The Northeast Minneapolis Arts District was recently named the Number 1 Arts District in the USA in a reader’s poll that set it against Arts Districts in cities like Boston, Dallas, Detroit and Los Angeles. That victory was celebrated at a party in the Solar Arts Building on April 1. The party featured music, food by Chowgirls, speeches by Northeast Minneapolis leaders and arts district pioneers, and awards to Northeast Arts District Visionaries.Video produced by John Akre Green Jeans Media Continue Reading
You have to appreciate a band that plays a few new songs at an EP release party. The new songs are post-EP (Turtleneck) production. That’s a group with a lot of ideas and enthusiasm for the music. That’s Candid Kid.Candid Kid includes two founding members vocalist and guitarist Benjamin Muller and guitarist TannerUselmannand two excellent additions, bassist CooperDotenand drummer Reese Kling. They have the loudness and best of a rock band and the pensive twist of a more alternative band. Continue Reading
In a stunning press conference this morning, the Guthrie Theater announced that it is returning to Minneapolis’s Lowry Hill neighborhood and converting part of its iconic building on the banks of the Mississippi River into condos. These twin measures, some of the most far-reaching in the company’s 52-year history, sent shockwaves through the Twin Cities theatre and Downtown East communities. Editor’s note: This feature is part of the Daily Planet’s April Fools’ Day Arts Coverage. The first part of the plan, constructing a new theatre complex near the Walker Art Museum, is a return to the Guthrie’s founding roots and location for decades. (The Walker’s parking garage sits on the site of the old theatre.) This new complex, tentatively named Guthrie 2.0, will sit above the I-94/Hennepin Ave/Lyndale Ave interchange, long an area eyesore and transit bottleneck. Continue Reading
The greater Twin Cities theater scene is getting a whole lot more zombies and ice castles in the 2015-2016 season. The Ordway Center for the Performing Arts and Chanhassen Dinner Theatres both announced major screen-to-stage adaptations in the coming year: a musical version of the hit cable television series The Walking Dead at the Ordway and a much-anticipated adaptation of the Disney megahit movie Frozen at CDT. Both new musicals will have their world premieres in Minnesota as part of pre-Broadway trials.Editor’s note: This feature is part of the Daily Planet’s April Fools’ Day Arts Coverage.Chanhassen Dinner Theatres, the world’s largest dinner theater organization under one roof, will present Frozen: The Musical as part of its 2015-2016 season. This coup follows up on two tremendously successful years of alternating Broadway classics in the fall and winter with stage versions of Disney musical films in the spring and summer. CDT’s Midwest premiere of The Little Mermaid attracted the attention of Disney executives, who after extensive negotiations selected the company to host the show’s pre-Broadway development. Continue Reading
Stop what you’re doing right now and get all expectations of cliches out of your system. Sure, go ahead, say something along the lines of “I’ll see the production ‘Tomorrow.’” Make a few cracks regarding what a “Hard Knock Life” you’d experience if you missed this show. Go ahead and make reference to the barely related Jay-Z track. Just work it out of your system quick. We can wait.Good?You sure?It figures you had one more in you.Alright, with all that said and done, let’s get down to business: This production of Annie is wonderful. Vibrant and full of energy and optimism, this production feels surprisingly fresh for a play that is almost 40 years old that is based on material from almost 90 years ago. Continue Reading
Award winning writer Louise Erdrich is best known for her prolific novels such as the Plague of Doves, Love Medicine and The Round House, but she’s also a visual artist. Asynchronous Reading, a new show curated by Heid E. Erdrich at Bockley gallery is the first time her works will be on view. Asynchronous Reading presents Erdrich’s paintings, collage boxes, and found-object constructions along with poetic text and audio works to create an experience to be viewed, read, and heard. Aza Erdrich and Pallas Erdrich, Louise’s two daughter, contributed key images and media works to an installation curated by Heid E. Erdrich, who also collaborated on parts of the exhibit.It all started when Louise wondered to herself, “Why am I drawing these lines?” Heid remembered saying to her, “You’re abstracting the process of writing.”Heid also remembered seeing Louise make small boxes filled with curiosities.“I always felt that her house was a Cornell box,” she says referring to the American artist and sculptor Joseph Cornell, who was known for his assemblage.Viewers at Bockley gallery will be encouraged to pick up a phone to hear advice, a story about two people stuck on the roof of a hotel, and a message to a secret agent. Asynchronous Reading also features paintings by Aza Erdrich, one of which viewers will recognize from the cover of Louise’s novel The Round House. Continue Reading
just like Africathe NorthSide’s a continent…one acts not for allEditors Note: This is a new series by Minneapolis photographer Bill Cottman. For more than five years now, a poem, a musing, or a few words shows up in my inbox. Some with numbers in the title. Some with no title at all. There was no regularity either. Continue Reading
Friendship is often as strange and random as family. Though you can’t choose your family but you can choose your friends, the circumstances that bring us in contact with those that become our friends are frequently just as out of our control. The same school, the same place of work, the same passion for a particular subject—these serve as the catalyst for unlikely pairings that might not otherwise ever cross paths. But just like romantic relationships, friendships need attention, care and feeding, or they’re likely to wither. Even if you don’t see your family members for years at a time, you’re still family. Continue Reading
Gamelan is a collection of traditional Javanese musical instruments. They are as beautiful to watch as they are to hear. There are gold colored gongs, metallophones, drums and hybrid drum-cymbals and bowed instruments. They are set up with ornate frames.The International Novelty Gamelan is a group of six musicians: Elaine Evans, Kevin Cosgrove, Chris Parker, David Morrison, Kathy Knight and Kristen Murray. Last night they celebrated their first vinyl release: MetallaphoniaI. Continue Reading
MINNEAPOLIS: In January, 2015, The City of Minneapolis inquired on a plot of land located between The City Hiawatha Public Works facility and Smith Foundry in the South Minneapolis neighborhood of
