Join Stevens Square Center for the Arts on July 12 and 13 for their
annual Twin Cities Zinefest, a celebration of zinesters and indie music
fans that showcases the Midwest’s homegrown talent. The event will also
feature an art show, craft demonstrations, guest speakers and panel
discussions.
Attendance is free. The event runs July 12 from 11 – 5 p.m. and July 13
from 11 – 4 p.m. Stevens Square Center for the Arts is located at 1905
3rd Ave S. in Minneapolis. For more information, visit www.stevensarts.org.
After their last local gig in a venue that actually had rows of seats bolted to the floor, they’re back at First Ave. where they’ll always belong, riding the crest of Stay Positive, yet another startling, snarling confessional of clean and dirty secrets set to anthemic guitar riffs, all girded by their thoroughly charming, drunken geek modesty. The new one, out 7/14, harkens and hews closer to the Springsteen ethos than ever (and for all you faux anarchists, that’s a good thing), without losing the idiosyncrasies. Craig Finn’s tales of Brooklyn and Bloomington have always been every bit as righteous and riotous as the chronicles of Asbury Park, but as the E Street simulacrum "Sequestered In Memphis" shows, an impeccably tight band twirling stately piano, horn fanfares and monster guitar riffs can take the most riveting narrative another notch higher. And besides the new stuff, we still have the prospect of watching Finn gesticulating wildly as he talk-sings the blues of "Charlemagne in Sweatpants" or leads the ode to "Southtown Girls." Sold out. Scalp if you have to.
Here’s a gig that lets you strain the brandy or fine single malt over your tongue while you swell with pride for living in a place with such a vibrant local jazz scene. Cox is an internationally renowned bassist who had Billy Higgins and Dewey Redman on his first record and happens to call the Twin Cities home. Hey is a protégé of Ed Blackwell and has been arguably the top drummer in town for two decades. They’ve formed trios with pianist Billy Carrothers and guitarist Dean Magraw, among others, but when Cox called Lomheim as well as Hey to fill some corporate dates, things took a quieter, albeit very satisfying, turn. Lomheim favors the melancholy of Bill Evans and is also a composer of some note. Cox, who always admired Evans’ bassist Scott Lafaro, was amenable to that approach. The first time they played the AQ a few months back was reportedly a luminous affair. Despite their Ornettish associations, Cox and Hey are enjoying the hushed, relaxed groove of calling out standards-be it Monk or Jerome Kern, with Lomheim always bringing at least one original for variety-and spooling out the interplay.
Here’s a truism of modern art: Every new generation of emerging young artists is convinced it will reinvent the culture. And, strangely enough, they all go about this reinvention pretty much in the same way: By making a bunch of meaningless noise. Think of Tristan Tzara here, and his poems that go nowhere. Think of Jackson Pollock’s random splotches and drips. Think of the long and ambling filmic experiments of Warhol’s Factory. It’s not surprising, then, that the upcoming show “Serious Art” at First Amendment Arts of work by young artists Michael Gaughan and the group that calls itself Hardland/Heartland traffics in the realm of the bizarre and incongruous. Even the PR material are in on the act, abecedarianally describing the show as, “absurd, barbaric, concerning, despicable, entertaining, flippant, gregarious, half-baked, intellectual, jarring, knowledgeable, ludicrous, mellifluous, non-sensical, outlandish, perplexing, quadrangular, ridiculous, subversive, typical, urban, verbose, whimsical, xeroxed, yawn, zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz boring.” What this means, likely, is a colorful and head-scratching aggregation of colorful drawings, collages, paintings, installations, hand-made books, music, and fashions.
The Serious Art opening party, which includes musical performances by Gaughan and members of Hardland/Heartland, takes place on Saturday, July 12, 7 – 10 pm. Admission is free. First Amendment Art is at 1101 Stinson Blvd (in basement rooms A & B) in Northeast Minneapolis.
Guy Maddin has spent his career trying to replicate the 1920’s German
and Russian silent filmmakers’ styles. To see today’s stars, like
Isabella Rossellini, splashed on the silver screen in The Saddest Music in the World in archaic textured film is a surreal experience. But Maddin has taken surreal to a whole new level in his latest film, My Winnipeg.
Described by Maddin as a "Docu-fantasia," My Winnipeg
portrays the director’s hometown and his experiences growing up there.
The film is somewhat of therapy for Maddin, putting down in writing
and on the big screen many of his remembrances, thoughts, opinions, and
stories he heard while growing up in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. The
melding of melo-dramatic silent-film style cinematography with archival
footage from the past gives the film a real nostalgic feel.
The
documentary aspects illuminate the town and its
history, and reflect the original intent of the film. Madden was
originally commissioned by Michael Burns of the Documentary Channel in
Canada to do an "enchanting" documentary that looks past the frozen
tundra cliché about Winnipeg. In this vain, the film’s cinematography
and use of archival footage present some beautiful imagery of Winnipeg.
But
it was impossible for Maddin to ignore the personal attachments and
experiences he had to the city while growing up, and do a straight
documentary. His Winnipeg wasn’t just the stories and history that were
going on around him. It had to include the real-life circumstances and
dramas of his childhood. So, he chose to use his distinctly nostalgic
filmmaking style to re-create specific situations from his childhood in
the movie. But he didn’t stop at just filming these situations, he
actually rented out his childhood home to film the scenes where they
actually happened.
Maddin
admits that there was some catharsis involved in the process. This is a
real treat for viewers, though, as there is a rare vulnerability and
self-disclosure of a filmmakers’ personal life. Maddin also narrates
the film in a poetic fashion by talking about Winnepeg, ruminating
about his experiences there and even riffing Jack Karouac-style on his
city.
