Year: 2007

There was a lot of, ahem, visual stimulation at last night’s Collage Fashion Show. But I must admit that after doing the MNfashion Weekend circuit last weekend (not to mention staying tuned to the various global fashion weeks), I find I’m a bit tired of looking at clothes. Sure, the threads looked awfully pretty last night but so too did the fellows (both on and off the runway), and I found myself admiring their beauty.

Here we have two of the male models (smiling and being all-around friendly after the show). Meee-ow.

Below: I often see this guy strutting about the warehouse district. He’s a realtor, from what I understand. He also happened to be the date of one of the editors from Mpls./St. Paul Magazine last night. (jealous much?)

Below: The one on the right is Chris Schauf, frontman for the local band Catchpenny. And his bandmates dress just as well, if you must know. They even have an exclusive deal with the very fabulous Trovata, an Orange County, California-based clothing label.

If you (or a loved one) want to look as polished as those above, then you might consider swinging into Ivy Men’s + Design this Saturday between three and seven p.m. for a DJ-ed shopping event with free beer. Ladies, if you heretofore have been unsuccessful at convincing your bedraggled boyfriend to upgrade his wardrobe, then you might be able to lure him in with free beer.

A couple months ago, I posted a piece about the health benefits of wine — including the information that red wine had been found to have both cancer-enhancing and cancer-preventive effects on breast tumors in women. My hope — quixotic, perhaps — was that it was a wash: the antioxidants in wine would cancel out any damage done by the alcohol.

Well, a cautionary story published this week in the Scotsman and by the Associated Press says that’s just not true. According to a study conducted by the European Institute of Oncology, wine drinkers are just as likely as drinkers of beer and other spirits to be diagnosed with breast cancer. Of more than 70,000 women surveyed during health examinations over a period of 7 years , those who reported drinking wine developed the disease at roughly the same rate as those who said they drank beer or hard liquor. But “light” drinkers (defined as less than one glass per day) and non-drinkers in the study suffered from breast cancer at a much lower rate.

I think this is worth knowing. But note a couple things: first, the study appears to have relied on self-reporting — a notoriously inaccurate way to collect data. (It sounds a lot better to say to one’s doctor, “I have a couple glasses of wine with dinner” than “I knock back three or four rum and Cokes every night.”) Also, I can find no evidence that the wine drinkers in the study were exclusive about what they consumed; did a few of them, maybe, follow those couple of glasses with the rum? Finally, there are other factors to consider, such as the fact that drinkers tend to eat rich food and this was Italy, after all, where smoking is still de rigeur.

But enough rationalizing. It appears to be sadly, horribly true that alcohol promotes estrogen production and estrogen feeds breast tumors. Which is a problem for women prone to cancer — or, for that matter, anyone with a set of breasts. So ladies, if you’re going to drink wine, be careful. Follow a low-fat diet, exercise, try not to eat hormone-laden meat, avoid taking the birth control pill, and DON’T SMOKE. And if you have risk factors beyond your control — such as a genetic predisposition — you might want to limit yourself to one glass a day.

If you must do this, however, please, make it a good one.

BOOKS
Amdromeda Romano-Lax Takes Casals through the Looking Glass

I grew up surrounded with images, sounds, and stories of Pablo Casals. Though you’ll hear that he’s a Spaniard, his mother was in fact from Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. An amazing cellist and a beautiful conductor, Casals spent much of his early years playing for queens and presidents. He lived a most interesting life among the elite, which writer and journalist Amdromeda Romano-Lax set out narrate. As she became engrossed in the story, however, her imagination went wild, resulting in a most interesting novel rather than a nonfiction work. This afternoon, you can hear Romano-Lax talk about her novel, The Spanish Bow, and the man that inspired it. What a man! His Bach’s Cello Suites makes me weep each time I hear them — which is often; and there’s a 1983 Casals Festival lithograph still hanging in my bedroom.

Friday at 2 p.m., University of Minnesota Bookstore, Coffman Memorial Union, 300 Washington Ave. S.E., Minneapolis; 612-626-0559; free.

Tim Brady Explores the Gophers’ Rich History

What’s the obsession with gold in sports? Let’s face it: gold is a horrid color. No matter what color you pair it with — black, blue, green, even maroon — it’s still horrid. Is it the medal reference? Go for the Gold? The enthusiasm behind sports in this country is astounding, as is the amount of money made from it, put into it, and circulating within it. Money is power, my friends. And sports are mighty powerful in, oh, so many ways. Saturday, local author Tim Brady (of The Great Dan Patch and the Remarkable Mr. Savage) invites you to experience over 150 years of rich University of Minnesota sports history. “Gopher Gold delves into the little-known corners of the university’s past to showcase the wealth of talent and ability that this landmark institution has attracted, nurtured, and given back to the world.” Brady will sign copies of his book following the discussion.

Saturday at 2 p.m., University of Minnesota Bookstore, Coffman Memorial Union, 300 Washington Ave. S.E., Minneapolis; 612-626-0559; free.

