Author: Cristina Córdova

For whatever reason, there seems to be an unusually broad array of worthy events this evening. Are we gearing up for a long winter, or simply trying to cram everything in before we finally admit we’re in for the long haul?

THEATER LECTURE
Meet the Artist: Stacia Rice

If you’re able to sneak away for a lunchtime event, head over to Barnes & Nobles in downtown Minneapolis to hear local actress Stacia Rice and Guthrie dramaturg Carla Steen discuss the Guthrie’s stage adaptation of Charlotte Brontë’s classic novel Jane Eyre. (See our review of the Guthrie’s performance here — the second item.) Rice will talk about her background in the Twin Cities theater community and share readings from the Alan Stanford adaptation, with Steen offering further insight into the stage translation. A brief question and answer session will follow.

12 p.m., Downtown Barnes & Noble, 801 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis; 612-371-4443.

BOOKS & AUTHORS
Weimar Germany — Land of Cultural Creativity

Also during the afternoon, University of Minnesota Professor of History Eric Weitz will discuss his latest book, Weimar Germany: Promise and Tragedy, in which he illustrates “how Germans rose from the defeat of World War I and the turbulence of revolution to develop Berlin into the world capital of avant-garde art, modernity, cultural creativity, model working conditions and social benefits.” Interested in the sleepless metropolis of 1920s Berlin? This is definitely the place to go. Weitz is a fascinating well of knowledge. Watch him in this 2006 video on the Armenian Genocide.

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

That’s not it for books and authors today. George Clayton Johnson, co-author of Logan’s Run and Ocean’s Eleven, will be signing books this evening (6 p.m.) at Dreamhaven Books. And the Hopkins Center for the Arts Pen Pals season kicks off this evening (7:30 p.m.) with author Kaye Gibbons.

COMICS & AUTHORS
King-Cat Pounces on Minneapolis

John Porcellino began self-publishing comics in 1982, and introduced King-Cat Comics and Stories seven years later, when he was only 20 years old. Almost two decades later, Porcellino has come a long way from the photocopied, handmade comics with which he started. But let’s not belittle the original endeavor. Despite his success, Porcellino has remained true to his punk-rock ‘zine origins, and the man is almost singlehandedly responsible for the creation of La Mano Press, which materialized out of nowhere to publish Diary Of A Mosquito Abatement Man. Porcellino has been busy lately: “a huge, 400-page compendium of stuff from the first 50 issues of King-Cat was released a few months ago from the folks at Drawn & Quarterly; he’s got a strip in the new Chris Ware-edited Best American Comics Of 2007 book from Houghton Mifflin; and his new biography of Henry David Thoreau will be published by Hyperion in 2008.” Somehow, he has managed to find the time for a little mini-tour, and rumor has it he’s going to have a new King-Cat with him. Could we be so lucky? Tonight’s presentation will begin with a slide-show, Q&A, and signing. Then he and fellow comic writer Zak Sally will sit and play their guitars and sing for you a while. According to Sally, they’ll likely do “a Fleetwood Mac song and a Beat Happening song and probably not a Husker Du song, even though we maybe should.”

6 p.m., Big Brain Comics, 1027 Washington Avenue S., Minneapolis; 612-338-4390.

MUSIC
Scott Yoo Conducts Beethoven’s 4th

Over the course of the next few days, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra will perform a program of Coleman, Strauss, and Beethoven at several of its neighborhood venues — Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church tonight, Wooddale Church tomorrow night, and Saint Paul’s United Church of Christ on Saturday evening. Enjoy the regenerative energy of Coleman’s Long Ago This Radiant Day, the overwhelming hopelessness of Strauss’s Metamorphosen for 23 Solo Strings, and the warm consolation of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 4 in B-flat.

8 p.m., Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church, 12650 Johnny Cake Ridge Road, Apple Valley; 952-432-6351 (SPCO: 651-292-3239); $10-$25.

THEATER & PERFORMANCE
3 Parts Dead

The Old Testament’s most difficult book, the Book of Job, planted the seed of this new play. From the “unknowable nature of God” therein, which local playwright Alan Berks described as “one of the scariest things I can think of,” a new ghost story was born. Berks (who wrote the 2006 Fringe Festival hit, How To Cheat) also drew from more contemporary influences, such as the 1999 horror flick The Sixth Sense. But what makes this production doubly interesting is his collaboration with The Burning House Group. This foursome of physical performers is more often seen doing slapstick and nonlinear forms of movement theater. In this instance, both parties vow to combine old-fashioned narrative with clowning and choreography to create, from scratch, a frightful tale of a house with a mysterious, potentially haunted past. –Christy DeSmith

Minneapolis Theater Garage, 711 W. Franklin Ave., Minneapolis; 612-623-9396.

