Author: rakemag

When it comes to sketch comedy on the tube, Saturday Night Live has long hogged the limelight (Mad TV is actually edgier and funnier these days), while no one would argue the canonical importance of the Pythons (they’d dissolved before the current cast of SNL was even born). But of the three greatest sketch comedy programs ever produced for television, SCTV gets the least respect. Consider it yet another indignity of being Canadian. SCTV was more on-point as a parody of the medium itself—a rich enough vein considering the hilarious parade of game shows, talk shows, fake ads, and assorted characters making their televisual home in “Melonville.” One could certainly make the argument that John Candy, Harold Ramis, Catherine O’Hara, Eugene Levy, and Rick Moranis all have had longer and more interesting careers in the movies than any Not Ready for Prime Time Player, and the Pythons haven’t had all that many hits. Take it from the Guy with the Snake on His Face—who first made his appearance in 1976—no one can beat this deal, not even Guy Caballero or his sultry concubine Edith Prickley. (Available June 8)

A delightful throwback to the great TV detective shows of the 1970s like Columbo, Monk has inspired a great deal of affection in our mystery-loving Rakish hearts. Quite simply, a very clever show, in terms of both the creatively offbeat, yet solvable crimes (like the skydiver who somehow drowns in midair), and the quirky nature of detective Adrian Monk. It’s dancing on a thin line to make your main character obsessive-compulsive and phobic, but thanks to smart writing and the Emmy-winning performance by Tony Shalhoub, what could have been a dreadful gimmick actually helps give the show its heart and soul. And at any rate, when it’s done well, the “defective detective” subgenre has worked over and over again in the crime-story biz; even Sherlock Holmes had more than a few quirks of his own. For Monk to follow that path is no crime. (Available June 15)

Oddly enough, this foul-mouthed, taboo-smashing sendup of racism in Westerns, co-written by Mel Brooks and Richard Pryor, made more money than any real Western ever did—which must have set John Ford spinning in his grave. Brooks shows he’s not above tooting his own horn by noting in an interview on the DVD that the infamous “eating beans around the campfire” scene made history as Hollywood’s first wind-breaking. (If that’s part of the Old West you’d rather not experience, the DVD includes the silent, edited-for-TV version of the scene.) This thirtieth-anniversary edition also features Black Bart, the pilot for an abortive TV spinoff. Also out in June is Brooks’ 1995 flop Dracula: Dead and Loving It; just put a stake in that one. (Available June 29)

Mozzer’s post-Smiths solo work grew steadily less compelling through the nineties, so much so that while our fickle fanboy hearts wanted to sanctify Stephen Patrick Morrissey in 1986, by 2004 we were unaware that he hadn’t released anything for seven years. If you can make a sliding scale out of that timeline, we feel pretty 1991 about this record, which ain’t bad. Quarry is rich with lush musical arrangements and the undiluted power of Morrissey’s voice, but while he can still emote the hell out of any song, the lyrics are comparatively flat; for instance, he sings “America, it brought you the hamburger” with the same passion as he once sang “I am the son and the heir of a shyness that is criminally vulgar.” Which is not to say there are no gems to be mined from Quarry—“First of the Gang To Die” is a terrific example of why we fell for the big-haired galoot in the first place. (Available now)

What’s this fuss over Avril Lavigne and the second coming of Alanis Morrisette? PJ Harvey can eat them both for lunch, and have Fiona Apple for dessert. The cover of her seventh album, Uh Huh Her, shows the scrawny but unstoppable seductress in the passenger seat of a car whose pudgy driver obviously doesn’t know what he’s in for. Harvey has always taken just what she wants from punk, blues, or more avant-garde atmospherics, subjugating them to her own abrasive vision; this album, unlike previous collaborations with numerous rock luminaries, is an exclusively solo effort. She may not be large, but she is most definitely in charge. Come to think of it, it’d be a waste to sic PJ on Avril and Alanis. Let’s get Dick Cheney in a hotel room and have her pay a midnight call. (Available May 31)

Ah, summer! Like the lilacs (but without the nagging allergies), Wilco has blossomed anew from yet another line-up change, after guitarist/keyboardist Leroy Bach left the group on good terms in late January, just after wrapping up recording for A Ghost is Born. The band’s fifth full-length album and follow-up to 2002’s career-defining Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Ghost is what singer/songwriter Jeff Tweedy calls a “documentary-style recording.” The electronic experimentation and heavy textures of Foxtrot are gone, replaced with the simplicity of a bunch of guys playing music in a room. A room stocked with millions of dollars’ worth of top-notch equipment and Weezer engineer Chris Shaw, of course. Whatever the formula, we’re sure it will work for Wilco. As long as they don’t go replacing the drummer… (Available June 22)

If Phil Spector could produce the Ramones, why can’t Jack White, garage-rock hero of the White Stripes, take a whack at spinning the studio dials for honky-tonk goddess Loretta Lynn? No good reason at all, and Van Lear Rose, which White both produced and arranged, proves that opposites can indeed attract beautiful music. The most powerful song is “Family Tree,” in which Lynn escorts her children to the home of their father’s mistress so the whole brood can take a gander at the “woman that’s burning down our family tree.” Lynn delivers her usual repertoire—drinking, cheating men, and keeping the faith—but at seventy, she’s never sounded better. (Available now)

When the hippest art museum in town throws a concert in a sculpture garden under the summer sun we have only one option: Rejoice. If you’re going through Walker withdrawal, this year’s Rock the Garden street party will be therapeutic as an event where the “without walls” concept is in full effect. For the last decade, former Talking Heads front man David Byrne has explored the music of traditional cultures from around the globe, reinterpreting the sounds through modern electronics and his own eccentric sensibilities. Check out Rei Momo for a great example of the Byrne world style, or pick up his new album, Grown Backwards, with the Tosca Strings (who’ll back him up in concert), to see where he’s headed. Opening act Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra will get bodies swaying with deep afro-funk sounds in the tradition of Fela Kuti. Did we mention it’s outside? (612) 375-7622, www.walkerart.org

Come for the scat, stay for the ballads. And be taken in by one of the most confident voices in modern jazz singing everything from Brazilian bossa nova to seventies soft rock à la Cat Stevens. While specializing in a Midwestern mix of blues, folk and pop, the versatile Allyson also borrows from genres the world over and makes them her own. She coos with an elegant yet robust style that is the stuff goosebumps are made from; add to that an angelic onstage presence unmatched by her peers. Her latest, Wild For You (out June 8), is a showcase of reworked seventies pop classics from Stevens, Elton John, and Roberta Flack, among others. 1010 Nicollet Ave. S., Minneapolis; (612) 332-1010; www.dakotacooks.com

One of these days, k.d. lang is going to run out of musical forms to conquer. Her latest success is as a vocalist working with America’s top symphonies; this month, she’ll do a one-night stand with the tuxedoed Minnesota Orchestra, not one of whose members lower-case their initials. After the Orchestra struts its stuff through selections from the American songbook, lang will take the stage for the remainder of the program, and under the baton of conductor Charles Floyd, is expected to offer renditions of “Crying,” “Don’t Smoke in Bed,” “Helpless,” and “Constant Craving,” among others. Moving on to new territory, her album due in July, Hymns from the 49th Parallel, covers fellow Canadian songwriters like Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, and Neil Young. 1111 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis; (612) 371-5656; www.minnesotaorchestra.org