Cake in 15

We've Moved!

2009-01-08T00:29:00.001-06:00

If you notice this site hasn't been updated in a while, it's because we've moved to Wordpress.

You can catch us at www.CakeIn15.com!

Cheers -
Staciaann

R.I.P. Ron Asheton (1949-2009)

2009-01-06T13:48:00.002-06:00

Ron Asheton at Lollapalooza, 2007

The Stooges guitarist was found dead today at his home in Michigan.

From Iggy Pop's website:
We are shocked and shaken by the news of Ron’s death. He was a great friend, brother, musician, trooper. Irreplaceable. He will be missed.

For all that knew him behind the façade of Mr Cool & Quirky, he was a kind-hearted, genuine, warm person who always believed that people meant well even if they did not.

As a musician Ron was The Guitar God, idol to follow and inspire others. That is how he will be remembered by people who had a great pleasure to work with him, learn from him and share good and bad times with him.

Iggy, Scott, Steve, Mike and Crew

-----------------------------------------

I am in shock. He was my best friend.

Iggy Pop

Staciaann's 2008 Show List

2009-01-04T14:34:00.010-06:00

Yup, I go to a lot of live music. I keep track of it so I remember when I saw it. I started doing this in late 2006, and my list has grown each year. Each year I vow to see more new bands, more local music, and continue to keep up with what's going on in the world around me. 2008 kept me fairly busy, although I really missed attending and shooting the Pitchfork Music Festival and Lollapalooza this year. I definitely look forward to SXSW 2009, which is coming up fast.

Keep in mind that I finished and graduated law school, took the bar exam, sold my house in St. Paul and moved to Minneapolis, quit my job of 8 1/2 years and started my career over. Even with these distractions, I saw over 120 shows in 2008. So don't give me any excuses about why YOU can't get out there and do the same.

Here's to a great 2009!

2008's List of Shows
*My favorites are in bold type, and photos of many of these shows can be seen on my Flickr page.

1/3/08 Big Game, Eddy Burke & the Consequences @ Lee's Liquor Lounge
1/7/08 Nada Surf, Eric Lovold (solo), The Glad Version @ The Nomad
1/11/08 Titus Andronicus @ Bedlam Theater
1/12/08 We All Have Hooks for Hands, Windmills @ The Varsity Theater
1/12/08 Dragich @ Hexagon
1/12/08 City on the Make @ The Entry
1/17/08 Roma di Luna, Bon Iver @ Turf Club
1/18/08 White Denim, White Rabbits @ Turner Hall, Milwaukee
1/19/08 White Denim, White Rabbits @ High Noon Saloon, Madison
1/25/08 Fort Wilson Riot, Fine Young Gentlemen @ Nomad World Pub
2/1/08 ExerciseEXORCISE with Vampire Hands @ Bottling House Theatre
2/7/08 The Battle Royale, Yeasayer, MGMT @ The Entry
2/8/08 ExerciseEXORCISE with Roma di Luna @ Bottling House Theatre
2/9/08 Fat Kid Wednesdays, Deviated Septet, Spaghetti Western String Co. (CD Release) @ Cedar Cultural Center
2/10/08 God Save Gertrude @ The Playwright's Center
2/11/08 Keren Ann, Dean & Britta @ Cedar Cultural Center
2/13/08 Bon Iver @ The Electric Fetus
2/19/08 Mike Doughty @ The Electric Fetus
2/22/08 Hoot! Jim Walsh, Janeen, Dan Wilson, The Tropicals, Brianna Lane @ Java Jacks
2/22/08 Foreign Born, St. Vincent @ Cedar Cultural Center
2/22/08 ExerciseEXORCISE with Plastic Chord @ Bottling House Theatre
2/23/08 Gary Louris @ The Electric Fetus
2/23/08 The Falls @ North Star Rollergirls Halftime
2/23/08 The XYZ Affair @ Nomad World Pub
2/29/08 ExerciseEXORCISE with Burlingham Children @ Bottling House Theatre
3/2/08 You're My Favorite Kind of Pretty @ The Southern Theatre
3/12/08 These United States, Radar Brothers, Evangelicals, These New Puritans, Spinto Band, R.E.M., Bon Iver @ SXSW, Austin, TX
3/13/08 Lou Reed, The Alarmists, MC/VL, Jeseca Hoop, DeVotchka, Tapes 'N Tapes, XYZ Affair, Liam Finn @ SXSW, Austin, TX
3/14/08 High Places, Atlas Sound, White Williams, A Place to Bury Strangers, Fuck Buttons, Times New Viking, Cloud Cult, Carbon/Silicon, Basia Bulat, Foreign Born, Vampire Weekend, White Rabbits @ SXSW, Austin, TX
3/15/08 Headlights, Big Ditch Road, Cloud Cult, Kid Dakota, Doomtree @ SXSW, Austin, TX
3/29/08 ARENA Bikini @ Sound Bar
3/31/08 The Hotel Café Tour: Cary Brothers, Ingrid Michaelson, Dan Wilson, Joshua Radin @ The Fine Line
4/3/08 Sea Wolf, Nada Surf @ First Avenue
4/4/08 Jeremy Messersmith, The Wars of 1812 @ The Varsity Theater
4/5/08 Idigaragua / Massgraves @ Bedlam Theater
4/8/08 Cloud Cult @ The Electric Fetus
4/10/08 Birthday Suits, White Denim, Tapes 'N Tapes @ First Avenue
4/10/08 The Hold Steady @ Northrup Auditorium
4/12/08 Idigaragua / Massgraves @ Bedlam Theater
4/13/08 Wars of 1812, Bon Iver @ Turf Club
4/15/08 The Plastic Constellations @ The Electric Fetus
4/18/08 Yeasayer, Man Man @ The Varsity Theater
4/19/08 The Floorbirds, Jayber Crow, Spider John Koerner @ Nomad World Pub
4/26/08 The Forms, Cloud Cult @ First Avenue
5/3/08 Jenny Dalton @ Dakota
5/7/08 Basia Bulat, DeVotchKa @ First Avenue
5/15/08 "I Fought The Law" with The Sweet Colleens, Brad Senne, Eric Lovold, Jeremy Messersmith, The Mad Ripple, Stook!, Koo Koo Kanga Roo & City on the Make @ The Varsity Theater
5/21/08 Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson, White Rabbits @ 400 Bar
5/24/08 Snowden @ The Varsity Theater
5/24/08 Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin @ The Entry
5/27/08 A Night in the Box @ The Electric Fetus
5/28/08 Bedlam 7th Annual 10-minute play festival @ Bedlam Theater
5/30/08 Mike Mangione, Jeremy Messersmith, Roma di Luna @ The Entry
6/6/08 Dallas Orbiter (HWTS Anniversary Party) @ Turf Club
6/6/08 Sea Wolf @ The Entry
6/7/08 Chris Koza @ First Avenue
6/7/08 Dragons Power Up, City on the Make @ The 400 Bar
6/8/08 Bitch 'n Brown, Plastic Chord, A Night in the Box @ The Entry
6/10/08 Atmosphere & Brother Ali @ The Electric Fetus
6/12/08 Gogol Bordello @ The Cabooze
6/14/08 Stone Arch Festival of the Arts @ St. Anthony Main
6/15/08 Stone Arch Festival of the Arts @ St. Anthony Main
6/20/08 Farewell Milwaukee, Meg Ashling, Murzik @ Kitty Kat Club
6/24/08 Now Now Every Children, One for the Team, Headlights @ Eclipse Records
6/26/08 The Hopefuls @ Peavey Plaza
6/27/08 Kill the Vultures, P.O.S., Dosh @ First Avenue
6/27/08 Brass Messengers, Eddie Burke & The Consequences @ Candleabra Studio
7/3/08 Tiny Moving Parts, The Battle Royale, We All Have Hooks for Hands @ Minnesota Museum of American Art
7/5/08 Artery 24 @ Soap Factory
7/8/08 The Absent Arch, The Dodos @ Triple Rock
7/9/08 Capitol Jay @ Stevens Square Park
7/10/08 The Bloodsugars @ Nomad World Pub
7/13/08 Kaiser Cartel, Romantica @ Bryant Lake Bowl
7/14/08 Summer Movies & Music in the Park: The Alarmists @ Loring Park
7/20/08 Yer Cronies, The Dutchess & The Duke, Fleet Foxes @ The Entry
7/22/08 The Loved Ones, The Hold Steady @ First Avenue
7/26/08 The XYZ Affair @ The Nomad
7/30/08 Yeasayer @ Urban Outfitters (Yr Free Radio)
7/31/08 Harry & The Potters @ Triple Rock
8/15/08 AA Bondy, Bon Iver @ First Avenue
8/18/08 The Lovers Duo, Rodrigo y Gabriella @ First Avenue
8/21/08 Mighty Fairly, Storyhill @ Minnesota Museum of American Art
8/29/08 Chris Koza, The Alarmists @ The Varsity Theater
9/2/08 Ripple(Effect): Michael Franti, Anti-Flag, Rage Against the Machine (via bullhorn) @ State Capitol Grounds
9/2/08 RNC Hoot: Jim Walsh, Eliza Blue, Billy Bragg, Tom Morello, & Ike Reilly @ The Parkway Theater
9/6/08 Murzik, Jenny Dalton @ The Ritz Theater
9/10/08 Langhorne Slim @ 400 Bar
9/11/08 The Airborne Toxic Event, The Fratellis @ First Avenue
9/16/08 Jeremy Messersmith @ The Electric Fetus
9/20/08 The Alarmists, Heiruspecs, The Roots @ McNally Smith River Rocks Festival
9/20/08 A Story Too Long to Write Down… (Carl), Tenebrism @ The Sound Factory
9/20/08 Mr. Gnome, Scotland Yard Gospel Choir @ The Nomad
9/22/08 Vinegar Tom (Frank Theatre Company) @ The Ritz Theater
9/25/08 Rachael Reis, The Owls, Jeremy Messersmith @ The Varsity Theater
9/30/08 MGMT, Beck @ Roy Wilkins
10/2/08 E.L.nO., Chuck Klosterman @ Triple Rock
10/10/08 AA Bondy, Cold War Kids @ The Fine Line
10/11/08 Frank Fitzgerald, Fleet Foxes @ Cedar Cultural Center
10/14/08 Death Cab for Cutie @ Xcel Energy Center
10/16/08 Future of the Left, Ted Leo @ First Avenue
10/21/08 The Dirtbombs, TV on the Radio @ First Avenue
10/22/08 Dan Israel, Yael Naim @ Cedar Cultural Center
10/23/08 Marvelle, Birdmonster, The Rumble Strips @ The Entry
10/25/08 Of Montreal @ First Avenue
10/25/08 Caroline & the Good Night Sleeps, Frightened Rabbit, Spinto Band @ The Entry
10/29/08 Conor Oberst & the Mystic Valley Band @ First Avenue
11/1/08 Tenacious D @ Roy Wilkins
11/3/08 Alexa's Burlesque @ Bryant Lake Bowl
11/4/08 Shadowlands @ Guthrie
11/8/08 Eagles of Death Metal @ The Electric Fetus
11/8/08 Lookbook, The XYZ Affair, Cecil Otter @ Clapperclaw Festival - Sound Gallery
11/11/08 Tom Morello @ The Electric Fetus
11/16/08 Drive By Truckers, The Hold Steady @ First Avenue
11/20/08 Lamb Lays with Lion: The Little Skelton that Could @ Hexagon
11/21/08 Cloud Cult @ The Whole
11/26/08 The Alarmists, Ike Reilly @ First Avenue
11/28/08 Delta Spirit, Nada Surf @ The Fine Line
12/12/08 Kubla Khan @ Private Party
12/13/08 Dan Wilson @ Pantages Theater
12/20/08 Chris Koza, The Hopefuls @ First Avenue
12/23/08 Chastity Brown, Roma di Luna @ Cedar Cultural Center

Goodbye JPG Magazine... I will miss you

2009-01-02T19:34:00.005-06:00

I have Queen running through my head. Of course, it's "Another One Bites the Dust." I am saddened to report that JPG Magazine is shutting their site down and discontinuing the magazine. I'm especially sad because I just finally got a new subscription from C.A.S. for Christmas.

We've spent the last few months trying to make the business behind JPG sustain itself, and we've reached the end of the line. We all deeply believe in everything JPG represents, but we just weren't able to raise the money needed to keep JPG alive in these extraordinary economic times. We sought out buyers, spoke with numerous potential investors, and pitched several last-ditch creative efforts, all without success. As a result, jpgmag.com will shut down on Monday, January 5, 2009.

If you haven't checked out jpgmag.com before, now's your chance. You have two days to soak in its goodness. The print issues I've had are treasured and kept. There's a whole issue on Noir! An issue on live music! An issue on shattered things... and so many more.

Almost 200,000 people logged onto jpgmag.com at some point during their existence, and that's pretty swell. Thousands of amateur and pro photogs together on one site sharing their art. That's going to be gone on Monday, and it makes me a little sick.

Before the bell tolls its last, check out these suggestions from Editor-In-Chief Laura Brunow Miner, and enjoy.

Download the PDFs of back issues, outtakes, and photo challenge selections. We'll always have the memories!

Make note of your favorite photographers. You may want to flip through your favorites list and jot down names and URLs of some of the people you'd like to stay in touch with. You may even want to cut and paste your contacts page into a personal record.

This Just In!

2009-01-02T18:57:00.006-06:00

From Nikki Schultz:
2009 greetings, friends!

Looking for something to do? I'm playing a last minute acoustic set tonight:
Nomad World Pub (Mpls)
501 Cedar Ave S
$3, 21+, Music starts at 9pm

Sarah Woolever is also playing, plus 10 or so other musicians. We'll play short sets starting at 9pm.

We don't know when we'll be playing, so come out and have a drink or two with us while we enjoy some local talent!
Should be a folkin' good time.
Come on down!

Nikki

Nikki's great - she recently podcasted with David de Young of HowWasTheShow, played a fundraiser for Lamb Lays with Lion, and works for Free Arts Minnesota, a wonderful non-profit that brings art to kids in need.

Go out for a surprise night of round-robin rambunctiousness.

'Twas in the Moon of Wintertime When all the Birds Had Fled: Spirits of the Red City

2009-01-02T08:14:00.007-06:00

Things to do in the New Year:
1)Make the house feel like a home.
2)Be better about deadlines.
3)Keep on engaging with active, vital culture.

I can take care of a couple of those things by getting this post up, and by going to see Spirits of the Red City at the Bryant-Lake Bowl this Sunday.

Photographer Staciaann and I tried to catch up with a couple of their members a couple Sundays ago- ‘Twas in the bleak midwinter, or so the song goes- but we were at the wrong apartment. After getting a promo copy of their upcoming release Hunter Moon and thoroughly enjoying it, these seemed like good people to talk to in frozen hush of the season. But through a series of mixups, I was on a snowy street in Uptown, at the wrong address, and they all seem to have fluttered away. Fortunately, we live in the digital age, and I do not need to rely upon my paltry scouting skills- they have left cairns in the form of friendly girlfriends to direct us to the CC Club, a damn fine place if there ever was one to kill a winters' evening.

Upon entering, we are greeted by the impish smile of Will Garrison, lead vocalist, guitars and the writer in the group. Around the table were Anthony Poretti, drums & percussion, and Jason Overby; banjo, accordion and guitars. And we hadn’t even met half the band. See, there are 9 of them, two sets of three siblings, some from Alaska, some from here, and some here-by-way-of any other number of continental stops, all wandering American musicians, folkloric harmonizers, peculiar ladies & gents. We talked about the disc and the band for about half an hour, my tape recorder didn’t work, I half-remember things anyway and left with a warm feeling of solidarity. Here are some pieced together snippets:

-I don’t know what their band name means. When I asked, Garrison demurred and Poretti and Overby backed him up. The title of the disc though, comes from the autumn moon, the large blood red moon whose bloated presence could be seen as a sun. This duality, and the blurring of the line there carried weight for Garrison and the group in the writing and construction of the disc.

-Despite that Hunter Moon sounds like it was a single basement recording session, full of organic immediacy and warmth, the disc was recorded around the schedules of the band members flowing though the Twin Cities. Poretti talked about James Waldo, the cellist, coming back from New York City where he studies to lay down the cello tracks, and then the other members listening to those tracks as a high-water mark to build and re-visit their own performance. This process and the constant communication between band members edged together the best possible sound for the disc, and kept a light touch.

-Of the size of the band and their closeness, Garrison said that they would be more likely to figure out how to play a song without a band member before asking someone to step in to play for them. This may explain why, with such far-flung members, they have only a handful of shows under their belts, but why those shows are special.

-Of the song “Focus & Blur”, Garrison said, “it is a drinking song. We were having a party and we wanted to see if we could get that party sound, so we brought the people down to the basement and had them sing along and have a good time while we recorded.” It worked- the song charges forward, raises a glass and chuckles.

-The song “Passing” is a jarring break, a collection of heaving chords and skittering percussion. When asked why, in the middle of this lush disc, there was this noise experiment, they pointed out that in the arc of a story, this is the third-act breakdown, a challenge to the listener not simply sit passively through, but to re-open and re-examine before the fourth act finish. And the last four tracks draw the disc to from a roar to a quaver, pulling full circle the warm humanity, the essence of good people and companionship that this music brings.

It was a loveley evening, the essence of good people. Starting off guarded, opening up, the music is life as lived. As Garrison sings on “Pride”, “And if they find us, her voice will disarm you.” Go and find, and be disarmed. Stay warm in the cold season.

Hunter Moon CD Release with Nona & Marshall (of Dark Dark Dark)
Bryant-Lake Bowl
Sunday January 4 at 9:00 pm (8:30 doors)
$8 in advance / $10 day of show

Spirits of the Red City is:
Will Garrison: guitars, lyrics, vocals
James Waldo: cello
Jason Overby: banjo, accordion, guitars
Brian Voerding: trumpet, box bass
Anthony Poretti: drums, percussion
Ben Waldo: mandolin, viola
Alyssa Overby: vocals
Rachel Overby: vocals
Will Markwardt: vocals, shaker
Jonathan Waldo: viola

Here's to 2009!

2008-12-31T20:33:00.001-06:00

Houses of the Holy: Andy Messerschmidt & Max Schollet

2008-12-30T08:05:00.003-06:00

Andy Messerschmidt: Merry Krishnas at Fox Tax Gallery & Max Schollet: Journey to the Surface of the Earth at the MAEP Gallery at the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

“Matter matters.” –Carl Andre

The two sets of work could not be more different, the way an ornate golden reliquary is totally at odds with the bone fragment or wood chip it houses. The consideration of both can be a jarring experience and one full of questions as to the nature of worship, meditation, work and creation. So it is with two vastly different shows that inhabit the same conceptual space: Merry Krishnas by Andy Messerschmidt at Fox Tax Gallery and the work of Max Schollet in Journey to the Surface of the Earth at the MAEP Gallery at the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

Andy Messeschmidt produces large scale collage/paintings that incorporate doilies, cut stencils, magazine images and paper Christmas ornaments among other items. Occasionally jumping from the picture plane to the third dimension, the works are a measured explosion of color and pattern that are carefully balanced, symmetrical. Messerschmidt writes in his Artist Statement, “My goal is to stop the viewing at confounding confrontation, just sheer, unfamiliar, reverent confrontation- a grizzly on two legs in the middle of the trail.”

But the materials are recognizable and this is not confounding unfamiliarity, this is comfortable rearrangement. The titles are not reverent- It Freaked Out and Became a Jehovah’s Witness, The Meth-Heads Saw Their Lab Aflame as the Burning Bush of Ascensional Morphology and That’s All- these seem to be over-the-top, tongue-in-cheek, deliberately performative, a non sequitur one-liner. It is conceptual baroque on a five-and-dime scale. Messeschmidt goes on to say, “I am more interested in the deification of painting by objectifying reverence.” What is true about the pieces is that their layered intricacy do provide a titillating aesthetic experience, much like the Assume Vivid Astro Focus project is doing in the contemporary art scene. The difference is that Assume Vivid Astro Focus wholly embraces their surface play and silliness, whereas Messerschmidt’s uncomfortable relationship between his stated desire for reverence and the construct of the object is unresolved and undercut ground. The work pushes joyous wild mystic visions, abandon and worship, but pulls back into formal, static trope. The Abstract Expressionists that Messerschmidt notes as feeling kinship with in his artist statement (Fontana, Newman and Pollock) created art that never had an easy relationship with the viewer, and the challenge made people return to them for viewing and firther meaning. By contrast, the ready identifiability of the material and theatricality of Messerschmidt's work make for easy access that approaches a designed experience as opposed to organic reverence.

Max Schollet uses the least possible material in his work, and the objects are all everyday. That word’s connotation can be dismissive, but the everyday has been the subject of art from Vermeer’s serving girls to Duchamp’s urinal and beyond. Schollet work extends, quite literally, the object. Cub Food bags laid out in rows to pair up the black logo against the fleshy tones of the aged plastic, a single sheet of yellow legal paper cut to a single continuous line, a roll of masking tape unrolled into ox-bow bends, forming a snaking glyph on the gallery wall. Of Schollet’s production, critic Tamatha Sopinski Perlman writes in her catalogue essay that “Each repetitive action, each act of transformation makes the landscape of our everyday existence into a work of art.”

Unlike the excoriation that critic Michael Fried leveled against minimalism- that it was only activated by the presence of the viewer and therefore dependent upon a simple special relationship to function, Schollet inverts that criticism. Yes, there is an object that you would recognize, and yes, it has a spacial relationship to the viewer, but the object (and especially, as a quotidian object, the idea of the object) precedes the viewers presence and will continue past the viewer leaving. Schollet’s interventions set the stage for the transformative process that can be revisited by the viewer to changing ends. Schollet makes mendicant art, you can see the marks of construction repeated to an almost absurd breaking point- this is the process of mantra-recitation and koan study that push to Buddhist enlightenment and Shinto prayer. There is a reverence in using the thing as it is, but the austerity of it’s creation opens up the matter to the thing as it could be- furrows, bones, intestinal tracts, lotuses, cell diagrams, ideals, a change in perspective- that gives the work it’s pared down beauty.

Both shows could be expanded, and high promise is held in both. Mass can be experienced through the pageantry, robes, chants, incense, but also in silence, and reflection the direction of life. Whether the experience is catholic or liturgical, the matter is all in the viewing.

“Journey to the Surface of the Earth: Margaret Pezalla-Granlund and Max Schollet”
WHERE: Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 2400 Third Ave. S., Minneapolis 55404
WHEN: Nov. 14, 2008 – Jan. 4, 2009

“Merry Krishnas: Andy Messerschmidt”
WHERE: The Gallery at Fox Tax, 503 First Av. NE Minneapolis 55413
WHEN: Nov. 29, 2008 – Jan. 9, 2009

The Cherry on Top ...of 2008

2008-12-24T23:33:00.031-06:00

No one really likes making "Top 10" lists, do they? I gave my team the option of making a list for 2008. Top 5, top 10, recommended, etc. and here's what we came up with. You'll notice there's not much overlap, and to me that's a good thing. We like variety. Hopefully you'll find something on these lists you haven't heard yet and can now go check out. It's not rocket science, and it doesn't count for much, but here are CakeIn15 staffer's top picks for the year that was (and is... for another 6 days anyway).

