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Can an all-night jazz club in downtown St. Paul survive on nothing more than caffeine, nicotine, and donuts? The owners of Brilliant Corners hope so. The plan is to fill this hip new space with all kinds of jazz, from the most modest local ensembles to major national acts—charging covers accordingly, and serving up nothing stronger than coffee. It’s a wonderful space. Bright orange and red walls collide above the stageless floor, the better to make jazz of all kinds more accessible at all hours (reportedly, closing time will be at 4 a.m.). The club’s gala grand opening should be exciting too. New jazz wonderboy Matt Wilson (no, not the Toolmaster of Brainerd) gigs here March 7 and 8. Serious fans of local heroes Happy Apple will know precisely what to do with this information. (651) 224-8642, brilliantcornersjazz.com

We love the Bell Museum, we really do. It is old, humble, a little bit musty, and very, very quiet—those carpeted walkways through the exhibit halls are ever so effective at creating a pleasant hush. It’s the perfect antidote to the sense-jangling overload that can be the adult experience at the larger, glitzier family museums in town. Visit the Bell during the week and you may very well have the place to yourself, unless your arrival coincides with a school group. Natural Wonders, the Bell’s current exhibit, gathers environmental art from more than 180 schoolchildren across Minnesota. Large albums contain photographs of all 750 submitted works, in which students explore their views of nature and interpret the natural world through painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, and other media. Bell, 10 Church St. S.E., (612) 624-7083, www.bellmuseum.org

It is one of life’s mordant ironies that Macalester art professor Rudquist, who often painted skulls, would pass away in 2001 of brain cancer. But Rudquist had a streak of mordancy himself, expressed in such comments as “Bone, of any species, is an extraordinarily beautiful material.” This overview of his career does show the more buoyant side of his creativity as well, but the centerpieces are those images of death to which he returned throughout his career. The six-by-nine-foot “Great Skull” is arresting by itself, but more interesting is his “Must We Always Expect War” series. Executed over a 40-year span, it explores the human penchant for brutality through the repeated re-imagining of a monstrous, distorted bony head, reminiscent of Francis Bacon’s screaming popes. Rudquist’s paintings are rooted in Renaissance ideas, but his bold and unexpected color choices put his personal stamp on the work. Janet Wallace Fine Art Center Gallery, (651) 696-6279, www.macalester.edu/art

Naked people have not yet become boring to the artists of the world. When Icebox owner Howard Christopherson put out a call for artworks based on the human nude, he was sent so many entries—500, from seven countries—that he doubled the size of the show. In total, 112 artworks made the cut, encompassing photography, body painting, watercolor and oil paintings, sculpture, and digital media. Naturally Christopherson has included a few items that frankly seem a bit, erm, erotic (“You have to. That’s part of the deal,” he notes dryly). But there’s an impressive range of mood on display, from Ken Weissblum’s Daliesque “Frames” to J.E. Jasen’s “Lover’s Brooch,” a wrought piece of jewelry with an eye in the middle to keep watch over straying sweethearts. Don’t miss the short but funny documentary on legally blind photographer Flo Fox and her (ahem) “Dicthology” series, a bawdy celebration of artfully costumed organs, and we don’t mean Wurlitzers. Icebox, 2401 Central Ave. N.E. (612) 788-1790, www.iceboxminnesota.com

Playwright Gavin Lawrence garnered good notices for Cut Flowers, a dark and often angry drama set among low-wage workers in Washington. His latest, warmhearted family comedy, Salt Fish, has a lighter touch. It’s based on the history of his own family, which emigrated here from the South American country of Guyana, and especially his grandmother, a nurturing matriarch who filled his head with stories and his stomach with the tasty piscine dish of the title. Lawrence directs and acts in this production, which also stars Karen Malina White of TV’s Malcolm & Eddie. Mixed Blood, 1501 S. 4th St., (612) 338-6131,mixedblood.com

In the classic arts, things remain decidedly nationalistic. Just as the Italians get most of the credit and attention for opera, the English seem to command center stage in dramatic theater. And bridging the two, though often dismissed, are the Germans, who not infrequently bettered their cultural neighbors in both categories. Wagner, no matter what you think of him, was a colossus of opera. And his poetic forebears, Goethe and Schiller, got as close as anyone will to equalling Shakespeare. Park Square offers here the world premiere of a “new adaptation” of Schiller’s classic play about Mary Queen of Scots’ sudden-death-overtime with Queen Elizabeth I. We’re not sure this classic needed a new treatment. But we’re all for a new staging of the play, widely believed to be the best treatment of one of the most popular dramatic subjects. Park Square, 20 W. 7th Place, St. Paul, (651) 291-7005, parksquaretheatre. org

Christian McBride made his name as a bright light among jazz bassists with five progressively more adventurous albums on the Verve label, culminating in 2000’s Sci Fi, which found him more sure-footed as a bandleader and skillfully interweaving the threads of his previous work. He moves over to Warner for his new fusion-friendly Vertical Vision, which wanders nicely between hard funk and mellow smoothness. His sidemen are strong players in their own right, especially saxman Ron Blake and keyboardist Keezer, each of whom provide splendid compositions of their own on Vision. Dakota, 1021 E. Bandana Blvd., St. Paul, (651) 642-1442, www.dakotacooks.com

There’s been no new Boiled in Lead record since 1998’s best-of Alloy, but nobody’s yet come along to take over the reins as Minnesota’s premier Irish band. Though even that title is ironic—or perhaps we should say Eire-onic—since the BiL crew’s penchant for rock and world rhythms makes clear that shamrocks are not the only things that make them shake. These days, the four principals are chiefly occupied with other projects. So Leadheads can fill up at a live show but twice a year—during Halloween if you’re down in Mexico, and the annual St. Paddy’s day bash at the Ave, which has been ongoing since 1985, and why stop a good tradition? First Avenue, 701 1st Ave. N., (612) 338-8388, www.first-avenue.com

Brainerd’s gift to Broadway, Linda Eder has come a long way since the 12-week winning run on Star Search that first put her in the national spotlight. A successful run in Jekyll and Hyde cemented her place on the stage and netted her a husband in its composer, Frank Wildhorn. Her albums have grown steadily stronger, especially after she shook off a creeping case of Streisand-worship and staked out a vocal mode of her own. Her strength is her unabashed emotionality; it’s also her weakness, as she can sometimes punch her way right through and over the top. Later this year she’ll star in Camille Claudel, a new musical about the life of the sculptor and lover of Rodin, written specifically for her by Wildhorn. Her Orpheum show will surely be an occasion to preview a few numbers from Camille, plus selections from her new collection of classic stage standards, Broadway My Way. Orpheum, 910 Hennepin Ave., (612) 339-7007, www.hennepintheatredistrict.com

We know some of you wonder what it is with this little Swedish movie that makes it the quasi-official foreign film of the Blockbuster crowd. Our guess is somewhere along the lines of New York Times critic Luke Y. Thompson, who called it “a tad overrated, but still charming.” True enough. Director Lasse Hallstrom’s later work includes The Shipping News, Chocolat, The Cider House Rules, and the utterly brilliant What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, and his first crossover hit touched on something that keeps people coming back. But more than that, My Life as A Dog is decidedly palatable, fresh in that foreign-film way, but not so unfamiliar as to be “difficult.” Set in the 1950s, the coming-of-age tale follows Ingemar (Anton Glanzelius), a 12-year-old whose mother is dying of tuberculosis and whose father has ditched. Ingemar must confront the stirrings of puberty, confusion, and affection—and loss, grieving, and release when his mother and beloved dog die.