The Rake Magazine

Category: Blog Post

  • A First … Video Letter to the Editor

    Charles Ferguson, director of, No End in Sight, currently playing at the Edina Theater, has produced what, for The New York Times at least, is the first video letter to the editor, responding to Iraq boss Paul Bremer’s recent assertion [in Times Select] that numerous military officials were aware of and agreed to his decision to disband the Iraqi army in May of 2003.

    Here is Ferguson’s video letter.

    Ferguson’s film is terrific, but the concept of a video letter to the editor for on-line newspapers is another very intriguing evolutionary moment that bodes well for the transition away from print.

    Note the enthusiasm of NY Times edit page boss Andrew Rosenthal in this this Editor & Publisher interview.

  • Frito Pie and Red Bicyclette

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    My children have been blessed with a wonderful stepmother who is unlike me in most every way. She is tall, a statuesque brunette, while I’m the sort of mom a teenage boy can pick up and move out of the way. She’s concrete and detail-conscious where I am abstract and forgetful. She loves to shop, drinks sweet, sparkly wines, and eats red meat on a near-daily basis. Also, she’s from Oklahoma — and a great southern cook.

    When my 13-year-old daughter needs to buy party clothes or bookshelves from IKEA, I give her my credit card and she goes to her father and stepmother’s house, with my blessing. (Me. . .I get hives whenever I drive within 5 miles of a mall.) Often she’ll stay for dinner. Last time she came home all excited about a delicacy called Frito Pie.

    So for our family dinner last night (mine and my husband’s with the children we all share), my daughter made her stepmother’s version of this Texan dish: Fritos, ground beef, spicy chili beans, diced tomatoes, onions, cheese and sour cream. As it happened, my husband had stopped at Byerly’s earlier in the day and they were having a penny sale on Red Bicyclette wine (buy one bottle for $10.99, get the other for a penny — who could resist such a deal?), so he picked up a couple to try.

    What a happy coincidence. Talk about a pairing! I can imagine nothing better to go with Frito Pie — which was tasty and filling and, in our house at least, a fun departure from the usual vegetable-heavy fare — than this profoundly adequate French table wine.

    First, you have to admit, the label is just too cute. It’s like something right out of the canon of François Truffaut — or, for you more modern cinephiles, this past summer’s Ratatouille.

    But also, this is exactly what a mediocre rural French table wine should be: fruity, drinkable, and inoffensive, meaning there is no bitter, sour, sharp, or syrupy flavor. Red Bicyclette is rather like Fritos and sour cream in this respect: no matter which “varietal” you buy, it is generic and soothing, pleasantly bland, straightforward and serviceable.

    Don’t be fooled, though. While Red Bicyclette may appear to be a charming little garage wine from the south of France, it is in fact a product of the California-based winemaking monster E. & J. Gallo, the same people who brought the world Carlo Rossi and Chardonnay-in-a-box. Is it worth $5.50 a bottle? I’d say yes, particularly if you’re having Fritos for dinner. But not a penny more.

  • Living Art

    ART
    Ernest Arthur Bryant

    Bryant907.jpgThis young (got his BFA from MCAD in 2005) and fast-rising (fellowships from Jerome, McKnight, Bush, and Skowhegan) Minneapolis artist works in the mode of the moment: a combinatoire of painting, assemblage, ragpicking, and video. These are fragmented times we live in, and it’s artists like Bryant who pull together the pieces of exploding cultures in unaccustomed ways. High-art references like the Mona Lisa meet with drawn lines that have the deftness of a tagger who studied with Rembrandt. These elements snuggle up to camouflage fabric and the occasional “identity” reference. This is Bryant’s first-ever solo exhibition; count on lots of interested parties angling to get a look. — by Ann Klefstad

    Saturday, Franklin Art Works, 1021 E. Franklin Ave., Minneapolis; 612-872-7494.

    200 Artworks, 1 Size, 1 Price, No Names

    soap907.jpgArt frauds beware. If you’re looking for a guided tour or a catalog indicating the artists and works that will most impress your neighbors, if you’re one of those people who buy high on the assumption that price intimates quality, or if you have absolutely no sense of adventure and amusement, then Soap’s $99 Sale is probably not for you. If you’re looking for bargain art and a great opportunity and adventure, on the other hand, the $99 Sale is certainly a much better alternative to one of those airport ballroom free-for-alls. Here’s the deal: it all begins with 200 unidentified 5″ x 7″ artworks. They have signatures on the back; but, of course, you don’t get to see them until after the piece is yours. I suppose if you really know your artists, or if you have a keen eye for talent, you might make some practical and wise deductions, but this exercise should be more about choosing what moves you rather than showing off your ability to identify what you’re told should move you. It’s a more honest art purchase, and a beautifully innovative fundraiser. Be among the first to have their picks. This evening is the pre-sale party, which includes wine and appetizers, and a first crack at finding something you love — and something that might prove to be quite valuable. Then tomorrow morning, the general public is invited to choose from the remaining works. It’s brilliant. It’s fun. And it’s tax deductible. What more do you want?

