The Rake Magazine

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  • Writers in the Mix

    FILM
    Yes, We Make Movies Here

    film.jpgNot really sure what people are referring to when they speak of the local film community? See for yourself at tonight’s March 2007 Fearless Filmmakers Screening Event. Get a little taste for what local and regional filmmakers have been producing. Experience a young family’s journey to euthanasia, personal fulfillment at the end of a cake, a modern-day Noah, college-educated pistol banter, the panty-clad gal horror cliche, a baby-sitting nightmare with a comedic twist, a shy office-worker spreading God’s love, a friendly exchange, and a re-definition of wingman — all in one sitting.

    7:30 p.m., The Oak Street Cinema, 309 Oak Street SE, Minneapolis, 612-331-3134, $9 general admission, $7 students, $5 MN Film Arts members.

    Then join the After Party at Stub and Herbs, 227 Oak Street, Minneapolis.

    FILM LECTURE
    Who Doesn’t Love a Good Spy Movie?

    CIA.jpgEver wonder what makes a good spy movie? Why Hollywood is obsessed with the CIA? What the CIA’s relationship is to Hollywood? William Mitchell College of Law is presenting a free program tonight, “A Strange Bond: The CIA and The Cinema.” Guest speakers include Mark Bowden, Atlantic Monthly reporter and author of Black Hawk Down; Star Tribune movie critic and Rake contributor Colin Colvert; and former CIA William Daugherty and Paul Kelbaugh. How can this not be interesting?

    7-8:30 p.m., Auditorium, William Mitchell College of Law, 875 Summit Avenue, Saint Paul, 651-290-6400, Free. Register here.

    THEATER
    Sing the Beloved Aria

    LostInStars.gifLooking to restore your faith in brotherhood and compassion? Maybe tonight is the night for you to go see the Skylark Opera’s performance of Lost in the Stars. Based on Cry, the Beloved Country, Alan Paton’s angry 1948 novel about apartheid in South Africa, this adaptation was penned by Maxwell Anderson and composed Kurt Weill — better known for his collaborations with poet and epic dramatist Bertolt Brecht. The jazzy opus has a largely black cast and is rooted in African-American music. Go see it tonight, Friday or Saturday night, or Sunday at 3.

    8 p.m., Ritz Theater, 345 13th Ave NE, Minneapolis, 651-209-6689, $20 – $50.

    MUSIC
    21st-Century Singer-Songwriters

    mat.jpgThis year, VH1 launched its first-ever You Oughta Know Tour in an effort to introduce artists on the rise to their adult music-lover base. I think that’s us. And to be honest, they’ve put together a rather solid line-up: Mat Kearney, The Feeling, and Rocco Deluca and The Burden. Acoustic folk/pop, singer-songwriter Mat Kearney serves up music with an acoustic base and hints of spoken word and even rap. Although he’s often associated with the Christian music scene, this 28-year-old has opened for The Fray, Sheryl Crow, and John Mayer. Also playing is U.K. band The Feeling. With two Top 10 international hit singles — “Sewn” and “Fill My Little World” — The Feeling offers a broad range of music for fans lamenting the golden age of Top 40 radio. They’re like My Chemical Romance with cheesier, prettier harmonies. (My Chemical Romance meets The Beatles?) And last, but definitely not least, Rocco DeLuca offers a fresh sound with a Dobro steel guitar and elements of Appalachian and Blues influences. DeLuca and The Burden are the first group to sign with Jude Cole and Kiefer Sutherland’s independent record label, Ironworks Music. Rolling Stone recently wrote, “The echoes of Neil Young, Robert Plant, Jeff Buckley and Pearl Jam blend into something unique, especially when performed live … the group packs the heat and rocks aggression to work its way into your head and stay there.”

    7 p.m., First Avenue, 701 First Avenue North, Minneapolis, 612-332-1775, $18.00 advance, $20.00 door.

    Listen to Mat Kearney.
    Listen to The Feeling.
    Listen to Rocco DeLuca and The Burden.

    MUSIC
    Urban Crooning

    Lloyd.jpgTrue, Lloyd got his start with teen pop group N-Toon — put together by Klymaxx’s Joyce Irby — but he’s a whopping 21 years old now, and far more mature. OK, not that much, but he did acquire a few adult influences. Adding a little touch of Marvin Gaye and R. Kelley, Lloyd finally made his claim to fame, topping the BET playlist with a sultry duet with Beyonce-wannabe Ashanti. And now, well… it’s up to you to say.

