Front Row Seat

"Front Row Seat" was the name of Jay Gabler's movie column when he was a teenager contributing to the High School High 5. As Daily Planet arts editor, today he writes about all aspects of the Twin Cities arts scene.

Theatre in the Round's "Treasure Island" and the power of imagination

By Jay Gabler, Front Row Seat

A 1911 Treasure Island illustration by N.C. Wyeth

I try not to let commenters bug me, but one who did succeed in getting my dander up was an anonymous (of course) commenter on my negative review of the Jungle Theater's Noises Off. In the review I said that people would be better off watching the 1992 film adaptation, and this commenter condescendingly sneered that comparing a theatrical production to a movie was patent evidence of my incompentence as a critic. "No critic worth anything would compare stage to screen. They're completely different mediums and completely different techniques are used to accomplish them. I'm amazed that someone with two masters degrees doesn't know that."

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"The Great Gatsby" and the Great Pumpkin: Writers who wrestled with their Minnesota pasts

By Jay Gabler, Front Row Seat

Leonardo DiCaprio in Baz Luhrmann's new film adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.

It was my friend Eric Bennett who drew my attention to a reference made by Bob Dylan to his fellow Minnesota escapee, F. Scott Fitzgerald. In Dylan’s song “Summer Days,” from 2001’s Love and Theft, a woman looking into the narrator’s eyes and holding his hand tells him he can’t repeat the past. “You can’t?” he replies. “What do you mean, you can’t? Of course you can.”

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It's going to be an "African Summer" at the Cedar Cultural Center

By Jay Gabler, Front Row Seat

Amadou & Mariam perform at the Cedar in 2012. Photo by Jon Behm for Reviler.

The Cedar Cultural Center has just announced the lineup for its "African Summer" series: six concerts featuring performers representing the power and diversity of African music today.

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Remembering John Munger: The best of his writing for the Twin Cities Daily Planet

By Jay Gabler, Front Row Seat

Video by 3 Minute Egg, 2008

Along with the rest of the Twin Cities arts community, I was saddened this week to learn of the death of John Munger, a great talent, enthusiastic supporter, and vibrant presence on the Minnesota dance scene for decades.

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Obsidian Arts spotlights cutting-edge black visual culture

By Jay Gabler, Front Row Seat

Via Obsidian Arts Facebook page

"I'm white and I have a lot to learn about black art," I wrote in February, "but I believe I could contribute valuable insight to Obsidian Arts in an advisory capacity." That was how I found myself sitting in a conference room at Pillsbury House last week, joining a conversation as part of the nonprofit arts organization's newly-formed advisory panel.

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What to say (and not to say) on social media when tragedy strikes?

By Jay Gabler, Front Row Seat

Like many people across the country, I was at work on Monday when the Boston Marathon was hit by a deadly attack. The nation's attention was riveted on the tragic scene unfolding in Copley Square. There was nothing we could do except watch, hope that the worst was over, and...talk. Talk on Twitter, talk on Facebook, talk on Tumblr.

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Khary Jackson's "Any Psalm You Want": Moving multicultural mantras

By Jay Gabler, Front Row Seat

I spend a lot of time thinking about how creative writing will adapt to, with, and through the move from print to digital—but with Khary Jackson's Any Psalm You Want, I was presented with a book of poetry that feels fresh and contemporary despite being printed on old-fashioned paper (that is, on any paper at all).

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"The Dakota Prisoner of War Letters": Clifford Canku and Michael Simon illuminate a dark corner of Minnesota history

By Jay Gabler, Front Row Seat

An 1865 drawing of Camp Kearney at Davenport, Iowa. The Dakota prison can be seen at top left. Courtesy Minnesota Historical Society.

After seeing Django Unchained, I wrote about how slow Minnesota has been to see the plank in its own eye when casting judgment on the cruel history of slavery in the south. Dakota and other Native inhabitants of our land were treated brutally during westward expansion, and that treatment precipitated the deadly Dakota War of 1862—perhaps the darkest moment in our state's history.

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Challenge America: National Endowment for the Arts offers a "Fast Track" for arts projects reaching underserved populations

By Jay Gabler, Front Row Seat

10th annual Hmong Arts and Music Festival at Western Sculpture Park, 2011. Photo by Mandy Dwyer.

If you're working for or with a small or mid-sized arts organization and you've been looking for funding to make your programming more accessible to underserved audiences, the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) wants to hear from you.

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"Spring Breakers": A generational landmark, or just the best spring break movie ever?

By Jay Gabler, Front Row Seat

If Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers is nothing more than the greatest spring break movie ever made, the film makes its own case for that as a noble achievement. In its virtuoso opening act, Spring Breakers paints the spring break road trip as one of the great American journeys, along with the wagon ride west and the shot into space.

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