The supposedly big news is that Cris Kirkwood is back from drugaddiction and a stint in jail. But the exciting part is that older broCurt Kirkwood—the alpha talent responsible for both the blistering,psychedelic guitar explosions and the sardonic, semi-sage lyrics thatare the Pups’ signature one-two punch—has responded to the siblingreunion by spooling forth Rise to … Read more
Bill Frisell’sloping, laconic guitar phrases are as implacably beautiful and subtlyshape-shifting as a prairie landscape, a perfect soundtrack forcompelling visuals. Indeed, two of the cooler items in his quilteddiscography were created to accompany the photographs of Walker Evans (This Land) and the films of Buster Keaton (Go West). Now the Walker has co-commissioned Frisell to … Read more
“So these are the famous Beatles,” says one of the manyBritish stiff-upper-lip types in Help!, their second go-round with director RichardLester. This ’65 effort concerns the Fab Four on the run from pug-faced LeoMcKern, who is a kind of Indian spiritual leader with a Cockney accent, eagerto get Ringo’s holy mood ring. Watching Help! makes … Read more
In Sam Fuller‘s 1953 paean to the New York City underworld,pickpocket Skip McCoy (the great Richard Widmark) accidentally nabs the wrongwallet-one containing microfilm that the Commies are hungry to get theirmitts on. Soon the cops, the feds, and the Reds are all out to get Skip and histreasure. In Pickup on South Street, the director … Read more
Seventeen years in the making, Lake of Fire, the epic abortion documentary by Tony Kaye (best known for American History X),has finally arrived. Mercifully shot in silvery 35mm black and white(thus making its horribly graphic imagery that much less disturbing), Lake of Fireeschews narration to rely on 152 minutes of talking heads, protests,and, of course, … Read more
Between the Coens’ new shoot-’em-up and American Gangster, this year’s Oscar contenders will probably be slam-bang pieces of entertainment. In Gangster, Denzel Washington plays African-American mob boss Frank Lucas,who ruled ’70s Harlem by making his product—heroin—better and cheaperthan his rivals’, while simultaneously becoming one of the city’s greatcivic leaders. Opposing him is one Russell Crowe,an … Read more
Art meets life in this informal, party-like performance replete with food and drink from the Cedar-Riverside area’s Tam-Tam’s African Restaurant, and a locally produced soundtrack of African music. But the main attraction is Congolese choreographer Faustin Linyekula and his troupe of dancers and actors,who move within a shifting installation of fluorescent light fixtures,electrical chords, and … Read more
Minneapolis takes on shades of Paris for a week this fall, courtesy of Ballet of the Dolls.The company has been working its inventive and often wacky brand ofdance theater for twenty-one years now, most recently with a take onthe outer-space sex odyssey Barbarella. Artistic director andformer Parisian Myron Johnson choreographed this latest show as aseries … Read more
Along with Sarah Ruhl (see here), Minneapolis is also conducting alove affair with Irish playwrights. There was Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman at Frank Theatre in September and Brian Friel’s tragic The Home Place,currently on stage at the Guthrie; now the Jungle Theater adds to thebleak themes put forth by Irishmen with Conor McPherson’s Shining City. … Read more
You heard it here first, folks: Sarah Ruhl is the hottest contemporary playwright in the country right now, andher work is particularly popular in Minneapolis. While Ruhl’s The Clean House continues at Mixed Blood (through November 18), 3 Sticks, a gem of a troupe, takes on Ruhl’s remarkable Melancholy Play. (There’s more on the horizon, … Read more