Author: rakemag

What’s not to love about this premise? After mucking around in America’s economic malaise for the last half-dozen years, during which time she produced the best-selling Nickel and Dimed and Bait and Switch, one of our most astute social commentators turns her attention to a more cheering subject: communal ecstasy. Such eruptions throughout history, Ehrenreich contends, are as much a product of biology as culture, and through her examinations of everything from ancient revels, revolutionary fervor, rock-and-roll rebellion, and the bandwagon histrionics of sports fans, she demonstrates the innate human need for mass expressions of shared happiness.

For those of a certain age and sensibility, the truly modern American version of John Ruskin’s pathetic fallacy is the mix tape. Who hasn’t spent hours trying to create the perfect soundtrack for friends, family, lovers, or for those purely personal moments of heartache and exultation? Longtime rock critic Rob Sheffield has a particularly keen understanding of music’s ability to tap into our deepest emotional reservoirs and expose vulnerabilities, memories, and all manner of scar tissue. Love is a Mix Tape is his wrenching and frequently funny account of life and love, as viewed through a batch of songs—part scrim, part security blanket—that provided comfort and catharsis in a very dark time.

Raban is a marvel, moving with apparent ease between fiction projects, adventurous travel narratives, and experiential and richly observed reportage. Though more widely known for his non-fiction work—Bad Land: An American Romance, his account of the history and heartbreak of eastern Montana, won a National Book Critics Circle Award—Raban’s fiction is always informed by his own rambles in the world. It is also full of distressingly topical questions—most creepily so in Surveillance, his latest novel.

With its sleek interior, this slip of a restaurant feels like it should be wedged in with the boutiques of SoHo, not South Minneapolis. Among standard cold starters is the pleasant surprise of Poke Ahi, cubes of tuna marinated in chili oil and topped with a quail egg yolk. On the hot side, the grilled squid with ginger is subtle and refreshing while the Japanese Bagel Balls (tempura fried salmon and cream cheese) are a fun step up from Philly rolls. But the rolls have it, especially the Three Wise Guys with tuna, salmon, and yellow tail; or the Sunrise, wrapped in mango with a touch of mint. 4741 Chicago Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-823-5254; www.bagusushi.com www.bagusushi.com

Triple Rock has become known for its bustling brunch (a big achievement for a nightclub—who wants to return to the scene of the crime in daylight?), and for the quality of its entire menu, from wings to scratch-made soups to the Cook’s Revenge (in which said cook serves whatever he feels like). But most fantastic is the fact that it offers vegetarian and vegan options on most of that menu. That’s right: You can order vegan pancakes and veggie sausage. Or snack on vegan sloppy Joes with vegan chili cheese fries. Or try the best vegan mac and cheese in the state. And why not wash it all down with a vegan White Russian? 629 Cedar Ave., Minneapolis; 612-333-7499; www.triplerocksocialclub.com www. triplerocksocialclub.com

Also known as Casper & Runyon’s Nook, this neighborhood hangout sits quietly across from Cretin-Derham Hall High School and has everything a great burger joint should have: the clutter of local memorabilia, the bar games, the friendly and sincere staff. It also cranks out burgers that rival Matt’s Juicy Lucys across the river. In fact, with its generous amount of cheese hidden within, the Nookie, as it’s called, earns a place among the top three burgers of the Twin Cities. You can take the debate from here. 492 Hamline Ave. S., St. Paul; 651-698-4347

Where does the concert end and the play begin? This project blurs the lines by imagining the farewell concert of a fictional, 70s-era troubadour who’s off to join the Sufi Brotherhood—just as soon as she loses the FBI agents on her tail. This is the latest dream-pop musical-theater creation from New York artist Cynthia Hopkins—her Accidental Nostalgia, which appeared during last year’s Out There series, was such a hit that the Walker commissioned this sequel shortly thereafter. Once again, and much to the delight of music fans, Hopkins’ band Gloria Deluxe plays an integral role. This five-piece outfit recently opened for Patti Smith and David Byrne (and can easily stand on its own); the group admirably amalgamates garage rock, alt-country, Billie Holiday-style jazz, and cabaret into melodic heartbreakers. 612-375-7600; www.walkerart.org

This is a simple, modern fable about an otherwise-normal country girl who happens to have been born with a marsupial pouch. When a mysterious theft happens in her west Texas community, can you guess whom the townsfolk come after? They won’t be offering six-dollar cocktails in the lobby during this show’s intermissions, but we suspect it will entertain adults, nonetheless. For starters, the production is layered with gorgeous arrangements of bluegrass and country-blues. What’s more, the tale was penned by the Americana-obsessed Lisa D’Amour, a New York playwright and local favorite who lived here for a while, thanks to support from the Playwrights’ Center. You might remember her quirky, vaudeville-inspired work Nita & Zita, which played in 2005 at Walker Art Center. 612-874-0400; www.childrenstheatre.org

Nautilus scored a big hit last season with its lavish production of Man of La Mancha; now, the artistic team behind that show has poured its energies into another ambitious project. Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel is a heavy artifact to unload from the vault, to be sure—not least because of what many see as its rationalizing of domestic violence: Remember the slap that “felt like a kiss”? However, Nautilus artistic director Ben Krywosz is more interested in exploring the subtle, cultural jabs in Hammerstein’s writing as well as the beauty of Rodgers’ scores. And with the versatile local singer-actors Bradley Greenwald and Jennifer Baldwin Peden in the lead roles, this production is bound to be another of Nautilus’ delights. 612-340-1725; www.southerntheater.org

Peppered with tidbits about Peggy Guggenheim’s associates—from the favorite artists she patronized, like Man Ray and Marcel Duchamp, to her friend Samuel Beckett, with whom she had a fling—this new one-woman play functions more as celebrity showcase than biography. Played here by Sally Wingert, a dynamo often seen on the Guthrie stage, the twentieth century’s most famous art collector-heiress is depicted as a reckless, vulgar chain-smoker who drinks and sleeps her way around mid-century Paris. 651-647-4315; www.mnjewishtheatre.org