We grownups are very strange, indeed, and often fail to see what’s obvious, important, or interesting. So posits Antoine de Saint-Exupery’s classic tale of a world that’s best seen through the eyes of a child. We see Jeune Lune’s persistently youthful artistic director Dominique Serrand as something of a little prince himself–after all, he has … Read more
Dance without music would fall pretty flat, but it seems that many modern choreographers are afraid to make bold choices in this area, lest it overshadow their own work. Not Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker. The last time the Belgian choreographer came to town, in 1999, she and her company worked with Steve Reich’s thunderous composition … Read more
Every Saturday, James McManus’ poker column appears in the New York Times. An odd gig, if you can get it–and even ten years ago, McManus, a novelist and teacher, would have been completely unqualified. However, in 1999 Harper’s magazine hired him to write about the World Series of Poker, and thus began his obsession with … Read more
You have to appreciate how the rock ‘n’ roll landmark at Seventh and First has witnessed a total transformation of its surroundings–Target Center, cheesy nightclubs, Block E, the freaking Hard Rock Cafe–while keeping the wrecking ball off its own hallowed but scummy walls. For a few weeks last year, it even looked as if First … Read more
It seems like there are a number of rock icons these days who, if they haven’t burned out, haven’t really faded away, either. Take Devo’s Mark Mothersbaugh. For one thing, the most influential of new wave bands never actually broke up; Devo toured again just this year. And Mothersbaugh is constantly working on new music, … Read more
Our century has been remarkably efficient in the manufacture of wastelands. In Uptown you can still experience the sort of passageways down which Mr. Eliot smelt steaks, but nowadays they seem to have almost a period charm. It is the same reading about the Algiers described by Albert Camus; the delicious colonial loucheness of the … Read more
Why rent when you can own? At my neighborhood shop in Shanghai, well-ordered racks are full of the latest Hollywood releases, the Hollywood catalog dating back to the mid-1960s, and a middling selection of Chinese films and television series, most of which sell for between eighty-five cents and two bucks. The majority have English and … Read more
— People are talking about whether Rev. Randolph (Randy) Staten will run for his old seat representing North Minneapolis in the Minnesota House of Representatives. If he did, and won, he would become Minnesota’s version of former Washington mayor and convicted felon Marion Berry: a political player who went through a very public crash-and-burn, followed … Read more
Pat was my boss at the diner. I’d say she was around fifty years old, but I don’t know for sure. That’s just not the kind of question you ask your boss. Donnie the dishwasher was thirty-five, with the mental capacity of an adolescent. Then again, how many teens do you know who could work … Read more
There are happy gift baskets, and there are sad gift baskets. The sad ones are given by well-meaning souls who see shrink-wrapped fruit and think, “Oh joy!” Oftentimes these come year after year, stuffed with salamis and tissue paper, implying nothing other than, “Happy holidays, have a snack.” Worse yet is the revelation, upon stopping … Read more