I conducted a little poll among the usual crowd—meaning Ben, Pete, and Don. I asked them what they thought about the body-hair issue. I was gratified by the wide variety of answers I got. (OK, here’s your mixed-metaphor alert: Buckle up, we’re going for broke on this one.) Pete says his wife likes a completely … Read more
Every small town used to have its hip record store, run by college dropouts who were looking for a volume discount on punk rock and one-hitters. The Lost Chord down in Mankato is where we first came across the Church, twenty years ago. They were Australia’s answer to the Psychedelic Furs and Bauhaus, hidden away … Read more
Reports are sunny regarding David Bowie’s newest album, Reality. It’s a good thing. The Thin White Duke’s career (gawd, we always hated that sobriquet; gawd, we hate that word, “sobriquet”) has been marked by long lazy periods where his butt was comfortably installed on its nest of laurels. But once a decade or so, he … Read more
Maybe Governor Pawlenty’s idea of reinstating the death penalty in Minnesota will spur young people into some political interest, if not action. My stepdaughter was certainly disturbed when her research on the issue turned up the facts of the last Minnesotan execution in 1906, which didn’t go well. The hangman miscalculated the necessary calibration between … Read more
Perpetually touring Ani DiFranco hits the stage with a few of her favorite f-words—“folk,” “feminism,” and undoubtedly one more—as she continues her winter tour after a much-deserved monthlong hiatus. Intimate venues have always been DiFranco’s preference, and the Northrop will be a fitting platform from which to unveil tracks from her latest album, Endangered Species, … Read more
We’re very excited to have Schuur back in Minneapolis. Through her decorated singing career, we’ve come to expect her to trot out the jazz and pop standards—from big-band arrangements to intimate nightclub combos. But her third record came out last summer, and it was a wonderful departure, pairing her with the one and only Barry … Read more
If the Midwestern inferiority complex has a lot to do with our location in flyover country, imagine what it must be like to live in Poland, traditional butt of the “dumb” jokes of nations thousands of miles away. But there are other similiarities, too—the wide expanses of plains, for instance, or the starkly utilitarian architecture … Read more
I swear to heaven that it sounded like a good idea at the time. Hypnotized by HGTV, we took a perfectly good kitchen (if not our aesthetic ideal), ripped it out by the seams, and have for the last four months given a painful, bloody Lamaze-style birth to the placement of each pantry cupboard, each … Read more
One can hardly recall the name James McNeill Whistler without thinking that he was a bit of a mama’s boy. In a fate similar to that of Norman Bates, Whistler the Artist has almost been overshadowed by Whistler the Painting, popularly known as “Whistler’s Mother” but officially titled “Arrangement in Grey and Black.” Whistler rarely … Read more
When it comes to art, we’re never quite sure where the line is between a reading, a recital, a performance, and an exhibition. After sixteen years, we’re beginning to realize that maybe we’re looking at it all wrong. What better way to prepare for the Walker’s imminent yearlong shutdown than by reminding yourself that they’re … Read more