REVIEW: El Año En Que Nací (The Year I was Born) at the Walker Art Center

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Written by Lola Arias, El Año En Que Nací (The Year I was Born) traces the lives of a group of performers and their parents through the last 30 years of Chile’s history. The performers were all born during the Pinochet dictatorship. Pinochet was known for extreme economic reforms that widened the gap between classes as well as for his strong military presence. As many as 3,200 people were killed by his regime, 80,000 were interned and 30,000 were tortured. The performers came from families on all sides of the political and economic spectrum.Each performer told his family’s story through actual postcards, tape recordings and costumes. Continue Reading

Art Shanties: Outside winter art worth wearing long underwear

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The Art Shanty Project is a month-long art show featuring ice fishing houses custom designed by artists; it’s located on White Bear Lake. It opened February 1 and with temperatures well above zero, it felt almost balmy on opening day. According to the program, there are 21 Art Shanties; I’m pretty sure we didn’t visit 21 shanties, but we saw a lot. The bad news with the outside lake location is that once you’re cold, you’re cold and you have to go home. The good news, we can come again. Continue Reading

REVIEW | World’s Toughest Rodeo at the Xcel Energy Center: Where 8 seconds is all that matters

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You know that saying, this isn’t my first rodeo. Well I can’t say that here. Friday, January 31st at the Xcel Energy Center I saw my first rodeo, the World’s Toughest Rodeo. It is a show!The night starts with the lights down low, the fireworks, the flag, some prayers, more fireworks—everything building the excitement and starting a rapport with the audience. The emcees for the evening include the announcer and the rodeo clown. Continue Reading

St Paul Winter Carnival: Ice sculptures, snow sculptures and plenty of cold

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The St Paul Winter Carnival mission statement says nothing about finding a reason for people to leave their homes in horrible, horrible weather – but you know that had to be a factor when the founders were at the original planning table. And to be fair, there’s not much I would have ventured outdoors for last weekend except snow and ice sculptures. We didn’t spend a lot of time out there, but we enjoyed it. We visited the ice sculptures, we checked out the St Paul Civic Symphony and we made a mad dash to see the snow sculptures on the state fairgrounds. Emphasis on mad!The ice sculptures in Rice Park are beautiful, especially when they catch the sun. Continue Reading

MUSIC REVIEW | The Current’s 9th Birthday Party at First Avenue: Caroline Smith, Heiruspecs, Howler and Cactus Blossoms

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Going to the second night of The Current’s 9th Birthday Party show was a total bonus for me since I was supposed to be out of town working. I went with few expectations, expect the good time I had last year. I had seen half of the Saturday night’s bands before and the other two were new to me. It was a night of county bluegrass, hip hop, punk edge rock and R&B. I wonder if every city takes time celebrate such musical diversity under one roof.Seeing Caroline Smith was new to me. Continue Reading

ARTS REVIEW | Revolver at the Ritz: 12 Experiments: “Like Wits but weirder”

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Saturday night the literati hung out at Revolver at the Ritz: 12 Experiments. It was a high brow variety show with 12 chapters, otherwise know by the non-literati as skits. I overheard an usher describe the show as “like Wits but weirder” and I have to say, I can’t come up with an better description myself. I enjoyed it thoroughly – but I was an English major; worse yet I have arty graduate degrees. So I was probably the laser market. Continue Reading

MUSIC REVIEW | Semi-Twang, BB Gun, Leo Welch and Erik Koskinen at the Real Phonic Radio Hour at James J Hill Library

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It was all men, all night on the Real Phonic Radio Hour stage on Thursday night at their monthly return to the James J. Hill Library. Not that I’m complaining but I notice these things.  Semi-Twang headed up the bill. They are a county or country rock band from Milwaukee and alluded to playing back as far as 1988. Lead singer John Sieger took the stage to start and there was almost a Bob Dylan-esque sound, but as the band members joined the stage the sound rounded out. Continue Reading

Net neutrality: More uncertainty for the industry. Next steps?

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I wish I had an extra day in my week to scan all media for reports on the recent Net Neutrality order from the US Court of Appeals. I guess the best I can say about it right now is that people are paying attention to broadband and geeky tech issues now in a way they weren’t a few years ago. I realized that when I stumbled onto an interview with Susan Crawford and Scott Cleland on a program called The Take Away on my drive home from the western edge of Minnesota. (That interview is worth 13 minutes of your time. Crawford and Cleland have very different opinions on the issue!) Continue Reading

MUSIC REVIEW | Freddy Votel and Davu Seru Drum Duet with Paul Metzger and Transitional Species at Seward Café

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Saturday night the Seward Café was abuzz with locally blended experimental and improvisational music. Earlier last month I saw another show of the same genre at the Seward and my only complaint was a small audience. I think word is getting out. There were more people last night, who braved record cold temperatures to see these guys.To set the stage, music at the Seward has a beatnik coffeehouse feel – although they do serve beer and wine. Each artist performed for about 15-30 minutes and played one song. Continue Reading

MUSIC REVIEW | Run Westy Run at First Avenue

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On the way to First Avenue on Friday night to see Run Westy Run, my friend says – please don’t let them have potbellies. I knew what he meant. Looking up on stage is a little like looking in a mirror with a favorite hometown band – you want them to look and sound the same, especially with a band eacyou have seen dozens of times, starting in high school.Good news. They look and sound great. I had forgotten what showmen the band members are. Continue Reading