    9 p.m., Escape Ultra Lounge, 600 Hennepin Avenue Suite 200, Minneapolis, 612-333-8855, $25-$45.

    Watch and listen to Lloyd.

    READINGS
    USPS: United States Postal Stories

    beware.gifIt’s not often that a mailman writes a book about his mail-delivery adventures. But this is exactly what Vincent Wyckoff has done in Beware of Cat: And Other Encounters of a Letter Carrier. After 15 years as a letter carrier in South Minneapolis, walking the same route each day, Wyckoff has compiled his stories into a community portrait of sorts.

    7 p.m., Barnes and Noble Roseville II, 2100 Snelling Ave N, Saint Paul, 651-639-9256, Free.

    READINGS
    Eclectic, Learned, and Wise

    resurtra.jpgLooking for something more grandiloquent? Go see Leslie Adrienne Miller read some poetry from her new book, The Resurrection Trade. A marriage of science and poetry reminiscent of the metaphysical poets — Miller’s poetry speaks to 18th-century medicine and the mystery of the female body. Former US Poet Laureate Ted Kooser wrote that, “For me The Resurrection Trade is very much like being given a rare chance to have dinner with one of the most interesting conversationalists in the world. These poems are delightfully eclectic, learned and wise, and it is a privilege to have this fine book as guest in the house.”

    7 p.m., The Loft, 1011 Washington Ave S, Minneapolis, 612-215-2576, Free.

    Read “The Flayed Angel,” by Leslie Adrienne Miller.

  • Not An Avenger, Not A Thief

    ministries.jpg

    Time is a sputtering lantern, a bruised child, a gray, flat-faced man with fists of concrete and legs like pistons. He has it in for dogs, which is one of his many cruel and inexplicable character traits.

    Misunderstood and misrepresented throughout history, gussied up and dumbed down, the snaggle-toothed bastard is frequently outfitted with wings he’d never wear let alone learn to use. He merely smirks at clocks and every other so-called timepiece man has ever devised –foolish abstractions, he’d tell you if ever he deigned to speak, wholly inadequate and far too orderly to ever approximate the real thing.

    He is a stutterer, a creature of fits and starts and the long pauses of an unorthodox and not entirely competent chess player. He doesn’t have a rational bone in his body, nor could he be said to have ever had a thoughtful moment. No, he’s as impulsive and reckless and irrational as the day he was born in a maelstrom.

    He’s a cold, plodding motherfucker, methodically unpredictable, a mess maker, back breaker, teeth kicker, heart wrecker. A connoisseur of ruins and a ruthless collector of forgotten debts.

    He doesn’t heal. He doesn’t mend. He doesn’t forgive. He doesn’t forget. He doesn’t fly. He doesn’t tell. He’s got it in for dogs.

    It’s been said that he wiggled out from under the thumb of God centuries ago and has been a lone wolf ever since.

  • The Three-Pointer: Historic Collapse

    Game # 70, Home Game #34, Seattle 114, Minnesota 106

    1. Parade of Goats

    At this point, you really do just have to shake your head and laugh, don’t you? Up 88-63 with 5:56 left in the third quarter, the Wolves caved and crumbled like never before in their history, scoring just 18 points in the final 18 minutes while allowing 51 to get buried 106-114 to a putrid Seattle squad without Ray Allen, a team that vanquished the Wolves by 3 on Friday and then lost to San Antonio by 41 on Sunday.

    This is one diseased ballclub, folks. This is a team that just walloped the Sonics for 71 points in the first half, shooting 60 percent from the field and from the trey while racking up 21 assists on their 27 baskets versus just 5 turnovers. Midway through the third, the assist/turnover ration had swelled to 26/6 and the 19 point lead bumped to 25. After that? Three assists, 10 turnovers. Sclerotic defense at the other end. The worst aspects of panic and apathy, mixed together into a toxic combo of willful selfish ignorance about the right way to play the game of basketball. Ladies and gents, your parade of goats…

    Kevin Garnett. Three dimes in the first 1:49, five in the first quarter, eight for the half. Two rebounds and an assist away from a triple double at the end of 3. Then a 4th quarter of exerting leadership right into the dumpster, an inept and ill-advised performance. He wasn’t tired, going only 17:20 in the first half as coach Wittman rested him with a big lead and Utah on the road tomorrow night in the second half of a back to back. He had a decent sit from 2:59 to go in the third to 10:29 to go in the 4th, during which time the Wolves lead was only whittled from 18 to 14.

