Nightlife notebook: Gastro takeover at First Ave

The grand spectacle of beer-drinking, meat-eating and guitar-thrashing known as Gastro Non Grata takes over First Avenue Saturday. This version, "Raconteur Rendezvous 2," will fill every room in the club. In the Main Room, the lineup of bands includes STNNNG, Zebulon Pike, Sand Ox and Sorry OK. The Entry will be headlined by Nightosaur. The meaty delicacies will be provided by Haute Dish, Grand Café and the Modern Café. Buy your show ticket in advance and you'll get three food tickets for free. And don't forget the VIP Sausagefest in the Record Room, which goes down before everything else at 4:30 p.m. (and costs $40 in advance or $50 at the door).

Arj Barker at Acme Comedian Arj Barker is most famous for his role on HBO's "Flight of the Conchords" and as the co-writer for the off-Broadway hit "The Marijuana-Logues." But he's at his best on the stand-up circuit, which will be on full display at Acme this weekend. Also funny: his cartoon Web series "Arj & Poopy," which focuses on his adventures with a cat who communicates through farting.

Independent shuts down with shutdown The Independent closed last Thursday at midnight, putting much of the blame on the state shutdown. On Facebook, the Calhoun Square bar posted this: "Long story short, our liquor license expires at midnight tonight and we can't get the renewal complete until the State re-opens and we can take care of some business matters."

State and city officials told me the "business matters" include a little more than an expired license. Grant Wilson with Minneapolis licensing said the city can't renew the bar's license because it's behind in paying state sales taxes. It's been on the state's delinquent sales-tax list since November 2010 and has been cited twice for buying liquor from retailers. The actual amount the bar owes is not clear; a manager did not want to comment. Robyn Dwyer of the state Department of Revenue said two liens -- one for more than $61,000 and another for more than $27,000 -- were filed against the Independent in May. Until the bar pays those taxes (and the state reopens), it will presumably stay closed.