The Rake Magazine

Author: Cristina Córdova

  • St. Paul Public Libraries Forsaketh the Sabbath

    OK, let me see if I have this right. You published an article about the director of the St. Paul Public Library, and you made some errors, which you corrected and for which you apologized [Letters, October]. You could not fact-check the article, you say, because Minneapolis doesn’t have a reference librarian available on Sunday or Monday. Such a problem, and you would have my sympathy, but …

    On Sunday, from 1 to 5 p.m., you might have found answers at St. Paul Central, Highland Park, Rondo Community, St. Anthony, or Sun Ray. On Monday, various hours, all of the St. Paul branches, and the Central library, are open.

    If St. Paul is a problem for some reason, you could try the Ramsey County system, where all branches are open on Monday and several on Sunday.

    If St. Paul and Ramsey County give you the heebie-jeebies, you could try Hennepin, where the Ridgedale library is open on Sunday and all branches are open on Monday.

    I grant you, you might not find a bona fide reference librarian at each of these libraries at any given time, but a few phone calls could probably have tracked one down.

    I love the Minneapolis Central Library, but limiting yourself to Minneapolis for library services is just that: limiting.

    Editor’s note: Ellen, we’re surprised you didn’t mention all the other excuses we proffered for our complete lack of fact-checking that article. We also said the sun was in our eyes. If you really wanted to be helpful, you could have also offered us a list of stores that sell hats.

    Ellen McEvoy, St. Paul
    Letter

  • The Great White Wipeout

    Shame on you; the Twin Cities has a kaleidoscope of nationalities, races, and ethnic backgrounds [“What Do You Do?” October]. Yet you all chose to represent only a single minority in your profiles of real-world work. Seriously?

    Angelica Baldwin, Minneapolis
    Letter

  • Unusual Eulogy for a Local

    I read your blurb in the October issue about Dee Dee Bridgewater playing a rare two nights at the Dakota to support her new disk, Red Earth. Dee Dee dedicated this CD to her U.S. sound engineer, Minnesota native James “Hatter” Hatz. A beautiful eulogy for him is printed on the back page of the cover art. Hatter died at the age of forty-four, from cancer. His friends and family remain in the Twin Cities area. Hatter was a well-respected sound man for many, many local bands. He may well be one of the reasons we here in Minnesota are lucky enough to attract a performer of Ms. Bridgewater’s caliber. Besides our obvious hipness. Just thought you’d want to know.

    Tristan Beckman, Minneapolis
    Letter of the Month

  • Boston

    Ok, so we’re not in a foriegn country, but I still think we’re fun. This is my teammates and I at the Head of the Charles Regatta in Boston. We row for the Minneapolis Rowing Club. In boston we raced in the Club 8 event (that would mean 60+ft boats, 8 rowers, one coxswain). Sadly we placed 19th this year after being top 10 the previous 2 years. My Oar broke within the first 500m of the race (it’s a 5000m race) so it was a frustrating end to the season. But making The Rake would help make up for that.

    Row 1: Alex Guerrieri (Coxswain)
    Row 2: our boat – City of Lakes
    Row 3: Marisa Bargsten, Me (Alyssa Kunau) holding the Rake, Jill Frank, Heather Maenke
    Row 4: Steph Hauge, Jess Greenstein, Rochelle Winn, Tara Mucha

    Thanks!
    I love the magazine!

    Alyssa

    Alyssa Kunau
    Red Handed

  • England

    After a few day slogging through the mud at the Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts (near Shepton Mallet, Somerset County, England), we needed a good, strong Rake.

    Scott Schiefelbein, Naomi Oshiro and daughter, Miki Oshiro Schiefelbein (all of Minneapolis) were enjoying the mud at Glasto and took a break from the music for a little reading.

    Scott Schiefelbein, Minneapolis
    Red Handed

  • Flaunting With the Pharaohs

    Mark Mahon of Minneapolis, who visited the ancient Karnak Temple on a recent vacation in Egypt, sent this dispatch: “The core of Karnak—the temple of Amun, the king of the gods—has 134 pillars built by Ramses II. Subsequent pharaohs built their own vainglorious annexes, shrines, and temples over a 1,300-year period. Ego trips abounded in pharaonic Egypt.” Here, Mahon grandstands before the gods with his own offering of magnificence: the May 2007 issue of The Rake.

