The Rake Magazine

Category: Blog Post

  • Game Two

    I’m using some new-fangled technology to write this swill live from the Dome. I’m pretending to be a real writer, in other words.

    Some sort of big white creature –it appeared to be a dog, with a Target logo on its chest– threw out the first pitch. I guess I wasn’t aware that Target had a mascot, but I’m officially on record as being opposed to the idea of any sort of anthropomorphized creature, no matter how cuddly (or padded with corporate cash), throwing a baseball.

    Boof rolled through the first inning in impressive fashion, striking out two and throwing just eleven pitches, but he started to struggle with his control in the second, and gave up a couple runs in the third on a Melvin Mora home run, and an RBI single by Aubrey Huff. He had 81 pitches through four, despite which the Baltimore hitters inexplicably came out hacking in the fifth, and were retired on six pitches. They didn’t fare much better in the sixth, going down 1-2-3.

    That was it for Boof: six innings pitched, three hits, two runs, three walks, six strikouts, a home run, and a 2-2 game to turn over to the bullpen. I think the Twins would take that from any one of their starters every night of the week.

    [This from the scoreboard between innings: “Johnson Brothers: Proud Sponsors of the Foul Pole.”

    Okey dokey.]

    Baltimore starter Daniel Cabrera was 2-0 with a 2.13 in two starts against the Twins last year, and entering tonight’s game was 5-1 with a 3.25 ERA in seven career starts against Minnesota. This is a guy who is 31-31 (4.75) overall. He was pretty damn effective again tonight, but the Twins kept chipping away and finally went up 3-2 on Jason Bartlett’s 7th-inning RBI single, scoring pinch runner Jason Tyner (in the final innings of the game Minnesota’s seven, eight, and nine hitters were all Jasons), who had just nabbed second –one of five Minnesota stolen bases on the night.

    At which point I said to myself: Game over, I’d say.

    Game over. Neshek gets the win, Nathan notches his second save in as many games.

    See you tomorrow night.

  • The CIA at Billy Mitchell

    Interesting event the other night at William Mitchell. A panel discussion titled, “A Strange Bond: The CIA and the Cinema”, with two ex-CIA guys, the CIA’s current acting chief counsel, (he’ll soon have a formal confirmation hearing), uber-author, Mark Bowden, (“Blackhawk Down”, “Killing Pablo”, “Guests of the Ayatollah”) and Star Tribune film critic, Colin Covert.

    The tone of the event, which filled Billy Mitchell’s auditorium, was one of fraternal bonhomie more than any searing examination of the CIA’s role in Iraq or other foreign adventure. Along with enjoying the sight of a newspaper guy more than holding his own among such a rarefied crowd, when it was over there was an opportunity to ask the CIA types for their assessment of the work of Seymour Hersh.

    Hersh has been doing some of the best work of his long career digging out the “hows” of the manipulated intelligence that validated the Bush administration’s targeting of Saddam Hussein. His October 2003 article, “The Stovepipe”, remains, to my thinking, the most illuminative explanation so far of how the deal went down.

    (Inside journalism, it is also worth noting that Hersh, whose stories out of he CIA and the Pentagon are dense with anonymous, unidentified sources — the sort of thing that would never pass muster at either local daily — has fared quite well under the test of time.)

    As the panel broke up, I asked John Rizzo, the dapper, soon to be CIA chief counsel, and a lifelong CIA man, what he thought of Hersh’s work? Certainly if Hersh had blundered anywhere a legal guy/company guy like Rizzo would both know about it and be only too happy to set the record straight.

    “Overall quite good,” was his capsule review. “It seems to me he is returning to the same sources over and over again. I have a problem with that, in that not everyone at CIA is as unhappy as his sources seem to be. But in general, good.”

    There was no, “But Hersh really screwed up on … .”

    One of Rizzo’s panel-mates was Paul Kelbaugh, a retired CIA chief legal counsel. “Pretty impressive,” was his take.

