The Rake Magazine

Year: 2007

  • A Laugher, A Mess, A Pleasant Surprise

    Ugly game for Baltimore: six walks, eleven hits, three errors (should have been four); a horrendous start for Jared Wright, and an even more horrendous start for the Orioles, who started a season 0-3 for the first time since 1995. This team looked bad enough in this series to challenge the 1988 O’s, who lost their first 21 games and finished at 54-107.

    Ramon Ortiz was pretty damn good, but I don’t think anybody should get too excited until he faces a better lineup. Still, seven innings pitched, five hits, four strikeouts, and a walk isn’t too shabby, even if his ratio of ground balls (6) to fly balls (11) wasn’t exactly what you’d like to see from him. There were a bunch of pop-ups in there, though, so it wasn’t like Baltimore was hitting rockets all over the Dome.

    A nice series for the Minnesota bullpen: eight innings, four hits, seven strikeouts, three walks, no runs allowed, and a new baby (Joe Nathan’s wife, Lisa, gave birth to a baby girl named Riley Grace at 8:34 pm tonight at Fairview Southdale).

    I listened to this one on the radio, and hearing the Twins on KSTP just doesn’t seem right. Also, the reception over here in South Minneapolis is lousy. This is the first game I’ve heard since the Twins bolted from WCCO, and the whole package seemed sort of cheesy. It reminded me of growing up listening to Twins games on Austin’s KAUS. I don’t know; maybe that’s not such a bad thing after all.

  • Before You Buy That Second Home in Arizona…

    You might want to read this from the NY Times. It seems that the states out west, where mostly Republican buffalo roam, are fighting among themselves for the little bit of water they have available.

    The funny part is that, except for California’s governor, that big actor, many of the pols out there aren’t big believers in global warming.

    Of course, we here in the land of 10,000 lakes can laugh. But as soon as they figure out a way to pipe our water over the Rockies, those pictures of the high and dry docks on Lake Superior will become just as common as the ones of those mud holes out west.

    You know how those western movies about the water rights wars between the cattlemen and the farmers always turned out bad for the farmers? We’re the sodbusters, I fear, and there’s no Shane in sight.

  • McClatchy D.C. Digs Deeper into the US Attorneys

    Greg Gordon and two other McClatchy correspondents — people whose reporting used to flow directly into the Star Tribune, but with the sale to Avista Capital Partners now flows elsewhere — have an excellent story up today connecting dots in the US Attorneys firing scandal.

    Titled, “New US Attorneys Seem to Have Partisan Records”, the McClatchy team makes a point of noting that presidential advisor Karl Rove, in a speech last April to the Republican National Lawyers Association, (there’s something redundant about that, but I can’t quite put my finger on it), specified Minnesota among 11 states pivotal to GOP election prospects in 2008. They then note that Rove/Gonzalez/Sampson et al have overseen the replacement of US Attorneys in nine of those states … including Minnesota, where Tom Heffelfinger had, to the surprise of many, stepped down a couple months earlier.

    In his column last Sunday, Nick Coleman laid out connections that you’d think would tantalize any major daily newsroom. Like some of the rest of us, Coleman had waited weeks for the StarTribune to commence any kind of reporting on even the possibility of a connection between a major national story, the sudden departure of a Republican US Attorney at least as moderate as any of those later fired, and/or the processes and connections that brought Paulose to her present job. I mean folks, the 33 year-old woman arrives here direct from Gonzalez’ office in D.C., where she served as senior counsel to Deputy Attorney General, Paul McNulty, the guy now infamous for asserting that the eight fired US Attorneys were whacked for “performance-related issues”. That is … questionable.

    This isn’t a presumed guilty until proven innocent question. It isa matter of basic professional skepticism. The fundamental question of the US Attorneys scandal is whether this was done to advance the political purposes of the Republican Party by politicizing a highly influential office of the judiciary. It seems fair to ASK if there is any possiblity that is what happened here in Minnesota. Local media is forever falling over themselves grasping for the vaguest, most remote “Minnesota connectrion” to any national story. (JFK Jr. dies in plane crash! Once ate Cheerios! Quotes from General Mills spokesman to follow!)

