The Rake Magazine

Year: 2007

  • Art, Laughter, Nostalgia — Indulge!

    Today is the last day to register for our Bourne Ultimatum promotion. Vote on your favorite movie car chase for a chance to win free tickets to an advanced screening of the latest Bourne movie next Tuesday.

    ART
    You Don’t Have to Get on Your Knees, but Crawl

    10KArtsCrawl_thumb.gifA couple months ago, Christy DeSmith wrote an article describing Glenwood Avenue as a burgeoning design corridor. Tonight, we invite you to explore the new design district for yourself during the 10,000 Arts Crawl. Enjoy live music, visual and design arts, performing arts, and food and beverage samplings at multiple venues between Lyndale and Girard, on Glenwood Avenue. The evening will include performances by Ghost in the Water, The Brass Kings, Beatrix Jar, JAO, and Jimmy Martin. Art Crawl destinations include AbiTare, AIA Minnesota, The Carney Group, Hirshfield’s Design Studio, Ivy Men’s + Design, and Ligne Roset. Keep your eye out for our promotional scooter. It could be yours at the end of the summer!

    6-10 p.m., between Lyndale and Girard Avenues North on Glenwood Avenue; free.

    COMEDY THEATER
    The Label vs. Evil

    m_bff5b9a0547af52d3f577c111bd8f870.jpgHow does a group of self-proclaimed “stand up comics, failed theater majors, anti-social writers, and film school dropouts” fight the evils of “war, terrorism, crime, and nationally televised pop-star competitions?” Comedy. Comedy. Laughter is The Label’s weapon of choice. “Make laughter, not war,” should be their motto as they strive to wipe out evil, once and for all, with their hysterical blend of monologue, live sketch, and short films. Solve the problem of evil with a night of laughter. (This ain’t Epicurus or Hume, but it’ll do for a Thursday.)

    7 p.m. (through Saturday), Bryant Lake Bowl, 810 West Lake St., Minneapolis; 612-825-3737; $10.

    3674998236.jpgAccording to James Norton, of Metroblogging Twin Cities, Neil Hamburger will be performing at the Triple Rock this evening. Norton accurately describes Hamburger as “the world’s premiere anti-comedian,” extolling the comedic value of his nasty and offensive act. Sounds like a winner to me.

    10 p.m., Triple Rock Social Club, 629 Cedar Avenue, Minneapolis; 612-333-7499; $10.

    FILM
    Starry Silent Summer Nights

    showpeops copy.jpgI miss the silent movies projected on the wall outside of Riverplace — back in the late ’80s, I guess. I’m a sucker for the silent movie. What can I say? Charlie Chaplin. Buster Keaton. Douglas Fairbanks. Now, those were men! Who needs words when you’ve got such overtly physical communication? We could all use just a little more silence these days… and a little more physical communication. Take yourself back to the good old days, before the talkies, with a screening of Show People. Based on the life and career of Gloria Swanson, Show People gets behind the scenes of the silent film industry as the protagonist tries to break into it. The film stars Marion Davies and William Haines, with cameo appearances by Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks, John Gilbert, and Norma Talmadge.

    7:30 p.m., Heights Theater, 3951 Central Ave. N.E., Columbia Heights; 763-788-9079; $8 (seniors and children $5).

    Look at film through a teen lens tonight at the Twin Cities Youth Media Network Screening at the Walker Art Center. Explore works made by high school filmmakers from around the state. 7:30 p.m., Walker Art Center, 1750 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis; 612-375-7656; free.

    FESTIVAL
    Midwestern Nostalgia

    photoone.jpgEvery small to large vicinage across America, and across the world, has its own form of ritual merrymaking, a community celebration, a regional jubilee. From the carnival, to the block-party, to the barnyard dance, we’ve concocted numerous venues in which to come together with no pretext other than to to have a good time, socialize, commune. Maybe to parade a new hat, a new love. Maybe to give yourself a thrill with a few playful (and careless) smiles. (Surely for someone to make a buck, while you lose one.)

    What’s our local version of this clambake? What’s our jamboree? We city folk would like to think it’s ultra-hip — getting jiggy in the streets. But let’s face it, even our most urban fiestas are fundamentally hick at heart. Does this hurt you, dear? Don’t despair. It’s really quite lovely, indeed.

    You can count on live music. We’ve always got plenty of that — not bad stuff, either. Quite good, in fact. (And you’ll often find a twang in there somewhere, a little touch of Fargo, a pinch of bluegrass, and a Polka, too. It’ll bring you back home — wherever home is. (Even a Latina like me finds comfort in the familiarity of something so profoundly American — from back when that might have been imbued with a bit of bravado rather than second-hand shame.)

