Music
Weekend What's What: Funkytown
It seems to be the winter dance party season opener this weekend! With both Friday and Saturday dominated by l'étoile-worthy club jams and secret location parties, you'll be hard-pressed not to run into an opportunity to get your "Butterfly" on. At this rate we'll be sweatin' right through the hard freeze! Of course, there's plenty of awesome art to go around and even a few can't-miss rock n' roll shows—so those with two left feet, fret not—we've gotcha covered!MORE »
MUSIC | Triple threat Desdamona drops new disc: "Inkling"
Desdamona is a powerhouse in the local spoken word scene and hip-hop community. She co-hosts Poet's Groove at the Blue Nile every Tuesday night, and was also among the founders of B-Girl Be, the nation's premier event for women in hip-hop. She is also one half of Ill Chemistry, her collaboration with beat boxer Carnage the Executioner. In her spare time, she posts daily writing prompts on her Facebook page. Quickly following on the heels of BGB and her campaign for Too Big For My Skin, Desdamona is releasing her third album, titled Inkling, and will perform this Saturday at Sauce with Carnage, Big Mike, and Alicia Wiley.MORE »
MUSIC | Brother Ali, as always a soldier of love, brings "Us" to First Ave
The first MC heard on Brother Ali's third full-length, Us, is not the Rhymesayers heavyweight but rather one of his icons, Chuck D. Chuck intones an introduction for Ali, listing off divisions that plague humanity and offering Ali as "a soldier/ in the war for love," one who carries "a message of true hope/ and true peace" that might overcome these divisions. MORE »
Arts Orbit Radar: 11/19/09
What's Happening This Week
On the radar: Before the holiday Nutcracker daze sets in, treat yourself to a long cool drink of inventive contemporary dance at the Ritz, where Zenon Dance Company's 27th fall season opens tonight.
Under the radar: Quietly, two of the Twin Cities' best and most inventive playmakers are rolling out new productions today. At Bedlam, Jeune Lune co-founder Barbara Berlovitz is premiering Stories as Told in a Bed, a show about the experiences of her Lithuanian immigrant grandfather. (Among the ensemble of performers is our writer Sheila Regan.) Meanwhile, at the Children's Theatre, Jon Ferguson and a cast of young actors are performing Gregory Gregorson and the Magic Pinto Bean, a show that "contains extreme flatulence, troll dating, intimidating Boy Scouts, temporary paralysis, L.P. records, naked album covers, a mom of the wig-wearing kind, and talk of decorative ducks."
On the radar: "Hearing 1,000-plus people shouting 'sexy ass me' when Brother Ali performs crowd favorite 'Forest Whitiker' is still one of my favorite hip-hop moments," writes Justin Schell. If you can squeeze your sexy ass into Ali's sold-out homecoming show tonight at First Ave, you won't regret it.
Under the radar: Tonight at the Nash Gallery, spoken-word artist IBé will perform to celebrate the opening of Talking Suitcases, an exhibit of suitcases filled with handmade objects that tell the personal stories of a diverse group of Minnesotans.MORE »
Willie Murphy gives us “A Shot of Love in a Time of Need”
This is it! This has to be the first item on everyone's Holiday gift list. Everyone you know needs "A Shot of Love in a Time of Need." This bluesy rock and roll instant classic brings you right into the soul of what music meant to the West Bank in Minneapolis in the '70s and what it means to Willie Murphy today. For every aging hipster out there who wants a lifeline back to the promise of youth, you need this shot of love. MORE »
Iranian dancer’s traumas and triumphs told in life story
When you visit Leili Tajadod Pritschet's home for the first time and see framed photographs of her and the Shah of Iran on the wall, you might suspect that you have just met an extraordinary Holland neighborhood resident. MORE »
MUSIC | Minnesota Opera's "Casanova's Homecoming" seduces with words, not with song
Casanova's Homecoming was the first opera my girlfriend ever attended, and she thoroughly enjoyed it. She'd been expecting something a little harder to relate to—like, say, Clytemnestra—but instead she discovered a boisterously bawdy story, engagingly told. The fact that I didn't rave about the opera only piqued her curiosity about what the rest of the season must hold. "I'm excited," she exclaimed, "that you say this sucks!"MORE »
Saving the Victoria Theatre: St. Paul neighborhood organizes together
One of the first silent movie houses in St. Paul, the Victoria Theatre's glory days were long ago. Today the elegant building stands empty with vacancy signs tacked to the front door. The building is for sale, and the community is organizing to save it, with growing support in the Thomas-Dale (Frogtown) and Summit-University communities to restore it to become the new Victoria Theatre.MORE »
MUSIC | Do yourself a favor and lend an ear to jazz vocalist Nancy Harms
I don't much enjoy getting unsolicited CDs in the mail—especially when they don't come with a SASE. My first thought is, who gave this artist or manager my contact info in the first place and how am I supposed to fit it in my workload (invariably it's someone looking for coverage of an upcoming gig date that I set aside a month ago for someone else).MORE »