    Both men were at CIA during the term of George Tenet, the Clinton-appointee/Bush holdover who fairly or not has been tarred with
    CIA failures both in the period prior to 9-11 and then again with the whole weapons of mass destruction fiasco. Surprisingly, for a guy the Bush administration has maneuvered to look like a loser, both Rizzo and Kelbaugh speak highly of Tenet, Kelbaugh in particular. A terrific manager. Worked hard and spent the time to know his people as people. Regularly interacted with the staff, etc.

    Based on the work of Bob Woodward, Tenet’s obituary will undoubtably include the phrase, “slam dunk”, which is how Woodward describes Tenet assuring George W. Bush about the existence of WMD in Iraq.

    In his (excellent) book, “The One Percent Solution”, Ron Suskind paints a rather more sympathetic picture of both Tenet and the “slam dunk” comment. In fact, Suskind treats Tenet so sympathetically — echoing some of what Rizzo and Kelbaugh say — it is often presumed that Tenet was a primary source.

    Not so, says Rizzo, who ought to know. “It wasn’t Tenet.” He says Suskind approached the CIA for permission to interview several people, and, as Rizzo describes it, “had possession of some sensitive information”, which he used to bargain for the people he wanted to talk to. But not Tenet, according to Rizzo.

    In fact, Tenet’s own book on his CIA years, under Clinton pre-9/11, and under Bush pre- and post-Iraq will soon be published. As chief counsel Rizzo had to give it the security once-over.

    “Quite the read,” he said with a thin smile that could almost be read as contented. “Quite a read.”

    As I say, Colin Covert, the Strib’s film critic played well with the panel as they talked the CIA image in the movies. In fact, Covert got off the best line of the night when the panel’s moderator A. John Radsan, a former assistant counsel at the CIA and now an associate prof at Billy Mitchell, asked Covert if he had a question he’d like to ask anyone else on the panel.

    Covert paused. Hmmm. Hollywood. The CIA. Together. “If you think of Hollywood working with the CIA as a pact with the devil,” he asked, “which one is the devil?”

    Big laugh.

    A calendar note: On April 17, Kerri Miller of MPR will moderate a panel on, “Islam and the West”. It will include Seyyed Hossein Nasr, professor of Islamic Studies at George Washington University. If his name is familiar, it may be because of recent glowing reviews for the book, “The Shia Revival”, written by his son, Vali Nasr.

    These panels are free, but you must “register” to attend.

  • Imagine That

    This just seems so wrong on so many different levels.

    I mean, seriously, what the hell?

  • Banned Music, Banned Books, and Band Favorites

    FILM
    Spring Passions

    RYTHM813.jpgBack in 1913, Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring caused riots at its premiere. Almost a century later, directors Thomas Grube and Enrique Sanchez Lansch use Stravinsky’s masterpiece as the catalyst for an educational project involving 250 Berlin children representing 25 nations. The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, under Sir Simon Rattle, ventured out of its ivory tower in order to transform these 250 youngsters — none of whom had ever anything to do with classical music or dance — into a ballet troupe. Tasked with motivating the youth and developing their artistic skills, British choreographer Royston Muldoon helped the disenfranchised teens find their creative centers and unleash a potential they never knew they had. Meanwhile, veteran filmmakers, Grube and Sanchez Lansch got it all on film. Rhythm Is It! provides a thrilling mix of coming-of-age tale, performance film, and music video, culminating with their final performance in an old bus depot before 3,000 spectators. It’s not often we get to see something like this, so don’t miss it.

    7:15 p.m., Oak Street Cinema, 309 Oak St. SE, Minneapolis, $8 (seniors $6, students & members $5).