    You’ll find food, plenty of food. Fried food, grilled food, fast food, food on a stick. You’ll find food. If you’re lucky, you’ll find mini donuts. Shhh. I won’t tell. Lemonade? Or beer? That’s enough sinfulness. Enjoy some games. Watch the kids get their faced painted. Wander around the arts and crafts booths. Best case scenario? — Uptown Art Fair. Worse case scenario? — pretty much your average fare. What do you have against arts & crafts? (Maybe you can buy yourself a nice reindeer sweater.) Just think of it as retro, and have a good time. This is, after all, the beauty of the midwest. Indulge.

    Best case scenario — Uptown Art Fair; and yet beyond the booths you’ll always find the classic cars. In the end, this is the best art of all. I find myself taking refuge from the booths, from the sell, mulling about the cars, exploring, wandering, wondering. Sweet prince in a shiny ’62, divest me of my history — and Elvis shakes the floor. Ain’t that America, baby?

    But will someone please explain why there’s a donkey in the middle of the parking lot, trapped between the sweet corn and the organic soap? What’s with the rooster? A petting zoo? Really? Why the hell would I want to pet a rooster?

    Why the hell would you want any of it, really? Only that it’s beautiful; that’s all. It’s a more quiet reminder of the American Dream — the right to nothingness, I suppose. The right to frolic. Want some? You’ll have plenty of opportunity yet this summer. But you can get a taste tonight in White Bear Lake, on the last night of this summer’s Marketfest. No, it probably doesn’t merit this long diatribe, by any means, but after writing the Secrets night after night, I, too, felt a need to indulge. Call it my own sense of family fun. Now go have yours. Enjoy the typical fare, along with covered wagon rides, wall climbing, and fun for all. Oh, yeah. Can’t wait to get on that wagon, baby. I’m coming home!

    6-9 p.m., Downtown White Bear Lake, just east of Hwy. 61, between 3rd St. and 4th St.; free.

  • Radio Steps Closer to the Abyss

    Those of us with any interest at all in the immediate future of radio are highly skeptical — to the point of fatally suspicious — of the proposed merger of the two satellite radio companies, XM and Sirius, AND the regular promises by terrestrial radio giants, like Clear Channel, that High Definition radio will … real soon … be all things to all people. Rather than new choices, we see a lot more of the same.

    Yesterday, Mel Karmazin, former president of CBS, Inc. (he left in ’04 after one too many blow-outs with Viacom tycoon, Sumner Redstone), told the National Press Club that — in an obvious concession to Republican FCC chairman, Kevin Martin — he would allow subscribers to proposed the XM/Sirius combination to buy programming “a la carte”, something cable TV companies are loathe to offer their customers. (Martin wants to see a la carte in cable and satellite TV, too).

    Here is a link to Karmazin’s official proposal. It’s pretty eye-glazing, and I don’t even want to think about the HMO-like sub-clauses, fine(r) print and penalties. But none of this, or any of the stories I read yesterday challenged Karmazin on what for me, and I strongly believe other radio consumers, regard as a primary deal-killer. Namely, commercials. Karmazin has left the door wide open to piling commercials into heretofore commercial-free satellite systems, and frankly, given the debt loads of XM/Sirius … like most other media corporations, there isn’t any other way for them to deliver significant profit unless they do.

    Karmazin is, first and foremost, a “super salesman”, a guy who looks in the mirror every morning and wonders why he can’t sell advertising space on his incisors. His idea of great radio is a five minute block of commercials every four minutes.

    Chairman Martin is on the right track with a la carte programming. It makes perfect consumer sense … on radio and cable TV. But what, I ask, is the consumer interest in BOTH paying a monthly subscription fee for whatever programming they choose AND listening to 20-25 minutes of commercials every hour, we are forced to do on terrestrial radio? (HiDef radio is free.)

    I continue to argue that satellite’s future is in commercial-free programming, not necessarily three more channels of Howard Stern with 28 minutes worth of ads per hour. (Karmazin BTW was the radio executive most responsible for Stern’s rise.)


    Here’s a “lay person’s guide” to the differences between satellite and Hi-Def.

    Any radio manager who is candid — and few are on this topic — will tell you the single biggest complaint from listeners is … commercial load. The fact that this complaint plays simultaneous with the dawn of satellite radio with 200 or more channels and HiDef, which allows each licensed signal playing today to triplicate itself, is, at least on one hand, not reassuring to station owners. An extra three channels sounds like fun. But even if they can control the fragmentation, how do they sell all that? And at what price?