    But in this case, nothing? What ever happened to basic journalistic due diligence? The new Star Tribune may be strapped for resources and staff, both here and in D.C., but certainly at this point, what with provocative work done by Minnesota Campaign Report, (which doth protest way too self-righteously about a minor mistake in a complicated story), a piece in the Salt Lake Tribune, (which ironically was sparked by a call from Coleman), and now this latest McClatchy report, the time is overripe for the Star Tribune to run … SOMETHING … on this.

    All the tedious tut-tutting about journalistic ethics and appearances of conflict of interest — Sid Hartman does a TV commercial! — start sounding a little hollow if the paper can’t do the fundamental work of looking in to something this intriguing and close to home.

    For the record, the Star Tribune isn’t alone in seriously avoiding this story. As best I can tell, of the local TV stations, only KMSP, ch. 9 has run a story on any kind of Heffelfinger connection. That is other than KSTP-TV’s Bob McNaney story on Paulose’s grandiose investiture early last month.

    For his efforts McNaney, nobody’s idea of a flaming liberal, has been ripped by both Powerline and Star Trib gossip columnist, C.J. . (By certain standards I guess the CJ rip rates as “some kind of reference” to the broader story.)

    Caught on the run the other night, McNaney was still steamed about the shots from those two. He smells a coordinated effort. “If the US Attorney’s office needs to use CJ to protect themselves from me they’re in even worse shape than I thought. And you can use that.”

    McNaney said he had to be careful about saying much more right now because, “We aren’t done with this story.” But he was not impressed by Paulose.

    “Watch the entire interview. All the raw tape. It’s up on our site. This is one of coolest, most buttoned-down, refined characters you’ll ever meet, until I start asking about the ceremony and the ‘problem journalist’ list. Watch her body language. The only time she squirms is when I ask about that stuff.”

    What you don’t want to think in this situation is that the Star Tribune and the rest of the Twin Cities newsrooms are hanging back on asking impertinent questions about Heffelfinger’s departure and Paulose’s arrival … because she is a minority female. Modern newsrooms are hyper-sensitive to such issues, usually for good reason. But by definition anyone in a US Attorney’s job is a big girl playing in the big leagues with large, bonafide public responsibilities.

    If you’re in the news business it is your job to ask such people, or people who know such people, tough questions.

  • A Glance Back: Superheroes, Glam, and Anger

    ART
    Superspective Retrostar

    BarryMcMahon.jpgAre you a fan of storybook illustrations? How about comic books? I mean, who doesn’t love a superhero? It’s hard to be content with our everyday lives. This is what Barry McMahon’s recent work is all about; he pits the iconic superhero against all the bothersome everyday stuff we have to put up with as mere mortals. Is he challenging our daily realities? Is he challenging our hero worship? You decide. His current exhibit, Retrospective, spans over two and a half decades, features previously unseen work and work from his most recent series, and shows the evolution of McMahon’s artistic endeavor.

    Noon-9 p.m., Mira Gallery, Center for Independent Artists, Instituto de Cultura y Educacion, 4137 Bloomington Ave. S., Minneapolis, 612-724-8392; free.

    See Barry McMahon’s MN Artists gallery.

    ART AND FILM
    Glamorous Garbo

    GretaGarbo.jpgBorn in Stockholm in 1905, Greta Gustafsson came into the public eye in 1923, when she began her life as Greta Garbo, a strong-willed woman of striking beauty. In 1925 Garbo made her big move to Hollywood and spent the next 16 years making 27 films. But when after her great success, she silently retired and withdrew from the public life after she became an American citizen in 1951. Come celebrate the glamorous film career of Sweden’s first internationally-known film star at the American Swedish Institute’s photograph exhibit, Glamorous Garbo: International Film Star. The exhibit contains more than 40 photographs — on loan from the Greta Garbo Society of Sweden in Hogsby, Sweden — that explore Greta Garbo’s transformation into a Hollywood icon.

    Noon – 8 p.m., American Swedish Institute, 2600 Park Ave. S., Minneapolis, 612-871-4907; free (usually $6, seniors $5, students $4).

