rakemag The music by this experimental jazz guitarist is so phenomenally prodigious that we’d be sick of it by now, if Frisell didn’t keep reinventing himself. He’s played with John Zorn’s jazz punk band Naked City, recorded a series of meditations on American folk standards, paid homage to Malian blues, and covered pop and rock artists … Read more
Some believe that really good barbeque is made by divine intervention. If that’s the case, then Pastor Luches Hamilton has the inner track. Working out of a tiny space adjacent to his church in St. Paul, he turns out sticky ribs and jo-jo potatoes that answer a higher calling: selling barbeque to raise funds for … Read more
No celebration of vocal excess is complete without at least one Mozart opera. This year’s Saint Paul Summer Song Festival meets that requirement by adding a film component to its annual lineup of music recitals (which features British baritone Christopher Maltman, mezzo-soprano Jennifer Larmore, and the Rose Ensemble, among others), screening Ingmar Bergman’s 1975 version … Read more
Let’s just get last weekend’s art events taken care of, shall we? Go see the Ballet of the Dolls show! I don’t know a ton about dance, but I’d venture to say that this show is pretty terrific. I’m secretly a music-head, so the thing I liked best was how the music covered the gamut … Read more
My verdict on The Elephant Man opera: worth seeing, so long as you’ve downed some espresso before hand. My random thoughts: This being a contemporary French opera, the “dialogue” seldom manages to get outside of poor Joseph Merrick’s head. Therefore, the libretto is gawd-awful, chalk-full of trite simplifications about how it must feel to be … Read more
Have ya’all heard about that insane 3-Day Walk thingamajig? It’s a fundraiser for the Susan B. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation in the form of an intense athletic event, not unlike the old AIDS Ride, for which women strap on running shoes and walk twenty miles each day for three days straight. (And many–most–of these women … Read more
Tonight: Doors Opening: A Symphony of the Dolls. This is the big opening night for The Ritz Theater in northeast Minneapolis after many, many dark years. I toured the space a while back–probably about two years ago. It then struck me as a long, cavernous room. So I’m looking forward to seeing what the Dolls … Read more
I find it so frustrating that I, on occasion, regress into these high-school speech patterns. Perhaps you can’t empathize with this little dilemma, you being so sophisticated. But that’s probably not the case, lest you be social outcast or graduate of SPA. In any case, I find I’m reverting to adolescent patois quite often these … Read more
I need a helmet to keep the bullshit from flying out of my head I always cringe just a little when I find myself agreeing with Joe Soucheray, but I guess I’m just getting older. Today he has a great column on the DeLaSalle-Nicollet Island NIMBY crowd and their attempted use of historic designation for … Read more
Coolest thing happening tonight: Rainer Maria plays the T-Rock. I’m automatically impressed by bands that take name and inspiration from poetry, especially the poetry I regard as being good. I’m similarly enamored of the poet(s) who go(es) rawk. (My waking mind recalls only Jim Carroll.) On the other hand, I’ve yet to encounter a rocker … Read more