For 35 years, the Tricia Brown Dance Company has been pushing the boundaries of contemporary dance, offering bold and exciting work and choreography. This month, they bring three such works to the Twin Cities: Present Tense, Foray Forêt, and I love my robots. The first and last are newer pieces. Present Tense is set to … Read more
Off-Leash Area brings us yet another inventive physical-theater production — this time told through the voices of the Sonoran Desert. Two-time Ivey Award honorees Jennifer Ilse and Paul Herwig team up to direct Border Crossing, written by Jerome Fellow and Anishinaabe playwright Marcie Rendon, with an original score by Ben Siems. Rendon’s story follows a … Read more
It’s April. Is your favorite Major League Baseball team already out of contention for the Pennant? Relax. Peter Schilling’s novel The End of Baseball may be entertainment for those fanatics with a long summer ahead. The End of Baseball covers the complete season of the 1944 Philadelphia Athletics in the race for the pennant. But … Read more
Being a mother may not be the easiest of jobs, but being the most influential person in most women’s lives has its rewards. In Kathryn Kysar’s journal Riding Shotgun: Women Write about Their Mothers, various authors, teachers, scholars, and mothers tell the heartwarming and powerful stories about the mothers who have loved and raised them. … Read more
After four years, Brenda Weiler is finally at it again with her new album End The Rain. Weiler’s sultry voice and melodious guitar work come together in this collection to form songs that sing right to the heart — perhaps a result of the recent loss of her sister. During the last four years, Weiler … Read more
Voltage: Fashion Amplified pumps up the volume with the blending of two art forms: music and fashion. First Avenue is showcasing local fashion gurus along the catwalk with the native Minnesota sounds of The Haves Have It, Zibra Zibra, Bella Koshka, MC/VL, White Light Riot and Birthday Suits (who also sport the fashions of the … Read more
Kimya Dawson is just the cheer we need for these economic doldrums. The tattooed fairy godmother visits the Cedar Cultural Center on April 16, riding high on the indie box office smashery of Juno and the soundtrack that serves as a collection of her hits. Dawson performs folk stripped down to its bare essence. Her … Read more
Listening to Feel Good Ghosts is a visceral event with images flooding from vocalist Craig Minowa’s decadent lyrics. Take this snippet from "When Water Comes To Life": "And underneath your ribs/ they’ll find a heart-shaped locket/ an old photograph of you in daddy’s arms/ then they’ll sew you closed." In one moment it sounds painfully … Read more
After the wretched transformation of Beowulf to film, the time is ripe for a modern-day monster tale we can all read and imagine (rather than ruin with trite images). And try as I might to disassociate Toby Barlow’s debut novel from this timeless classic, Beowulf keeps coming to mind. Clearly, the title, Sharp Teeth, could … Read more
While it’s all too possible you may not know Bo Ramsey’s name, you’re sure to have been touched by him somehow — whether as a musician or a producer of something wonderful you’ve heard. For whatever reason, Ramsey has drawn more attention from musicians than from the general public. Perhaps he’s simply not a limelight … Read more