Author: Cristina Córdova

HAPPY LABOR DAY!
It’s Labor Day, and if you’re lucky you have the day off. Enjoy the day with plenty of fun and relaxation. This is your day, your tribute, for all the hard work you’ve put in, for your share in “strengthening our country” — whatever that means to you. It’s going to be a beautiful day, with a high of 83 degrees (F) — pretty darn near perfect — so get outdoors and enjoy these last few days of sun. Most pools will be closing up shop for the winter after today, so if you have a favorite soaking zone, you might want to have a splash.

FOOD
Threaten with Heat, Celebrate with Joy

Today is the perfect day for a picnic. Gather your resources and pack up the basket; but remember, don’t go too cheap, you’re supposed to be pampering yourself today. I suggest stopping by Coastal Seafoods for supplies. They have twenty percent off all shrimp and Kobe beef on Mondays, and a perfect kebob recipe on their website. Otherwise, you can use this grilled shrimp recipe (number eight on the list) with a spicy peanut sauce. The sauce is truly delicious — although it does overwhelm the shrimp just a bit.

10 a.m. – 7 p.m., Coastal Seafoods, 2330 Minnehaha Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-724-7425; and 74 S. Snelling (Grand & Snelling), St. Paul; 651-698-4888.

PARK
Once you have the picnic basket packed and ready to go, head out for one of the great nearby parks. What would you prefer — an intimate splash behind a roaring waterfall, or a more social venture, with free live music?

Behind a Wall of Water

When I first beheld the falls at Willow River State Park, I wondered how I’d lived in the Twin Cities for a decade without having visited this wonderful place. I simply didn’t know about it, as I suspect many others might not. Just outside of Hudson, Wisconsin, Willow River State Park has hiking trails through buzzing prairie grassland and lush forest. A highlight of the park is Willow Falls, which is not only spectacular to look at, but a wet paradise you can actually immerse yourself in after a sweaty hike. Hide in the roaring space between the rock and cascading water, or wade in ankle-deep water under the sun. Be adventurous and try some of the whirlpools and rushing places in the area. The tiers continue further than you can see, and with just a little trepidation you can climb above to explore higher and wade through the less traveled river parts above (although I’m sure this is considered unsafe by park authorities, and a misstep could cost you dearly). Though perfect for a day trip, the park also includes a campground, a lake and swimming beach, and many other features you’d expect at a state park. If you don’t manage to make it there this weekend, don’t despair; apparently, the falls are even more breathtaking when encumbered in snow and ice. –by Eeva-Liisa Waaraniemi

Willow River State Park, 1034 County Highway A, Hudson WI; 715-386-5931.

MUSIC
Bluegrass by the Falls

If Hudson feels like too far a drive for the day, you can take in some great waterfalls closer to home. Forget about bathing behind them, but you can still take a nice cold dip in the river — and you’ll get the added benefit of some great bluegrass music to set the mood. Today is the “Laughing Waters” Bluegrass Festival at Minnehaha Park. Enjoy the old-time sounds of blues, ragtime, and jazz, with high lonesome vocal harmonies accompanied by fiddles, banjos, acoustic guitars, mandolins, Dobros, and upright bass. Today’s bluegrass extravaganza features music by the Becky Schlegel Band, the Middle Spunk Creek Boys, Tangled Roots, Ivory Bridge, Free Range Pickin, the Platte Valley Boys, and Nuvo Buffalo.

2-7:30 p.m., Minnehaha Park, 4801 Minnehaha Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-230-6400.

Looking for more free outdoor music today? Head over to Lake Harriet at 5:30 p.m. for some pop-rock alternative music by The Abdomen, with an opening performance by Catchpenny.

A Fool for Ben Harper

Of course, the real show to see tonight is Ben Harper & the Innocent Criminals. Harpers latest album, Lifeline, just hit the stores last Friday; and his mellow music has already earned him two Grammy Awards — one for Best Pop Instrumental Performance and another for Best Traditional Soul Gospel Album — and a Rolling Stone (France) Artist of the Year award in 2003. He’s a fabulous singer/songwriter and a great performer; what else can I say. “I’m your fool for a lonesome train. I know it sounds crazy but I’m painfully sane.”

7:30 p.m., Orpheum Theatre, 10 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis; 612-339-7007; $35-$50.

POETRY & STORYTELLING
Ancient Celtic Traditions

Looking for an entirely different way to end a beautiful day? What about the good old fashioned children’s way — with stories and poetry? Don’t worry, I’m not sending you off to a reading of Mother Goose nursery rhymes — although that might actually be quite fun indeed. No, tonight’s event is far more inspired. Join storyteller/mythologist Martin Shaw and poet Jay Leeming for an evening of Celtic storytelling and poetry. Both are here on a rare visit, and apparently, both are exquisite “performers” as well.

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

FILM
Cast Your Vote

Today is the final day to vote on your favorite entry for the 2007 Screenlabs Challenge Audience Award. Have your say. Watch each of the short films. Then vote here. May the best film win.

