Author: rakemag

Easy one. Meet me at Raking Through Books tonight, please. This is my employer’s monthly happy hour book club, always at Kieran’s, and always featuring some sort of arts and culture “celebs” talking about books, reading from books, hell, sometimes they even read from their own books. Tonight, our hosts will be two fantastic local stage performers who also happen to be African American: Sonja Parks and T. Mychael Rambo. They’ll be reading from and discussing “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” a well-known book written in the era of the Harlem Renaissance by African-American writer, Zora Neale Hurston. Some of you might’ve seen the made-for-TV movie by the same name last year? The script was co-penned by Suzan Lori-Parks. It starred Halle Berry. Big up. Lots of reasons to relish a drink in those last few sentences.

If you checked out the recent issue of Speakeasy, the Loft Literary Center’s literary magazine, you read some interesting stuff writers had to say about “technology and the soul.” How timely for Speakeasy. Because after the Summer 2006 issue, this magazine will be strictly an online venture. I’ve enjoyed Speakeasy so I’ll be sad to see the print-thing go. These days, I’m finding it more and more difficult to curl up with my laptop. I’ve been craving lots of tangible magazines, books, and newsprint–stuff I can carry to the park or coffeehouse in my fist, read in the sunlight, even use as a coaster if I see fit. I’m interested to know what writers think about our consuming mass quantities of media online, and whether or not that affects (or depletes) our souls. My New York Times didn’t show up yesterday, for example. And so I had to read the entire Sunday Styles section online. That seemed to have had some sort of soul-sucking effect. In any case, Speakeasy is sponsoring a discussion on “technology and the soul” tonight. I’m doubly excited because they’ve invited the guy from the cubicle next door, Brad Zellar. Also on the roster: Pastor Siri Dale, Bart Schneider, Jan Spreeman. Should be good. It’s in Stillwater. Now go.

This weekend is all about festivals. The Cinco de Mayo Fiesta is all about Mariachi, salsa, and the lowrider car show and hydraulic showdown. The May Day Parade and Festival is all about puppets and maypoles. Am I missing anything? I’m all about being comprehensive.

Last time I ventured to give my opinion on the modern state of opera, there was a little bit of a backlash. It’s sort of understandable, I guess. I have been accused of being a dilettante in this area, which could be something of the truth. I don’t have a master’s in voice or anything like that. I didn’t go to Indiana University, nor did I go to St. Olaf. After sitting through a four-hour Wagner, I won’t stay after for the post-show discussion. Nor will I show up early to the pre-show talk on the mezzanine.

But here’s the thing: I really like opera. And therefore, I’d like to remind members of the non-profit establishment that I am your friend.

Here’s a trend I neglected to mention in that old opera piece: The semi-staged opera, generally put on by orchestras in want of cashing-in on the opera trend. Gone are the elaborate set pieces. Stayed are the orchestrations and world-class singers, even some of the enormous costumes. The Minnesota Orchestra’s been doing this all the time–with Bernstein, Puccini, and Humperdinck. Next August, they’ll do it with Carmen, which is just about everybody’s favorite opera these days. But tonight and through the weekend, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra is doing it with my favorite opera: Cosi fan Tutti. And I don’t care what the Mozart and Italian scholars of the world have to say about this one–thematically, this is an incredibly ridiculous and misogynistic piece, of marginal merit! But the music is gorgeous, and so I continue to listen. The opera house is not a good place to resolve one’s feminist beliefs anyway.

So my best friend periodically changes the signature on her emails, generally tossing in a quote or two she finds relevant. Before I go on, there are two things about her I must tell you upfront: She’s a foodie, and she is a trained opera singer. Here’s her best quote of all time: “Never eat more than you can lift.”-Miss Piggy. And this is her current quote, and here’s where we get back to the original subject: “People are wrong when they say opera is not what it used to be. It is what it used to be. That is what’s wrong with it.”-Noel Coward

Never thought I’d say this but I concur with Coward. Now that there’s renewed interest in opera, I think it’s great that there are these few, no-fuss micro-trends trying to reclaim the spirit and relevance of the operatic voice. And let’s be clear here, this is all about the voice.

I have no idea what to expect of tonight’s Shiek’s Singers Reunion. Somewhere along the way this event entered my consciousness, probably because of some press release that slid across my desk, with great velocity, and into the waste-paper basket, ultimately ending up right there with the rest of ’em.

In any case, just this morning, I painted a vivid mental picture of all the elderly Judy Garland-types who constitute Shiek’s Singers, all writhing on the piano in their feathered bathrobes. But I guess I’ll never know what the real Shiek’s Singers look like, or what they’ll wear, because I have running cult tonight. I’ll have to miss it. Drat.

Postscript. A Parenthetic thought related to running and clothing: a press release came across my desk yesterday that I remember quite well. It seems that Paiva, a store that sells designer workout wear for women, is coming to the Mall of America. I just checked out the Paiva website, and it isn’t that impressive. The stock of Brooks sports bras looks no better than that at my local running store, and that hasn’t been good. But Paiva’s press release promised that the store would stock Stella McCartney for Adidas, and that stuff’s all eyeleted and gathered, with “artistic cutouts,” metal doodads, good-looking dragstrings, and shit. I’m totally there, man (at the grand opening later this month)! I’ll report back!!

My wish came true! Shutka Book of Records has been added to the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival’s “Best of Fest.” The replay happens tonight–and tonight only–at Oak Street Cinema at 9:30 p.m. Otherwise, I’ll be offering DVD rental to close friends and relatives starting next week.

Also on the “Best of Fest” roster, disappointingly: Crossing The Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul, a documentary I thought mediocre, at best. (I gave it a 2.5 in my Strib review.) There was something funny about it, though. The narrator was this German avant-headbanger dude by the name of Alexander Hacke. He had a shaggy goatee and all. A caricature! The art-rock works! However interesting Istanbul is as a city, Crossing The Bridge relied upon interviews with some annoyingly obtuse, arty musician-types, most of which couldn’t form a decipherable, concrete-sequential sentence if their lives depended upon it. The music was all right, though. And let’s be clear here: a good way to sell movies, visual art, theatrical works, books, and whatever else it is they’re being hawked to the masses these days, is to make it about popular music, without dwelling too much on the classical stuff. Of course, I could be wrong about the whole show. Crossing The Bridge was apparently so popular, it’s getting replayed twice. That’s just salt in the wounds, man!

Happy May Day! (Grumble-Grumble.) The interminable rain foiled my weekend running plans of course, although it didn’t stop me from making it Brave New Workshop way. Also swung into the Soap Factory (two opposable thumbs up for the 8x8x8 exhibition–they had felt art!) and Theatre in the Round. But I’ll report back on all that later–I mean, I report back on what I feel is worth reporting back on.

As far as today goes, I wouldn’t be a good journalist if I didn’t plug tonight’s lecture by Seth Mnookin (from Vanity Fair, dawg!! I’ve been just lovin’ that magazine as of late–even though I have been obsessively showering ever since “Tom Ford’s Hollywood”-slash-cootie-fest!). In any case, tonight’s event is brought to you by the University of Minnesota’s Silha Center for the Study of Media Ethics and Law, a fine organization. The topic: “The Customer is Always Right? The Assault on Media Impartiality from the Empowered American Consumer.” Not sure I can elaborate on that subject, for fear of pissing off our advertisers (just kidding). It sounds compelling in any case, no?