Staciaann

1.The Dodos, Visiter
Ridiculous trash can drums, excellent bleeding-finger guitars, and wonderful songs make this my top album of 2008. No matter how many times I put it on, I'm thrilled by the intricacies and emotion in this album.

2.Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes
Fabulous vocals that bring me back to groups like The Tolkens, Four Freshman, and Jan & Dean. An album any age can enjoy. Also a memorable live show with haunting reminders of the past.

3.Frightened Rabbit - Midnight Organ Fight
Continues my love of music from Scotland. Hell, I wrote about these guys back in June of 2007 here too. Since then they've only grown in their song-writing, and 2008 brought their best album yet. Well done boys.

4.Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend
You're lying if you say you don't like this album. It's summer wrapped up and rolled into a digital file.

5.Mates of State, Re-Arrange Us
Awesome harmonies from a husband and wife team who've only gotten better as they continue to create music. One of my favorite sing-a-long records of 2008.

6.Cloud Cult - Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-partying Through Tornadoes)
Fucking fantastic new stuff from one of my fav locals. Check out "Journey of the Featherless" or "Story of the Grandson of Jesus " if you don't believe me.

7.Caroline Smith & the Good Night Sleeps, Backyard Tent Set
My best new local music find this year. Old-timey without overdoing it. Every time I've played this at work, someone's picked up the album. No joke. Plus, her live show will pack them in and leave you sighing with pleasure.

8.Jeremy Messersmith - The Silver City
Messersmith again proves he's one of the better singer-songwriters out there. Put that together with super producer Dan Wilson, and you have one hell of an album about Minneapolis.

9.City On the Make - $1,000,000 EP
"Chicks on, chicks on, chicks on bikes" was my anthem for the summer as my girlfriends and I sang it repeatedly biking around the city. Lead poet Mike Massey is as fun to watch as he is to listen to, and with new bionic knees to keep him bouncing, I can't wait for the new material that's promised to come soon.

10.The Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride
Admittedly, John Darnelle has a voice that only a mother could love. Ok, that's not 100% true, but it's close. You either love him or hate him, but you can't touch Darnelle's dark lyrics mixed with lovely guitar rhythms and the driving force of his will.

*Side Note: While I would definitely put Bon Iver into my top 10, I owned the album in 2007, and so can't put it in without feeling strange about doing it. Justin, I love ya, but last year was your year. xo

Dan O.

1.Cloud Cult, Feel Good Ghosts (Tea-partying Through Tornadoes)
Having returned to this album again and again, it's the rare album that never grows old - it always feels like you're listening to it for the third time (the time when you finally decided that you really really liked it.)

2.Of Montreal, Skeletal Lamping
Of Montreal's new album (as I reviewed previously) continues to confound me at times, but I re-visit it almost weekly - It's ambition and scope place it in my Top 10 this year.

3.Vampire Weekend, Vampire Weekend
I wasn't actually sure if this album was released in 2008 - something made me feel as though it had been released earlier, but the back of the CD credits it as a 2008 release, so here it is! The buzz has faded, but it's still an entirely interesting album - reminds me a lot of Paul Simon's Graceland.

4.Grand Archives, The Grand Archives
What first brought me to this album was its Band of Horses side-project status, but it's much much more - One of the most consistent and enjoyable pop albums of the year.

5. R.E.M., Accelerate
As any R.E.M. fan will attest - thank god they're back to making relevant music. So long as it's R.E.M. and even half-way decent, it'll get on my top 10.

6.The Magnetic Fields, Distortion
I have heard murmurings that there are those who didn't enjoy this album, but I find it to be the most listenable Magnetic Fields album yet - made up of equal parts shimmery distortion and odd-shorn lyrics, it's a perfect summer album for a winter morning.

7.Liam Finn, I'll Be Lightning
Son of Neil Finn (Crowded House), Liam's debut album is a sort of Beatles hybrid that occasionally sounds like Elliott Smith. It's raw and pretty at the time. More importantly, I bought it eight months ago and still listen to it - rare longevity for a shot in the dark.

8.Sigur Ros, Med sud I eyrum vid spilum endalaust
Nothing different than before, but still - really frickin' pretty.

9.Dosh, Wolves and Wishes
Andrew Bird didn't release an album in 2008, so I'll toss the orchestral sound-pop tiara to the handsomely bearded Dosh, whose album is always good to wind down to after work with a beer.

10. Spiritualized, Songs in A & E
Written during and after a death-defying bout with pneumonia, this album is a great for late nights and headphones - makes you feel happy to be alive.

Alexa

The Gaslight Anthem - The '59 Sound
Chuck Ragan - Feast or Famine
I realize this came out in '07 but I didn't discover it until '08, have listened the sh*t out of it, so IT'S '08 FOR ME!
Langhorne Slim - Langhorne Slim
Parts & Labor - Receivers
Alejandro Escovedo - Real Animal

c.a.s.
(In no particular order)

TV on the Radio, Dear Science
Sonically, I still hold that Return to Cookie Mountain is a better disc, and if you think "Wolf Like Me" isn't dance track, then you're not trying hard enough. But Dear Science does for dance-pop what OK Computer did for rock and roll- inverted, electrified and re-invigorated it. Give it up for the band with the big ideas and the adventuresome spirit to follow. Live review here.

The Hold Steady, Stay Positive
We will, and we get jams that, even though they leave our fair state and Craig Finn's familiar stomping ground, just get bigger and more brash. "Lord I'm Discouraged" is "How a Resurrection Really Feels" told from the other guy's perspective, and that's a great way to grow up without losing your edge. Bonus points for dirty jokes and double necked guitars. Live review here.

City On the Make, $1,000,000 EP
It's easy to fall for chicks on bikes, as the grinding opening jam proved this summer. But it's even better when we get into the disc- it is a million bucks, one hundred percent, and when he wails "Poor Mike Massey's got eyes for your daughter" and Mischa Kegan tears the licks down behind him, it might as well be a lament for Savannah girls in their Nehi skirts walkin' walkin' walkin' down the block. Ain't they got no respect? Live review here.

Jeremy Messersmith, The Silver City
An exquisite journey through the the pop sounds of days of yore, deftly produced by Dan Wilson. It twinkles and shimmers, the starlight sharper for the darker underpinnings of Messersmith's razor-sharp storytelling. This is a great disc to give to people when they ask you where you live and what it's like. Interview here.

Johnny Flynn & The Sussex Wit, A Larum
An out-of-left field surprise for me that has become one of my most-listened-to discs this year. Comforting Irish vox, pop-folk with some rock heft and strings, writing that is both sharp, funny and poignant. From "The Wrote & the Writ": "They're taking pictures of the man from God/let's hope his cassock's clean./The burden of being a holy fellow/is your halo better gleam, better gleam." Kick up your heels and reel in your friends.

Kristoff Krane, This Will Work For Now
The earnestness, the fierce drive to make art work for the artists, to make it function, the need to make it and survive. This disc burns with it. Sometimes it over-extends, but it is always true to the artist as necessary creator- the disc runs from braggadocio to doubt and sincerity. And radio-friendly tunes like "Paul Still Loves His Daughter" and "Miracle" are the stuff of silver screen soundtracks. Review here.

Cecil Otter, Rebel Yellow
The poised counterpoint to Krane's manic spin, this disc is just-as-if-not-more dark, introspective and driven. In a banner year for Doomtree, Cecil's produced and written some of the most professional, honest and polished material. Plus, he played the Clapperclaw Festival. So he's the shit.

The Dodos, Visiter
From start to finish, this is one of those records that long-play vinyl was made for. The manic drumming that keeps the base shifting, bending folk guitars layered on top of eachother to make them San Francisco punk, the duo of Meric Long and Logan Kroeber work their asses off to make one of the fastest moving, most satisfyingly layered discs of the year. Live review here.

Fleet Foxes, Fleet Foxes
It is one of the continuing miracles of music that it always comes back around. Is it because of the moon, or the connection to orbiting planets? Or because sound is a wave, a sine and cosine along an axis that form perfect circles, whole, enveloping, harmonizing, sustaining circles? With the debut Sun Giant EP and the self-titled LP release in the same year, the Pacific Northwest bellows with beauty again.

Buena Vista Social Club, Buena Vista Social Club at Carnegie Hall
Nonesuch Records sent me back to my first concert with this disc, to a moment when the world opened up to pulsing sound, unstoppable rhythm and pure joy. I think that every other concert-going experience is measured by that yard-stick for me, and it's a tall order. When something measures up, it's worth it. These records and the concerts given by these performers this year (among others) have made it a great 2008. Thank you.

Plus: These Singles Rock
Esau Mwamwaya, "Tengazako"- I defy you not to dance, I defy you to not believe in the power of globalization.
Blitzen Trapper, "Furr"- Turns stock animal noises into proto-mythical creation stories, makes you sing along.
Vampire Weekend, "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa"- "Do you want to fuck/like I know you do?" I do.
Atmosphere, "You"- Performed on Letterman wearing an Obama shirt, mid-July. Bless.
Diplo, "Reckoner Remix"- Breaks it all apart, bends in Beirut, kicks it to the dancefloor. Thom Yorke should be proud.
Santogold, "L.E.S. Artistes"- Watch it, Santogold is out there and she is coming for your ass.
Plastic Chord, "Thang Goin' On"- A live staple put down for the groove-bustin' record.
Cloud Cult, "The Grandson of Jesus"- Because you could be one of those billion saviors.
Mates of State, "The Re-Arranger"- For you and your lover to mix it up and get down, indie-rock style.
The Black Keys, "Psychotic Girl"- Buzzing like the underwater universe of your broken head.
MGMT, "Time To Pretend"- Distills the hubris of youth to it's ebullient core.
Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson, "Buriedfed"- He's said if he had had his success at 19 instead of at 25, he'd be dead. It's good to be alive.

And now for something completely different...

2008-12-24T01:07:00.002-06:00

....the meaning of Christmas:

-Hey Kiefer, you're a pirate, man.
-That would explain everything.

Bless.

Elllvvviiissss!!!

2008-12-24T00:40:00.007-06:00

Yesss!! Finally! My lengthy period of antsy-pants waiting will soon cease. Thank you, thank you Mr. Perkins. I am indebted to you for the happiness washing over me at this moment. Come by Minneapolis soon, won't you?

Songs to stream:
"Shampoo"
"Send My Fond Regards to Lonelyville"
"Doomsday" (the rollickin' way he performs it live).

Check out streams of NEW SONGS by Elvis Perkins here!!

**********
In other Rumorville news,Cin15 favs City on the Make are gonna be back in studio sooner rather than later. Gosh, lotsa good news today!

Merry Crunkmas Afterparties!

2008-12-23T23:31:00.005-06:00

Yeah, 'tis the season to jolly and once the belts are loosened it makes it easier to shake the pants off. So in the interests of keeping your spirits high, here are some kick-ass shows to make you forget all about your family gatherings and get down with the get-downs.

Friday the 26th:
Minneapolis Kids Have More Fun presents Crunkmas 2008 at the Nomad World Pub
This was a hot mess of a sloppy dancefest last year (check it out here) and you should definitely hit it up for it's 2008 incarnation:
CITY ON THE MAKE
CRNKMNSTR
META
TAPE JAYS (oh damn)
and a very special BROWN MOSES reunion
$5 9pm 21+

Saturday the 27th:
MillCityScene.com presents Big Quarters, Kristoff Krane, Carnage, Hyder Ali, El Guante at 7th St Entry
To celebrate the release of their first official print edition, MillCityScene.com presents some of the top names in local hip-hop:
Big Quarters w/Benzilla
Kristoff Krane
Carnage the Executioner
Hyder Ali
El Guante and See More Perspective
and introducing Simply Us and the 2 Sides of We
$5 presale / $7 door 8pm 18+

Jenny Dalton at the Kitty Kat Club
Fresh off her 2nd full length Rusalka's Umbrella, Jenny is joined by some of her good friends at the Kitty Kat Club, for a show that promises to be a beautiful way to lounge around and let your cares get soaked up in lush melodies.
Jenny Dalton
Luke Redfield
James Apollo
Free 10pm 21+

Dosh at the Cedar Cultural Center
An ambient night of creativity that should send sparks shooting off the eardrums and open up giant hallucinogenic portals into textured lightshows climbing up your leg and rubbing underneath the chin and.....sorry, carried away. The noise is good.
Dosh
Dark Dark Dark
DJ Odd Nosdam
$12 presale / $15 door 8pm AA

Yeah. DOOOOOOOOIT. Merry Fuckin' Xmas, kids.

I'm Hopeful

2008-12-19T07:55:00.004-06:00

2008 may be marked to go down in history for many reasons, but let's not forget those important in the local music world. One such event to remember is the release of "Now Playing at the One-Seat Theatre" by pop favorites The Hopefuls. Their last album, "The Fuses Refuse to Burn" spun relentlessly in my car and home CD players for months on end. You could see me anytime on the street humming to "Pretty Bigmouth" or "Holiday." I couldn't help it. It was my crack.

This new album merges old with new, as long-time audience favorites like "On the Edge" and "Idaho" finally become imprinted in a physical format. We can take it home with us instead of just trying to hum the tunes in our heads. New songs like "Virgin Wood" and "Stacey" (yeah, they must've misspelled it... what's with the 'e' guys?) will also give you an earworm you might not be able to get rid of. I can tell you though that the band is already working on album number three, so the wait can't be nearly as painful and long as the last.
You'll get your chance to see The Hopefuls this Saturday (hey, that's tomorrow!) at First Avenue for the band's CD release show. Doors are at 6pm and One for the Team and Chris Koza open. You can pick up tickets at The Electric Fetus or the door. See you there! Oh, and for those who wonder, I have it on good authority that Rupert will be hanging out too.

This week in the economy...

2008-12-17T22:48:00.003-06:00

...is not so good. The fallout from Bernie Madoff ponzi scheme is projected at about a $300 million hit to the Twin Cities. A lot of that hit goes to businesses and individual investors, but charities, non-profits and aid organizations are going to take it on the chin. The belt that was tightening is going to need a couple new holes to cinch in.

Intermedia Arts is the latest arts organization taking a big hit. This the 30-year old organization whose graffiti covered building on 28th and Lyndale is unmistakable. They put on the B-Girl Be Festival, the Naked Stages Performance Series and some of the most community involved arts and performance events in the Twin Cities. Now, much of their operational budget has dried up or been delayed, and like so many precarious but vital small-arts organization, they simply don't have the capital to sustain though. They will be shuttering the gallery and poetry library effective January 9th, moving staff to hourly and contract work. But they are fighting back, and need your help. From the Intermedia Arts website:

"Intermedia Arts can survive this economy. We can even come out on the other side stronger and more sustainable than ever before. But in order to do that, we need you to take action now—today.

This is what we need you to do:

1. RSVP now. We need you here at Intermedia Arts’ Community Townhall: Rally the People! at 5:30PM on Friday, December 19th. We are asking you to make it a priority to be here, in person. You will hear from artists, community leaders, Intermedia Arts’ staff and board. You will have a chance to ask questions and offer suggestions. You will find out what you can do to keep Intermedia Arts alive. We need to see you here: show your support by showing up. Free childcare available! RSVP right now!

2. Make a donation. Supporting Intermedia Arts is critical right now, and every dollar counts. We need your support to help us with our general operating expenses as we implement our plan for long-term sustainability. This isn’t about keeping Intermedia Arts open for another month; this is about keeping Intermedia Arts in our community for the long-term. Right now, that future depends on you. We need you to make a donation today.

3. Email us. We need to hear from you. We need to hear your encouragement, your ideas, your commitment of support, your suggestions and feelings. Send us your questions, tell us what you think, and look to our website for updates, responses, community FAQs and news each and every step of the way.

4. Rent our space for your next performance, event, meeting or exhibition. Our building is a valuable asset to the arts community and we want it to continue to stay active and alive.

Now is time for each and every one of us to draw on our passion and our conviction, and play our part. This is a rallying cry. Together, we will meet this challenge and lead our community forward. Because Intermedia Arts matters. Because your voice matters. Because Intermedia Arts is YOU."

Amen.

The Little Skeleton That Could Not- An Essay

2008-12-17T21:07:00.007-06:00

Cake in 15 imagines itself as a "culture blog". Yeah, there is a good dose of music, but we are all omnivores here, with wide and variegated interests. As writers, photographers, actors, critics, commentators and god-knows-what-else, we are not just content to let culture happen around us, but attempt to be an active part of the discourse and agents of our own change. In that vein, and full of shameless self-promotion, I offer up an essay that I wrote following The Little Skeleton That Could Not by Lamb Lays with Lion, the theater company of which Cake in 15 contributors c.a.s. and Dan O. are members. It's not your usual blog fare, and if you don't like it skip it. Just 'cause you're in Blockbuster doesn't mean you have to rent a movie.

WHO ARE WE AND HOW DID I GET HERE?
The Little Skeleton That Could Not by Lamb Lays with Lion 11/20/2008, The Hexagon Bar

What just happened on stage? Nervous laughter is good, a punctuating belly laugh is better, seasoned, confounded silence is best. As one reviewer put it, “It all would have been in rather poor taste if it hadn't actually been quite funny.”

The Little Skeleton That Could Not, the latest group work by Lamb Lays with Lion played out like this at the Hexagon Bar on November 20th, 2008. It is a triptych of short scenes, each one growing with misplaced enthusiasm and senses of well-being.

In the first vignette, LLwL company member Jayne Deis takes the stage, obviously not in the best of health, hiding behind her notebook from the harsh illumination provided by the single handheld spotlight and proceeds to tell us that she is going to tell us about the 12 Steps of alcoholism. Instead, though, of reading from the Alcoholics Anonymous 12 Step program, she haltingly starts off on a list of her own creation that has darker, more personal overtones; “Number One. If you look into the mirror and find you have nothing to live for, you might be an alcoholic.” Pitiable down the list, she re-visits points until she is interrupted by Ashley Smith and Julia Mae Fairbanks Thompson, dressed in matching black pant and white t-shirts who inform her that this was last week’s performance, that she missed because she was “passed out at Memory Lanes.”

Debauched Identity Theatrics after the Jump

Smith and Thompson, having dispatched Deis, proceed into “an informative talk” about “an important subject”: AIDS. You can see the parenthetical quotes around their dialogue, the vernacular spins off from PSAs and After School Specials and Fairbanks one-ups Smith with biological details about the functioning of the HIV retrovirus. The discussion of transmission, a serious topic, devolves into scatological repetition of bodily fluids as the flustered twosome try to keep their place. Their scene is abruptly ended by the appearance of a skeleton onstage.

The skeleton (Melissa Anne Murphy) smiles and has an upbeat, sunny, if flip disposition. She, too, is here with an important message. She is here to talk about anorexia, and how it may be right for you. Look at the wonders it has done for her. She talks of becoming a role model for other anorexics, her temptations and the support her community brings her. If she were talking about recovery from alcoholism it would be a downright heartwarming scene. But she is not, the crowd is uncomfortable, heckles a bit and then the skeleton is interrupted by Thompson and Smith who charge back on stage with “AI” and “DS” scrawled on their shirts and skull make-up smeared on. Look at what they’ll do to pull attention back to themselves. There is a back and forth, dramatically lit, of heavy breathing, statistics that are patently false, upbeat non-sequiturs of encouragement, building until the band that has amassed quietly behind them tears into a howling rock-blues number. “Die Die Die” goes the band and the trio onstage galvanize into a goofy show-tunes dance offstage right. Deis charges back on only to be chased away by the skeleton. The band keeps playing and goes into their regular set.

What just happened here?

The closest extant category that Skeleton could be dropped in to, and was in post-show discussion, would be agit-prop. But this is no cardboard cut-out protest with a single-minded end of revolution. If Skeleton is to be considered agit-prop, it must be considered so in newer and more subtle terms. Jan Cohen-Cruz outlines these terms in the introduction to her collection of essays entitled Radical Street Performance:

“Notwithstanding,… agit-prop is possible in ‘culturally pluralistic’ societies, but with these caveats: 1. as social contexts become more complex, agit-prop may serve a an educational function around a specific issue, not necessarily advocating general revolution; 2. the actors must believe that they know a solution to a compelling social problem and be prepared to take the same steps they are urging upon audiences.”

Vaguely, the work of Lamb Lays with Lion could be considered within these parameters, but subverts them both. There is an “educational function” implicit in the use of data: you now know that 1-800-CDC-INFO is the number to call and www.hivtest.com are resources about disease control. Jayne Deis serves as an apropos discourse on alcoholism, given the locale of the performance. Even so, Skeleton, is more about the conflict of datas, the falsity and truths of abutting statements and their uncomfortable relationships. The Skeleton character builds up a positive community taken directly from support sites by and for anorexics to keep them anorexic, but this is not disclosed to the audience, nor is it presented at face value- she is a skeleton! A happy, smiling, fulfilled skeleton telling you how great anorexia can be. No wonder there are uncomfortable laughs; even if it doesn’t fall into the category, Lamb Lays with Lion is surely trafficking in agitation.

Nor Lamb Lays with Lion does not posit a solution or bring down a moral judgment with which they exhort the audience. The show starts out identifiably strange and plunges into absurdity, and this keys into how the performers identify themselves. Jayne Deis’ “Jayne Deis” might just be a hungover Jayne, a slight abstraction- you know that girl. Therein lies some of the original humor. Telling stories of drinking cigarette butts the morning after appeals to a base-level gross out humor, but also, for the young bar crowd assembled, contains a mote of self-identification. If you haven’t done it, you probably know someone who has. Thompson and Smith’s “Julia” and “Ashley” step up that distance, transforming themselves into an empty sounding board from where their research and the data they hear echoes forth. The Skeleton is familiar in tone, but so far afield in content that it makes conscious and exposes that this is a performance, and not a testimonial. The malleability of our own identity and our desire to hear information that conforms to expected conventions is toyed with and exposed in subtle, disturbing ways. The sources of information are untrustworthy, what we identify with may be further away than we think, we should be able to describe that disconnect.

So again, what is it? It is rock and roll; self-indulgent and generous, it is theatre; playing with shifting identity and information, scripted and spontaneous and not what one would expect at a bar. The words you heard had come out of a process of discussion, research and play. The scene’s absurdity comes from our own senses and the barrage of information, all of them untrustworthy in their own way. As artist Jenny Holzer’s proposed in her series “Truisms”: “Description is more valuable than metaphor”. Lamb Lays with Lion is here to describe, channel and filter the world around you, not to make it easier for you to understand.