    Friday from 7 to 10 p.m., Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon, Soap Factory, 518 2nd St. S.E., Minneapolis; 612-623-9176; Pre-Sale Party $35, the $99 Sale free.

    Through the Eyes and Hands of Artists

    rusticrd907.jpgChinese art writer Kojiro Tomita once pointed out: “It has been said that art is a tryst, for in the joy of it maker and beholder meet.” Perhaps this weekend is the perfect time for a tryst. The air is cool, the leaves are beginning to change, and a drive is certainly in order. Grab your family, or your coat, and head for the Rustic Road 13 Pottery Event & Sale. Fourteen outstanding Minnesota potters, including Carl Erickson, Steve Hemingway, and Ernest Miller, will show their wares and explore the universal connection between maker and beholder, between artist and owner. Now in its sixth year, Rustic Road 13 features a barn full of art, poetry readings in the gardens, music in the air, and potter’s wheel and raku firing demonstrations throughout the weekend. Ten percent of all sales will be donated to Second Harvest Heartland.

    Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.,Historic Farmstead, 1148 Troutbrook Rd., Hudson, Wisconsin; free.

    PERFORMANCE
    Song, Fire, Booze, and Fisticuffs in the Digital Age

    EAR907.jpgThe four members of the Lit 6 Project take their art so seriously that they actually moved in together in order to spend all of their time and energy on their storytelling, turning themselves into the very characters in the process. Often inebriated, hung-over, and miserable, the four writers/performers have documented their lives and work together in multiple media forms. One of the more successful branches of this project has been The Electric Arc Radio Show. Now performed live, in front of hundreds at a time, the show details the lives of four horrible and tormented writers who share a home, booze, hugs, punches, and a toaster. Weird enough for you? How’s this? A bad clarinet-playing Alan Greenspan lives in a treehouse behind them. Tonight’s show, the new season opener, also features the music of Little Man.

    Saturday at 8 p.m., Woman’s Club of Minneapolis Theater, 410 Oak Grove St., Minneapolis; 612-813-5300; $15.

    FILM
    There’s Nothing So Regular about Regular Joe

    RegJoe907.jpgYou’ve got to love the Twin Cities. You’ve just got to. I mean, really, where else is someone going to film a romantic musical comedy about a gay guy who becomes a Cyndi Lauper drag queen in order to get through a mid-life crisis? New York? San Francisco? L.A.? Spain? It certainly sounds like early post-Franco Almadóvar to me. Man, we’re hip! The Completely Remarkable, Utterly Fabulous Transformation of a Regular Joe, shot entirely in the Twin Cities, makes its local premiere this weekend.

    Saturday at 7 p.m., Varsity Theater & Café Artistes, 1308 4th St. S.E., Minneapolis; 612-604-0222; free.

    A Word from Our Film Critic

    CaineMut907.jpgI asked Rake film critic Peter Schilling about this weekend’s film openings, which now include Silk, Live-in Maid, and Dans Paris. He admitted the latter is actually quite awful, but added the following: “You could, however, mention that the Parkway Theatre has been renovated, serves the best popcorn in town (trust me, it’s awesome), and is showing a pair of thrilling potboilers from the 1950s: From Here To Eternity and The Caine Mutiny. Eternity, as you may or may not know, won Best Picture and resuscitated Frank Sinatra’s career. It is also dogged with the rumor that it was the film whose producer found a horse’s head in his bed, in order to convince him to cast Ol’ Blue Eyes for the role that would win him an Oscar (as suggested by Mario Puzo’s Godfather). To make matters even more interesting, another rumor implies that during advanced screenings the moviegoing public laughed whenever George Reeves’ character spoke–they supposedly yelled ‘It’s Superman,’ and the role was cut to next to nothing. He would later go on to kill himself because of this. Or so they say–most historians don’t believe either rumor is the least bit true.” I love these movies. Thanks for sharing the Secret, Peter.

    In keeping with Peter’s ’50s film recommendations, the Bergman Tribute continues this weekend at the Oak Street Cinema with The Seventh Seal. Enjoy a special treat this evening with a death- and angst-laden introduction from StarTribune film critic Colin Covert.

