The Rake Magazine

THEATER & PERFORMANCE
Eurydice

Sarah Ruhl, Sarah Ruhl, Sarah Ruhl. We’ve been writing up, and seeing, our fill of plays by this hotshot. Still, we’d be fools not to note the occasion of the regional premiere of Eurydice, the play that made Ruhl a certified superstar (thanks to last summer’s extended Off-Broadway run). This production marks Ten Thousand Things’ first tangle with the playwright, and their choice of this spirited, fairly modern take on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice (retold from the young woman’s perspective) should fit nicely with the company’s visually spare yet emotionally direct aesthetic—something it more often applies to Shakespeare and the ancient Greek playwrights. Among a strong, all-star cast, the key players include Sonja Parks, a local actress who performs with remarkable force in the title role, and the stately and heavens-to-Betsy-he’s-handsome Steve Hendrickson as Eurydice’s father. —Christy DeSmith

Friday-Sunday at 8 p.m., Ten Thousand Things at Open Book, 1011 Washington Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-203-9502; $20.

You're My Favorite Kind of Pretty

Recent conversations with Jon Ferguson, that rising star of the local theater scene, revealed a topical theme: The man is headlong in love. Since he and his partner, performer Megan Odell of Live Action Set, recently welcomed a baby boy into the world, Ferguson—formerly an itinerant, couch-surfing bachelor—finds himself an unlikely inhabitant of a state of domestic bliss. His latest show, fittingly, explores the gradations of romantic relationships: from love at first sight to (with any luck) a committed coupling. A cast of fine, crush-worthy collaborators lent their own romantic histories to the project, including Jennifer Davis, whose vivid paintings Ferguson finds distinctly feminine and beautiful, and Sara Richardson, a stellar (and dismayingly under-used) performer who somehow manages to be both physically lovely and goofy as all get-out. —Christy DeSmith

Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 7 p.m., Southern Theater, 1420 Washington Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-340-1725; $18.

FILM
The Band's Visit

"Once, not long ago, a small Egyptian police band arrived in Israel. Not many people remember this. It wasn't that important." So begins The Band's Visit, an understated little film from Israeli director Eran Kolirin. When no one is at the airport to meet the eponymous band, the musicians, dressed in baby blue police uniforms and lugging their instruments through the village streets, are forced to split up and crash at the homes of the bemused inhabitants. But like many unimportant moments in our lives, The Band's Visit is really about those quiet minutes spent connecting with fellow human beings, sharing observations, memories, pain, suffering, and, of course, love-moments we remember forever. There is little to say about this beautiful picture other than that it succeeds marvelously at making us feel profoundly happy, a feat that eludes almost every movie out there. —Peter Schilling

Opens Friday at Edina Cinema, 3911 W. 50th St., Edina; 651-649-4416.

See Kate Leibfried's review of The Band's Visit, and Peter Schilling's interview with director Eran Kolirin.

4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days

Bruno Dumont's "Romanian abortion movie" — 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days — documents a day in the life of two college roommates. Gabita is the underprepared pregnant one and Otilia is her friend who, it turns out, is willing to do almost anything to help her. The girls prepare for the illegal abortion like they would an exam – with a sort of dignified verve. They overcome some small setbacks only to be faced with some much bigger ones. The overcome those, then a short diversion and then the procedure and the clean up. Finally they are left to face the reality of what they just did. This is where we leave the characters and their struggle in the film’s beautiful final moment. In strictly real time we experience these events and the transformations that they cause, and this is where the power of the story rises above any particular cinematic aesthetic. —from a review by Christopher Hontos

Opens Friday at Edina Cinema, 3911 W. 50th St., Edina; 651-649-4416.

MUSIC
Holy Rollers

Do it for God, or do it for the vocals. The truth is, contemporary urban gospel is more about rhythm, groove, and vocals, than about Christianity; but you just can't deny the spirit moving — whatever spirit that may be. It seems to me, we can all stand to let our spirits soar a little, especially at the end of one of the coldest, harshest, more depressing months of the year. Besides, we just don't get enough gospel in the Twin Cities, so we best enjoy what we can. This evening, Robert Robinson leads more than 100 soulful voices in a celebration of "music and spirituality through the rich tradition of African American religious music." Don't miss this Twin Cities Community Gospel Choir concert.

Saturday at 7:30 p.m., The O'Shaughnessy, College of St. Catherine, 2004 Randolph Ave., St. Paul; 651-690-6700; $20, children & seniors $15, students $10.