    FILM
    So Truffault

    F-451.jpgI’m not a big fan of books to film, but sometimes you just have to accept the classics (that and I’m a sucker for anti-censorship movements of any kind). François Truffaut’s Fahrenheit 451, based on the best-selling novel by Ray Bradbury, is a futuristic tale of a totalitarian government gone too far. While the overriding story of a bad man turned good by his love for a liberated woman may seem trite at this point, Fahrenheit 451 is, in fact, one of the originals. Yes, it’s the age-old story. Government fireman Oskar Werner meets revolutionary Julie Christie, and through her learns to question the entire book-burning, ignorance-enforcing system. Eventually, he sets out to destroy the very system he’s sworn to protect. Surprise. Surprise. But really, you have to see it.

    7-9 p.m., Liberty Center, 799 Raymond Avenue, St. Paul, 651-646-8980; $5 donation. R.S.V.P.

    CLASS
    For Us Gals, It Ain’t about Viagra

    2265762946.jpgLet’s face it, sex is important. And after a woman reaches a certain age, it’s sometimes necessary to take extra pains to keep our sexuality intact. Not just for our emotional and spiritual wellbeing, but for our physical wellbeing as well. It’s just plain healthy. Keep the Fire Burning – Sexual Health and Libido is a holistic exploration of sexuality and relationship issues meant to awaken the heart, mind, body and spirit, and maintain desire during and after menopause. It might not be something you want to discuss at the next dinner party you go to, but hell, why don’t you? It’ll probably provoke the night’s most interesting conversation.

    6:30 p.m. – 8 p.m., Watson Education Center, 2nd Floor, St. John’s Hospital, 1575 Beam Ave., Maplewood, 651-232-7000, 651-232-2273, $15.

    ON THE WEB
    Hump Day Madness

    Perhaps you hate the expression hump day as much as I have since I officially started working (which was at 15). Nevertheless, to help get you through these mid-week blues, here are some angry worker videos you can live vicariously through — or at least get a few laughs from. Many of you have probably already seen these, but they’re just too good not to mention.

    Lily Tomlin loses her shit while shooting I Heart Huckabees.
    Director David O. Russell loses his shit while directing Lily Tomlin.
    A man gets angry with an office printer.
    A man gets angry with his office computer.
    A professor doesn’t appreciate his student’s cell phone ringing in class.
    A record store clerk dislikes his suited client.
    God gets angry. Warning: This video could insult your religious sensibilities.

  • The Three-Pointer: Past Time To Call Bullshit

    Regular Season Game #74, Home Game #36, Cleveland 101, Minnesota 88

    1. An Unlikeable Basketball Team

    Unlikeable is putting it mildly. If you still care about this edition of the Minnesota Timberwolves, they are infuriating and aggravating in the extreme. Looked at objectively, it is plain that they lack the integrity to even properly go through the motions in the final weeks of a miserable season. And everyone among the “braintrust” is either stupid or lying.

    Strong words, maybe, so let’s back them up. Kevin McHale fires Dwane Casey for a 20-20 record and a bottom-rung playoff position because the team is “inconsistent.” Randy Wittman flounders to a 11-23 record and every indication is given that he will be rehired next year.

    Tonight, Wittman bemoans the fact that the team gets off to slow starts, especially at home, at beginning of both halves, the first and third quarters. He actually says, “I don’t know why that is.” Well, let me give you a hint, coach: You’ve playing three veterans who don’t respect you, the team, the game, or themselves, at the expense of three kids who you claim are your blueprint for the future. The vets are chronic losers who are playing you and anyone who cares about this franchise for a fool, and you are going along because your personnel guy bartered away a draft pick that you desperately need and the only way to ensure you keep it is by playing this smug, pathetic trio.

    Again, let’s back up these strong words. The Timberwolves were outscored 23-14 during the first 8:28 of the game. Only then did Wittman yank Mike James and Mark Blount in favor of Mark Madsen and Randy Foye. After another 2:11, the team had been outscored 4-2 to trail 27-16 when Wittman pulled the third contemptuous sleepwalker, Ricky Davis, and inserted Rashad McCants. With all three on the bench for the next 6:59, the Wolves outscored LeBron James and the Cavs 18-15, to cut the deficit to 10. With Davis playing the final 6:12 of the half but the other two sitting, they lopped another two points off and trailed by 8, 55-47, at the break.