* De Young, David “Lamb Lays with Lion w/Plastic Chord video from the Hexagon” (How Was The Show Blog, http://howwastheshow.blogspot.com/2008/11/lamb-lays-with-lion-w-plastic-chord.html)
** Cohen-Cruz, Jan Radical Street Perfomance, (London: Routledge Publishing, 1998) 14
*** Holzer, Jenny The Venice Installation, (Buffalo, NY: The Buffalo Fine Arts Academy, 1990) 3

Also at the Lamb Lays with Lion website: www.lamblayswithlion.org

The Little Skeleton That Could Not will be presented at the Bedlam Theatre January 16-18 in conjunction with Paint the Town by Insurgent Theatre from Milwaukee and musical performance by To Kill a Petty Bourgeoisie.

New Jersey? Really?

2008-12-17T20:46:00.005-06:00

Bands are hard to keep together and long-standing Minneapolis punky-country group Chokecherry find them selves in a break-up way. Bassist Bob, often times Sound-Guy-for-the-Hex Bob is moving to New Jersey- you'll have to ask him what greener pastures he sees there. The farewell shindig is this Friday the 19th at the Hex, with a grip of sounds and friends in Luther the Devil, the Nightinghales and Marvelle. As always, the Hex is free, and buy your drinks from the back bar, that gets split among the bands.

Sorry about the cut off poster, Blogger is apparently face down in the egg-nog right now.

Today in Awesome: Ms.Pacman

2008-12-17T19:06:00.007-06:00

I went in to Blacklist Vintage on 27th & Nicollet to find a present for my aunt, instead I found Ms. Pacman. The beautiful old sit-down, cocktail table style game with bleeps and flashing embedded screen. So I played. And played and played. I felt guilty, here I am, in the someone else's store, in the season of giving and here I am indulging my own desires, doing just what I want. I make Baby Jesus cry. But if Baby Jesus was here, he would play Ms. Pacman with me. That is all. Happy shopping!

Cinema Revolution+Dance+Music=ArtyPants Awesomeness

2008-12-10T23:51:00.006-06:00

Speaking of local institutions, the ever-struggling, ever-triumphant, most wonderful goddamn video-collection-having folks at Cinema Revolution are throwing themselves a 5th anniversary party over at Intermedia Arts. In anticipation, owner John Koch put out a call for collaborations between dancers and film-makers last April and the resulting efforts read like a who's who of the local dance and film scenes. You gotta love hybridization like this, cross-pollination and growth. I mean, just get a taste of these fun arty-party people who got together: Mad King Thomas and Katinka Galanos, Vanessa Voskuil and John Koch, Justin Jones and Kevin Obsatz, Laurie Van Wieren , Sally Rousse of James Sewell Ballet, Anna Marie Shogren, Charles Campbell of Skewed Visions, Kristin Van Loon of Hijack and Elliott Durko-Lynch...

...among others.

Yeah. And even if you don't make it out, go over to Cinema Revolution's NEW location at 2431 Lyndale Ave South. They're open late, so open an account, put a dollar in the tip jar, then go home and let your mind go celluloid lovely.

Cinema Revolution's Dance Film Project
December 12th and December 13th 7PM
To Kill A Petty Bourgeoisie play December 13

@ Intermedia Arts
2822 Lyndale Avenue South
Minneapolis, MN 55408
$8-12 (pay-what-you-choose)

Photo credit: Image from "throne/thrown" by Vanessa Voskuil and John Koch

Buy Locally, Think Stylishly

2008-12-10T23:15:00.009-06:00

If you're looking for something to put a twinkle in your eye and a sparkle in your step this holiday, head over to the Gaviidae Commons II in downtown MPLS this holiday season for "Rare Affections", a holiday pop-up store featuring all local designers and crafters. Local fashion stalwarts Jahna Peloquin of Eclecticoiffeur and Vita.mn and Emma Berg, who runs the indispensable MPLSART website have curated a collection of unique holiday dresses from local designers and they can be yours or someone special's for the keeping. Designers include Cake In 15 faves Calpurnia Peach, Anna Lee (of Voltage) for Ruby3, Max Lohrbach, Laura Fulk and many others. As with food, bands, artists and institutions, get local fashion and help it grow.

MNFashion holiday store hours:
Monday through Saturday 10:00 am – 7:00 pm
Sunday noon – 5:00 pm
Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Closed Christmas and New Year’s Day

Gaviidae Common II, 555 Nicollet Mall, 2nd floor, Dowtown Minneapolis. Brought to you by MNFashion

Photo Credits: White rabbit fur strapless mini-dress by Veronica del Carmen Gomez Whitney / Image by Nic Marshall / Styling by Eclecticoiffeur / Modeled by Kate Fuller

Also, while you're down at Gaviidae, I have to put a pitch in for STYLEDLIFE, a boutique featuring an eclectic mix of contemporary and vintage jewelry, accessories and accoutrements. A pricier stocking stuffer, but a decidedly cultivated one.

Plastic Chord to release "Electric Tendrils" EP this Saturday

2008-12-10T15:13:00.005-06:00

As many bands hunker down for winter hibernation and creation time, arty rock ensemble Plastic Chord are out releasing a new EP to keep the winter blues away. Frontman Orion Treon says that the 5 track disc is poppier than some previous releases as it is comprised mainly of previously unrecorded live staples. Expect the danceability of their big clattering noise to get kicked up a notch, especially with tracks like "Thang Goin' On", so come on out and get down like all those mischievous skeletons in your winter closet.

Saturday December 13 2008, 10pm at the Hex. FREE. 21+

With party-rockers The Guystorm, This Machine and The Hasbeen.

Dance Band's Holiday Shakedown!

2008-12-08T19:33:00.004-06:00

Everyone's favorite booty-shakin' Minneapolitans are generously giving away FREE holiday tracks to celebrate the season. The tracks are the product of an alum, The Perfect Beat, who moved to Duluth for a job earlier this year. Our thanks to The Perfect Beat and everyone in Dance Band for the killer tracks. Now go shake some ass!

Get it here.

Oh, Noel and Liam...

2008-12-08T16:23:00.007-06:00

I remember when I first heard (What's the Story) Morning Glory? On bootleg tape in my friend Alex Watson's bedroom- a chubby, beady-eyed Brit who hated everything about living overseas and who smoked cigarettes and drank- perfect for introducing me to the Brothers Gallagher. The bickering, the blasphemy, the beautiful roaring guitars. Go back to Definitely Maybe and the lure of sex and drugs an alcohol, the idea of escape and and those epic, self-indulgent lyrics: "I'm gonna start a revolution from my bed/'Cause you said the brains I had went to my head." I took fiercely partisan sides in the Oasis/Blur debate, tried to learn enough guitar to try and twang out "Wonderwall and "All Round The World". "Wonderwall" is still the only song I know the chords to. Anyway, years past, I moved stateside, I couldn't stomach anything from Standing on the Shoulder of Giants except for "Fucking in the Bushes" which was on the Snatch soundtrack. So it goes. But rockers die hard, especially ones with nation-sized egos and aspirations of Beatlesesque grandeur, not to mention some goddamn talent. So they come roaring back, and now they come roaring into town.

I suppose it is too much, since they are on tour with Ryan Adams, for some sort of giant cluster-fuck epic rock and roll meltdown. No, the boys made nice, Ryan Adams has put out the juggernaut disc he's always been promising, and everyone seems to be even keel to rock stardom and longevity. The Rolling Stones will needs a replacement on the aging rock circuit, and as Noel has reportedly said, "Who wants to be a drug addict at 40?" Keep the fights down, the spirits high, live forever. Here's some good old Oasis, live on Jools Holland, 2000:

Oasis with Ryan Adams & the Cardinals at the Target Center, December 10, 7:00pm.

(Oh, and who knew the Target Center had a blog?)

UPDATE: Via NME: Oasis are set to release an iTunes exclusive EP on the 9th, basically an "I'm Outta Time" single with some demo material and re-mixes. Sweet.

UPDATE UPDATE: Walking home Tuesday night and Liam Gallagher was smoking outside Ping's, talking to some of his entourage. Not so much worse for the wear, he looks pretty good, definitely not in Keith Richards territory. I did a double take, and kept on going.

Nada Surf Cures the Common Cold at the Fine Line

2008-12-06T23:23:00.000-06:00

On the day after Thanksgiving, (I believe it to be known as Black Friday) I was tired and felt like a major cold was about to consume me. I had been in the car for 4 hours and was tired. What I needed was to go home, get in my p-jams, and down some Alka Seltzer Cold & Flu. What I got was--Plop, plop, fizz, fizz—a great set from Nada Surf at a semi-packed Fine Line Music Café.

I have been waiting to see Nada Surf since 2003, when they dropped their 3rd album, Let Go. (My schedule never matched up with theirs, until now.) It was worth the wait. Matthew Caws, Ira Elliot, and Daniel Lorcahe all hit the stage with great energy and excitement for the crowd assembled. (Matthew later declared The Fine Line as one of their favorite places to play.) I gladly followed the boys as their set ebbed and flowed through their melancholy softer tunes, like "Inside Of Love" and "Your Legs Grow" into their rocking melodic pop songs such as, "Whose Authority" and "Do It Again." Of course, a highlight for me was when they played their mid-90’s hit, "Popular." I was immediately taken back to my pubescent years in high school — a good visit down memory lane, but I’m glad I don’t have to go back. It is definitely not my favorite song in their library of tunes, but one I’m glad I got to hear live. The boys kept their momentum all the way through to the end when they finished their encore with "Blankest Year" — a song that was my anthem for a better part of a year in college.

It is always a bit of a gamble when you see a favorite band for the first time. Will they live up to what you expect, or will they disappoint? Luckily, Nada Surf didn’t let me down. They are an excellent live band who enjoys what they do. Ira even threw some comical comments out to us from behind his drum set, showing his enjoyment of the show. I’ve never really seen that from a drummer. Unfortunately, Matthew and Daniel didn’t really interact with each other. Was Life on the road getting to them or did one of them hog all the stuffing the day before? Who knows? Either way, they played a great show and I am very glad that I wasn’t a pansy who stayed home to nurse my approaching illness. In fact, Nada Surf was just what the doctor ordered (sorry, I couldn’t help myself). The next morning I felt great, as if the boys and their infectious music had cured me. Thank you Nada Surf for saving me a trip to the medicine isle at Walgreens.

As a side note, I unfortunately missed the first opening band, The Jealous Girlfriends. I did, however, catch Delta Spirit, the second in the line up, and I highly recommend this group from California. You should definitely check out their album Ode to Sunshine.

Review by guest writer Jake Lindgren.

Download mp3s by Nada Surf:
See These Bones
Do It Again
Blankest Year
Blonde on Blonde

The Alarmists Hit the Studio

2008-12-04T20:23:00.004-06:00

Check out this update from Tony Najm, bass player for local Minneapolis band The Alarmists:

Hello Everyone, it has been a while since we last chatted. We hope you've all recovered from Thanksgiving week, and being back at work isn't wearing you down too much. A lot has happened in Alarmists camp since we last spoke. Back in August, we were still looking for a producer, a studio to record in and all that stuff that comes with making a new record.

Through the powers of the internet we met Producer extraordinaire Andrew Lynch. Andrew expressed interest in working with us, and we were dumbfounded since his catalog includes producing the latest Earlimart record 'Hymn & Her'. So that was a pretty easy choice as we're all HUGE fans of Earlimart, and you should be too. As for what studio to record in? We contacted our longtime trusty friend Producer/Engineer Adam Krinsky, and he said 'you should definitely head straight down to Flyte Tyme, and grab a case of beers on your way.' As some of you may know Flyte Tyme has now become the great Masters Recording Institute, and it's where hundreds of pop records from the likes of Janet Jackson, Usher, Mariah Carey, and even Michael Jackson were made.

So into the Studio we headed for 10 days, we got all the music done on 12 FRESH tracks as they say :) The new record should be out early summer, a lot more updates and pictures will be coming your way. Thanks for reading.

Love,
The Alarmists

Please enjoy a slideshow of photos I took over a series of three days in studio with the boys. After hearing the few tracks I was privileged enough to be in the studio for, I can honestly say I can't wait for the new album. Enjoy!

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Music at the Walker Art Center

2008-12-03T10:26:00.005-06:00

The Walker just sent out their monthly music email, which included details for shows this spring. Shows start at 8pm and vary in cost. The Dean & Britta performance, slated for February 28, looks the most interesting, as it accompanies silent film portraits shot by Andy Warhol.

Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips
February 28
Singer/guitarist /composer Dean Wareham (formerly of Galaxie 500 and Luna) was commissioned by The Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh to compose music to accompany some of Warhol’s rarely seen silent-film portraits, which the artist called Screen Tests. These extraordinary documents of the 1960s New York art scene constitute a voluminous portrait gallery of well-known celebrities, Factory superstars, and anonymous teenagers. Wareham’s wistful tenor and languorous songs and Britta Phillips’ dreamy harmonies make the perfect live sound track for Warhol’s technically simple yet transfixing films.

Preshow celebrity-portrait gallery tour at 7 pm (free with event ticket).

Dirty Projectors
March 6
Premiering music from his upcoming CD.

Bonnie "Prince" Billy
March 19

Get tickets and more information on the performances here.

Feelin' Crafty?

2008-12-01T22:28:00.010-06:00

The No Coast Craft-o-Rama is a craft event that began in December 2005 as a way to feature a variety of designers, artists, crafters and other talented creators of unique handmade goods. It's a great way to support local artists and get some great holiday gifts!

It’s coming up on December 5th (3 p.m. to 8 p.m.) and 6th (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) at the Midtown Global Exchange building.

Some of my favorite vendors participating in the sale include poster god Adam Turman, Owly Shadow Puppets (I have the Yetti), and i like you minneapolis.

A full list of vendors is available here. Let the shopping begin!

Western Fifth - CD review & interview

2008-11-23T09:56:00.008-06:00

Listening to Western Fifth’s recent release Stand Like a Thief is a little like dancing that achingly fleeting slow dance with the girl (or guy, depending) that you almost but never quite asked out in high school. This is not to say by any means that the music itself evokes high school – it feels more like the late nights spent on porches across America at the end of a party where those remaining are a little too drunk to get home and so sit, smoke cigarettes and wait for sobriety or dawn, whichever comes first. Add those two (somewhat disparate) elements together and you’ll get a basic approximation of this encompassing and enjoyable debut offering.

When put onto I-Tunes, the Genre listed is “Country,” which lead me to wonder who makes the determination of the genre. Does the band get to decide what their genre is? If asked to pick a genre for Western Fifth, I’d probably offer up some strange hybrid like post-country shoe-gaze indie rock, which doesn’t fit in the genre box on I-Tunes, so it’s probably best that no one asked me. The band has an interesting and rewarding way of reminding the listener of a different band with every listening. Upon repeat visits, I have uncovered sounds and songs influenced or reminiscent of Wilco, The Walkmen (see below for why this isn’t an influence), Okkervil River, and surprisingly upon my most recent listen – a dose of early Jakob Dylan and the Wallflowers. Listen to the burst of organ on the their third track “In the End I Went Away” and see if you can disagree.

Cake in 15 was lucky enough to secure an exclusive email interview with Western Fifth’s singer/guitar player Ryan Holweger! While the fact that the questions are mostly longer than the answers might call into question my journalistic abilities, I will respond by saying that a) I’m a writer, not a journalist, and b) think of it as an interactive interview/review and you’ll be just fine. Enjoy!

Cake in 15: The first time I listened to the new album all the way through, I was driving between Chicago & Minneapolis, having dropped my fiancée off at the airport to fly off to New York, leaving me on my own for three long weeks. My Ipod got in a fight with the car stereo system and froze. I had brought the "Stand Like A Thief" album along to see how it felt on the road, and due to the sudden loss of Ipod (at 10 am, I might add - Two hours into a six hour drive) I put it in and sped through the Madison area. Would you consider this the best way to listen to the album? If you could chose, when & where would you recommend a listening party for maximum aesthetic & emotional impact?

Ryan Holweger: Although I think listening while driving is a good way to hear this record, it might be better suited for a dimly lit room, a couch, some liquor, and a good set of headphones. I think a good place for a listening party would be a small, cozy dive-bar, or maybe in the living room of an old house.

C15: Do you hate being compared to other bands? For instance, if I said that upon first listen I was instantly reminded of Okkervil River's *Down the River of Golden Dreams*, would you be annoyed or pleased? Would you rather be compared to The Walkmen?

RH: I’d be very pleased with a comparison to Okkervil River (one of my favorite bands). I’ve never heard the Walkmen, so I guess I’m not sure about that. I don’t think I’d ever be annoyed with comparisons to other bands, as long as it holds some merit. I feel that it’s a very effective way to give a reader a good idea on how a band might sound.

C15: Name one band you'd love to be mentioned in the same breath with, as well as one that you'd rather never be compared to again.

RH: I’m not sure if there is one single band I want to be compared to the most, but we are pleased with the different comparisons we’ve had so far (Wilco, Band of Horses, The Replacements, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Okkervil River, etc). As far as a band we’d never want to be compared to again, I’m not sure I can answer that. I suppose we’d have to be compared to a band that we don’t like before we can hope it never happens again. That being said, I hope no one ever compares us to The Eagles.

C15: The air of melancholia pervades the album - Seeps through the cracks, and many of the lyrics deal with death, love, defiance, or a combination of all three. As artists, do you find that writing in a certain mood helps to articulate your work?

RH: I find that for the most part, the mood definitely has an effect on the writing, in that I typically don’t write unless I’m in a certain mood. If I’m not in that certain mood, then the songwriting doesn’t happen. I rarely just decide to sit down and try write a song – it usually only happens after an idea comes first. That’s not always the case, but generally that’s the way it is.

C15: Do you seek to immerse your listener in the world that you've built, or is it enough to simply offer up a song for the listener to react to however he or she chooses?

RH: I don’t think I’ve ever really thought about like that. For the most part, we just hope the listener will take the time to enjoy the music, and hopefully get something out of it if they choose to – if they become immersed in the song, or the album as a whole, that is even better.

C15: What's next? Where can the Cake in 15 readers find Western Fifth in the near future?

RH: Well, we’ll be playing out around the Twin Cities as usual, hopefully getting some people interested in the new album. We’re also promoting it a bit in Europe and getting some airplay, so we hope to build on that as well, maybe sell some records over there. We’ll probably do another tour sometime next year. This past summer we hit a bunch of Midwestern & southern states (Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Texas, Kansas, Missouri) so hopefully we can go back to those places, and maybe to the East Coast, too.

C15: Thank you! Readers can access the band’s Myspace page here and the album is out and available and highly recommended.

Cloud Cult: Feed the Living

2008-11-22T01:32:00.008-06:00

Cloud Cult at The Whole 11/21/2008“…We’re very happy to be back in Minneapolis- it’s been a long time- in Minneapolis- since we’ve played for such an intimate setting, so this is pretty cool. Thanks for being here.” Craig Minowa smiled out at the crowd, sleep-mask askew on his forehead, one bare foot tapping. The band tuned between songs, the painters- Craig’s wife Connie and Scott West- at work producing rainbow-mixed birds and tragically sad women. And then came another song, another rush of noise, another uplift into escape.

Cloud Cult had come back from tour to play one last show before their winter hiatus, and had crammed themselves onto the tiny stage at the Whole. The room in the basement of the University of Minnesota’s Coffman Union is best described by the removal of the “w” from its’ name; a long, low cave of a room. The assembled crowd had sat in patient anticipation, semi-circled like kindergarteners, through the opening set by Jelloslave. The four-piece of two cellos, Indian tables and a drums had played a warm opening set that had people clapping and swaying with occasional burst of surprise and recognition. Even though their regular drummer Greg Schutte was away, he was more than capably subbed by JT Bates, indisputably one of the best and most affable kit-men in Minneapolis. Tripping through mixes and medleys that swung between ragas and covers of the Beatles, Joy Division and closed with a bang with Led Zepplin’s “Whole Lotta Love”.

It’s not hard to give love at a Cloud Cult show, in fact, it is a prime motivation of the band. Unlike some feel-good jam band that their name would seem to imply, this is a serious rock band whose core- Craig and his wife Connie- have traveled through darkness and back into light. It was the sudden death of the Minowa’s 2-year old son in 2002 that galvanized Craig’s songwriting and dedication to the music- working through grief. 2007’s Meaning of 8 was so titled because that would have been the age of the lost boy. It would seem morbid, near exploitative to hold tragedy that close, but without it the escape, the honesty of sharing and hope that so embodies the canon of Cloud Cult would be nowhere near as sublime.

Standing pressed up against the stage with the bass amp by my feet the music literally vibrates against my body, and when I am told that everybody here is a cloud I look around and see other people around me, all intangibly happy and our mouths form the same worlds together and purpose is not something that we need to worry about now. Now we are all together and we know the darkest places of ourselves are not so dark with other people there with you. No, it is not a cult; it is transcendental meditation, Plato’s creation myth of being divided halves looking for our other part, it is meteorological metaphors for turbulent times. It is crystalline sense of purpose, womb of sound, it is rock and roll music. To cop another local band made good, it won’t save you but it can bring you to a place where you can save yourself.

Minowa looked sheepishly out into the audience and apologized- the band is all sick, he said- we have been on tour and passed the same cold back and forth. But, he promises, “we are going to put on the best show possible for you.” From the crowd, someone yells, “You always do!” And we cheer, and they smile, because they love us and we love them.

No One said It Would Be Easy into Chemicals Collide:

Alone for Thanksgiving? Not going home?

2008-11-21T02:55:00.003-06:00

First Ave has you covered...

File under "Things White People Like"

2008-11-20T17:27:00.005-06:00

Cities97 released it's Sampler Volume 20 today, and here a couple fuzzy phone shots of the crowd at the downtown Target:
It's a good thing the proceeds go to charity, because I would hate to think of all these people lining through the skyways for exclusive Jason Mraz and Matchbox 20 tracks. (To be fair, the Sampler also has locals like Jeremy Messersmith and the Glad Version on it, so that's great. I just think a lot of white people in awkward crowds is funny.)

Weekend To-Do and Ticket Giveaway!!!

2008-11-19T12:09:00.006-06:00

A nice mix of shameless self promotion and give-aways, here are some of our recommended events this weekend:

Thursday: Fort Wilson Riot with Plastic Chord & Speed's the Name at the Hexagon- PLUS Lamb Lays with Lion Premieres "The Little Skeleton That Could Not"Starts at 9pm, best of all, it's FREE!

Friday: The Absent Arch CD Release with A Paper Cup Band, the Glad Version and the Chord and the Fawn at the Triple Rock Social ClubCakeIn15 is proud to co-sponsor this show, so we have two pairs of tickets to give away to you lucky dogs! Message us at CakeIn15@gmail.com or tell us in the comments that you want 'em and why!

