What’s happening this week
On the radar: Lowertown’s annual Concrete and Grass Music Festival kicks off today with music in area clubs before heading outdoors over the weekend with performances by Dessa, Suicide Commandos, and more.
Under the radar: The Millennium Hotel hosts a reception and awards presentation (with silent auction, live music, and—of course—drag performance) that inaugurates the 2010 Twin Cities Black Pride Weekend.
On the radar: Welsh pop star Marina Diamandis has been enjoying her American tour. “Oh Hi there,” she tweeted on September 2. “Just tweeting from my PALACE ON F*CKING WHEELS. American tour buses make Brit ones look like Lego.” The next day, she made an interesting discovery. “American pharmacies are unique in that they sell EGGS, cigarettes & dont arrest u if wander barefoot & sing Blondie at top of voice at 2am.” I replied with a helpful tip for her to keep in mind for after her show at the Triple Rock tonight.
Under the radar: Unsurprisingly, Joseph Scrimshaw’s show The Damn Audition was the most-attended production of the 2010 Minnesota Fringe Festival. Scrimshaw hasn’t been resting on his laurels, though—he swooped right into production for the opening show of his company Joking Envelope’s 2010-11 season, which opens tonight at the Bryant-Lake Bowl. Our blogger Phillip Andrew Bennett Low co-stars in Deadwood: The Last Bleeping Episode.
On the radar: Stacia Rice’s pregnancy has delayed Torch Theater’s production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and kept the Twin Cities from completing a Tennessee Williams hat trick in 2010, but the show goes on at the Jungle, which is following the Guthrie’s production of A Streetcar Named Desire with its own Glass Menagerie. The production, directed by Jungle founder Bain Boehlke, opens this weekend.
Under the radar: No one is expecting independent bookstores to make a big comeback after everyone’s switched to iPads and Kindles, but stranger things have happened—specifically, the resurgence of vinyl records and the stores that sell them in a world where most listeners find even CDs to be inconveniently existing in three dimensions. Believe it or not, Minneapolis is soon to see the opening of a new independent record store: Yeti Records, at 35th and Nicollet. Today at Cake Eater Bakery, shop for vintage clothing and support the new venture.
On the radar: At only 40, photographer Alec Soth has become one of the most acclaimed artists in Minnesota’s history. He’s won international fame for his enigmatic large-scale portraits, but the survey exhibit opening today at the Walker Art Center will reveal that his practice, which has always had many dimensions and involved many media, is expanding more quickly than ever.
Under the radar: Quick quiz: What local theater was designed by Ralph Rapson (creator of the original Guthrie) in a space that formerly held Bimbo’s Pizza Parlor and Dance Emporium? That’s right, it’s Theatre in the Round, the Twin Cities’ oldest community theater. This weekend, the company kicks off its 2010-11 season with Tom Stoppard’s postmodern classic Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead.
On the radar: Don’t expect Ludacris to show up at the Entry, but you just might see Vin Diesel at tonight’s Virgo show, which will also mark the triumphant return of Marijuana Deathsquads after their successful California tour. They got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and they haven’t even released an album!
Under the radar: The Twin Cities generally—and St. Paul specifically—have long had a strong spoken-word scene, but these days the Capital City’s Soap Boxers are really making a point of it. They’ve taken the last two National Poetry Slam titles in succession, and tonight they’re hosting a slam at the Artists’ Quarter, where it all began. Admission is free if you compete, so screw your courage to the mic!
On the radar: Texas trio Girl in a Coma have won fans from Joan Jett to Tegan and Sara for their crunchy pop—think Paramore, if they listened to a lot more Go-Gos. Girl in a Coma are at the Triple Rock tonight.
Under the radar: One of the biggest musical mistakes I’ve made this year was showing up late for Gold Motel’s February set at the Fine Line. Greta Salpeter’s keyboard-pop outfit are playing at Coffman Union today as part of U-Fest. Also present will be representatives of businesses providing everything a college student needs, from music to coffee to shoes to tattoos.
On the radar: The SooVAC has been a little shaky on its financial feet since its expensive and time-consuming move to its new Lyndale Avenue space, so l’etoile magazine and Honey have organized a benefit dinner featuring Brad Senne and truffle-salted french fries.
Under the radar: Paper Moose Jumpsuit & Co., a new artspace in Northeast Minneapolis, makes its public debut with Baltimore Annex Theatre’s touring show A Fistful of Flowers. Also on the bill are a performance by Paige Collette and a remount of Eating Cake, a short, poignant, messy piece first performed at Bedlam’s End of an Era Romp.
Have an event you’d like to put on our readers’ radar? Submit it directly to our calendar.
Daily Planet arts roundup
• Passion Play 2010: Oberammergau: An artifact of devotion, both sacred and secular (review by Jay Gabler)
• Hannah Wilke by Nancy Princenthal: And you thought there was nothing left to expose (review by Jay Gabler)
• DreamHaven books for your science fiction, fantasy, and horror needs (feture by Nykol Johnson)
• Lucky to be literate (essay by Tami Mohamed Brown)
• Catching up with Yohannes Tona (interview by Dwight Hobbes)
• “Weird Al” Yankovic brings energetic show to Minnesota State Fair (review by Barb Teed, photos by Jeff Rutherford)
• Future backward: Uptown resident releases unsettling CD (feature by Bruce Cochran)
• Bedlam’s moving—but where? (feature by Sheila Regan)
• How do you respond when asked for money? (feature by Dwight Hobbes)
• Bittersweet Seder coming to Park Square Theatre (preview by Doris Rubenstein)
• Minnesota State Fair Art Show brings artists together (feature by Barb Teed)
• Destroy This Memory: Richard Misrach’s Hurricane Katrina graffiti photos (blog entry by Paul Schmelzer)
• What’s new along the Avenue: Big Daddy’s, Krua Thai, and the Destiny Cafe (blog entry by Jeremy Iggers)
• Making community gardens feel at home (blog entry by Megan Smith)
• An omnivore’s Minnesota State Fair dilemma (essay by Karen Hollish)
• Uff-da! A personal journey through Minnesota State Fair food (essay by Justin Elston)
• Searching for vegan at the Minnesota State Fair (feature by James Sanna)
• Canning peaches (blog entry by Amy Doeun)
• Flavors of Asia: Learn to cook with tea at TeaSource (feature by Phyllis Louise Harris)
• Faces of the Minnesota State Fair (photos by Jay Gabler)
• Comedian K Jay: “I love to get on people’s nerves” (interview by Dwight Hobbes)
• Minnesota State Fair champion horse rescued from slaughter (feature by Barb Teed)
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