What’s happening this week
On the radar: It’s time for local tastemakers’ (and tastetakers’) annual rite of summer, the Poolside Fashion Show presented by Vita.mn. Stop by the Calhoun Beach Club to get some swimsuit shopping ideas—and/or to rub elbows with people who might actually get their swimsuit shopping ideas on a runway rather than in a Lands’ End catalog.
Under the radar: Writer Savannah Reich, director Samantha Johns, and actors Jon Mac Cole and Kait Sergenian—the team behind my favorite play of 2009—reunite for Fanciness vs. the Void, opening tonight and playing for only four days at Open Eye Theatre before going on a national tour. (For a sneak peek, see my photos from the preview party.)
On the radar: Comedian and (kind of) actor Bobcat Goldthwait—who’s at Acme Comedy Company tonight—has had a career as weird as his name, rising to fame as a standup comic before becoming a utility supporting character in mediocre comedies of the 80s and 90s. He trashed the set of The Arsenio Hall Show to demonstrate his anger at the program being cancelled (the studio audience cheered as he spray-painted “Paramount sucks” on a glass wall), opened for Nirvana on their final American tour, and was named, by Comedy Central, the 61st greatest comedian of all time. In the words of William Shatner responding to those who call him a has-been: “May I inquire what you’ve been doing, mister?”
Under the radar: At this point, the Castaways are unambiguously a nostalgia act—but do you think Owl City will still be around in 45 years? (Don’t answer that.) The band’s 1965 hit “Liar, Liar,” epitomizing that decade’s garage rock sound, would appear on any list of the top ten pop singles to come out of Minnesota. You ought to see them sometime, and tonight at the Medina Entertainment Center is as good a time as any.
On the radar: I have only vague memories of visiting the Minnesota Children’s Museum as a kid, but I have vivid memories of the time our mom brought my siblings and me on the Duluth city bus. Give your kids (or someone else’s) a couple of experiences to remember by taking them on the bus—free passes are available on the MCM Web site—to see the museum’s new Wizard of Oz exhibit.
Under the radar: No local gallery blurs the lines between object, event, and venue like Art of This, and in September the gallery is abandoning its permanent space entirely to reduce its overhead; the organization will continue to present programming at other local venues. First, though, the gallery is hosting a whirlwind summer of artist residencies, which kick off tonight with food, drink, music, and general frolicking.
On the radar: If Prince was the masthead of the 1980s Minneapolis Sound, the Time were the engine—and the screw’s still turning, as the local legends (including Morris Day, Jimmy Jam, and Terry Lewis) reunite tonight at Epic.
Under the radar: Today is your last chance to see the fourth installment of the MIA’s once-in-a-decade democratic orgy of 12-inch art, Foot in the Door.
On the radar: When Gold Motel played the Fine Line earlier this year, I only arrived in time to hear their last two songs; by the time they left the stage, I was kicking myself for my lateness. Frontwoman Greta Salpeter is best known for her job with the Hush Sound, but whether or not you want to call her current piano-pop band a “side project,” they sure don’t sound like one. They’re at the Triple Rock tonight on a fine triple bill with Now, Now Every Children and Skybox.
Under the radar: It may cost $157 to get into Northrop Auditorium—at least to hear the likes of Neil Young—but outside the venue, the weather’s fine and the price (free) is right. Playing today: local dream-pop favorites Romantica.
On the radar: With smooth 70s yacht-rock making a comeback thanks to Gayngs, Chromeo, and other revivalists, has there been a better time since—well, since the 70s—to pay tribute to Barry Manilow? Spend tonight at the BLB, and by your third cocktail you’ll be a Fanilow for sure.
Under the radar: Ander Monson prefers Doritos to natural corn chips, and his distaste for purity in snack foods extends to his literary habits. The unpredictable, uncomfortable, and uncomfortably funny author is at Magers & Quinn today discussing Vanishing Point, his anti-memoir newly published by Greywolf Press.
On and under the radar: What people who aren’t nerds often don’t realize is that nerds are not all alike—they come in different flavors. Today seems to be Nerd Day in the Twin Cities, because there are events for art nerds (an exhibit of QR Codes at Pink Hobo), computer nerds (same exhibit), book nerds (a Bloomsday celebration), and theater nerds (Rockstar Storytellers Laura Bidgood and Curt Lund perform at Nerd Party, this week’s Storefront-in-a-Box on Lyndale).
Have an event you’d like to put on our readers’ radar? Submit it directly to our calendar.
Daily Planet arts roundup
• Sylvia Wolf’s The Digital Eye surveys art photography in the age of Photoshop (review by Jay Gabler)
• WisCon (blog entry by Eleanor Arnason)
• The Minnesota Table cookbook (blog entry by Amy Rea)
• Local bookstores build community (feature by Lee Egerstrom)
• Talking Tree, Bella Ruse, Carl Hauck, and Tricia Scully at the 331 (photos by Jay Gabler)
• Chastity Brown: “There’s something that only happens when you’re onstage. And that feeling is just bizarre.” (interview by Dwight Hobbes)
• Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes, Dawes play a strong double bill at First Ave (photos by Meredith Westin)
• Damien Jurado, Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground, and Ten Centuries (that’s the openers’ name, not a review) at the Turf Club (review and photos by Jay Gabler)
• The Saved By the Bell Show brings Bayside High to life at the BLB (review by Jay Gabler)
• Cromulent’s Troilus and Cressida brings love and death to a park near you (review and photos by Jay Gabler)
• Works-in-Progress kick open the door for New Works 4 Weeks at Red Eye (review by Jay Gabler)
• Minnesota Shakes some action in Denmark with an uneven Hamlet (review by Matthew A. Everett)
• Mad King Thomas prepare to join The League of Red Herrings (feature and photos by Jay Gabler)
Not a subscriber? Click here to get Arts Orbit Radar in your inbox every Wednesday—and follow ArtsOrbit on Twitter or Tumblr for 24/7 updates on the local arts scene. For a new video on the local arts scene every weekday, bookmark the Daily Planet’s 3-Minute Egg page.
Comment