    But in the last five minutes–crunchtime–the Big Ticket was a torn stub. He missed the second of two free throws, holding the lead at 10. Then he traveled. Then he threw a pass that Randy Foye had to use all his hops to snag standing at the baseline (before Foye himself turned it over on a pass back to the cutting but covered KG). Then he missed a 20-foot jumper instead of trying to draw contact. Then he threw the ball way over the point guard’s head for a backcourt violation, on a basic pass to the top of the key that he executes successfully a dozen times a game. Then he fouls Wilcox driving baseline on a three-point play. Then he misses an easy, open jumper. This is all within 5 minutes.

    Randy Foye. Two assists and zero turnovers after three quarters of action (12:00 overall), then one assists and four huge turnovers–at least three of them, silly, unforced passing errors–and three fouls in 9:14 of play in the 4th. No poise. No court vision. Shoddy defense, continually pulled on a string via jumpers and penetration from backup point guard Mike Wilks, the co-MVP of the game with Rashard Lewis, who also roasted Mike James, who played like a less assertive version of Foye, which in this case lessened the damage.

    Trenton Hassell. Rashard Lewis started to get hot so Wittman went small, putting in Hassell for Smith with Minnesota up 10 with 5:19 to play. It is the job of Hassell, the team’s defensive stopper, to stop Lewis. Nope. Lewis proceeds to score 12 points in the last 5:19, capping off a 21 point 4th quarter that included nine trips to the free throw line. For the game he had 35, and was 16-17 FT.

    Ricky Davis. The only guy with a pulse in the 4th quarter, he helped keep the lead at 15 for nearly half the period with two nifty assists and other nice ball movement. But his showboating in the third–a behind the back pass in traffic on the fast break when the Wolves were up big–sent a message that the squad erronously figured it had the game won (this after choking up a sizable lead to this same team four days ago) and was ready to screw around. There was also a few missed shots, a missed free throw, and a costly turnover in the 4th. And his second half defense on little Earl Watson was abysmal.

    Randy Wittman. Many timeouts during the collapse, and many substitutions. No response from his team. He may as well have drawn straws for a player rotation and diagrammed plays in invisible ink on his chalkboard during that 4th quarter.

    Dishonorable mentions to Smilin’ Mark Blount crossing guard allowing little men into the painted area and a man who enjoys a good internal joke on the bench while his teammates are vomiting up a 25-point margin.

    2. Verbatim

    Randy Wittman: “It has been the same thing all year; we play the right way for three quarters and then we stop. They trap and we don’t swing it. We try a behind-the-back pass in traffic and they get a layup and suddenly a 20-point lead is an 18-point lead and it begins. They [his players] don’t respect the game and don’t respect the opponent.” During timeouts in the huddle “we didn’t have anybody wanting to step up. When it got tight, they were hoping the clock would run out. This isn’t the first time it has happened this year. We don’t have the mix of guys who want to put their foot on their [opponent’s] necks. They don’t move the ball or make the easy pass with a guy open standing right next to you. For three quarters we didn’t care who shot the ball or made the points.”

    Kevin Garnett: “I told everybody when I came in [the locker room after the game] that I felt like it was my fault…I’m very good at dissecting things, figuring out how we take teams apart. I didn’t initiate and do those things and that bothers me…[In the huddles] Ricky kept saying ‘Let’s pick it up! Let’s pick it up!’ but we didn’t have the same people in the game. They had a small lineup in and we didn’t take advantage of it. We stopped playing as a team.”

    Media question: “This 25 point lead was the biggest one blown in franchise history. Can you put that in perspective?”
    Garnett: “No I can’t. That’s fucked up. That’s fucked up.”