Saturday: A Benefit for Andromeda at the 331 ClubHost Alexei Caselle (Kill The Vultures, Roma di Luna) just added a new child to his family- so congratulate him- and is reaching out to the music scene to help a family member and mother who is afflicted with lukemia. Great bands and the 331 is always free, so spend that money in helping out another human being. Then go lobby for universal health care.

Party to Live: Rock + Roll Means Well Tour

2008-11-16T22:06:00.014-06:00

The Hold Steady + Drive-By Truckers at First Ave 11/16/2008I tell you this - and I use the first person preposition because this post will be disgustingly self-serving and totally devoid of journalistic objectivity - that the Hold Steady can save a life. Yeah, yeah, the Hold Steady almost killed me... the killer parties almost killed me and when I was done trying to die the music was still there, talking to me about the syntax of trying - we won't save you, but we'll get you to a place where you can save yourself. Nothing's a fake fight when it's against yourself. I'll roll when I'm ready.

It's foolish 'cause I want it, want to feel a part of it and smiling kids are always screaming for more. There is a hard-bit sweetness for the scene before it got druggy, cutting our baby teeth and saving us from fangs. I say it, but I don't really want to be 17 forever...but I do like the warm feeling - bundling up against the wind coming off the Mississippi, carrying salt, cliques and hisses, the whole chorus of city kids trying to stay alive, stay real high.

Don't die! Any night they play half of Separation Sunday is a good night for absolution, and Craig Finn says it every time, every time and I go back to hear it. Need it so much so that I've stolen it for my own ends. I use this ending to a monologue I've been working out, stories about telling stories, trying to get the honesty ingrained in me so that it becomes reflexive but rock and roll. Rock and roll means well, but it can't help but tell boys lies. But hey, he gave it to me, right?

...And I'm trying to understand America,
to get it through a bar band and I still can't comprehend
why the Hold Steady need day jobs and night jobs as bar backs,
and how the acclaim doesn't mean they sell records.
There's something wrong with that.
Each song is like a benediction
to a country of half-hearted Christians
and backstabbing best friends,
kids are human beings and it says;
We see you, you're here and we are too.
Craig Finn, his arms flailing like busted wings
grabs the microphone and beams and twists
and screams, that he always says it,
he always does, he always does:
That
There
Is so much Joy!
In what they do onstage
And thank you, we love you,
Minneapolis/Saint Paul.

I suppose it doesn't even matter. I love you too, I love me too, it doesn't matter which city because we have gone out to find America, you and I. We have gone out to find America, you and I, and found ourselves in bars and reststops and schools and malls and found ourselves.
...
Oh yeah, the Drive-By Truckers were there too - see what I mean about lack of journalistic objectivity, they co-headline for crissakes - but I have never been a huge fan of theirs. I have dismissively said that their lineage is Lynyrd Skynyrd and not all that much else - and I still stand by that. But they have a good time. The Hold Steady guys seem to have a good time with them, and they played the two songs of theirs that I really do like, "Dead Drunk and Naked," and, as an encore, "Let There Be Rock." A damn fine story about fucking up and turning out alright. Now that's a benediction, and I've been doing just fine, thank you very much.

"Stay Positive" into "Stevie Nix":

"Constructive Summer" into "Stuck Between Stations":

RocknRollCupcake: 11/13/2008

2008-11-15T10:41:00.004-06:00

Gabriel Kahane at the 400 BarRunning over Gabriel Kahane's biography begs the question- What is he doing at the 400 Bar? The venerable rock n' roll hole doesn't often play host to acts endorsed by Brad Mehldau or whose previous projects include a "country-infused retelling of the story of the Prophet Mohammed". It was in fact, that incongrous mix that was the draw to the 400, especially the promise of hearing Kahane's Craigslistlieder, a cycle of songs based on random Craigslist posts. Kahane played two of the 8 songs, one as an encore, and his confident, light piano playing well accompanied his cabaret-inflected baritone to create songs that were absurd, powerful and human.

Touring in support of his self titled debut album, Kahane spent most of the time playing with his band of multi-instrumentalists and they worked best with songs like "Underberg" whose plaintive arrangement beautifully encapsulated the collapse and love in the lyrics. The backing group, sounding like Sufjan Stevens' orchestra (with whom Kahane has worked) or locally, Spaghetti Western String Company, were so obviously talented that the orchestration often out-shone Kahane as the band leader and overtook the astute lyrics. After the show, when asked about his musical background, Kahane was vague, saying he had studied at Brown and his father was a classical musician- there is no doubt that he is talented- but, he said conspiratorially, "Some of the ringers in the band, they, they've got some serious classical music chops." Keep it all in balance and watch this pop composer to make a mark, by himself and with others.

Gabriel Kahane is available now on iTunes, Amie Street, and eMusic.

Losing Some, Going on to Win Anyway: Milk

2008-11-12T16:18:00.003-06:00

"I'm Harvey Milk and I'm here to recruit you!" is the line that gay activist and icon Harvey Milk would use to open his stump speeches. Milk, his advocacy, election to San Francisco City Supervisor- making him the first openly gay elected official- and subsequent assassination are the subject of Gus van Sant's biopic Milk, opening nationwide November 26th. After a sneak peak this week, the timeliness of this movie cannot be overstated. The same day that we moved against prejudice on one front by electing the nations' first black president, we fell back on another front as bans on gay marriage such as California's Proposition 8 were passed.

Sean Penn is all the center of attention in Van Sant's well-paced film, bringing to life Milk's charisma and drive, as well as his own balancing act between ego and sense of alientation. Milk also includes standout performances from James Franco, Josh Brolin, Emile Hirsch and Diego Luna, and Van Sant effectively uses archive footage of news reports and Christian morals crusader Anita Bryant to dramatize the struggle against Proposition 6, an initiative that would have outlawed homosexuals and those who supported them from being teachers. Instead of hiding behind vague human rights language to fight the Proposition, Milk advocated a campaign of coming out and acknowledgment, arguing that it is more openness would fight demonization. Go for the history, stay for the story, leave feeling challenged, refreshed and hopeful.

Take to the streets this Saturday. For more info, head to www.jointheimpact.com.

Acting in the Times: Shadowlands and Dying City

2008-11-11T15:23:00.008-06:00

It is a historic moment in America. It is a moment that is made historic by the confluence of past and present contexts- the immediacy of war and economic crisis, a history of division and an act of coming together. Times like these, days like November 4th, 2008, are days that will marked in grand narratives of nations and culture, they are days too that will be remembered by individuals- we will tell where we were, what we are doing, like we have done since. PostSecret, the ongoing project where people anonymously mail in their deepest secrets to share had an aptly succinct illustration of this confluence of personal and social narrative this week: a letter was sent that read, "November 4th, 2008 will be the BEST DAY OF MY LIFE. Barack Obama is our 44th President and I finally caught my cheating/abusive boyfriend red-handed."

Narrative brings me to theatre, which is also where history will have me- seeing two plays this historic week. On the 4th, the night of nights, I went to escape the built up tension (after performing my civic duties of voting, encouraging others to vote and engaging in Starbucks’ illegal coffee-for-votes scheme) at the Guthrie in order to preview Shadowlands. Shadowlands is the story of C.S. Lewis (played by Simon Jones) and the opening of his life as he falls in love with Joy Gresham (Charity Jones), an opinionated American divorcee. It is a love story, set against the backdrop of Lewis' comfortable mid-50s Oxford existence; erudite, clad in tweed, sherries and old boy’s discussions, a wholly safe and neutered space.

The play opens with Lewis at a lectern delivering a speech about the love of god for humanity, a subject that Lewis addressed in many of his writings, from the interventions of Aslan in the Narnia stories to the correspondences of the devil Screwtape. The context of faith and pain is brought forth from the beginning,and as Joy struggles through illness and the love develops and deepens, the refrain that "the happiness then is worth the pain now"- and it's inversion- resonates deeply. The story is one of disruption of a settled life, of pain and reconciliation- a strong universally accessible theme which is reached through the easy and assured presentation. The story is fixed in a time period but is so comfortable in it that we can dissolve that context in favor of the over-arching narrative, and find currently applicable identification.

Parallels, Modern Times after the Jump

Across the river, The Bottling Company, a talented young group of University of Minnesota/ Guthrie Program BFAs (boot camp for Guthrie-aspiring actors, for better or for worse) were closing up their run of Dying City. Penned by Obie-award winning playwright Christopher Shinn and first produced in London in 2006, Dying City is also a play that is also fixed in a specific time and place, but unlike Shadowlands, never manages to transcend that context. Set on two nights and moving fluidly between the two, we see the final night discussion of Craig (Ian Holcomb) and his wife Kelly (Kate Durand) before Craig ships off to Iraq, and the visit of Craig’s gay identical twin Peter (also Holcomb) a year later, during which time, Craig has died. The temporal shift lends itself to some nifty shifts by Ian Holcomb and the terse staging and direction say as much about the discourse around relationships in war as the text does itself.

Dying City purports to be a study of dissolution, betrayal and invasion, but as I type that, I feel like I should be writing a blurb for Days of Our Lives. The plot hinges upon events that have occurred in the not distant memory- upon events in which we are still embroiled- but it never brings itself about to create a narrative critique or build any analytic inferences from events in the context of the world to the story of the play. If we are to believe that play is occurring at a specific point in history, as Iraq, references to Jon Stewart, Tivo and “Law & Order” force us to, then there is precious little space to give themes space to breathe. Shinn does the text no favors by trying to pack in themes- sexual violence is mentioned, but not explored, infidelity, homophobic slurs, suicide, drug abuse, all these things swirl darkly in a play that says that it needs to expands the discourse but condescends to doing so. It is a theatrical trick that comes off as formally executed anger at 2004.

Returning home, I turned to MPR, and there was Dick Gordon wrapping up “The Story”. In response to a listener’s rhetorical query as to why the media was always surprised about the decency of everyday people, Gordon editorialized to the crux of the difference between these two examinations. He said, “in times like these, people’s true stories are what the country needs.” The heart of analysis and criticism is always coming back to the questions- Why This, and Why Now? To make a theme dependent upon context is to weaken it's staying power, but to articulate the story independent of context can make it work in any time and place, and make the moment critical again.

Shadowlands runs November 1 - December 21, 2008 (Opening November 07) on the McGuire Proscenium Stage.

Dying City has closed, but check for future Bottling Company productions.

Random Arcana: Simon Jones as Arthur Dent in the BBC's production of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I thought that C.S. Lewis seemed familiar!

Music as Discourse

2008-11-09T09:16:00.011-06:00

My sophomore year at the U of M, I enrolled in an upper level Cultural Studies course called "Music as Discourse." We spent the large part of a winter digging deep into pieces of music - Laurie Anderson's O Superman, a version of Oh Danny Boy as sung by an Irish folk singer whose name has faded into the unreadable makeup of my memory, Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska, even Sir Mix-a-lot. We discussed authenticity versus superficiality, and how two almost identical songs can leave the listener feeling wholly different based on a variety of almost indeterminate factors. I took a test, got a B+ (which I am legitimately proud of, as my CLA adviser was taking the same class and could only manage a C), and moved on with college life. I have not directly applied the skills I was taught in that class in life, but if there was ever a chance to do so, I give you the new Of Montreal album, Skeletal Lamping.

To start with the title - Kevin Barnes (who pretty much is Of Montreal, at least in the studio) says, "This record is my attempt to bring all of my puzzling, contradicting, disturbing, humorous...fantasies, ruminations and observations to the surface, so that I can better dissect and understand their reason for being in my head. Hence the title, Skeletal Lamping. Lamping is the name of a rather dreadful hunting technique where, hunters go into the forest at night, flood an area in light, then shoot, or capture, the animals as they panic and run from their hiding places."

All right, good! Even Kevin seems to understand that making puzzling, contradicting, disturbing music is, how does one say, not commercially viable. This unflinching chaos and confusion (sexual and otherwise) is this fully realized and difficult album's main strength, and perhaps, if you're not into non-linear post-gender meta-intellectual sex philosophy, you'll find it to be the biggest weakness as well. That, and the beautifully poppy hooks that emerge from the sea of Barnes only last about 30 seconds on average, before moving on to some darker place (al beit momentarily - the last track on the album is an undeniable runway romp, complete with the empty eyes and turns of the runway model.)

Simplicity and Challenge After the Jump
Lyrics from the track Women's Studies Victims:
They had painted her face like a man's mistake,
like a mental state gang banging
A sad return to the eagle-shaped mirror
I'm the kind of mannequin that cheats and
opens its eyes to the ladies of the spread.

She took me home and spit in my drink
She spoke of Jermaine Grier and freedom I don't know what to think
I took her standing in the kitchen ass against the sink
She draped me in a stole
(what kind?) I think Malaysian mink
She threw me out into the snow; I waited for the bus
Up come some values voters screaming, 'are you one of us'
I said of course man, can't you see I've got some text reconstruction?
(What does that mean?)
No clue
It must be an illicit pentagram
(What are you talking about?)
No clue

And if this doesn't make any sense out of context, some background. Midway through the last Of Montreal album, in the midst of a 12-minute long breakdown, Kevin Barnes allegedly becomes Georgie Fruit, a black man in his late forties who has been through multiple sex changes. Barnes has often taken on the Georgie Fruit stage persona (complete with cross-dressing and memorably captured last year by Pitchfork photographers in Vegas, full frontal nudity - showing us that Mr. Barnes, at least, has not himself undergone any outwardly evident gender shifts.) This album marks the first that he has written entirely in the voice of his alter ego. It's hard not to think of Ziggy Stardust in this context, but I think there's something more interesting going on here - Bowie and Barnes are quite different, both in sex appeal and personal background, and to simplify for the sake of simplifying would be a mistake.

Which brings us back to the album again! There is no simplification here - how amazing, in this day and age of sound bites and 3 minute hits, is that? There is no condescension present either, which for me is the key to this album's success. What makes this an authentic experience? Is it arbitrary? For me, it's the intense focus and darkness present throughout the album that keeps it from treading over the line of indulgence. The moment you might get a whiff of Mr. Barnes being "clever," or making music like an "asshole," would be the moment you might turn off to the album. In my opinion (certainly not shared by all), this moment of turn-off does not happen. I've listened to it over and over, first on headphones on an Amtrak train, watching the trees and buildings flash by in hypnotic fashion, listening the album and remaining vulnerable and open to it even after two straight minutes of stomach turning repetitious "CD Skipping" guitar riffs. There's a narrative somewhere, and the beautiful moments that you try so hard to hold onto the first few listens become somehow larger and warmer and more humanistic in repeat visits to the album.

If I had a thesis due, I'd pick this album to write about.
If I want to be transported and introspectively uncomfortable, I'll listen to this album.
If I want to make my guests comfortable at a party, I would probably NOT play this album.

Still - if you haven't listened to it yet, come on over and we'll have a listening party. It's well worth the hour of your time, even if you end up hating it. Challenge is good. Difficulty is good. Yes we can.

Contest: Win Tickets to see O'Death & Lucy Michelle at the Entry!

2008-11-08T00:53:00.006-06:00

O'Death, Drakkar Sauna, and Lucy Michelle & the Velvet Lapelles play the 7th Street entry on Monday, November 10th.

Cake In 15 is happy to offer 2 pairs of tickets to the show! Just email CakeIn15@gmail.com by noon on Monday for your chance to win. Winners will be notified by email by 2pm on Monday.

Woot!

CLAPPERCLAW is this Saturday!

2008-11-07T07:58:00.000-06:00

Yes, it is shameless self promotion. Yes, we've been putting together a crazy mix of Arts, Fashion, Film and Music. And yes, it's gonna be the best party in town.

www.clapperclawfestival.com!

Not Much Else To Say...

2008-11-04T23:29:00.003-06:00

...except WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TODAY: Hope Over Fear

2008-11-04T07:39:00.004-06:00

It's morning again in America, where we get to make our voices heard and choose our future. Get out there, do it for the first time, I guarantee you will feel better about yourself. If you don't know where to go, click here. And if you don't know how to vote, just ask yourself a simple question- Are you better off now than you were 4 years ago? If not, it is time for change.

Who doesn't like free coffee?

2008-11-03T19:28:00.002-06:00

Thanks Starbucks!

Now that I have your attention, and this is important - don't forget to actually vote. This is your voice and it affects us all. Don't skip it. Don't sleep in. You have a right so take advantage of it.

Please.

To find your polling place, go here.

Cake Crumbs... Bits of the D

2008-11-01T20:22:00.005-06:00

Tonight one member of Cake in 15 was lucky enough to score a ticket to the Get Out the Vote tour at Roy Wilkins Auditorium in St. Paul. Because we had other plans tonight, we went purely for "the D." Tenacious D, that is. Jack Black and Kyle Gass rocked the house by basically catering to the crowd's desire to hear the most popular tracks from The D's self-titled album. I was running late, I'll admit, so I walked in to "Wonderboy," which made me so very happy. I have a huge closet love of that D album, and I was excited to see it being performed live in front of me.

"Wonderboy"

Of course, it's not Tenacious D without some potential offense, so I hope you're offended with this bit of "Fuck Her Gently." heh.

"Fuck Her Gently"

Overall I found the guys to be amazing live. Just as expected, they put all their energy into their performance. The vocals were clear, the guitars were rockin' and the audience was going nuts. I wish there'd been more, but they ended with probably their biggest and oldest song, "Tribute." Ahhh happy, happy me.

Conor Oberst & the Mystic Valley Band: Hope Over Fear

2008-10-29T23:41:00.011-06:00

Conor Oberst & the Mystic Valley Band, First Avenue, 10/29/2008

Given his prolific career over a short lifespan, I should really do a full write-up of Conor Oberst and his new outfit, the Mystic Valley Band. But with Election Day and the Clapperclaw Festival coming up fast, I can't fit much more in my head, so here are just a few brief thoughts on the show:

1)Thank you Billings. Billings, Montana was one of three "hometowns" Oberst called out for the Mystic Valley Band, the other two being Tepoztlan, Mexico, where the disc was cut and good ol' Minneapolis, where he test ran material in a two-day stand at the 400 Bar late last year. But it was in Billings that guitarist Taylor Hollingsworth played with the band for the first time, the extra spark of country lightening to galvanize the band. Hollingsworth had some of the sweetest moments of the night, from the dead sexy barroom lead on "Corina Corina" to the sparse slide to close on "Breezy". Neither would have been out of place on Blonde on Blonde or Modern Times, and was a great example of how talent magnifies talent.

2)The band's the thing, but it rises and falls with the bandleader. After ceding lead to the band as a whole on an enegetic but average "Get Well Cards", Oberst took it all back home for "Cape Canaveral". In blue light and with hushed, forward intensity, he showed why his reputation as a songwriter is so well deserved and why he can draw crowds, and collaborators. The best Conor can be sung holding on to someone else, or trying to hold on to yourself.

3)"Victory's sweet/Even deep in the cheap seats." Living and working for something grander or more expansive than the introspection/narcissm for which he has been previously derided by some has done Oberst good. I won't deny that I was hoping for some of those older songs, knowing that the MVB has been doing "Lua" and "Bowl of Oranges" on the road. But whether it is the band, or getting into politics backing the Obama campaign, Oberst seemed happier, more upbeat than previous incarnations, a pleasure to watch riff around, grownup, earnest and hopeful. And with the stadiums Obama's been packing, there is plenty of good company up there in the nosebleeds.

Setlist
Nikorette
Sausolito
Get Well Cards
Cape Canaveral
Moab
Slowly
I Got a Reason #1
Spoiled
Corina Corina
I Got a Reason #2
NYC
Souled Out
Milk Thistle

Encore
Snake Hill
Sundown
Kodachrome (Paul Simon Cover)
Hospital
Breezy

Classic Conor: "When The President Talks to God". The opening to this video calls it a "music video, only shitty". Like the last 8 years: a President, only shitty. Here comes change.

One Day More!

2008-10-29T06:32:00.002-06:00

Oh. My. Lord. Or should I say, Oh. Mon. Dieu.

Love Obama. Hate musicals. Love lip-synching. Les Misbarack wins!

Minneapolis Artists for Obama

2008-10-28T21:26:00.006-06:00

My boyfriend, c.a.s., introduced me to the Scanner blog a while ago and I read it every day. About a week ago the females at Scanner decided to remake a great Joan Baez poster created during the last draft. I really liked it, and posted the remake as my Facebook photo - tagging three of my girlfriends as the other three women. Little did I know that it would be picked up by a local online media source and posted... tagging myself and my three friends (the Gossip Girls) as the pretty faces. Oops.

As a result of the oops, and just really enjoying what the photo stood for, my friends and I decided to do it up Minneapolis style. What you see above is the Minneapolis version of the original Baez photo, skewed to reflect our position on the upcoming election. Pictured are Andrea Swensson, Alexa Jones, and Stacy Schwartz. Please feel free to repost and spread the word - but most importantly, don't forget to vote on Tuesday, November 4th.

Click here for the original Scanner post and Baez/Scanner photos.

RockNRollCupcake: 10/28/08

2008-10-28T21:18:00.008-06:00

Stanley Jordan Trio, the Dakota, 10/28/2008

This is actually a jazz cupcake, to my delight. I have written before that I don't know understand jazz- but I do understand exuberance, and am impressed (maybe too easily sometimes) by musical precision and virtuosic play. So when Stanley Jordan riffs jazz guitar Mozart, with joyful head bobs and arm flails for emphasis, you will forgive, and understand, the smile across my face.

I was lucky enough to be at the Dakota with an old friend, to whom credit must go for introducing me to jazz back in high school with the works of John McLaughlin, Al DiMeola and Miles' Bitches Brew. We came in with enough time to catch Jordan in his opening solo numbers, sparse high notes scaling up and down, action close to the fretboard, hands almost touching and exerting the minimum visible effort but providing an explosive flow of crisp notes that carried over the rapt silence of the crowd. Not only was he a thrill to listen to, but also to watch; bass notes for added emphasis were played with his chin!

This was full contact, swaying jazz, only intensified with accompaniment from his excellent backing bass and drums. With the band, he moved through asymmetrical covers of Jobim, "Autumn Leaves", and a mean, pulsing jam that opened with bassist Charnett Moffett tackling "Amazing Grace" in a minor key. After the jam and some more solo numbers, Jordan took the mic to talk about his other projects, including a CD of music he had recorded with a music therapist to get him through three days of dental work, Relaxing Music for Difficult Situations, I. Jordan was soft-spoken but effusive; full of talk about the interconnected nature of humanity and the logical progression of "correct action" from the realization that there is only one Earth, not surprising talk from a man who resides in Sedona, Arizona. The trio closed with an original number from the new disc State of Nature entitled "A Place In Space", upbeat, sprawling, full of chaos and hope. Who needs understanding when you've got joy?

*A note on the Dakota: Go there. Get an appetizer or two, catch Nachito Herrera, talk to the awesome staff. Try and convince them to book DeVotchKa, or Beirut, because that would be an amazing show, without compromising the musical ethos of the place. Support homegrown music in all it's forms, even if you have to dress up a little to get it.

