Let’s not get too hung up on labels like "Rising Stars." At age 48, with 17 discs of wildly varying merit to his credit (I’m one of the precious few who loved his ’80s meld of jazz and hip hop), saxophonist Greg Osby is less a rising star that an established albeit iconoclastic member of … Read more
John Hiatt is an ersatz curmudgeon, a faux eccentric, a dilapidated Everyman with an undeniably big heart and an equally undeniable knack for songwriting. He can jangle a slant-back country blues song or ambush you emotionally by confessing for redemption. He’s got elements of a Nashville pro and a guy who’s listened to a lot … Read more
It has been more than 40 years since renowned French writer/director Claude Lelouch won the Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival and multiple Oscars for A Man and a Woman in 1966. But praise in the French press has eluded Lelouch, even after releasing 40 films since. So, to test the bias of the … Read more
The Parkway Theater presents its first live stage production with Judy Cooper Lyle’s The Black Orchid, an examination of the immensely influential early twentieth century stage performer Josephine Baker. Performed by the Urban Spectrum Theatre Company and featuring Madeline Howie as Baker, the production begins on June 19 in a preview performance at 8:15 p.m. … Read more
Visitors to the Walker Art Center may get a glimpse of what it’s like to be a "wannabe" (people who voluntarily want to get amputations) when a First Look premiere of the new film Quid Pro Quo screens on Friday, June 6. Hailed by Variety as "strikingly original and provocative" when it premiered at the … Read more
"Going green" has almost become a fashion statement in this day and age, but finding the most effective ways to help the environment can often be tricky, and the impact we have on the world around us is often greater than we think. Throughout the summer, the Walker Art Center will present a series of … Read more
One of Saint Paul’s most popular outdoor film series starts again this summer at the Central Library. The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library sponsors the page-to-screen themed series, which runs June 20 to July 25. The showings begin on June 20 with a screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1945 thriller Spellbound, starring Ingrid Bergman … Read more
Stone has always struck me as a latter-day Gladys Knight, a lady who sings like she knows her way around the church and the high-rise and the rural South, who’s comfortable to a fault with conservative soul trappings, not realizing that her best moments come when she steps beyond the mix and indulges her supple … Read more
People struggle to survive in the midst of crisis. Is hatred stronger than love? What horrors are we capable of when our survival is at stake? And what happens to the survival instinct when you no longer have a reason to live? The Playwrights’ Center presents Euphoria, a new play by University of Minnesota student … Read more
If extravagant excess, jazz-rock division, is your preferred sonic energy drink, the reunion of the most fantastic of the various Return To Forever lineups is the gig of the summer. Precious few bands—Emerson Lake & Palmer and the Mahavishnu Orchestra come to mind—indulged in ornate wankery with so much spunk and so little fear, and … Read more