Author: rakemag

Sam Peckinpah’s fascination with human brutality was never so blazingly controversial than this 1971 revenge thriller, starring Dustin Hoffman as a milquetoast professor who confronts his capacity for violent revenge when his wife is attacked by local hooligans. At the time, it prompted critic Pauline Kael to call him a fascist director, and it’s no less disturbing today. But it cannot be easily dismissed as exploitation; it’s too technically brilliant, and Peckinpah’s subtle and layered script refuses to give the viewer a character to safely identify with. The physical violence is, if anything, less disturbing than the emotional shocks—most infamously, a rape scene that blurs into seduction, but also because of the implied idea that killing is not just a necessary evil but an enjoyable one. Perhaps it’s an indefensible film, perhaps not. But like Hitler’s documentarian Leni Riefenstahl, Peckinpah’s ideas go deeper than the images, and demand to be met first on their own terms if they’re going to be shot down.

By far the most well-deserved Oscar of 2003, Hayao Miyazaki’s haunting anime was so far ahead of its competition in the Best Animated Feature category that it made them look like, well, cartoons. Indeed, there’s so much going on here it’s hard to absorb in one viewing. The ethereal and often weird plot follows Chihiro, a 10-year-old girl who becomes trapped in an otherworldly carnival where her parents turn in to pigs and a witch named Yubaba steals her name and puts her to hard labor. Like previous films My Neighbor Totoro and Princess Mononoke, there’s a strong current of environmentalism, most notably in the tragic figure of Okutaresama, a river god turned to walking sludge by pollution. But though it reflects its creator’s deeply felt moral views, this is no mere “message film.” Though the story’s simple enough to appeal to The Lion King’s core audience, Miyazaki’s surreal imagination and painstaking attention to detail make his work worthy of everyone’s attention.

Lucinda Williams is a stubborn lady, which has been both a blessing and a curse. She’s refused to compromise her genre-crossing, rough-edged songwriting, but it’s not easy to get ahead in country music when your influences also include Delta blues and electric-era Dylan. She’s too raw and electric for country radio and too twangy for rock airplay, sort of like the Osmonds except that in her case that meant nearly 20 years of bouncing from label to label trying to get her music released. Things have gotten a little easier since 1998’s Car Wheels on a Gravel Road hit it big, protecting her integrity with the music industry’s best armor, album sales. World will be her third album in four years, and while it doesn’t surpass Car Wheels, it does stand proudly beside it. The best songs here are smartly written, fiercely emotional and richly varied in mood. The slow croon of “Fruits of My Labor” segues into the swaggeringly sexy Stones-y crunch of “Righteously.” “Minneapolis,” a melancholy, bitter ballad about a shattered relationship, packs a punch but won’t exactly boost tourism here, thanks to lyrics like “a dozen dead roses are all that’s left in Minneapolis.” (Hey Lu, we’ve got great cross-country skiing! A vibrant theater community! Paul Magers! Give us another chance!)

Regular listeners to A Prairie Home Companion might find these songs familiar. A frequent guest and onetime music director on the show, multi-instrumentalist maestro Ostroushko wrote the songs on Red Lodge as a challenge to himself to fill a five-week stint last March with entirely new work. The 10 songs here reflect the range of his compositional skill, hitting blues, bluegrass, and Celtic with equal aplomb. He covers a comparable emotional terrain—sly swagger in “Topanga Canyon Strut,” high-stepping ebullience on the title track, the meditative mourning in his September 11 memorial that closes the album.

