State of the Arts: March 31, 2011 Archive
Art Hounds: Jack Klatt, Rogue Valley, and a painter's impressions of Minnesota
Posted at 7:00 AM on March 31, 2011
by Chris Roberts
(2 Comments)
Filed under: Art Hounds, Events, Music, Painting
Members of Rogue Valley at their "spring" show at the Fitzgerald Theater last April.
The hounds are following a "feel-good" musician whose style touches Tin Pan Alley, a prolific indie pop/folk band whose songs are tied to the cycle of the seasons, and a mildly impressionistic octogenarian painter who captures the subtle majesty of the land of 10,000 landscapes.
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As a blogger and booker for Merlin's Rest Pub in Minneapolis, Todd Ojala has a feel for crowd pleasing music, which is why he's high on Jack Klatt and the Cat Swingers. Todd says Klatt melds burlesque, blues and gypsy jazz in a way that inspires good vibes no matter what's being sung about. Jack Klatt and the Cat Swingers are at the Driftwood Char Bar on Thursday, March 31. They'll also be playing at Lee's Liquor Lounge on Tuesday, April 5.
Over the last year, Minneapolis playwright and Fringe Festival communications director Matthew Foster has enjoyed the changing seasons maybe more than ever because each one has been accompanied by a new batch of songs from Rogue Valley. Matthew has been entranced by the indie folk band's "album for every season" project, which culminates Friday, April 1, at the Varsity Theater in Minneapolis, with the release of the group's "winter" record, "False Floors."
St. Paul woodworker Fred Livesay has known Faith Lowell's gentle, delicately muted Minnesota landscape paintings since he was a kid. For Fred, they conjure the beautifully familiar, still mysterious feeling of being outdoors in the bluffs of the southern part of the state, or the pine forests of the north. Faith Lowell's landscapes are on display at the Sivertson Gallery in Grand Marais.
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Thursday news and reviews
Posted at 10:44 AM on March 31, 2011
by Marianne Combs
(0 Comments)
Filed under: News and reviews
Editor's Note: I was out sick yesterday, so this is actually two days worth of arts stories... enjoy!
Art
'Everybody is an Astronaut' opens at the Katherine E. Nash Gallery
On any given day in the Twin Cities there are a number of galleries open, free for the public in order to get their fill on work by established artists. But we can't forget that many artists' journeys to renown also begin here.
- Coco Mault, City Pages
Books
New local literary site hopes to attracts writers and readers alike
Hazel & Wren seeks to provide all sorts of services for book lovers, including writer's feedback, writing prompts, submission tips, and event listings, all with an unstuffy, decidedly playful tone.
- Jessica Armbruster, City Pages
New biography explains Gandhi's successes, failures
A refreshing and incisive account of a British-trained Indian lawyer who became a world-famous hero of the nonviolence movement.
- CARL ROLLYSON, Star Tribune
Dance
'Stomp' bangs and clangs into Ordway
The hit show derives its power from a simple concept: bang on a can and move your feet to the beat.
- CAROLINE PALMER, Star Tribune
Stomp at the Ordway
A gaggle of lithe and muscular performers, wearing dusty dungarees and old tank tops, have this throbbing beat woven into every fiber of their being. They pursue it, beating out variations on an astonishing array of found objects: brooms, matchboxes, sticks large and small, metal cans small and large, plastic bins, trash can lids, cigarette lighters, newspaper.
- John Olive, HowWasTheShow.com
A history not in the history books: "Bottineau Jig"
Choreographer and dance scholar Jane Peck has for the past 15 years been researching a time period that she says very few people know about. In the area around the Twin Cities, in the 20-30 years before the U.S.-Dakota War, it was normal for people to have blended marriages.
- Sheila Regan, City Pages
General
'Cold Weather' and 'Avenue Q': The perils of young adulthood
- Max Sparber, MinnPost.com
'Minnesota Naughty' at the History Museum, and the rudest rum ever
- Max Sparber, MinnPost.com
Ana Voog at Smitten Kitten and 'tonight, we stay indoors': Lives mundane and astonishing
- Max Sparber, MinnPost.com
Movies
Julian Schnabel talks about "Miral," his controversial new film about Israel and Palestine
Artist/painter/filmmaker Julian Schnabel was recently in the Twin Cities to take part in the Regis Dialogue and Retrospective at the Walker Art Center--he was the 53rd filmmaker to be featured in the prestigious series--but he was also in town to talk about his controversial new film, Miral.
