Sure, you know Dylan’s from these parts, but do you really know Dylan? This retrospective of his early years, curated by Seattle’s Experience Music Project, should appeal to casual fans and obsessives alike, tracing his evolution from Hibbing rock ’n’ roller to Dinkytown folk-scenester, then on to New York, where he was destined to achieve … Read more
Like all good minimalists, Rollin Marquette trains his focus on the materials he works with: individual servings of pasteurized cheese-food product poked through chicken wire, or plastic tubes filled with electric-green antifreeze, or, in his latest installation, balsa wood and steel. Wedged into two galleries at the MIA (and piercing the wall between them), this … Read more
Life at the Grande Chartreuse monastery, nestled deep within the French Alps, has remained virtually unchanged for almost a thousand years. Following their motto, “The Cross is steady while the world is turning,” these Carthusian monks live entirely in silence and are even cloistered from one another. In 1984, German filmmaker Philip Gröning sought permission … Read more
Six regionally based artists take cues from nature in artworks that are—and this is not intended as a backhanded compliment—both clever and stylish. Made from foam, plastic, and felt, Liz Miller’s Errant Ecosystem sprawls over three walls with graphical aplomb, while Holly Anderson Jorde’s quartet of seasonal ceramic assemblages radiates a 50s vibe. And the … Read more
This fiddling, clogging, four-girl jug band reveres old-time American music, rabble-rousing, and knocking down gender boundaries. But unlike their compatriots the Dixie Chicks, Uncle Earl’s music is open to a wide range of influences. How else to explain their choice of Led Zeppelin’s John Paul Jones as producer, their occasional lyrics sung in Mandarin Chinese, … Read more
Every time we see an ad for the Gap’s laughably unattractive Red campaign for Africa, we cringe for Bono. The man who started his career writing great political songs should stick to that, rather than shilling a failing clothier’s misguided marketing schemes. He could take a cue from Ted Leo, whose catchy and beguiling indie … Read more
Iron John has replaced his men’s drum circle with the sweet, soaring harmonies of Cantus’ nine angelic male singers. Cantus premieres A Sound Like This by Twin Cities composer Edie Hill, which sets to music the mystical verse of Indian bard Kabir, as translated by Robert Bly. Kabir, a fifteenth-century weaver and poet, is said … Read more
In the span of a few weeks at the Cedar, it’s possible to experience a dozen-piece African band, a haunting hardanger fiddle player, an Iowan folksinger, a Saami joiker, and a legendary bluegrass band. This intimate, no-frills venue, which resembles a middle school auditorium circa 1970, conjures the true spirit of community, with children playing … Read more
The kora looks a bit like a prize-winning pumpkin speared by a tree branch, but this twenty-one-string gourd sings like a harp or a lute, depending on how it’s coaxed, and its romantic trill underpins the urgent rhythms of traditional Malian music. There’s only one kora player as good as Toumani Diabaté, and that’s his … Read more
Find out for yourself whether this play, which piqued the ire of Strib columnist Katherine Kersten and conservative bloggers all around town, is worth the fuss. The Pope and the Witch tells the story of a fictional pontiff who, under extenuating circumstances, starts running with a witch doctor who dabbles in abortion and drugs. But … Read more