Month: October 2005

Yoakam seems like an odd choice for a suburban club that has papered the town with sleek urban ads featuring chic young partiers. But we’re game: Yoakam’s latest recording, Blame the Vain, is pretty kicking. Eighteen albums down the line, and he still refuses to put out generic, compromised Nashville noise. Instead, he calls on the ghosts of Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, and Buck Owens to remind us how country music should sound. Plus, we found out while perusing his official website that we could actually book him for our next event! Hmm. The Rake’s Holiday Hoedown is just around the corner. 3090 Southlawn Drive, Maplewood; 651-779-6984; www.mythnightclub.com

Screenwriter William Broyles Jr. had his work cut out for him: molding a story from Anthony Swafford’s nearly plotless account of being a Marine sniper in Operation Desert Storm, working with characters that come and go like catnap dreams, and then living with Swafford’s argument that all war films are pro-war ads for young men, because the “magic brutality of the films celebrates the terrible and despicable beauty of their fighting skills. Filmic images of death and carnage are pornography to the military man.” Ouch. With that in mind, the movie’s tagline, “Welcome to the Suck,” takes on new meaning to the idealistic, virile young man.

It’s getting harder and harder to get into the University of Minnesota. Fortunately for choreographer Merce Cunningham, he’s getting his U of M degree–albeit an honorary one–without going through the application process, let alone putting in the miles-long hikes between classes. At eighty-six years old, he’s probably glad about that. This month, Cunningham will be honored in numerous ways for his profound contributions to modern dance. The honorary degree is just the beginning; he’ll also be analyzed in a public lecture (November 1) called “How to Watch a Cunningham Concert,” and an exhibition of his drawings are on display at the Katherine E. Nash Gallery. Finally, his fourteen-member company will perform three landmark works from various points in his career: Suite for Five, with music by John Cage and costumes by Robert Rauschenberg; Native Green, with music by John King; and Split Sides, a 2003 work with music by Sigur Ros and Radiohead. Split Sides is never performed the same way twice; the piece opens with a roll of the dice that determines the sequence of the elements of the dance–the math works out to offer thirty-two possible combinations. 612-624-2345; www.northrop.umn.edu

The presidential campaign of George McGovern in 1972 marked the high point–and apparently the end point–of humane idealism in American politics, and this documentary details that incredible grassroots campaign. Well, Richard Nixon won the fight, but this film captures a brief moment when people believed America could be a country the whole world could admire. With music by Bob Dylan and Elvis Costello, and interviews with Gore Vidal, Gloria Steinem, Warren Beatty, Dick Gregory, and others, McGovern finally gets the hip presentation he could have used a few years back. 10 Church St. S.E., Minneapolis; 612-627-4430; www.bellmuseum.org

Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, written in 1879, has a long and storied production history. Fearing audience outrage, directors of some early productions ended the show with Nora peeking her head back inside the drawing room–so as to gaze playfully upon her husband Torvald after defiantly slamming out of the room. Then, in the 1980s, there was Ingmar Bergman’s stark reimagining of Nora’s domestic discontent. Now, Nora-the-Amazon meets Torvald-the-midget in a radical production, renamed DollHouse, which physically manifests the power relationship between these two. Mabou Mines is a troupe with its own storied production history as part of New York City’s avant-garde scene. 612-375-7600; www.walkerart.org

Therapists don’t seem overpaid at all, when you consider the parade of misery that walks through their offices every day. And watching a family squirm wretchedly through a bitter divorce has to be one of the less rewarding professional experiences. Yet, seen through the eyes of Noah Baumbach (The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou), and based on his own childhood, this pivotal moment in an imploding family history seems less dark than absurd. As two boys watch their parents take new lovers and head into divorce, they learn to assert themselves as individuals apart from the family, and against the family. 612-825-6006; www.landmarktheatres.com