Amazing.

2008-10-27T13:39:00.002-06:00

Idolator just posted this, and it's awesome enough that I have to as well.

Awesome election version of T.I.'s "Whatever You Like." These kids rock.

Of Montreal Shakes Up First Avenue

2008-10-27T13:37:00.002-06:00

Of Montreal is well known for their outlandish stage shows, and their latest at First Avenue definitely fit that description. First Ave's stage was extended about 10 feet into the pit and the barrier was an additional 3 - 4 feet back from that, taking up half the available floor space for the crowd. It makes sense that First Ave pulled the tickets from their outlets early as a result.

Kids in wings, kids in makeup, kids with multicolored hair - they were all there. All bouncing, screaming, and reaching for the man. The one and only Kevin Barnes. The lead singer and face of the band, he's been getting a lot of love and attention lately. Both Rolling Stone and Paste Magazine had big feature stories this month and Of Montreal just released their new album Skeletal Lamping. In other words, the band's been busy.

The show began with gold Buddhas, but included skeletons, people dressed as animals, mythical beasts, warpaint, shaving cream, and a whole lot of feathers. Over the top? Maybe, but if any of these things would've been missing, it wouldn't have been an Of Montreal show. It was an amazing dance fest that included songs from various albums and had the crowd screaming along to every word. The band ended on a high note too; Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit." It was incredibly fun, and all you have to do is check out the slide show below to get a taste of the insanity. Set list after the jump:

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.
Click here for Set List

Set List:
Intro
Id Engager
So Begins Our Alabee
Triphallus, to Punctuate!
She's a Rejecter
For Our Elegant Caste
Touched Something's Hollow
An Eluardian Instance
Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse
Gallery Piece
Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games
Women's Studies Victims
St. Exquisite's Confessions
Eros' Entropic Tundra (Sad Love)
Nonpareil of Wisdom
October is Eternal
Wicked Wisdom
Disconnect the Dots
Knight Rider
And I've Seen a Bloody Shadow
Plastis Wafer
Beware Our Nubile Miscreants
Mingusings
Konsvinger

ENCORE
(Anyone keep track of the first two encore songs?)
Smells Like Teen Spirit (Nirvana Cover)

Coming Soon to the Fetus...

2008-10-24T19:20:00.007-05:00

Oct. 28 - Listening party for The Cure's new album 4:13 Dream
Free pizza! 7pm

Nov. 8 - Eagles of Death Metal in-store, Time 3pm

Nov. 11 - Tom Morello in-store, 6pm

RockNRollCupcake: 10/23/2008

2008-10-24T09:24:00.015-05:00

*Some nights you just want a quick snack- it's easier, with less prep and clean-up involved. It really hits the spot right around midnight. In that vein, we present RockNRollCupcake, a tasty text morsel with a dollop of photo frosting. Perfect for late nights, or early mornings, and general noshings.

The Rumble Strips with Birdmonster and Marvelle, 7th St Entry, 10/23/2008

With a name like Marvelle, you've gotta be thinking the Shirelles, or Patti LaBelle, or at least "I-put-a spell" vinyl Camaro cock-rock. But nope. The local outfit is a drums-bass-electric-violin combo trafficking in a heavy metal inflected with King Crimson and Eastern European folk dance (courtesy of John Holm's violin). Accompanied by a live painter who is listed as a band member on their Myspace, and with songs that sounded as though the bassist may have been reading aloud from The Lord Of The Rings, much of the early part of the set seemed to call for being epicly stoned, circa 1976. Their last two songs tightened up and showed a promise of clarity with the violin scaling several octaves and a classic drum-lead rat-a-tat repartee to go out on a bang.

NOM NOM NOM

I was blank on Birdmonster before the show, but they left the stage having won another fan. Granted, I may be soft for uncomplicated but layered guitar rock, but the boys from San Francisco were all smiles from stage and upbeat, cathartic. They delivered with lots of peppy dancing, and there were shifts enough to show of some sweet rhythm guitar lines and folky vocal breaks in the vein of other indie outfits like Bishop Allen or the now-defunct Page France. Birdmonster is now touring behind their new release From The Mountain To The Sea, and it's a friendly, appealing disc. Let the kids have their stage, and moment in the light.

The Rumble Strips did not, as David Klein of Birdmonster informed us, come from New Jersey. They came from England and sounded, to quote an unnamed source, "like the Bosstones from Brighton." Not so flattering; the horns were there and some nice trills & frills, but it seemed like half a show, half-hearted, like frontman Charlie Waller's half-finished pompadour. I checked out after the first couple songs, because for the best of Merry Olde England, there was a Richard Hawley CD waiting for me at home.

Video: Birdmonster's "Iditarod" video!

Bonus: Richard Hawley's video for "Tonight the Streets are Ours". Election Day is around the corner!

Local Label Draw Fire Records Heads to CMJ

2008-10-22T18:40:00.002-05:00

Cake In 15 took a few minutes for an e-interview with Holly Munoz, one of the head honchos of Minneapolis record label Draw Fire Records. Draw Fire has actually chartered a bus to take them to the CMJ (College Music Journal) festival in New York City, and we thought we'd ask them why before they headed out on their great adventure.

Cake In 15: What made you decide to start a record label?

Holly Munoz: I started Draw Fire as I were preparing to release Aviette's debut album, Until We Hear From Dave. What started as a "Why not?" has become a resounding, "Um, yeah, this was such a great idea."

Ci15: Who or what band was the first you signed?

HM: In chronological order, Aviette, Me and Kyle, The Glad Version, Stook!, Sam Keenan, Bill Mike Band, Adam Svec.

Ci15: How do you choose which bands to work with? How many are on your label now?

HM: A) We have to love the music and we would prefer to like the artists as people. Considering that the label is founded on cooperative principles, it is important that our artists share similar values. B) 7

Ci15: Where do you go to find new music or bands you may be interested in signing?

HM: Live shows. Suggestions from our bands. Demos.
(Ed. Note: Demos can be mailed to: Draw Fire Records, PO Box 65332, St. Paul, MN 55165)

Ci15: How do you balance running a label with your full time jobs and other responsibilities?

HM: Coffee and brass balls.

Read more about Draw Fire after the jump

Ci15: In your opinion, how important is it to attend music festivals like CMJ or SXSW for smaller labels?

HM: Very important. Independent artists are faced with more challenges than ever before (i.e., high gas prices, file sharing, etc.). It's imperative that artists start working together to expand resources and come up with creative ways to promote and distribute their music.

Ci15: Why CMJ? (versus SXSW or another music festival) What do you hope to gain by participating?

HM: CMJ is the largest and industry event of its kind. It's a great opportunity for our label to build its brand and for our artists to expand their audience.

Cake in 15 wishes all the musicians and hard working friends at Draw Fire a safe trip. Updates on their journey can be found on the HowWasTheShow blog here.

Yael Naim: The Joy of Speaking in Tongues

2008-10-22T16:21:00.023-05:00

After winning tickets to see Yael Naim at the Cedar Cultural Center, I confess not being wholly sold or thrilled. "Cute," I thought to myself, "another international artist getting sales boost from the Mac advertising juggernaut. File under CSS and the Ting Tings." I have to not be so snarky with myself (although sometimes it works- you just have to know when to admit you're wrong.)

Naim, who is French-Israeli and speaks with a laughing lilt, came onstage with her backing band (David Donatien on percussion and chief arrangement, Laurent David on bass, and Xavier Tribolet on keys) and announced that they had "done a long road from Paris, where we recorded this album in a very small apartment." The group then broke into pop-jazz numbers, led by Naim on guitar and accompanied by full synth (and somehow, very French) backing keys. The opening tracks contained a hint of Naim's vocal range, but as she went over to the the upright piano, the Cedar employee carrying up a mug confirmed that she might have been fighting against the odds. Once at the keyboard though, she announced that she was going play a cover song by an unnamed friend and then began to playfully tap out a melody, singing a husky bar-room chanson that grew in scope and abandon. The song became grander, Naim's pipes stretched and bent, hung with anticipation and then unlocking its warmth, like being let in on a pop culture joke. The song was "Toxic," the unnamed friend was Britney Spears.

Language as a means of communication after the jump!

Try not to get swept along with a woman self-deprecating enough to do a full throated cover of "Toxic," or who will mix up French and English in "Game Is Over," by declaring that she's "seen the lumiere" - or unafraid to call her younger self pretentious, as she did while introducing "New Soul," the track of Mac fame. When she sang "Paris," a whirl of a love song to the city in French and Hebrew, she laughed that you would hear some "ch-ch-ch" sounds. "Why Do We" asked the question of why do we fall in love, and why do we hurt each other so, complete with accordion reeling into conga breakdowns, Middle-Eastern inflected rhythm, and spacing that gave Donatien, David and Tribolet their chance to shine. Throughout the night she was effusive and ebullient, cajoling singing out of the crowd, who sang with trepidation but applauded with abandon.

Standing in the back of the Cedar watching Naim onstage, a litany of referents flowed from her music. The notepaper I was scribbling on became filled with other musicians and song snippets in my attempt to triangulate her. It is a testament to the Cedar that some of the best comparisons came from shows that I had seen there: Annie Clark of St. Vincent, and Keren Ann - another Parisienne songstress. Still, it was exhausting editing it all down, because the show was so singularly full of light, funny and hopeful, and then the thought struck. There are people who are just themselves because they are so unique they are unclassifiable, and there are those who are so expansive that they seem to come from all directions. These sets are by no means mutually exclusive - especially not when you are talking in three distinct languages but conversing in one universal idiom.

Setlist
Far Far
Too Long
Toxic
The Only One
Dire
Paris
Yashanti
Endless Song of Happiness
Find Us
Why Do We
Man Of
New Soul
Game Is Over

Also: Slideshow with more of Staciaann Photography's photos at CityPages.com!

Tangentially related: The Cedar hosts Jolie Holland this Saturday, which is spiffy. Even spiffier is opener Herman Dune, a laid back folkie whose funnyman music videos are directed by my friend of a long time past, Toben Seymour. Check out this little gem for "My Home is Nowhere Without You":

miniStories Reading at the Ritz

2008-10-22T15:51:00.006-05:00

miniStories is a juried short story competition hosted by mnartists and coordinated by Electric Arc Radio's Geoff Herbach. Stories are selected, judged, and finalists get a reading that's open to the public before the final selections are published in access + ENGAGE.

Cake In 15 is proud to announce that contributor Dan O. is one of the selected finalists, and since he is out of town this coming Monday, Cake in 15 boyfriend c.a.s. is headed down to the Ritz to read his short story Al Gore's Island. You should come down too, and catch some of the funny, off-beat literature happening in your backyard. (And check out access + ENGAGE too - the format is terrible, but the content can be great.)

miniStories Reading
Ritz Theater
343 13th Ave NE
7pm, Monday 10/27/2008

(*The image above is the first Google Image search result for "Al Gore's Island". Go figure.)

TV On The Radio: Uplifting Serious

2008-10-21T23:04:00.018-05:00

Here's the thing about TV On The Radio- they are in equal measure serious, musical, complex, obscure and at their show you can chuck that all out the window and dance. That's actually not accurate: the layered harmonies, heavy percussion and tempo changes are the main reason you want to move so hard. It's not an ironic self-awareness like Beck or a conscious push towards dancing fun like the Go Team, TVOTR bless the show with a hypnotic sway- vocalist Tunde Adebimpe jitterbugging, hands fluttering, guest instrumentalist Stuart Bogie jumping up and down and the all-ages crowd at First Ave Tuesday night spinning all over like a weighted top. Adebimpe told the crowd after "Dirtywhirl," "Thanks for dancing- that's encouraging for the future of the world." The amount of sheer danceability almost problematizes how serious TVOTR as a band, and how far they push themselves and their audiences.

As Adebimpe whipped up a frenzy, guitarist/producers Kyp Malone and David Andrew Sitek held the heavy end down, pushing layered drones and sirens while Jaleel Bunton on drums and Gerard Smith on keys kept the foundations shifting forward. Material from the brand-spanking new Dear Science was played close enough to the record so as to ensure recognition, and the crowd perked up to the almost Prince-inflected (and subject of absurd but serious but mythic but kitch video) "Golden Age" and the upbeat but dark "Crying" that Adebimpe attacked like a modern "Subterranean Homesick Blues" - and Malone with his Ginsburgian beard fit right in.

Sounds, Setlists & Side Projects after the jump!

It was the re-imagining of tracks from 2006's smash Return to Cookie Mountain that was revelatory of the adventurous spirit. This was a disc that started off with the lyric "I was a lover before this war," a definitive statement grounded in the times but expansive. As Malone noted before "Blues From Down Here," "I wrote a song in the past about now." The re-orchestrations distilled the best parts of that heavily layered disc; Adebimpe's bass vox, Malone's high tenor, a riff and hook and then all else exploded with new possibility. "Wolf Like Me" became a a series of layered tonalities over which Adebimpe roared, "A Method" was totally stripped down to an organ melody and a clatter, with as many shakers, blocks, and tambourines the band could get their hands on. They even had openers The Dirtbombs come back out to give them a hand.

Detroit's The Dirtbombs were a revelation in their own right. A long standing band, laboring for years in rock and roll obscurity, you could trace lineage far-flung from garage punk to Bootsy Collins in their sound. They drove it hard, as a band from the Motor City should. Frontman Mick Collins and guitar/vox Ko Mellina had a great Frank Black/Kim Deal exchange going on, and Collins would on occasion break apart a song with noises from his guitar that would make it seem as though an electrical current was passing directly through him. That's no bad thing, and they were heartily endorsed several times by TVOTR from stage - "Now you know," Malone remarked. It's not in the darkness or dourness that something becomes serious or important, but in the care, the sharing, and the pleasure separating itself out from pain.

Setlist
Young Liars
Wrong Way
Golden Age
Crying
Halfway Home
Wolf Like Me
Dirtywhirl
Stork & Owl
Shout Me Out
Dancing Choose
Blues From Down Here
Satellite

Encore
Family Tree
A Method
Let The Devil In
Staring

Check out: TVOTR as Photo of the Week at www.HowWasTheShow.com

Also: Kyp Malone announces new releases with side project Iran. [Via Pitchfork]

And: Kyp Malone engages in some songwriting/free associative beat poetry/dressing down of hecklers at Cake Shop in 2007.

Culture Bully Blogs for Charity

2008-10-20T18:49:00.003-05:00

One of Cake In 15's favorite blogs, CultureBully.com, is teaming up with DonorsChoose.org for a three day fundraising campaign supporting music development and literacy within local Twin Cities schools. Beginning at 10:00am (Central) on Monday, October 20 Culture Bully will be posting exclusive content at least once an hour, every hour for 60 HOURS!

With the support of over 50 local and national musicians these posts will include exclusive commentaries by the likes of Josh Grier of Tapes 'n Tapes, Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, YouTube legend Tay Zonday, Kid Dakota, Maria Isa, Kristoff Krane, M.anifest and many, many more! Additionally, Culture Bully will be debuting brand new music from 14 local acts including Jeremy Messersmith, Roma di Luna, Little Man, Nobot, Dan Israel, Heiruspecs and Lucy Michelle and the Velvet Lapelles.

The link to donate directly to DonorsChoose.org is here. Also be sure to check out the awesome content being posted and get a few mp3s for your effort.

Beastie Boys Pre-Sale!

2008-10-14T02:17:00.003-05:00

The Legendary Roy Wilkins Auditorium has announced that the Beastie Boys Swing State Voter Awareness Tour, with a knockout lineup featuring live performance sets by Beastie Boys, Ben Harper, Tenacious D, and others, will make a stop at The Legendary Roy Wilkins Auditorium in Saint Paul on Saturday, November 1 at 7 PM.

Pre-sale tickets will be available on a first-come, first-served basis on Thursday, October 16 from 10 AM - 10 PM or when tickets are no longer available. Tickets are subject to applicable Ticketmaster fees. Ticket limit is 8.

Internet Presale password = VOTE

Justin Pierre of Motion City Soundtrack

2008-10-14T01:18:00.016-05:00

Justin Pierre of Minneapolis' Motion City Soundtrack performed a 45 minute acoustic set on the UofM campus to support Senatorial candidate Al Franken. St. Paul Representative John Lesch was on hand, as well as plenty of Franken supporters, all who encouraged the students in attendance to make sure they register to vote - as tomorrow is the deadline. Minnesota is, however, a same-day registration state, and one could just register at the polls. I can tell you from experience, however, that it's much quicker to just get it over with and do it before election day.

Lesch talked a bit with students about Obama and his views on Iraq. He stressed the need for Obama, if elected, to have support in Congress in order to accomplish stated goals, and "Franken is the man to help make that happen." He also talked about things like student loan rates, grant programs (things the cost of the war is taking away), and health insurance. When asked who actually had health insurance, only about half of those in attendance were able to raise their hands. Change is painfully needed.

Once Pierre came in front of the small crowd, he began his set with Attractive Today, a hit off the "Commit This to Memory" release.
Things moved along swiftly with plenty of joking and laid-back attitude. Pierre did stop and talk about seeing Franken on SNL growing up, but said that he's also read some of the candidate's books, and done some research on his own. The singer said it was Franken's intelligence in this forum that's really impressed him. Sick of career politicians, Pierre said that Franken doesn't seem like the kind of guy who will be "owned" by lobbyists or another Washington group. Instead, Franken wants to do something with our current political system to make a difference. After these quick statements, Pierre went back to doing what he does best, entertaining a crowd and playing some sweet tracks from MCS's discography.

Video, more photos, and the set list after the jump

Here's some slightly less than completely terrible video I took with my Blackberry phone of the event (set list below):

Fell In Love Without You

The Future Freaks Me Out

Set List:
Attractive Today
Fell In Love Without You
The Future Freaks Me Out
Better Open the Door
My Favorite Accident
Modern Chemistry
Broken Heart
Everything is Alright

Full photo set here.

This Poster Makes Me Laugh

2008-10-13T21:02:00.000-05:00

...and the real guys

Cold War Kids: Heavier on Record

2008-10-13T01:22:00.016-05:00

Cold War Kids aren't Sunny Cali-forn-i-yay. They come from Nixon's stomping grounds, where the California sun has a bitter and unrepentant glare and this honest, crushing constancy is embodied in the best Cold War Kids songs. The narratives wrap you in and push you through a sharp lens, like a John Cheever short story. Whether it's the opening crash of "We Used to Vacation" and the announcement from Nathan Willett that he's "just an honest man/provide for me and mine" to the wail that "Nobody gave us names/Like Mexican dogs" from "Mexican Dogs," you cannot fault CWK for their ambitious story telling.

Sometimes though, as at the Fine Line Music Cafe, crammed to uncomfortable capacity with brosephs and yuppies, earnest examination becomes performative and gimmicky. Playing with the lights off and shining Maglite flashlights into the crowd seemed less sinister and more like rowdy campers trying to tell ghost stories. The "whi-wh-whites of your eyes" from "Hang Me Up to Dry" ceased to have a frustrated anger and became rote. Yes, the crowd cheered and sang along to "Vacation," "Hospital Beds," and "Hang" - no doubt due in part to the generous radio play received by those songs. Yes, you can expect songs from the break-out album to be better recognized. But these songs also sounded better live than offerings from the newly released Loyalty to Loyalty. "Something Is Not Right With Me" came off as shrill and solipsistic, "Coffee Spoons" had me looking around for Nick Urata of DeVotchKa to do a better version, and "Mexican Dogs" sounded like a dime-a-dozen guitar quartet.

Cliffhanger Criticism Continues!

Which may be the crux of dissatisfaction with the new release - it seems to have jettisoned the jittery pool-hall piano blues in favor of layered guitars that simply are not as compelling. The keys gave CWK a channel to the hard-boiled American stories by the likes of Skip James and were a broken, angular, percussive composition that lent the boys from sunny Cali a gravitas. Opener AA Bondy (written about previously in Cake In 15 here) kept his songs grounded in that more conventional American bluesman trope, but leavened it with his ironic wit and simple backing built upon amped guitars and fuzz. Bondy's American Heart release isn't as ambitious as the Cold War Kids and so his straightforward performance came across more easily, with more focus.

Not that CWK put on a bad show by any measure - watching bassist Matt Maust wheel around and stroke out low dark tones was like watching an Egon Schiele drawing in motion, and guitarist Jonnie Russell with drummer Matt Aveiro ably held their own and drove the tempo. Still, the weight of these disappointments and the heft of the crowd pushed me out into the alleyway, where the night was mild and a little smoky, and snippets of people's lives came in from conversations and spilled drinks on all sides. And when Willett and Co. came back out for an encore of "St. John," it came out crackling, a little distant, then picked itself up off the bricks and danced hard.

Free downloads from Loyalty to Loyalty here, courtesy of RCRDLBL.

"St. John" from the Takeaway Shows by La Blogotheque:

Ticket Giveaway! INDIA: Public Places, Private Spaces Preview Party

2008-10-13T00:21:00.008-05:00

Alright, we just posted about something you can give us, now we've got something the give to you. The Minneapolis Institute of Art will be opening their new show, INDIA: Public Places, Private Spaces, on Sunday, October 26th, but they are giving members a sneak peak and throwing a Preview Party on Saturday the 25th. CakeIn15 has ticket for you and a friend to go to the preview party; your chance to see the show first, nosh, mingle and enjoy live music and Indian dance.

Coming out of the world's largest democracy and heart of recent tech and industrial growth, the artwork promises to be "the real deal, deep and rich," writes The New York Times, and the show includes interactive tech and media elements, so don't expect it to be a run of the mill paintings-on-the-wall show.

Write to cakein15@gmail.com with "INDIA" as the subject line and the winner will be randomly selected on Tuesday the 21st- in time to get you your tickets!

INDIA: Public Places, Private Spaces Preview Party
Saturday, October 25, 2008
8 p.m. – Midnight
Target Gallery

Of course, you can also join the MIA before the preview party and they'll give you two free tickets to the Preview Party, as well as free tickets to the exhibit (normally $8).

Fleet Foxes at the Cedar Cultural Center

2008-10-12T13:37:00.004-05:00

Fleet Foxes are a band that come along so rarely. My father and I can listen to the album together without either one wincing. For him, it brings back memories of The Kingston Trio or The Lettermen with the harmonies pouring forth from mouths. For me, it's 360 degrees of amazing musicianship. A beautifully updated version of the past. It brings the word pastoral to mind not because of any subject matter the songs use, but more because I imagine myself in rolling hills shepherding sheep. Relaxing under the moon. Breathing life.

