Can't Miss It: Thursday

GIVE US A SONG, JOHN John Vanderslice is such a nice guy that his niceness sometimes overshadows his skill as a songwriter. Vanderslice tours tirelessly, gives interview time to anyone who wants to talk to him, and promotes fellow musicians with the selfless dedication of a sidekick in a romantic comedy. That level of nice makes it easy to forget that he’s also one of the most interesting songwriters touring today. Plus, he’s great live. He plays a sloppy hifi set tonight at the Crocodile with the Pink Mountaintops and Mimicking Birds. Fans of the Mountain Goats and Bon Iver are well advised to attend.

8 p.m. // Crocodile, 2200 Second Ave // $14

ARRAYED AGAINST HIM Tonight, the Book-It Repertory Theatre shows a stage adaptation of John Kennedy Toole’s rollicking New Orleans comedy classic A Confederacy of Dunces. Book-It adaptations ride the line between dramatic interpretation and author reading—they're consistently faithful and unique. Dunces is a huge favorite of ours, and we’re excited to check this one out.

7:30 p.m. // Center House Theatre, 305 Harrison Street // $15-$40

METHOD AND RED Method Man & Redman--two of the most entertaining people to use the suffix "man"--play the Showbox SoDo tonight. It doesn’t matter if you call them hip hop’s Cheech & Chong or think of them as human cartoons--it amounts to the same thing: they smoke a lot of pot and they’re fun to watch do their thing. Method and Red are energetic, they can rap without Autotune, and their live show is infectiously fun. Come see them use their seasoned brand of goofy, smoky hip hop for the forces of good. With Spaceman, Fatal Lucciauno, Jay Barz, and DJ Marc Sense

8 p.m. // Showbox SoDo, 1700 1st Ave S// $25-$30