BOOKS & AUTHORS
End of Baseball
Is your favorite Major League Baseball team already out
of contention for the Pennant? Relax. Peter Schilling’s novel The End of Baseball may be entertainment for those fanatics with a long summer ahead. The End of Baseball
covers the complete season of the 1944 Philadelphia Athletics in the
race for the pennant. But Schilling’s novel is much more important than
following a baseball race; it’s about equality for the human race. The
story’s exposition follows the eccentric Bill Veeck as he purchases the
worst franchise in the Majors and tries to make contenders out of them.
Veeck’s plan to accomplish this lies in replacing his Caucasian players
with some of the greatest Negro League players — this, of course, in
the segregated professional baseball era. If you’re interested in following a maverick owner and a team for the ages, The End of Baseball may score a base hit, but it’s the way Schilling treats humility in this story that scores a grand slam. —Joshua Fischer
Available in bookstores on Friday
BENEFIT
6th Annual Fundraiser for Breast Cancer
You have to love the promotional material for this breast cancer fundraiser: "Can’t run a 5K? Do you suck at baking? Hate working garage sales? Then this is the fundraiser for you. All you have to do is raise your beer bottle and listen to the music, and you’ll be making a difference." Enjoy a candlelit acoustic evening with Trick27 on Friday. Then gear up for a full night of music and dancing on Saturday night with the Street Team from the St. Paul School of Rock, a Lucky Town reunion of Bruce Springsteen classics, and the Tim Sigler Band. All proceeds go to fight breast cancer — ALL of them. Monster Energy Drink donates the printing. The musicians donate their time. And O’Gara’s donates the space.
Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., O’Gara’s Shamrock Room, 164 Snelling Ave. N., St. Paul.
FILM
Planet of the Apes
"Somewhere in the universe there must be something better than man. In a matter of time, an astronaut will wing through the centuries and find the answer. He may find the most terrifying one of all on the planet where apes are the rulers and man the beast." What more do you want. If you haven’t seen this 1968 Franklin J. Schaffner classic on the big screen, now is the time!
Friday at 7:10 p.m., Saturday at 4:35, 7:10, and 9:30 p.m., and Sunday at 4:35 and 7:10 p.m., Heights Theatre, 391 Central Ave. N.E., Columbia Heights; 763-788-9079; $8.
Then She Found Me
Families
comes in all shapes and sizes, but the two main ingredients are
certainly love and trust. Helen Hunt’s directing debut, Then She Found Me, brings the life and passion of Elinor Lipman’s characters to the big screen. After
being left by her husband (Matthew Broderick), mere months after their
wedding, April (Helen Hunt) is tracked down by her birth mother (Bette
Midler) in hopes of starting a relationship. At the same time, April
begins to form a bond with the father (Colin Firth) of one of her
kindergarten students. As she struggles to determine the meaning of
family, she discovers something missing, driven by the burning desire to have
a baby of her own. —Hannah Simpson
Opens Friday at Edina Cinema, 3911 W. 50th
St., Edina; 651-649-4416.
Big Ideas for a Small Planet
Back in June, Rake staff and friends had our own little parking squat in honor of green space in the city. Yes, we took a couple of video cameras — and we even got some pretty amusing footage — but oevrall, it was far too uneventful to merit a video for your pleasure. Apparently, somebody else must have had en entirely different experience, because they even made a film about it. This Sunday, you can enjoy a screening of the Sundance Channel award-winning eco-series Big Ideas for a Small Planet, featuring Twin Cities’ National Park(ing) Day. I have to be honest, when The Rake did its parking squat, most of us lacked a clear idea as to why we were there. We simply set up our plants and our chairs in the street by a parking meter, and spouted out something about preserving our green spaces. (And then we played a peanut game.) The screening is sure to far better than that — far more educational and far more amusing. One episode, “Big Ideas for a Small Planet: Food” explores environmentally friendly food and wine.
Sunday at 2 p.m., F.K. Weyerhauser Auditorium, Landmark Center, 75 W. 5th St., Downtown St. Paul; RSVP.
ART
The Figure and the Landscape
Figure and landscape. Sculpture and photography — black and white landscape photography. What’s the connection? Go see a beautiful exploration by recognized Minnesota sculptors and photographers at the Vine Art Center. Experience "the powerful and sensual nature of landscape and figurative work." The exhibition, which runs from May 2nd to June 24th, features work by Will Agar, Doug Beasley, Chris Faust, Roger Junk, Brant Kingman, Jeff Korte, and Nick Legeros. There will be an opening reception this Friday, and an artist discussion panel on Thursday, May 22nd.
Friday from 6-10 p.m., Vine Arts Center, 2637 27th Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-728-5745.
