I agree that it is ironique to unveil an establishment eighteenth-century period room at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts on Bastille Day; a day on which the establishment was overthrown [Broken Clock, July]. But that was 216 years ago. Sure, the MIA can use that day to celebrate all things French, but most of the details in your notice were cheap shots by a disgruntled anti-establishment mind. Beauty should be praised wherever it appears. Your notice was stupide.
George Soule
Minneapolis
Month: July 2005
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C'Est La Vie
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Janis Hardy
It’s awfully tempting to be a diva when you’re born with such a sweet soprano. But the Twin Citizen Janis Hardy has managed to become a key opera export with minimal incidence of temper tantrums. She regularly takes her pipes on the road, performing with the Houston Grand Opera, the San Francisco Opera, the Boston Opera, and, at home, the Minnesota Opera (she was part of its resident ensemble for ten years). Recently, she appeared in productions with Frank Theater and Theatre Latte Da, and is a semi-regular on Minnesota Public Radio’s A Prairie Home Companion. We caught up with this busy woman as she was preparing for the fourth incarnation of Sopranorama, the annual feast of songs written for–or stolen by–the soprano voice. Hardy and her singer friends were busy tinkering with a series of catchy fifties pop tunes for the event, and she said she was having such fun that if she were stranded on a desert isle, that’s just how she’d like to pass her tropical days. With a passion for live music that runs deep, she turns out to be one of our rare castaways who leaves behind her iPod and its Beach Boys MP3s. She wants her singing buddies instead–and a few other necessities.
1.A giant bag filled with books, music, and writing paper and pens. I wouldn’t need to worry about reading the same books over and over, since I can never remember anything for longer than a few months anyway. And I can’t imagine being anywhere without music to sing or paper to write on.
2.My singer pals, to sing the music with me, and to entertain me once my voice is too far gone to croak anything out.Plus, nobody knows better dirty jokes than singers.
3.Several large dogs. Nobody should be without a big dog, ever!
4.My photo albums. I’d like to be reminded of where I’ve been, who I’ve loved, of the adventures and misadventures that make life worth living. Without the past, the present and future are meaningless.
5.I wouldn’t survive long enough without my family to enjoy the other four things.
Janis Hardy, Maria Jette, and Molly Sue MacDonald, accompanied by Broadway conductor and pianist Andrew Cooke, perform in Sopranorama IV at the Southern Theater, August 26 to 28. 1420 Washington Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-340-1725; www.southerntheater.org
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Afton House Inn and Catfish Café
Pining for a lazy river day? Since 1867, people who want to spend time with the languid St. Croix have headed to the Afton House Inn. The casual Catfish Saloon and Café serves hearty burgers and pizzas to fuel an impromptu stroll along the river. Also on the premises is the Wheel Room, a white-tablecloth affair whose servers make a show of tableside preparation, bringing out expertly done standards like Caesar salad, Steak Diane, and flaming Bananas Foster. The wine dinners often sell out, but it’s worth asking; items like roasted chayote and green apple soup, or grilled shrimp with tamarind couscous, paired with the right grapes and vintages, make this an inspired destination. 3291 S. St. Croix Trail, Afton; 651-436-8883; www.aftonhouseinn.com
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My-T-Fine Bakery and Café
This is what you get when the kitchen chemistry works out just so. Three women who once worked at the Loring have opened a jewel of a bakery/café that achieves a sweet balance between contemporary and cozy. Its apple-green walls and substantial chairs invite you to sit down, relax, and get to know one of the most delicate and beautiful chocolate birthday cakes imaginable, or some lemon-blueberry bread, or a dish of tart homemade applesauce. Try an in-house roasted turkey sandwich or wild-mushroom-goat cheese roulade if you’re over your sweet tooth. 4300 Bryant Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-825-6308
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Plastics and the Cool Factor
Bakelite was invented in 1907, cellophane in 1913. Thus emerged the age of plastic, a substance that has since thoroughly invaded our kitchens, cars, and body tissues. But utilitarian doesn’t have to mean ugly. The best designers have used this medium, in its seemingly endless variety of forms, to create sleek, colorful gadgets that bring a little thrill to our everyday lives. On view here are some of the best examples of that stuff, from household appliances and toys to an iPod, which, frankly, looks silly labeled behind glass, even though its design sense is sublime. 612-870-3131; www.artsmia.org
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Suzanne Marrs
Even on her deathbed, Eudora Welty was a classic Southern lady. When her doctor asked if he could do anything for her, she replied, “No, but thank you so much for inviting me to the party.” As genteel as she was in life, however, in her short stories Welty created some of the strangest and most perverse characters in American fiction, and her work goes a long way toward defining Southern writing as a realm of the weird. It explores unhappy families, solitary oddballs, religion run amok, and smothering small towns–all with an eye that is affectionate and humorous, but as unforgiving as a photograph. This biography, by Welty scholar Suzanne Marrs, tries to explain how such a nice Southern lady could write such very peculiar things.
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À Tout de Suite
Maybe the Fishing Hat Bandit could have picked up a dame if he hadn’t had such a dumpy fashion instinct. Because, according to the movies, girls go for bank robbers in a big way (see Bonnie and Clyde, above). French director Benoit Jacquot does an erotic thriller take on this attraction with the story of Lili, a Parisian art student (the very intense Islid De Besco), who follows her on-the-lam bank robber across Spain, Morocco, and Greece. Set in the 1970s, shot in black and white, and mostly wordless, this homage to the French New Wave explores the thrill of crime and the complexity of an attraction that defies common sense and even the instinct for self-preservation. 309 Oak St. S.E., Minneapolis; 612-331-3134; www.mnfilmarts.org
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Cremaster 2
Is Matthew Barney the George Lucas of art film? He devoted years of painstaking toil to a cycle of films, completing them, as Lucas did with the Star Wars franchise, in nonsequential order. They are also populated with exotic creatures, some of whom might not be out of place in a Star Wars flick. But while Lucas’ saga boils down to a good vs. evil battle, Barney’s Cremaster films … well, the fetal development motif gets a little complicated. Suffice it to say that Cremaster 2 (which premiered at the Walker in 1999) follows a backward narrative from the 1977 execution of Gary Gilmore (played by Barney) to an 1893 performance by Harry Houdini (who may have been Gilmore’s grandfather, and is played by Norman Mailer). Beyond that, you’re just going to have to take our word for it: This is truly weird and wondrous stuff. 612-375-7600, www.walkerart.org
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Kruger National Park, South Africa
Safari in Kruger National Park, South Africa. “That’s a giraffe in the background!”