REVIEW | Thomas Dolby’s “The Invisible Lighthouse” at the Cedar Cultural Center

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Performances at The Cedar Cultural Center always have a rather informal quality, but Thomas Dolby’s show on Tuesday, November 5 was downright intimate. That was appropriate for the material. Dolby has recently finished his first film, The Invisible Lighthouse, about the Suffolk rivers and marshes that have inspired him throughout his career and about the closing of the Orford Ness Lighthouse, which stood above them all.Local DJ Jake Rudh prepared the crowd for what they were about to see with a set built mostly from artists who paved the way for the performance we were about to see. Laurie Anderson, David Bowie, Kraftwerk, footage from Tron—the screen was full of innovators in film and music. One of the highlights was a Lene Lovitch performance of “New Toy,” featuring a very young Thomas Dolby (who wrote the song) on keyboards. Continue Reading

COMMUNITY VOICES | All voices are heard at OUTspoken’s first Queer Open Mic event.

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The Fox Egg Gallery in Minneapolis was packed full of nearly a hundred queer identified individuals and allies on Wednesday, October 9th 2013. Nikolas Martell, wearing a shiny purple bandeau with matching green hotpants and black high heels, and Paul Canada with a shiny red robe and a pearl necklace walked to the stage to host the kick off to the first ever OUTspoken Queer Open Mic event. “We want this to be an inclusive space, respect that please.” Says Martell. OUTspoken was started by Martell and Canada as an idea for an inclusive art space for queer identified individuals in the Twin Cities Area “Queer artists in the Twin Cities have needed this space for a really long time.” Says Renee Schminkey, the featured artist for the night’s event. The idea began when Martell and Canada were talking about ways they could “improve the community, bring the community together and find space for new voices.” One day Canada sent Martell a text message: ‘Queer open mic?’ to which Martell simply replied ‘Yes.’ and from there OUTspoken began to form together. Continue Reading

OUR STORIES | Meet Shahar: Iraqi Polish Israeli Jewish American Immigrant Social Activist Singer Songwriter Lover Human Being

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Meet Shahar Eberzon: part musician with an album in the making, part social activist, and part backbone of the growing artist community that is Face Forward  With all these projects, and with legendary Minneapolis stages requesting her presence, she is one to keep an eye on.However, I don’t care about any of that today. Today I have a different agenda.   L: I know you’ve had some immigration issues this year, and this kind of gets more to the root of what we are talking about. When did you come to the United States first?S: I came to the U.S. August 2008, five years ago, but I’ve been away from Israel since I was 17 because I was in Italy for two years.L: What was the strangest thing about coming here?S: Um. The passive aggressiveness. Continue Reading

MUSIC REVIEW | Desaparecidos bring their politically charged punk to First Avenue

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Desaparecidos’ frontman Conor Oberst is known first and foremost as the creative force behind indie giant Bright Eyes, a band he started in 1995, back when indie music just meant you were on an independent record label. Along the way, he has released two “solo” records with The Mystic Valley Band, and became one-fourth of Monsters of Folk—a band that also features indie darlings M. Ward and Jim James of My Morning Jacket. While his stardom in those projects has attracted both casual and obsessive followers, Wednesday night at First Avenue was the cult of Oberst, packed with an audience that knew front-to-back his quietly released punk rock record from 2002, Desaparecidos: Read Music/Speak Spanish.A crowd that had seemingly been in hiding since that album’s release emerged to transform the First Ave Main Room into what felt like someone’s parents’ garage. The music was loud, and the bands weren’t necessarily professional sounding, but it was just what the night’s theme called for. Minneapolis duo Birthday Suits opened the show with a fast-paced, high-energy set, with as much general disregard for vocals as they had for their instruments. Continue Reading

