"If you don’t belong to a book club," Ron Charles wrote in The Washington Post last week, "Darin Strauss’s bitter and brilliant new novel is reason enough to start one." The novel – Strauss’s third – marks a departure from the author’s previous books, both of which were (somewhat incidentally) historical fiction. More Than It … Read more
One might think it is Sting or the second coming of KISS, I mean Christ, or some other hugely popular international act packing the Triple Rock this past Saturday night. The room is awash in colored patterns, setting the evening up for a fierce Stripes v. Plaids / Sharks v. Jets rock and roll rumble. … Read more
NIGHTCLUBS Triple Double This new(ish) weekly party is a far cry from the Triple Rock Tuesdays of years past. If you’ve ever been to the Trip’s long-running 2-4-1 night, you surely have heard N.W.A.’s "F$#k tha Police" played on the jukebox one (or a hundred) too many times. No more! The boys from Burlesque of … Read more
At the end of July, I will be trekking to Montana to write a story about a man who lives on top of a mountain in the most remote corner of Glacier National Park. Since this dude literally lives on top of a mountain, I have to hike up hill for six straight miles (with … Read more
There are certain works of art the body wholly understands before the mind kicks in with its distancing powers of disembodied detachment and analysis. In the Twin Cities, there is very little art in the public realm — in what we now call "the commons"– that does this. Most public art, strained through the cheesecloth … Read more
Like summer is upon us and will be gone faster than Flo Rida will be hot. With this in mind, I have to make a confession. I love women in convertibles (primarily) who shift their own cars. I want the summer streets filled with them. So. Here are my top three picks for the best … Read more
We’ve been having some pretty ridiculously great weather lately. If I had a real job (sorry, Mom), I probably would have played hooky last week to go and hang out by one of the lakes. Instead I just read a bit by Calhoun, but without the sense of freedom (or guilt) of having emancipated myself … Read more
Travel back with me, if you will for just a moment, to those happy, halcyon days of the year 2001. Oh, what a time to be a young American artist it was! The world waited breathlessly for the final bombshell in Matthew Barney’s Cremaster film cycle to drop (spoiler: Gary Gilmore did it!), and your … Read more
PERFORMANCE Studio Stories: Kevin Kling and John McCutcheon Engaging storyteller Kevin Kling and award-winning folksinger/musician John McCutcheon join forces to bring you an evening of off-the-cuff performance in the Guthrie’s Dowling Studio. Kling, perhaps best known for his commentaries on NPR’s All Things Considered, and definitely for his autobiographical storytelling performances, will enrapture you with … Read more
Yesterday was my first visit of the season to the Mill City Farmers Market, and I was pleasantly surprised by how many new stands there were selling locally produced prepared foods – apparently Brenda Langton, who was one of the founders of the market, and who owns the Spoonriver Restaurant next door, doesn’t mind the … Read more