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Personality conflicts and petty infighting have killed so many great bands that Doug Martsch was probably on to something when he decided to form a group that would occasionally shed its members, like a molting snake. With his revolving cast of players, the founder of Built to Spill created a consistent sound marked by spaced-out, … Read more

A whole day of live, outdoor, Django Reinhardt-style gypsy jazz? Used to be such things simply did not happen around here. More unusual still, Uptown Row is not a new music club, but rather one of the upstart retail/residential developments changing the face of West Lake Street. Gypsy jazz, which blends American swing and Parisian … Read more

To celebrate its twentieth year of craft-brewing quality barley pop, the esteemed St. Paul brewery is serving the best brew in town and inviting a bunch of great homegrown bands out to Harriet Island to watch you drink it. Worth the price of admission alone is a rare Suburbs reunion and an appearance by Richard … Read more

Rollins turns seventy-six this month, but he’s not one to spend his golden years reminiscing; he’ll leave fans and scholars to ponder over his younger days, when he created the definitive sound of 50s jazz with Thelonious Monk, John Coltrane, and Max Roach. Instead, he’s on to new things, including an album, Sonny, Please, that … Read more

Life in Russia has always been the best of times and the worst of times, inspiring a national malady of excessive melodrama. On the bright side, this sadness-as-a-way-of-life inspired generations of composers to turn political turmoil and social strife into richly layered music shot through with adrenaline and a surprising, resilient joy. Violin superstar Joshua … Read more

Walk into this cavernous Chinese restaurant in Richfield and you’ll lose all sense of self-importance. There’s no prime seating for players, no celebrity chef to beckon—you are just one among the lucky masses. Sitting down, you’ll be further humbled by the quantities of dim sum brought to your table by smiling and friendly servers. Shrimp … Read more

If you work downtown, this place is the ideal escape for lunch. Tucked into the fabulous new Guthrie Theater, Level Five’s long, narrow room with dark glass walls is like a tonic for those subjected to fluorescent office lighting. And then, just as your hunched shoulders begin relaxing, the food comes. The local, seasonal menu … Read more

Dufner’s humbly makes a fantastic sandwich. Located in an unsexy Plymouth strip mall, it’s the destination for anyone looking for something beyond the average sub. First of all, the breads are fresh. And moving on from the basic deli menu, which includes tasty homemade soups, are serious offerings like the grilled salami hoagie with Swiss … Read more

Michel Gondry has used his camera to view the world with an inquisitive and child-like vision in features like Human Nature and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which he collaborated on with writer Charlie Kaufman. The Science of Sleep, in which the Frenchman also took on screenwriting duties, is another exercise in topsy-turvy reality. … Read more

“God will forgive them. He’ll forgive them and allow them into heaven. I can’t allow that.” So begins Shane Meadows’ haunting and violent revenge thriller, Dead Man’s Shoes. When a British soldier returns to his backwater Midlands village to find his mentally challenged brother has been violated by a gang of local goons, he takes … Read more