    MUSIC
    Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra with Anthony Marwood

    SPCO.jpgThe second program in the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra’s 2007-2008 season features the highly anticipated performance of the Violin Concerto, Concentric Paths by the vibrant twenty-first century composer Thomas Adès, who has been revered and reviled for his often choppy and creatively versatile pieces, including the orchestral work Asyla and the operas Powder Her Face and The Tempest. Concentric Paths is regarded as relatively restrained and moody (think Shostakovich), and will feature violinist Anthony Marwood, who played the concerto at both its world and U.S. premieres in ’05 and ’06. Also on the bill is Beethoven’s Sixth, or Pastoral Symphony, a beautifully flowing ode to nature that was overshadowed when it premiered alongside the composer’s booming Fifth Symphony. Having been a pacifist, the renowned twentieth-century British composer Benjamin Britten probably preferred the Pastoral to the Fifth; his Sinfonietta will open the performance. Douglas Boyd conducts. –by Britt Robson

    Saturday at 10:30 a.m. and 8 p.m., Sunday at 8 p.m., Ordway Center, 345 Washington St., St. Paul; 651-224-4222, 651-291-1144; $11-$59.

    Tonight’s top music picks include Elvis Costello with the Minnesota Orchestra (both tonight and tomorrow night) and James Cotton Band at The Cedar. The legendary blues harp master can bend a note like few others.

    Sure, you can “Come to the Cabaret,” old chum, but the real show this Sunday is at the Grand Casino Hinckley Event Center. Don’t miss this unique opportunity to see the fabulous Liza Minnelli live and in action, doing what she does best.

    CYCLING
    Minneapolis Bike Tour

    bike907.jpgCycle all over Minneapolis without being hampered by cars (and without having to wait for this month’s Critical Mass). Sunday is the Minneapolis Bike Tour. Take your bike to Parade Field, choose either the 15-mile or the 41-mile route, and enjoy a day of riding on the Grand Rounds Scenic Byway…without pesky motor vehicles. Day-of registration is available, but show up early — 7:00 to 8:30 a.m. (riders must begin the course between 7:30 and 9:00 a.m.) — and bring a helmet. –Danielle Kurtzleben

    Sunday at 7:30 a.m., Parade Field, 400 Kenwood Pkwy., Minneapolis; 612-230-6400; $30.

  • Pop Quiz: Name Our 36 Allies in Iraq

    With the broadcast networks routinely sliding Presidential speeches off to their cable sisters, I parked myself at MSNBC for this evening’s run-up, Bush speech and run-down.

    Obviously, Keith Olbermann, who last Friday beat Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly in the head-to-head ratings for the first time, was primed for battle. With every cable anchor staking out some specific acre of turf to call his or her own — Lou Dobbs on Mexicans with leaf-blowers, Nancy Grace on any blonde on any crime blotter anywhere in the world — Olbermann’s nightly, erudite-to-borderline verbose eviscerations of George W. and his leaking lifeboat of fools has paid off like Jed Clampett out shootin’ coons.

    There is still great beauty contestant-like fun to be had watching Olbermann and Chris Matthews, whose ratings are not going north, interact for the camera. A DisneyWorld Jumbotron couldn’t contain both egos on the same screen. With Bush coming on at the top of the hour, Olbermann left the last eight minutes of his show for a collegial interview/chat with Matthews.

    Matthews, who is psychologically incapable of letting anyone under the rank of Vice-President finish a sentence on his own show, has now completely dropped his tap-dancing on Bush’s war and is pretty full-throated about calling it a sick charade, designed solely to slide the denouement off on the next President and protect the Bush legacy. Matthews’ strength has always been his eye and ear for the grotesquely cynical machinations of DC power, so he knows a ham-fisted strategy when he sees it playing on a grand stage.

    But Olbermann interviewing him and asking Matthews what he expected to hear from Bush was an invitation to a filibuster that even Olbermann had a hard time breaking. (I remain open to the possibility that Matthews’ position-taking on Iraq … easily four years late … is part of an overall MSNBC strategy to thoroughly exploit the vein Olbermann has opened. Joe Scarborough has been slid off to mornings, Tucker Carlson has been marginalized in Oprah-time and is regularly rumored to be getting the axe, and their boss, Dan Abrams, has pulled back from his customary kissy-face with administration spin-meisters. But what the hell. It’s show biz and everyone has to have a shtick. This new one — from the company that whacked Phil Donahue, after first ordering him to book two conservatives for every liberal — at least has the added value of making moral sense.)