    I won’t belabor this. My real intention here is to tie the “fragmentation” problems afflicting newspapers and TV to radio as well … and point out that like traditional newspapers and traditional television, traditional radio is preparing to protect its’ future with … more of the same tired business plan. The same programming with the same rate of “clutter” (jargon for ads and everything else that interrupts what people tune in to get.)

    HiDef radio exists in the Twin Cities, but only as a kind of stale (but “clearer”) “repeater” process for existing stations. Radio giants will remain reluctant to introduce content on HiDef that might shave any kind of significant margin off their existing cash cows. The irony here is that with paradigm-shaking technologies like satellite and HiDef so tightly controlled by the very same people that rigorously market the bland and treadworn formats of old-fashion terrestrial radio, why should any consumer look to these new toys with any great eagerness?

    As I’ve said before, Apple hasn’t sold 125 million iPods because
    music (and podcast) lovers are satisfied with radio programming as it exists today.

    The betting is that the likelihood of FCC approval of the XM/Sirius merger increased with Karmazin’s promise to offer a la carte.

  • Bouncing Around: Trade Deadlines, Training Camps, and Officiating Scandals

    Less than a week before the MLB trading deadline, the Twins are not only eight and a half games out of first place, but fourth in the wild card race behind Cleveland, Seattle, and the resurgent Yankees. Proponents of getting a desperately needed bat or two to make a late-season run always point to the quality personnel already on the squad: Santana, Morneau, Mauer, Nathan, Hunter, Neshek, etc. There are two problems with this. The talent gap between the marquee guys and the rest of the ballclub is much greater than most teams, and certainly so compared to the teams contesting the Twins for that wild card spot (which also include Toronto, who would be tied with Minnesota with a victory tonight). Put bluntly, this team has no depth.

    And incredibly green pitching. Say the Twins did miraculously manage to score a post-season berth. How do you line up your rotation for the ALDS? Santana, and then Bonser, and then Silva? Is that really going to beat the Red Sox/Angels/Tigers/Indians? But inexperienced pitching isn’t as big of an issue as the dirty secret that has plagued this year’s edition of the Twins: shoddy fundamentals. The team’s base running has often been atrocious, and a story in today’s Strib made note of how frequently players have failed in sacrifice bunt situations. Although the Twins’ fielding percentage is 4th best in all of baseball, the 34 unearned runs they’ve allowed is strictly middle of the pack (7th in the AL, 14th overall), not keeping to the standard set by this franchise over the past decade.

    All of the cheerleaders want Terry Ryan to trade some of his surplus pitching for a capable hitter or two. I’m all for that, so long as we’re not renting a player and the bat(s) we get are going to be around for the next 2-3 years minimum. But let’s repeat for emphasis: Any moves designed to make a last-ditch effort to secure a championship in 2007 are fools’ errands. This team simply isn’t ready for its close-up this season.

    The NFL training camp season is likewise upon us, and in this football crazy area that’s big news. I’ll confess to not being much of a pigskin adherent, although I did play in high school and acknowledge that of all the team sports it is best suited for television. It is comical, however, to read the big blowout in today’s Strib and count all the ways they try to paint a pretty face, under the guise of objective analysis, on the notion that this team is trying to compete without anyone even remotely ready to be their quarterback. Did anyone else watch Tavaris Jackson’s two starts last year–after the then-rook openly and rightly conceded he wasn’t ready? This is a kid two years removed from Division I-AA. Good luck with that. I’m not really qualified to parse X’s and O’s and can do little better than regurgitate conventional wisdom about the squad–the hope rests with the running game and the left side of the O line, plus the beefy dudes who share a last name in the middle of the D line–except for one thought: Why not try Mewelde Moore as a receiver? As the team’s punt returner, he clearly is expected to have good hands and to function well in the open field. And I always liked Moore during his stints in the backfield–he’s shifty and smart, with good physical instincts and reflexes as a runner. I understand that he is either dreadfully injury-prone or a bit of a wuss, depending on how much you want to knock his character. But the Vikes’ receiving corps isn’t exactly top-notch and what’s the harm of giving him some reps and seeing how he pans out on the flank?

    Finally there is the brouhaha over Tim Donaghy. My wonderfully hoops-centric readers have already been all over this one, ranging from Andy B’s fire-alert alarm to Patrick’s declaration of boredom over the whole scandal. I confess to an irresponsible sense of ennui. Yeah, I know that the integrity of my favorite sport has certainly been placed in jeopardy, and that those who have an animus toward the NBA–the style of play is too boring, the players are too thuggish, etc–will use this as further evidence that pro b-ball isn’t worth their time. And I’m not minimizing the potential damage that can be wrought if refs other than Donaghy get fingered, or, god forbid, some players or coaches.