It’s springtime in the Twin Cities, which means touring musicians are once again willing to add us to their schedule, including the talented New England singer/songwriters Dar Williams and Melissa Ferrick. On the light side, Dar Williams, with her quirky, melancholy songs about alternative radio, therapy, and how southern California wants to be western New York; on the dark side, Melissa Ferrick tearing through her songs of unrequited love, troubled father/ daughter relationships and frogs named Freddy. Both artists are tremendous songwriters who spent most of the last decade on the folk-rock fringe and deserve to get noticed. Judging by their recent live albums, they both put on formidable shows. Cabooze, 917 Cedar Ave. S., (612) 338-6425; Pantages Theatre, 710 Hennepin Ave., (612) 339-7007

Making the world safe for jazz—that’s a full-time job these days, and no matter how hard a band or a program director or a club owner works to make jazz accessible, well, it’s always going to be a hard sell. Unless you’ve got grooves like Medeski Martin & Wood, who have somehow managed to carve out a special hipster niche, and attract the attention of the alt-rock contingent. Maybe its because they have great rock ’n’ roll instincts, maybe it’s the bebop underpinnings, maybe it’s the turntables and the remixes. Whatever it is, we’re filing our tax extensions now, giving us until August to figure it out. Pantages Theatre, 710 Hennepin Ave. , (612) 339-7007.

Over the course of a rich, long career including journeyman dues paid on cruise ships and with Ray Charles’ international touring band, Jim Rotondi’s developed a rich style on trumpet and flugelhorn that launches off from groundwork laid by predecessors such as Freddie Hubbard. After four releases on the Criss Cross jazz label, he moved to Sharp Nine for 2001’s Destination Up, on which he and his quintet smolder through a set of originals by Rotondi, trombonist Steve Davis and vibe man Joe Locke, and some nifty interpretations of older work like Herbie Hancock’s “Yams” and Irving Berlin’s “Remember.” Rotondi’s trumpet is the star of the show, but he knows how to give room to his sidemen, who come together to create a lively, warm sound. AQ, 408 St. Peter, St. Paul, (651) 292-1359, mnjazz.com

For the artists appearing in this often amazing annual touring show, utility is by no means the enemy of beauty. Clothes, jewelry, lamps and furniture, all the art on display here is functional as well as aesthetic—adhering to a tradition of handmade household art that we too easily forget about in this age of mass production. Ikea’s nice and all, but if your bedroom furniture is painstakingly hand-carved out of maple by a guy you can actually meet and shake hands with, that’s on a whole different level. Gander at the works on display here, and you won’t think of “crafts” only as stuff you make out of yarn and construction paper. Rivercentre, 175 W. Kellogg Blvd., (651) 265-4800, www.craftcouncil.org

Lest ye think worthy art only comes from the art havens of our central cities, Minnesota Watercolor Society’s annual juried show will set you straight. This 20th spring exhibit will be the first one in their spacious new home in Minnetonka. Nosh on a muffin from the attached cafe and immerse yourself in the year’s best work from MWS members, vibrantly colored and diverse works that prove that although they work with watercolors, they’re not wet behind the ears. The artists chosen best in show will be honored at a reception on April 10. Minnetonka Center For the Arts, 2240 North Shore Drive, Wayzata, (952) 473-7361, www.minnesotawatercolors.com

Opening receptions, 7-9 p.m. April 26 and 1-4 p.m. April 27.
A dual exhibit from New Mexican artist Nora Naranjo-Morse, and her onetime student Henry Sosin, potter and gallery proprietor. A Tewa Pueblo Indian whose work has been shown at the White House, Naranjo-Morse is one of those many-splendored artists whose ability to work in many disciplines prompts us to envious appreciation. Besides the sculpture and printmaking on display here, she’s a published poet and video producer. So much for “those who can’t, teach.” She’s profiled alongside the likes of Roy Liechtenstein and David Bowie on a forthcoming documentary on creativity by 42-Up director Michael Apted. A doctor for 30 years, Sosin turned to pottery after retirement and has now been immersed in his art full-time for nearly a decade. His surgeon’s hands give him a deft touch in the complex construction of his pots, which draw their style from ancient forms used by Anasazi and Middle Eastern cultures. Sosin Studio Gallery, 1231 Washington Street N.E., (612) 378-0581, www.sosinstudiogallery.com