    Going in to Bush’s speech Olbermann was already playing with Bush’s “Return on Success” phrase as an eminently lampoonable piece of neo-Orwellianism, along the lines of, “Mission Accomplished.” Coming out it was Bush’s neuron-toasting assertion that 36 other countries were fighting alongside us in Iraq. Not even Nixon apologist Pat Buchanan, in MSNBC’s post-op panel, could handle that one, and Joe Biden, campaigning down in Council Bluffs was rendered as close to speechless as I’ve ever seen the man … and that kids, is really saying something.

    By the way, Joe Biden may be the next Terry Bradshaw or Tiki Barber. He’s had good career in the Senate. He’s never going to be elected President, and his best act might be his third, as a regular commentator on a cable channel. He knows the game. He knows the players. He’s not afriad to say something outrageous from time to time and he’s not ashamed to get emotional — like tonight, when he wonders aloud what in the hell Bush is talking about. Biden was good stuff.

    There was a precedent-setting moment in the post-speech hash, when John Edwards popped up in a two-minute commercial staking out his position as THE cut-off the money NOW candidate among the Democrats. Olbermann wondered afterward why Edwards bought time since MSNBC, generally respectful ground for Democrats, certainly on Olbermann’s show, would have probably had him on. The obvious answer of course was that by buying two minutes Edwards could answer his own questions, not Olbermann’s, or, God help him, Matthews’, and thereby say exactly what he wanted to say.

    Newsweek’s Howard Fineman, on the panel with Buchanan and Rachel Maddow, an Olbermann favorite from Air America, predicted a carnival of candidate contortions in Iowa this weekend at former Sen. Tom Harkin’s bash with every Democrat trying to out-do each other as the leading “out now” candidate. Here, is an interesting piece Fineman wrote a couple years ago about the demise of “the main stream media party”.

    Tim Russert and Brian Williams mailed in a couple clubby observations from their recent luncheon with Bush, with Williams appearing to violate the luncheon’s off-record agreement by hinting that Bush had said something about maintaining bases in Iraq for years to come.

    My curiosity, looking toward tomorrow morning, and the rest of the mainstream media, including our local press, is who among them is courageous enough NOT to play the “balance game” and be as indignant as the MSNBC cast was?

    I know. “Oh, goodness. Such temerity! Wonder aloud what in the hell the President of the United States is saying about 36 allies and and ‘enduring presence’. Heavens! What if we got an e-mail from those Powerline guys?”

    Even Buchanan could only credit Bush with “solidifying his base” enough to hold his veto-proof minority and slide this mess off whoever comes next, to which Matthews, looking pained, responded, “but that’s a political decision”, not a strategy for the military or the country.

  • So so back in black

    Mercedes is so back with the C class. I mean I just saw one in black and its more bitching than Johnny Cash* at Folsom prison in full stereophonic sound. Speaking of which, I just came across this totally bitchin’ website cover: www.stereophonics.com/home php

    *and as Big&Rich remind us in their first and best album to date “Charley Pride** was the man in black, Rock&Roll used to be about Johnny Cash, what-cha think about that?”

    (**Now is someone gonna help Charley with his site?, I am booked with other causes at the moment, all good.)

  • Losing Ryan: A Bad Day for the Twins

    The Twins organization just announced that general manager Terry Ryan is resigning. This is a huge blow for the franchise. More than anyone else over the past decade–Tom Kelly, Carl Pohlad, Torii Hunter, you name it–Ryan fostered a “Twins Identity” that relied on the farm system, pitching, and the most thorough scouting and information retrieval system in Major League Baseball to keep the ballclub competitive beyond its payroll.

    What hasn’t been made clear yet is whether Ryan jumped or was pushed, and whether he wants to keep doing this sort of work or settle into a Kelly-like advisory role. The fact that Billy Smith has been announced as Ryan’s replacement would indicate that ownership is not unhappy with the Ryan Way, as Smith is in many respects a protege of Ryan’s. If Ryan simply wants to decompress his life, smell the roses or wander off and do something completely different, then the loss is probably minimized.

    But if Ryan is unhappy, or lost out in some sort of power struggle, or (and I can really see this) held himself to such a high standard that he is leaving out of a sense of honor for not doing his job correctly, then it hurts the organization. First of all, Ryan engenders tremendous loyalty among his scouts, who are there because of the power they have through Ryan–it certainly isn’t the size of their paychecks. So if Ryan is ending his association with the Twins, or is thinking about doing the same thing somewhere else, the Twins scouting apparatus could be in for a major shake-up, and that is dire news.

