Mark Halperin of Time Magazine Shares His Perspective

DISCUSSION
Covering the 2008 Election: Perspective from the
Frontlines

As the Republican National Convention gears up to hit our fair
cities with a conservative onslaught in a couple of weeks, and the election
looms, so come many politically-themed events of all shapes, sizes and colors.
The St. Paul Public Library’s Saint Paul-itics leads the way with a
series of intelligent events designed to educate and inform voters. Tonight’s
edition features Mark Halperin,
editor-at-large and senior political analyst for TIME, who will discuss his work
covering politics, elections and debates for the magazine and TIME.com. This also happens to be home to Halperin’s popular website The
Page, which features the latest political stories, campaign ads, TV
clips, videos and campaign reactions from every news source, along with his own
analysis. Author of The Undecided Voter’s Guide to the Next
President, and co-author of The Way to Win: Taking the White
House in 2008, Halperin will share wisdom, wit and opinons tonight at Metro
State University. Book signing to follow. Free tickets
available online.

7pm, Metro State University Founders Hall, 700 East
7th Street, St. Paul, Free

MUSIC
Rodrigo y Gabriela

Tonight the Ave welcomes Rodrigo Sánchez and Gabriela Quintero aka
Rodrigo y Gabriela – a
charmingly novel duo from Mexico who are famous for playing covers of heavy metal
songs on acoustic guitars. Sound cheesey? Well, maybe a little, but the fact
that they are actually good, really
good, helps immensely. An impressive cover band doesn’t just mimic a
familiar song, they spin it into something completely unexpected. Not unlike one
of my favorite loungey cover acts Nouvelle Vauge, Rodrigo y
Gabriela apply their distinct style to music they love. Imagine Metallica’s Orion adapted into a dueling of nimble finger picking, or
an acoustic version of Stairway to Heaven infused
with latin pizzaz – and you have Rodrigo y Gabriela. The duo also plays
original material that will knock your socks off, and tonight’s show will definitely do just that.

7:30pm, First Avenue, 701 1st Avenue N, Minneapolis, $28 Adv, $30 Door

THEATER
Little House on the Prairie

In a Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants-kind of
way, Little House is a female
force. The musical’s creative crew is comprised entirely of women. And among the
cast, the Ingalls ladies prove a close bunch, if often due to necessity of
keeping warm on the bitter plain. That’s not to say Little House
doesn’t offer up something for those men in the audience. Scenes showcasing
pioneers’ hardships will resonate with any man balancing the lure of adventure
with responsibilities of family and home life. Charles "Pa" Ingalls is a
proud man seeking not fortune, but sustenance. Steve Blanchard, as Charles,
raises his fist and curses the sky more than once. But he is the foundation upon
which the family can rest it’s weary, frontier blues; with a pluck of his
fiddle, the group is enlivened and ready to face yet another disaster. The true
backbone of the family, what Pa says, goes. -Jill
Yablonski

Read the full review HERE.

While tickets aren’t available for tonight, I have it on good
authority that there are some tix still out
there for future performances – but you better step to it, because they
definitely won’t last long!

Times Vary, Guthrie Theater, 818 2nd Avenue S, Downtown Minneapolis