  • Celebrity Match Game

  • Nothing Is Certain or Unchangeable

    READINGS
    True Lies

    1007flimflam.jpgAs a former editor here, Jennifer Vogel penned some excellent Rake stories: on the emptying of North Dakota, on the necessity of libraries, on walking around a city that’s not exactly pedestrian-friendly. But none was as, uh, memorable as her own memoir, Flim-Flam Man, a book about life with a father who was also a con artist and counterfeiter on the lam from the FBI. While the book was well-received on its own, it was also seized upon by an impressive team of Hollywood players: director/screenwriter Jez Butterworth (The Birthday Girl) and producer Bill Horberg (Cold Mountain, The Talented Mr. Ripley). Tonight they’ll be joined by Vogel and some local actors at the Guthrie for a Screenwriter’s Workshop reading of Butterworth’s script. No word yet on whether the shooting of the movie will go local, too … –Julie Caniglia

    7:30 p.m., Guthrie Theater, 818 S. Second St., Minneapolis; 612-377-2224; $10.

    MUSIC
    Dee Dee Bridgewater

    1007bridgewater.jpgBridgewater won a Tony for her role in The Wiz, won a Grammy for an Ella Fitzgerald tribute, had early-career dabbles in fusion jazz and R & B; more recently, she recorded a disk dedicated to Kurt Weill, and another of Parisian café music sung completely in French. But her latest, Red Earth, ranks with Dear Ella as her best yet, featuring a seamlessly buoyant mélange of American jazz and African pop from Mali. She’s bringing over seven African musicians for a mere two weeks to supplement her marvelous trio (which includes ace Nuyorican pianist Edsel Gomez) and the Dakota has bagged two of those precious nights. –Britt Robson

    7 & 9:30 p.m., Dakota Jazz Club & Restaurant, 1010 Nicollet Ave., Minneapolis; 612-332-1010; $60 & $45.

    Humanboy Dons a Girlish Charm

    1007humanboy.jpgIf you’re looking for an agreeable local show this evening, with a slightly more manageable cover charge, I recommend the Humanboy show at the Varsity. Brie Harthun lends her sweet Bjork-influenced vocals to the edgy folk guitar of Ben Berg and Geoff Fischbein. Toss in a touch of synth, and you’ve got Humanboy: “At times traditional, radical, and both; always fresh and, yes – unexpected.” They’ll be headlining tonight, which unfortunately means they don’t go on until 11 p.m., but if you like traditional acoustic folk (with a light jazzy edge or a poppy air) you’ll enjoy the music of Molly Dean and Ari Herstand before the main act. This should be an excellent show, with Humanboy playing new songs, as well as ones from their CD.

    9 p.m., Varsity Theater, 1308 4th St. S.E., Minneapolis; 612-604-0222; $8.

    SOCIAL POLITICS
    The Politics of Possibility

    1007envirodead.jpgYou could actually make it a whole evening at the Varsity tonight. Before the musical extravaganza begins, Policy and a Pint will be hosting “The Death of Environmentalism” with Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger, authors (or should I say creators) of Break Through. Tired of the same old griping, the cynicism and unbudgingly negative perspective with no solutions? This might be for you. Nordhaus and Shellenberger offer “a new politics for a new century.” And they might have something here worth pondering.

    5:30 p.m., Varsity Theater, 1308 4th St. S.E., Minneapolis; 612-604-0222; $10 (students $5).

    BOOKS & AUTHORS
    Patchett Sings Another Bel Canto

    1007pratchett.jpgWhen a writer as accomplished as Ann Patchett has another book published, we must all stop and listen. Perhaps read. And maybe, if we’re lucky, we won’t be disappointed. This doesn’t happen too often, but if an Orange Prize-winning, Pen/Faulkner Award-winning author can’t do it, then by dogs who can? Patchett’s latest and fifth novel, Run — which she will be discussing this evening — has already been compared to her best-selling Bel Canto. Following a father’s efforts to protect his children over a one-day period, Patchett manages to weave together a story about shared humanity. Take in her presentation and enjoy the musical offerings of the Kelly Rossum Quartet. (I have to admit I still love this sound coming from a man with a mohawk.)

    7 p.m., Fitzgerald Theater, 10 E. Exchange St., St. Paul; 651-290-1200; $15.

  • What Side of the Brain Do You Use Most?

    Take this simple test in Australia’s Herald Sun.

  • Why Do We Even Listen to Her?

    Finally, people are beginning to question why Ann Coulter gets invited to television.