    Ryan’s critics will point out that he has been too timid about late summer infusions and personnel changes in the midst of pennant races; that his mentality is best suited for underdog small markets content merely to be respectable, as opposed to a team with the richest owner in MLB about to benefit from a new stadium. To that I say that investing in scouting remains the smartest thing an organization can do regardless of how much cash the owner or the stadium can generate, and that it takes a former scout to know best how to build and maintain a system that maximizes the benefits of scouting.

    On top of which, I don’t for a moment believe that Carl Pohlad or his surrogates are going to become spendy. Remember all that hue and cry about having to pay off Land Partners for their oh so unfair exorbitant asking price on land at the Twins stadium site, and how it would shortchange other aspects of the stadium construction? Well, Pohlad could step in and absorb much more, or even all of that gap between what the landowners want and what the public can pay. But he’s too busy figuring out how to buy the Ford office and loft building overlooking the stadium site so he can maximize profits on parcels benefiting from the presence of the new stadium. The guy is as greedy as ever, folks.

    And Terry Ryan isn’t. He’s a class act, one of the best GMs in the game and a man of honor and amiability. Short of some sort of medical or personal crisis aside from baseball, he will be fine, landing on his feet in a situation of his choosing. For the Twins, on the other hand, the outlook is far less certain.

    UPDATE: That Ryan is staying on as “senior adviser” is bittersweet good news. It means he wasn’t pushed out, so there are still some brain cells functioning among the upper echelons of the ownership. But the resignation announced and the subsequent media interviews points to that a slow burnout–should be call it smoulder immolation or something?–and that’s a shame. Still, 13 years is a long time (although Kevin McHale has been running the Wolves’ personnel merely one year less) and somebody as detail oriented as Ryan, with as little margin of error to work with as the Twins job, probably should be expected to wear down to the nub after awhile.

    Good news on the promotion of Mike Radcliffe, another clear signal that the franchise still highly values scouts.

  • Eat a duck, save a doberman

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    Ah, the dilemma of being an upright mammal. Each of us — excepting strict vegans, of course — must make peace with his or her spot on the food chain. Are we carnivores, herbivores, or pesci-vegetarians? Do we eat fowl but not red meat, because cows have sad eyes while chickens are mostly irritating? Is it enough simply to eat only humanely-killed beasts?

    If you are an animal lover, the questions are particularly thorny. . . .or so it would seem. Yet, I know plenty of devoted horse people who like their steaks bloody. Cat ladies who wouldn’t dream of giving up their Easter lamb.

    Which brings me to this year’s Chefs, Cats & Canines Fall Wine Dinner, a benefit for the Animal Humane Society, which will be held at the St. Paul Hotel on Friday, November 2nd. For $225 a head, luminary locals such as Scott Pampuch and Vincent Francoual will put together a six-course meal. The Humane Society promises $125 of each ticket is tax-deductible (which means these hard-working chefs are certainly donating their time and food products at cost), and proceeds will help care for more than 35,000 homeless animals.

    The menu:

    Scott Pampuch, Corner Table
    Fall vegetable tasting – pumpkin, squash, turnip, parsnip, carrot, and beets

    Vincent Francoual, Vincent A Restaurant
    Pan seared scallops, leeks, fingerling potatoes, and orange sauce

    Lance Kapps, St. Paul Hotel
    Duck strudel with baby greens and ver jus vinaigrette

    Mike Phillips, The Craftsman
    Braised 1000 Hills beef shanks with a potato shallot gratin and smoky tomato chutney

    Russell Klein, Meritage
    Artisan cheeses from around the world with seasonal accompaniments

    Sandra Sherva, Birchwood Cafe
    Chocolate pear tart with ginger crème anglaise

    Each course will be paired with a wine by The Cellars Wines & Spirits.

    No question, these are amazingly talented chefs and the evening promises to be spectacular. Each and every course sounds exquisite to me. But I find it curious — don’t you? — that there isn’t an all-vegetarian option for dog people who also happen to be fond of ducks.

  • Guilty Pleasures

    HBO exploits your voyeuristic tendencies. (You can stare for hours.)

  • Sim City for the Energy Set

    Chevron tries to show us the future of energy. This kind of model is one of the most attractive and dangerous tools we can employ to affect our public policies. (I mean, it is Chevron, after all.) The site demands a serious discussion. What do you think?

  • Trash Shadows

    These trash shadows, inspired hybrids of sculpture and shadow puppets made from various household refuse, caught our attention this week. Prude that I am, I don’t much care for the whizzing-themed installation. Other than that: What a great way to recycle!