This band connects with many, as evidenced by the mixed crowd at the Cedar Cultural Center on a warm fall night. The two sold-out shows were hot, sweaty, and wonderful. Lead singer Robin Pecknold peppered the crowd with quips and queries. The audience members had no problem responding to some odd looks Pecknold would assume at various points throughout the evening. The entire band was not only musically stunning, but almost as equally entertaining. They interacted with each other well, playing off comments about the Rock the Vote bus parked outside (their "Straight Talk Express"). They wondered aloud why anyone would be happy with a "Joe six-pack" in the White House... "who wants to be called the lowest common denominator?" They giggled while talking about Pecknold removing his shirt to ease the profuse sweat pouring down his face. They discussed the brand name "Celestial Seasonings," and joked about and with each other during their tenure on stage.

At one point during the show all band members save Pecknold left the stage. What occurred I can't explain, but maybe can be shown by a sub par You Tube video. The sound, of course, isn't the greatest, but it's not bad. Maybe it will give you a hint of what the audience enjoyed.

After this short solo set, the band rejoined Pecknold on the stage. They glided through the songs on their self-titled album, and the crowd was blissfully silent. It was a show that left me happily floating, ready to go out into the cool air and home to a loved one.

Full Photo Set here.

Download mp3:
White Winter Hymnal

Buena Vista Social Club at Carnegie Hall

2008-10-11T01:43:00.007-05:00

If anyone is looking to send an early Christmas present our way, head on over and order the 2-disc concert recording Buena Vista Social Club at Carnegie Hall that Nonesuch Records is releasing this Tuesday. Wim Wenders included footage from this concert in his documentary, but this is the first time that the full live recording has been made available. This is bittersweet, now that some of the greatest elements of the Buena Vista Social Club- singer Ibrahim Ferrer, pianist Ruben Gonzalez and guitarist Compay Segundo- have gone up to the big hootenanny in the sky.

I saw them, my first concert in the States, late fall 1999, cold and after the first snow, on a field trip with my Spanish class. Ms. Lundberg, whose Scandanavian surname always contained a cognitive dissonance in describing the tiny Cuban firecracker, rightly convinced the St. Paul Public School District that this was a cultural event that could not be missed and herded us all onto buses to Northrop Auditorium. I remember Ferrer grinning wildly and twinkling in the lights, the stately Omara Portuondo accompanying him and seeming to float above the rowdy joy from the band. They all lit up the stage, crackling with energy and a grace that made the music transcendent of the politics that had kept them unknown and almost scuppered the tour, and made a kid on field trip feel like things were connected at their very core by an excitement that could be made palpable- it was visible in the people standing, cheering, swinging out in the aisles to two-step, ushers standing to the side and everyone partying. Don't deprive yourself of that kind of feeling, either live or on record.

Yeah Baby!

2008-10-10T19:11:00.003-05:00

The Rock the Vote bus will prolly be there too... Woot!!

Shameless Self Promotion

2008-10-08T13:28:00.003-05:00

Theater company Lamb Lays with Lion is holding a staged reading of a new play 10/14, written by CakeIn15 contributor Dan O. and featuring CakeIn15 boyfriend c.a.s. We're proud of it, it's ours, we'd like it to be yours.

Dates: ONE NIGHT ONLY- Tuesday October 14, 8pm
Tickets: Free Admission, $5-20 suggested donation at door
Theater Information: Cedar-Riverside People's Center Theater- 425 20th Ave S, Mpls 55454

PostSecret at the Minneapolis Library

2008-10-06T22:42:00.005-05:00

PostSecret, a blog turned into an international phenomenon, is stopping in Minneapolis to show some of its collection of postcard secrets. Frank Warren’s community art project invites people to anonymously share a secret on a postcard and send it to him. The traveling exhibit contains 400 postcards. The blog posts a new set of postcards every Sunday.

I've always enjoyed reading this blog. It's both disturbing, sad, and heartwarming all at once. People really do open their hearts in these tiny anonymous postings. There are also a few PostSecret books you can check out too.

Here is when you can catch the free exhibit:
October 4-November 30
Minneapolis Central Library
300 Nicollet Mall
Cargill Gallery

During Library Hours:
Tues., Thurs.: 10 a.m.-8 p.m.,
Wed., Fri., Sat.: 10 a.m.-6 p.m.,
Sun: Noon-5 p.m.

Thanks to City Pages for the info!

Chuck Klosterman Entertains at The Triple Rock

2008-10-03T01:39:00.034-05:00

For the second time in three years I jumped at the opportunity to check out a live interview with author and pop culture kingpin Chuck Klosterman. His books include the wonderful mish-mash of essays titled "Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs," and his first book about his own adolescence, "Fargo Rock City." Klosterman's general m.o. is to write non-fiction books and articles about what he knows... small towns, drinking, drugs, girls, and music. More specifically, metal music. Even though I myself am not a big fan of metal, I find Klosterman's writing to be extremely entertaining. As expected, the man himself does not disappoint.

Klosterman recently released his first fiction novel, titled "Downtown Owl." During his interview with The Pioneer Press' Ross Rahalia, Klosterman admitted that writing fiction was pretty tough. Even though Klosterman hasn't strayed too far from his own background of small town inhabitant, he still found it more difficult to write someone else's history. The story revolves around various characters who live in the small (fictional) town of Owl, North Dakota. I'm not going to be the one who gives you the summary off the dust jacket, and since I just got my copy of the book, you can read more about it here.

Klosterman and Rahalia discussed a myriad of topics, ranging from what was probably happening during the Vice Presidential debates to what was probably happening at the My Morning Jacket concert taking place on the other side of town. Apparently we (those in attendance) were the kind of people that didn't care about politics or MMJ, but instead flock to a nightclub to hear a crazy man rant about whatever the hell came into his head.

It is always interesting to hear the animated Klosterman talk about his writing. Rahalia asked whether this style of writing about metal, or even just music in general, would exist without "Fargo Rock City." Klosterman's opinion was that most things in life are cyclical - metal was due for a comeback and he was in the right place at the right time to write about it. Although this may be partially true, it takes a talent to really make this shit interesting to a wider audience. There are many self-professed rock critics and writers out there, but not many who do it well enough to garner the well-deserved attention Klosterman has received.

After Rahalia's interview, the audience was asked to throw out questions for the author to answer. They ranged from the absurd (something like whether time travel or thinking liquid metal were actually going to happen - Klosterman vehemently declared time travel completely implausible, and so opted for the alternative), to the expected ("What was Britney Spears really like?"). All questions were taken seriously and answered regardless of topic, because Klosterman actually has fun with his audience. Some expressed disappointment that he chose not to read from his new novel - and in fact his new book was only briefly mentioned twice during the entire night. Those members were promised an audiobook to make up for their trouble, which I thought was extremely generous.

As I end this string of ramblings about an author I adore, I leave you with a direct quote from the man himself via New York Magazine. Hopefully this gives you some idea of why I read his books.

So, how do nerdy guys get chicks? "Well," Chuck said, "it's like this. You used to be able to tell the difference between hipsters and homeless people. Now, it's between hipsters and retards. I mean, either that guy in the corner in orange safety pants holding a protest sign and wearing a top hat is mentally disabled or he is the coolest fucking guy you will ever know."

The New UnCool

2008-10-01T15:48:00.009-05:00

The first time I heard Ben Folds Five was on the radio – Back when kids used to listen to the radio and Top 40 was at least two years away from taking over along with its Clear Channel poison. The song was “Battle of Who Could Care Less,” and within a few days I had ordered the album through BMG. A little later, “Brick” hit the airways and wouldn’t go away, but I had already memorized the album and it hardly mattered that it had an overplayed single. That, plus I made out for the FIRST TIME with a girl named Sarah from Warroad, MN with Ben Folds Five playing in the background. I was fourteen years old and it was beautiful. Six years later, Sarah would be a lesbian (no joke!), and Ben Folds Five would be simply “Ben Folds,” already on the long slide down into hipster hatedom.

On September 11th – You know, thee September 11th, I had pre-existing plans of going to buy Ben’s new album “Rocking the Suburbs.” Classes were cancelled by noon, and after a few hours of watching smoking remnants and frenzied newscasters in New York, I wandered across campus to (the former) No Name Records only to find that they had sold out all the albums in stock, and due to the fact that no planes were being allowed to fly anywhere in America, would not have a new stock in until things got less “crazy” in the world. I went to four record stores that day, on foot, walking across a quiet shocked Minneapolis in search of the album, which I finally found and purchased at CD Warehouse… a place I rarely went due to lack of selection and over-all cheerlessness. That, plus they charge too much.

I went home to the dorms and devoured the album, playing it over and over again – Those opening power chords of “Zak and Sara” still make me feel that everything (regardless of what everything might be) will be, eventually, all right.

Subsequent albums were somewhat of a let-down in the face of the immediacy of “Rocking the Suburbs,” and so it was with a bit of reluctance that I stopped by the Electric Fetus to buy his brand-new Way To Normal yesterday afternoon and listened to it while I cooked gnocchi (the freeze-dried easy to prepare kind) and waiting for Katie Rose to come home from work. I wasn’t sure if it was cool to like Ben Folds anymore… No one looked at me weird at the Fetus when I bought it, but usually I get comments on ‘what a great album’ it is when I buy new junk, and this one was met with stolid silence. I wondered momentarily if this is what happened to Elton John fans in the ‘80’s. Elton was rockin’ too, remember that? Then he got chubby and elegiac.

I am pleased to report, however, that the new Ben Folds album is pretty good. It’s not great, it’s not even close to perfect, but it has enough sparkly piano and upbeat irony-clad sentiment that I look forward to going home tonight and spinning it again, bouncing around the room to that big-production synth-n-string backed power pop. It’s probably very un-cool, but I’m okay with that. It makes things seem retrospectively “all right.”

Stream Way to Normal via Spinner here.

Sarah Palin: Poetry in Motion

2008-10-01T14:51:00.005-05:00

We here at Cake in 15 pride ourselves in having read a little poetry here and there. Yes, our bodies have been sung electric and we have had elevators drop us from our day. Sylvia Plath, Nikki Giovanni, Louise Gluck, Sharon Olds, we love you ladies. But the newcomer on the scene, with her direct language as well as nuance and vivacious imagery, well, Sarah Palin, pencil yourself in for a Wallace Stevens Award. Just remember, it's important to have a good editor, and let people know where you stand.

"On Reporters"

It's funny that
A comment like that
Was kinda made to,
I don't know,
You know ...

Reporters.

(To K. Couric, CBS News, Sept. 25, 2008)

Check it all out on Slate.com here.

Live blogging from MGMT / Beck at the Roy Wilkins

2008-09-30T20:23:00.013-05:00

Well kids. There's generally good news and bad news in every story. While MGMT were better tonight than the last time I saw them, it means little when most of the betterment comes from a big stage and light show that's meant for headliner Beck. The show wasn't as sloppy or annoying, but actually proved to be... well, boring. The guitar work still wasn't anything to rave about, and their biggest "hit" Time to Pretend lacked any punch. The tune is still one of my favs to blast from my car radio while driving around with the windows down, but live it lacked the lustre even my car speakers add. It makes one a bit sick when there are better bands who provide gallons of entertainment, yet remain for the most part, unrecognized by the masses. Here's hoping Beck is a better time.

8:40pm: Beck just started, opening with 'Loser,' and the crowd is finally pulsating. His stage setup is sparse, but the lights on stage are pretty sweet - like old Hollywood set lights. I have to admit this is better than I expected.

8:58pm: Timebomb! Nah nah nah nah!

9:05pm: The rest will probably have to wait until I'm home. Stupid phone battery! Also, the backdrop is pretty sweet - changing constantly, with photos in pixelated black and white.

9:31pm: Jed from Mpls is kicking tambourine ass and taking names. Hilarious!! Devil's Haircut now!

9:53pm: Seriously?! Lost Cause followed by Where It's At? Holy shit!!! I can die happy (well Beck-wise anyway).

10:00pm: Crowd going ballistic for an encore. Damn. Forgot my earplugs. I am going to be so deaf. It is the drummer's (Scott) birthday and crowd is all singing Happy Birthday. There's a cake on the drumset. Beck points to Scott and says "Now play!" Cute.

10:08pm: Beck thanks MGMT for opening. Starts playing one of their songs, but "I can't sing that high." hee

10:58pm: Home! Good show. Beck did well and made it all enjoyable. It wasn't the best show I've been to, but it was decent entertainment for a Tuesday night. Woot!

Matthew Shepard Foundation to Mark 10 Years

2008-09-30T17:18:00.003-05:00

On October 13, 2008, the Matthew Shepard Foundation will remember the 1998 death of Matthew Shepard, murdered in an anti-gay hate crime in Laramie, Wyoming. The event will begin at 6:30 p.m. with a candlelight ceremony in Loring Park, featuring music and speakers — including Matthew’s mother, Judy Shepard — and is open to the public.

The evening will continue across the park at The Woman’s Club of Minneapolis with a reading of an adapted script of The Laramie Project, by Moises Kaufman. In addition, award-winning singer and songwriter, Randi Driscoll will perform her song, What Matters, written to honor the life of Matthew Shepard and the unconditional love of his family. All proceeds from the reading will benefit the work of the Foundation and its Campaign to Erase Hate.

Dennis and Judy Shepard founded the Matthew Shepard Foundation in memory of their 21-year old son, Matthew, who was murdered in an anti-gay hate crime in Wyoming in October 1998. Created to honor Matthew in a manner that was appropriate to his dreams, beliefs and aspirations, the Foundation seeks to Replace Hate with Understanding, Compassion & Acceptance through its varied educational programs and by continuing to tell Matthew’s story.

More info on the vigil and the event can be found here.

Dubuque Fest at the Nomad this Saturday!

2008-09-26T17:39:00.007-05:00

Via Matt Perkins at the Nomad:
The Nomad World Pub is bringing the Iowa to Minneasota for one spectacular evening of bbq, free keg beer, bocce ball, stellar music (Poison Control Center, The Safes, Track a Tiger, and more), face painting, comedy, and free shit. Who doesn't like free shit?

Come early. Stay late. You know the deal. Tell your friends. Tell your friend's moms. If only we had a cow or some cornstalks or something to play with.

Dubuque Fest
4pm / Nomad World Pub

Wilco+Fleet Foxes+Bob Dylan=Vote!

2008-09-23T22:43:00.006-05:00

In a little bit of awesomeness (Thanks, Gorilla vs. Bear!) Wilco and Fleet Foxes teamed up whilst on tour to cover Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Released" and offered it as a strings-attached download. The strings? Gotta pledge to go vote. Although they won't tell you who to vote for, Wilco and Dylan have both thrown their hats in the ring for Barack Obama.

(Side tangent- Obama listed Nina Sinone's "Sinnerman" as on of his favorite songs and Simone made possibly some of the best covers of Dylan tracks, including "I Shall Be Released".)

So go here and pledge, listen, vote, and then get to Northrup Auditorium on the 4th to catch the grand old man himself.

Extra Bob: The Guardian is hosting a free download here of "Mississippi" from the sessions for 1997's Time Out of Mind. This pared back gem is soon to be released on Tell Tale Signs: The Bootleg Series Vol. 8, due out October 7.

Vinegar Tom: The Devil Within

2008-09-23T01:19:00.009-05:00

Finally got down to the Ritz to see Frank Theater's production of Vinegar Tom, a mid-1970's play by British playwright Caryl Churchill. We were there on an auspicious night, too. As we sat in the audience, across the river Frank Artistic Director Wendy Knox received an Ivey Award for directing The Pillowman, last season's moving, grotesque triumph at the Guthrie Dowling Studio.

Vinegar Tom is another biting, engaging romp that Knox and her troupe of Brecht-loving thespians revel in. This work ostensibly deals with the story of women accused of being witches, but through Churchill's pen and Knox's directing becomes a still prescient feminist critique. And yes, given the recent political climate, it is still a vigorous issue for exploration.

Starting with a sex scene and unraveling from there, banter turns to squashed desire and anger becomes suspicion, faith becomes a tool, and the whole dehumanizing thing sets itself in motion. You don't need inventions and fantasy here, most of this stuff is straight history, but with appropriate and effective theatrical punctuation. Frank is a company from whom I have come to expect engaging performances, but it should not go without saying that the company turns in a great show, especially Lori Neal as the Cunning Woman, a healer whose hope for a positive view of her work is undercut by the reality of the play. Complete with modern songs, direct address to the audience and a final scene twist whose image is jarring but whose scene that had me laughing and biting my lip, it's a heady ride, and something to think about before the accusations fly.

Adult Ticket Prices: $25 on Friday and Saturdays, $22 on Thursday and Sundays

Students, Seniors, Groups of 10+: $23 on Friday and Saturdays, $20 on Thursday and Sundays

Performances Dates:
Showing for four weekends September 12-October 5

Go to the Ritz Theater (www.ritztheaterfoundation.org) website for more information.

Jeremy Messersmith: Live in the City

2008-09-21T01:05:00.011-05:00

Jeremy Messersmith is set to release his sophomore disc, The Silver City, Thursday the 25th at the Varsity Theater. Cake in 15 caught up with Jeremy over the inter-links to talk about the suburbs, Dan Wilson and why the new W Hotel at the Foshay is a bad thing.

The Silver City has songs both focused on the city ("Franklin Avenue") and in the suburbs ("Welcome to Suburbia"), and songs whose emotional heft comes from the transition between the two ("The Commuter"). Do you/have you lived in the suburbs? What is the draw to write songs about the passage between suburbs and city?

Growing up, I lived on the outskirts of what was called a "bedroom community." I didn't live directly in the suburbs, but most of my friends lived in housing divisions with the names of natural features mashed together. Anyway, it felt like geography I was fairly familiar with.

I guess the need to write about the city vs the suburbs is an argument that's always running around in my head. It's the choice between reality and ignorance or fantasy. For me, moving to the suburbs would be a bit like planting my head in the sand and checking out of life. Not to totally dramatize, but it feels to me like Hamlet's dilemma- "To be or not to be." You can either engage yourself directly with life and all the good and bad, or you can check yourself out.

How do you feel your writing practice lends itself to writing songs with a thematic thread, and how has it changed/progressed since The Alcatraz Kid?

For The Silver City, I had a vague idea that I wanted to make a record about the Twin Cities, but I tried to keep it as subliminal as possible. I guess that's why I think of the disc as a loose concept record. I feel that if I gave myself a bunch of restrictions as to what the songs could be then I wouldn't have written anything, but if I kept the geography in the back of my head it would unconsciously guide the tunes that came out.

With The Alcatraz Kid, I didn't have any grand theme- it was just songs that felt personal to me and that I needed to write.

I was recently speaking to a friend about why people come to (and especially come back to) the Twin Cities and he said something to the effect that it was "an easy place to be", in that you can find artists, collaborators and support. How have you found your trajectory develop since you moved here?

Hmmm. Could it be that we're really friendly? Since I've lived here, I've found a lot of people to learn from- people who were willing to invest time listening to bad songs and challenge me as a songwriter and as a performer. Maybe the main benefit of harsh winters is the constant reminder that we all need each other and are dependent on one another. I think that translates especially well to the artistic community with respect to collaboration.

Then there's that Dan Wilson guy. Wanna talk about him for a minute?

I could talk about him for much longer than a minute, so maybe I will.

More Dan Wilson, songs & style after the jump!

He's a master songwriter and performer. He writes around his voice better than anyone I've ever met and is never afraid to "waste" a good idea on a collaborator.

We talked quite a bit at the beginning of this project about the "producer" role and what that meant. There were a few different approaches we talked about before we started.

The first approach is what I think of as the "Jon Brion" approach to producing. I should state for the record that I love Jon Brion and I've listened obsessively to almost everything he's produced or written. However, I find that most records that he produces tend to sound like, well, a Jon Brion record more than the individual artist he's working with. In this case, the artist provides the content and the producer shapes a lot more of the form and flavor of the record. Whatever the artist can't do, the producer does for them.

The approach we tried is more of the "Rick Rubin" method of producing, which worked well since Dan's latest record Free Life was produced by Rick. To give an example, Dan would often run the board while I was trying to track a part for something, let's say guitar. Even though Dan could probably have just played the guitar part himself in 1 or 2 takes, instead he let me keep trying it and offered some suggestions. Often times, he knew what I was trying to do before I even did. He was constantly trying to bring out the best ideas that I had instead of inserting his own. I think this is why Rick Rubin has been so successful with such a variety of different artists- instead of making a "Rick Rubin" record, he's able to get the best out of the artists themselves.

I think the traditional producer role has the producer acting as a sort of "boss." That was clearly not the case with Dan. I don't think I've ever met someone who is so easy to collaborate with and is so giving with his ideas. He easily (and rightly) could've said, "Hey, I've written hit songs and I won a Grammy, so what I say is the final word." Instead, he was exceedingly patient and open and I admire him that much more for it.

Quick note: Almost all the piano you hear on the record is Dan playing. Also, he turned out to be a much better shaker player than anyone else.

It isn't too far of a leap to say that "Skyway" may be one of your favorite "Minneapolis" songs. Are there any other songs that stand out about the city, or any specific song that you associate with with the city or a specific neighborhood? A moment of epiphany with a soundtrack? Music for the first snowfall?

There is one song that immediately popped into my head and it's "10,000 Lakes" by Kid Dakota. I remember hearing this song and thinking, "Oh- you mean you can write songs about where you live?" I have all these associations with that song and huge snow drifts outside an old drafty house...

Favorite place to eat/shop/see music in the Twin Cities?

Anywhere that serves a good bowl of pho is on my top ten list. I'll gratuitously pitch my wife's shop- Blacklist Vintage over on 27th and Nicollet, but honestly it's where I get almost all of my clothes.

In the Star Tribune yesterday the bar in the Foshay Tower, The W Hotel, was featured next to an article about me. The ironic thing is that I tried to go there a few weeks back and was turned away for what I assume was my shabby dress or generally unwholesome demeanor. I guess my Converse shoes aren't considered "business casual." [Ed.- I got in because I was wearing a suit, after work. It was all blue blazers and blue hairs. The view from the top of the Foshay, though, is grand.] I ended up going over to Grumpy's and having a great time. So there you go- Grumpy's = good, W hotel = bad.

89.3 The Current Presents
JEREMY MESSERSMITH
The Owls
Rachel Ries

September 25, 2008 (Thursday)

The Varsity Theater
1308 4th Street SE
Minneapolis, MN 55414

Doors open: 7:30 PM
Age restriction: 18+
Ticket Price: $10.00

Yarrrrrrrrgh!

2008-09-19T18:52:00.004-05:00

Get Ready to Empty Those Pockets...

2008-09-16T20:45:00.003-05:00

CDs, DVDs, Vinyl, and more!

The Electric Fetus is located:
2000 4th Ave. S
Minneapolis, MN 55404
(612) 870-9300

Kristoff Krane: For These Reasons, We Love Each Other

2008-09-15T22:59:00.008-05:00

Kristoff Krane (born Chrisopher M. Keller) has the widest eyes. When he speaks, he pulls you in close and his words come out fast, enumerating possibilities and navigating multiple narratives easily. He is about to drop his first solo disc Kristoff Krane: This Will Work For Now and THE OTHER, a full book of his writing; documents of a man living in his own moment.