    FILM
    A Hollywood Musical Favorite

    BANDWAGON7.jpgIf you’re big on old-fashioned Broadway musicals, you really can’t pass this one up. With lively musical scores and witty dialogue, The Band Wagon, directed by Vincent Minnelli, is one of Hollywood’s finest musicals. British musical star Jack Buchanan plays a flamboyant, self-absorbed producer/director, Jeffrey Cordova (great name choice!), who transforms a lighthearted pop musical into a serious play about a modern Faust. The film is dominated by musical numbers, scored by Howard Dietz and Arthur Schwartz, including: Dancing in the Dark, That’s Entertainment, By Myself, and I guess I’ll Have to Change My Plans. The climax — a jazz-dance, film noir, dream sequence features Cyd Charisse as a femme fatale in a smoky barroom and Fred Astaire as the noirlike detective dancing a sexually choreographed number. While it does seem a little out of place within the context of the film, it’s certainly worth a watch.

    7:10 p.m., Heights Theater, 3951 Central Ave. NE, Columbia Heights, 763-788-9079, $8 (seniors $5, student $7).

    MUSIC
    Post Apocalyptic Vaudeville with a Socio-Political Tongue

    humanwine1.jpgWhen it comes to putting on a full show, Humanwine has it down to a science of sorts. More than just musicians, they set up a whole scenario in a fictional land called Vinland. Each song is then presented as a sort of mini-movie-soundtrack with plot twists, conflict, and resolution. While this band is typically classified as alternative punk rock, don’t let that dissuade you from enjoying their show. Yes, they certainly have the anger and wit of classic punk rock bands, but their vaudevillian presence, haunting melodies and diverse instrumentation — including layers of glock, accordion, trumpet, mandolin and piano — come together to create a sound more typical of gypsy music, with a modern punk twist. While some of their angry lyrics are a bit on the weak side, singer Holly Brewer has a fascinating voice. And the general story of mindless cogs working under a totalitarian ruler, is certainly something to which many of us can somehow relate. Humanwine was voted Best New Act at the 2006 Boston Music Awards and in the Boston Phoenix/WFNX Best Music Poll 2006.

    9.30 p.m. (doors at 8 p.m.), 7th Street Entry, 29 N. 7th St., Minneapolis, 612-332-1775$9.50.

    Listen to Humanwine.

    LECTURE
    Cesar Vallejo Translated

    ClaYTON.jpgThis evening, author and poet Clayton Eshleman will be discussing his new book, Complete Poems of Cesar Vallejo — a true representation of his life’s work in translation. The bilingual volume features Vallejo’s complete works, as well as Eshleman’s long relationship with Vallejo’s poetry, extensive notes on the translation, and a foreword by Mario Vargas Llosa. Vargas Llosa writes in his foreword: “Only the dauntless perseverance and the love with which the translator has dedicated so many years of his life to this task can explain why the English version conveys, in all its boldness and vigor, the unmistakable voice of Cesar Vallejo.” Eshleman is a National Book Award winner for a previous translation of Vallejo’s poetry, and was a finalist for the 2006 PEN Award for Poetry in Translation for the collection Conductors of the Pit (translations of Neruda, Vallejo, Artaud, Cesaire, Holan, Breton, Radnoti and others). At this evening’s event, Eshleman will also read from his latest collections of poetry: An Alchemist with One Eye on Fire, and Reciprocal Distillations.

    7 p.m., Magers & Quinn Booksellers, 3038 Hennepin Ave S., 612-822-4611, Free.

    THEATER
    Banned Book Theater

    HUCK FINN4.jpgWith all the recent talk about removing Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn from local high school reading lists, perhaps it’s time for us to show some support for the ageless classic by going to see the Children’s Theater production of Huck Finn this week, before its Saturday close date. For those of you concerned with the racial slurs in the original text, don’t let that stop you; the stage adaptation focuses in the action rather than on the full social context of Twain’s work. One might call that lacking in substance — counterproductive to its parody of racism — but after all, it’s still a great story.

    Facts: The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn was banned from the Concord Public Library in 1885, the year of its publication. It ranks number five in the American Library Association’s list of the most frequently challenged books of the 1990s. Mark Twain was heavily involved in politics and culture, and even served as vice-president of the Anti-Imperialist League.

