rakemag

This could be the most anticipated album of the year among Rakish readers. Let’s refresh our screens on Ms. Mann, shall we? When we last heard from her, she had conquered the world with her brilliant album Bachelor No. 2 — a wonderful, self-produced record that provided the inspiration for (and ultimately the soundtrack to) … Read more

Thanks in part to the industry-wide implosion of the alt-rock genre they rode in on, Soul Asylum’s days as platinum rock gods are almost certainly behind them. We get the impression they find this to be a relief: no more snarky stories about Dave Pirner’s hair or celeb girlfriends, no more carping about the lack … Read more

Most of us around the office have now admitted that our first “Stadium Rock” concert experience took place at the State Fairgrounds. Not as cool as seeing Prince in the Main Room, or the Hüskers at Duffy’s to be sure. But hardly worth being embarrassed about anymore. In fact, the more we think about it … Read more

Okay, we’re playing a trick here. Guster actually plays warm-up to John Mayer, the singer/songwriter responsible for “No Such Thing”—an atrocious piece of bland, radio-friendly pablum you probably know as the “I-wanna run-through-the-halls-of-my-high school-and-scream-at-the-top-of-my-lungs” song. We can’t explain this ditty’s popularity, and we won’t hold it against the various local radio stations that insist on … Read more

Sad, scruffy lions held at bay with whips, embarrassed elephants performing pratfalls for a peanut. Let’s face it, old-style circuses seem fairly tawdry these days. Not so with Cirque du Soleil, which breathes new life into the big top by focusing on its dazzling array of human stunt artists—aerial acrobatics and daring trapeze-work, leavened with … Read more

Victor Hugo’s sprawling, tragic novel was an instant sensation when it was first published in 1862, and its star has never really dimmed. It’s been put on film many times, as early as 1909. But its greatest popular success came in the 1980s, when Parisian songwriters Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg decided to break out … Read more

Here’s 18 reasons to stay out of the sun and revel in dark places and icy paranoia. We start with a couple of little-known Bogart flicks, High Sierra and Dead Reckoning , that might be of interest to Bogey fanatics but are mostly little-known for good reason. But the other four films are much better … Read more

There are few surer cures for a child-size case of crankiness than a sunny afternoon in Como Park; if you need a further excuse, this day’s-worth of traditional Japanese holiday fun is a sure bet. There’s plenty of visually spectacular entertainment to immerse them in, from taiko drumming by Theater Mu and martial arts to … Read more

Sometimes we’re struck by the realization that most of the world’s problems would be solved if we simply paid attention to the right people. Children’s Home Society is one of the great institutions of a benevolent society, focusing on the only real hope we have for the future—our children. Dating back to the 19th century … Read more

The word genius gets tossed around too often—I myself used it recently to praise a particularly delicious hamburger—but when you’re talking about Pablo Picasso, it’s the only thing to call him. “Guernica” aside, he worked in so many disciplines and reinvented his approach so many times, it’s easy to overlook just how profound and wide-ranging … Read more