Author: Cristina Córdova

LECTURE
The Kids Are All Right

Back in April, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) issued a report on the possibility of regulating television violence that might be seen by children. Though they were unable to define what constitutes violence, they did suggest that it can be regulated constitutionally. Now, as we await the FCC’s next steps, the Silha Center for the Study of Media Ethics and Law invites attorney Robert Corn-Revere to examine the conflict between our First Amendment rights and government control of the media. “The Kids Are All Right: Violent Media, Free Expression, and the Drive to Regulate” offers an opportunity to exploit Corn-Revere’s vast well of knowledge on this issue. Currently a partner at the law firm of Davis Wright Tremaine in Washington, D.C., he has served as counsel in litigation and regulatory proceedings involving the Communications Decency Act, the Child Online Protection Act, FCC Indecency Rules, Internet content filtering in public libraries, and public broadcasting and cable television regulations. The presentation will include a Q&A session, and light refreshments will be served.

7 p.m., Cowles Auditorium, Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, University of Minnesota, 301 19th Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612 625 3421; free.

BOOKS & AUTHORS
Black & Blue

The NFL’s “Black and Blue” division — composed of the Chicago Bears, the Detroit Lions, the Green Bay Packers, and the Minnesota Vikings — has been playing a good-old-boy ass-kicking game for the past four decades. You know the kind of game I’m talking about. It’s the kind of football that Tom Cruise was trying to get Cuba Gooding to play in Jerry McGuire — the kind that knocks you out dead on the field, the black-and-blue kind. In honor of the division’s 40th anniversary, sportswriter Bob Berghaus takes us back to its glory days with team histories and game accounts dating all the way back to its 1967 inception. Black and Blue: A Smashmouth History of the NFL’S Roughest Division contains original interviews with coaches, players, and sportscasters, along with with stories and photos of some of the goriest games. If you like your gridline violence, you’ll appreciate this opportunity to meet a like-minded authority.

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

MUSIC
Paolo Nutini

While Amy Winehouse was too tired, stressed, or drugged up to make her previously scheduled State Theater performance here this week, at least her opening act is pulling through. This is no ordinary opening act, folks. At only 19 years of age, Paolo Nutini already has a number five single on the UK charts, a number three album on the UK charts, and a Golden St. Christopher medal from the city of Barga, Italy — the highest honor the city offers. See him now, and see him first, for I am certain we will be speaking of him for many years to come. Hailing from Scotland, with Italian roots tossed in, Nutini writes his own music, tells a great story, and sings it so beautifully and passionately that you wouldn’t even care if he didn’t.

7:30 p.m., Fitzgerald Theater, 10 E. Exchange St., St. Paul; 651-290-1200; $29.50.

Olu Dara

On the more seasoned side of the musical spectrum, Olu Dara serves up “an eclectic mix of blues, jazz, and storytelling, with tinges of funk, African popular music, and reggae.” While he has been making music for more than three decades, during which time he has won numerous awards — including a 1999 Audelco Lifetime Achievement Award for his theater work — and while he has been oft compared to the legendary Louis Armstrong, you might not even know his name. For many years, Dara took a back seat to big names like Art Blakey, David Murray, and Henry Threadgill. Just under a decade ago, he finally stepped forward with his record debut, proving himself as a worthy leader, as well. You won’t want to miss this trumpet virtuoso.

7 & 9 p.m., Dakota Jazz Club & Restaurant, 1010 Nicollet, Minneapolis; 612-332-1010; $35 & $22.

THEATER & PERFORMANCE
Let Go, and Embrace the Ones You Love

Tired of passing up plays with costly tickets? Tonight, Mu Performing Arts offers a pay-what-you-can production of Bahala Na (let it go), directed by Jennifer Weir. As is standard Mixed Blood fare, the performance highlights socio-political issues of race, gender, age, and sexuality. Written by Chinese American playwright Clarence Coo, Bahala Na centers on a Chinese woman’s relationship with her gay grandson, taking us from 1920s China to the Philippines to America in the 1990s.

8 p.m., Mixed Blood Theatre, 1501 S. 4th St., Minneapolis; 612-338-6131; today only, pay-what-you-can.

BOOKS
Amdromeda Romano-Lax Takes Casals through the Looking Glass

I grew up surrounded with images, sounds, and stories of Pablo Casals. Though you’ll hear that he’s a Spaniard, his mother was in fact from Mayagüez, Puerto Rico. An amazing cellist and a beautiful conductor, Casals spent much of his early years playing for queens and presidents. He lived a most interesting life among the elite, which writer and journalist Amdromeda Romano-Lax set out narrate. As she became engrossed in the story, however, her imagination went wild, resulting in a most interesting novel rather than a nonfiction work. This afternoon, you can hear Romano-Lax talk about her novel, The Spanish Bow, and the man that inspired it. What a man! His Bach’s Cello Suites makes me weep each time I hear them — which is often; and there’s a 1983 Casals Festival lithograph still hanging in my bedroom.