    7 p.m., Children’s Theater Company, 2400 Third Ave. S., Minneapolis, 612-874-0400, $24-$31.

  • One Down

    Well, other than a nine-pitch first inning Johan’s performance wasn’t exactly pretty, but it was more or less in keeping with the way he usually starts the season. Kind of a strange pitch selection in the early innings –Santana just kept pounding away with the fastball, and didn’t go to the change-up until the Orioles started teeing off on the heater. I suspect he recognized in the bullpen that he didn’t have good command of the change, and when he finally started mixing it in he was missing with it much of the time.

    Still, he was just good enough to keep his Dome streak alive: dating back to 8/1/05 Santana hasn’t lost at home, and in the 24 starts since his last home loss he is 17-0, 2.08 (169.0 ip, 39 er) with 182 strikeouts

    The key inning, of course, was the fifth; after the Twins scratched back to tie the game on a Jeff Cirillo single punched through the right side of the infield, Johan came out and worked only his second 1-2-3 inning of the game (thanks in large part to Rondell White’s splendid diving catch of Melvin Mora’s hooking drive down the left field line). The Twins then came back and scored three runs in the bottom half of the inning to put it away.

    Morneau had a very good, and very curious, game: an opposite field home run and two singles against a hard-throwing lefty; both times he had to run rather than trot, he was gunned down on the base paths –at home (in a play that included a collision with catcher Paul Bako) and at second– by Baltimore right fielder Nick Markakis, who trivia junkies should note was a member of the Greek national team at the 2004 Olympics.

    Check out Morneau’s career numbers against Oriole starter Erik Bedard: 8-14 (.871 BA) with two homers and eight RBIs. Fourteen of his last 35 home runs have come against lefties.

    The bullpen was, as usual, splendid: Three scoreless innings (Reyes, Crain, Rincon, and Nathan) with one hit and a couple walks.

    After Michael Cuddyer’s at bat in the fourth (a single), Bedard had thrown 46 pitches, and 17 of them had been to Cuddyer.

    Morneau and Hunter’s back-to-back shots in the second represented the first time in club history the Twins have had back-to-back home runs on opening day.

    Ceremonial first pitch: Brad Radke

    National Anthem: Paris Bennett, some American Idol finalist with Minnesota ties. Better, I say, than another (to me) anonymous warbler in a cowboy hat and tight jeans.

    They always seem to trot out the bald eagle and the giant flag for opening night, and Radke and his family led “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during the 7th inning stretch.

    As expected there were also lots of fine video tributes to Herb Carneal, and a pre-game teaser on the anniversary of the 1987 championship team.

    The Cremation Society of Minnesota had a group in attendance, and Sid Hartman read the paper and indulged in his customary ice cream.

    Finally, the game clocked in at two hours and 56 minutes, which is about a half hour too long for a cranky old dog like me. It was a long-ass day, but bear with me; I should be rounding into mid-season form in a few weeks.

    Tomorrow: Boof vs. Oriole right hander Daniel Cabrera (6′ 9″, 269, according to the Baltimore media guide). Advantage: Boof.

  • The Worm and I

    marg.JPG

    I don’t know what’s wrong with me, but I am craving tequila lately. More specifically, I’m craving margaritas.

    I was in San Diego last week, at this thumping roof-top bar, and I swear I could have put down 10 or more without a problem.

    It’s an on-the-rocks situation, with loads of salt on the rim. It’s the bite of the salt swimming with the sour and sweet that gets me. The tequila, if it is the right tequila, adds just a hint of smokiness that binds it all together. And if there’s a basket of chips and some freshly smashed guacamole nearby? Forget about it.

    But my life is too chaotic, and I’m not a lush, so I have to manage my maragarita consumption. When? Tonight I’m off to the Restaurant Week kick-off and then TWINS! so it’s a beer story I’m telling tonight. I’ve got Easter prep and meetings all week, going out for a girls’ brunch early Saturday and hosting in a fancy dinner party late Saturday, followed by bunny merriment and mixed relatives for brunch at my house Sunday.