    Rookie Randy Foye is leading the team in scoring and assists, and rookie Craig Smith is third in scoring and second in rebounds, but Mike James and Mark Blount once again take the floor to start the third quarter. This time Wittman is a whole two seconds faster in giving James and Blount the simultaneous hook after 8:26 and deficit bumped from 8 to 14. When McCants comes in for Davis 1:26 later, the margin is 18 points.

    At the third quarter buzzer, Minnesota is down 20, 80-60. James, Blount, and Davis are a combined 4-20 FG. They collectively have grabbed 2, count ’em, 2 rebounds in a combined 60 minutes and 31 seconds of play. They have doled out 4 assists and committed 5 turnovers. Individually, Bount has 4 points, 1 rebound and 1 assist and is a -15 in 16:54 of play. James has zero points, 1 rebound, 1 assists, and 2 turnovers and is likewise -15 in 16:54 of play. Davis has 7 points, on 2-10 FG, zero rebounds, 2 assists and 3 turnovers and is -21 in 26:43 of play. And none of them played defense worth a damn.

    Meanwhile, Wittman does not play a group I only half-jokingly refer to as the Fab Five, a lineup that statistics reveal to be their best unit: Garnett-Jaric-Foye-McCants-Smith. It includes a superstar who is trying to figure out whether or not he wants to exercise his opt out close at the end of next year, a hungry ‘tweener signed through 2011, and the team’s top three drafts picks from the past two years. Now, truth be told, this unit did not play well together in very limited time during Sunday’s win in Orlando. But that isn’t why Wittman has watched his sorry excuse for a team half-ass its way to a 84-60 deficit with 10:58 left to go in the game–premature garbage time–and *then* decide to play the quintet. No, he’s either purposefully tanking with vets or he’s afraid of standing up to them by appropriately penalizing their lack of effort and absence of pride.

    By the way, the Fab Five immediately went on a 15-4 tear over the next 3: 38 to cut the margin to 13 with 7:20 to play. Cavs coach Mike Brown was nervous enough to reinsert starters Larry Hughes and Z Ilgauskas into the game (and no, he wasn’t totally played scrubs during this stretch–LeBron was in the entire time).

    2. More Verbatim Posturing

    After the game, Wittman said, “They just kicked our rear ends on the boards. There is no other way to put it.” But does anyone expect him to start Madsen, or, god forbid, Smith, instead of the 7-foot Blount next game?

    “Kevin can’t get every rebound. Our guards have to get involved too; instead they stand and watch,” Wittman continued. But does anyone expect him to start Foye, who outrebounded James, or McCants, who outrebounded Davis in five fewer minutes?

    “We had no alertness. That’s what it boiled down to. We didn’t have that sense of urgency we had in Orlando. It is like we were two different teams,” Wittman said. Well, Ricky Davis was the best player on the court in Orlando, going off for 36 points. Is Wittman perplexed or surprised that Davis followed that up with this turd of a game? Does he not know at this late juncture that turning the ballclubs he plays for into “two different teams” is a Ricky Davis specialty?

    When I asked him what he was trying to accomplish and what the meaning of these final games of the season would be, Wittman replied, “I’m trying to lay the foundation of how we’re going to play next year…and it’s not one guy dribbling the ball 11 times, 13 times…We’ve laying the groundwork of how we have to play and they are showing me who wants to play that way and who doesn’t; who can be counted on in tough times when we do get into the playoffs, and who can’t.”

    So if the Boston Bobbsey Twins of Davis and Blount, along with 13-dribbler Mike James are still with the team next year–let alone making any kind of contribution to it–we’ll know this is just more meaningless posturing from the hapless head coach. Meanwhile, the franchise will continue to give you back the stub on your full-priced ticket for the five belly-flops remaining on the Wolves’ home schedule.

    3. And Two More Bronx Cheers

    Although he certainly looked good by comparison and put forth a mostly admirable effort, Kevin Garnett was also frequently abused on backdoor cuts, baseline maneuvers, and muscular tip-ins from Drew Gooden and company as the Cavs outscored Minnesota 40-28 in the paint.