- Jim Brunzell III, TC Daily Planet
Music
World-class locals
Sometimes taken for granted, these six regulars on the Twin Cities music scene are as good as touring acts that get more attention.
- JON BREAM and CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER, Star Tribune
Hmong parody song has KDWB apologizing
A rock song parody targeting Hmong has one of the Twin Cities' most popular radio stations apologizing.
- PAUL WALSH, Star Tribune
KDWB song parody angers some Hmong (w/audio)
During the station's morning show last week, listeners were asked to send in title suggestions for a song that the show's personalities would have less than an hour to write.
- Amy Carlson Gustafson, Pioneer Press
Minnesotan guitarist Billy McLaughlin chronicles his ongoing neurological struggles
In 2001 McLaughlin was diagnosed with a neurological disorder called focal dystonia.
- Andrew Flanagan, City Pages
Dessa: 100 Creatives
Her current job titles include rap artist, slam poet, and professor.
- Jessica Armbruster, City Pages
British Sea Power at Cedar Cultural Center, 3/29/11
British Sea Power have a catalog that spans from sweeping and epic to explosive and driving--the power to crush both skulls and hearts.
- Pat O'Brien, City Pages
Treehouse Records celebrates another 10 years
The storefront has outlived the 8-track, the cassette, and the cd as the dominant musical forms pushed by an industry whose focus has always been on moving units.
- Loren Green, City Pages
DeVotchKa's Nick Urata talks romance and his band's European influences
Gimme Noise caught up with DeVotchKa's front man Nick Urata via email just a few days prior to their performance at First Avenue this Friday.
- Cindal Lee Heart, City Pages
Adventure's Benny Boeldt on video games and his new album
On his encore, Lesser Known, Baltimorean Benny Boeldt makes a detour into anthemic storm-trooper synth-pop that's maintains a delicate balance between euphoria and apprehension.
- Ray Cummings, City Pages
Mud flies at Jeff Tweedy's solo gig in Rochester
Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy played Rochester for the second time on Tuesday night, and maybe the last time. No offense to Rochester area residents themselves - in fact, the crowd was probably more than half filled with Twin Citians - but there must've been a mass cloud of laughing gas leaking out of the Mayo Clinic or something that made the crowd as goofy and annoying as any of recent memory.
- Chris Riemenschneider, Star Tribune
Yelawolf with Prof and Muja Messiah at First Avenue, 3/30/11
The show sold out 20 minutes after doors, causing a good chunk of the line to disappear in a huff.
- Jack Spencer, City Pages
Stage
'Heaven' brings the horrors of war into focus
Music, dance, song, and drama explode across the stage throughout Heaven, a striking new piece by Flying Foot Forum's Joe Chvala and composer Chan Poling.
- Ed Huyck, City Pages
'Arms and the Man' misses mark
Sometimes the order in which you see shows makes all the difference. Had I taken in Arms and the Man at Friday evening's opener at the Guthrie Theater, I might have thought it a solid piece of theater about war, soldiers, and honor. Instead, I took it in after seeing Heaven upstairs at the Dowling Studio, and Arms and the Man just pales in comparison.
- Ed Huyck, City Pages
Social dogma cleverly subverted by quick-witted Arms and the Man
While Arms and the Man lacks the absurdist energy that made such recent productions as The 39 Steps so memorable, the more refined approach proves an ideal fit for the material. The skewering of social graces is a subtle art, but the Guthrie achieves the deed with comic precision and imaginative staging, making Arms and the Man an anti-romantic comedy that even cynics can enjoy.
- Brad Richason, Examiner.com
Mixed Blood makes hay with "Avenue Q"
Avenue Q, currently playing at Mixed Blood Theatre, is a filthy little puppet show--and I mean that as a compliment.