“I had this epiphany,” he says of the genesis of the disc. In the winter of 2007, Abzorbr (Krane with Graham and Casey O’Brien) was asked to go on tour with Eyedea and Abilities. When the O’Briens were unable to go, Kristoff went out by himself, playing some Abzorbr tracks and building his own sound;

“On the road, I started to realize, I had this epiphany…performing in front of people who are here for something, this experience is pointing me in the direction of tackling that part of me that has always doubted how much I am capable of…..I wanted to create something musically for myself, that was totally all me. I wanted to create this piece of expression, or this collective of expression that is solely based off of me overcoming the doubt that I had in myself to do this thing.”

More love after the jump!.

He tackled it head on over the next months, quitting his job, living only to work on music and writing. He enlisted the help of Ecid, Michael Larsen (Eyedea) and Casey O’Brien to help him learn Reason and ProTools and took charge of his own beats and production. He has been hitting the streets promoting his shows, talking to people, building up fans. “Yeah,” Kristoff says, “I was at the Cecil Otter show, ‘cause I knew there would be 400 people there willing to listen to a guy talk about his feelings.”

It’s not just feelings that are on display on This Will Work For Now. Krane is a story-teller, a hugger, a teacher (yes, professionally - some of his students will perform at his CD release show) and songs like “Miracle?”, “Little Willy” and “Paul Still Loves his Daughter” are standout narratives whose arc circumscribe Kristoff Krane’s own outlook without becoming solipsistic. He also has his friends with him, putting up impressive collaborations with “Is It Right?” and “The Phoenix,” bringing along a who’s-who of local avant garde/backpack/what-have-you rappers. There is some over-abundance of sharing on the disc, clocking in at 19 tracks, but Krane keeps his beats tailor-tight and his quick patter moving in new and surprising directions. It's hip-hop that keeps us warm, and keeps the Twin Cities honest.

Of his aspirations for the disc, he notes, smilingly, “They already know that I know that you know it’s not John Lennon or it’s not Kimya Dawson, this is what it is.” And it is powerful, confident in honest grappling, forward looking. Eyes still wide, he declares, “This album, I feel, is always going to be working for the now.”

Kristoff Krane CD release show: Friday September 19, 2008
7th Street Entry
All Ages Show at 5pm
21+ at 9pm
$6 both shows
with Oliver Hart Acoustic Set (Eyedea), DialSystem (Graham and Casey O’Brien), Hyder Ali, Mr Dufaux and special guests including Satori Jewelry.

Kristoff Krane online: myspace.com/wwwmyspacecomkristoffkrane

Interview with Kristoff Krane via Perfect Porridge here.

Ted Leo issues digital charity EP for RNC violence victims

2008-09-15T21:20:00.009-05:00

You can download the EP from Touch and Go Records here.

Selected excerpts from the EP liner notes - by Ted Leo

For a very brief moment, it seemed like people were actually reporting the truth. The surveillance, pre-emptive detention, arrest, and beating of journalists, protesters, and watchdogs by the St. Paul police department, the Ramsey County sheriff's department, and the FBI was so egregious that it couldn't be allowed to pass without comment. I heard WNYC's Bob Hennelly compare the treatment of RNC protestors to the fact that Trojan condoms had a product booth inside the building at the Republican National Convention, saying, "It seems as if free speech exists only for those who can pay for it." I heard the name "Amy Goodman" actually spoken by, and written about in,the "mainstream media" after her roughing up at the hands of the St. Paul police. The story of the ABC cameraman who was smacked around and had his video camera smashed was about to bring down the righteous indignation of a formerly complacent press. And the license and viciousness and carelessness with which these acts and the banal bullying that seemed to be a constant around them - infiltration of peaceful (and not so peaceful) groups by police spies and agents provacateur - the omnipresent pepper spray repeatedly maiming eyes that were only challenging with looks - stun guns, tear gas, and concussion grenades launched on a citizenry trying yet again to be heard - was finally coming under proper scrutiny.

...But real people were hurt in St. Paul, and real people have bills to pay, and real people need funding to continue their good works. We (the band and I) were all feeling these events as deeply as we could from our 1200 mile remove, and so as not to feel entirely powerless, and in an attempt to contribute SOMETHING to that continuation of those good works, we wrote a song and recorded it, along with another new one we'd already been working on that's pertinent to election time politics,and two covers we enjoy and that also have timely sentiments. It's a small thing, but as the particle collider that cranked up at CERN yesterday will continue to reveal, all big things are made out of smaller things. Thanks for your contribution in purchasing this EP.

Thanks to James, Marty, and Chris for getting right behind this idea, along with Molly at Indivision, and everyone at Touch and Go. It feels good to work with good people!
And thanks again to you for helping Democracy Now! and Food Not Bombs.
Stay informed, stay alive - resist and survive.

xo - TL

Ted, you continue to rock my world. Thank you from all of us in the Twin Cities!

*Thanks also to You Ain't No Picasso for the tip!

A Cake In 15 Interview: The Airborne Toxic Event

2008-09-14T23:17:00.018-05:00

The Airborne Toxic Event are from Los Angeles, but not the L.A. everyone sees on TV. I sat down with lead singer Mikel Jollett and bassist Noah Harmon and they made that pretty clear. “Everyone thinks L.A. is Hollywood and that exists,” Jollett says, his speaking voice sounding much softer than his gravelly, Mike Ness-like onstage growl. “But L.A. is black, L.A. is Mexican, Laotian, Ethiopian,” he continues, “my high school had, like, nine white kids in it--it’s like growing up in Queens.” Harmon adds, “Everyone thinks L.A. is Beverly Hills/Paris Hilton shit, but it’s like, ‘Motherfucker, haven’t you seen Boyz N The Hood’?” Jollett continues, “Haven’t you seen Stand And Deliver? White people don’t know about L.A., they think it’s a whole other thing than what reality is.”

TATE came from seemingly nowhere, toting a cache of songs that remind one of The Smiths darkest places, the mid-tempo offerings of The Cure, slices of Modest Mouse, bits of Social Distortion, and one song that opens with the same lyrics as LCD Soundsystem’s “All My Friends.” In the wrong hands this would amount to an unmitigated disaster, but de facto leaders Jollett and Harmon are smarter than a lot of people that play in bands; smarter than a lot of people, period. They not only make it work, but make it sound cohesive and fresh to boot. Sound calculated? Hardly. It sounds almost accidental - accidental in that way that makes you say, “Wow, I didn’t think the song was going there,” several times while listening to the album. Steven Chen's guitar work can be as caustic as it can be precious, Daren Taylor sounds like he's beating on his drums with lead pipes at times, Anna Bulbrook almost single-handedly gives the album multidimensionality with her violin and synth work - to say nothing of Harmon and Jollett's formidable contributions on bass and rhythm guitar, respectively.

Read more after the jump

While taking up residency at Silver Lake hotspot Spaceland, their single, “Sometime Around Midnight” began getting radio play on L.A.’s Indie 103, among several other radio stations, which isn’t surprising given the caliber of the music save for one tiny detail: they weren’t signed to a label yet. When the industry came calling, they had the rare upper hand entering negotiations. “We signed the most artist-friendly record deal ever,” Jollett says. They retained control of their music as well as the rights to it. One A&R man from an unnamed major told them they wouldn’t get radio play without his label’s support, which seemed funny to them, as he was talking to them precisely because he had heard them on the radio already. It rarely, if ever, works like this. Bands often give up too much on the front end for a shot at fame, only to be left in the odd, disheartening position of being gold- or platinum-selling artists who are flat broke. “We made sure we were taken care of,” Jollett says of the deal they signed with Majordomo Records, which is run by members of fellow L.A. band Earlimart--it’s probably not a coincidence they got a stellar deal from an artist-run label.

Indeed, they’re no dummies. They come across as the exact opposite of the pre-conceived notions that many people have about guys who play in bands. They are articulate, well-read (their name is taken from a section of Don Delillo’s 1985 novel White Noise), and have other interests outside of playing music. Prior to fronting TATE, Jollett was a struggling writer on the cusp of success. He’s recently been published in McSweeney’s, the magazine started by literary wunderkind Dave Eggers, and has a novel in the works that he hopes to publish in four parts, then as a whole at a later date (he’s been working on it in the van while on tour, he says). The New Yorker showed interest in some of his work as well. “I was right at the moment of: ‘I have a literary agent for the novel, I got a piece in McSweeney’s, The New Yorker wants to see stuff.’ and then I said, ‘You know what? I’m going to start a band.’” It indicates an incessant need to create on Jollett’s part, if one avenue doesn’t work, he always has the other to travel down - but at the moment, both seem to be getting a lot of traffic.

To dispel any notion that the band is just a lark that turned into something more by accident, I ask them about the genesis of the band. Harmon was reluctant initially, but after listening some demos that Jollett sent him, he found them clever and joined up. Jollett jokes he had to beat Harmon into submission and that, contrary to popular belief, physical violence solves everything. We all laugh and I’m struck by how comfortable they are with their position as up-and-comers in an insanely competitive business in an insanely competitive city. “Tons of people play in (bands in) L.A.” Harmon offers, “but only a handful are really fucking serious about it. After we signed the deal, Mikel had a plan to tour the next day. Most bands are out getting drunk, we had pie charts and shit.” I think he’s joking, but the intensity and exuberance with which they approach and discuss the band, it’s entirely possible these charts exist somewhere.

The Airborne Toxic Event seems to have prepared for everything except failure, it seems, an unlikely happening at this point. A bit of nearly impossible luck has put them directly in charge of their own careers and destiny, a rarity in an industry filled with bloodsuckers, sharks, and peril seemingly around every corner. They managed to dodge the worst of it at the outset by inadvertently tipping the scales in their favor, now it’s just a matter of keeping them there.

Download The Airborne Toxic Event's performance on KCRW here.

More photos from the band's performance at First Avenue here.

Extra special thanks to guest columnist Pat O'Brien.

City On The Make: My Sweet Little Rock n Roll

2008-09-13T14:07:00.006-05:00

I told you to go and I told you to go and I told you to go.

And you didn't and you're sad, because you missed it. Or you didn't. You can check out the torrent via the fabulous Empty's Tapes blog (emptystapes.blogspot.com) and here is some video, ice for your bitter tear-drop whiskey.

Encore- Howlin' at a Sliver of the Moon

Still not in that blessed oblivion where you forget the howling loss in the maw of your belly? You can catch City On The Make live on the Current's Local Show, 5-6pm, Sunday the 14th. So rub that salt on the lime of your tequila shot of despair.

Get Out The Vote at the MMAA

2008-09-12T11:05:00.007-05:00

Saturday, September 13
The Minnesota Museum of American Art
$10 - All Ages
$5 Students
Art @ 5pm
Music @ 5:30pm

ART HERE will feature a special exhibition of AIGA Get Out the Vote posters. Images will be digitally projected on the walls of the MMAA raw space gallery. Complimentary alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages will be served while available. Must be 21 or older to be served alcoholic beverages.
MPIRG will be on hand to register people to vote.

The upstairs patio will feature live music from some of the best local bands in the Twin Cities metro area. This will be the last concert on the patio during the 2008 season. In the event of unfavorable weather, the concert will be moved into the gallery.

Music by:
The Running Scared - 5:30pm
A Night In The Box - 6:15pm
Lucy Michelle & The Velvet Lappelles - 7:15pm
Birthday Suits - 8:15
Solid Gold - 9:15

Minneapolis Police are Looking for Info

2008-09-12T10:36:00.004-05:00

If you know anything, please call asap. Thanks!

On September 11, 2008 around 4:20 a.m. a 64 year old St Louis Park resident with cerebral palsy was struck and killed by a hit and run driver on Excelsior Boulevard less than a block from his place of employment. The male, who will be identified by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office, had been employed by the Minikahda Club in the same position since 1962 and rode his bicycle to work along Excelsior Boulevard almost every day around 4:15 a.m.

The victim, who was wearing a bike helmet, was struck by a tan vehicle and that vehicle most likely sustained right front damage. Investigators are asking that anyone with information about this case call Sgt. Bruce Folkens at 612-673-3410 or Sgt. Chris Karakostas at 612-673-3400.

The PIO contact for this case is Sgt. William Palmer.

Langhorne Slim at the 400 Bar: Free to Love Me, Love You

2008-09-11T02:28:00.019-05:00

Sold at the 400 bar Wednesday night, Langhorne Slim quickly tops my list of "Acts I Would Rather See Perform Than Ryan Adams". Without the self-serious temperament of the Cardinals frontman, Langhorne's country sneer was leavened by his wholly light attitude; self-assurance mixed with self-deprecation. The fact that he can cut a mean rug, whipping around on his little pins and stomp it out just sweetens the deal.

It's not all just dancing and smiles though, the music itself is moving. The paroxysms of Langhorne's country-picked guitar coupled with seamless vocal switches between folk sweet, country grave, tender falsetto lift worn love stories and plain poetry from engaging to sublime. Coupled with the War Eagles, Paul Defiglia on bass and Malachi DeLorenzo on drums, they formed an unstoppable whirlwind with Defiglia's muscular solos and DeLorenzo's sensitive yet ebullient combination of brushes and bass kicks. There is a wonder in the coming together of incongruence and contradiction, manifesting itself all around, in Defiglia's Texas-shaped bling, the tattoo reading "you are alive" on his left bicep, DeLorenzo unabashedly coming out from the greenroom smoking a cigarette.

The confidence of the live show could not be doubted, nor could the excitement of the audience. People in attendance chattered about all the other times they had seen him, the blue-collar boys in hockey caps hooted out song requests whilst the alt-country hipsters kept their bulgy eyes fixed on stage. Their excitement paid off in rapport; everyone broke down in laughter when Langhorne crooned "I need your lovin' so bad", took a dramatic pause and some scallywag responded "Yoo-hoo". Unable to contain himself, Slim went on a tangent about his grandparents, and then back to playing, giggling. Ryan Adams would have stalked off.

Langhorne Slim official MySpace here.

Download free mp3s:
Rebel Side of Heaven
Daytrotter session here.
Photos by Alexa Jones

Saturday's "To-Do" List: Blacklist Vintage & Josie Lewis

2008-09-10T13:52:00.011-05:00

For those of you in the know, you're already aware of the new vintage store just off Nicollet Ave. in Minneapolis. Blacklist Vintage is run by Vanessa Messersmith (if that name sounds familiar, it should) and offers a variety of men's and women's clothing, accessories and a small pile of assorted housewares.

Saturday, September 13 they are having an open house - a perfect time for those of you who haven't stopped by to do so! The fun starts at 8pm and will feature music by local bands Unicorn Dream Attack and Kurio!

If that wasn't enough, they'll have Hamms available for those with ID and a donation. They are also generously offering 10% off the entire day (if you are an MCAD student, you always get 10% off)!

Where: Blacklist Vintage - 27th and Nicollet Ave
Phone : 612-872-8552

...and after you're through shopping there will be plenty of time to stop over at Fox Tax for Josie Lewis's opening reception.

OPENING RECEPTION
SATURDAY, SEPT 13TH, 6 - 11 PM
The Gallery @ Fox Tax
503 1st Ave NE
Minneapolis, MN 55413

GALLERY HOURS
Sept 13 - Nov 15, 2008
Wednesday - Saturday : Noon - 5:00PM

Show Closings: Get Your American Wanderlust

2008-09-07T00:51:00.002-05:00

Two marquee shows close this Sunday, Friedlander Photography at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and Richard Prince: Spiritual America at the Walker Art Center. Both are sprawling, muscular shows by individualistic and enigmatic American artists, and it would be a pity for them to go out unseen.

Friedlander Photography is an enormous retrospective of Lee Friedlander's photographs. The show covers almost 4 and a half decades of work, opening with arresting color images of musicians in the Sixties (you can’t escape Miles Davis’ eyes). The retro free-wheels though the travels across the country, documenting America as it is lived. Over time, the smaller scale work becomes bolder, more conceptual, expanding Friedlander’s lens and capturing more of the beauty and contradictions of this country and culture.

If Lee Friedlander makes me want to travel, Richard Prince makes me want to fuck. His unabashed appropriation of popular culture, stripping down of fashion photographs and use of humor all shroud and convolute Prince’s identity, creating questions of the obligation of the artist to authenticity and identity. In an age where Warhol gets misread to justify American Idol, it’s refreshing to have some aggressive mystery, a tantalization and titillation. Go get yours while you can.

Friedlander Photography and Richard Prince: Spiritual America both close September 14.

Theater Review: The Irresistible Rise of Big Daddy Ubu

2008-09-05T22:34:00.012-05:00

The Irresistible Rise of Big Daddy Ubu, a Nimbus theater production which opened this weekend at the Theater Garage, throws a whole lot of elements into the mix. I'm almost certainly missing a few, but here's a laundry list: Brecht, Jarry, the Chicago mafia, penis jokes, Monty Python, various pop culture icons including Enya, Guy Noir, Donald Rumsfeld, free market politics, corporate greed & aggression, National Public Radio, organic vegetable references, buffoonery, meta-theatrical devices, and lots and lots of text. It is then perhaps strange that, upon the culmination of all this, it felt as though they hadn't pushed it far enough. Buoyed by the inspired and present performance of Mark Rehani as Dogsburough, a brilliantly executed take on the detective & lawyer Casey (Scot Moore), and a solid performance from Joe Herman in the title role, the play does manage to get from beginning to end fairly intact, although I couldn't shake the feeling that they were stuck somewhere between second and third gear most of the time.

To reduce the plot down to its basic elements, Big Daddy Ubu is a big fat gangster who shoots, intimidates, and farts his way through a corrupt Chicago food industry, ultimately putting his ill-used conscience on trial & attempting to murder his even fatter wife along the way. It's a grotesque comedy that seeks to expose the big-wigs for who they really are and, I suspect, make a basic mockery of corporate industry that threatens to monopolize even our grocery stores. The trouble is that the composition almost immediately overwhelms the whole, and the characters, while occasionally coming into focus, are burdened with so much expository dialogue that we never really get a sense of why any of it matters. The pop culture jokes mostly fall flat, either because they're three or four years old, or because they just don't really fit in with the rest of the action (although there is an Enya joke that I very much appreciated.)

Full review after the jump

It's easy to sit back and critique, and there's enough here to recommend that you take a look. Near the end of the program, Nimbus includes a section which calls for conversation, an exploration of the exchange between audience & the work presented on stage. Taking that challenge, I'd like to start a conversation regarding the (smaller) Twin Cities theater community. There is clearly abundant talent among the ranks, and we all understand that putting on a fully realized production is no small task. It takes weeks of rehearsal, thousands of dollars mostly raised from private individuals, and a huge commitment from a team of actors, designers, and creative minds to even get the show onto a stage. Given so much energy and effort, why is it so difficult to end up with a product that transcends the ordinary? I don't think it makes me overly optimistic to hope & expect for something new, something visionary, a piece that teaches me about the craft, every time I attend a piece of Twin Cities theater. I have no desire to be a cynic - I understand the challenges at hand. But I also refuse to accept mediocre theater as the status quo. There are too many theater degrees (at a cost of what, $20,000 in tuition each?), too many clear & present issues to tackle, and frankly, too much at stake for so many shows to grind it out from beginning to finish, achieving adequacy but rarely transcending or challenging the medium in which they operate.

Somewhere in the middle of Big Daddy Ubu, Ubu is on the floor having pummeled the character who plays his conscience into a dizzy mess. He holds out his hand to be helped up by his wife. They are both immensely fat, and yet, she takes his hand and pulls him up with no effort what-so-ever, and the play goes on. It was in that moment that I lost the belief that I was watching Ubu in this world. I was instead watching a group of actors gamely work their way through a somewhat over-wordy adaptation of Alfred Jarry, and that was that.

Is it acceptable to want more? Go see it, and decide for yourself.

The Irresistible Rise of Big Daddy Ubu plays at the Minneapolis Theater Garage, September 5-28. For tickets, call 651-229-3122 or www.nimbustheatre.com

What I did this week - The Republican National Convention

2008-09-05T19:20:00.006-05:00

This week I worked for a liberal media group called The UpTake, which consisted of 15 or so videographers and photographers who documented the convention. We had live streams online of events as well as video of protests, concerts, raids, etc. You can see it all here: www.theuptake.org.

I was at four protests which all ended in tear gas, pepper spray and concussion grenades. Interesting, to say the least. It was pretty disappointing that I couldn't get closer to the actual convention, however. Sort of hard to do with 15 foot metal fences throughout downtown. St. Paul itself was dead. No one was really outside the perimeter of the Xcel Energy Center and the police presence was very scary and it all seemed like major overkill. It was a police state in all sense of those words. Riot gear, police on horses, bikes, foot, snipers on buildings.

There was a lot of tension between the public and police for most of the RNC. Obviously there were people who aggravated the situation and deserved to be arrested or needed tear gas to be dispersed. However, there were a lot of altercations where I witnessed the police as aggressors. Police maced and pepper sprayed photographers who were following police instructions, tackled reporters who were well identified as reporters, and pushed unaggressive people out of the way before even asking them to move. Reporters and photographers from City Pages, KARE 11, FOX 9 News and The UpTake were all arrested. There were, of course, a few protesters who made things bad for everyone. The "Black Bloc" anarchists who infiltrated the "Students for a Democratic Society" march on Monday broke store windows, pushed anything not nailed down into the street, and attempted to create barricades against the police. These people were definitely the minority though. Most of the students in the protest yelled at them and asked them to stop the vandalism. It was a sad state much of the time.

The worst that happened to me was walking through an area that was pepper sprayed about 30 seconds earlier. Yuck. I can't imagine getting a direct hit of that stuff. It's gross. Any time I was in danger I got out of the situation. A few of our reporters were arrested or detained, but all had the charges dropped as they were just there to document and not participate or condone the actions of the protesters or others. I was within a block of the tear gas and such more than once, but always made it out of the area without incident.

You can view the photos I took (along with some from others at The UpTake) here:

Day 1 of the RNC
Day 2 of the RNC
Day 4 of the RNC

Cheers -
Stacy

The Republican National Convention is Here

2008-09-01T23:26:00.008-05:00

I spent today roaming the streets of St. Paul with members of The UpTake, a liberal media organization. You can check out a slideshow of some of the protests below. Also keep tabs on the convention via The UpTake's website here with continuing live coverage.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

You can also view photos of yesterday's Liberty Parade down Nicollet mall here.

Eight is Enough: The Concert to End Our Long, National Nightmare

2008-08-29T21:38:00.015-05:00

Barack Obama said it in his speech accepting the nomination Thursday night- "We love this country too much to let the next four years look like the last eight." Right he is, and that was the sentiment of Andrew Broder of Fog and Joe Selinski of The Dad in Common when they heard the Republican were coming to town. Instead of sitting on their haunches and bitching about it, they got the Turf Club to donate space and a whole raft of their friends to come down and play a show to support the Democratic nominee Barack Obama. Proceeds at the door and all sales of the posters whipped up by Burlesque of North America went to the campaign, and judging by the crowd there, it was a success. Broder said that it gave him "a warm feeling" to see all these people out.

