State of the Arts: March 18, 2011 Archive

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Friday news and reviews

Posted at 9:29 AM on March 18, 2011 by Marianne Combs
Filed under: News and reviews

Art

Picturing women
International photo show by and about women affirms female talents at the Mpls Photo Center.
- Mary Abbe, Star Tribune

Angela Strassheim turned her career as a forensic photographer into a career as an artist
Even though the MIA exhibit includes 10 photographs Strassheim took after she left forensics, her former job had plenty of influence on her work.
- Amy Carlson Gustafson, Pioneer Press

Rogue Citizen's latest exhibit at Gallery 13 Friday
The new collection of works will revolve around themes of prison, capital punishment, and the justice system in the United States.
- Shelby Meyers, City Pages

Walker acquires Cunningham pieces
The Walker Art Center has acquired a collection of set pieces, costumes, painted drops and props created for the internationally renowned Merce Cunningham Dance Company.
- Amy Carlson Gustafson, Pioneer Press

Books

Carol Connolly: Poet Laureate and 2011 recipient of the Kay Sexton Award
The creator of the "Readings by Writers" series shared some thoughts on her career and honors.
- Linda White, Examiner.com

Movies

Smart pill, dumb movie
"Limitless" was supposed to push Bradley Cooper into brainier territory. Mission unaccomplished.
- Colin Covert, Star Tribune

Review: Don't think about it; just sit back and enjoy the spectacle
Flashy camerawork is the only through-line in a movie that sometimes seems like a story of downward-spiraling addiction, sometimes feels like a troubled romance, sometimes dips its toe in the waters of government and corporate corruption and ends up being a violent chase film.
- Chris Hewitt, Pioneer Press

Review: Beautiful film asks us to meld rhyme and reason
The compassionate South Korean drama about an elderly woman with a lot on her plate is one of the most beautiful films of the year, and appropriately, it is obsessed with a search for beauty.
- Chris Hewitt, Pioneer Press

Truly a trial
Matthew McConaughey smirks his way through a hammy legal melodrama.
- Colin Covert, Star Tribune

Review: Crafty writer puts this 'Lincoln' in drive
"The Lincoln Lawyer" certainly feels made for the movies, with an intriguing central character -- a just-this-side-of-shady defense lawyer (Matthew McConaughey) who works out of the back of his Lincoln Town Car -- and a twistacious story that has us flipping and flopping about whether the lawyer is on the righteous side of his case.
- Chris Hewitt, Pioneer Press

E.T. in an RV
Director Greg Mottola hits the big time with the alien buddy film "Paul" - and even manages to snag a cameo by Steven Spielberg.
- Colin Covert, Star Tribune

Review: The little-green-guy way of knowledge
Genres swirl together as geeky Brits team up with an E.T.-like figure on a road trip to UFO sites in the American Southwest.
- Colin Covert, Star Tribune

Review: Talent-studded comedy not bad, but it should be so much better
The in-jokes in "Paul" will be amusing to those who pick up on them, but it needs more out-jokes.
- Chris Hewitt, Pioneer Press

Devoted to god, imperiled by war
Dramatized from a true story of French monks living in Algeria in the 1990s, this movie achieves great power through quiet intensity.
- Colin Covert, Star Tribune

Review: French study of blind faith a vision in excellent filmmaking
"Of Gods and Men," a movie about monks, looks like it could have been made by one.
- Chris Hewitt, Pioneer Press

Music

There's a kid-friendly riot going on
Dance-rap duo Koo Koo Kanga Roo is actually geared more to adults. But don't tell that to the children who dig the music.
- CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER, Star Tribune

It's Ravel vs. Rimsky-Korsakov
Say you wanted to set up a tournament bracket in which classical composers are pitted against one another in a battle over who gets the most out of an orchestra in their compositions and arrangements. It wouldn't involve too many upsets to imagine Maurice Ravel and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov facing one another in the finals.
- Rob Hubbard, Pioneer Press

