LETTER OF THE MONTH The Rake expresses surprise [The Broken Clock, May] that for the last forty-seven years, Playboy Magazine has neglected to include “best Jazz Musician” in its music poll. Yet I’m sure I’m not the only reader old enough to remember when the Playboy music poll was exclusively a jazz poll. Jim Hall … Read more
Watching people in museums is often as absorbing as studying the displays. Some years ago, my old tutor was standing under the great sixth-century dome of the Holy Wisdom in Istanbul, lecturing to a rather tweedy group of English country gentry. His audience was starting to suffer from museum leg, when a pigeon detached itself … Read more
How does one achieve a legacy? In the American landscape of opportunity, it seems almost a requirement that we leave something behind to influence succeeding generations—something that symbolizes our struggles, something that tells a story of character and risk and ambition. In nineteenth-century Hastings, that idyllic river town south of St. Paul, William Gates LeDuc … Read more
James McLure has taken the classic English farce by the same name and replanted it in the wild, wild West. That doesn’t mean it’s a shoot-’em-up with manners, though. Instead, the cast of slightly tweaked characters includes a hero who can stop a speeding train with one hand, a damsel in distress, and a confused … Read more
A prince throws a lavish masquerade ball that’s the talk of Vienna–but what goes on there is hardly festive or light-hearted. Try deceit, lusty serenades, and a diabolical plan for revenge instead. (Meow!) The story of Die Fledermaus (“The Bat”) is dark, sexy, and sinful–and we have renewed faith in North Star’s seduction skills, ever … Read more
If you’re willing to drive until I-394 turns into a small-town cross street, you’ll be greatly rewarded. Ravello lives in an unassuming brown strip mall in the center of Long Lake, just west of the metropolitan area. On the outside, it looks like nothing special. But upon opening the doors, you’ll find a welcoming trattoria … Read more
Even the ultra-chic get puckish, and Alfred’s Grand Petit Magasin (big little store) has seen to a solution. Shopping in this modish and diverse mini-department store is hardly taxing, but that doesn’t mean you can’t kick up your Jimmy Choos for a while and compare purchases over a snack at Alfred’s Cafe. Crusty baguettes, elegantly … Read more
A waiter hurries a tray of tall drinks toward a café table. A dapper trio sits there: A young man wearing a straw boater, a suit in candy-colored stripes, and a silk cravat is entertaining two beauties resplendent in crinoline, swathed bodices, and elaborate millinery. The dandy leans forward to finish the story that holds … Read more
Paul Auster (pictured) is the kind of poet they don’t make anymore: sexy in a dark-eyed Cary Grant kind of way, vaguely mysterious, and someone who actually makes a living by writing. Not by writing poems, of course–he’s best known as a novelist (and the writer of screenplays including Blue, with Wayne Wang). But for … Read more
Vultures are watching you eat? If you’re not picnicking near a fragrant deer carcass, then you must be dining at Hell’s Kitchen in downtown Minneapolis. This breakfast-and-lunch spot is known for its red walls, devilish Ralph Steadman artwork, stuffed vulture mascots, and divinely fluffy yet tart lemon-ricotta pancakes. Those pancakes will remain on the new … Read more