rakemag To anyone who has ever built a business, the logic of Bill Bradley’s op-ed piece in today’s NY Times is second nature. Build a strong base, add creative theorists, and hire great strategic sales people. From a strong organization, strong leaders will emerge. And such an organization will continue to grow and prosper. I’ve always … Read more
Well, if you didn’t already believe the people who run the National Rifle Association are crazier than a hummingbird on crack, read this from NRA first vice president, Sandra S. Froman. It seems that if only the teachers at Red Lake had been totin’ heat themselves, they could have protected their students from Jeff Weise’s … Read more
I’ve been thinking a lot about Terri Schiavo, which, I think, puts me in some pretty good company–that of people who believe life is sacred and we shouldn’t allow it to end without good reason. Like the abortion and death penalty debates, poor Terri has become a nexus of American confusion among our nation of … Read more
Vasen–rhymes with “delicatessen”–has an ardent following in our Cities, and it’s not just because it’s one of the best acts on our homegrown North Side label, which specializes in contemporary Scandinavian music. The trio’s instrumental takes on traditional Swedish sounds are consistently ear-grabbing, with driving rhythms and circular melodies; its secret weapon–Olov Johansson’s nyckelharpa, a … Read more
Kieran’s Letter of the Month: SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHTThe Rake rightly deserves enormous credit for advising Bob Dylan in June 1963, “Move away and write your own damn songs,” and for predicting the date of Garrison Keillor’s conception in Anoka [Good Intentions, March]. Concerning mistakes and missteps, you do not seem to recognize that your … Read more
Painting begets music begets painting. At least in the case of Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky, whose Pictures at an Exhibition was inspired by a series of work from a contemporary, the nineteenth-century painter Victor Hartmann. Now Mussorgsky’s composition has, in turn, inspired paintings by ten local artists, to be shown in conjunction with the Minnesota … Read more
Not long after his move to the Australian outback in 1999, Ben Folds began laboring over Songs for Silverman. The album features the falsetto peaks and pretty pop piano Folds is renowned for, and we, for one, are happy to report that he has elected not to revive the adolescent wit indulged in his days … Read more
M. Ward’s melodies are as quietly pervasive as cigarette smoke in a bar (ah, the days of É last month). His voice sneaks through the back door while you’re ordering the cheapest beer on tap, and the next thing you know you’re singing his songs while driving to work the next day. In other words, … Read more
Show tunes just won’t die, and Kristin Chenoweth is partly to blame. Her cartoonishly expressive voice conjures the songbirds of Broadway’s bygone era, both on torchy jazz standards and on girdle-busting numbers from shows like Wicked, Candide, and You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown (for which she won a Tony). And Chenoweth doesn’t just sing; … Read more
When it comes to supergroup films, everything depends on the players. We never were compelled to watch the Allen-Coppola-Scorcese triptych New York Stories, for instance, but we’ll get in line for Eros, a filmic anthology on love from Wong Kar-Wai, Steven Soderbergh, and Michelangelo Antonioni. Kar-Wai’s Hands covers similar terrain as his ravishing In the … Read more