rakemag

If this is a trend, then we see no problem with being called trendy. As soon as people discover the happiness-enhancing and near-addictive qualities of really good cupcakes–not to mention their portability–there will be cupcake shops popping up all over the city. It worked so well with coffee, after all. While we’re writing our business … Read more

Only in the bluegrass world is an eighty-three-year old expected to keep touring as a matter of course. Then again, why not? Doc’s music is in the full flush of an ongoing bluegrass revival. He recorded a new album last year, and doesn’t seem inclined to retire anytime soon, but that doesn’t mean it’s not … Read more

Contrasting the new Walker with New York’s almost-as-new Museum of Modern Art gives us yet another reason to love living in the Twin Cities. MOMA still tells the authoritative history of modern art, and does so more efficiently by funneling larger hordes through its expansive galleries. The Walker couldn’t be more different. Lingering, wandering, and … Read more

Whether they recognize it or not, almost everyone has a personal gallery of oddments and artifacts stuffed in a closet or arranged on a shelf. Maybe these things are consciously collected, or maybe they tell a story about the time or person or place they came from. And maybe they deserve a wider audience–some of … Read more

This traveling Seussentennial exhibition, honoring the beloved author’ hundredth birthday, lands in Minneapolis. Dr. Seuss introduced us to the Grinch, to Horton and Yertle, and to sneetches; he made us wonder what green eggs and ham would taste like. But here’ a chance to see work that didn’ make it into his children’ books, including … Read more

Emerging photographers Hock and Reinhardt, from Minnesota and New York, respectively, find the cure for homesickness through the lens of a camera. The pictures from this itinerant pair reveal a constant search for home and its comforts, familiarities, and reminders of loved ones. Finding home when you’re away is a strange, backward way to travel, … Read more

As corporate promotions go, this one’s pretty darn admirable, offering as it does a glimpse of what’s new and different on the art scene. Each year, the eponymous mint manufacturer enlists a keen-eyed panel of folks (such as Walker Art Center’s Douglas Fogle) to help it purchase a couple dozen pieces from emerging artists, many … Read more

How must poor Jack White be feeling these days? He’ on everyone’ cool list after working with Loretta Lynn, and then his last girlfriend, Renee Zellweger, goes and marries a country singer–but it’s the dude who sings “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy.” If that’s the kind of country that revs up the Hollywood starlets these … Read more

Kurt who? We have always secretly preferred the songwriting of Dave Grohl. His sometimes loopy, sometimes profoundly smart rock songs are as melodic and addictive as anything by that other band he once played in. Plus, Grohl stuck around to write moreÑa quality to be admired, to be sure. In fact, the Foo Fighters have … Read more

The Schubert Club is importing some mighty impressive talents for this series of six intimate recitals, including performances by soprano Dawn Upshaw and artists from the famed New York Festival of Song–both of which, alas, are long sold out. But you might still get tickets for performers like Michael Schade, the young German-Canadian tenor acclaimed … Read more