STORYTELLING
If You Like to Hear Yourself Talk
Start off the evening with a light bite and a bottle of wine at JP American Bistro. Sit out in the patio if the weather and crowds permit. Order a bottle of the Emilio Moro Valladolid ’01. It’s from the Ribera del Duero region of Spain, so it’ll be well worth the $56. 2937 Lyndale Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-824-9300.
Leave the car where it is for now, and walk to the Bryant Lake Bowl. You should be in just the right mood for the In the Loop Story Slam. We all have a story to tell, be it in song, poetry, or prose, be it real or not. Take the stand and spin your tale. Too shy? Sit back and let the others do the work. Jeff Horwich will be hosting, along with In the Loop house band, The Smart. If you have a story to tell, sign up before 7:30. Names will be drawn randomly throughout the night. You’ll have five minutes to tell your tale, after which The Smarts will drown you out with their song. Think you’re interesting enough? Don’t expect kindness. And if all goes well, and you don’t yet want the night to end, you can top off the evening with another light bite or a chocolate torte before you go off to bed.
7:30 pm (6:30 doors), Bryant Lake Bowl, 810 West Lake St., Minneapolis; 612-825-3737; $6-10 (pay what you can).
FILM
Kids Do It Better
The Roosevelt High Open Program is hosting its 3rd Annual Student Documentary Film Festival this evening — a result of a year-long interdisciplinary English and American History course and work with documentary film artist and IFP member Joanna Kohler. Go check out seven student films, produced, directed, researched, and edited entirely by these students. “What these youth are saying… may not be what you expected to hear.” School Spirit offers an inside look at student connectedness to schools. Opportunities & Obstacles examines the achievement gap. Save The Drum Beat explores Anishinabe Culture in the Twin Cities. Echoes of the Past tells ghost stories about Roosevelt High School. Locally Grown digs into hip-hop in the Twin Cities. Who’s Your Family? serves up a little Gang Life 101. Get Your Motor Running covers the Automotive Program at Roosevelt. And Image is Everything shows media images of urban schools and stereotypes.
6 p.m., Roosevelt High School Auditorium, 4029 28th Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-668-4800; free.
Since they’re only 10 minutes apiece, the films should be done by 7:30 or 8 p.m. Hungry now? Lucky for you, you’re only 10 blocks away from the Town Talk Diner. Stay in touch with the newly-awoken kid in you with one of their adult milkshakes. I’m particularly fond of the Irish Float — made with Guinness — but the John Cold Train is pretty fabulous, too. 2707 1/2 E. Lake St., Minneapolis; 612-722-1312.
Coppola Does It Best
Of course, classics are always good, too. And Francis Ford Coppola is always worth seeing — even his crap-ass One from the Heart. Tonight, you’ll do much better than that. Tucker: The Man and His Deam exposes the real-life struggles of one man and his fight against big government and large corporations. “In 1945 Michigan, Preston Tucker (Jeff Bridges) created a car for the future equipped with fuel injection, a center headlight, seat belts, a rear engine, disc brakes, shatterproof glass, and a pop-out windshield. With the support of his wife (Joan Allen), his son (Christian Slater), and his business manager (Martin Landau, in an Academy Award-nominated performance), Tucker produced fifty of his dream cars. However, Detroit’s Big Three, with the help of a Washington senator (played by Jeff Bridges’s father, Lloyd, in an uncredited role), set up significant roadblocks. Tucker is investigated for fraud and his plant is closed. Coppola had been planning to make a film based on the life of Preston Tucker since 1974. His own struggle to retain independence from the Hollywood studios mirrors the auto maverick’s story. Of the 50 cars Tucker made, 46 are still roadworthy (Coppola and Executive Producer George Lucas each own one).”
7:30 p.m., Liberty Center, 799 Raymond Ave., Saint Paul; 651-646-8980; $5 optional donation; please R.S.V.P.
The best way to prepare for this libertarian event is with a burger and a beer (root beer counts) at Casper & Runyon’s Nook. Get a decently priced meal and what I’ve often heard referred to as one of the best burgers in town. It ain’t Matt’s, but you can get an even fancier juicy lucy with pepperjack cheese and friend onions. Mmmmm. 492 S. Hamline Ave., Saint Paul; 651-698-4347.
THEATER & PERFORMANCE by Christy DeSmith
Ballet of the Dolls Does Barbarella
This irreverent modern dance production is inspired by Jean-Claude Forest’s cheeky ’60s comic strip Barbarella. But it’s more closely related to the 1968 sci-fi movie Forest’s book inspired. Just as Jane Fonda did in that movie version, Dolls dancer Heather Cadigan gets things started with a zero-gravity striptease. In this instance, however, the achievement owes more to the performer’s limberness than to primitive, mid-century F/X. From there on out, the intergalactic mission finds Cadigan shimmying and wall-dancing in little more than her go-go boots. (Rumors that Cadigan would don something akin to Fonda’s famous see-through plastic breastplate couldn’t be confirmed.) Of course, the Dolls’ artistic director Myron Johnson couldn’t resist the temptation to inject Barbarella with some twenty-first-century-style modernity. He keeps his comments on media, women, and war on the slight side, but shamelessly mashes the film’s bubblegum score with P. Diddy and Christina Aguilera. Stay tuned for a behind-the-scenes video.
8 p.m., Ritz Theater, 345 13th Ave. NE, Minneapolis; 612-436-1129; $15.
No need to forego dinner with Erte Restaurant so close. A good cabaret-style show calls for a good Cabernet — or at least it sounds good. Try the Chicken Saltimbocca with a bottle of Beringer Knight’s Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. Normally, I wouldn’t recommend chicken with this wine, but the Saltimbocca is zesty enough to hold its own against even this one. 323 13th Avenue N.E., Minneapolis; 612-623-4211.
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