What’s happening this week
On the radar: The Twin Cities know how to shower love on their indie-folk heroes. Just a couple of weeks after Mumford & Sons played an exhilarating show at First Ave, and you can expect that a large portion of that sellout crowd will return to the Mainroom tonight for Dawes. Opening are Minneapolis’s own indie-folk heroes Peter Wolf Crier, who have been touring with Dawes.
Under the radar: “She would be good on every stage in the world.” That’s high praise from Rolling Stone for Krista Detor, a singer-songwriter from Bloomington, Indiana, whose new album Chocolate Paper Suites is so literate that it’s required listening for students studying “Isms in Modern Literature” at Stanford. Tonight she’s at Gingko Coffeehouse.
On the radar: Gastro Non Grata—the series of events pairing delicious local food with delicious local music—needs no excuse to happen, but it has a good one this weekend: raising money for the Ritz Theater, which is deep in debt and bleeding cash. Events will take place at the Ritz tonight and tomorrow; tonight, chefs Philip Becht of the nearby Modern Café and Steven Brown will oversee the grub while Me and My Arrow, the Mighty Mofos, Unknown Prophets, and Magic Castles take the stage. It’s worth returning tomorrow for food by Erik Anderson of Sea Change and sets by Black Audience, Phantom Tails, Rude Girl, Marijuana Deathsquads, and Picked to Click champions Pink Mink.
Under the radar: I saw this one coming—and happily, I was right. “An Adult Evening of Shel Silverstein was the hottest ticket of the 2010 Minnesota Fringe Festival, the only show to sell every possible available ticket,” I wrote in my rave review. “Given the show’s success, I’d be surprised if it didn’t reappear at the BLB or the Theatre Garage in coming months, and if it does, you should definitely grab the opportunity to see it.” Lo and behold, it has—and you should.
On the radar: The Twin Cities Media Alliance, the Daily Planet’s nonprofit parent organization, is hosting its annual Fall Forum at the Minneapolis Central Library. This year’s theme is Storytelling and Beyond, with presentations by guests including Placeblogger.com founder Lisa Williams, premier public artist Wing Young Huie, and spoken-word heroine Tish Jones. A happy hour and story slam will follow at the Old Pub (the new old place where Kieran’s once was).
Under the radar: After a long interval of silence, the Music Box Theatre is once again booking music shows. It will be the perfect location to hear hometown girl Haley Bonar—back from the Pacific Northwest—play favorites and try out some new material. Tonight’s show will be your first chance to get your hands on a 200-disc limited local release of Bonar’s new EP Leo.
On the radar: The Southern Theater inaugurates its new Southern Songbook series, exploring “the history, culture and art of popular song through performances and conversations with Twin Cities songwriters” with dVRG as music director and Heiruspecs (nice!) as the house band. Get a load of the lineup for tonight’s jazz-oriented show, hosted by Adam Levy and Jake Rudh: Mayda, Ill Chemistry, Omaur Bliss, Toki Wright, Janey Winterbauer, Ashleigh Still, Bethany Larson. Uff da! Visit the Southern Songbook Tumblr to learn more about the project.
Under the radar: The Children’s Theatre will be producing Annie in April, but the really exceptional acting talent biting into this 20th century masterwork is onstage tonight in Northeast Minneapolis: WCCO’s Jason DeRusha makes a one-night-only appearance as Judge Brandeis in the Morris Park Players Community Theatre production.
On the radar: In connection with the Guthrie’s acclaimed production of The 39 Steps, Brit’s is hosting a special Hitchcock-themed trivia night along with a screening of the classic film.
Under the radar: In a pop-music context, “An Evening with” is usually the label for a concert by an aging rocker who needs to sit down fairly often and has some stories he wants to tell—but tonight, it’s “An Evening of Psychobilly featuring the Creepshow” at Station 4.
On the radar: Opening today at the Nash Gallery: Painting Zombies! Cool, what’s that about? “Painting Zombies: Permanence/Impermanence consists of three major components, art exhibition, panel discussion and student workshop. All of these components will work together to create comprehensive and multivalent dialogue that will investigate the idea of transience and fear represented and/or countered in current art theory and practice.” Huh? “More specifically, the event focuses on painting as a model that offers a stable platform for a vibrant discussion.” About what? “Since the resurgence of painting, it has fused multi-dimensional human thought and activity with reexamination of the history of painting to create aesthetic hybrids. These hybrids clearly encompass the issues and concerns that this event addresses.” Oh. So we’re talking about aesthetic “zombies,” not literal zombies. Still…zombies!
Under the radar: 1419 is presenting “an original noise cabaret fairy tale” presented by boundary-pushing singer-songwriter Luna Vroum. Time, cover charge, and other details haven’t been announced yet (it’s that kind of venue), so, as Kate Iverson might say, peep FB for the deets.
On the radar: With every release over the past few years, Minnesota/Wisconsin band Cloud Cult have grown in both in the number of performers onstage and in the number of audience members offstage. They need two headlining slots at First Ave for the release of their new album, Light Chasers; the first of the two is tonight.
Under the radar: Most cult series just catch the zeitgeist for a couple of years, but Adult Swim is starting to look like Saturday Night Live with its unyielding grip upon a certain brand of timeless humor—in this case, the infinitely ironic. Tim and Eric, two of Adult Swim’s current “superstars,” are at the State Theatre tonight for their 2010 Christmas (excuse me, Chrimbus) Spectacular.
Daily Planet arts roundup
• Walker Art Center spotlights Ousmane Sembene, “father of African film” (feature by Sheila Regan)
• Chicago International Film Festival 2010, from sweet to scary (feature by Jim Brunzell III)
• Trylon Premiere Tuesdays begin with Valhalla Rising, the first good Viking movie. Ever. (feature by Erik McClanahan)
• Dandy Warhols easily please an easy-to-please crowd at the Fine Line (review by Natalie Gallagher, photos by Meredith Westin)
• Dar Williams at the Guthrie: Giving and taking (review and photo by Brenda Karunya Peters)
• A satisfying Cinderella from the Minnesota Opera (review by Jay Gabler)
• Sara Bareilles, in control at the Pantages (review by Kate Gallagher, photos by Meredith Westin)
• Community rallies to support Diane Perez (feature by Dwight Hobbes)
• Open Eye Figure Theatre’s The Cabinet of Wonders is a typically strange little show (review by Sheila Regan)
• Classical Actors Ensemble’s ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore: Isn’t it, though? (review by Matthew A. Everett)
• Fully Committed at the Jungle Theater: So good, it’s like printing money (review by Matthew A. Everett)
• Spring Awakening at the Orpheum: If you slept through it, don’t worry (review by Becca Mitchell)
• Sandbox Theatre’s Unspeakable Things haunt Red Eye Theater (review by Jay Gabler)
• Is this art? Isles sculpture raises the issue and more (feature by Bruce Cochran)
• Corner stores to promote fresh food (feature by Urmila Ramakrishnan)
• Meredith Westin, you’re the best (blog entry by Jay Gabler)
• The transplanted baker (feature by Michelle Christianson)
• We’re from here (feature by Norma Smith Olson)
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