Author: rakemag

You have to appreciate how the rock ‘n’ roll landmark at Seventh and First has witnessed a total transformation of its surroundings–Target Center, cheesy nightclubs, Block E, the freaking Hard Rock Cafe–while keeping the wrecking ball off its own hallowed but scummy walls. For a few weeks last year, it even looked as if First Avenue had hosted its final show. But it wasn’t going to go down so easily. Now the club is celebrating its thirty-fifth year of business with its first compilation CD of live cuts. So many indelible moments in music history have occurred at First Avenue that this collection barely scratches the surface, but the range of tracks by local heroes (the Suburbs, Husker Du, Trip Shakespeare, the Jayhawks, the Replacements) and visiting dignitaries (Jay Farrar, Ween, Patti Smith, Richard Thompson) remind us how lucky we are to live in such a great rock city.

It seems like there are a number of rock icons these days who, if they haven’t burned out, haven’t really faded away, either. Take Devo’s Mark Mothersbaugh. For one thing, the most influential of new wave bands never actually broke up; Devo toured again just this year. And Mothersbaugh is constantly working on new music, for film soundtracks (The Rugrats Movie, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou), videos, and for his own amusement. When we talked with him, he was working on some music he didn’t expect anyone else would ever hear, and having a great time. But we didn’t call to chat him up about music; we wanted to hear about his upcoming Postcard Diaries show at the Ox-Op Gallery, which comprises diminutive artworks that he has produced daily for more than thirty years. We also imagine they’d pack quite nicely into a shirt pocket, should ever Mothersbaugh find himself en route to a desert isle. Here’s what else he’d tote along:

1. Blank paper, cardstock, 3 1/2″ x 5 1/4″ watercolor paper, and Japanese sumi fountain pens made by Pilot. I would definitely spend a lot of time on my art. It’s a response to everything that goes on around me. Although I’d be on that island, so things might be kind of quiet. One of my favorite art shows was by [Hawaii Five-O star] Jack Lord. Devo was playing in Hawaii and I walked into a hotel lobby that had three hundred of his paintings, and every single one of them was the exact same sunset and three palm trees. Each one was a little different, but they were the same landscape.
2. An iPod loaded with every Steve Reich album. I’d like to bring something that I didn’t write, and something that is three dimensional and allows me to walk in and out of my head.
3. Every Dick Tracy comic ever written. Chester Gould is the unparalleled master of black and white in Western art.
4. A collection of spare eyeglasses. The first time I went to the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, when I was a little kid, I ran out into the water and lost my glasses–both times. I had to read my comic books about three inches from my face for the rest of the trip. Losing my glasses has been a lifelong fear.
5. One red Devo hat. You can use it for so many things: a cooking pot, a mold for bricks, a flotation device, a weapon, a boomerang, a container to protect small animals. In Devo, we used them to trap the orgone energy that normally humans lose out of the top of their heads. We used the hats to radiate it back down. It would trickle down upon us and make us stronger. We took those hats seriously and wore them seriously.

Mark Mothersbaugh’s Postcard Diaries opens at Ox-Op Gallery on December 3. 1111 Washington Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-259-0085; www.ox-op.com

Although singer/songwriter Townes Van Zandt is claimed by Texas, he spent two years in Minnesota at the Shattuck Military Academy in Faribault, where he is remembered as the kid who dropped cherry bombs down the dormitory toilets. Elsewhere, he is noted as the dazzling guitar player who wrote the Willie Nelson hit “Pancho & Lefty,” who inspired Bob Dylan plus a generation of his fellow Texans to become songwriters, and who died without achieving the fame many believe he deserves. Here’s a documentary that attempts to put things right. It follows Van Zandt through both inspiration and self-destruction, blending concert footage with interviews with Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, and others who say without Van Zandt, they simply would not sound like they do. 10 Church St. S.E., Minneapolis; 612-627-4430; www.mnfilmarts.org/bell

Is this another sign that we’re on the verge of a new Depression, or is it simply a really imaginative charity event? The Holiday Train is a string of thirteen cars outfitted with lights and decorations and a boxcar that converts to a stage. Willy Porter, Twin Citizen and Red House recording artist John Gorka, Tracey Brown, the Ennis Sisters, and other folk and folk-ish musicians will perform at free concerts across the Midwest, while also gathering contributions for local food shelves. The train’s first stop in Minnesota is Winona, and from there you can catch shows in thirteen other cities, including Red Wing, Cottage Grove, St. Paul, Minneapolis, Buffalo, Annandale, Brooten, Eagle Lake, and Thief River Falls. Not since the days when guys with harmonicas rode the rails has free music rolled into town on a train, and the sheer sparkly festiveness of this spectacle makes it well worth a few canned goods. Hell, bring a few bags’ worth’a full-scale Depression might not be imminent, but that doesn’t mean plenty of people around here aren’t going hungry. For the full Holiday Train itinerary, visit http://www8.cpr.ca/cms/English/General+Public/Holiday+Train/Schedules/US+Midwest+schedule.htm?wbc_purpose=basicEvents