Blog

Traveling by motorcycle has many advantages: open air, engagement with the environment, and gas mileage about one-third that of most mid-size cars. There is one downside, though. You’re at the mercy of small towns when it comes to things like coffee, wine, and food. My husband and I have toured most of the Midwest, and our biggest problem historically has been Wisconsin.

First, everything you order is likely to come beer-battered and smothered in cheese. (I once ordered what I thought was plain, broiled whitefish, only to be served something entirely covered in cheddar.) Second, the wine selection often is edged out by library-like shelves of Blatz. But most critical is the fact that most of the “non-smoking sections” — an antiquated concept, which I never remember until I step out of the Twin Cities — are tiny annexes stuck on rooms full of acrid smoke.

Many’s the time we’ve scoured a town for up to an hour, looking for one enlightened coffeeshop or an outdoor cafe, only to end up eating yogurt while leaning on the Triumph in the parking lot of a monster grocery mart. But today, we discovered something wonderful.

Ashland, Wisconsin, an industrial port town of approximately 8,600 people, has gone smoke-free! We were informed by Paul Levelius — owner of the 2nd Street Bistro — who told us Ashland was the third city in the state, after Madison and Appleton, to ban smoking in restaurants.

Levelius’s restaurant was terrific, by the way: a BLT with smoked pepper bacon, fresh arugula, and avocado mayo on Texas toast; bouillabaisse in a saffron orange broth; house salad made of organic greens, red peppers, scallions, and a tangy homemade rice wine vinaigrette. 2nd Street also features live music on Wednesdays and weekends; and half-priced bottles of wine on Monday and Tuesday nights.

But better even than finding fresh vegetables in Wisconsin (not drenched in cheese sauce!) was leaving the restaurant without a headache, our clothes free of the lingering stench of old tobacco, our lungs clean rather than lined with other people’s breathed-out cigarette fur.

And according to the website Smoke Free Wisconsin, many other cities are considering following suit.

So, we’re riding through the Upper Peninsula last night and decided to stop in Hancock, Michigan. Walked into a little mom-and-pop liquor store called The Shottle Bop — I’m not kidding — and right up to a shelf with The King Cabernet Sauvignon 2003, third edition. The bottle features a photo of Elvis from his glory years: white suit and lariat-style belt, microphone in hand, bulges in all the right places. (Note: the label pictured above is different, without the enviable groin, but I was unable to find the one we purchased on the Graceland Cellars site, so maybe it’s a very rare collector’s item. . . .)

In any case, we had to buy it. Wouldn’t you? We took it back to our Holiday Inn Express (damn, don’t we travel in style), uncorked it and breathed in the plummy, purple essence of The King. This is not a subtle wine — I mean, not even for a Cab. It doesn’t just sit on the tongue, it puddles there: rich, dark fruit, anise, and chocolate flavors, like a Hershey-covered black cherry soaked in some kind of syrupy, blackberry hooch. Not that it was bad. In fact, I kind of liked it in an against-my-better-judgment Hunk of Burning Love sort of way.

I probably won’t be drinking The King on a regular basis, however. Because I awoke this morning with a not-hungover (I had less than a glass and a half) but racy feeling — likely more from the sulfites and sugars than the alcohol content (12.9%). But still, there’s that bottle. . .

FILM
Cast Your Vote

Today is the final day to vote on your favorite entry for the 2007 Screenlabs Challenge Audience Award. Have your say. Watch each of the short films. Then vote here. May the best film win.

ART
Consummate Consumers

OVERSTOCKPILE is artist Mari Richards’s latest exhibit of “sculptures and installations exploring the results of too much going in and not enough going out.” Isn’t everyone over-stimulated, over-stuffed, and overwhelmed these days? Consummate consumers–constipated, too. Richards’s pieces look like the guts of a gimme-gimme society contained in bulbous piles of plastic bags, which glisten grotesquely like raw meat and organs. Some installations are sordid and clumpy, where others are smooth and well-defined. The way Richards captures ugly truths is beautiful. The show is at Vesper College Art Gallery, a former telephone building built in 1902. Their mission is “to inspire students to sculpt contemplative space with ecological balance.” –Eeva-Liisa Waaraniemi

Friday from 4-8 p.m., Vesper College Art Gallery, 201 6th St. S.E., Minneapolis; free.