And on Sunday, catch Atlas Sound, White Rainbow, and Valet at the Triple Rock Social Club.

SPECIAL EVENT
The African Diaspora in the Americas

Tomorrow you have a rare opportunity to celebrate the African Diaspora with people from all over the Americas — and to learn about the decisive role people of African origin have played in the revolutionary process. The event begins at 1 p.m., with keynote speaker Jesús 'Chucho' García — founder and leader of the Afro-Venezuelan Network — as he shares his knowledge of the impacts of globalization and militarism on Latin America. Then, join panel discussions (2:30 to 5:30 pm) with Rose Brewer (United States), Raudemar Hernández (Cuba), Nekima Levy-Pounds (United States), Ruben Joanem (Haití), Danyika Howell (United States), Jorge Veloz (Venezuela), Lauretta Dawolo (Liberia), Marino Córdova (Colombia), Karla Smith (United States), and Lester Nurse (Puerto Rico). This fabulous intellectual stimulation will be followed by a dinner and artistic performances (5:30 - 9 p.m.) by María Isa (Puerto Rico), Eliezer Santos Freitas (Brazil), Judith Pérez (Venezuela, Yrma Machado (Venezuela), and Karma (United States).

Saturday from 1-9 p.m., Phyllis Wheatley Community Center, 1301 10th Ave. N., Minneapolis; 612-730-0087; free.

THEATER & PERFORMANCE
The Language of Love

After weeks of rehearsals and rewrites — and even blogging for us in our Just Passing Through blog — local playwright Aditi Kapil is finally debuting two of her works this evening. The first, Love Person, directed by Risa Brainin, isn't your ordinary love story — about physical attraction, social structure, and sexual orientation — but rather a love story about language and communication. "I was researching Sanskrit," writes Kapil in her February 5th blog post, "and it struck me that there is a similarity between the two languages. Something about the sentence structure, and how direct they are, straightforward yet poetic. And I began to wonder if it is possible for two people to fall in love on the basis of language alone. Because they understand each other in some deep way that for instance English speakers can't. And how interesting it would be if those two people were a Deaf lesbian and an isolated Sanskrit professor. 20 some drafts later here we are, gearing up for the world premiere." Don't miss out on this beautiful "language-laden love mystery."

7:30 p.m., Mixed Blood Theater, 1501 South Fourth St., Minneapolis; 612-338-0937; $10, but be sure to check out our special Rake reader offer.

MORE THEATER & PERFORMANCE
A Circus about Water

In the Heart of the Beast Puppet Theater always has something interesting, creative, and colorful to offer. So give them a script by Aditi Kapil to work with, and they're bound to make magic — magic out of magic. Sound good? As always — though Heart of the Beast never fails to prove that puppts aren't just for kids — they serve up a nice social message as well. The subject: water. Learn about public water works, the Mississippi watershed, stewardship of our water commons, and the bottled water industry (the evil water bottle industry — I cry when I take out my recycling and see all those nasty water bottles). But this is no boring little lecture; Beneath the Surface is an all-out puppet extravaganza, in full Heart of the Beast style. "I love this show; it's a circus about water," wrote Kapil in our Just Passing Through blog after attending a rehearsal a couple weeks ago "Man, were they funny! No, wait, this is what I actually love about puppeteers! I may have written the script, I may know exactly where they're headed, but their minds just work differently from most people, and they take me by surprise and crack me up every time!"

7:30 p.m., In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre, 1500 East Lake St., Minneapolis; 612-721-2535; pay what you can.

Peace Crimes

In the early '70s, as the Vietnam War drew an increasingly high death toll, eight Minnesotans raided area draft offices to destroy draft cards and spare their fellow Minnesotans from the horrors of what they knew to be an unjust war. Dubbed the "Minnesota Eight" by the local press, the protesters were nabbed by the FBI, tried and convicted for conspiracy against their country, and locked up in a federal prison. Now, several decades later, the Minnesota History Theatre, the Playwrights' Center, and the University Theatre Department have come together to bring their amazing story to the stage.

7:30 p.m., History Theater, Rarig Center, 330 21st Ave. S., Minneapolis; $25.

