Daily Planet Originals

Widespread Panic at the Orpheum Theatre: Master musicians at their very best

Courtesy Widespread Panic

On April 14, the Orpheum Theatre was struck by Widespread Panic, inciting a completely sold out house of revelers to create absolute pandemonium. Fans of this veteran rock powerhouse are nothing if not faithful, wildly devoted to what can only be called an extreme. It must be pretty thirsty work, because when Panic hit the State Theatre across the street on Hennepin Avenue in 2011, the bars ran out of beer before the show was half underway—so, quite sensibly, things were moved to the larger venue and the venue laid in a stronger supply of brew.

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Eat for Equity dinner May 25 to support Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness

Eat for Equity volunteers prepare a salad of oranges and radishes for a benefit for the Northside Achievement Zone. Photo by Emily Rumsey.

Eat For Equity is a wonderful volunteer-led organization that organizes fundraising dinners. Every month, they pick a different worthy cause to support, and for this month, they chose the Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness. (The Twin Cities Media Alliance had its turn last year.)  Eat for Equity events draw a fun group of people, mostly in their 20s.

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Minneapolis school superintendent Bernadeia Johnson meets Latino parents from Green Central Park school

Bernadeia Johnson at meeting with Latino families. (Photo by Sheila Regan)

When Mayela de la Rosa Cardenas invited me to a meeting between Latino parents at Green Central and Minneapolis Public School Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson, I accepted without hesitation.

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Ordered out, invited in

I've attended a number of meetings at schools, but I've only been told to leave one.

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Immigrant driver's license bill passes MN Senate, goes to MN House

A crowd of supporters hug state senators who voted yes on SF271 only moments before.

The Minnesota State Capitol filled with loud cheers and chants of "Sí, se pudo," ("Yes we could") Saturday night, after the Senate passed a bill that would allow undocumented immigrants to obtain driver's licenses. The next step: the bill would need to pass the full House of Representatives before the May 20 adjournment to have a chance of becoming law.  Governor Dayton has promised he will meet with the bill's supporters if it is passed by the legislature. 

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THEATER REVIEW | "Rock of Ages" is so 80s at the Orpheum Theatre

Photo credit Scott Suchman

My understanding of the 80s is mostly constructed by the stereotype of the era—growing up Carebear-obsessed didn't gain me much perspective outside of what was happening in Care-A-Lot. Yeah, I know all the songs I'm supposed to and the style just like everyone else. And while Friday, May 17th's performance of Rock of Ages didn't show or tell me to anything non-cliched about what it was like to live in the 80s, I concluded that—between the crass tongue lappings, booby jokes, and repulsive hair styles—it was just simply a gross time. That probably wasn't the consensus in the midst (is it ever?), but it certainly seems to be now.

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MN VIDEOS | Art-a-Whirl 1996: What the first year looked like

Art-a-Whirl, now the largest art crawl in the country, had its start in 1996. John Akre was then a volunteer at MTN, and created a 40-minute documentary about the new Northeast Minneapolis event. He's now edited the documentary down to a more concise five minutes to provide this peek into the past.

"Sex and Sugar"...and art, and writing

This is a photo of sugar cubes (by David Pacey, Creative Commons), not an artwork by Elizabeth Erin Fowler. To see one of those (NSFW), click here.

I took a break from the column last week because I really just needed a little time off. Such a thing probably won’t happen often, but I expect that it will happen from time to time. I’ve been making up for my lack of writing by painting and drawing whenever I get the chance. The work for my upcoming solo show is coming along nicely, but not at the speed I would like. I suppose I’ll never be satisfied until everything is finished, framed and hanging on the Smitten Kitten's walls.

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