612-338-6424. STEVE MCPHERSON

The Rise and Fall of Northeast Civilization
Tyler St. Gallery

This is your last chance to see the provocative “Rise and Fall of Northeast Civilization” exhibit at Tyler St. Gallery’s closing party. The show is a retrospective for those who’ve been involved with the gallery since it opened in 1997. It promises and delivers powerful, diverse work by a dozen visual artists, including Mark Wojahn, Hend Al-Mansour, Olga Miksic, Keith Holmes and Doug Padilla. Somber themes dominate: The Croatian-born Miksic uses watercolors to paint the atrocities of war, while Richard Amos tackles Abu Ghraib. Like most of gallery owner Dave Monson’s shindigs, the closing party festivities will include live music, an open mic, spoken word and great people-watching. 7-11 p.m. 1331 Tyler St. NE, Mpls. 612-788-3834. LIBERTY FINCH

Swedish Films
Oak Street Cinema & Bell Auditorium

Can over a million Germans and Swedes be wrong, cinema-wise that is? The 2005 Oscar nominee from Sweden, “As It Is In Heaven,” has broken the all-time audience records in both Germany and Sweden this year. This offbeat love story set amidst a small northern Swedish village church choir is a virtual unknown here in the United States, where few distributors have shown interest or have even seen it—the bane of Roger Ebert. Held over from the 24th Annual Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival, the film rated as one of the “best of fest” by viewers and will return to the Oak Street Cinema June 9–13. Coupled with it is “Zozo,” this year’s Swedish Oscar submission, which screens at 9:30 p.m. nightly, switching to 7 p.m. on Wednesday and Thursday. “Zozo” is a drama/comedy about a Lebanese boy escaping civil-war-torn 1980s Beirut to end up in Sweden (an autobiographical take on Swedish/Lebanese comedy by director Josef Fares). Meanwhile, the sweeping, dreamlike (and toothsome!) Greek romance, “A Touch of Spice” screens at the Bell Auditorium. Fri. 7:15 & 9:15 p.m.; Sat. - Sun. 5:15, 7:15, 9:15 p.m. Oak St. Cinema, 309 Oak St. SE, Mpls. Bell Auditorium, 10 Church St. SE, Mpls. 612-331-3134. or mnFilmArts.org. AL MILGROM

Shauntae
Trocadero’s

Anyone who thinks R&B-pop is a dirty word is cordially invited to check out sultry songbird Shauntae. Sidestepping the formulaic, cliché-glutted drivel that gives the genre a bad name, she makes music the old-fashioned way—airing solid chops with inventive arrangements to create remarkably fresh material. Take “Back To My Baby,” a song about a lady who’s out to dinner with the gentleman of her life, when a libidinous bent gets to be a bit more than she can bear. This turn-the-lights-down-low ballad is a better prescription for sexual ennui than Viagra and all its best-selling imitators put together. She lures you in with a fluid melody, then puts you away with a strong hook and a sucker punch refrain when she croons, quite matter of fact: “I’m the one missin’ you. Tryin’ to reach you. So, time to get the fuck up outta here.” Shauntae has put in plenty of requisite time as a backup singer (Kip Blackshire, Julius Collins) and as an opener (Keyshia Cole, Ciara), gigging clear across the country and all over the Twin Cities, including at First Avenue, Bunkers, the Cabooze and the Fine Line. All that’s missing is an album, and she’s in the studio, doing just that. To take a look and listen to Shauntae, go to MidAmericaTalent.com and click on “artists.” 9:30 p.m. $7. 21+. 107 N. 3rd Ave., Mpls. 612-465-0440. DWIGHT HOBBES