BOOKS & AUTHORS
Charles Baxter

Charles Baxter, whom we’re happy to once again claim as a local (he recently returned from a long exile in Ann Arbor) has been at it for twenty-five years now, and his body of work—which includes novels, short stories, poetry, and essays—has gained both a national reputation and a cult following. His novel The Feast of Love was a National Book Award nominee and was recently made into a film. Baxter’s teaching at the University of Minnesota these days, but he keeps turning out books (he’s purportedly an insomniac), and his latest, The Soul Thief, involves a graduate student wrestling with the realization that he may not be who he thinks he is. Or something like that. —Brad Zellar

7-8 p.m., MinneapolisCentral Library, 300 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis; 612-630-6174.

WINE & DINE
Join Us for Dinner

While movies like Ratatoiulle might have us questioning how good a dinner partner a food critic might make, we have to remember it's merely fiction (the animation helps). The truth of the matter is, a good food critic is simply someone who knows and appreciates good food (and can express the reasons why, of course). What better dinner partner than that? I would gladly have dinner with any food critic in town — and we have so many good ones. But frankly, dinner with Jeremy Iggers and Ann Bauer — together! — has to take the cake. Join them this evening for an equally wonderful meal at T's Place. According to Iggers, "T's Place offers a unique menu — a combination of traditional Ethiopian dishes, served on a tray covered with injera (a pancake-like flat bread), and some Malaysian-Ethiopian dishes that chef T Belachew invented when he was a chef-partner with Kin Lee at Singapore!" And if that's not enough to entice you, then be sure to read the Twin Cities Daily Planet's review of tonight's featured musician, Yohannes Tona — "the baddest bass guitar player in the Twin Cities."

8 p.m., T's Place, 2713 E. Lake St., Minneapolis, pay your own way.

BOOKS & AUTHORS
Chip Kidd

This is apparently what we’ve come to: In an age when we’re reminded on an almost daily basis that nobody reads books anymore, one of the biggest celebrities in publishing is a guy who designs book jackets. That, of course, would be Chip Kidd, the graphic designer with a classic quarterback’s name. You’d think maybe the guy would be content with having designed fifteen-hundred covers and counting—his work is ubiquitous and, to his credit, almost always ridiculously stylish and unmistakable—but you’d be wrong. Turns out Kidd also writes novels, and on the heels of his debut The Cheese Monkeys (an art school yarn) comes The Learners (a novel with a lot of ruminations on graphic design). You certainly can’t accuse the ambitious Kidd of not writing about what he knows. The publisher says the new book also involves “advertising, electroshock torture, suicide, a giant dog, potato chips, and the Holocaust.” —Brad Zellar

7-8 p.m., Minneapolis Central Library, 300 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis; 612-630-6174.


MUSIC
Foo Fighters

If you want to piss people off, claim that Dave Grohl has written and performed more great music than Kurt Cobain. It's true: While his stuff may never be as transcendent as Cobain's, the Foo frontman and ex-Nirvana drummer has soldiered on in superior fashion since Cobain's '94 suicide, delivering a remarkably consistent string of quality discs. (One by One is the lone clunker among the seven Foo records.) The latest, Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace, ranks with the first disc on In Your Honor as the band's finest work, containing the Foo hallmarks of dynamic crescendos (a whisper-to-a-scream capability to rival Aerosmith); gritty, punk-pop hooks; underrated, passionate vocals; and the occasional affecting ballad. Plus, in whatever incarnation Grohl slaps together, the Foos have always been able to deliver the goods in an arena-sized venue. —Britt Robson

7:30 p.m., Target Center, 600 First Avenue North, Minneapolis; 612-673-1600.

Also tonight — and tomorrow night — the Terell Stafford Quintet will be performing at the Dakota Jazz Club & Restaurant.

And on the birthday of one of my favorite American poets (1807-1882), I'll leave you with his words:

Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.

Life is real! Life is earnest!
And the grave is not its goal;
Dust thou art, to dust returnest,
Was not spoken of the soul.

Not enjoyment, and not sorrow,
Is our destined end or way;
But to act, that each to-morrow
Find us farther than to-day.

Art is long, and Time is fleeting,
And our hearts, though stout and brave,
Still, like muffled drums, are beating
Funeral marches to the grave.

In the world's broad field of battle,
In the bivouac of Life,
Be not like dumb, driven cattle!
Be a hero in the strife!

Trust no Future, howe'er pleasant!
Let the dead Past bury its dead!
Act,--act in the living Present!
Heart within, and God o'erhead!

