Rick Kahn was in seclusion. Scorned by Republicans and Democrats alike, he wasn’t opening his door or returning calls. T. Trent Gegax picked up the phone and called anyway. Gegax is a Newsweek reporter from the Twin Cities. The University of Minnesota graduate grew up in Burnsville, but has since lived in Boston, Atlanta, and … Read more
When Senator Norm Coleman takes office in Washington next month, he’ll have some big decisions to make, on everything from war to social security. He may also need to decide on a new dentist, a process that certainly can tax a man’s courage. Norm has already proven himself on that score: In 1999, he underwent … Read more
Few artists who paint dogs have found the vision to deviate from the time-honored themes of poker games and doe-eyed poodles on velvet. Armed with acrylics, canvas, and lots of costume jewelry, newcomer Amy Brazil has finally broken the mold. “Best of Show,” a recent hanging at Hopkins Center for the Arts, has people stopping … Read more
Most everyone who has stepped into The Purple Onion coffee shop in Dinkytown has noticed William “Bill” Grimes IV, a regular for nearly a decade who whiles away the hours sipping mochas, reading Kierkegaard and science fiction, and “flapping with cats.” You can’t miss him: Grimes is a 6’3”, 170-pound man in his early 30s … Read more
You were a world-class hairdresser from Austria. You settled in Minneapolis and became a world-class party animal. You got deathly ill, and decided to heal not only yourself but the world. You sold Aveda for $300 million. Meet your Rakish readers, HORST. Horst Rechelbacher is filthy rich. He’s also a pure soul, spending as much … Read more
In Russian, “bolshoi” means “grand”—in the word’s fullest sense of being both huge and fine. In every other language, the word has come to be associated with the fabled excellence and grand spectacle of the dance troupe. When the Bolshoi Ballet Company arrives here for two rare performances of Swan Lake and four of The … Read more
I’ve been doing some work lately that’s forced me to become at least casually reacquainted with pop music, a reunion that distresses me as if I were being dosed with booze after a happy stretch of sobriety. For the past three or four years, I have sheltered myself from developments in music, and have enjoyed … Read more
As a blond, long-braided German girl, my mother was in charge of going to the bakery for the family. During Christmas, the most magical time, some German traditions hold that the world itself is transformed, that angels dance all around, and heavenly music accompanies the softly falling snow. Yet only the true of heart witness … Read more
“Courage, friends,” said George Bernard Shaw. “We all hate Christmas.” These days there is a good deal more to hate about the festive season than there was in Edwardian England, particularly the annual crash-course in consumerism given to all our children by the manufacturers of worthless plastic gewgaws. No doubt the hairy Hibernian sophisticate disdained … Read more
After a couple of accidental clicks of the mouse the other day, I realized that I have officially seen enough naked people in my life. This does not mean that I never want to have sex again, or that I don’t want to see the person who I currently see naked all the time naked … Read more