When you think about it, the Universal Press Syndicate does have kind of a sinister ring to its name. Did you know that this outfit, which distributes most of our daily comics, flies deadline-dodging artists to its Kansas City headquarters to work out some strips–under supervision? Indeed, “they are locking me in a room to draw,” Lalo Alcaraz sheepishly told us en route to K.C. The creator of La Cucaracha admitted that this month he was even later than famed deadline scofflaw Aaron McGruder, who creates The Boondocks, and who with Alcaraz dents the overwhelming whiteness of most daily comics pages. (Alas, the Star Tribune recently replaced the often politically charged Cucaracha with 9 Chickweed Lane, a strip about ballerinas. Draw your own conclusions about our recently redesigned daily.) But it’s not like the guy is twiddling his thumbs. In addition to his daily syndicated strip, Alcaraz draws editorial cartoons, writes the satire magazine Pocho and hosts the Pocho Hour of Power radio show, and recently took on animation projects for the Telemundo network. Locked in a Syndicate office with nothing but his pens, paper, and wit (and that supervisor), it’s possible that this L.A.-based artist already felt as if he were stranded on a desert island, but we asked him to imagine a beach and some palm trees in the scenario.Here’s what he’d like to have with him:

1. My Pixies CD collection. I saw them in June in L.A., and it was a religious experience. I’ve got BBC stuff, bootlegs, all kinds of great stuff. The quality of their songs and the oddness of them is just so great. They rock.
2. An oil tanker full of Bacardi and a second one full of Coca-Cola. They could just run aground on my beach. That will keep me busy for a long time.
3. My black markers, some Bristol board, and a never-ending nine-by-twelve sketchbook. I’d have to keep drawing, to stay sane.
4. Either an electric guitar or congas. Maybe I should go for the congas, since I can’t play guitar, and I won’t have electricity. But I’ll have time to learn. I can’t play congas, either, but I have natural rhythm. Everyone in my family is either an artist or a musician, and I’m already an artist, so maybe it’s time for me to learn an instrument.
5. A lifetime supply of Mad magazines. Mad magazine inspired me… to become a jerk. The cartooning came later. English is my second language, but satire is my third. I grew up a little Mexican kid, and Mad magazine taught me amazing things about the United States. It had all these pop cultural messages from another generation. It’s like watching a Warner Bros. cartoon from the 1940s–you learn about things from the past. Mad made me realize that there was more than one way to look at things.

Lalo Alcaraz will appear at Landmark Center on November 1 as part of the Latino and Chicano Writers Festival, sponsored by the Friends of the St. Paul Library. 75 W. Fifth St. (Landmark Center), St. Paul; 651-292-3225

Lucia Watson certainly feeds us well at her Uptown restaurant, but sometimes we just want to eat at home, in our own snug kitchen, wearing mismatched socks. That’s what makes her new bakery and takeout annex so brilliant: The baked goods are treat enough, but she doesn’t scrimp on the takeout menu, either. First-rate sandwiches include a killer roast beef and arugula number on whole wheat sourdough bread, and a zippy BLT with avocados on a semolina bun. Those with fancier things in mind can go for chicken pot pie, crab cakes, or a simply beautiful roast chicken. If you go early enough, you may score a beautiful crme brulee French toast or a hot and satisfying crepe filled with Nutella. Just remember, Lucia takes Mondays off, so you’ll have to cook your own dinner at least once a week. 1432 31st St. W., Minneapolis; 612-825-1572; www.lucias.com

Despite all the technological retrofitting, not to mention the recent gutting of hours and slashing of budgets, libraries remain one of our most inspiring institutions. Sometimes they even take the show on the road, as with this festival. For nearly a decade, the Friends of the St. Paul Public Library has brought together an esteemed group of national and local writers for a festival that stretches across genres and generations. This year’s lineup includes La Cucharacha cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz (see Desert Island Duffel), poet Richard Blanco, and Esmeralda Santiago, author of When I Was Puerto Rican. 651-222-3242; www.stpaul.lib.mn.us/programs/chicanolatino.html

The name, French slang for a fake diamond, implies gaudiness, but this new French restaurant is nothing but elegance. Chef/owner Don Saunders crafts simple dishes with sumptuous details. Even the salads dazzle: Mixed greens are dressed with a light and toasty hazelnut vinaigrette; a steak salad is mobbed by crispy fried shallots. With the inclusion of a poached egg and truffle oil, the potato-leek chowder redefines the genre. Entrees showcase ingredients rarely seen but most welcome in these parts: the Burgundy snail butter served with halibut, or the hedgehog mushrooms that provide a nest for a ribeye. The simple, windowless space is a bit spartan during lunch, but the evening brings glowing candles and well-heeled diners. 308 Hennepin Ave. E., Minneapolis; 612-436-0777; www.fugaise.com