Author: rakemag

I’m off for a four-day hiatus, dear horticulture converts. But before I check out early for the week, I thought I’d leave you with these Wednesday through Sunday highlights:

Technically, I’ll be in or near the twin towns to do stuff. So, one item on the to-do list is Torch Theatre’s reprise of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, which won raving reviews pretty much all around during its first run in July. The show reopens tomorrow evening.

On Sunday, my friends and certain family members will converge on Chisago City, where there’s a fruit winery celebrating the release of its rhubarb wine. Now, before you turn up your nose and get all hoity-toity about the prospect of drinking fruit wine, or about the phenomenon of operating a winery in the northern exurbs for that matter, please remind yourself that living in Minnesota–in Minneapolis, in particular–ought to be an exercise in humility, for heaven’s sake. We must make kind with our unpretentious surroundings, even when it comes to swilling hooch. And besides, I went to a similar such event at St. Croix Vineyards last fall. And although I could barely choke down the stuff they were serving, there was some live jazz, a pet goat. My friends and I made a picnic of the deal, and I remember it as being an idyllic day.

My favorite thing about the fair is NOT machinery hill. Nor is it the exotic animals (i.e., the sad looking giraffe whose head doesn’t quite fit under the big top). It’s not the stunt skateboarders and BMX bikers, not the corndogs and cheese curds, nor is it the ejection seat. And don’t get me wrong; I rather like each of these things. It’s just that I realllllllly love, for whatever reason, the state fair fine art show. Perhaps it’s because my friend Adam made it in a few years back, and I can still remember his self-portrait as being the most starkly beautiful thing in a room full of mediocrity. There’s always a gem or two in that show. Last year it was a photographer’s sideways glance at a golden retriever. A while back, it was the half-finished painting/drawing of a cow, as done by an artist who passed away earlier that summer. (Drat! I don’t remember his name!)

There is plenty of sentimental work to be had at the fair–which I find to be a nice respite from all the emotionally detached work I see at the galleries I normally visit. Perhaps this is because out state is hugely represented in the show, and folks out there aren’t bound by the same aesthetic fashions as we city-dwellers. I always suspected that Adam got in because his painting represented a purely visceral, and highly emotional scavenge for beauty–for love, even. He painted it after having an incredibly invasive craniotomy; and the painting, I suppose, was a lament for the person lost. But ultimately what he found was a thing of beauty and worth. Or at least that’s what I saw when I looked at the painting.

There are plenty-o-artists hanging around the fine arts building. If you listen closely, you can hear some of ’em grumbling about the jury process and all its out-state favoritism. On the other hand, another great thing to listen for is the reaction being had to the art. (Adam’s “Self Portrait after Surgery” won an inspired “harrumph” or two!) Surely this place is worthy of some Overheardinminneapolis.com lurkers!

Also of note: Hopkins Center for the Arts is hosting a state fair overflow exhibition. You won’t get to browse alongside the corndog-fed outlanders. But perhaps you see this as good thing.

All right, it’s the season finale of the Walker Art Center’s music and movies in the park series… and because Low will be playing, you can be sure there’ll be a, uh, party. Or at least something resembling a party… I mean, there’ll certainly be a lot of folks out in the park to see this band tonight, including myself, probably, but I’ll have to stop over during my evening run, as I’ve been slacking on my marathon training and can no longer afford to skip a day of running. Once the sun sets, on the big screen: Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn star in The Philadelphia Story. See Peter Schilling’s page to school up on the associated trivia.

Last Friday I was walking down the avenue–Riverside Avenue, to be exact. I was, at the time, admiring the marquee at the old Viking Bar, which read “Gone Fishing”; and I’d remarked to the boyfriend about that. But, because he’d never been to the place, I started going on about how much I’d always liked it there, and how sad I was to see the place go. Mike, the guy who owns the Viking, and who’d taken it over from his father years before, was walking by just then and he must’ve overheard me saying something nice. He invited us in.

