BOOKS & AUTHORS
The Legend of Faust
Co-produced by SF Minnesota and Intermedia Arts, the Speculations Readings Series for science fiction and fantasy works presents local author and photographer Terry Faust tonight at Uptown’s DreamHaven Books. Faust, who’s been shooting at community newspapers, non-profit publications and weddings for over 25 years, lifts the curtain on his double life as a writer of screenplays, short stories, and novels. This Loft Literary Prize winner’s latest undertaking has been a series of humorous sci-fi books that poke fun at everything from U.S. foreign policy to life in the Midwest to… pancakes? He’ll be reading from the first installment, the self-published Z Is For Xenophobe, giving a run-down of the upcoming second (that’d be Y Is For Wiseguy) and opening up the floor for all your Q’s and A’s. Then, it’s on to Dulono’s Pizza down the street for some post-discussion brain food. —Haily Gostas
6:30 p.m., DreamHaven Books, 912 West Lake St., Minneapolis; 612-823-6161.
MUSIC
Big John Bates & the Voodoo Dollz
It’s hard not to get your hopes up over a band that lists spaghetti westerns, muscle cars, and Jägermeister as their primary influences. Thankfully, Vancouver exports Big John Bates & the Voodoo Dollz don’t disappoint. Picture The Cramps, the Stray Cats, The White Stripes, and the best ghosts of blues and big band all headbutting for the last of the bottle—as refereed by scantily clad circus women—and you’ll get some idea of their raucous sound and wild stage presence. Fresh from the success of their 2006 album Take Your Medicine, and from hosting the second annual Voodoo Ball in February, Big John’s band of outsiders (with names like sCare-oline and J.T. Massacre, no less) bring their burlesque-infused “Low-Brow Road Show” to St. Paul’s Station 4 rock club tonight. Expect all the dirty fun you can shake a five-spot at. —Haily Gostas
9 p.m., Station 4, 201 E. 4th St., St. Paul; 651-298-0173; $5.
THEATER LECTURE
Boys Will Be Boys
Night after
night, actor Mark Rylance has been giving an insightful performance over at the Guthrie, in the title role of
Peer Gynt. We’re mighty
curious to know more about his
nuanced approach to the character, as he seems to nailing three things central to male
adolescence: physical recklessness, emotional isolation, and the
desperation to be accepted as a man. We wouldn’t
mind hearing, from the horse’s mouth,
why Minnesota
poet Robert Bly might’ve started this business of translating Ibsen’s play "just
for the fun of it" (before the Guthrie even gave him a commission), as he’s been
heard to say. In short, Peer Gynt is a fascinating tale that,
written in 1867, foreshadowed our contemporary culture’s so-called masculinity
crisis. Join Rylance and Bly tonight as they discuss the play’s appeal as well as its
themes. An urgent note to the wise: Peer Gynt closes this
weekend. Don’t miss the best Guthrie
production we’ve seen in a long, long while. —Christy
DeSmith
7:30 p.m., Guthrie Theater, 818 S 2nd St., Minneapolis; 612-377-2224; $15.
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