Entertainment

Q&A with Melissa Oakvik: An unlikely blend of R&B and soft rock

By Dwight Hobbes, Sounding Off On Sound

Photo credit Hanna Voxland

I've caught at least a couple strong talents on their way up in Twin Cities music. Alicia Wiley before she got big. Shannon Johnson of Kymara. While it's still early to roll the dice, rookie singer-songwriter Melissa Oakvik strongly bears watching. For someone not yet 25, she has an uncanny grasp of how to blend R&B with soft-rock. Think back to Felix Cavalier's ingenuity with The Rascals classic. "Groovin'." That potentially is kind of power this kid is wielding. Her voice has a world of texture. Full-throated, sultry with good, clean and clear projection. Show business being what show business is it doesn't hurt, either, that she's not hard to look at.

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Bill Burr at the State Theatre: Inexplicably funny

By Dwight Hobbes, Sounding Off On Sound

Photo courtesy Bill Burr

Bill Burr at the State Theater in Minneapolis on March 23 was a complete mystery. The house was packed to the rafters and the whole place constantly stayed in hysterics. Go figger: well, I guess, it proves the old saying, "Five million flies eat sh*t, they can't all be wrong."

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Mark Martin of Inukshuk Pass: Steeped in Chicago blues by way of southern rock

By Dwight Hobbes, Sounding Off On Sound

Photo courtesy Mark Martin

There's no definitive word as to whether guitartist-vocalist Mark Martin is still part of San Francisco style rockers Inukshuk Pass. If he's moved on, it can't be but so far. When the premiere blues specialist did a solo set March 8, in a Wild Tymes'/The Palace Stage showcase in downtown St. Paul, IP powerhouse vocalist-songwriter Patti Ryan and bass ace Paul Weyandt made sure to get there on time, kicking the Willie-Bobo with Martin and hanging around to congratulate him afterward.

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THEATER REVIEW | "River See" at the Pillsbury House Theatre: A good look at dance storytelling

By Betsy Gabler, TC Daily Planet

Photo courtesy Pillsbury House Theatre

The Pillsbury House Theatre is presenting "River See" by Sharon Bridgforth through April 21 on its mainstage. I attended the April 17th performance along with a packed house, so packed that some were invited to sit on stage. That was the first observance that this was to be no ordinary theater experience.

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THEATER REVIEW | "Something About a Bear" by Theatre Novi Most: When a bear loves a princess...

By Matthew A. Everett, TC Daily Planet

Courtesy Theatre Novi Most

We’re all sick of snow. However, when it snows inside the theater, not just onstage, but in the audience, I’ve got to admit that’s kind of magical. Those kind of magical things happen a lot in Theatre Novi Most’s production of Something About a Bear, a whimsical romantic comedy and fairy tale for adults and children alike.

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MSPIFF or MSPFest 13 - MSP International Film Festival 2013

By Rene Meyer-Grimberg, Cinemuser

Sunday 's first feature, warm-up event was a panel "The Future is the Word: Screenwriting for Films &TV, Fiction & Documentary"  and the Aster's new River  Room was comfortably fu

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Cinemuser

THEATER REVIEW | "Girl Group": Theatre Unbound's smart, funny musical treat

By Matthew A. Everett, TC Daily Planet

Amanda Kay Thomm, Laura Mahler, Becka Linder, and Katia Cardenas in Girl Group.

Just to be honest and up-front, the playwright Carol Critchley is a friend of mine. Reviewing the work of your friends can be dicey. But I needn’t have worried. One of the many reasons Carol is a friend is that she is one of the funniest writers I know. Which is why I was excited to hear that Theatre Unbound was offering up the world premiere of Carol Critchley’s new play Girl Group. Because we don’t get to laugh enough, and we don’t get to see nearly enough of Carol’s work on stage.

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2013 Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival: Highlights of the first weekend, hot prospects for the second

By Jim Brunzell III, The Optimistic Pessimist

Leviathan

When I reported a few weeks ago that spring was on its way and the temperatures were on the rise and we could start expecting seeing green grass, I was way off. There was further proof that winter was sticking around a little longer for the opening night of the 2013 annual Minneapolis/St. Paul International Film Festival. It was snowing.

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THEATER REVIEW | Freshwater Theatre Company's "The Gifted Program": Back to the 80s, when the geeks didn't inherit the earth

By Matthew A. Everett, TC Daily Planet

Jesse Corder, Michael Sung-Ho, Ben Resman, John Leaf, and Garek Bushnell in The Gifted Program. Photo by Scott Pakudaitis, courtesy Freshwater Theatre Company.

Freshwater Theatre Company’s production of Ruben Carbajal’s The Gifted Program starts with a goth guy listening to the Violent Femmes’ “Add It Up” on his boombox when he receives a phone call from a girl who is smoking from the My Little Pony she has fashioned into a bong.

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