Also opening tonight (8 p.m.), at Sabes JCC, is the 1992 Obie Award-winning play by Donald Marguilies, Sight Unseen, a provocative and equally amusing story of a highly successful American mega-artist who embarks on a quest for the true meaning of his work and identity as a Jew.

AUDITIONS
Ready to Rock!

Have you always dreamed of being a rock star, but somehow life kept getting in the way? Ready to Rock! wants to give you a second chance “to be the rock star you know you are!” I’m not a big fan of reality TV… (Actually, that’s a lie. I’m totally hooked, appalled, and mortified.) But a show with Lizz Winstead behind it is nothing to scoff at or ignore. Minnesota-born and probably one of the best political satirists out there today, Winstead has a slew of admirable credits to her name, not the least of which is co-creating The Daily Show. That’s right, the woman responsible for the original Daily Show is right here in town this evening, looking to cast a new music-oriented show for Fuse music television. (Actually, she’s in town casting two shows, but I’ll tell you about the other one later this week.) Ready 2 Rock is looking for the kind of guys we all know — over 40, probably settled into a comfortable job, but never got over having to give up the dream of being a rock star. Sound familiar? Why not give it a try? Still unsure? Watch this video: Lizz describes for us what she’s looking for.

5 p.m., Java Jack’s Coffee Shop, 818 W 46th St., Minneapolis; 612-825-2183.

MUSIC
Spoon Mixes It Up

The best pop-rock music is also the most difficult to explain. It saunters and bolts and trots along with the occasional dropkick, stub-toe, or click of the heels, instantly recognizable in its rhythms and attitudes, yet feeling so fresh it makes you giddy. After turning out a handful of very good pop-rock discs, Spoon, from Austin, Texas, has cut a great one in Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. It nods to the Beatles and Motown and Steely Dan and Dion, dapples in some ambient repetition, drum ‘n’ bass, Clash-style ragamuffin, and ’80s alterna-rock. Britt Daniel sings with a timbre of fine sandpaper, and his arch but sweet lyrics likewise leave their little abrasions. Do you still remember giddy? –Britt Robson

6 p.m., First Avenue, 701 First Ave. N., Minneapolis; 612-338-8388; $22.

BOOKS & AUTHORS

The University of Minnesota Bookstore has really been doing a bang-up job maintaining a steady stream of interesting author events, and today they’ve got two — one in the afternoon, another in the evening: fire in the afternoon, Vikings at night.

Under a Flaming Sky

On Saturday, September 1, 1894, with only two inches of rainfall since May, a massive fire broke out in Hinckley, Minnesota, destroying 350,000 acres and killing more than 418 people. One life claimed by the great fire was that of writer Daniel James Brown’s great-grandfather. More than a century later, Brown set out to document the second deadliest wildfire in American history in Under a Flaming Sky: The Great Hinckley Firestorm of 1894. Head out this afternoon to hear Brown talk about the 300 people who survived the fire by crouching knee-deep in mud, and the 100 people who survived by hiding in a gravel pit. His book explains how man and nature conspired to create the nearly perfect fire conditions as he relates the experiences of ordinary citizens who, when faced with danger, performed extraordinary acts of courage and kindness.

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

No One Tells a Viking Woman What to Do

If fire is not your thing, perhaps you’d prefer a tale of a Viking woman who traveled to the New World 500 years before Columbus. This is no made-up tale, my friends. Through exhaustive research and archaeological studies, Nancy Marie Brown has managed to reconstruct the life of Viking woman Gudrid in her latest book, The Far Traveler: Voyages of a Viking Woman. “Sailing west across the Atlantic from Norway, Gudrid and three Viking crews in open boats sailed to Vineland, where she lived and bore her first son before sailing home to share her story.” Now the story lives on as Brown unravels the mysteries that surround Gudrid’s life, and Viking society — “a society where women could marry or divorce at will, who ran their households and insisted on sexual freedom.” Sounds interesting enough to me. Of course, Brown also looks at why the Viking colonies eventually collapsed, alongside the larger issue of how histories are forgotten. It promises to be a very interesting presentation, if not a bit intimidating for the men.

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

SHOPPING
Storm Sister

Just under a year ago, longtime stylist and esthetician Becky Sturm opened her own hair, skin, nail, and body care business. Actually, she began the business online a couple years prior to this, but she now has her own brick-and-mortar boutique. It’s a cute little shop, and Sturm is a fascinating lady. Stop on by and have a look, peruse the products, pamper yourself a bit — winter is coming, and our skin is going to need some serious help once it falls victim to the dry heat — and get some great tips from Sturm herself. If you can’t make it in person, you can still enjoy her wisdom on her blog at StormSister Spatique.

10 a.m. to 5 p.m., StormSister Spatique, 635 S. Smith Ave., St. Paul; 651-221-4668.