Art Colony Emulates Ant Colony

There has been a great deal of painting going on at Grand Marais lately. For the past week, artists have been mulling about outdoors, trying to capture the beauty of Lake Superior’s North Shore on authenticated canvases for the Grand Marais Art Colony’s 5th annual Plein Aire Outdoor Painting Competition. Now it’s just about time for the judging to begin. Finished work is due at the Art Colony by 1 p.m. today, after which there will be an artist reception and fish fry from 5 to 7 p.m. Stop by to mingle with the artists and celebrate a week of work well done. The work will be judged Friday evening and Saturday morning, followed by an award ceremony Saturday at 10 a.m. Then, we finally get to view and purchase the art at the exhibition sale, with a little lunch for good measure. BBQ and art? I’m digging it.

Friday from 5 to 7 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Grand Marais Art Colony, 120 3rd Ave. West, Grand Marais; 218-387-2737.

MUSIC
Tamino Plays His Magic Lute

As always, there’s plenty of good music to pick from this weekend: Rapper Slick Rick tonight at the Varsity, roots pop-rockers Counting Crows tomorrow night at Midway Stadium, and a Happy Apple CD release party at the Artists’ Quarter on Sunday. What more do you need? Lute music?

Why he’s not at the Renaissance Festival — or at the Grand Marais Art Colony inspiring the artists as they paint — is beyond me, but if lute music is what you want, you’ve got it tonight. “Join lutenist and trickster Richard Griffith for an evening of Renaissance lute music, magic, and mental chicanery,” says the invitation. “Richard will perform a delightful selection of Renaissance lute music from England, Scotland, France, Italy and Spain, punctuated with some baffling bits of magic, mentalism, and paranormal illusions.” I’m definitely going for the bits of mentalism.

Friday at 7:30 p.m. (and again on Sept. 15th), Tillie’s Bean Coffee House, 2803 E. 38th St., Minneapolis; 612-276-0100; free (tips encouraged).

PERFORMANCE
Live! Nude! Drag!

The headline pretty much says it all. (Normally, I would make some sort of snide remark here about overselling what is likely a mere suggestion of nudity, but we’re talking Lili’s Burlesque here, so I’ll refrain from underestimating their suggestions.) I made the mistake a couple weeks ago of saying that Minneapolis doesn’t have a strong history of burlesque — a mistake that resulted in a peeved and well-informed letter from someone in the biz. And while I still have a hard time accepting anything that has transpired in the just-barely-mentionable span of the new millennium as “a strong history,” I am certainly willing to concede our current foothold in the field. Not only do I concede, but I strongly support it, and I encourage you all to do the same — anything fleshy, my friends, anything cabaret — be it dyke, be it drag, be it tassled or shagged. Enjoy an evening of live drag and performance featuring members of Dykes Do Drag and Lili’s Burlesque Revue.

Friday at 9 p.m., Pi Bar, 2532 25th Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-877-4368; $5.

THEATER & PERFORMANCE
Bring Out the Pooka

Some films get so big they have a way of obscuring the plays that preceded them. Such is the case with Harvey. I think Harvey and I think Jimmy Stewart, I think pooka, I think six-foot-tall rabbit — and I think fondly. If you haven’t seen it, you must definitely do so, but not without acknowledging the play behind the film. Oddly enough (only because it’s so overlooked), Mary Chase’s cooky 1945 play actually earned her a Pulitzer. Now the Lakeshore Players bring you their rendition of the ever-relevant classic — a great boon to the imagination and a cutting jab to the psychiatric world.

Friday and Saturday ay 8 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m., Lakeshore Players Theatre, 4820 Stewart Ave., White Bear Lake; 651-429-5674; $17 (seniors and students $15).

Here It Is Here It Is

Also beginning this weekend is Melissa Birch’s Here It Is Here It Is —
“a satiric romp where the post-feminist main character navigates through road rage, gluttony, and other new oppressions in a seemingly incongruous American autobiography.” Hmmm… let’s see. Given the choice, I’d rather watch it than live it, but then nobody offered me a choice, so perhaps then I’ll just laugh at it… laugh at it always. It’s a good way not to take the serious too seriously.

Sunday (all month) at 7 p.m., Bryant Lake Bowl, 810 W. Lake St., Minneapolis; 612-825-3737; $12.