Lives of great men all remind us
We can make our lives sublime,
And, departing, leave behind us
Footprints on the sands of time;--

Footprints, that perhaps another,
Sailing o'er life's solemn main,
A forlorn and shipwrecked brother,
Seeing, shall take heart again.

Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.

—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

As many of you have probably already heard, The Rake is ceasing publication of its print magazine after this month's issue (which hit the streets today). While this is extremely sad for all of us, and a great loss to our readers as well, we will, of course, continue online, as always — with daily Secrets, regular arts, sports, and food coverage, and great bloggers all around. In fact, we've just added Rich Goldsmith to our list of bloggers, so stop by and check out the Defenestrator. (He's home working on his first post as I write this.)

THEATER & PERFORMANCE
Framing Suzan-Lori Parks

Things could get interesting when the English and Theater departments at the U of M embark on a joint investigation of Suzan-Lori Parks’s oeuvre. This Pulitzer- and MacArthur Genius Grant-winning playwright boasts a body of work that’s rich in poetics and historic awareness, yet audacious enough to confront issues of emotional brutality head-on. (In other words, beware of over-intellectualizing.) The series kicks off tonight when Frank Theatre, the local company with the most Parks plays under its belt, excerpts its productions of The America Play, Venus, and Fucking A (Rarig Center, February 26). Frank’s founder and artistic director, Wendy Knox, also joins a panel of experts next week to discuss what it’s like to direct Parks’s plays (Rarig Center, March 4); and the series culminates with Parks in the flesh at Ted Mann Concert Hall on March 26, where she will lecture, play her guitar, and “show her ass,” as she likes to (metaphorically) put it. —Christy DeSmith

7:30 p.m., Rarig Center, Room Proscenium Stage, University of Minnesota, 330 21st Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-626-1528; free.

MUSIC
Sparks Fly

I admit, when I hear talk of electronic music, I immediately think "rave." I immediately recall a young woman, many years ago — on a most beatific trip, perhaps — swaying in a gas station, crying out to me in her own defense, "It's just... it's just... electronic music takes me there." And I suppose a trip "there" — wherever that may be — may not be a bad thing from time to time, but somehow I doubted the utility of her destination enough to turn me off somewhat to the genre. That's not fair, of course. And being back in Minneapolis has finally taught me otherwise. There's some darn good electronic music around! In fact, it's quite amazing now what we can do, what one man, one woman can do with the most simple (or complicated) equipment. Yes, seeing a whole band come together in some magical way will always seduce us; but we can now also enjoy the magic of one person, two persons, however many persons and a machine serving up layers upon layers of sound in utterly deliberate and strikingly creative ways. Of course, this is nothing but a ridiculously long introduction to an interesting event that begins today and continues for the next five days. The Spark Festival of Electronic Music and Arts features dozens of local creators and performers of new media arts. In reality this isn't just electronic music, so my long-winded intro is even more scornful; the event showcases music, video, dance, theater, plastic arts, and whatever other fabulous creation someone has birthed. Get an initial glimpse tonight with works by Shield Your Eyes, Nic Buron: "Knee Bone", Beatrix Jar: Performance Set (in photo), and Mystery Palace (at the Whole Music Club at 7 p.m.), and Marcos Romero, The Push, Ryan Simatic, James Patrick (at Temple at 10 p.m.). Check the schedule to see what's coming up. You're sure to find great stuff for the weekend.

7 - 10 p.m., Coffman Memorial Union, The Whole, 300 Washington Ave. SE, Minneapolis, 612-624-INFO; free.

10 p.m., Temple Restaurant and Bar, 1201 Harmon Pl., Minneapolis, 612-767-3770.

Or Hunt Unicorns

If you're not feeling quite that experimental today — still odd and quirky, but with a touch of pop flavor — then I've got another compelling act for you. Come on now; don't be stodgy. Live a little. Sia is town, all the way from Adelaide, Australia; and though her website and her myspace page are just a little too colorful and esoteric — or perhaps we can do her the honor of crediting her with some kind of brilliant derisive jab at the whole myspace "thang" — a moment on that same ridiculous page will also reveal her estimable voice. She makes you want to listen — even if she does describe herself as being "born out of the butthole of a unicorn called steve." Don't you just have to see this gal? Listen to the track she sent us. I'm guessing she'll put on a show that's equally skilled and amusing — with extra sass for good measure.

9 p.m. (doors at 8 p.m.), FineLine Music Cafe, 318 First Ave. N., Minneapolis; 612-338-8100; $20.

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.