Raspberry picking with musician Linnea Mohn

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In the blink of an eye, June and July are gone, and all we are left with for summer is August. As bittersweet as the idea of only one more month before the leaves start turning colors and no more dinners on restaurant patios is, there is a way to savor summer while it’s still here: raspberry picking.Local musician Linnea Mohn—known in the Twin Cities for her part in bands like Rogue Valley and formerly A. Wolf and Her Claws—and I made a trip out to Knapton’s in Greenfield with our moms to see what we could harvest.Originally the plan was to go strawberry picking, but busy schedules and life got in the way, so by the time we found a day that worked out, strawberry season was over. It was decided that raspberries were the perfect replacement. Knapton’s is a quick trip half an hour outside of Minneapolis on Highway 55, and if you aren’t paying attention, you will miss the turn. It’s a small family run farm with a rustic shed that serves as a marker of where to start picking and where to pay.After showing us where to harvest by the owner, we were left with our over-ambitious thoughts of filling six pints—each. Continue Reading

MUSIC REVIEW | Fendika dance collectively at The Cedar Cultural Center’s African Summer series

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Fendika put on a great show at the Cedar Cultural Club on Wednesday, July 10, getting the large crowd dancing and jumping and spinning all over the place. Before I went to the show I had never seen Fendika except for a video off the net. But I will plan to go anytime they come to the Twin Cities because I know it will be a great show that will make me feel like I have seen a band.Last night’s show began with a set from the three instruments which were unique;  four drums which looked like they might be handmade (played by Misale Legesse), a masengo, which is a violin-style instrument (played by Endris Hassen who played the single horsehair string with his fingers), and Seleshe Damessae made music with the krar,  best described as a type of six-stringed lyre.  The music they made was quite wondrous, and that would have been enough for a fine concert. But that is not their style. Soon out came Nardos Tesfaw, the singer who upped the level a notch with her fine clear voice and occasional trilling cry.But the energy level at the Cedar went nuclear when Zenash Tsegaye and Melaku Belay came out and engaged the people with their kinetic-energy dancing that set everyone in motion, whether age three or in their 80s. Continue Reading

MUSIC REVIEW | Socially conscious rapper M.anifest rocks The Cedar as part of the African Summer series

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At first I was wondering if M.anifest’s June 15 performance was going to be cancelled as only about a dozen people were there at the beginning of the show, the second in The Cedar’s African Summer series. Then the opening act, Minneapolis local, Ashley Dubose, came on stage and was so personable and sweet that it didn’t matter how many people stood around as she did a fantastic job to create a feel good atmosphere for the main act.Ashley especially connected with the group with her song “Life Goes On.” Her style is neo-soul and reminded me a bit of Nelly Furtado when she sang “Like a Bird.” It was touching to see her mom out in support of her. As she continued to sing her repertoire for the night, the crowd began to build and by the end of her set, everyone was glad to be there.About ten minutes after Ashley left the stage, M.anifest came out, and there were applause and shouts of joy from the crowd of fans. Not knowing what to expect as the last time I listened to rap music was way back to the Sugarhill Gang, I was more than pleasantly surprised with the songs and sounds of M.anifest. Continue Reading

MUSIC REVIEW | An evening of blues with Keb’ Mo’ at the Guthrie Theater

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Keb’ Mo’ (Kevin Moore), the award-winning, Delta-blues-influenced singer/songwriter, played to a crowded house at the Guthrie Theater on March 18. He’s promoting his album The Reflection, which comes after a few years’ break from recording (2006’s Suitcase was his last album).The Reflection is a self-produced album and features duets with India.Arie and Vince Gill, among other noted musicians. A press release describes Keb’ Mo’ as a “living link to the seminal Delta blues that traveled up the Mississippi and across America. He’s won three Grammy Awards and also won ten W.C. Handy Blues Awards, including Acoustic Blues Artist of the Year and Contemporary Blues Male Artist of the Year.”This particular two-hour solo concert had no special highlights, but was a consistent show of guitar playing talent and the incredible voice crooning clever and relevant lyrics for which he is well known. There was no fanfare on stage, just the man and his guitar—well, three guitars–one of which was a silver beauty. Continue Reading