- Matthew A. Everett, TC Daily Planet
Your weekend outlook: Dark, scary and a little bit dirty
Posted at 4:08 PM on March 31, 2011
by Marianne Combs
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Events
The cast of Avenue Q, now playing at Mixed Blood Theatre in Minneapolis.
No this is not the street Jim Henson lived on... Avenue Q, unlike Sesame Street, features puppets who swear, look at porn on the internet, and do all sorts of other perfectly human things. The broadway hit takes a more intimate turn at Mixed Blood Theatre through May 1.
We often think murder and violence is something that happens to other people, who live in some other neighborhood. But Angela Strassheim's photographs reveal the evidence of crimes from years gone by left behind in homes that seem otherwise completely urbane. An exhibition of her work titled "Evidence" is up at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts through October 9 (Check back here tomorrow for an in-depth look at the show).
Flying Foot Forum's Joe Chvala and The New Standards' Chan Poling have teamed together to create "Heaven," a dance-theater piece that explores the brutality of war-torn Bosnia in the 1990s. The show runs through April 10 at the Guthrie - you can read the reviews here.
Does the Minneapolis skyway system have a special, warm place in your heart? Then head over to the Walker Art Center tonight to see the results of Architecture Magazine's Videotect competition, in which people were invited to create their own video tributes to the architectural oddity.
So, what are you doing this weekend?
The reviews are in for "Heaven"
Posted at 1:19 PM on March 31, 2011
by Marianne Combs
(0 Comments)
Filed under: Criticism, Dance, Theater
photo by Joe Chvala
Flying Foot Forum presents "Heaven" - a dance/theater piece that looks at life and death in war-torn Bosnia in the early 1990s. Performances run through April 10 at the Guthrie Theater. Thinking about seeing the show? Check out what the local critics think. I've included excerpts from their reviews below - click on the links for the full text.
From Caroline Palmer at Star Tribune
It's an understatement to say extreme adversity changes people, but words often fail to fully describe the impact of earth-shattering events. "Heaven," a dance/theater piece directed by Joe Chvala of Flying Foot Forum, uses movement, music and story to convey the horrors of the 1990s Bosnian war.
The work is a compelling study of hope in the face of inhumanity but it is also so jam-packed with historic, cultural and literary references that sometimes the poignancy of individual experience is lost. Still, "Heaven" is recommended for its fearless exploration of the relationships forged quickly when people are thrust into crisis. It juggles tragedy, humor and irony in a manner that makes perfect sense for a world turned upside-down...
..."Heaven" focuses on Peter Adamson (Doug Scholz-Carlson), a photojournalist from Chicago ready to leave Bosnia because he feels his pictures are not spurring the world to action. He meets a Bosnian soldier, Faruk (the eloquently stern Eric Webster), who tricks Peter into accompanying him from Sarajevo into the countryside to find his wife. The journey changes their lives in ways neither could imagine...
...Chvala infuses "Heaven" with raw and vigorous dancing that reflects the tumult. The performers circle and toss one another while percussive rhythms propel with the aggression of gunfire. The haunting music and lyrics by Chan Poling (with additional contributions by Peter O'Gorman, Victor Zupanc, Nowytski and Chvala) draw on Balkan influences, as well as opera, pop and rap, to evoke the bleak poetry of wartime.
There are painfully beautiful moments within the songs, particularly as citizens-turned-refugees wonder, "What would you pack if this happened to you?" It's a question that gives pause, especially for those fortunate enough to know war only from afar.
Doug Scholz-Carlson as American war photographer Peter Adamson
Photo by V. Paul Virtucio
...To be honest, Adamson's story--there's a love interest in there too--is probably the least interesting material here. It's the experiences of the residents from all sides of the conflict that bring the show to full life. These are realized through spoken monologues, songs, and the expressive, masterful dance work that Chvala is famous for. Some of these moments are absolutely stunning, as the propulsive, traditional-folk-inspired score lets the dancers act out horrifying moments, from attempts to escape, to the soldiers hunting them, to a woman's fantasy about striking back at her tormentors as they rape her.