    But what I keep coming back to is, what am I supposed to do or say in reaction here? I would argue that the person with the most power to respond to the situation, NBA commish David Stern, has demonstrated a long history of staunch–to the point of extreme–vigilance to shoring up the image and integrity of the game, especially with respect to casual fans and new markets, which is precisely where the Donaghy scandal can cause the most damage. And yesterday, Stern labelled this the “worst situation” in his 20+ year tenure. In other words, adding my outrage isn’t going to make Stern any more determined to flip over every rock in every nook and cranny and impose the harshest penalties he can muster in order to not only eradicate this undeniable blotch on the history of the league, but serve notice and implement policies to ensure that it won’t ever happen again. Put it this way: Is Donaghy a bigger scandal than steroids in baseball (and football and cycling and…)? Are NBA players more “thuggish” than football players, or is that line of thinking just a wee bit tinged with race? No, this is bad for the NBA, but it is not like I’m going to stop watching the game or feel like the league has deceived me for all my years of fandom. From what we know now, nobody knew about this (a la steroids in baseball) and happily looked the other way. And now that it is out in the open, well, Donaghy just has to be happy that it isn’t the Puritan days and Stern isn’t the leader of the town, or he would be burned at the stake, without any of his fingernails.

    Andy B cited a typically riveting column by ESPN Sports Guy Bill Simmons. Now Simmons happens to be my favorite sportswriter on the planet, and I do think his citing of Donaghy’s participation in the pivotal Game Three of the Spurs–Suns series, which everyone sort of knew was the real NBA Finals this season, is the gravest evidence for hoops junkies like myself that we need to take this thing seriously, that it may have fundamentally altered the course of the 2006-07 season. And while it does not approach the 1919 Black Sox scandal for pervasive and conclusive fixing of the results, whenever the stench of scandal can taint the crowning of a champion, it is a terrible thing. I’ll wait and see how much it can be demonstrated that Donaghy threw that contest to the Spurs, but even if the evidence is minimal, the stench remains. It is not, however, strong enough to drive me away from my addiction to pro hoops and I am thankful that the commish is on the warpath so I can look forward to the upcoming season relatively confident that the cancer has been removed.

    One last thing about Simmons. He makes a couple of good points–I too think the refs should be paid far more money and be held to a tougher standard, with more turnover of bad officials. And I also think they ought to rely heavily on the precious few great refs when it comes to the last couple of rounds of the series. I am less enamored with his desire to make the playoffs less of a East versus West so the stronger conference isn’t penalized and the fans aren’t robbed from saving the best match-up for last. If the conferences are to have any integrity, you need to match them up for the final (and by the way, that’s the way football and baseball have always done it, despite periods of longstanding disparity in talent). And lastly, there is the caveat that, as is often the case, the virtues and vices in Simmons’ style are often from the same root. The guy is a provincial fan, who treasures being part of a local community of like-minded folks who live and die for their team. Boston will always be his first love. So sure, right now in Simmons’ three favorite team sports, Boston has the perennially contending Patriots and Red Sox and the woeful Celtics. Of course he’s going to be down on the NBA. He tried to kindle something with the Clippers a couple years ago after he moved to LA (remember the paeans to Sam Cassell, a player upon whom he was strangely silent this year, eh?), but in many respects the Clips and the Lakers were as desultory as the Celtics this season. Taking meaningful passion for a team out of Simmons’s arsenal is tying one hand behind his back, which is why he tried to compensate by slobbering all over Kevin Durant this NCAA season, in the hopes and expectation that Durant would end up a Celtic. If the Celtics do manage to contend for a crown this season and find themselves representing the inferior Eastern Conference in the finals, I suspect you won’t hear as much from Simmons about Tim Donaghy, the terrible playoff system, or the horrible state of the NBA.

  • From Snuff to Spoken Word

    FILM
    WARNING: For the Truly Fearless Only

    m_7efaa0bd7e8a9fb4fccc27b4a8a039e9.jpgLooking for some seriously disturbing subject matter to digest this evening? If you liked the film 8MM, with Nicholas Cage — or you’re just a freaky snuff fanatic, in general — then you’re in for a big treat tonight. As part of the summer preview series, Fearless Filmmakers is offering a sneak preview of SNUFF: a documentary about killing on camera this evening. The film, directed by Paul Von Stoetzel, explores the dark reality of snuff films, and how they “bring together such unlikely bedfellows as pornography, news media, war, horror-films, and serial killers.” Think you can handle it? There’s only one way to find out. Take advantage of this one-time-only opportunity to see the film before its festival run, and meet the filmmakers for a question and answer session. If you make it through the horror, be sure to join the local film community at Stub and Herbs for the official after party, and enjoy the free food and drinks, and live music by DJ Omen, as you unwind.