    Maybe that’s why I’m craving margaritas.

    None-the-less, I think I’ve found a few hours on Thursday night that I can sneak out to Bar Abilene with a buddy and drive through a part of their very seductive list. They’re nicely made, never over or under boozy, always perfectly balanced. And then there’s the guac …

  • From the Screen, to the Book, to the Ballgame

    DINING
    Nourish the Mind

    RestWeek copy.jpgIt’s really too bad we can’t support our public libraries by reading, but I guess when it comes down to it more people appreciate a good meal over a good book. Do your good deed tonight and come sample the local flavors at the Twin Cities Restaurant Week Kick-Off Event, benefiting friends of the libraries. Rub elbows with your favorite local chefs and media personalities. Support your libraries while sampling from select Twin Cities Originals restaurants, chilling out in the Amstel Light Lounge, or sipping the featured beverages. Featured Twin Cities Original restaurants at the Kick-off will include: the Dakota, The Herkimer, Ike’s Food & Cocktails, Jensen’s Supper Club, Lake Elmo Inn, Spill the Wine, Tejas, and TreVina Italian Steak House.

    All proceeds from this event and a portion of each Restaurant Week meal will support Minneapolis and St. Paul Friends of the Libraries.

    4:30 – 7 p.m., Minneapolis Central Library, 300 Nicollet Mall, Minneapolis, 612-630-6000, $20 in advance, $25 at door.

    MUSIC
    Delta Roots Reach up the Mississippi

    KebMo.jpgTonight, Grammy Award-winning artist Keb’ Mo’ will be playing at the Guthrie Theater. If you’re a Delta blues lover, this is a must see. Keb’Mo’ serves up some traditional Delta blues — Muddy Waters style — along with a mix of pop, folk rock, and jazz spanning multiple eras and genres. First, Mo’ will take the stage with a full band to perform an acoustic set of his Grammy Award-winning music. Following a brief intermission he will return with the band to perform a plugged-in, electric set of songs. This guy was actually selected to play Robert Johnson in Can’t You Hear the Wind Howl, a docu-drama about the blues legend’s life. How can you go wrong?

    7:30 p.m., Guthrie Theater, 818 S 2nd St., Minneapolis, 612-377-2224, $42.

    Listen to Keb’ Mo’.

    READINGS
    You Might Love Him Now

    Jonathan.jpgJonathan Lethem, author of You Don’t Love Me Yet, will be reading from his comic pop novel at the U of M today. “Pop culture has always played a huge role in Jonathan Lethem’s invented — and wildly inventive — world. He’s sort of the house DJ for a stable of like-minded contemporary writers, offering deft literary mash-ups of science fiction, hard-boiled detective stories, magical realism, and comic-book mythology. Lethem’s first novel since his 2003 Fortress of Solitude is a bit of a departure, at least from a geographical standpoint; set in Los Angeles rather than the author’s usual Brooklyn stomping grounds, You Don’t Love Me Yet is a comic novel steeped in the world of alternative rock, hipster drones, and the culture of complaint. While early reviews have called it slight, at least by Lethem standards, we’re betting it’s still a whole lot more readable than most of the other stuff clogging the new-arrivals section at Barnes and Noble.”

    7 p.m., University of Minnesota Bookstores, Coffman Memorial Union, 300 Washington Ave SE, Minneapolis, 612-625-6564, Free.

    Read another Rake review on Jonathan Lethem.

    SPORTS
    Plaaaaaaaaaaaay Ball!

    Twins.jpgYes, it’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for — or at least some of us. The baseball season is finally in swing, and tonight you can kick it off watching the Minnesota Twins play the Baltimore Orioles, right here on our home turf. Come cheer our boys on and celebrate the home season opener.

    6:05 p.m., Metrodome, 34 Kirby Puckett Pl., Minneapolis, 612-375-1366, $7-$44.

    Read Britt Robson’s On the Ball.