Ben Garthus & Greg Priglmeier
Life is no movie. We have no soundtrack. (Ok. Sometimes we do.) But we sure have plenty of background noise — background noise and visual noise, which somehow play off each other in a most fascinating way. Local artists Ben Garthus and Greg Priglmeier have joined forces to bring us Background Noise, an attempt to capture the cultural, political, and environmental conditions of city life — "traffic patterns, animal behavior, artificial environments and cultural changes." While Garthus focuses more on consumption and by-products, Priglmeier explores unseen connections to our environment.
Saturday from 7-10 p.m. (show runs through May 31st), Rosalux Gallery, 1011 Washington Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-803-6400; free.
Portraits of Mental Illness
Ok. I don’t usually promote art exhibits at hospitals and coffee shops, but sometimes you just gotta do what you don’t do. May is Mental Health Month, and HCMC — actually, Spectrum Community Mental Health and Inspire Arts — is doing their part by hosting Living Beyond Poster Project: The Portrait Show, featuring portraits of 20 famous and historic figures — ranging from Ernest Hemingway to Jean-Claude Van Damme — who live or lived with a mental illness. Did you even know that Jean-Claude Van Damme has mental illness? (How inappropriate would it be for me to say that explains a lot?) Three of the portraits will be made into posters to raise funds and awareness: Virginia Woolf, Kurt Cobain, and Leo Tolstoy.
Friday from 4-6 p.m., Inspire Galleries, HCMC Red Building, second level skyway, 730 S. Eighth St., Minneapolis.
MUSIC
Greg Brown and the World of Dosh
Blues, folk, and acustic guitar lovers, check out Greg Brown at the Fitzgerald Theater on Friday. The man has about the sexiest voice imaginable. And on Saturday night, check out avant-rock luminary Martin Dosh at the Walker. They’ve even added an extra performance at 11 p.m. Special guests include Andrew Bird, Jel, Jeremy Ylvisaker, Andrew Broder, and Mike Lewis.
THEATER & PERFORMANCE
Long Day’s Journey into Night
After having to postpone the opening for a week, due to illness in the company, the Theatre in the Round Players are finally commencing their production of Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night. Considered by many to be O’Neill’s masterpiece (it won a Pultizer in 1957), Long Day’s Journey narrates a fateful, heart-rendering day in O’Neill’s own life, in August of 1912. Directed by Lynn Musgrave,
this Theatre in the Round production features Maggie Bearmon Pistner,
Rachel Finch, Rob Frankel, Tom Sonnek, and Wade Vaughn. Expect a lot of
alcohol and a little bit of morphine.
Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m., Theatre in the Round, 45 Cedar Ave., Minneapolis; 612-333-3010; $20.
Triangle Fire Project
The Minnesota Jewish Theater Company ends a strong 2007-2008 season with another regional premiere. The Triangle Factory Fire Project
— directed by Carolyn Levy— tells the story of a fatal fire in the
Triangle Waist Factory, in 1911, that took 146 lives. Author
Christopher Piehler (in collaboration with Scott Alan Evans) offers a
play-by-play of the events, followed by an unappeasing murder trial,
and a round up of the numerous social and political changes that took
place as a result.
Saturday at 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 & 7 p.m.,
Hillcrest Center Theater, 1978 Ford Pkwy.; Saint Paul; $20-$24.
SPECIAL EVENT
Wilder Center – Grand Opening Celebration
Celebrate the grand opening of the new Wilder Center with family fun, entertainment, food, and a community services fair. What is family fun? Well, the fun includes a family photo booth, picture frame decorating, a children’s climbing wall, video games (Dance Dance Revolution and Guitar Hero III), and entertainment provided by Larry Yazzie, American Indian Dance, the East Side Dance Group, and the Walker West Music Academy Jazz Ensemble. Construction was completed earlier this year on the new 99,953 square-foot, four-story Wilder Center. The grand opening celebration will mark the official building dedication and allow community members to learn more about Wilder and its services.
Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Wilder Center, 451 Lexington Parkway N., Saint Paul; free.
Of course, you could take a really twisted, consumer approach to International Worker’s Day and celebrate the things for which you work — the comfort, the decadence, the luxuries you can afford yourself. And you can even save money in the process. Luna Vinca is hosting a 10-year Anniversary Sale with a celebration soiree this evening. Enjoy treats and beverages as you shop for fresh flowers, home decor, jewelry, cards, and gifts — all at 25 percent off.
The romance of Dvořák. The intellectual complexity of Rameau. The sound mass of Ligeti. The Trill of Tartini. Enjoy them all tonight, as celebrated 
For a real spring sound, go check out Los Angeles-based music duo 
We have a legend in our midst today: 
Don Lee’s