    7:30 p.m., The Oak Street Cinema, 309 Oak St. S.E., Minneapolis; 612-331-3134; $9 (students $7, MN Film Arts members $5). After Party at 9:30 p.m., Stub and Herbs, 227 Oak St., Minneapolis; free.

    BOOKS
    Jonis Agee: The River Wife
    by Brad Zellar

    214.jpgJonis Agee has always been a fascinating study, as well as refreshingly free of literary conceits and pretension. She has a distinctly Midwestern, blue-collar sensibility, and is fearless (or perhaps heedless) when it comes to her subjects; this is a woman, after all, who somehow managed to publish a collection of stories built around automobile racing, and that topic provides plenty of apt metaphors for Agee’s fiction: breakneck speed, unexpected twists and turns, and spectacular flameouts. Her latest novel, The River Wife, released just last week, is a gothic family saga set in Missouri’s Bootheel region, and features, among other plotlines and hard-boiled entanglements, river piracy.

    7:30 p.m., Magers & Quinn Booksellers, 3038 Hennepin Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-822-4611.

    THEATER & PERFORMANCE
    A Guthrie Experience Showpiece

    Each year, the Guthrie Theater invites actors from advanced acting training programs across the country to participate in the Guthrie Experience for Actors, a nine-week program of classes, workshops, rehearsals, and activities designed to hone their skills. Tonight (though Monday), as one of the culminating activities of the 2007 Guthrie Experience, 14 actors from this year’s program will present a special showpiece for the public. Guthrie movement artist Marcela Lorca directs the collaboration by playwright Julie Marie Myatt (author of Boats on a River and The Sex Habits of American Women), and is assisted by 1998 Guthrie Experience for Actors alum, actor/director Randy Reyes (Boats on a River and Theatre Mu’s Circle Around the Island).

    7:30 p.m., Dowling Studio, The Guthrie Theater, 818 South 2nd St., Minneapolis; 612-377-2224; free, but tickets are required.

    FESTIVALS
    Legos, Fire Sculpture, and Ice Cream
    by Danielle Kurtzleben

    midsummer.jpgFor anyone who has pondered, “What is art?” Or perhaps, “Can I make art out of Legos?” Or even, “Can I stroll through the park, experience local art, AND eat free ice cream tonight?” Yes on all counts, my friend, tonight at the Bancroft Midsummer Festival, sponsored by the Center for Independent Artists, a local non-profit that supports local artists of all stripes. Enjoy the Legos, painting, fire sculpture, live music, slam poetry, dance, sing-alongs, and all sorts of other exhibits to stimulate your senses. And, of course, stay to bask in the joys of a good outdoor neighborhood gathering (and, like I said, free ice cream from Pumphouse Creamery).

    6-9 p.m., Bancroft Meadows Park, 42nd & Bloomington, across from the Center for Independent Artists; 612-724-8392; free.

    MUSIC
    Poeticize Yourself

    4055026599.jpgOK, here’s a real secret. Apparently, I’m not even supposed to tell you about it, though I can’t quite figure out why (and I’ve never been very good at doing as I’m told anyhow — especially when it makes no sense to me). Prince fans, hip-hop fans, music fans in general, head over to Trocaderos tonight for a Prince Tribute Show with Sign of the Times and, better still, EduPoetic. The latter, EduPoetic, serves up an original blend of spoken word with hip-hop, jazz, blues, funk, and gospel. Hell, with a name like that… just go educate yourself, my friend. Poeticize yourself. And if all else fails, just stare deep into the drummer’s eyes. I guarantee you’ll be transported.

    9 p.m., Trocaderos Nightclub & Restaurant, 107 3rd Ave. N., Minneapolis; 612-465-0440.

    Other music options this evening include the Scribble Jam at Foundation Nightclub, and Hugh Masekela at the Dakota.

  • Cookshop Throwdown

    knives of fury.JPG

    I finally made it to the Sur La Table that opened on 50th and France in Edina, mere steps down from Cooks of Crocus Hill. Of course I did a little comparative secret shopping.

    I’ve enjoyed Sur La Table in many places before, the Seattle Pike’s Place market location being my favorite. The store has always held a cozy accessability to me as a cook, with kitchen tables piled high with rubber spatulas and whisks a-go-go (I’ve always felt the same about Chef’s Gallery). There were high-buck pots and pans, as well as fun and less expensive gadgetry which seem to suck me in, and everything was merchandized smartly. Though I meandered for over half an hour, I wasn’t chatted-up until I got to the register, and there were plenty of employees around. Maybe they’re upgrading as a company, but this outpost seemed a little more Williams-Sonoma and little less kitchen table.

