Both Shinique Smith and Michael Paul Britto were in a show called “Frequency” at the Studio Museum of Harlem last year, curated by the incisively yet inclusively smart Thelma Golden. Also included was Kalup Linzy, whose hilarious and fond videos of various homefolks recently showed at Midway Contemporary Art in Northeast Minneapolis. Indeed, it seems … Read more
A fruit so juicy that you have to lick your arm after eating it, and a technology so viral that it threatens ubiquity. Are these opposites? Or, in some sense—desire, say—are they the same? They’re things you want and don’t want; they’re too much. That is, roughly, the theme of this show, curated by Soap … Read more
Maybe it’s the railroads that have tied Minnesota so tightly to the folk music scene since the ’40s. Or maybe it’s the good old Midwestern working-class mentality that permeates the back roads and smaller towns throughout the state. Regardless, our imprint on contemporary folk doesn’t stop at Bob “Zimmerman” Dylan. Hailing from Dylan’s hometown, and … Read more
Over the past three years, this Canadian punk rocker has metamorphosed into an indie-folk-rock darling, collaborating along the way with Peaches, Broken Social Scene, and the Norwegian folk duo Kings of Convenience. Following a soulful Parisian solo debut (Let It Die in 2004), Leslie Feist’s talent is now firmly cemented with her latest, The Reminder, … Read more
Even the irrepressible Wynton Marsalis merits no better than third in the current family pecking order after brothers Delfeayo and Branford put out resplendent discs—“Minions Dominion” and “Braggtown,” respectively—in 2006. Now Delfeayo (the trombonist, for those without a scorecard) is kicking off the Minnesota Orchestra’s Sommerfest program with a Duke Ellington tribute by an all-star … Read more
You might discount her new, blues-oriented disc (aptly titled Into The Blues) for its pallid genre clichés, but notice that even on this misguided collection a few tunes still shimmer with Joan Armatrading’s trademark emotional hum. For decades now, she has bared her soul with pride and erudition instead of pretense and self-pity, capturing the … Read more
Kevin Costner plays the upstanding Earl Brooks, a family man and business leader who just happens to also be a serial killer with an alter ego named Marshall. Our starring cast includes Costner, Demi Moore, and William Hurt … well, that makes three actors who have seen better days. And yet, Mr. Brooks was written … Read more
Judd Apatow seems to be everywhere. He was the executive producer of the critically acclaimed television show Freaks and Geeks and the writer-director of The 40 Year-Old Virgin. He will also lend his imprimatur to the upcoming teen sex comedy Superbad. In the meantime, he has produced another ribald farce in the style of Virgin … Read more
At least one critic has dubbed Chris Marker a “cosmonaut”—this in apparent admiration of the French documentary filmmaker’s ability to make other cultures look like products of distant planets. Marker’s documentaries jettison conventional narrative, instead telling stories by way of letter-writing and striking imagery. Sadly, his fascinating oeuvre has rarely, if ever, been seen in … Read more
Shot on location in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles in the early ’70s, Killer of Sheep tells the neo-realist tale of Stan, an African-American man numbed by the pressure of life in the ghetto and his slaughterhouse job. Director Charles Burnett’s movie is also widely considered one of the finest examinations of children’s reaction … Read more