The heaviness is balanced with characters desperate to stay in touch with their humanity, finding moments of humor, love, and even peace. Still, the horror is never far away, from discovering a mass grave of victims or being forced to watch as a friend is brutally murdered. Near the end, Adamson explodes with ineffectual rage at the whole situation, and it's an emotion the whole audience should be feeling by that point (and continue to feel as the world is no safer now than it was 15 years ago) in the show.
The piece has some maddening lapses--Adamson's relationship with a local woman on the run never gets off the ground and features a duet that seems to belong in another show entirely--but the strength of the ensemble and the creative fire behind the project bull their way through any of these hitches. Onstage, Webster provides not just the spark but the fuel for much of the action in a stunning turn as a man desperate to find a shred of former life still intact.
Photo by V. Paul Virtucio
From David De Young at HowWasTheShow.com:
In the 1990s during the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina, over 100,000 people were killed and more than 2 million people displaced in one of the most horrific set of human-inflicted tragedies since WWII. Heaven, a new work by Flying Foot Forum, directed by Joe Chvala with music by Chan Poling (The Suburbs, The New Standards) is an ambitious and heart-wrenching piece of dance theater about the impact of that conflict. This emotionally-charged, human story left me feeling as if I'd been punched in the gut. Never heavy-handed, it educates without descending into didacticism. And with the news of the struggles in Egypt and Libya on the news each evening, I wonder: is there a more timely and important work being performed on a Twin Cities stage right now?
...Director and choreographer Joe Chvala succeeds in uniting the show's many winning elements. The versatile and attractive set by Joel Sass is a hit, music direction by Jake Endres (with help from Balkan music consultant Natalie Nowytski) is equally stunning, and there are too many memorable performances from the nearly two-dozen-strong ensemble to mention. To the credit of the entire cast (though the show is performed mainly in English) language consultant and translator Stele Osmancevic and dialect coach Joseph Papke had me totally taken in by the dialog (and even some complete songs!) in Serbo-Croatian. (Subtitles provided during those sections were projected on the back wall of the theater.)
For a brand new show, Heaven is already a tight production that could benefit from only a few cuts; overall it's well-constructed, with deft use of refrain and reprise. Chan Poling's songs drive the action and are never irrelevant, and when I left the theater, I believe I had gotten one of the main points of the show. More of a question or challenge, really, posed by Adamson in one of his stints as narrator: "Do you keep your eyes open, or not?" This is theater that grabs you by the shoulders and shakes you in your seat.
A woman near me sobbed through part of the second act. This show is that powerful. I can't help but direct you to the Dowling Studio to see it.
Photo by V. Paul Virtucio
From Jay Gabler at TC Daily Planet:
War is hell. Anyone want to argue about it? Of course not. That's why Flying Foot Forum gets away as well as it does with the overstuffed farrago Heaven. The show is the theatrical equivalent of a commemorative 9/11 plate: you can't fault the intention, even if the execution is kind of tacky.
...What is definitely not done well in Heaven are the hackneyed book and lyrics, which are heavy in metaphors ("Here, hope is a plane that never lands") that sometimes get awkwardly mixed ("Deep down, he had bigger fish to fry"). The technique of portraying a foreign land through the eyes of an observer who comes from the same place as the audience is an old dramatic standby--with good reason--but one that's often criticized, also with good reason. Regardless, squeezing two love stories (or three, or four, or more, depending on how you count) into Heaven is too much. Matthew Everett's Leave is a good example of how to effectively integrate a love story into a broader historical context; here, the romance between the local girl and the foreign guy feels tacked on and distracting.
For all its flaws, Heaven is a sincere testament. On Saturday night, a number of audience members were moved to tears. My friend who attended the performance with me said that her father's girlfriend--a native Serbian--just gave her father a book about the 14th century battles in which the Serbs were defeated by the Turks, resulting from which this woman still holds a grudge against Muslims generally. George Santayana wrote, "Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it"; Chvala and Poling agree, but additionally urge that our memory not be selective.
So, have you seen "Heaven?" If so, what did you think? Let us know in the comments section.
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