    ART AND TECHNOLOGY
    Cutting Edge Digital Culture

    Mobile phone messages mixed with ambient urban soundscape, email relationship maps, architectural software experiments — come see what our local techie artists have been up to this year. Emerging Digerati showcases cutting edge digital culture at the University of Minnesota. Come see how the featured artists are using new digital tools and techniques to do old things in new ways, and new things in ways few have imagined.

    5:30 to 8 p.m., Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, University of Minnesota, 301 E River Pky, Minneapolis, 612-625-9494, Free.

    ON THE NET
    Wile away the Long Hours at Work

    Who’s your bagel boy, bitch?

    Unibrow Song

    Come on, Chuck Norris vs. Bruce Lee just kicks ass!

    POS – another bunch of locals.

    An unflattering portrayal of the kids from St. Paul College on spring break.

    Fashion show at Trocaderos.

    Goodbye Craig Ferrence, Martin Williams Art Director.

    Slightly exploitive, but local.

    What would you do in Minnesota?

    Minneapolis-born albino Muslim rapper, Brother Ali, who happens to be releasing a new album next week.

    (Thanks to Rich Goldsmith for the video line-up.)

  • Hey, John McCain! Can You Say, "Dukakis in a Tank"?

    Sen. John McCain who stuck his polished loafer deep in his mouth when he said recently that Americans weren’t getting a realistic picture of the situation on the ground in Iraq — because of that damned negative media constantly obsessing over a few hundred truck bombings and a couple hundred tortured bodies flopping into the morgues every day — also said Baghdad was safe enough after that surge he wanted so badly a guy can now go for a leisurely stroll. Riiiiight. As long as you’re wearing a bullet proof vest, have a hundred GIs with rifles to help, you know, carry your shopping bags, and a couple Blackhawk choppers overhead.

    How badly will he regret this?

  • Nick Coleman Asks the Heffelfinger Question

    My old compadre, the grizzled and venerable, Nick Coleman, asks the question I thought somebody in town should have asked at least a month ago. Namely, was U.S. Attorney Tom Heffelfinger’s abrupt departure 15 months ago in any way connected to the ever-burgeoning Rove-Bush-Gonzalez USA firings scandal?

    Heffelfinger, a self-described moderate Republican, (remember those people?), says if he was targeted by Team Rove he has no awareness of it. Ok, fine. (If I was a moderate Republican attorney in good community standing and I had any basis for plausible denial, I’d say the same thing. There is no upside to getting dragged into this mess.) But as basic journalism goes with a story as big and nationwide as this US Attorneys thing shouldn’t someone at the Star Tribune have asked Heffelfinger the question before now … and published whatever he wanted to say? I’m not asking for much. Maybe 8″. Certainly nothing as long as the latest update on Sanjaya.

    Coleman’s story plays nicely with Bob McNaney’s report on Heffelfinger’s successor’s rather over-the-top investiture a month ago. McNaney pushed the “misuse of taxpayer’s dollars” angle pretty hard. Maybe too hard. But there was an unmistakable air of pretension and grandiosity to the affair. Call it personal taste on the part of new USA Rachel Paulose, or call it no big deal, I am still left with questions — as Coleman asks — why Heffelfinger was not invited, what this “problem journalist” list that existed at some point in the investiture planning process was really all about, (I mean, come on, a “problem journalist” list? Who is running Paulose’s show, Erhlichman and Haldeman?), and finally, whether Paulose in any way owes her present position to the hyper-partisan connivery that has now managed to taint every USA in the country … who DIDN’T get fired.

    But to get back to the top … does the Star Tribune mean to suggest that no one in the building thought to look seriously at the Heffelfinger departure until now?

  • Elsewhere

    I spent part of the weekend kicking around thoughts on the coming season with Britt Robson and David Brauer over at On the Ball, Britt’s new home on the world wide web (or whatever the hell you want to call this impossibly dense and increasingly confusing constellation of monkey business).

    Go check it out    .

    I’ll be back here Monday after the game, or perhaps even during the game.