ART
Consummate Consumers

OVERSTOCKPILE is artist Mari Richards’s latest exhibit of “sculptures and installations exploring the results of too much going in and not enough going out.” Isn’t everyone over-stimulated, over-stuffed, and overwhelmed these days? Consummate consumers–constipated, too. Richards’s pieces look like the guts of a gimme-gimme society contained in bulbous piles of plastic bags, which glisten grotesquely like raw meat and organs. Some installations are sordid and clumpy, where others are smooth and well-defined. The way Richards captures ugly truths is beautiful. The show is at Vesper College Art Gallery, a former telephone building built in 1902. Their mission is “to inspire students to sculpt contemplative space with ecological balance.” –Eeva-Liisa Waaraniemi

Friday from 4-8 p.m., Vesper College Art Gallery, 201 6th St. S.E., Minneapolis; free.

Art Colony Emulates Ant Colony

There has been a great deal of painting going on at Grand Marais lately. For the past week, artists have been mulling about outdoors, trying to capture the beauty of Lake Superior’s North Shore on authenticated canvases for the Grand Marais Art Colony’s 5th annual Plein Aire Outdoor Painting Competition. Now it’s just about time for the judging to begin. Finished work is due at the Art Colony by 1 p.m. today, after which there will be an artist reception and fish fry from 5 to 7 p.m. Stop by to mingle with the artists and celebrate a week of work well done. The work will be judged Friday evening and Saturday morning, followed by an award ceremony Saturday at 10 a.m. Then, we finally get to view and purchase the art at the exhibition sale, with a little lunch for good measure. BBQ and art? I’m digging it.

Friday from 5 to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Grand Marais Art Colony, 120 3rd Ave. West, Grand Marais; 218-387-2737.

MUSIC
Tamino Plays His Magic Lute

As always, there’s plenty of good music to pick from this weekend: Rapper Slick Rick tonight at the Varsity, roots pop-rockers Counting Crows tomorrow night at Midway Stadium, and a Happy Apple CD release party at the Artists’ Quarter on Sunday. What more do you need? Lute music?

Why he’s not at the Renaissance Festival — or at the Grand Marais Art Colony inspiring the artists as they paint — is beyond me, but if lute music is what you want, you’ve got it tonight. “Join lutenist and trickster Richard Griffith for an evening of Renaissance lute music, magic, and mental chicanery,” says the invitation. “Richard will perform a delightful selection of Renaissance lute music from England, Scotland, France, Italy and Spain, punctuated with some baffling bits of magic, mentalism, and paranormal illusions.” I’m definitely going for the bits of mentalism.

Friday at 7:30 p.m. (and again on Sept. 15th), Tillie’s Bean Coffee House, 2803 E. 38th St., Minneapolis; 612-276-0100; free (tips encouraged).

PERFORMANCE
Live! Nude! Drag!

The headline pretty much says it all. (Normally, I would make some sort of snide remark here about overselling what is likely a mere suggestion of nudity, but we’re talking Lili’s Burlesque here, so I’ll refrain from underestimating their suggestions.) I made the mistake a couple weeks ago of saying that Minneapolis doesn’t have a strong history of burlesque — a mistake that resulted in a peeved and well-informed letter from someone in the biz. And while I still have a hard time accepting anything that has transpired in the just-barely-mentionable span of the new millennium as “a strong history,” I am certainly willing to concede our current foothold in the field. Not only do I concede, but I strongly support it, and I encourage you all to do the same — anything fleshy, my friends, anything cabaret — be it dyke, be it drag, be it tassled or shagged. Enjoy an evening of live drag and performance featuring members of Dykes Do Drag and Lili’s Burlesque Revue.

Friday at 9 p.m., Pi Bar, 2532 25th Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-877-4368; $5.

THEATER & PERFORMANCE
Bring Out the Pooka

Some films get so big they have a way of obscuring the plays that preceded them. Such is the case with Harvey. I think Harvey and I think Jimmy Stewart, I think pooka, I think six-foot-tall rabbit — and I think fondly. If you haven’t seen it, you must definitely do so, but not without acknowledging the play behind the film. Oddly enough (only because it’s so overlooked), Mary Chase’s cooky 1945 play actually earned her a Pulitzer. Now the Lakeshore Players bring you their rendition of the ever-relevant classic — a great boon to the imagination and a cutting jab to the psychiatric world.

Friday and Saturday ay 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m., Lakeshore Players Theatre, 4820 Stewart Ave., White Bear Lake; 651-429-5674; $17 (seniors and students $15).

Here It Is Here It Is

Also beginning this weekend is Melissa Birch’s Here It Is Here It Is —
“a satiric romp where the post-feminist main character navigates through road rage, gluttony, and other new oppressions in a seemingly incongruous American autobiography.” Hmmm… let’s see. Given the choice, I’d rather watch it than live it, but then nobody offered me a choice, so perhaps then I’ll just laugh at it… laugh at it always. It’s a good way not to take the serious too seriously.

Sunday (all month) at 7 p.m., Bryant Lake Bowl, 810 W. Lake St., Minneapolis; 612-825-3737; $12.