Category: Article

Over the course of a rich, long career including journeyman dues paid on cruise ships and with Ray Charles’ international touring band, Jim Rotondi’s developed a rich style on trumpet and flugelhorn that launches off from groundwork laid by predecessors such as Freddie Hubbard. After four releases on the Criss Cross jazz label, he moved to Sharp Nine for 2001’s Destination Up, on which he and his quintet smolder through a set of originals by Rotondi, trombonist Steve Davis and vibe man Joe Locke, and some nifty interpretations of older work like Herbie Hancock’s “Yams” and Irving Berlin’s “Remember.” Rotondi’s trumpet is the star of the show, but he knows how to give room to his sidemen, who come together to create a lively, warm sound. AQ, 408 St. Peter, St. Paul, (651) 292-1359, mnjazz.com

For the artists appearing in this often amazing annual touring show, utility is by no means the enemy of beauty. Clothes, jewelry, lamps and furniture, all the art on display here is functional as well as aesthetic—adhering to a tradition of handmade household art that we too easily forget about in this age of mass production. Ikea’s nice and all, but if your bedroom furniture is painstakingly hand-carved out of maple by a guy you can actually meet and shake hands with, that’s on a whole different level. Gander at the works on display here, and you won’t think of “crafts” only as stuff you make out of yarn and construction paper. Rivercentre, 175 W. Kellogg Blvd., (651) 265-4800, www.craftcouncil.org

Lest ye think worthy art only comes from the art havens of our central cities, Minnesota Watercolor Society’s annual juried show will set you straight. This 20th spring exhibit will be the first one in their spacious new home in Minnetonka. Nosh on a muffin from the attached cafe and immerse yourself in the year’s best work from MWS members, vibrantly colored and diverse works that prove that although they work with watercolors, they’re not wet behind the ears. The artists chosen best in show will be honored at a reception on April 10. Minnetonka Center For the Arts, 2240 North Shore Drive, Wayzata, (952) 473-7361, www.minnesotawatercolors.com

Opening receptions, 7-9 p.m. April 26 and 1-4 p.m. April 27.
A dual exhibit from New Mexican artist Nora Naranjo-Morse, and her onetime student Henry Sosin, potter and gallery proprietor. A Tewa Pueblo Indian whose work has been shown at the White House, Naranjo-Morse is one of those many-splendored artists whose ability to work in many disciplines prompts us to envious appreciation. Besides the sculpture and printmaking on display here, she’s a published poet and video producer. So much for “those who can’t, teach.” She’s profiled alongside the likes of Roy Liechtenstein and David Bowie on a forthcoming documentary on creativity by 42-Up director Michael Apted. A doctor for 30 years, Sosin turned to pottery after retirement and has now been immersed in his art full-time for nearly a decade. His surgeon’s hands give him a deft touch in the complex construction of his pots, which draw their style from ancient forms used by Anasazi and Middle Eastern cultures. Sosin Studio Gallery, 1231 Washington Street N.E., (612) 378-0581, www.sosinstudiogallery.com

Emily Johnson of Catalyst, repeatedly cited as one of the rising stars of the Twin Cities dance scene, found a good match for her imaginative, Dadaist sensibilities in local post-rock combo Lateduster. The two groups collaborated last July on “Plain Old Andrea With a Gun,” an exploration of hate and miscommunication inspired by the Eskimo storytelling of Johnson’s native Alaska. When “Andrea” got raves, they figured they were on to something and expanded their alliance into new areas. Fierce: Whole is the result, overlaying floating and ethereal neoclassical/jazz/trance over Johnson’s highly kinetic, sharply gesture-laden movement. “Andrea” makes a return appearance as well, expanded and reconfigured into cinema for a multimedia DVD project. This weekend of shows should be a fascinating experience. Red Eye Theatre, 15 W. 14th Street, (612) 870-7035, www.theredeye.org

This is why we go to the theater—a skilled cast in a marvelous production of a great play. Chekhov’s tale of love, jealousy, the nature of art and theater deserves the title masterpiece, and the Jeune Lune company does its usual imaginative job of interpreting the classic. As the characters weave among the birch trees of Dominique Serrand’s striking set, they knit and then unravel relationships between them. Barbra Berlovitz as the aging actress Irina, is the center of the work both philosophically and physically. Her magnificently nuanced performance—particularly as she demonstrates the art of acting by her reading of the same line over and over—is both the comic and artistic highlight. Add the luminous Sarah Agnew as the young actress Nina and Natalie Moore’s boisterous Masha, both of whose hopes of love are dashed by Irina’s machinations, and you have an evening far more full of genuine humanity than you’ll ever find on reality TV. Jeune Lune, 105 N. 1st St., (612) 332-3968, www.jeunelune.org