    Heading down to Cooks, the first thing I noticed was the word LOCAL on their kiosk. Inside, it was business as usual, if not a little more solicitous. There were plenty of people, merchandizing is just as good as the new neighbors, and the staff seems unworried.

    Overall, I’d say they could work well together: each had a strength that parried the other’s weakness. Sur had more cutting edge gadgets (nifty silicone pan holders) while Cook’s had a huge selection of food books. Sur had more appliances, Cook’s had more cool ingredients. Sur, being larger, has more stuff, but Cook’s has the demo kitchen and a killer line-up of chef’s who teach. After all the perusing, I left Sur with some funky drinking straws and garbage disposal cleaners. At Cook’s I bought two paper toques for Jake and his cousin.

    Quite inspired to cook something, I headed to Trader Joe’s to pick up some ingredients, but ended up wandering over to the small and virtuous Bellaria Bakery Cafe. Anyone should be in awe of their wedding cakes, but I sit in amazement over their pain au chocolat, which I have never been able to produce to satisfaction. I must not have the right gadgets.

  • Wheels for White Folk

    I am not black. I am white. But here is a topic that is gray. I am talking about the indelible influence of black, urban, “ghetto” culture on white, affluent America. It’s a discussion that’s been bounced around since Brown, Busing, and the The Black Panthers (Leonard the first was a big fan), yet it never ceases to amaze me.

    ACF34BB.jpg
    A DUB wheel, shinning right back at you.

    How else do you explain why a little white woman with her hair pulled back in a pony tail drops off her skinny white kids for soccer games in a barge more suited for a pimp?

    I think it’s because black people are cool and white people feel left out. Not the little woman in the big black battlewagon, mind you; just most white people whom I call my friends. Like the Ivy Leaguer who recently asked me what a linked called DUB was doing on my blog.

    What?

    Doncha know what a dub wheel is?

    Well then maybe you should. Suddenly you’ll discover how it happens to be the only thing that can make a whitebread ride like Lexus even remotely uncommon.

    But then this has more to do with culture than cars.

    It’s simple questions like these that expose the gap everyone needs to bridge. And just in case you think I am dissing the poor friend that asked me the simple question, you’re wrong. She asked it in a manner that leads me to believe that she genuinely did not know what I was talking about (and felt curious). She has a lot of company, I might add. What I do know is that something as simple as the wheels on a car can say something about society.

    The good thing is that a very white person asked me a simple question about something that is very black. And it’s only when people stop asking these questions that I will start seeing red.

    (My eyes are bloodshot by the way. I hope there ain’t too many typos in here tonight.)

  • Circus and Spam – Who Could Ask for More?

    MUSIC & PERFORMANCE
    Circus with Style

    Cirque2.jpgEverybody loves the circus, but when you jazz it up with a little bit of class and classical music, then we’re talking gangbuster. Head over to the Orchestra Hall this evening for a performance of Neil Goldberg’s Cirque Symphony and Cirque Populaire with the Minnesota Orchestra. This European-style circus event — banking on the success of Cirque du Soleil — combines the acrobatic spectacle of traditional circus, with the artistic bravado of Broadway-style theater — all set to the most popular circus classics played by the Minnesota Orchestra. Conducted by Sarah Hatsuko Hicks, tonight’s program includes Berlioz’s “Roman Carnival Overture,” Saint-Saëns’s “Bacchanale,” Mendelssohn’s “Dance of the Clowns,” and Stravinsky’s “Circus Polka.”

    7:30 p.m. (tonight & tomorrow), Orchestra Hall, 1111 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis; 612-371-5656; $18-$48 (children 6 to 17 years old $9-$24).

    THEATER & PERFORMANCE
    Monty Python’s Spamalot
    by Christy DeSmith

    page_spamalot.jpgHands down, this retelling of the 1975 flick Monty Python and the Holy Grail is the Broadway hit of the decade. Its success owes to the Pythons’ pioneering formula — sketch comedy bits on flatulence, effeminate Frenchmen, and such — which, in turn, has attracted the loyal patronage of a most atypical theatergoer: the heterosexual white man aged thirty-five or thereabouts. But this production is an unapologetically slapstick, frisky, and therefore supremely escapist entertainment for all demographics. This touring production features an all-new cast of King Arthur and his knights in tights, as the original blockbuster is still going strong on Broadway. Nevertheless, the ersatz proves as popular as the first: Already Spamalot’s twenty-four St. Paul shows are nearly sold out.

    8 p.m., Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, 345 Washington St., Saint Paul; 651-224-4222; $25-$65.

