Author: Cristina Córdova

BOOKS & AUTHORS
Raking Through Books

Join us this evening for our happy hour book club, Raking through Books. This month, enjoy the company of a group of local mystery writers: Carl Brookins, Pat Dennis, Michael Allan Mallory, David Housewright, Judith Yates Borger, Scott Pearson, and Joel Arnold. All of these writers contributed to the recent Resort to Murder anthology. Resort to Murder continues in the same tradition as Nodin Press’s Silence of the Loons, with some of the state’s best writers delivering creepy, spine-tingling tales all of which are set at Minnesota vacation resorts. Stories far more haunting than the cry of a loon, and crimes more lethal than a lump of lutefisk.

5:30 to 7 p.m., Kieran’s Irish Pub, 330 2nd Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-339-4499; free.

Outsiders Within

In all the hype about Brangelina’s many adoptive children, in all the accusations launched at Madonna for not going through the proper adoption channels, in all the righteous indignation directed to and from stars regarding trans-country adoptions, the one thing we never really hear about is the effects on the children. As the tabloids continue their long overdone jokes about Maddox’s kick-ass ways, when have they stopped to consider how this young boy will feel growing up in the upper crust of white America, under the scrutiny of the public eye? This is the subject of Outsiders Within: Writings on Trans-Racial Adoption — not Maddox, of course, but the emotional, cultural, and economic effects of trans-racial adoption. Tonight you can learn more about the matter, and the book, from co-editor Sun Yung Shin.

7:30 p.m., Magers and Quinn Booksellers, 3038 Hennepin Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-822-4611; free.

Glocalism

Along a similar — though broader, yet more local — note, Here: A Global Citizen’s Journey reflects on Minnesota’s connection to the rest of the world, painting a portrait rife with foreign flavors and marked by global economic, social, and environmental trends. Nothing happens independently of the world within which it happens; not even here in Minnesota; not even in Rochester, Minnesota, home of author Douglas McGill. Former New York Times reporter and current editor of The McGill Report blog, McGill has written about human rights, genocide, immigration, and assimilation to American society. Meet him this afternoon, and have him sign your copy of his book following the discussion.

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

COMEDY
He’ll Fire You, then Make You Laugh

Although, Al Madrigal claims to have known at an early age that comedy was his calling, it took him quite some time to follow his dream and break into the business. I guess ten years at the family’s human resources business made him realize that a little spice of life might be worth the risk. So he left behind the hiring and the firing, and set out to sell himself, one joke at a time. Finally, in 2004, Madrigal got himself noticed at the Aspen Comedy Festival, winning the jury award for best stand-up performer. Something tells me he’s good for a laugh.

8 p.m., Acme Comedy Company, 708 N. First St., Minneapolis; 612-338-6393; $15.

THEATER & PERFORMANCE
Whistle Down the Wind

Andrew Lloyd Webber fans are in for a real treat tonight, with the opening of Whistle Down the Wind, a musical about three Louisiana orphans who find a mysterious stranger hiding in their barn. Based on the novel of the same name by Mary Hayley Bell, and set to the music of Jim Steinman, the narrative sets the three children against the townspeople, as they vow to protect the felon from the outside world. Why? Well, they think he’s Jesus, of course.

8 p.m., Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, 345 Washington St., St. Paul; 651-224-4222; $20-$55.

BOOKS & AUTHORS
A Day without Humans

Now, here’s fodder for daydreams and late-night speculation: What would happen to the earth — and, more pointedly, to our massive infrastructure of buildings, bridges, subways, and sculptures — if the human race were to disappear? Author and University of Arizona journalism professor Alan Weisman has asked the question of everyone from geologists and paleontologists to art conservators and the Dalai Lama, and the answers are utterly fascinating. This month he discusses the well-researched thesis put forth in his new book, The World Without Us. Come prepared for an ecology lesson, as well as some delightful trivia. For example: Without us, mosquitoes would thrive, domesticated cattle would die out (of course), and a plastic bottle cap would likely outlive your house. –Danielle Kurtzleben

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

MUSIC
Dare to Dream

The name Mary Wilson might not mean anything to you on its own, but I guarantee you’ve heard her sing. Back when she was just 13 years old and living in Detroit’s Brewster Projects, Wilson dreamed of becoming a star, and when she met Florence Ballard, Betty McGlown, and Diana Ross she was well on her way. Do I have your attention now? Certainly you’ve heard of that last name. The four girls formed The Primettes, and later (replacing McGlown with Barbara Martin) became The Supremes. Why, when she set the standard for females in the recording industry, do you not know her name? Perhaps Dreamgirls can help you answer this question. She’s the “other” one: Lorrell Robinson. Truth is, Wilson stayed with the group even after Ballard and Ross left it, attaining several hits with The New Supremes. Since then, Wilson has written a best-selling autobiography, performed on stage and screen, lectured and toured the world, and continued cranking out stellar music. Catch her tonight and tomorrow night at the Dakota.