Orchestra adds relish to rearranged Ravel
REVIEW: The composer's Trio for Piano, Violin and Cello is writ large, for the entire orchestra, with a mixed result.
- WILLIAM RANDALL BEARD, Special to the Star Tribune

St. Paul Chamber Orchestra's latest mix is unusual but done well
A strange mix of musical ideas, bearing some common elements, but more different than alike.
- Rob Hubbard, Pioneer Press

Messing with 'The Kid'
Genre-bending guitarist Marc Ribot takes on a Charlie Chaplin classic in a solo concert this weekend.
- BRITT ROBSON, Star Tribune

The 'dance floor is a living thing,' and DJ Jake keeps it fed
"I want it to feel like a dance club in London in 1982," Rudh said, "except we're in Minnesota."
- Ross Raihala, Pioneer PRess

Stage

'Oedipus' and 'Symphony': Locals theaters get their Greek on
This is how you update the classics.
- Ed Huyck, City Pages

Boarding school musical
"Bare" takes on serious teen concerns - sex, drugs, alienation - within the confines of a Catholic high school.
- ROHAN PRESTON, Star Tribune

This week's Minnesota originals

Posted at 11:45 AM on March 18, 2011 by Marianne Combs
Filed under: Television

Public Artist Craig David created murals for the new Twins stadium. His latest installation is a nine-ton sculpture at the U of M.

Pulling hair, strand by strand, is an art form for Guthrie Theater Wig Master Ivy Loughborough.

And the Hip Hop Artists of No Bird Sing perform.

Keillor responds to news of his retirement

Posted at 12:05 PM on March 18, 2011 by Marianne Combs (1 Comments)
Filed under: People

Garrison Keillor

Today on A Prairie Home Companion's website, Garrison Keillor updated his blog where he replies to fan questions. This time he took the opportunity to reply to the news this week that he plans to retire in the spring of 2013 (I've bolded the lines I think are of particular interest):

I'm in London, walking around under an umbrella with my daughter in hand, looking at fields of yellow and white daffodils, the flower that excited Wordsworth. This morning a reporter rang me up, as they say here, to ask if I am retiring in the spring of 2013, as reported in the papers. There isn't a simple answer to that. The simple fact is that mortality is a helpful prod that keeps us trotting along, mindful of our place in life, and awakens us to the beauty of spring daffodils (there being fewer springs ahead than behind) and reminds us performers not to hang around too long. There is a point at which people start to worry for you onstage and that's when you should hang it up. It's a delicate illusion we create and if we dodder and dither, the game is over. We've all seen old gaffers who pushed the public's loyalty much too far and it's not a pretty sight. Some performers put out twenty-year-old publicity photos. Mine show a 68-year-old man with bushy gray eyebrows and in some pictures he looks every bit his age. I was 32 when I started "A Prairie Home Companion" and now I'm looking down the road at 80. So what? Big deal. Welcome to the world.

I love this radio show which has been a solid fixture in my bumpy life and I want it to push on bravely into the future with new hosts and a new spirit, and to that end I am planning for the future. The spring of 2013 strikes me as a good time to step quietly into the wings and watch some younger livelier person step out. I am on the lookout for replacements. I hope to keep a gentle paternal connection to the show for years to come and to go on with "The Writers Almanac," and meanwhile I am looking forward to Nashville on the 26th and then New York and a flowering spring.

(1 Comments)

Video break: "Three Fragments of a Lost Tale"

Posted at 2:07 PM on March 18, 2011 by Marianne Combs (2 Comments)
Filed under: Animation, Museums, Sculpture, Video

Three Fragments of a Lost Tale from John Frame on Vimeo.

In March, the Huntington Library in Pasadena opened an exhibition of the sculpture and animation of John Frame. His work is haunting, beautiful, and dreamlike, which makes perfect sense since this latest project came from a dream. I've included three videos in the post - first, the animated film "Three Fragments of a Lost Tale", second, a video of the making of the sculptures and animation (filmed by Johnny Coffeen), and third a story by Southern California Public Radio which includes images from the exhibition. Enjoy!