Chick's too young to fry…

What I’d do this weekend if I wasn’t going to the North Shore (I go begrudgingly… its hard to pull me away from the city I love in the thick of fall arts season): Kid Dakota at the Turf, Lit 6 at the Ritz, Osmo at Harreit. Oh, and I’m ‘sposed to say there’s going … Read more

Conversations Real and Imagined: The Subtle Psychopath Jimmy Stewart

Winchester ’73, 1950. Directed by Anthony Mann, written by Borden Chase and Robert L. Richards. Starring James Stewart, Millard Mitchell (guy looks just like my Grandpa Schilling), Shelley Winters, Dan Duryea, Stephen McNally, John McIntire and both Rock Hudson and Tony Curtis in small, unrecognizable roles. Note: Circumstances prevented me from attending last evening’s Blue … Read more

Listen, Ruckert Said, This Is Serious

He said: This is a disappearing act for the ages, with a little of that all-the-king’s-horses-and-all-the-king’s-men business thrown in for good measure –although I should say that it never struck me as particularly surprising that horses wouldn’t be much good at putting things back together, lacking as they do opposable thumbs, not to mention hands. … Read more

Soap Fact-or-ee is the place to be

The Soap Factory’s 99 sale/fundraiser is tonight…. The basic rundown is this: The gallery’s putting up a bunch of 5 x 7 (as in, inches… INCHES!) original works–some by famous artists, some by regular enough folks (with cool jobs). But you’ll never know unless you buy something.

Post-Art Paranoia at the Soap Factory

Here’s a cool night for you: wander through the Soap Factory’s amazing 99 dollar sale and then, around 8:30, head on out for that masterpiece of paranoia, The Parallax View, part of Take-Up Productions and S.F.’s “You Were Never Here” autumn film series. I’m not DeSmith, but I’ll put in a plug for the art … Read more

Today's Subject Is Failure: One Day Soon That Dam Is Going To Break

A night for Barber’s “Adagio for Strings,” for roast beef sandwiches with horseradish, for wrenching squalls, for geese sailing across the sky, for the tired old monkey business with the flag and the usual recrimination, for the bowed back and the metaphoric broken teeth. What do you take me for, a leader? I am only … Read more

Dramatist, Filmmaker, Lipstick King for A Day

For those film-loving homebodies too tired to go out on a Wednesday night: American Masters profiles the inimitable Preston Sturges. Preston Sturges: The Rise and Fall of an American Dreamer shows tonight on TPT Channel 2 at 9:00. If you recall, the Walker screened two of his films, The Lady Eve and Sullivan’s Travels, in … Read more

Calling All Cooks

Dig through your family collections, ladies and gentlemen. Pull the best dish from your repertoire and steel your nerves. You, yes you Betty Lou, could win fame and acclaim in the Great Mill City Farmers Market Taste-Off! I know you are hiding a killer dish of some sort (scalloped potatoes? creamed corn? broasted chicken? Granny’s … Read more

It's a good day for music but I'm chained to my desk

We’re putting the finishing touches on the October issue today and tomorrow, and so I won’t be able to sneak over to Peazey Plaza for the Minnesota Orchestra’s free, lunchtime concert. (But I’ll likely catch the replay this Sunday at Lake Harriet.) Nor will I make it to Lee’s tonight to see The Derailers. (Ah, … Read more

When the Military Knows We're Losing…

According to the Washington Post today, the U.S. Marine officer in charge of military intelligence in Iraq thinks we’ve already lost a substantial chunk of the country. Think about why we’d “stay the course” when the course is a path to defeat. It’s not called Cut and Run. It’s called Cut Your Losses.