August 28, 2008

Museum claims RNC asked it to remove Nazi banner

The executive director of a St. Paul museum is claiming today that representatives for the Republican National Convention to be held here next week have asked the museum to temporarily remove a Nazi banner captured by American soldiers during World War II and displayed in an exhibit on Nazi book-burning.

Michael Luick-Thrams, who heads the small TRACES Center for History and Culture in the Landark Center, close to the convention site, says Landmark officials first received calls expressing concern about the banner from organizers who had rented the building for a party to be held next Thursday, post-convention. Luick-Thrams says he later learned the party was being held by a large law firm, and the concerns were allegedly that a delegate or politician might inadvertantly be... Read more »

Posted on Thursday, August 28, 2008 in Front & Center | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 27, 2008

The State Fair fine arts—much fat, little meat

The fine arts exhibition at the Minnesota State Fair has an, er, colorful history  that goes back to 1878, or almost exactly 130 years longer than cheese curds last in your hand. In fact, it says as much about the fair as Minnesotans that the first place we apparently thought to publicly exhibit art in this state was not in a gallery somewhere but at the fair--residents complained, in fact, that the 19-year-old fair didn't host a fine-arts exhibit. (Of course, it'd been held in uppity Minneapolis that year.) Imagine one of the guys in an "Official Tick Checker" T-shirt at the fair today lodging that complaint.

It says much about the... Read more »

Posted on Wednesday, August 27, 2008 in Front & Center | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 20, 2008

"Fences" at Penumbra plus a photo alternative

This Thursday, Penumbra Theatre opens its second season with "Fences," continuing its multi-year spin through the cycle of August Wilson's plays. Never seen one of the plays in August Wilson's famous 10-play cycle, a journey through 20th century African American life that's considered one of the country's greatest literary achievements? Worried you missed the beginning? Here's what you need to know: 651-224-3180. That's the Penumbra box office number (or visit Penumbratheatre.org). Call it and don't look back. Because this isn't The Wire or, God forbid, Star Wars--you can jump in anytime, and in fact Penumbra has been jumping around in the cycle, as well. What's important is that if you don't go, you'll be missing out on one of the richest, most accessible... Read more »

Posted on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 in Front & Center | Permalink | Comments (0)

August 4, 2008

Fringe Hits and Misses

The numbers are in: For the first four days of the Minnesota Fringe Festival this year, the top-selling shows were "Shakespeare's Land of the Dead" by Walking Shadow, "The Cody Rivers Show Presents: Stick to Glue," "An Inconvenient Squirrel," by Joseph Scrimshaw, "Musical the Musical" by Urban Samurai, and "Mortem Capiendum" by Four Humors Theater. I wouldn't expect this to change much over the next week: the top shows are a combination of reliable out-of-towners with polished productions and reliable locals with polished productions--and all comedies. On the surface, it would appear that the Fringe will pass this year without major discoveries or disappointments. But that's because the... Read more »

Posted on Monday, August 4, 2008 in Front & Center | Permalink | Comments (2)

July 25, 2008

Water fight: Soucheray vs. Rybak...and me

This past Tuesday, on the so-called Endless Bridge of the Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak helped launch a project he called "not the least controversial thing I've ever done," unveiling the designs for 10 artist-designed drinking fountains that will be installed throughout the city over the next few years. The project has not just the full-throttled support of the city's public art coordinator--the indefatigable Mary Altman--but also the city's Public Works director, who spoke glowingly of the project at the unveiling Tuesday, and if you can imagine the usual cultural differences between artists and public works folks, the guys who maintain your roads and sewers, you can begin to understand just how impressive this partnership is. (In fact, this city's... Read more »

Posted on Friday, July 25, 2008 in Front & Center | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 17, 2008

The arts in turmoil

It's about time the arts were making headlines. Unfortunately, it's not for the best reasons. Artists are in an uproar--most recently about the controversial exits of two long-time arts administrators, well-liked by artists, at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the Southern Theater, the area's de-facto home for dance among other performing arts.

The alleged force-out of Jeff Bartlett, the Southern Theater's artistic  director who'd been at the theater since interning there in 1975, is still a mystery to most: He apparently was told not to report to work for the indefinite future and wasn't offered any explanation. At the same time, the Southern gleefully announced the hiring of its first president and CEO, Patricia Speelman, characterizing it as a significant step up... Read more »

Posted on Thursday, July 17, 2008 in Front & Center | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 10, 2008

Are you ready to rock, Republicans?

This is why Minneapolis has the coolest mayor: This morning, at the press conference in the Crystal Court of the IDS building announcing the Spark24 arts festival, there was R.T. Rybak, tieless and bopping his head to an electrified ukelele played by one of the festival's participants, Lucy Michell. This isn't news to me--I've seen him join the kickline of the Rockettes at the Orpheum Theater and once, at the opening of the Hard Rock Cafe, he smashed a guitar then asked the media if anyone wanted to join him for a beer ("I've got a half hour til a Council meeting," he said).

But actually, it's the partnership between Rybak and arts booster Scott Mayer that's truly beneficial.... Read more »

Posted on Thursday, July 10, 2008 in Front & Center | Permalink | Comments (0)

July 8, 2008

Sundance comes to Minnesota

You can go to the Sundance Film Festival in Park City and pay top dollar to see the latest progressive films, ski, party, and maybe even spot Robert Redford in the midst of what he has turned into an enormously influential artistic enterprise. Or--you can go to the Walker Art Center this Thursday and see two examples of why Sundance is more than just snow bunnies and film nerds in black-framed glasses. Read more »

Posted on Tuesday, July 8, 2008 in Front & Center | Permalink | Comments (0)

June 22, 2008

Au revoir, Theatre de la Jeune Lune

Approximately 20 minutes ago, on a breezy, beautiful Sunday morning not unlike those we imagine the south of France to be blessed with almost daily, the Theatre de la Jeune Lune issued a press release disclosing that the Minneapolis company's board of directors had voted this week "to list the theatre's headquarters for sale and to shut down the arts group as currently organized."

For the troupe that more than any other had defined the inventiveness of the Twin Cities theater scene in its 30 years of
highly original, physical performances, an accumulation of financial and artistic shortcomings had thrown the troupe off its equilibrium. That the theatre had always been a little off-balance had been part of the excitement--they... Read more »

June 18, 2008

Yuri's last show plus movie and jazz festivals

It's true--everyone loves a parade. Except me. Same with most outdoor music festivals. A lot of hustle, planning, and putting up with Joe Public, just to sit on my butt and sunburn. Too passive, on a nice day. And yet, while I wish our town landed some festivals like this, I'll also say the Twin Cities Jazz Festival, formerly the Hot Summer Jazz Festival, also gets me off my feet and on my butt simply because of its agreeable venues, top-notch lineup, and pretty-good price: free.

Held June 19 to 29, the 10th annual festival features Ravi Coltrane, Charmaine Neville, and Salsa Del Soul, among others, for free at Peavey Plaza in Minneapolis and Mears Park in St. Paul.
Read more »

Posted on Wednesday, June 18, 2008 in Front & Center | Permalink | Comments (0)