    Last and probably least, Wittman has decided that of all the players on the roster, Trenton Hassell is the most deserving scapegoat for the team’s month-long doldrums. Yes, Hassell has had a pretty lousy stretch of play recently. But why he has played a grand total of 6:50 over the past 11 quarters while the BoTwins and 13 bounces continue to get regular burn probably says more about Wittman and the braintrust than it does about Hassell.

  • Free Hot Doug!

    hotdoug.jpg

    The Chicago City Council isn’t mucking around, people.

    Doug Sohn (the sausage King of Chicago?) is the first to feel their wrath. The man behind Hot Doug’s … The Sausage Superstore and Encased Meat Emporium … has been fined for selling hot dogs laced with foie gras.

    The fine for taking a stand against The Man: $250.

  • Game Two

    I’m using some new-fangled technology to write this swill live from the Dome. I’m pretending to be a real writer, in other words.

    Some sort of big white creature –it appeared to be a dog, with a Target logo on its chest– threw out the first pitch. I guess I wasn’t aware that Target had a mascot, but I’m officially on record as being opposed to the idea of any sort of anthropomorphized creature, no matter how cuddly (or padded with corporate cash), throwing a baseball.

    Boof rolled through the first inning in impressive fashion, striking out two and throwing just eleven pitches, but he started to struggle with his control in the second, and gave up a couple runs in the third on a Melvin Mora home run, and an RBI single by Aubrey Huff. He had 81 pitches through four, despite which the Baltimore hitters inexplicably came out hacking in the fifth, and were retired on six pitches. They didn’t fare much better in the sixth, going down 1-2-3.

    That was it for Boof: six innings pitched, three hits, two runs, three walks, six strikouts, a home run, and a 2-2 game to turn over to the bullpen. I think the Twins would take that from any one of their starters every night of the week.

    [This from the scoreboard between innings: “Johnson Brothers: Proud Sponsors of the Foul Pole.”

    Okey dokey.]

    Baltimore starter Daniel Cabrera was 2-0 with a 2.13 in two starts against the Twins last year, and entering tonight’s game was 5-1 with a 3.25 ERA in seven career starts against Minnesota. This is a guy who is 31-31 (4.75) overall. He was pretty damn effective again tonight, but the Twins kept chipping away and finally went up 3-2 on Jason Bartlett’s 7th-inning RBI single, scoring pinch runner Jason Tyner (in the final innings of the game Minnesota’s seven, eight, and nine hitters were all Jasons), who had just nabbed second –one of five Minnesota stolen bases on the night.

    At which point I said to myself: Game over, I’d say.

    Game over. Neshek gets the win, Nathan notches his second save in as many games.

    See you tomorrow night.

  • The CIA at Billy Mitchell

    Interesting event the other night at William Mitchell. A panel discussion titled, “A Strange Bond: The CIA and the Cinema”, with two ex-CIA guys, the CIA’s current acting chief counsel, (he’ll soon have a formal confirmation hearing), uber-author, Mark Bowden, (“Blackhawk Down”, “Killing Pablo”, “Guests of the Ayatollah”) and Star Tribune film critic, Colin Covert.

    The tone of the event, which filled Billy Mitchell’s auditorium, was one of fraternal bonhomie more than any searing examination of the CIA’s role in Iraq or other foreign adventure. Along with enjoying the sight of a newspaper guy more than holding his own among such a rarefied crowd, when it was over there was an opportunity to ask the CIA types for their assessment of the work of Seymour Hersh.

    Hersh has been doing some of the best work of his long career digging out the “hows” of the manipulated intelligence that validated the Bush administration’s targeting of Saddam Hussein. His October 2003 article, “The Stovepipe”, remains, to my thinking, the most illuminative explanation so far of how the deal went down.

    (Inside journalism, it is also worth noting that Hersh, whose stories out of he CIA and the Pentagon are dense with anonymous, unidentified sources — the sort of thing that would never pass muster at either local daily — has fared quite well under the test of time.)

    As the panel broke up, I asked John Rizzo, the dapper, soon to be CIA chief counsel, and a lifelong CIA man, what he thought of Hersh’s work? Certainly if Hersh had blundered anywhere a legal guy/company guy like Rizzo would both know about it and be only too happy to set the record straight.