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

Tim Brady Explores the Gophers’ Rich History

What’s the obsession with gold in sports? Let’s face it: gold is a horrid color. No matter what color you pair it with — black, blue, green, even maroon — it’s still horrid. Is it the medal reference? Go for the Gold? The enthusiasm behind sports in this country is astounding, as is the amount of money made from it, put into it, and circulating within it. Money is power, my friends. And sports are mighty powerful in, oh, so many ways. Saturday, local author Tim Brady (of The Great Dan Patch and the Remarkable Mr. Savage) invites you to experience over 150 years of rich University of Minnesota sports history. “Gopher Gold delves into the little-known corners of the university’s past to showcase the wealth of talent and ability that this landmark institution has attracted, nurtured, and given back to the world.” Brady will sign copies of his book following the discussion.

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

Top off the Weekend with an Extraordinary Orgasm

Thanks to Girl Friday, we learned of Sunday’s book event: a book chat with Dorian Solot and Marshall Miller, authors of I Heart Female Orgasm: An Extraordinary Orgasm Guide. As Girl Friday points out, the book has yet to receive less than a 5-star rating from any of its reviewers on Amazon. But really, how could it? I mean… an extraordinary orgasm guide? Of course it’s great!

Sunday at 6 p.m., Smitten Kitten, 3010 Lyndale Ave. S., Minneapolis; R.S.V.P. to 612-721-6088.

FILM
Quiet City

Director Aaron Katz’s Quiet City is part of the ever-growing “mumblecore” movement in indie film, a genre that favors disaffected youth who struggle to pay the bills. These films defy summary and star nonprofessional actors who improvise most of their dialog, or, well, mumbles. In Quiet City, a girl gets lost in Brooklyn and meets a young man and together they wander through the sleeping borough, saying almost nothing. Quiet City places demands on the viewers’ attention — a sideways glance, a puff on a cigarette have as much gravity as ten minutes of dialog in a conventional film. Tonight and Sunday, Katz and lead actress Erin Fisher appear to discuss the film, and on Saturday (2 p.m.) you can join them for a director’s roundtable discussion at IFP. –Peter Schilling Jr.

Friday and Sunday at 7:15 and 9:15 p.m., Oak Street Cinema, 309 Oak St., Minneapolis; 612-331-3134, $8 (seniors $6, members/students $5).

THEATER & PERFORMANCE
Jesus Hates Me

Just under a year ago, Wayne Lemon’s latest play, Jesus Hates Me made its world premiere at the Colorado New Play Summit. This weekend Emigrant Theater brings Lemon’s hip play to Minneapolis — directed by founding member Jessica Finney. Expect typical and quirky Texan fare, small-town rural America, a Bible-themed miniature golf course, Jack Daniels bottles, gay ski resorts, and plenty of gut-wrenching laughter.

Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 and 8 p.m., Ritz Theater, 345 13th Ave. N.E., Minneapolis; 612-436-1129; $10.

ART BENEFIT
Art Perchance

If you’ve got a bit of extra cash on hand and you’d like to show your support for the arts, head over to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts tonight for their fourth annual Art Perchance benefit — another great opportunity to eat, drink, and play in the name of art. Enjoy an evening of games, food, and drawings for jury-selected artwork; and feel good about bringing art and culture to children throughout Minnesota — or rather, for bringing them to art and culture. Proceeds from this evening’s event benefit the Friends Transportation Fund, which provides free bus transportation for schoolchildren to visit the MIA for educational tours. Arrive an hour early (6 p.m.) for a pre-party reception.

Friday at 7 p.m., Minneapolis Institute of Art, Target Wing, 2400 Third Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-870-3045; $75 and up.

MUSIC
Rock It to the Bang Bang Boogie

“I said I can’t wait ’til the end of the week / when I’m rappin’ to the rhythm of a groovy beat / and attempt to raise your body heat.” In 1979 I knew every darn word of “Rappers’ Delight.” It’s a mighty long song, but everybody knew it word-for-word. This was the onset of rap, and it was a pretty big deal. Granted, I was living in New York then. You can imagine my surprise at hearing it “passed off” as something new in Minnesota almost a decade later. But hell, better late than never. And now, close to another couple of decades gone by, we can all look back and bask in the greatness of the pioneer rappers, the SugarHill Gang.

Sunday at 9 p.m., Foundation Nightclub, 10 S. Fifth St., Minneapolis; 612-332-3931; $25, VIP $40.

EXPLORATION
A Refugee Camp in the Heart of the City

Imagine your country is at war. No, not the way you know war. Not overseas. In your own country. Right here. On your own land. Perhaps you take up arms. Perhaps you don’t. It doesn’t matter. You’re losing. It’s stay and fight (and die), or flee. Imagine you have a family. Imagine you are now “among the 33 million people around the world who have been forced to flee their homes and seek refuge.” Do you have any idea what that’s like? Any idea at all? Hopefully not from personal experience. But look next door. It might do to understand the plight of others. Today, Doctors Without Borders opens its Refugee Camp in the Heart of the City exhibit in Loring Park. Get a guided tour of the camp exhibit and learn about the challenges of building shelter, finding food and clean water, handling waste disposal, controlling epidemics, and … surviving what may come. Educate yourself, and at the end of the day thank whatever god(s) you have for your well-being. Then have yourself a drink, and toast to the the well-being of those around you. But don’t stop at that…

9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Loring Park, 1382 Willow St., Minneapolis; 612-370-4929.

