You’ll remember Mark Mothersbaugh as the leader of Devo, the New Wave band with the red plastic ziggurat hats who stormed MTV with clever synth-pop songs like “Whip It” and “Girl U Want.” Though the band is semi-dormant, Mothersbaugh has continued to produce new work at a jealousy-inspiring pace. He and his bandmates stay busy … Read more
If you go to a movie at the Heights Theater and there’s a man in front blocking your view of the screen, check to see if he’s playing a pipe organ. If so, he might be Karl Eilers. He’s one of three organists who perform on weekends and during silent-film screenings on the Heights’ lovingly … Read more
I am upstairs in a dilapidated building. The room is empty and exudes a sense of its age. Wood floorboards and cracked plaster are coated with dust. Late afternoon sun pours through windows that nearly fill one wall, while their grime casts odd shadows. Crouching low, I’m holding some loose cardboard-thin pieces of the floor. … Read more
In a typical “opposites attract” love story, the clash factor usually serves to fan the flames of torrid passion. They fight, they pine, they end up in bed. Repeat until one of them dies. Nothing is quite this simple in Anne Tyler’s reality. The Minneapolis-born author’s sixteenth novel, The Amateur Marriage, focuses on the Antons, … Read more
What an impressive debut! Disaffected Civil War vet Kane drifts aimlessly into a job on an Arctic vessel called the Narthex, where he discovers that his crewmates are a collection of eccentrics, murderers, and freaks (the engineer even has three hands). The purpose of the voyage is obscure and mysterious, but it has something to … Read more
Here we go again. A young, white, blond-haired blue-eyed woman is abducted, presumably by some dark-skinned nefarious person. The media play swells into hyper, almost orgiastic über-coverage. The military gets drafted to search for the damsel in distress, and, in the latest round, the governor calls for the death penalty and holds candlelight vigils. Excuse … Read more
It’s not a trend we favor, but there’s a notable tendency these days for authors to turn their swords on each other in the name publicizing themselves. It probably started with that insufferable Jonathan Franzen, whose open sneer at Oprah’s Book Club was largely directed at the authors she chose. Then there’s New Republic critic … Read more
Award-winning local author Benitez has found much inspiration in her dual Latin American and Midwestern heritage, and her books have a way of persuading you to cheer for both sides of the story. Her latest, Night of the Radishes, ought to please fans of her earlier, critically acclaimed novels, like The Weight of All Things. … Read more
The history of the 1804 Lewis and Clark expedition, which first revealed much of the interior of the continent to white Americans, has been covered quite thoroughly in recent years by both Ken Burns and Stephen Ambrose. Brian Hall takes a slightly different approach to the material in I Should Be Extremely Happy in Your … Read more
A seventies doll made to look like Mrs. Beasley,A Victorian soldier whose joints move quite easily, Batman, The Matrix, and Lord of the Rings,These are a few of our favorite things.Wonders small and smaller are on display at the History Center in this exhibit detailing the social history, growing popularity, and production of those posable, … Read more