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It’s getting harder and harder to get into the University of Minnesota. Fortunately for choreographer Merce Cunningham, he’s getting his U of M degree–albeit an honorary one–without going through the application process, let alone putting in the miles-long hikes between classes. At eighty-six years old, he’s probably glad about that. This month, Cunningham will be … Read more

Screenwriter William Broyles Jr. had his work cut out for him: molding a story from Anthony Swafford’s nearly plotless account of being a Marine sniper in Operation Desert Storm, working with characters that come and go like catnap dreams, and then living with Swafford’s argument that all war films are pro-war ads for young men, … Read more

Yoakam seems like an odd choice for a suburban club that has papered the town with sleek urban ads featuring chic young partiers. But we’re game: Yoakam’s latest recording, Blame the Vain, is pretty kicking. Eighteen albums down the line, and he still refuses to put out generic, compromised Nashville noise. Instead, he calls on … Read more

Romance, love triangles, the older man/younger woman syndrome… didn’t we get enough of all this with Sex and the City? Maybe so, but they’re offered up with some engaging insights (and affectionate jabs at L.A.) in Steve Martin’s adaptation of his 2000 novella. The days grind by for the broke, lonely department store salesgirl Mirabelle … Read more

Sometimes, disaster strikes in just the right way. The phenomenal guitarist Django Reinhardt honed his dazzling gypsy jazz style while recovering from a fire that lost him the use of two of his fingers (and nearly cost him his leg). The two-fingered playing style he developed actually improved on his already astonishingly speedy and complex … Read more

One of our favorite newer bands hooks up with a few of its esteemed forebears from the local scene, for what is perhaps the most anticipated of the Guest Session Sunday concerts. Those puckish young men in their blue tracksuits, who’ve been criminally forced to drop the “Olympic” and play simply as the Hopefuls, will … Read more

A soaring and reflective composition by the American composer Stephen Paulus (who has a role in our profile of Libby Larsen, his friend and colleague), the world premiere of this oratorio features mezzo-soprano Christina Baldwin, soprano Norah Long, and the Basilica Cathedral Chorus. Expect a heady and deeply emotional performance in an inspiring space, presented … Read more

For a young female songwriter, treading the folk-bluegrass line can be tricky. Tip too far toward the sensitive folkie side and you might get tossed altogether into the “women’s music” ghetto. But sing or play with too much of a twang and you can be relegated to the stodgy “pickin’” circuit, where politics lean to … Read more

“The music is a mix between old skool hip-hop and northern soul and going for a dynamic feel like a double dutch team.” That’s how Go! Team leader Ian Parton described his band’s sound in a recruitment ad a few years ago, but he was probably forced to be brief. Actually, it’s something of a … Read more