    3. Tick Tock

    With tonight’s loss, the Wolves are 4 full games behind the Clippers with 12 left to play. If they go 10-2, say, losing only to Dallas and San Antonio while beating the likes of Utah, Golden State and Denver on the road and Miami, Cleveland, and Toronto (Sam Mitchell is undefeated vs. Minnesota) at home, the Clips would only have to split their dozen games to tie at 40-42–and that’s assuming the other three squads ahead of or tied with the Wolves (Golden State, New Orleans and Sacramento) don’t rally.

    Playing time for Rashad McCants: 10:09. For Craig Smith: 21:14. For Randy Foye: 24:48.

  • "News War" Finale Tonight

    A programming note to the media-wise. PBS’ “Frontline/World” concludes its series on the post 9/11 media with a segment on Al Jazeera and the role it plays in shaping opinion in the Middle East. (9 p.m. TPT 2). Here in the US, where Congressional neandertals made a patriotic show of re-naming French fries, we continue to have almost no idea of how we are portrayed in the popular press in a region where we’ve dumped a half trillion dollars and 3200 of our soldiers’ lives. Ignorance is bliss, I guess.

    You don’t have to buy Al Jazeera’s act. But considering how so much of American news is packaged to “appeal” to viewers, and/or avoid outraging them, it’d be valuable to be able to check in on how we’re faring with street level consumers on the other side of the great cultural divide.

  • The Onion Goes Video: Scary

    With so much of the so-called mainstream electronic news media engaged in a bizarre process of self-marginalization, it comes as no great surprise — but genuine delight – that The Onion has decided to get into the 24-hour “fake news” business. Describing itself as, “faster, harder, scarier and all-knowing”, (“Scarier” than what? Fox News? Impossible!)

    Actually, the news service declares itself a rival to CNN and MSNBC. “Those are parody shows,” Onion prez, Sean Mills, told Variety. “This is serious news.”

    Given the rather startling number of cronies of mine — go ahead, consider the source — who have thrown up their hands at the timidity and target-demo driven silliness of the 10 pm local news and made a habit of “The Daily Show” instead, The Onion News Network, (ONN), available now at Theonion.com, commences business with a nice built-in audience.

  • Yucks, Butts, Trills, and Game

    COMEDY
    Stand-up Stand-off

    2277053418.jpgLast Comic Standing is coming back for a 5th season, and Minneapolis has been chosen as one of the five national audition cities. (That’s right; this season is going international, so Australia, Canada, and England will also host auditions.) Auditions start at 9 a.m., but those of us less-funny people can watch the finals later that night — after the line-up has been a bit distilled.

    8 p.m., Acme Comedy Company, Historic Itasca Building, 708 1st St N, Minneapolis, 612-338-6393, $15, $27 dinner and show package.

    LECTURE
    The Gay Publishing Elite

    BUTT-13-cover.jpgCall them elegant, slick, pornographic, and even pretentious, but Jop van Bennekom’s magazines are just plain great to look at. Influenced by English music magazines, as well as Peter Saville’s designs for Joy Division and New Order back in the 80s, Jop van Bennekom is now designer, editor, and publisher for three different magazines — RE-, Butt, and Fantastic Man — and has become one of Europe’s most influential magazine designers at only thirty-six years of age. That’s right, there might be hope for some of us yet. Come hear him talk about his work tonight at the Walker. Get inspired.

    7:00 pm, Walker Cinema, Walker Art Center, 1750 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis, 612.375.7600, $24 ($12 AIGA/Walker members/students).

    MUSIC
    Don’t Overlook the Obvious

    It’s nice to be reminded, now and then, that Minneapolis still has an impressive local music scene on all fronts. You don’t have to sit around and wait for the next great jazz band to swing into town. Tonight at the Fine Line our very own Sol Spectre will be playing with The Higgle and Histrionic. Looking for a nice relaxing evening of improvisational jazz? They’re solid. They’re pleasant. They’ll get your head bobbing with a variety of jazz fusion, eclectic rock, experimental improvisation, and even a dose of electronica to spice things up.

    8 p.m., Fine Line Music Cafe, 318 1st Ave N, Minneapolis, 612-338-8100.