    “Overall quite good,” was his capsule review. “It seems to me he is returning to the same sources over and over again. I have a problem with that, in that not everyone at CIA is as unhappy as his sources seem to be. But in general, good.”

    There was no, “But Hersh really screwed up on … .”

    One of Rizzo’s panel-mates was Paul Kelbaugh, a retired CIA chief legal counsel. “Pretty impressive,” was his take.

    Both men were at CIA during the term of George Tenet, the Clinton-appointee/Bush holdover who fairly or not has been tarred with
    CIA failures both in the period prior to 9-11 and then again with the whole weapons of mass destruction fiasco. Surprisingly, for a guy the Bush administration has maneuvered to look like a loser, both Rizzo and Kelbaugh speak highly of Tenet, Kelbaugh in particular. A terrific manager. Worked hard and spent the time to know his people as people. Regularly interacted with the staff, etc.

    Based on the work of Bob Woodward, Tenet’s obituary will undoubtably include the phrase, “slam dunk”, which is how Woodward describes Tenet assuring George W. Bush about the existence of WMD in Iraq.

    In his (excellent) book, “The One Percent Solution”, Ron Suskind paints a rather more sympathetic picture of both Tenet and the “slam dunk” comment. In fact, Suskind treats Tenet so sympathetically — echoing some of what Rizzo and Kelbaugh say — it is often presumed that Tenet was a primary source.

    Not so, says Rizzo, who ought to know. “It wasn’t Tenet.” He says Suskind approached the CIA for permission to interview several people, and, as Rizzo describes it, “had possession of some sensitive information”, which he used to bargain for the people he wanted to talk to. But not Tenet, according to Rizzo.

    In fact, Tenet’s own book on his CIA years, under Clinton pre-9/11, and under Bush pre- and post-Iraq will soon be published. As chief counsel Rizzo had to give it the security once-over.

    “Quite the read,” he said with a thin smile that could almost be read as contented. “Quite a read.”

    As I say, Colin Covert, the Strib’s film critic played well with the panel as they talked the CIA image in the movies. In fact, Covert got off the best line of the night when the panel’s moderator A. John Radsan, a former assistant counsel at the CIA and now an associate prof at Billy Mitchell, asked Covert if he had a question he’d like to ask anyone else on the panel.

    Covert paused. Hmmm. Hollywood. The CIA. Together. “If you think of Hollywood working with the CIA as a pact with the devil,” he asked, “which one is the devil?”

    Big laugh.

    A calendar note: On April 17, Kerri Miller of MPR will moderate a panel on, “Islam and the West”. It will include Seyyed Hossein Nasr, professor of Islamic Studies at George Washington University. If his name is familiar, it may be because of recent glowing reviews for the book, “The Shia Revival”, written by his son, Vali Nasr.

    These panels are free, but you must “register” to attend.

  • Imagine That

    This just seems so wrong on so many different levels.

    I mean, seriously, what the hell?

  • Banned Music, Banned Books, and Band Favorites

    FILM
    Spring Passions

    RYTHM813.jpgBack in 1913, Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring caused riots at its premiere. Almost a century later, directors Thomas Grube and Enrique Sanchez Lansch use Stravinsky’s masterpiece as the catalyst for an educational project involving 250 Berlin children representing 25 nations. The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, under Sir Simon Rattle, ventured out of its ivory tower in order to transform these 250 youngsters — none of whom had ever anything to do with classical music or dance — into a ballet troupe. Tasked with motivating the youth and developing their artistic skills, British choreographer Royston Muldoon helped the disenfranchised teens find their creative centers and unleash a potential they never knew they had. Meanwhile, veteran filmmakers, Grube and Sanchez Lansch got it all on film. Rhythm Is It! provides a thrilling mix of coming-of-age tale, performance film, and music video, culminating with their final performance in an old bus depot before 3,000 spectators. It’s not often we get to see something like this, so don’t miss it.

    7:15 p.m., Oak Street Cinema, 309 Oak St. SE, Minneapolis, $8 (seniors $6, students & members $5).

