THEATER REVIEW | BareBones serves up Metamorphosoup at Hidden Falls

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BareBones has been producing Halloween extravaganzas for 21 years. The themes embrace the time and space between two worlds brought on by the intersection of those worlds around Halloween. There’s always a look at the worst of humanity and glimmer of the best. The program outlines this year’s theme in greater detail:Metamorphosoup is an emotional investigation of the process of loss–loss of community through conflict, love of loved one by death and loss of oneself as we flow through the grieving.The show is performed outdoors at Hidden Falls, tucked away behind the former Ford Plant in the secret pocket of Highland Park. It’s dark, it’s near the River, though you might not know it in the dark except that there’s a watery chill in the air. Continue Reading

MUSIC REVIEW | Fast and faster with Blind Shake, Oozing Wound, Running and Weakwick at the Eagles Club 34

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Punk rock at the Eagles Club 34 on October 25 is as close to the Minneapolis punk scene of the 1980s that I have seen well since the 1980s when shows used to happen in church basements, Chuck E Cheese restaurants and Oddfellow halls. And like the punk shows of the 1980s, there was a little bit of something for everyone who likes loud – punk, metal, kinda-noisy, garage, thrash…I should emphasize that I attended the Blind Shake, Oozing Wound, Running and Weakwick show. Teen King and the Princes played the same venue Saturday night; they played in the ballroom. There was a dance and Halloween dress rehearsal. The crowd was a little older – as in Metro Mobility acted as the party bus bringing several revelers home (or maybe after party) when the band finished. Continue Reading

MUSIC REVIEW | Love over Gold, The Icicles, Erik Koskinen and the Real Phonic Radio Band at the Hill Library

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Mayor Chris Coleman welcomed the crowd to Real Phonic Radio at the James J Hill Reference Library Thursday, October 16. And I have to say, our Mayor is a good sport, reading in the usual iireverant appraoch of regular spokesman, Thom MIddlebrook. He astutely observed that while we had enough entertainment for three shows in Minneapolis, it was all hitting one stage in St Paul—as it does every third Thursday.Headlining the night was Love Over Gold, which is the combined talents of Pieta Brown, from Iowa and Lucie Thorne, originally from Tasmania, Australia. Both are singers, song writers and guitar players. Upon quick brush they seem alike—both attractive women with pretty voices who sing with a folksy Americana twang. Continue Reading

Free jazz at Khyber Pass Café

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The Khyber Pass Café hosts “adventurous improvised” music every Thursday at 9:00. Last Thursday featured Adam Linz, and Paul Metzger and JT Bates playing Free Jazz, which I overheard Linz describe as music revolving around jazz. I liked the description of the music revolving around something rather than being something direct; the musicians seem to connect in the same way. They revolve their music around each other rather than directly playing together.  They also play around their instruments in innovative ways. Continue Reading

MUSIC REVIEW | More grace, less folk with The Ericksons at the Cedar Cultural Center

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Friday, October 3 The Erickson’s released their latest album at the Cedar Cultural Center. It was clearly a very emotional experience for them and half of the fun was seeing how excited and grateful they were for the support of fans and colleagues. I don’t know them and I left a little drained!The Ericksons are two sisters, Bethany Valentini and Jenny Kapernick. As sisters I suspect they’ve been singing together forever, but during the show they alluded to an eight year career together. Their interaction together on the stage is fun to watch. Continue Reading

MUSIC REVIEW | A joyful convert for JJ Grey and Mofro at the Varsity Theater

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Last night I went to a revival meeting. It was unusual because there wasn’t a lot of praying and there wasn’t a lot of God but there was so much joy and music and dancing. That joy emanated from JJ Grey and Mofro as they played the Varsity Theater.Grey is the preacher who drives the service through a range of emotions, who tells the tales of “Orange Blossoms”, “Sweetest Thing” (for his daughter) and leads us to “Brighter Days” after we survive “99 Shades of Crazy”. His voice is a little gravelly and very southern; sometimes soulful sometimes southern rock. There’s something churchy about a southern accent to me; Grey hails from Jacksonville, Florida. Continue Reading

MUSIC REVIEW | Lily Allen pops in at Skyway Theatre

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Lily Allen is pop. I guess I wasn’t quite ready to admit that until I saw her live at the Skyway Theatre on Wednesday night because her lyrics are clever and her music hold hints of deeper roots but the staging, costumes and audience all scream pop.Lily Allen is also cute as button and has a voice that curls up at the corner like a smile. And you know how a smile just makes someone that much more attractive, well the curl in her voice makes her strong and clear tones that much more interesting.But back to the pop. The stage was set up like a big Target-Center-type show with giant plastic baby bottles everywhere, a nod to Allen’s reason for staying home for a few years. Her chatter between songs spoke nearly as much to her children and her husband (who she is meeting on Thursday after a two weeks apart) as her music. Continue Reading

Museum Day Live: An excuse to be a tourist in your hometown

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Saturday, September 27 was Museum Day, or at least according to Smithsonian Magazine it was. Five museums in the Twin Cities participated; we visited four. The fun part was that they were museums that we don’t visit often – two were entirely new to me. Celebrating Museum Day really just means you can get access to free tickets but it’s also a good excuse to get out.Stop number one was the American Swedish Institute; this was one of the new-to-me museums. The best part of museum is FIKA, the restaurant. I would go there again in a heartbeat. Continue Reading