    Listen to Sol Spectre

    MUSIC
    Rock from Down Under

    SickPup2.jpgDid any of you see the “Free Hugs” video on YouTube last year? If so, then you’ve heard The Sick Puppies. The band’s song “All The Same” provided the soundtrack to the popular YouTube video and earned them exposure on Oprah, Jay Leno, 60 Minutes, and CNN. Influenced by Green Day and Rage Against The Machine, The Sick Puppies are a three-piece, guitar-fueled-rock band. They have garnered a number prestigious awards, including Best Song from Triple J Unearthed, and Best Live Performance from the Australian Live Music Awards. They have toured with Good Charlotte, Deep Purple, and Midnight Oil. The Australian edition of Rolling Stone called them “the most dynamic new band in the country.” And to be honest, they don’t sound anything like sick puppies.

    6 p.m., 7th Street Entry, 701 1st Ave N, Minneapolis, 612-332-1775, $6.

    Listen to The Sick Puppies

    SPORTS
    Will the Real Minnesota Sport Please Stand Up

    timberwolves.jpgAfter their 82-85 loss to the Seattle Sonics last week, let’s hope the Timberwolves feel inclined to prove themselves against the Sonics’ seemingly solidified defense. Tonight’s rematch might seem like a worthless game in the general NBA arena, but the Timberwolves still have a chance at the final playoff spot in the Western Conference, so go cheer them on. In the end, it’s a win either way, as they still have a chance at retaining their status as one of the NBA’s 10 worst.

    7 p.m., Target Center, 600 1st Ave N., Minneapolis, 612-673-0900, $10-$700.

    Read Britt Robson’s Timberwolves Blog: On the Ball

    Wild.jpgI realize that everyone is distracted with basketball and baseball, but what ever happened to Minnesota hockey? Did it fade away with the cold Minnesota winters? Don’t let El Nino deprive you of your heritage. Get out there and support the Minnesota Wild against the Calgary Flames tonight. (And if you’re wondering why the bottom-price tickets cost more than the bottom-price basketball tickets, remember, they have to keep that ice frozen.)

    7 p.m., Xcel Energy Center, 175 W Kellogg Blvd., Saint Paul, 651-989-5151, $16 to $250.

    Sportsshows.gifWe all know that the true Minnesota sports don’t take place in arenas or rinks. They occur in the wild, on the lake, and in the woods. And this wouldn’t be a true Minnesota publication if we failed to mention The Northwest Sportshow, starting today in our lovely Convention Center. (Did you forget what that big building complex over on 2nd and 13th was?) Come check out the best in boats, RV’s, fishing tackle, hunting gear, trips, and more. There are also plenty of activities for kids. Yeah, you’ve got until Sunday to get there, but tonight only, the first 500 attendees will receive a 75th Anniversary commemorative bobber. How’s that for incentive!

    5 p.m. to 9 p.m., Minneapolis Convention Center, 1301 2nd Ave S., Minneapolis, 612-335-6000, adults $10, youth (13-15) $5, and children (12 and under) free.

    DANCE
    Heat It Up

    Did you think you were going to have an opportunity to see some great ballet or flamenco this evening? Think again. Rather than sitting around watching, it’s time to get that rear end off the chair and oil those hinges a bit. Learn how to Tango, baby. It’s a little pricey, but don’t worry, your greatly honed skills will not go to waste. If you manage to master a few moves, you can go show them off on Sunday night at the Loring Pasta Bar.

    4 p.m. – 7:30 p.m., The Whole, Coffman Memorial Union, 300 Washington Ave. S.E., Minneapolis, 612-624-6224, $28.00 for U of M Students/Staff/Faculty, $48.00 for general public.

  • That's My (Fat) Boy

    Damn, I love Sidney Ponson.

    I’ve always been a fan of the big man, and nobody was happier than I was to see the Twins swoop in and snag one of the huge Hot Stove League bargains, but after today’s stellar start (and –yeah, yeah– the Real Deal had to come in and blow up Souffle Sid’s masterpiece) I’m guessing that Jim Leyland is going to have a tough time choosing between Santana and Ponson when it comes time to name his All Star Game starter.

    I say Sid is a lock –a freaking lock, I’m telling you– to win 18 games. Minimum.

  • Greenwald Rips the Chris Matthews Gang.

    I’m a fan of Glenn Greenwald, whose blog is now over at Salon.com. Although perhaps not terse and punchy enough for most attention spans, the guy has a sharp, discerning mind.

