Month: May 2007

Maybe it’s the railroads that have tied Minnesota so tightly to the folk music scene since the ’40s. Or maybe it’s the good old Midwestern working-class mentality that permeates the back roads and smaller towns throughout the state. Regardless, our imprint on contemporary folk doesn’t stop at Bob “Zimmerman” Dylan. Hailing from Dylan’s hometown, and clearly influenced by much of the same music as his forebear, Charlie Parr has been quietly shaking the Americana music scene with his authentic rendering of Piedmont-style blues. With the storytelling finesse of Dylan and Woodie Guthrie, the finger-picking mastery of Rev. Gary Davis and Dave Van Ronk, and the raw soul of Robert Johnson and Brownie McGhee, Parr builds on a strong tradition of American folk and blues while addressing the very real issues of the contemporary Midwestern working man. 612-338-2674; www.thecedar.org 612-338-6425; www.cabooze.com

Over the past three years, this Canadian punk rocker has metamorphosed into an indie-folk-rock darling, collaborating along the way with Peaches, Broken Social Scene, and the Norwegian folk duo Kings of Convenience. Following a soulful Parisian solo debut (Let It Die in 2004), Leslie Feist’s talent is now firmly cemented with her latest, The Reminder, a combination of alternately buzzy, sultry, brash, and wistful songs. While her music is notably kaleidoscopic in genre, a well-worn gossamer voice is the link that winds throughout Feist’s repertoire; and her songwriting’s poetic approachability has helped her elbow past those run-of-the-mill indie rockers to make it into mainstream stardom. 612-339-7007; www.hennepintheatredistrict.org

Even the irrepressible Wynton Marsalis merits no better than third in the current family pecking order after brothers Delfeayo and Branford put out resplendent discs—“Minions Dominion” and “Braggtown,” respectively—in 2006. Now Delfeayo (the trombonist, for those without a scorecard) is kicking off the Minnesota Orchestra’s Sommerfest program with a Duke Ellington tribute by an all-star ensemble that features Branford on tenor and soprano sax, pianist Anthony Wonsley (who was superb with Delfeayo at the Dakota this past winter), drummer Winard Harper, and saxophonists Mark Gross and Jason Marshall. Given the level of talent involved, and the titan being honored, expect both the arrangements and the improvisations to be top-notch. 612-371-5656; www.minnesotaorchestra.org www.minnesotaorchestra.org

You might discount her new, blues-oriented disc (aptly titled Into The Blues) for its pallid genre clichés, but notice that even on this misguided collection a few tunes still shimmer with Joan Armatrading’s trademark emotional hum. For decades now, she has bared her soul with pride and erudition instead of pretense and self-pity, capturing the paradoxical strength of vulnerability with as much visceral nuance as any singer-songwriter (it’s a big claim but no exaggeration). Back to the Night (1975), Lovers Speak (2003), and the others in between are all five-star records. While unfurling her agony, ecstasy, and all the careening within that gamut, this statuesque St. Kitts native will make you grateful for your goosebumps. 651-690-6700; http://oshaughnessy.stkate.edu

Kevin Costner plays the upstanding Earl Brooks, a family man and business leader who just happens to also be a serial killer with an alter ego named Marshall. Our starring cast includes Costner, Demi Moore, and William Hurt … well, that makes three actors who have seen better days. And yet, Mr. Brooks was written and directed by Bruce A. Evans, the guy who penned Stand By Me and the underrated Starman. Sometimes—not very often, but sometimes—these types make decent, straightforward, and entertaining B-movie fare that’s good for passing a summer evening. They did it a lot during the golden age of the studios, generating movies still watched today (such as Desperate Hours and the original Cape Fear). Who’s to say they can’t still do it today?