BOOKS
Per Petterson

It’s been a huge year for Norwegian writer Per Petterson. The acclaim for his latest novel ranged from Thomas McGuane’s front-page rave in the Times Book Review (“A gripping account of such originality as to expand the reader’s own experience of life”) to the $135,000 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. Award-winning author Richard Ford even chimed in with a ringing endorsement, and if you threw in a hosanna from Cormac McCarthy you’d have a pretty good idea of the sort of literary territory Petterson is exploring in Out Stealing Horses. It’s a quiet, spare, ruminative novel, in which the stoic protagonist wrestles with memory’s powerful undertow while enduring a sort of solitary confinement in a remote cabin. Petterson will spend a busy couple of days on the Minnesota leg of his tour, appearing as part of the Minneapolis Public Library’s Talk of the Stacks series tonight, and at the St. Olaf College Bookstore (4 p.m.) tomorrow. –Brad Zellar

7:30 p.m., Minneapolis Central Library, 300 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis; 612-630-6000; free.

STYLE
Collage Fashion Show

Two of my favorite local boutiques are participating in this three-way of a runway event: the refined, and yet funky, Ivy and super-girly Stephanie’s. The third boutique, Bluebird, isn’t a fave, but I have found fabulous vintage jewelry there in the past. However, I’m quite excited about Bluebird’s contribution to this year’s (the third annual) Collage Fashion Show. They’re planning to show clothes by Loeffler Randall, the shoe designer – a favorite of the shop’s owners – who only recently introduced a line of apparel. –Christy DeSmith

7 p.m., Nicollet Island Pavilion, 40 Power St., Minneapolis; 612-253-3099; $25.

DANCE
Explorations in Flamenco

Time for a little Spanish flair tonight, with the opening of Zorongo Flamenco Dance Theatre’s Explorations in Flamenco: An Evening of New Choreography by Sachiko and Deborah Elias. And in keeping with the current trends, we’re not just talking dance here; we’re talking dance, live music, and multimedia work. Explorations in Flamenco features two works. Inspired by the stories of Japan’s Hibakusyas (atomic bomb victims), novels by Masuji Ibuse, and poems by Toge Sankichi, Hiroshima tells intimate stories of WWII destruction through flamenco, Japanese traditional dance, martial arts, and Butoh-inspired movements. Tía, on the other hand, celebrates the power and beauty of imagination — to transform, to empathize, and to envision a different future.

8 p.m., Intermedia Arts, 2822 Lyndale Ave. S., Minneapolis,; 612-871-4444; $15 (students and seniors $13, members $10).

THEATER & PERFORMANCE
City Ceased

In this case, the play itself isn’t the thing, although they are certainly some clever, and even touching, vignettes about the afterlife–the best of which concerns pet foster care for dogs gone to heaven. The best reason to see City Ceased is to catch a glimpse of the beautiful Lakewood Cemetery at night, to stroll its winding roads and circle its tiny lake. By the end of the show, sadly, the material of this site-specific play will have devolved into sap, but not before the audience is treated to some lovely, flashlight-lit images of, for instance, a dramatic weeping willow, a tiny s&eacure;ance, and actors dancing in the moonlight. –Christy DeSmith

8 p.m., Lakewood Cemetery , 3600 Hennepin Ave. S., Minneapolis; $12.

Pillowman Review

Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman focuses on Katurian (Lichtseidl), a writer of grisly tales in which children are tortured and killed. When a number of child murders resembling his stories take place, Katurian is detained for questioning by the totalitarian state in which he lives. He is interrogated by detectives Ariel (Chris Carlson) and Tupolski (Seifert), who have also detained Katurian’s mentally disabled brother, Michal (Grant Richey), as a way of baiting Katurian into confessing. Lichtseidl gives Katurian what depth he can, and his big-brother relationship with Michal is sweet and sincere. But the plot itself gives Lichtseidl little to work with, and as a result he is underused. Seifert and Carlson are wonderful as the good-cop/bad-cop team of Ariel and Tupolski. Carlson’s Ariel is high-strung and constantly enraged; Seifert’s Tupolski is docile but menacing — together they are mean and unfair and completely engrossing. Seifert is so deliciously nasty that you can’t help but laugh. Grant Richey also succeeds in the role of Michal, uttering even the most disturbing of lines with innocence and vulnerability. Pillowman is heavy — it discusses child torture and highlight’s the importance of Art with a capital A. Sometimes it sounds more like a debate in a college literature course than a play. –excerpts from review by Danielle Kurtzleben

7:30 p.m., Dowling Studio, Guthrie Theater, 818 S. 2nd St., Minneapolis; 612-377-2224; $18-$34.