    If It’s So Private, What’s It Doing on Stage

    PrivateLives.jpgAlso opening tonight is the Guthrie’s production of Private Lives. Noël Coward’s most celebrated comedy sets two newlyweds — who were formerly married to each other — on adjoining terraces during their respective honeymoons in the resort town of Deauville, France. Of course, they still care for each other, and it takes them the course of the play to discover and accept this. We’ll have a review for you after the weekend. In the meantime, see what Director Peter Rothstein has to say about the show.

    7:30 p.m., McGuire Proscenium Stage, Guthrie Theater, 818 South 2nd St., Minneapolis; 612-377-2224; $24-$44.

    BOOKS AND AUTHORS
    Tuesdays with Maria
    by Eeva-Liisa Waaraniemi

    3459897538.jpgThe past few days I’ve been stopping in at Amazon to see what material possession therein might be worthy of the $25 gift certificate that’s been smoking in my pocket. Well, until now I’d never heard of the guy or the book, but Abraham Yehoshua’s The Lover might just be “the one.” The story seems interesting enough: a husband’s search for his wife’s lover, lost during the Yom Kippur war. But it’s the customer-reviewers who inspired my booklust. One said he can’t get the book out of his head although he read it two months ago. Another: “you finish reading it and the story goes on in your head.” Isn’t this the kind of experience we’re all looking for? Engrossment that stimulates prolonged consideration? To make a long story short, this book is the topic of discussion led by University of Minnesota Professor Maria Damon at tonight’s “Let’s Talk About It: Jewish Literature – Identity and Imagination” at Highland Park Library. You may not have read the book, or even heard of the author, but I say go for the discussion tonight and read the book later. Although some of the plot will be spoiled, your reading experience will be all the richer for it. And when I find The Lover on my doorstep (okay, mailbox), I’ll read the first page and hope that it’s so good that it won’t make it to my stockpile of unread, yet promising books.

    7-9 p.m., Highland Park Branch Library, 1974 Ford Pkwy., St. Paul; 651-366-6488; free, but please call to register.

    MUSIC
    Mix and Match

    There’s all sorts of good music playing tonight, so pick your poison.

    Metal Maniacs: Sounds of the Underground, this afternoon at Myth Nightclub, features metal band GWAR with special guests Shadows Fall, Chimaira, Every Time I Die, Job for a Cowboy, Amon Amarth, The Number 12 Looks Like You, and Darkest Hour. 1 p.m., Myth Nightclub, 3090 Southlawn Dr., Maplewood; 651-779-6984; $35.

    Jazz Enthusiasts: The Minneapolis Pops Orchestra is putting on a free outdoor performance this evening. 6:30 p.m., Elliot Park, 1000 E. 14th St., Minneapolis; 612-270-4772; free.

    Alt. Rockers: Cary Brothers perform tonight with Stars of Track and Field and Mother Mother. 7:30 p.m., The Varsity Theater, 1308 4th St. S.E., Minneapolis; 612-604-0222; $15.

    Blacky will be playing this evening with the films of Sean Smuda. (Plus you can get $2.50 Margaritas all night, and 1/2 price bottles of wine til 9 p.m.) 9 p.m., 331 Club, 331 13th Ave NE, Mpls.; 612-331-1746; free.

  • Big Daddy is back!

    Gene “Big Daddy” Sampson, is back at the pit – at least one day a week. Sampson, a legend on the local barbecue scene, got his start selling ribs and chicken next to Tiger Jack’s shack on Dale Street, near the I-94 entrance ramp, with his buddies Ron Whyte and Bob Edmond. Sampson gradually worked his way up to owning his own barbecue restaurant in Saint Paul’s Union Depot in the ’90s. When that venture failed, Big Daddy disappeared from view for a while, but we were delighted to find him back in business, and reunited with Whyte and Edmond in the parking lot outside the Abundant Catering storefront, at 609 University Ave., Saint Paul.

    The take-out-only menu includes a full rack of pork ribs for $17, or a half rack for $10, rib tips for $7 a pound, and barbecued chickens for $11 a whole bird, or $7 a half. Sides of cole slaw and potato salad are $1 each. Sampson’s other specialty is his “Flintstone beef ribs”: a half rack of beef short ribs for $16.

    Big Daddy’s new venture operates Saturdays only, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. But he also offers catering for groups of all sizes; for more information, call him at 651-276-3101.

  • There's a cool, Rake-sponsored event happenin' this Thursday!

    Check it, it’s the 10,000 Arts Art Crawl on Glenwood Avenue – inspired, I like to think, by a lil’ article I recently did.