There is no doubt that Guy Maddin has a connection to his hometown, and in My Winnipeg he lays it all out for everyone to see in dramatic black and white, surrounded by colorful words.
Get a little zen with contemporary sculptor, teacher, and garden wanderer Kinji Akagawa.
You’ll spend the day with this local master learning about his art and
process which will come to a close with a VIP tour of of the artist’s
studio and private garden in the beautiful St. Croix River Valley. For
the past 40 years, Akagawa has made a name for himself with his
site-specific public sculptures such as THIS
one in the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden on top of having a brilliant
reputation as an arts educator. Today’s lecture/field trip ought to be
as informative as it is pleasant. The Landscapes of Life is part of the U of M’s Curiosity Camp,
a program designed as a one-day "summer camp" for adults. Can’t get
away for a real vacation? This might just be the next best thing.
Register for this event and others HERE.
9am-4:30pm, MCAD, 2501 Stevens Ave., Minneapolis, $125
The official Soul Queen of
New Orleans, Irma Thomas has gracefully matured from the belter who
literally 50 years ago (1958) told her romantic rivals, "You Can Have
My Husband (But Please Don’t Mess With My Man)," to a caresser who
engages the violins and doesn’t shed a shred of dignity on the bittersweet
"Another Lonely Heart." A survivor of not one but two hurricanes
(Camille and Katrina, the first one arguably tougher, as it temporarily
short-circuited her career), Thomas is equally comfortable with soaring
blues and gospel gravitas, wry, sexy mama send-ups, and, her stock-in-trade,
testimony about the day-to-day triumphs earned and tears dropped. At
the Dakota last time through she was engaging and self-assured, took
requests, and played a generous set that left everyone wanting more.
According to the various label and ticket sites, this Zoo gig is the
only spot on her concert calendar this summer—don’t be surprised
if she pulls something out from her upcoming Simply Grand CD,
due in August. The stellar and simpatico opener is James Hunter, who
plays retro blue-eyed soul with a passion and panache that seems steeped
in the mid-60s but conveys its immediacy the moment it hits your ears.
Re-creating the popular 1960s sitcom Get Smart
on the big screen is no easy task. Just ask Don Adams, the original
Agent 86 from the series. He tried to re-create Maxwell Smart on the
big screen in the 1980s, with The Nude Bomb, a movie that lived up to its title.
At
least in 1980, most people had been around for the original show, or
at least seen re-runs during a decidedly successful decade of television
syndication. Today, most of the the youthful movie audiences that can
make-or-break a movie in its opening weekend, have never even heard of Get Smart, let alone seen an episode.
But
if you are going to take on such a task, I can’t think of anyone better
to play the notoriously inept spy character Agent 86, than Steve
Carell, the award-winning actor who portrays an overtly inept boss on
one of today’s most popular sitcoms, The Office. No one expects
Steve Carell to step into Don Adams’s shoes and reproduce the same
version of Maxwell Smart; but if anyone in Hollywood today can bring a
fresh take on Agent 86, while retaining his charming deadpan
ineptitude, it’s Carell.
The creators of the big screen Get Smart have
chosen to re-introduce Mawell Smart to a new generation of movie-goers
by starting at the beginning, when Maxwell Smart is promoted from
analyst to agent by his boss, the Control Agency Chief (Alan Arkin).
Smart gets his chance to work in the field, like stalwart Agent 23
(Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson), when the Control headquarters are
attacked. He is partnered with the more competent Agent 99 (Ann
Hathaway), and must battle the forces of their evil crime nemesis, known as KAOS.
Arkin,
Hathaway, and Johnson are all strong choices in their roles, furthering
the goal of retaining the series’ integrity. But the question still
remains: how can there be a fresh take for today’s audience.
One of the original series’ key elements of humor was to spoof the 1960s spy thrillers, like James Bond and The Man From Uncle. Most
of the gadgets in the original series, like the shoe phone or radio
pen, were outlandish and not thought to be serious possibilities as
tools for a secret agent. Today, many of these gadgets exist, hence are far less outlandish to audiences. So, the movies producers chose to
find gadgets that actually exist today and rely more on Maxwell Smart’s
ineptitude at using high technology to create the laughs. They did, however, keep the shoe phone and cone of silence for die-hards’
amusement.
Agent
86’s relationship with Agent 99 is another new angle. In the original,
Agent 99 always stood behind her man. The new version has Agent 99
taking Smart under her wing and showing him the ropes, playing a more
dominant role in the relationship, something Carell often gets
laughs for on The Office.
With the end of the Cold War, Get Smart
has shifted its satirical focus from spying on the enemy to internal
miscommunication — which played itself out recently in great detail in the wake of the 9/11 tragedy.
The sum total of toe-ing the line and updating this classic sitcom is that the producers of Get Smart have made a spy movie that is funny, rather than spoofing a spoof. So, it seems that all the cards are in place for Get Smart
to succeed in re-inventing its beloved 1960s predecessor. What remains
to be seen is if the updates will resonate with today’s youthful
audiences and succeed at the box office.
While the elegant Dakota isn’t
quite as sublime as the outdoor quad in front of Northrop Auditorium—where
Baobab played under sunny skies and swirling dancers in a beautiful
evening on their last tour—this amazing 11-piece band does have another
superb record’s worth of tunes in their arsenal: Made In Dakar,
released in May, and equal or better than their comeback triumph,
Specialist In All Styles. Barthelemy Attisso’s multifaceted guitar
lines are the main attraction, but it is hard to discount the vibrant,
beseeching griot vocals, the Afro-Latin polyrhythms (especially the
verbose vocabulary of the talking drums) and the snazzy saxophone phrases.
And like all great bands, the synergy is abundant.