Cake in 15 was there freelancing for Spin.com and you can read that at http://www.spin.com/articles/twin-cities-bands-rock-obama. It's a little truncated for space and our miniscule attention spans, but you get the picture- the bill was packed, the room was full in waves and all in all, we got rowdy in the name of freedom and change. Cake in 15 doesn't want to tell you how to vote, but consider Chris Besinger of STNNNG's quote, given to you in it's entirety- "You've never seen a Republican man rock like this. Except Ted Nugent. And his rhythm section are pussies."

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Theater for Foodies

2008-08-25T20:02:00.008-05:00

I’ve watched the occasional cooking show on Bravo or the Food Network, but never had I found myself amid such experts until last Thursday, in attendance at a rehearsal for The Cooking Show Con Karimi and Comrades. Revolutionary Chef Mero Cocinero Karimi is here in town to perform his roving cooking show at the Bedlam Theater, and I had the pleasure of being ever so briefly exposed to the many secrets the show contains. These secrets, being secret, cannot be divulged - Mero Cocinero Karimi speaks tersely of the CIA and possible infiltration, and so you must go see the show and discover them for yourself.

Rest assured, however, that you will witness something special. The three comrades in question are Mero Cocinero Karimi, special guest Comrade Katie Rose McLaughlin, and the stage manager Comrade Tsai. Working in a mode that mixes clowning, improvisation and good old-fashioned story telling, they sing, dance, and chop their way through a cooking spectacle that will top anything you’ve ever seen on television, and probably (if you’re like me) anything you’ve ever seen on stage as well. And there’s FOOD! You get to try some! Free tastes!

The Cooking Show also functions as a clever and functional political treatise. Never preachy, the comrades display a lightness of touch & understanding of the deep history behind the dishes they prepare and the stories they tell. By the end of the night, be you Blue, Red, or “Other,” you just might find yourself feeling part of the larger community at whole - One that comes together to experience good art, and leaves with a full mind and satisfied palate.

Go here for the website: merococinero.com

It’s at Bedlam Theater (1501 S. 6th Street, Mpls, MN)
August 28-30 & September 5-7.
All shows @ 8 pm, doors open at 7:30 pm.
Tickets only $20, with discounts for masses, elders, & youth.
B.Y.O.B. (Bring Your Own Bowl.)

Buy tickets @ 612-341-1038 or merococinero.com

MAEP Gallery: Chaos Quelled, Terror Moves in

2008-08-25T10:12:00.009-05:00

The Minnesota Artists Exhibition Program (MAEP) Gallery at the MIA was recently the center of public outcry and a PR storm. The resignation of long-time coordinator Stewart Turnquist and re-organization of the curatorial structure under new director Kaywin Feldman created a worry that the independence of the gallery was under threat, profiled in a series of articles by the Star Tribune's Mary Abbe. Things seem to have quieted down as Feldman has promised the continued independence of the MAEP program and the new director of exhibitions and programs, Elizabeth Armstrong, comes highly regarded and with local connections, having done a stint at the Walker Art Center back in the 90s.

Throughout all this brou-ha-ha, the MAEP Gallery has stayed open and continued to show off some of the best work being created in the state. Opening this week in the MAEP Gallery are two shows, "Unconventional Wisdom" and "MILLIONS OF INNOCENT ACCIDENTS".

Show details after the jump!.

"Unconventional Wisdom" features prints by Ruthann Godollei and Mike Elko. Elko and Godollei combine their different printmaking styles with a good dose of tongue in cheek text revolving around the war in Iraq and 9/11. Whereas Godollei's work is in traditional print styles with little selections of text, Elko's broad-sheets recall the pulpy literature of paranoia that graced the newsstands in the 1950s. With these lenses of nostalgia and style, expect a few good chuckles, and some sights for better times.

With Hardland/Heartland's "MILLIONS OF INNOCENT ACCIDENTS" I can't tell you what to expect. What I can tell you is that it will be unexpected, beautiful, exactly produced, tender, vicious and hilarious. HL/HL is the working moniker of 3 artists, recent MCAD grads Eric Timothy Carlson, Crystal Quinn and Aaron Anderson. In line with the surrealist Exquisite Corpse games, they pass their work between themselves and each have a hand in production, resulting in chaotic collages of animal parys, graffiti-like cartoons, tiny detailed drawings and large scale wall works. The kids have been showing around town and across the area and with their communal working pattern, find a way to get back to one of those golden threads of art: escape. In times like these, release away from the ordinary seems often the best way to repudiate it.

Images via Hardland/Heartland.

Opening: Thursday, August 28, 7pm
Gallery Talk with Hardland/Heartland: Thursday, September 11, 7pm
Gallery Talk with Mike Elko and Ruthann Godollei: Thursday, September 25, 7pm
Critics' Trialogue with Anne Klefstad: Thursday, October 2, 7pm
Closes October 26. All events free and open to the public.

MIA Press release here.

(Full Disclosure: This blogger works at the MIA in their Visitor and Member Services.)

Ruckus on the West Bank

2008-08-24T23:30:00.006-05:00

As if there's not enough to do on September 6, add this one to your wish list. The Nomad World Pub once again presents Ruckus on the West Bank. I do have to say I'm a bit disappointed it starts so late. I know for a regular show it seems early, but I quite enjoyed hanging out in the parking lot at the Nomad amongst my friends at 3pm in the afternoon - PBR in hand.

Here are the details per Matt Perkins, booker extraordinaire:

Join the Nomad World Pub on Saturday, September 6 as we celebrate another Ruckus on the West Bank featuring seven great local groups. Cheap beer from Schell's and Grainbelt. Come early and stay late for a great night of music, food, and plenty of Ruckus on the West Bank.

6pm / 21+ / $6 (includes BBQ) (ed. note: nom nom nom)

7:30pm - Bouncer Fighter
8:15pm - Abzorbr
9:00pm - Me and My Arrow
9:45pm - Running Scared
10:30pm - Lucy Michelle and the Velvet Lapelles
11:15pm - The Knotwells
12:15am - Dance Band

Storyhill Plays Patio Nights at the Minnesota Museum of American Art

2008-08-24T01:38:00.002-05:00

I know what you're thinking. "We have a Minnesota Museum of American Art? Where's that?" "St. Paul" is the answer you desire, and you'll find the MMAA has more to offer than you might expect. For the past five summers the patio at the museum has opened itself to a wide variety of local acts, ranging from STNNNG to Mark Mallman to Storyhill. I was lucky enough to enjoy the Storyhill show from the confines of the museums "cafeteria," as Minnesota decided to bestow a bit of rain on its concert goers.

Once upon a time Storyhill was known as Chris and Johnny. This was the early 1990s and the boys were extremely popular on the college circuit as an acoustic duo. The music evolved and outlasted various geographical moves from each of the men, and finally they became Storyhill. The lush vocal melodies and precise guitar arrangements have created a rock solid fan base for the band. The crowd at the MMAA hooted and hollered for more, bringing the boys back up for more than one encore.

Alas, I am not a writer and lack the words to convey the emotional lift one experiences at such a show, and so I leave you with photos taken in an extremely dark cafeteria at the MMAA on a rainy August night.

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

You can listen to the album via the band's label here.
Check out more about the Minnesota Museum of American Art here.

Set list after the jump

Set List
Absaroka
Blazin
Mary
Sacramento
Angel
Weave Your Way
What Was Wrong
Well of Sorrow
Full Circle
Better Angels
Happy Man
White Roses
Give Up the Ghost
Paradise
Joe Snow
Hard Wind
Great Divide
Spaces
Somewhere
Loose
Good Rain

(These may not be in exact order/100% correct, as they were taken from Storyhill's actual set list... and I know they played "If I Could" at the end too)

Cake in 15 Goes To A Record Sale!

2008-08-22T23:53:00.013-05:00

So, in fear of rain and dire predictions by over-tanned midgets on Kare 11, Cake in 15 decided not to go to the State Fair and spend all that money on deep-fried desperation on a stick. Instead, we hit up the Cedar Cultural Center, who are hosting a 3 day record/book/memorabilia sale extravaganza. Thousands of records in boxes, waiting to be flicked through. All sorts of weirdnesses and musty smells- this could be a problem. To the ambient rock backing of Danny Sigelman's Self Sound Orchestra, we managed to rack up just over 60 records in under 45 minutes... an Olympic qualifying time if ever I saw one. And at a dollar apiece (we limited ourselves to that section - otherwise we may just as well have gone whole hog at the fair) it's not sooooo bad.

The Record and Book Sale runs 10-6 Saturday and 12-6 Sunday. Admission is free. Visit www.thecedar.org for more info.

PLUS- The Cedar opens its 20th season Thursday, 9/4, with a free show featuring Kevin Kling, Lucy Michelle and the Velvet Lapelles and more!

Full damage after the jump...

The rundown:

Michael Jackson- Thriller (awesome first find of the night)
Paul Simon- Greatest Hits, Etc.
Joan Jett- Bad Reputation
Steve Martin- A Wild and Crazy Guy
The Beach Boys- Endless Summer
Big Brother & the Holding Company- Cheap Thrills (One of the first records I ever heard on vinyl)
Fleetwood Mac- Rumors
Blues Brothers- Briefcase Full of Blues
Chess- Original Cast Recording (ABBA wrote this musical!)
Johnny Cash & the Tennessee Three- I Walk The Line Soundtrack
Simon & Garfunkel- Sounds of Silence
Arlo Guthrie- Alice's Restaurant (Anyone have a copy of "Comin' into Los Angeles?")
The Stills-Young Band- Long May You Run
The Beach Boys- Surfer Girl
Elton John- S/T
Talking Heads- Little Creatures (Best band costumes EVER)
Louis Armstrong- S/T (A Harmony records compilation, but it has "Basin Street Blues" and "St. James Infirmary")
Woodstock Two- Joan Baez, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Jimi Hendrix & More!
Joe Cocker- Joe Cocker!
Evie- Come On, Ring Those Bells (Apparently a staple of Stacy's childhood)
The Story of Star Wars (from the Original Soundtrack- with voice clips!)
The Who- Who's Greatest Hits
Emmylou Harris- Luxury Liner
Madonna- S/T
Johnny Cash & the Tennessee Two- Original Golden Hits
Bob Dylan- Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits Vol. II
ShaNaNa- All-Time Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Hits (Can anyone explain to me why they were at Woodstock?)
Billy Joel- The Stranger
Mozart- Jupiter Symphony
Frank Sinatra- Strangers in the Night
The Shadow- Original Radio Broadcasts
Elton John- Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Handel- Messiah
Vivaldi- Four Seasons
Benny Goodman- Swing Into Spring
J.S.Bach- The Brandenburg Concertos
The Mama's and the Papa's- If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears (Cover shows them in a tub, with a sticker slapped over the toilet so as not to offend our delicate senses)
Janis Joplin- Joplin in Concert
The Rolling Stones- Sucking in the Seventies
Jan & Dean- Jan & Dean Anthology Album
George Harrison- S/T
Robert Plant- The Principle of Moments
Charlie Chaplin- Soundtrack from A Countess from Hong Kong
Bob Dylan- Slow Train Coming
Mahavishnu Orchestra- Visions of the Emerald Beyond
Big Sur Festival- One Hand Clapping (Joan Baez, Blood, Sweat & Tears, Kris Kirstofferson, Taj Mahal & Mickey Newbury)
Donovan- Greatest Hits
Bob Dylan- Dylan
Johnny Cash- Folsom Prison Blues
Bob Dylan- Street Legal (I like how I keep on pulling out those two next to each other)
Simon & Garfunkel- Concert in Central Park
Stand By Me- Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
Madonna- Vogue (the single)
Bruce Springsteen- Born in the U.S.A
David Bowie- Tonight
Lily Tomlin- This is a Recording
Joe Jackson- Look Sharp! (The craziest pair of white boots on the cover)
Johnny Cash with June Carter- Give My Love to Rose
George Harrison- All Things Must Pass
The Police- Synchronicity
Billy Joel- Greatest Hits

........seriously.

Kicking the Shit Out of My Expectations

2008-08-20T01:36:00.007-05:00

Rodrigo y Gabriela, First Avenue Mainroom, 8/18/08

The first thing that popped into my head once Gabriela Quintero began playing her guitar was, "ow." The way she pounded out the percussive sound with her knuckles while attacking the strings on her guitar was one of the most amazing, yet painful-looking, things I'd ever seen. Sadly, I'm forced to admit I expected more stereotypical flamenco music, or even just some sort of Gypsy Kings redux. While that influence is certainly there, it cannot be used to define even the majority of the band's sound. Rodrigo y Gabriela pound out the most beautiful hard rock acoustic guitar my ears have ever absorbed. Of course, it should have told me something when the band's 'Links' page includes the websites for Metallica, Megadeath and Slipknot.

Rodrigo Sanchez began in the spotlight, and stayed there most of the night. Not undeserved, but most of the time it was Quintero's fingers of fire that kept me mesmerized. I haven't seen that sort of magic in a long time. After the second or third number, a large screen backlit the duo with a live video feed of hands on their guitars, or close ups of the strings being strummed by fingers that knew where to go without being told. The video accentuated the effortless fluttering of both players and energized the crowd. It was interesting to see people alternating thrusts of fists and the "rock on" symbol into the air, while others focused on some version of the salsa on the pit floor.

Rodrigo y Gabriela seem to have performed at every festival this summer, and I completely understand why. The pair are lovely and intriguing. They play rock music. Ok, not just rock music, but metal... on acoustic guitars! They mix it with traditional Mexican influences - and a bit of their now-home in Dublin, Ireland seeps in there too. Sounds like a melting pot, doesn't it? Well, it is, and it's amazing.

Download mp3:
Diablo Rojo

Feeling Minnesota?

2008-08-19T09:20:00.038-05:00

Usually, this is not my bag. But since I can't stop it and it threatens to overwhelm lives unless I roll with it, here are a few things that seem pretty cool to do during the RNC in the Twin Cities. More info on all events after the jump.
(Photo by Richard Avedon)

Hail to the Chief: Images of the American Presidency
August 2 - September 21 at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis
FREE Exhibition

8 is Enough: A Concert to End Our Long National Nightmare
August 27 at the Turf Club, St. Paul
$20 donation requested - Benefit for Barack Obama

Civic Fest
August 29 - September 4 at the Minneapolis Convention Center.

Spark24
August 31 - Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis
FREE

Liberty Parade and Concert
August 31 - Down Nicollet Mall to Loring Park, Minneapolis
FREE

Second Annual Black Dog Block Party
August 31 - September 1 in Mears Park, St. Paul

Take Back Labor Day Festival
September 1 on Harriet Island, St. Paul

Wake Up World w/ Daily Show Co-creator Lizz Winstead PLUS Special Hootenany w/Jim Walsh and Billy Bragg
September 2 - September 04 at the Parkview Theater

(Ripple Effect) Day Festival
September 2 on the Capitol Lawn

Event info after the jump!

Hail to the Chief: Images of the American Presidency
August 2 - September 21 at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis
Free Exhibition
Designed as a non-partisan view of the American presidency, this exhibition features a selection of original works of art from the MIA’s permanent collection and various historical material from several important private collections that focus on presidential themes. The exhibition comprises more than 90 objects, including paintings, sculpture, drawings, original prints, posters, photographs, manuscripts, glassware, porcelain, and metalwork. Among the objects on display are presidential portraits, including a marble bust of George Washington in classical garb by American sculptor Hiram Powers, candid photographs of former presidents and presidential candidates, including Richard Avedon’s celebrated portrait of Dwight D. Eisenhower; presidential proclamations and hand-signed documents; a presidential flag from the Oval Office, and various presidential campaign materials.

8 is Enough: A Concert to End Our Long National Nightmare
August 27, 7:30pm at the Turf Club, St. Paul
Benefit for Barack Obama featuring (with set times!):
SKOAL KODIAK (1:15AM)
STNNNG (12:30AM)
POS (11:45PM)
LOW (10:30PM)
DOSH (9:30PM)
KILL THE VULTURES (8:45PM)
TAPE N TAPE (JOSH GRIER AND JEREMY HANSEN OF TAPES N TAPES) (8:00PM)

Civic Fest
August 29 - September 4 at the Minneapolis Convention Center.
CivicFest is a vibrant civic festival celebrating Minnesota and American history, democracy, and the U.S. Presidency. The event, produced by the Minneapolis Saint Paul 2008 Host Committee, will be held August 29 through September 4, 2008 at the Minneapolis Convention Center.
CivicFest is a once-in-a-lifetime family-friendly experience, featuring more than 35 educational and entertaining exhibits, including; historic memorabilia and artifacts, a scale model of the White House, a re-created Convention floor, a stage featuring live performances, an actual President’s official limousine, a full-scale replica of the White House Oval Office, multimedia and interactive exhibits featuring significant historical objects, an interactive kiosk that explores the lives and administrations of the twelve 20th – century Presidents, and a 60,000 square-foot Marketplace, showcasing a variety of products to the CivicFest audience, with an emphasis on locally produced and designed merchandise.

Event Hours:
Friday, August 29 9:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Saturday, August 30 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Sunday, August 31 9:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Monday, September 1 9:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Tuesday, September 2 9:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Wednesday, September 3 9:30 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.
Thursday, September 4 9:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Spark24
August 31 - Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis
FREE
(Yes, these times are AM)
2AM-6:30AM
ORCHESTRA HALL

2-2:30
THE ALARMISTS
2:45-3:30
CLOUD CULT
3:45-4:15
CHRIS KOZA
4:30-5
WHITE LIGHT RIOT
5:15-5:45
LUCY MICHELLE & THE VELVET LAPELLES
6-6:30
THE NEW CONGRESS

Liberty Parade and Concert
August 31 - Down Nicollet Mall to Loring Park, Minneapolis
FREE
The Liberty Parade is a Minneapolis first - a full-scale art and music celebration, a march in support of democracy and freedom of expression - And, it won't happen without you! Yes, YOU! Pull out your tubas, decorate your bicycles, dust off your art car, build a float, break out your flags and twirling batons, and take to the streets in celebration of your ideas of liberty and freedom of expression.

Concert in Loring Park features: The Dillinger Four, Retribution Gospel Choir, Happy Apple, STNNNG, The Brass Messengers, Mama Digdowns Brass Band

Second Annual Black Dog Block Party
August 31 - September 1 in Mears Park, St. Paul
Sunday, August 31 (3:00 to 10:00 PM) (order of performers TBD)
Carnage, Anthony Cox, Spaghetti Western String Company, Aviette, Backstreet Boogie Band, Big Quarters, Soul Tree

Tuesday, September 2 (3:00 to 10:00 PM) (order of performers TBD)
Boots Riley & The Coup, Ill Chemistry, Junkyard Empire, Kill the Vultures, Los Nativos

Take Back Labor Day Festival
September 1 on Harriet Island, St. Paul
On the eve of the Republican National Convention, the Service Employees International Union (SEIU)—representing 2 million working people—will sponsor a festival to celebrate workers’ achievements and to promote a New Vision for the 21st Century that includes:
* Affordable, quality healthcare for everyone;
* Wages that can support families;
* Freedom to join unions without intimidation;
* Retirement security.
Featuring: Billy Bragg, Mos Def, Steve Earle, Allison Moorer, Tom Morello, The Pharcyde

Wake Up World w/ Daily Show Co-creator Lizz Winstead PLUS Special Hootenany w/Jim Walsh and Billy Bragg
September 2 - September 04 at the Parkview Theater
These shows are 21+
Shoot the Messenger is a NY based comedy troupe performing, Wake Up World, a satirical morning show from the brain of Daily Show Co-creator Lizz Winstead. A live comedy show incorporating multi-media elements, it gives us the world as seen through the filters of Wake-Up World, Americas only 6-hour morning show.

Wake-up World is the flagship news show on 24/7 possibly the worst twenty-four cable news network-ever. Wake Up World is an indictment, both hilarious and scathing - not only of the newsmakers, but of the news media that gives us what ever is easiest for them.

(Ripple Effect) Day Festival
September 2 on the Capitol Lawn
By creating a safe, positive space for artists, activists, and the general public to gather, Ripple Effect will take the energy spurred by the Republican National Convention and use it to create a movement for tangible progressive change.

Through the inspirational power of art and music, Ripple Effect will
attract thousands of like-minded individuals to the St. Paul Capitol lawn, where they will be given the free space to participate in the the burgeoning global movement for justice, equitability, and sustainability.

FEATURING: MICHAEL FRANTI, ANTI-FLAG, DEAD PREZ, WOOKIEFOOT w/MATISYAHU, I SELF DEVINE, INDIGO, B. DOLAN and PROLYPHIC, TRU RUTS, THE SUSTAINABLE LIVING ROADSHOW, MEDEA BENJAMIN (co-founder of CODEPINK & Global Exchange) WILL STEGER (polar explorer and global warming activist)

Good Bands/Last Shows

2008-08-18T23:44:00.013-05:00

You know the kids these days, always going to school and getting educated, going off into the world. You think they'd have the courtesy to sit in my living room and just play for my entertainment, goldarnit. Not to be, however, and two local bands are advertising their last shows for a while.

Personal favorite City On The Make, the finest howlin' grandees north of the Mason-Dixon are bringing it home to their 400 Bar stomping grounds. They released their "A Million Bucks" EP there earlier this year, in what has to be one of my favorite nights of the summer. Axe-man Mischa Kegan heads off to grad school in Chicago this fall as front man Mike Massey wraps it up at the U, so look for them to trade the screams and rumbles, enough to cover a whole lot of ground.

It seems too soon to go for newcomers Capitol Jay- their Strangers in my House release and the couple shows they've played this summer were a tantalizing pop-rock flavor, a little sparky promise. Although they have just about sold out of their first printing of their disc, you can download the thing in its entirety from Limerick Records. Check it out and and then shuffle you feet as you wait for the youngsters to come back together.

Show info after the jump!

CITY ON THE MAKE Show info:

8pm Doors, 9pm Music, Friday, September 12th
18+
400 Bar- 400 Cedar Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55454
With Capitol City Soul Tones and Modern Fonts
Presale $7. $10 at the door.
Message Mike Massey at cityonthemake@gmail.com if you would like to buy tickets in advance.
You can also pick them up at the 400 Bar if youre in the area.
You can also order them online, but I warn you, there is a service fee.

CAPITOL JAY Show info:

7 pm, Saturday August 23rd
AA
The Beat-1414 W 28th St, Minneapolis, MN 55408
$5 at the door.

Download mp3:
City on the Make - Ramona
Capitol Jay - Older Now pt. 1 (New Religion)