  • Wine: virtue, vice, or both?

    You may have noticed (at least I HOPE you’ve noticed) that I haven’t posted much lately. This is because I’ve been suffering from a monstrous head cold that’s made me pretty useless as a wine taster. It’s odd: feeling as if your one high-level skill — that ability to smell a whiff of nutmeg in an otherwise austere wine — is dependent upon something so pedestrian as post-nasal drip. Alas, it’s also true.

    I haven’t quit drinking wine altogether over the past week, but my consumption has been a great deal less enthusiastic. There were a couple nights when I couldn’t taste a thing and I decided it would be a waste to uncork anything that cost more than $10 a bottle. So mostly, I drank tea.

    And after a time I asked myself: Is this abstemiousness, in some ways, a healthy thing?

    I’m not, by most standards, a heavy drinker. I have roughly 2 glasses of wine a night — occasionally, I’ll have three when I’m attending a dinner that involves many courses; often, I’ll stop at one on a summer evening when I plan to walk or run.

    And I believe ardently in the health benefits of wine; in fact, I would say I even feel them. . . .But I’m also a woman over the age of 40, so the question of breast cancer does play on my mind.

    Apparently, it plays on yours, too, because I do get questions about wine drinking and women’s health. Even more frequently, however, people [of both genders] write to ask me about wine drinking and weight gain.

    “I’d love to follow your advice,” one man wrote when Beyond the Cask launched. “But I’m trying to lose 30 pounds, so wine’s off limits.”

    Well, here I am, all sniffly, my olfactory system hardly up to snuff. So I decided now would be a good time to research all those questions about hearts, gums, tits, love handles, and wine.

    The latest news to cross the transom is that wine may help prevent cavities, due to its antibacterial properties. It’s long been thought that red wine (in particular) prevents heart disease by raising good cholesterol (HDL), lowering bad cholesterol (LDL), and reducing clotting — but it’s only been in the past few months that scientists figured out why: a substance called resveratrol which has, according to an article in Science Daily “antioxidant, anticoagulant, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer effects.” And one Harvard researcher is, apparently, trying to figure out how to synthesize wine-based resveratrol into an anti-aging drug so even beer drinkers can pop a pill and live longer.

    Those are all the widely-publicized feel-good stories: Wine is wonderful! Drink up! And you wonder (or at least, I wonder), Who’s paying for these studies? Gallo?

    Anyway, I went on a crusade to find out the truth about the two big questions:

    1. Does wine drinking make you fat?

    and, far more important,

    2. Does it increase a woman’s risk of breast cancer?

    Here’s what I found (please assume all the typical disclaimers about the fact that I’m a wine critic and not a physician):

    1. No, wine drinking does *not* typically make a drinker fat. And it’s a mystery as to why. . . .A case in point: I’m the sort of woman who gains weight if I lift a doughnut from one platter to another and lick the residue off my fingers. So you would think that adding two glasses (roughly 200 calories — the amount in two 6-ounce glasses of dry red wine) a day to my diet would cause weight gain. This is exactly what I did: I was a teetotaler while pregnant. After my last child was born, 12 years ago, I began drinking wine regularly with no discernible effect on my weight. I suppose it’s possible I’ve cut those 200 calories out of my diet subconsciously (I hear lab rats do this. . . .), but I don’t think so. For whatever reason, the calories from the wine just don’t “stick” the way they would if I consumed them in, say, butter. And I’m not the only one who’s noticed this. In a 2003 Wine News article, Dr. Harvey Finkel, a professor at Boston University Medical Center, wrote that research shows “moderate drinking usually helps correct weight excess and reduces the risks of diabetes and cardiovascular disease by several means.” These include energy “wastage” and a generally salubrious effect on the metabolism.

    2. About breast cancer, however, I’m far more circumspect. And serious. I am a habitual wine drinker. I also eat a low-fat, high-fiber diet, exercise daily, and avoid food additives, hair dyes, synthetic hormones, and toxic cleaners. I had three full-term pregnancies before the age of 30, breastfed each of my children for more than a year, and (this is the big one), I do not have a first-degree relative — mother, aunt, sister, or daughter — with breast cancer. Were any of these things different, I would be far more careful about my alcohol consumption. Even the way things are, I’m mindful. . . .I think there is NO question that there is a link between alcohol and breast cancer. The American Cancer Society has come out saying “for each 10 grams of alcohol consumed a day, the lifetime risk of a woman developing breast cancer increases by almost 10%.” But add to that this confusing bit of information: a recent study in the journal Cancer Research shows that red wine actually inhibits breast tumors. For women, it seems, a moderate amount of wine can be both a potential danger and a potent cure.