There aren’t many stretches of road in Minnesota like Highway 1. Though it’s not officially designated a scenic byway, it should be. Narrow, with pine and birch trees crowding right up against the tarmac, Highway 1 winds through the Superior National Forest, connecting Lake Superior to Ely. The sun bursts in patches through the trees, … Read more
The world’s tallest structure is not the Sears Tower, the Space Needle, or those strange conjoined skyscrapers in Kuala Lumpur. The acme of human achievement isn’t even in a city. It stands a few miles outside the hamlet of Blanchard, in rural northeast North Dakota. Two million feet of one-foot-thick steel guy-wire stretch upward in … Read more
What started twelve years ago as a modest performing arts festival has swelled into an eleven-day extravaganza, a tribute to the seamy, steamy, and sometimes hilarious underbelly of the local theater community. This year’s lineup features visual arts, kids’ events, podcasts, “site-specific” performances (such as a frilly production of The Virgin Diaries at Via’s Vintage … Read more
The duende, a mysterious spirit behind all Spanish arts, has both a dark side and an irresistible appeal. With flamenco, it’s the devil that lights a fire under the feet of dancers, and the handsome stranger who keeps turning up in all the right places. Practitioners of these sultry moves, which began as a gypsy … Read more
Give her your dog turds, your dead bugs, your snotty noses yearning to breathe free. Sylvia Branzei has a passion for all things really gross, and has made it her mission to share them with people across the land. And the people are eating it up! Her first book, Grossology, spent thirty weeks on Publisher’s … Read more
Sure, we’re all on the lookout for self-flagellating nekkid artists rolling in paint or chocolate–but isn’t it nice, sometimes, to be able to take your grandmother to an art show? Botanical art has been used for centuries to illustrate field guides to foreign lands, medicinal and herbal guides, and provide decoration on tombs, buildings, and … Read more
Our artist friends went on vacation, and all we got was this roomful of beautiful art. An inspired selection of more than seventy works from forty-four artists revels in road trips, insects, and the meaty kind of sunburn that comes from spending long days near water. Paintings, photochromes, etchings, photos, and drawings that chronicle vacation … Read more
The sexiest thing in this 1967 classic isn’t the young and charismatic Warren Beatty, or that tart blonde Faye Dunaway, playing the legendary bank robbers. It’s a 1934 Ford V-8, in the role of the car that Clyde stole from Bonnie’s parents, driving the lovers off into the bloody sunset. The film’s climactic shootout rivals … Read more
In the early 1800s, two German brothers were looking for stable, well-paying jobs in order to support their younger siblings after their parents’ deaths, so they became librarians. (Today’s librarians might say that sounds like a fairy tale.) While working in the stacks, the brothers Grimm became the leading folklorists of their day, compiling more … Read more
For nearly thirty years, music- and film-lovers have gathered around a concrete slab in Loring Park to dance in the grass, toss Frisbees, and picnic till dusk, when Walker curators project film classics onto a modest movie screen. This year, the musical lineup emphasizes local acts, like teen idols Melodious Owl (at right, August 1) … Read more