    FILM
    A Hollywood Musical Favorite

    BANDWAGON7.jpgIf you’re big on old-fashioned Broadway musicals, you really can’t pass this one up. With lively musical scores and witty dialogue, The Band Wagon, directed by Vincent Minnelli, is one of Hollywood’s finest musicals. British musical star Jack Buchanan plays a flamboyant, self-absorbed producer/director, Jeffrey Cordova (great name choice!), who transforms a lighthearted pop musical into a serious play about a modern Faust. The film is dominated by musical numbers, scored by Howard Dietz and Arthur Schwartz, including: Dancing in the Dark, That’s Entertainment, By Myself, and I guess I’ll Have to Change My Plans. The climax — a jazz-dance, film noir, dream sequence features Cyd Charisse as a femme fatale in a smoky barroom and Fred Astaire as the noirlike detective dancing a sexually choreographed number. While it does seem a little out of place within the context of the film, it’s certainly worth a watch.

    7:10 p.m., Heights Theater, 3951 Central Ave. NE, Columbia Heights, 763-788-9079, $8 (seniors $5, student $7).

    MUSIC
    Post Apocalyptic Vaudeville with a Socio-Political Tongue

    humanwine1.jpgWhen it comes to putting on a full show, Humanwine has it down to a science of sorts. More than just musicians, they set up a whole scenario in a fictional land called Vinland. Each song is then presented as a sort of mini-movie-soundtrack with plot twists, conflict, and resolution. While this band is typically classified as alternative punk rock, don’t let that dissuade you from enjoying their show. Yes, they certainly have the anger and wit of classic punk rock bands, but their vaudevillian presence, haunting melodies and diverse instrumentation — including layers of glock, accordion, trumpet, mandolin and piano — come together to create a sound more typical of gypsy music, with a modern punk twist. While some of their angry lyrics are a bit on the weak side, singer Holly Brewer has a fascinating voice. And the general story of mindless cogs working under a totalitarian ruler, is certainly something to which many of us can somehow relate. Humanwine was voted Best New Act at the 2006 Boston Music Awards and in the Boston Phoenix/WFNX Best Music Poll 2006.

    9.30 p.m. (doors at 8 p.m.), 7th Street Entry, 29 N. 7th St., Minneapolis, 612-332-1775$9.50.

    Listen to Humanwine.

    LECTURE
    Cesar Vallejo Translated

    ClaYTON.jpgThis evening, author and poet Clayton Eshleman will be discussing his new book, Complete Poems of Cesar Vallejo — a true representation of his life’s work in translation. The bilingual volume features Vallejo’s complete works, as well as Eshleman’s long relationship with Vallejo’s poetry, extensive notes on the translation, and a foreword by Mario Vargas Llosa. Vargas Llosa writes in his foreword: “Only the dauntless perseverance and the love with which the translator has dedicated so many years of his life to this task can explain why the English version conveys, in all its boldness and vigor, the unmistakable voice of Cesar Vallejo.” Eshleman is a National Book Award winner for a previous translation of Vallejo’s poetry, and was a finalist for the 2006 PEN Award for Poetry in Translation for the collection Conductors of the Pit (translations of Neruda, Vallejo, Artaud, Cesaire, Holan, Breton, Radnoti and others). At this evening’s event, Eshleman will also read from his latest collections of poetry: An Alchemist with One Eye on Fire, and Reciprocal Distillations.

    7 p.m., Magers & Quinn Booksellers, 3038 Hennepin Ave S., 612-822-4611, Free.

    THEATER
    Banned Book Theater

    HUCK FINN4.jpgWith all the recent talk about removing Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from local high school reading lists, perhaps it’s time for us to show some support for the ageless classic by going to see the Children’s Theater production of Huck Finn this week, before its Saturday close date. For those of you concerned with the racial slurs in the original text, don’t let that stop you; the stage adaptation focuses in the action rather than on the full social context of Twain’s work. One might call that lacking in substance — counterproductive to its parody of racism — but after all, it’s still a great story.

    Facts: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was banned from the Concord Public Library in 1885, the year of its publication. It ranks number five in the American Library Association’s list of the most frequently challenged books of the 1990s. Mark Twain was heavily involved in politics and culture, and even served as vice-president of the Anti-Imperialist League.

    7 p.m., Children’s Theater Company, 2400 Third Ave. S., Minneapolis, 612-874-0400, $24-$31.