    And boy is he upset today. The clip he includes of Chris Matthews, a relentless TV presence capable of reducing any topic to the ying and yang of Democrats vs. Republicans — (after all, adversarial confrontations drive cable talk and ratings) — is at first glance utterly routine. It is the same kind of clubby chatter we’ve all watched a thousand times. Which is why Greenwald’s dissection of it is so spot on.

    One of my beefs with the mindset of “objective” reporting is that I’m so often left wondering if anything really matters to those who practice it, and where fundamental truth rates in the criteria of a good story. Is everything really reduced to someone’s horse race? Liberals vs. conservatives? NBC vs. ABC? New York Times vs. Washington Post?

  • Paul Douglas. The exception that proves the rule.

    Commenter Dave disagrees with my view of KSTP’s global warming reporting. He notes that …

    “WCCO has had the exact opposite stance on global warming. They have jumped in and rarely show the other opinion. I’ve never seen you mention that. WCCO also has Paul Douglas, the man who proudly announced he purchased a Hybrid car a few months ago. Problem is that Paul had been driving a VW Tourag (horrible on gas) and owns a small mansion on Bearpath. Paul seems to believe the sky is falling, just not around his house.”

    On one point Dave is right. I should have mentioned Douglas in my previous screed. If only to compliment him. While virtually all of his Twin Cities meteorological colleagues either mince around the topic — the usual deflective chatter is on the order of, “Oh, that’s just all politics …” — or they dismiss it to avoid catching flak from upper management.

    To his enormous credit, Douglas has been explicit in his concurrence with the best available science. (For better or for worse, TV weather people are the most recognizable “science types” a lot of people ever see.)

    Let me put a point on this. If you are a TV weatherman/lady it takes no courage at all to avoid the topic of global warming, or to dismiss it. Quite the contrary. All you are doing is avoiding conflict, which if you are in the business of delivering straight information, comes with the territory. Oh, you might occasionally hear from a critic if you’re flagrant about dismissing global warming, but the public reaction is NOTHING like what you get if take Douglas’s far more professionally responsible stance and say, out loud and often, “This real, right now.”

    Then watch the wingnuts light up the e-mail and phone lines.

  • Jazz, Punk, 60s, and Sci-Fi

    MUSIC
    Jazz Fusion Virtuosos

    VitalInformation.jpgThere is something to be said for the casual air with which a seasoned group of already-accomplished musicians can address their art. Without the need for commercial success (which they have already attained), they can simply play out of love for the art. Seldom is this so apparent as with Steve Smith and Vital Information. Now in their 24th year, the group has become a jazz-fusion giant — albeit an underrated one.

    The group’s founder and drummer, Steve Smith, has played with such greats as Ahmad Jamal, Zakir Hussain, Steps Ahead, Andrea Bocelli, Savage Garden, and even Journey. Yes, this is true — that’s probably why you’ve heard his name — but don’t let that dissuade you. He won Modern Drummer Magazine’s #1 All Around Drummer award five years in a row and was voted one of the Top 25 Drummers of All Time in a recent Modern Drummer readers’ poll.

    And the incredible line-up doesn’t stop there. Accompanying Steve Smith are guitarist Frank Gambale (Chick Corea Elektric Band), keyboardist Tom Coster (Santana), and bassist Baron Browne (Jean-Luc Ponty/Billy Cobham). These virtuosos transcend bands like Weather Report with their wide array of rhythms and styles and their Indian and European influences. If you like fusion or electric jazz, this show is a must see.

    7 p.m. and 9 p.m. today and tomorrow, Dakota Jazz Club and Restaurant, 1010 Nicollet, Minneapolis, 612-332-1010, $30 and $20.

    Listen to Steve Smith and Vital Information

    MUSIC
    Melody-Tinged Hardcore

    Looking for something a little harder? A couple decades ago, some of us were out there doing stage dives and slam dancing to the best of 80’s punk rock, and while the trend died down a bit after a few backs breaking on bottles, it is alive and well today. Want to give it another try? Two hardcore punk bands — It Dies Today (actually I.T. — information technology — Dies Today) from Buffalo, NY, and Canada’s own Comeback Kid — are headlining at Station 4 tonight. While neither of these bands is actually doing anything groundbreaking, per se, they certainly execute their genre flawlessly. Besides, you have to give It Dies Today kudos for their epic CD titles based on Dante’s Divine Comedy and Homer’s Odyssey.

