After making a splash at galleries in New York, Los Angeles, and Berlin, Minneapolis-based artist David Rathman is returning to the Twin Cities for a show of new work at the Weinstein Gallery, his first local exposure since an exhibition at the Walker Art Center in 2003. Raised in Montana and schooled at the Minneapolis … Read more
Back home in New York, librettist Michael Korie has a current Broadway sensation—and a Drama Desk nomination—on his hands with the Grey Gardens musical. So why isn’t he already basking on some tropical isle? Instead, he and composer Ricky Ian Gordon (his Upper West Side neighbor) are wintering here in Minnesota, putting the finishing touches … Read more
You have to get out of the house. That’s what he always says, on those rare occasions he’s home and not on the road. Or he’s on the road, on the phone, from his hotel. You have to get out of the house. Spoken truly like someone who has no idea how difficult it is … Read more
When the tinny tinkle of “Joy to the World, the Lord is Come” begins playing on the cell phone, everyone in range in the Star Tribune newsroom knows who’s getting a call. It is Katherine Kersten, the paper’s unapologetically religious and fiercely conservative metro columnist. Since May 2005, the Star Tribune has been engaged in … Read more
One recent Sunday afternoon, upon sighting a candy-apple red contraption maneuvering the chilly streets of downtown Minneapolis, a shopper called out from the sidewalk, “What is that?” It’s a question Paul Selcke finds himself answering frequently. “It’s a conference bike,” he said, dinging his bell for emphasis. Monday through Thursday, Selcke makes his living teaching … Read more
The first time my father drove past the original Ax-Man Surplus location on University Avenue in St. Paul, he pulled over immediately. This was some thirty years ago, but he still becomes radiant when recounting the momentous occasion of his first visit: “I was overcome—I didn’t know where to look. Finally, I calmed down, got … Read more
Many years ago, someone scratched these words on the metal divider of a men’s room stall in a pizza joint near Hamline University in St. Paul: “Anonymous dialogue is a means of sanity.” The self-reflective statement could hold many meanings. It might look inward to the author’s motives—one can almost hear the sigh of mental … Read more
Local 219 of the International Union of Showbiz and Theater Entertainers was recently called to order over breakfast at the Edina Perkins. Bob Anderson, at seventy-nine still an imposing presence with broad shoulders and a strong handshake, pushed his omelet aside, pulled out some notes, and addressed his audience—myself and a waiter. “There are about … Read more
In 1967 an article with the headline, “Mentally Ill Take LSD at U” appeared on the front page of the Minnesota Daily. The story recounted the experiences of “William,” a patient in the University of Minnesota’s psychiatric ward who was administered LSD by Amadeo Marrazzi, a professor of pharmacology, as a “clinical yardstick” to determine … Read more
The setting couldn’t have been more spectacular: a tiny resort along the Riviera Maya on the edge of the Mexican jungle, turquoise water as far as the eye could see. It took a train, an airplane, a car, a boat, and a wheelbarrow to get there. The resort, which amounted to a small stone restaurant, … Read more