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

Matt Pond PA

“It’ll never be that right / It’ll never be that wrong / You’re heading for the night / That’s as real as it’s long.” Matt Pond PA has evolved a great deal as a band over the past decade, yet they remain true to their initial challenge to pop music, to their initial focus on strings, and to their initial unpretentious, down-to-earth lyrics, with a sense of humor. Now joined by Steve Jewett on bass, Brian Pearl on guitars and piano, Dan Crowell on drums, and Dana Feder on cello, Matt Pond offers catchy melodies with sweetly sung, simple lyrics that cover the full spectrum from joy to misery, warning against apathy and exalting any kind of emotional response to human relationships and people’s relationship to their environments.

7 p.m., Varsity Theater, 1308 4th St. S.E., Minneapolis; 612-604-0222; $14.

FILM
Brand upon the Brain

Brand Upon the Brain! is black and white and silent. Brand gives us music, beautiful music, melancholy and thrilling, and reminiscent of the sea. You can almost smell the brine from the moan of the cello. Isabella Rossellini narrates, breathlessly, ordering us to participate, shouting her entreaties. She is a benshi, and one of the best. Of course, there is only a recording of Isabella, sweet Isabella. But she is our only benshi, sadly, and she wears that international crown with pride. “The past, the past, into the past!” she shouts, and with her we are thrust headlong into that past. We follow Guy Maddin, filmmaker, into his past and discover, simultaneously, that there are some discomforting parallels in all our childhoods. See a full review in our Talk about Talkies blog. –Peter Schilling, Jr.

5:30, 7:30, 9:30 p.m., Parkway Theater, 4814 Chicago Ave., Minneapolis; 612-822-3030.

ART
Bird x Bird

More fun than a flock of starlings! This improbably cool event is a snowballing phenomenon. Artists passionate about something besides art. A show that’s rife with feeling. The only unusual thing is — jeez, Minnesota! — the dearth of collectors in the mix. For God’s sake, people, this show brings together some wonderfully skilled artists. And it doubles as an auction to support bird-related causes (it’s organized by a nonprofit that “links the collective action of artists to organizations dedicated to the stewardship of avian species”). So show up already, get bargains, and meet a lot of interesting-looking folk. –by Ann Klefstad

Friday from 6 to 9 p.m., Northrup King Building, Gallery 322, 1500 Jackson St. N.E., Minneapolis; 952-994-0914.

Landscapes Transformed into Visual Energy

I’m not much for tooting my own horn, but I’ll gladly toot my colleague’s horns if I deem it well-deserved. It’s an easy thing to do here at The Rake with so much creative talent abounding. I’m not just talking about our writers and designers, however. This weekend our very own sales coordinator, Mary Olson, exhibits her work at the O’Shaughnessy. And I have to say, regardless of how good she does her job at The Rake — and, indeed, she does it well — I will never see her as a “sales coordinator” again. This woman is an artist. Her voice, like her lines and her palette, are strong and confident. It’s chaos ordered. It’s landscape deconstructed, reconstructed, and restructured, layered, reflected. Frankly, it doesn’t feel Midwestern to me at all. It’s too bold and textured — feels more like Minneapolis transported to the Caribbean: the textures and reflections of winter seen under the lens of a hot Caribbean sun. Go catch a ray or two of her heat, and experience it for yourself. Mary is one of four artists featured in Landscapes of the Mind. Enjoy these and other great artists this evening as part of The College Art Gallery Collaborative Fall Art Tour, a multi-campus gallery crawl with free shuttle buses arriving at seven locations every 20 minutes. Make a night of it.

Friday from 5 to 8 p.m., O’Shaughnessy Educational Center Lobby Gallery, 2115 Summit Ave., University of St. Thomas, St. Paul; 651-962-5560.

Fall Colors Fine Art & Jazz Festival

Though there’s a chance of rain, this might be the last warm weekend we’ll have for quite a while — probably a good opportunity for an open-window drive along the St. Croix River, with a stop in Stillwater for the Fall Colors Fine Art & Jazz Festival. Nearly 100 artists from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, North and South Dakota will show their work outdoors and indoors in the various studios and galleries of the picturesque downtown area. You’ll find all sorts of styles in all sorts of mediums: clay, glass, fiber, metal, wood; jewelry, paintings, photography, sculpture, pottery. You’ll find it all, along with great food and live music. Saturday’s lineup features Pickin’ up Steam (10:30 a.m.) and Billy McLaughlin (12:30 p.m.); while Sunday’s features Greg Herriges & Troy Berg (10:30 a.m.) and Suede Baby (2:30 p.m.). Take the kids on Sunday from 2 to 5 p.m. for ArtReach Alliance’s Art in the Park hands-on stations (in Lowell Park).

Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Historic Downtown Stillwater; 651-439-4001.

Georgia O’Keeffe: Circling Around Abstraction

This is a strongly curated show — just as the Walker’s recent Picasso exhibition was. Both venture to transform familiar work by presenting it with vigorous scholarship and a fresh eye. In this case, the focus is on the circle — the paradigmatic composition in many of O’Keeffe’s abstractions — and it’s a valuable insight that had been lying there in plain sight but had not been picked up. Through this frame, O’Keeffe’s work is stripped of any potential mawkishness and restored to living status. What’s more, these curator-driven shows are fun even if you’re not a huge fan of the artist, because the thought behind them amplifies the effect of the work — like a lens that suddenly sharpens. –by Ann Klefstad

Opens Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 2400 Third Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-870-3131; $8 (students/seniors/groups $6, children $4).

MUSIC
Regina Spektor

I can’t say enough about Regina Spektor, except to say that she’s the only musician who has truly truly impressed and inspired me in the past half decade. The Russian-born American singer-songwriter began her musical training as a classical pianist, was penning her own songs at the age of 16, and writing her own music by 18. Of course, it’s no surprise that she has risen so quickly since then. While she’s often compared to artists like Fiona Apple and Tori Amos, Spektor’s relationship to music seems far more organic than anything I’ve seen (or heard, for that matter). She moans. She buzzes. She gurgles. She whines. She shifts and breaks and begins and stops. Each song seems to create itself on the spot, breaking every rule and every expectation in the sweetest lulling way, never offending, always surprising, always pleasing.

Saturday at 7 p.m., Myth Nightclub, 3090 Southlawn Dr., Maplewood; $23.

Christian Scott

Don’t stop at Regina Spektor this weekend. On Sunday, you have another great opportunity to catch a hot new jazz star: trumpeter Christian Scott. Breaking into the scene just last year with Rewind That, Scott pulled off one of the most remarkable debuts the genre has seen in the last decade. “Steeped in the jazz tradition and intent on participating in the music’s evolution, the New York-based Berklee College of Music grad is indeed a significant new voice poised to make an impact on the future of jazz. Scott has developed his own distinctive and compelling trumpet voice: a breathy tone that has more in common with the way Ben Webster played the tenor saxophone than the piercing, clarion call the trumpet usually delivers.” — a beautifully accurate description, you’ll find, upon being lulled by that breathiness.

Sunday at 7 & 9 p.m., Dakota Jazz Club and Restaurant, 1010 Nicollet, Minneapolis; 612-332-1010; $20 & $15.

FILM
Jane Austen Book Club

Tonight is the opening of The Jane Austen Book Club. “The premise of The Jane Austen Book Club is simple: six variously connected people (five women, one man) form a book club centered on the six complete Jane Austen novels, focusing on one book per month. As the six move through the books, their lives take on echoes of the plotlines and themes of the books that they read.” Be sure to read Danielle Kurtzleben’s review in our Talk about Talkies blog.

1:40, 4:20, 7, and 9:30 p.m., Landmark Edina Cinema, 3911 W. 50th St., Edina; 651-649-4416; $8.25 (children/seniors $5.75).

GREEN EDUCATION
National Solar Tour

Sure, we’ve all heard about solar energy, and some of us even have a basic idea of how it works; but have we seen it in action? Do we truly “get” it? Do we trust it? Is so, then why the hell aren’t we using more of it? Inertia? I suspect ignorance and fear to be the primary reasons, and one is usually a result of the other. Do the socially responsible thing and head out to the National Solar Tour this Saturday (from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.) to learn about renewable energy. Heck, it may even be fun. The Minnesota Renewable Energy Society has organized free self-guided tours as part of the American Solar Energy Society’s 12th annual National Solar Tour, the largest demonstration of installed renewable energy technologies and energy efficient building practices in the United States. The tour offers an opportunity to learn how your neighbors — 50 homes, business, and institutions — are trimming their energy bills, increasing their energy independence, and taking steps to address global warming. Get site lists and maps here.

ART
Brave New Worlds

Aldous Huxley’s ground-breaking novel Brave New World is probably one of the most influential pieces of literature of the twentieth century. In fact, three quarters of a century after its release, the novel is just as relevant and just as influential. Opening today is the Walker’s Brave New Worlds exhibit, which takes a stab at defining and shaping today’s political consciousness. Featuring 70 works by 24 artists from 17 countries, the exhibition offers diverse perspectives on what politically conscious art should be. Rather than resorting to standard political art, the artists have found their own unique ways to engage their audience, ponder questions, and take constructive positions. Be one of the first to see the exhibit, and join artists Sean Snyder, Dan Perjovschi, Runa Islam, and Haegue Yang — as well as exhibition curators Doryun Chong and Yasmil Raymond — for a panel discussion on the responsibility of artists in times of political fallout, globalization, and unstoppable technological process.