One hundred and seventy-one years ago, James Butler "Wild Bill" Hickok was born in Troy Grove, Illinois. Perhaps this is a good day to rent the full first season of Deadwood and veg out in front of a screen. It’s hardly the most sociable way to spend your time (unless you make a party out of it), but damn… it’s good!
Of course, you could always just go to Bill’s Gun Shop & Range and fire a few rounds from a Colt revolver (or two).
BOOKS & AUTHORS
Michael Ondaatje
OK, I confess: I’ve never actually read The English Patient; I only saw the movie — and even then only after months of resistance. (I didn’t like it, of course. How can anyone like something that’s supposed to be that good?) The truth is, I never gave Michael Ondaatje a fair shake until a random (and terribly good looking) man wondered into a bar in Puerto Rico and handed me a copy of Coming Through Slaughter. I read that one, of course. (Don’t you have to read a book given to you a random man in a bar?) And, bingbamboom, what a read! Methodically splattering his tales in a realm between prose and poetry, Ondaatje speaks in a language that’s all his own, but that inevitably reverberates with all that is not — and all that is great: the heat-soaked world of Tennessee Williams, the non-linear poetry of James Joyce, the romantic exoticism of Lord Byron. The man is brilliant. And tonight he’s here to share his brilliance with us as part of the Talking Volumes series at the Fitz. Ondaatje, who was born in Sri Lanka and now lives outside Toronto, will discuss his latest novel, Divisadero, in which an act of violence sends us spinning from the past to the present, and from the casinos of Nevada to the French countryside. Sounds like quintessential Ondaatje to me.
7 p.m., Fitzgerald Theater, 10 E. Exchange St., St. Paul; 651-290-1221; $15.
MUSIC
George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic
"Funk is fun," says grandmaster of funk George Clinton. "It’s a state of mind; but it’s also all the ramifications of that state of mind." Let the rainbow-dreaded
ringleader of Parliament-Funkadelic guide your state of mind tonight at First Avenue. You’ll have to deal with the ramifications on your own.
8 p.m., First Avenue, 701 First Avenue North, Minneapolis; 612-338-8388; $25.
And if you happen to be at First Avenue (or even if you’re not), be sure to poke your head into the 7th Street Entry to catch Jason Trachtenburg. I’m not sure what he’s up to these days, but if he’s still reaching out (even just a little) into the realms of the Trachtenburg Family Sideshow Players, then he’ll definitely be worth a gander.
Also tonight, Motion City Soundtrack returns home for a gig at Myth.
THEATER & PERFORMANCE
Spamalot Is Back
Hands down, this retelling of the ’75 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: Last summer’s St. Paul production sold out completely. —Christy DeSmith
7:30 p.m., Orpheum Theater, 910 Hennepin Ave; 651-989-5151; $29-$79.
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