Top off the Weekend with an Extraordinary Orgasm

Thanks to Girl Friday, we learned of Sunday’s book event: a book chat with Dorian Solot and Marshall Miller, authors of I Heart Female Orgasm: An Extraordinary Orgasm Guide. As Girl Friday points out, the book has yet to receive less than a 5-star rating from any of its reviewers on Amazon. But really, how could it? I mean… an extraordinary orgasm guide? Of course it’s great!

Sunday at 6 p.m., Smitten Kitten, 3010 Lyndale Ave. S., Minneapolis; R.S.V.P. to 612-721-6088.

FILM
Quiet City

Director Aaron Katz’s Quiet City is part of the ever-growing “mumblecore” movement in indie film, a genre that favors disaffected youth who struggle to pay the bills. These films defy summary and star nonprofessional actors who improvise most of their dialog, or, well, mumbles. In Quiet City, a girl gets lost in Brooklyn and meets a young man and together they wander through the sleeping borough, saying almost nothing. Quiet City places demands on the viewers’ attention — a sideways glance, a puff on a cigarette have as much gravity as ten minutes of dialog in a conventional film. Tonight and Sunday, Katz and lead actress Erin Fisher appear to discuss the film, and on Saturday (2 p.m.) you can join them for a director’s roundtable discussion at IFP. –Peter Schilling Jr.

Friday and Sunday at 7:15 and 9:15 p.m., Oak Street Cinema, 309 Oak St., Minneapolis; 612-331-3134, $8 (seniors $6, members/students $5).

THEATER & PERFORMANCE
Jesus Hates Me

Just under a year ago, Wayne Lemon’s latest play, Jesus Hates Me made its world premiere at the Colorado New Play Summit. This weekend Emigrant Theater brings Lemon’s hip play to Minneapolis — directed by founding member Jessica Finney. Expect typical and quirky Texan fare, small-town rural America, a Bible-themed miniature golf course, Jack Daniels bottles, gay ski resorts, and plenty of gut-wrenching laughter.

Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 and 8 p.m., Ritz Theater, 345 13th Ave. N.E., Minneapolis; 612-436-1129; $10.

ART BENEFIT
Art Perchance

If you’ve got a bit of extra cash on hand and you’d like to show your support for the arts, head over to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts tonight for their fourth annual Art Perchance benefit — another great opportunity to eat, drink, and play in the name of art. Enjoy an evening of games, food, and drawings for jury-selected artwork; and feel good about bringing art and culture to children throughout Minnesota — or rather, for bringing them to art and culture. Proceeds from this evening’s event benefit the Friends Transportation Fund, which provides free bus transportation for schoolchildren to visit the MIA for educational tours. Arrive an hour early (6 p.m.) for a pre-party reception.

Friday at 7 p.m., Minneapolis Institute of Art, Target Wing, 2400 Third Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-870-3045; $75 and up.

MUSIC
Rock It to the Bang Bang Boogie

“I said I can’t wait ’til the end of the week / when I’m rappin’ to the rhythm of a groovy beat / and attempt to raise your body heat.” In 1979 I knew every darn word of “Rappers’ Delight.” It’s a mighty long song, but everybody knew it word-for-word. This was the onset of rap, and it was a pretty big deal. Granted, I was living in New York then. You can imagine my surprise at hearing it “passed off” as something new in Minnesota almost a decade later. But hell, better late than never. And now, close to another couple of decades gone by, we can all look back and bask in the greatness of the pioneer rappers, the SugarHill Gang.

Sunday at 9 p.m., Foundation Nightclub, 10 S. Fifth St., Minneapolis; 612-332-3931; $25, VIP $40.

I stopped at Zeno one afternoon last week to meet a friend for a glass of wine. A lot has changed since the new owners took over last year.

When Zeno first opened in late 2003, it had an aggressive “we’re the coolest” culture: thrumming techno music, servers with multiple piercings, and two New York founders who were constantly circulating among the guests and slapping backs but — rumor had it — never paid their bills. But what irked me the most was the inconsistency: wine pours were sometimes five ounces, sometimes nine; the bottles would be freshly opened one time I visited, nearly vinegar the next. There seemed to be no standard.

I’m happy to say that the new and improved Zeno IS. The music has been turned down just a notch; the servers (at least the ones I’ve encountered) are friendly and knowledgeable; the wine menu is a little more refined and pours are a standard 7 ounces. But there is this oddity: Zeno now runs a “bottomless wine glass” special in the afternoons, from 3-7 p.m., serving customers as much wine as they can drink during that four-hour period. The cost is $10 for their bottom-of-the-barrel wines (Glass Mountain and Bella Sera) and $20 for the “premium” wines on their list.

A great deal? Well, yeah, it can be. . . .but that’s exactly the problem, as I see it. In order to make the $20 glass pay, you have to drink the equivalent of three glasses of wine (priced, per glass, at 7-10 dollars) before the dinner hour. Not to mention, you can buy an entire bottle of Glass Mountain Chardonnay retail for about 7 bucks. My friend loved the special because it allowed her to taste (and discard) several different options. And maybe I’m just more fretful than most, but the whole thing made me nervous. A bottomless wine glass at 4 p.m. seems like an invitation to be blotto by 6. Much like those bottomless cups of cheap coffee restaurants used to serve: I can still remember leaving Perkins at 15 with a sour stomach and a nearly deafening caffeine buzz.