Pulitzer-winner Lanford Wilson’s latest play, getting its area premiere in this staging, cloaks itself in the guise of a murder mystery to level a critique at the tendency toward complacency in the face of abuse of power. When the cheese-factory magnate of Dublin, Missouri dies, his bookkeeper Ruth suspects foul play. Her investigation churns up secrets that the other locals would prefer to be left undisturbed. At the same time Ruth’s been cast in the lead of a community-theater production of Shaw’s play Saint Joan, and as her sleuthing turns inexorably into a crusade, she begins to take on the qualities of the French heroine in real life as well as her acting. She uncovers a conspiracy of collusion among powerful forces in the community, leading to the possibility she’ll go through Joan’s martyrdom as well. Critical consensus on Book of Days puts it a notch or two below his earlier works Hot L Baltimore and the Pulitzer-winning Talley’s Folly, but if his script’s pacing in uneven, he’s still a master of perceptive insights into character, making this a Book worth checking out. Theater in the Round, 245 Cedar Avenue, (612) 333-3010, www.theatreintheround.org

It took us a long time to realize that this gem of St. Anthony Park moved—across the street—and joined up with a Dunn Brothers. Love the new space: a sunny, pine-paneled cornershop that is more true to its namesake and geographical inspiration than anything we’ve seen west of Oslo. And it’s not just the deli cases and shelves overflowing with traditional pastries (Mondays—especially fresh and legion). Check out the breakfast and lunch menu, which is a proud menage of lefse, lingonberries, salmon, and countless other true Nordic delights.

This is why we go to the theater—a skilled cast in a marvelous production of a great play. Chekhov’s tale of love, jealousy, the nature of art and theater deserves the title masterpiece, and the Jeune Lune company does its usual imaginative job of interpreting the classic. As the characters weave among the birch trees of Dominique Serrand’s striking set, they knit and then unravel the relationships among them. Barbra Berlovitz, as the aging actress Irina, is the center of the work both philosophically and physically. Her magnificently nuanced performance—particularly as she demonstrates the art of acting by her reading of the same line over and over—is both the comic and artistic highlight. Add the luminous Sarah Agnew as the young actress Nina and Natalie Moore’s boisterous Masha, both of whose hopes of love are dashed by Irina’s machinations, and you have an evening far more full of genuine humanity than you’ll ever find on reality TV.

Thursdays-Sundays through April 27. www.jeunelune.com. 612.332.3968

One of the gratifying—and maddening—things about publishing this magazine is that we get to start over each month. Roughly every four weeks, we wipe the slate clean and get another chance to shine (and yes, of course, to suck), to correct ourselves when we are wrong, to refine the rough spots, find new ways to frame the same old punch lines, and try to sneak dirty words in (or, failing that, maybe some Latin).

Our publishing calendar is both a promise and a threat. We’re not nearly as important or permanent as a hardcover book, say, but we hang around a bit longer than the typical daily headline or the weekly political harangue. With this issue, we celebrate the self-appointed privilege of repeating ourselves for one full year, which is about six months longer than some of us expected to be repeating ourselves.

Redundancy is the new black. We’re back in the hot-box with Iraq, 12 years after we should have finished the job right the first time. Indeed, many people feel like one Bush should have been enough, but there you are—history repeating itself, and not exactly a surfeit of wisdom won from hard experience.

On the other hand, we welcome other kinds of eternal return. Many Minnesotans are secretly pleased that winter finally arrived a few weeks ago, a little behind schedule to be sure, but with all the windchill and accumulation of a less apocalyptic time. The return of our most beloved season is reassuring. We wanted to write about global warming this month, but besides the fact that there wasn’t room for us to park our lips on Paul Douglas’, uh, barometer, we decided to do the American thing, and let our world views be dictated by nothing more than what we can see out our window.

Let’s hope the view keeps improving. Interesting, isn’t it, that someone had the temerity to send back the architectural plans of Jean Nouvel and Michael Graves, some uppity Minnesotan had the balls to ask for another draft? Interesting, too, that the masters seem to have been strong-armed by stoic rubes who might otherwise have been convinced that the tossed-off, million-dollar, second-stringer designs were manna from heaven. Nouvel was made to realize, apparently, that there was considerable cognitive dissonance between his “context-sensitive” design of the Guthrie as riverfront factory, and its function as a space fundamentally about transcendence. Graves had the opposite problem: His overly literal remake of the Children’s Theater smacked not so much of laziness as a genuine fear of children, expressed in cloying babytalk—the architectural equivalent of “goo-goo-ga-ga.” For the record, both architects were able to salvage the most important element of each project: the ego of the architect. Nouvel claimed last year’s design was only “50 percent” finished, and Graves said, “the first iteration is never the one you go with.” In other words, folks, don’t fool yourself: Your worries fell on the deaf ears of genius.

We’re beginning to think that learning from history is still no hedge against repetition. After all, the poet wrote, “There is nothing new under the sun.” Then he changed his mind and scribbled, “Vanity. All is vanity.”