Famous Dave’s BBQ & Blues Festival
Peavey Plaza

On any given night there’s no shortage of music in town. Ditto each summer with the steady stream of outdoor concerts and music fests. On Saturday, Famous Dave’s takes its act to the streets at Peavey Plaza, offering up generous doses of blues and BBQ to satiate any appetite. The music starts at noon and runs until 10:30 p.m. on two stages. Expect some familiar faces, such as Big John Dickerson, Spider John Koerner, Tony Glover, Charlie Parr and Paul Metsa, as well as other local favorites. Lesser known in these parts but included on the musical menu are Phil Guy, Lady Bianca and Billy Branch. Born in Louisiana in 1940, Guy picked up the guitar of his older brother, Buddy, and has been strumming ever since. He moved to Chicago in 1969, and was on board the legendary Festival Express train—a continuous booze-cruise-on-rails that carried his brother, Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead and a plethora of other musicians across Canada in 1970. Lady Bianca’s roots are in gospel, blues and R&B. A singer and pianist, she trained at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and was named Best R&B Female Vocalist by the Oakland Blues Society. Billy Branch has blown the harp for Muddy Waters, Son Seals and Koko Taylor. He offers a powerful live performance and will perform a tight, funky set of Chicago blues with his band, the Sons of Blues. Noon - 10:30 p.m. Free. 11th St. & Nicollet Mall, Mpls. 952-294-1299 or FamousDaves.com. NANCY SARTOR

Christopher McGuire’s Meat Raffle Music Festival
Uptown Bar

When I was a good Catholic schoolboy, I was duped into selling raffle tickets—meet your quota or else. Or else what, eternal Saturday morning detention? Oh well, I quit that cult long ago. So if you’ve sold your soul for rock ’n’ roll, here’s an indulgence you might want to check out. Occupying not one, but two stages, the evening is guaranteed to provide virtually non-stop rock action, with McGuire playing drums in about nine or ten of the scheduled acts. And while your soul might not burn for years to come, there’s nothing like searing a little dead animal tissue in the meantime to remind us of our fiery fate once we realize that heaven’s door has been nailed shut. With, among many other, Phil Solem (Rembrandts), Faux and Honey Jean and Rick McCullom (Afghan Whigs). 8 p.m. $6. 21+. 3018 Hennepin Ave. S., Mpls. 612-823-4719. DONNY DOANE

So Many Dynamos, Aneuretical, Jai Henry & The Mpls Henrys
Triple Rock Social Club

Everyone loves an all ages show at the Triple Rock. Saunter in, grab yourself a root beer, soak up some teen angst and get home in time for the 10 o’clock news. Your enablers tonight are out-of towners So Many Dynamos, co-headlining with local overachievers Aneuretical. SMD’s noisy, feverish rock is the perfect drug to bring out your teen spirit, but the real hot ticket tonight could be betting on whether Aneuretical guitarist Ian Anderson will pass out onstage from exhaustion. The 21-year-old has been getting his multitask on lately, playing shows with Aneuretical, working on the impending release of a debut album from his other band, One for the Team, and running Afternoon Records, now in its toddler years. Mingle with the kiddies, the hipsters and the kiddie-hipsters, and place your bets on Anderson. 5 p.m. $10. 629 Cedar Ave., Mpls. 612-333-7499. MEREDETH BARZEN

Newmad Tuesdays
The Nomad World Pub

Sure, I could tell you plenty about each of these bands. I could tell you how Tuesdays Robot deftly blend sharp-edged political folk with charmingly sincere and catchy acoustic rollicks. I could go on and on about how Brothers Quetico pushes and kicks at the edges of an acoustic-driven swampiness with a fluid and nimble musical grace that’s equal parts noise-rock and jug band. Or I could even get rapturous over The Turns crunchy brand of pop rock. But that’s not really the point. The point is these bands can’t send me press photos or talk about all the gigs they’ve played because they’re too damn new and exciting. This coming Tuesday and every other Tuesday through the whole mosquito-filled summer, Pulse and the Nomad are sponsoring the kind of new band night you remember from back in the good old days. Nothing but brand spanking new talent for the basement-bargain price of nada, zip, zilch, ZERO. Come wrangle a booth, stake out a spot on the patio, fall in love, and have the time of your life hearing bands so new they still have friends numbering in the low three digits on MySpace. Just enjoy it, because you never know: this could be your last summer. Featuring Brothers Quetico, The Turns and Tuesdays Robot. 9 p.m. Free. 21+. 501 Cedar Ave. S., Mpls. 612-338-6424. STEVE MCPHERSON