The Lennon-Dylan love child is back from San Francisco and releasing her new EP "Pistol Shot". Portraying a new phase in her career, "Pistol Shot" is Angie's second DIY release. Expect unabashed vocals and a lyrically driven style, complimented by aggressive yet melodic guitar playing and heartbreaking harmonica interludes.

Fans already know O'Reagan through his work with The Jayhawks. He played drums and also wrote songs that were strong enough to find a place on their albums. Though his distinctive vocals earned him a place in their vocal tapestry, he stayed in the background, as drummers do. His self-titled debut album, released in 2007, is not what you might expect from a drummer. It is extraordinarily musical, from beginning to end. His singing style is conversational, understated, and richly emotional. Its not hard to discern his influences, but in the end his voice is like none other. The songs might be considered Americana but sweetened with a psychedelic sprinkle and treated now and then to a European vacation. They're sharp too, many of them wrapping around hooks that aim for your ear and dig into your memory.

The Midnight Movie Society will meet monthly to drink, dance to a tailor-made soundtrack (courtesy of DJ Jake Rudh) and screen a cult classic for an audience of discerning guests who appreciate fine film with a healthy dose of irony. Theme dress is encouraged and prizes will be given away to best dressed and most participatory. The Vita.mn photo studio will also be on-site for you so you can download photos of you and your friends the morning after.

Our second selection, this film is a sequel in name only to Valley of the Dolls (1967). An all-girl rock band goes to Hollywood to make it big. There they find success, but luckily for us, they sink into a cesspool of decadence. Beyond the Valley of the Dolls is like nothing you’ve ever seen and most likely… like nothing you’ll see again anytime soon.

Friday, February 19th
10:30pm Drinks, dancing and carousing with custom soundtrack courtesy of DJ Jake Rudh
12am Midnight toast followed by screening of BEYOND THE VALLEY OF THE DOLLS

21+, $5 advance / $10 doors (includes admission, midnight toast and complimentary truffle-drizzled popcorn all night!)
Tickets available at http://vitamn.indietickets.com

The Minneapolis Free Music Society is a improvisational music collective consisting of about 35 Minneapolis-area improvisers. While the Society performs electro-acoustic, non-idiomatic music, the terms "Free Jazz" and "Free Improvisation" are not entirely inappropriate. The instrumentation varies from performance to performance. The Society typically performs in rotating configurations; from duet to octet performances. The music is never written, rehearsed or otherwise preconceived. The members of the Society play living music that is subject to, and informed by, the immediate environment. There are no soloists, and no accompanists. The music is performed on an intuitive level with a high degree of awareness. Musical "conversations" develop within each improvisation.

Feat. Wendy Ultan (violin), John Dehaven (Trumpet), Josh Granowski (bass), Neil Wadhawan (drums).

Jennifer Markey grew up on Broadway musicals and The Carpenters, the daughter of musical parents. She got her first guitar, a hand-me-down from a fellow church-goer's attic, at the age of thirteen, when she promptly acquired a few chords in order to learn Beatles songs. Finding it too difficult and having better things to do with her time, as many teenagers do, she put it away until the age of thirty-one, when a bitter divorce and the desire to have more in life than Sunday football and the daily toils of a preschool classroom drove her to learn songs by Patsy Cline and Hank Williams. She quickly made a splash in the Minneapolis country music scene, singing with local honky-tonk heroes Trailer Trash and Sherwin Linton. Guitar god Dan Gaarder opened Jennifer's mind to songwriting and, before she knew it, she had also become a prolific songwriter, penning titles about Old Crow whiskey and jumping trains to escape abusive parents. When she presented the songs to her band, they jumped on board.

Like the Black Hills of songwriter Darren Jackson’s native South Dakota, alt-rock duo Kid Dakota is a creature of extremes: Whisper-quiet vocals explode into searing guitar riffs and crushing drumbeats in a single breath. Loneliness and beauty go hand in hand. And a two-man band from Minneapolis makes a sound big enough to fill a stadium.

Martin Devaney founded Eclectone Records in 2002 to help create an aesthetic home for like minded musicians behind his then second effort, “September”. A onetime performer in Heiruspecs, the current front man in the Crossing Guards, a supporting writer in Fan Fiction, a partner in the project the Freewheelers, and a continuing solo writer, Devaney is nothing if not prolific. Today, Martin’s support of the Twin Cities’ Music Scene (and his hometown in particular) has been so significant, many simply refer to him as the “Unofficial Mayor of St. Paul”.

Jim O'Neill is a Minneapolis-based singer/pianist/guitarist/songwriter working on a multitude of projects: leading his pop/jazz trio; backing Indy Folk artists Kevin Steinman and Brad Senne; co-producing Bobbi Miller’s "Intoxicating" (2007 Bryant Lake Bowl Theater); serving as musical director of “Sin Cities 7” (2006 Fringe Festival, Minneapolis Theater Garage); performing in productions by noted dancers/choreographers James Sewell and Sally Rousse (O’Shaughnessy Auditorium, Southern Theater, Walker Art Center); creating improvisational piano/dance performances with dancers Penelope Freeh, Emily Tyra and Caroline Fermin; performing Music Sketch improvisations with abstract painter Patrick Pryor. Jim is currently recording his first self-produced album of original material to be released in spring 2009.

Frankhouse believes simple is good, wind chimes crush souls, jazz standards include Foo Fighters and Gnarls Barkley.

Their debut album is sweet: "Between their own fiery originals, they work in inventive covers of Joni Mitchell's All I Want, Stevie Wonder's Higher Ground and Kevin Washington's Three Days." -Ross Raihala, Pioneer Press. "One of the best CDs of the year." -Ed Jones, KBEM

Frankhouse is Dan Frankowski trumpet, Dave Stanoch drumset, Shilad Sen saxophone, Karl Koopmann guitar, Graydon Peterson bass. Buy the CD at cdbaby.com/frankhouse, iTunes, Amazon, Rhapsody, the Electric Fetus and other places.

"At first listen to Davina and the Vagabonds, you imagine the tones escaping from a 300-pound blues musician. It seems unlikely that much power is coming from the slight frame of one Ms. Davina. It sounds like an unnatural force, pulled from some secret spot in the belly no other singer has yet discovered. It's a low bellow, most closely aligned with Amy Winehouse's walloping alto. But Davina takes "retro" back further than Winehouse and her Phil Spector reminiscing. She beckons an age when bad girls wore red lipstick and pin curls. Her music may be adorned with exceptional groaning trumpets, rat-a-tatting drum rolls, and staccato piano lines, but nothing deserves the complementing position to her voice. She’s in a league of her own."
-Erin Roof - City Pages 2009

The trio "Lady Be Good" is an original jazz project. With compositions by Ben Kelly the band offers a new unique twist on jazz music. Using odd time signatures and intricate syncopation the group creates an awesome modern jazz groove. Using an intellectual approach toward composition and structure the group is much more than a jam band but a novel of musical chapters that will feed your soul.

Singer-songwriter Faux Jean lays his heart on his sleeve with a smirk for the late dinner crowd—playing both solo and with guitar-slinger Gene Wire at his side. Come look on as they dig deep into the fake denim catalog. Nosh.