Judd Apatow seems to be everywhere. He was the executive producer of the critically acclaimed television show Freaks and Geeks and the writer-director of The 40 Year-Old Virgin. He will also lend his imprimatur to the upcoming teen sex comedy Superbad. In the meantime, he has produced another ribald farce in the style of Virgin (sans Steve Carell). In Knocked Up, a lovable stoner and budding internet-porn businessman played by Seth Rogen impregnates the Ashley Judd look-alike Katherine Heigl. She’s a gorgeous television personality; he’s a loser with a heart of gold. When they decide to have the baby together, laughs ensue. That’s the formula anyway, and what made Virgin work so well was Apatow’s fondness for Altman-like conversation and his healthy respect for these flawed, immature characters. (A plethora of dick- and boob-jokes didn’t hurt matters either.) Here, though, Apatow seems to think he’s making serious commentary on parenthood. Clocking in at two hours and ten minutes, it’s a bit long-winded. Still, much of the humor won’t be matched by any other movie this summer—in particular, there’s a hilarious passage about shaving one’s privates.

At least one critic has dubbed Chris Marker a “cosmonaut”—this in apparent admiration of the French documentary filmmaker’s ability to make other cultures look like products of distant planets. Marker’s documentaries jettison conventional narrative, instead telling stories by way of letter-writing and striking imagery. Sadly, his fascinating oeuvre has rarely, if ever, been seen in this country. But the good folks at Criterion are now trying to remedy this problem by releasing Marker’s two most popular films on DVD. Sans Soleil (1983) involves odd footage of Africa and Japan—images of people and their ceremonies paired with poetic observation. La Jetée (1962), Marker’s sole fictional work, is a thirty-minute photo-roman—that is, a variety of stills culled together—with narration. The movie is a short and stunning science fiction work and noted in this country as the inspiration for the inferior 12 Monkeys. With its striking imagery and haunting story of time travel, love, and the trap of memory, you can watch La Jetée in the time it takes you to sit through an episode of My Name Is Earl, and be moved in ways you never imagined.

Shot on location in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles in the early ’70s, Killer of Sheep tells the neo-realist tale of Stan, an African-American man numbed by the pressure of life in the ghetto and his slaughterhouse job. Director Charles Burnett’s movie is also widely considered one of the finest examinations of children’s reaction to crushing, inner-city poverty. Because Burnett never secured the rights to all the songs comprising his film’s score, the sublime Killer of Sheep never had a commercial release; in fact, during the past thirty years, it has become a well-known but ultimately hidden treasure. It was one of the first fifty films placed on the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress and proclaimed one of the hundred all-time greatest movies by the National Film Critics Circle. This long overdue theatrical release is not to be missed. 612-825-6006; www.landmarktheatres.com

Minneapolis has long been considered a hotbed of great physical theater, what with the resident clowns, mimes, and mask-makers at Theatre de la Jeune Lune. Still, in the past few years, the city has attracted an impressive fleet of younger physical-theatermakers—many of whom are packed into this single show. Aftermath marks the directing debut of Katie Kaufmann, a Connecticut transplant and theatrical clown who was lured here six years ago by Jeune Lune. This show represents Kaufmann’s toying with the idea of starting a permanent Minneapolis-based troupe. Notably, her inaugural cast includes Jon Ferguson, a recent arrival from Britain who has quickly established himself as an important director of physical plays (including the recent masterpiece Or The White Whale). Together with four others, Ferguson and Kaufmann physically render a camp of tsunami survivors with no memory of what hit them, nor any recollection of their lives before. 1501 Sixth St. S., Minneapolis; 612-341-1038; www.bedlamtheatre.org

Emigrant Theatre prefers to stage edgy, often enigmatic new plays by living writers. Therefore, the troupe makes a point of getting to know all the winners of the prestigious Jerome Fellowship, an honor that attracts a national congregation of top dramatists to Minneapolis, where they work in one-year residencies at the Playwrights’ Center. Recently, the folks at Emigrant read a Jerome playwright they particularly liked—New Yorker Sheri Wilner. Equal parts comedy, fantasy, and drama, Wilner’s multifarious Hunger concerns the story of Diana, a woman with a seemingly charmed life. But on the night of her engagement—when she’s spending the night with her fiancé, Adam, in his seaside cabin, and the perfect circumstances of her life seem only further cemented—Diana is left confronting some pretty monumental what-ifs. Does she stick with trustworthy Adam? Or does she strike out on her own in an effort to fulfill her deepest desires? A Prince Charming (of sorts) actually materializes in this instance, so Diana’s quandary isn’t as easily solved as it might seem. 1501 Fourth St. S., Minneapolis; 612-338-6131; www.emigranttheater.org