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 … Read more
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, … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more
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 … Read more