After the press is settled in, the doors open to the general public. It’s about 10 past six. The crowds file in, steadily, slowly, filling the arena. Is this an arena? I think it is. And right now, it feels like we’re the show — broken gladiators. I don’t see anyone turn to the crowd. … Read more
7:00 p.m. Out on the sidewalk, the lines of people snake around the block. A pack of Obama playing cards sells for $10. The Obama volunteers are warming up the crowd as they make their way into the venue. "When I say O," chants one Obama volunteer. "You say…" "BAMA!" the crowd yells back.
Finding the press area was hard enough. All the way on the other side. No, go back the way you came. Straight down there and to the left. Down by the loading area. Across the street. Down. Down. Really? We have to cross the street — away from the Xcel Center — to get in. … Read more
I’m not easily moved — not by people anyhow, not by masses, that is. I was certainly moved by Brendel’s performance at Orchestra Hall a few months ago. And now, now I am moved. This time by people coming together. How sappy that sounds. How cynical I am. The Xcel is engulfed in bodies, live … Read more
It has been more than 40 years since renowned French writer/director Claude Lelouch won the Golden Palm at the Cannes Film Festival and multiple Oscars for A Man and a Woman in 1966. But praise in the French press has eluded Lelouch, even after releasing 40 films since. So, to test the bias of the … Read more
The Parkway Theater presents its first live stage production with Judy Cooper Lyle’s The Black Orchid, an examination of the immensely influential early twentieth century stage performer Josephine Baker. Performed by the Urban Spectrum Theatre Company and featuring Madeline Howie as Baker, the production begins on June 19 in a preview performance at 8:15 p.m. … Read more
Visitors to the Walker Art Center may get a glimpse of what it’s like to be a "wannabe" (people who voluntarily want to get amputations) when a First Look premiere of the new film Quid Pro Quo screens on Friday, June 6. Hailed by Variety as "strikingly original and provocative" when it premiered at the … Read more
"Going green" has almost become a fashion statement in this day and age, but finding the most effective ways to help the environment can often be tricky, and the impact we have on the world around us is often greater than we think. Throughout the summer, the Walker Art Center will present a series of … Read more
One of Saint Paul’s most popular outdoor film series starts again this summer at the Central Library. The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library sponsors the page-to-screen themed series, which runs June 20 to July 25. The showings begin on June 20 with a screening of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1945 thriller Spellbound, starring Ingrid Bergman … Read more
(AP Photo/Jim Mone) If you haven’t been paying attention, you’ve been missing a strange, maddening, encouraging, teetering-on-the-brink-of-disaster one day, triumphing-over-adversity the next, almost wholly improbable stretch of baseball from the Minnesota Twins. The Twins season to date doesn’t really add up, and they’re certainly not going about their business the way past teams have. Yet, … Read more