The boyfriend was given a beer. I was kindly given a root beer for being a teetotaler. We were then told stories about how the smoking ban had hurt the place, ultimately driving it out of business… And how angrily Mike had responded when he heard a couple of KARE 11 announcers bantering about the Viking Bar’s closure during the next morning’s news. (Mike was still there, with the TV on, cleaning up during the broadcast.) Mike said the newscasters were speculating about crime having driven the bar out of business, something he insisted wasn’t true… Nevertheless, he said, he has since received an outpouring of love from friends and old regulars. He’d been cleaning the place up. He hoped to reopen.

But, for now, Jackson’s Juke Joint, a regular Viking Bar happening, has skipped over to the Eagle Bar. In fact, Randy Weeks and The Front Porch Swingin’ Liquore Pigs will play a concert, celebrating the new Weeks CD release, there tonight.

On Saturday, I plan to stop by the Hexagon Bar to catch High On Stress. I’ve never seen or heard these guys play before. But I went to college with the guitar/keys/harps/vocal player, Ben “Country” Baker. He was a Chinese Language and Literature student back then. (He helped spawn a hunger strike over the program’s under-funding, remember?) He was also a guy with a passion for truck driving songs–and it wasn’t at all ironic. He left a permanent mark on my musical preferences by playing Red Sovine’s “Teddy Bear” track (something I remembered my dad playing) just before switching to The Dead Milkmen. I used to go down to Jitter’s, back when it was downtown, to catch Ben’s band, Martin Melville, twang away. My favorite song, I can still remember, was a catchy one called “King Of The Country”–an homage to the tradition of truck driving songs.

Ben was a very close friend back in those days, and I’m very sorry to have lost touch with him. So, I guess I’ll see him on Saturday!

Two outdoor concerts happening today, which I’ll recommend, with feeling, since the window of opportunity is closing on these things: On my side of the river, out in the courtyard at the Mill City Musuem, there’s Desdamona (gee, I remember when she was just a wee thing at the Artist Quarter’s open mic) and The New Congress–a “neo-soul” band whose praises I can sing (even if not any of their songs) since the bass player’s girlfriend works here at The Rake. Just yesterday she was bragging about the band winning a “Single of the Year” honor at the L.A. Music Awards.

Across the river, the Minnesota Museum of American Art’s Patio Nights party doubles as Gallery Grooves. (This means there’ll be plenty of gratis wine ‘n cheese, in case you didn’t immediately catch my drift.) Starting at 8, there’ll be live performances by Kill The Vultures and Chill 7, as well as some fire dancing (gasp!). But the thing I love most about these parties is how, at least in spirit, they celebrate the best of the AMPERS radio network. These under-funded community stations are in a struggle, you know… But every Saturday morning, in particular, I thank heavens Phil Nusbaum and the Bluegrass Review are still around! Another one of AMPERS’ finest–Kevin Barnes, also from Jazz 88/KBEM–will be there tonight spinning some tunes.

I’m going to venture across enemy lines here (not really…), and refer you to Jim Walsh’s post about the First Avenue HayDay documentary that’s screening tonight as the kickoff for Sound Unseen. I mean, Walsh was there, man… Me, during the First Avenue heyday, well, I was a fourth grade nothing kicking about on my Huffy bicycle. So, tonight then: there’s the concert footage-crammed screening at the Riverview, for one. Two: there’s an apres-party at the Hex, starring “Capes N’ Tates” (wink-wink) as well as that Wednesday night stalwart, DJ Jake Rudh.

IFP (Independent Feature Project, d’uh) is throwing itself a lil’ soiree this evening. It’s a fundraiser for the organization–which is dedicated to promoting the work, locally, of independent screenwriters, filmmakers, and photographers. But it’ll only set you back about fifteen bucks, so it’s cheap as benefit events go. Expect to be fed, watered, and entertained by 1) IFP’s currently running Ken Olson photography exhibition and 2) a screening of several short flicks, including the best picks from this year’s 48 Hour Film Festival.

Only worthwhile happening tonight: the music and movies in the park event, this time with Vicious Vicious and a certain flick called Adam’s Rib. The new film playing over at the Bell is interesting–a documentary called Beauty Academy of Kabul, about women studying cosmetology in post-Taliban Afghanistan.