rakemag

When name-checking guitar gods, technical show-offs like Michael Hedges, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Preston Reed, and Joe Satriani come to mind. But one would be hard-pressed to find a young lady among their ranks, someone who spent her formative years noodling away in string-based obsession. Until Kaki King came along, that is. This twenty-five-year-old is that … Read more

The Flaming Lips’ Wayne Coyne would make a fine old-time carnival barker, beckoning us into a world of wonder and weirdness, dressed in his white suit and flanked by people dressed like stuffed animals. So it is not ironic at all that the Lips are playing the State Fair. Their latest, At War With the … Read more

Capping off the populist Sommerfest series is the catchiest darn opera ever written. Taking the role of the titular seductress in this semi-staged production is the smoky-eyed American mezzo-soprano Angela Horn (pictured on next page), a New York-based singer who’s regarded nationwide as one of the finest interpreters of the sultry Carmen character. In fact, … Read more

As the menu at Café Brenda has long made clear, Brenda Langton was one of the first Twin Cities chefs to recognize the value of local food producers. Her newest venture, Spoonriver, is a stylish, next-generation expression of those ideals. Brunch after the farmers market might consist of tea-poached eggs or a garden leek omelette, … Read more

Not quite ice cream but more than a snow cone, Italian ices are smooth concoctions flavored with purees of fruits like mango and strawberry. At the new Grand Italian Ice Café, the only thing better than a root beer ice is a root beer ice with a giant scoop of custard added to it—creating what … Read more

Billed as an “American comedy,” Steven Dietz’s eerie, densely packed play premiered last fall at the esteemed Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago. Last of the Boys contends with the specter of the Vietnam War and takes place in a present-day trailer park that, appropriately, sits on a toxic dump site; there, a vet is still wrestling … Read more

An old-fashioned version of this whole desert-island charade would have had author, television writer, and occasional standup comic Merrill Markoe bringing along her “collected works of Robert Benchley,” because “his silly rage at minutiae combined with great word usage is both a comfort and a reminder to have perspective.” But nowadays, the people who play … Read more

Often regarded as Tom Stoppard’s best play, this production is a—perhaps the—high point in the Guthrie’s 2006-07 season. A masterpiece of wit that also grapples with romantic love and the havoc wrought by extramarital affairs, the story centers around Henry, a successful playwright often thought to be a stand-in for Stoppard. Henry has just penned … Read more