MUSIC
Jazz Fusion Virtuosos
There is something to be said for the casual air with which a seasoned group of already-accomplished musicians can address their art. Without the need for commercial success (which they have already attained), they can simply play out of love for the art. Seldom is this so apparent as with Steve Smith and Vital Information. Now in their 24th year, the group has become a jazz-fusion giant — albeit an underrated one.
The group’s founder and drummer, Steve Smith, has played with such greats as Ahmad Jamal, Zakir Hussain, Steps Ahead, Andrea Bocelli, Savage Garden, and even Journey. Yes, this is true — that’s probably why you’ve heard his name — but don’t let that dissuade you. He won Modern Drummer Magazine’s #1 All Around Drummer award five years in a row and was voted one of the Top 25 Drummers of All Time in a recent Modern Drummer readers’ poll.
And the incredible line-up doesn’t stop there. Accompanying Steve Smith are guitarist Frank Gambale (Chick Corea Elektric Band), keyboardist Tom Coster (Santana), and bassist Baron Browne (Jean-Luc Ponty/Billy Cobham). These virtuosos transcend bands like Weather Report with their wide array of rhythms and styles and their Indian and European influences. If you like fusion or electric jazz, this show is a must see.
7 p.m. and 9 p.m. today and tomorrow, Dakota Jazz Club and Restaurant, 1010 Nicollet, Minneapolis, 612-332-1010, $30 and $20.
Listen to Steve Smith and Vital Information
MUSIC
Melody-Tinged Hardcore
Looking for something a little harder? A couple decades ago, some of us were out there doing stage dives and slam dancing to the best of 80’s punk rock, and while the trend died down a bit after a few backs breaking on bottles, it is alive and well today. Want to give it another try? Two hardcore punk bands — It Dies Today (actually I.T. — information technology — Dies Today) from Buffalo, NY, and Canada’s own Comeback Kid — are headlining at Station 4 tonight. While neither of these bands is actually doing anything groundbreaking, per se, they certainly execute their genre flawlessly. Besides, you have to give It Dies Today kudos for their epic CD titles based on Dante’s Divine Comedy and Homer’s Odyssey.
5 p.m., Station 4, 201 East 4th Street, Saint Paul, 651-298-0173, $12-$14.
Listen to It Dies Today
Listen to Comeback Kid
THEATER
Choose Your Own Adventure in Mating
Tonight may be your last chance to experience the long-acclaimed Adventures In Mating, with Joseph Scrimshaw, Craig Johnson, and Alayne Hopkins. (OK. Let’s be honest here. Chances are there’ll be yet another run sometime in the near future, but today is the final show for a while at least.) Tired of the typical passive theater offering? This interactive romantic comedy might be just what you need. Play the hand of fate on Miranda and Jeremy’s first date. Their narrative contains about 60 different junctures at which you, the audience, determine the next course of action. Will they have red white or white wine? Will she slap him or kiss him? You decide.
8 p.m. (7 p.m. doors), Bryant-Lake Bowl Cabaret Theater, 810 West Lake Street, Minneapolis, 612-825-8949, $12/$10 with a Fringe button or for groups 10 or more.
READINGS
Music in the Summer of Love
Muddy Waters, Coleman Hawkins, Stan Getz, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Pink Floyd, Nick Drake, REM, 10,000 Maniacs, Billy Bragg, Cubanismo, Taj Mahal — these are only a few of the big names that producer Joe Boyd worked with throughout his stellar career. Tonight only, you can hear him read from his autobiography, White Bicycles: Making Music in the 1960s. According to Michael Faber of The Guardian, White Bicycles “captures evanescent history with remarkable clarity (and) has enough of a grasp of larger issues — historical, philosophical, psychological — to be of interest to readers unfamiliar with the records Boyd produced.”
7:30 p.m., The Cedar Cultural Center, 416 Cedar Ave. South, Minneapolis, 612-338-2674, $10.
READINGS
A Fantastical Twist
Not big on autobiographies? Head for the other extreme, and take fiction into the realm of fantasy with local science-fiction writers Hillary Moon Murphy and Jaye Lawrence. As part of Speculations Readings Series, Eric Heideman will be hosting a reading with the two nationally acclaimed authors. Murphy has had stories published in Realms of Fantasy, Tales of the Unanticipated, and New Voices of Science Fiction. She is a member of the writing group Pengames and coordinator of the Twin Cities Speculative Fiction Writers Network, the largest and most active SF writer meet-up in the world. Lawrence’s fiction has appeared in Fantasy & Science Fiction, Minnesota Monthly, and Great River Review. Her story “Kissing Frogs” was a shortlist selection for the 2004 James Tiptree Jr. Award. More recently, she was named as a runner-up for the 2006 Tamarack Award for her story “Aim.”
6:30 p.m., DreamHaven Books, 912 W Lake St, Minneapolis, 612-823-6161.
ART
Stories of Migration
This is your last week to see Unfolding Time: Stories of Migration, a joint exhibit of work by artists Beth Grossman and Alexandra Rozenman. Unfolding Time capture the experiences of immigrants from Russia over a hundred years. While at first, Grossman’s work seems to be nothing more than painted images and text on everyday objects, a full exploration of these images reveals a deeper re-contextualization of stories and re-interpretation of history. Rozenman’s work, while still narrative in form, is far lighter, with a folksy child-like quality. Her brightly colored, fairytale style is reminiscent of Marc Chagall.
And if you like Beth Grossman’s work you can pop on over to the Smith Gallery of Jewish Arts and Culture at The Minneapolis Institute of Arts later this week to see her other exhibit, Our Mother Mary Found — which runs through April. Our Mother Mary Found re-contextualizes the story of Mary by conveying a more pragmatic reality of a woman whose daily labor as a mother and a faithful Jew gave birth to a prophet and nurtured a revolutionary.
7:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., Tychman Shapiro Gallery, Sabes Jewish Community Center, Jay & Rose Phillips Building, 4330 South Cedar Lake Road, Minneapolis, 952-381-3400.
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