    5 p.m., Station 4, 201 East 4th Street, Saint Paul, 651-298-0173, $12-$14.

    Listen to It Dies Today
    Listen to Comeback Kid

    THEATER
    Choose Your Own Adventure in Mating

    adventures.gifTonight may be your last chance to experience the long-acclaimed Adventures In Mating, with Joseph Scrimshaw, Craig Johnson, and Alayne Hopkins. (OK. Let’s be honest here. Chances are there’ll be yet another run sometime in the near future, but today is the final show for a while at least.) Tired of the typical passive theater offering? This interactive romantic comedy might be just what you need. Play the hand of fate on Miranda and Jeremy’s first date. Their narrative contains about 60 different junctures at which you, the audience, determine the next course of action. Will they have red white or white wine? Will she slap him or kiss him? You decide.

    8 p.m. (7 p.m. doors), Bryant-Lake Bowl Cabaret Theater, 810 West Lake Street, Minneapolis, 612-825-8949, $12/$10 with a Fringe button or for groups 10 or more.

    READINGS
    Music in the Summer of Love

    Boyd.jpgMuddy Waters, Coleman Hawkins, Stan Getz, Bob Dylan, Eric Clapton, Pink Floyd, Nick Drake, REM, 10,000 Maniacs, Billy Bragg, Cubanismo, Taj Mahal — these are only a few of the big names that producer Joe Boyd worked with throughout his stellar career. Tonight only, you can hear him read from his autobiography, White Bicycles: Making Music in the 1960s. According to Michael Faber of The Guardian, White Bicycles “captures evanescent history with remarkable clarity (and) has enough of a grasp of larger issues — historical, philosophical, psychological — to be of interest to readers unfamiliar with the records Boyd produced.”

    7:30 p.m., The Cedar Cultural Center, 416 Cedar Ave. South, Minneapolis, 612-338-2674, $10.

    READINGS
    A Fantastical Twist

    Not big on autobiographies? Head for the other extreme, and take fiction into the realm of fantasy with local science-fiction writers Hillary Moon Murphy and Jaye Lawrence. As part of Speculations Readings Series, Eric Heideman will be hosting a reading with the two nationally acclaimed authors. Murphy has had stories published in Realms of Fantasy, Tales of the Unanticipated, and New Voices of Science Fiction. She is a member of the writing group Pengames and coordinator of the Twin Cities Speculative Fiction Writers Network, the largest and most active SF writer meet-up in the world. Lawrence’s fiction has appeared in Fantasy & Science Fiction, Minnesota Monthly, and Great River Review. Her story “Kissing Frogs” was a shortlist selection for the 2004 James Tiptree Jr. Award. More recently, she was named as a runner-up for the 2006 Tamarack Award for her story “Aim.”

    6:30 p.m., DreamHaven Books, 912 W Lake St, Minneapolis, 612-823-6161.

    ART
    Stories of Migration

    This is your last week to see Unfolding Time: Stories of Migration, a joint exhibit of work by artists Beth Grossman and Alexandra Rozenman. Unfolding Time capture the experiences of immigrants from Russia over a hundred years. While at first, Grossman’s work seems to be nothing more than painted images and text on everyday objects, a full exploration of these images reveals a deeper re-contextualization of stories and re-interpretation of history. Rozenman’s work, while still narrative in form, is far lighter, with a folksy child-like quality. Her brightly colored, fairytale style is reminiscent of Marc Chagall.

    And if you like Beth Grossman’s work you can pop on over to the Smith Gallery of Jewish Arts and Culture at The Minneapolis Institute of Arts later this week to see her other exhibit, Our Mother Mary Found — which runs through April. Our Mother Mary Found re-contextualizes the story of Mary by conveying a more pragmatic reality of a woman whose daily labor as a mother and a faithful Jew gave birth to a prophet and nurtured a revolutionary.

    7:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., Tychman Shapiro Gallery, Sabes Jewish Community Center, Jay & Rose Phillips Building, 4330 South Cedar Lake Road, Minneapolis, 952-381-3400.