Fringe By Numbers, Day 9: The Beginning

Filed under: Fringe Festival

Well, I want to apologize for having nothing to report about Day 8.  My body revolted, and in a fit of what I can only guess was food poisoning, I didn't go see any shows, nor did I attend rehearsal for my upcoming tour.  It was a terrible evening.  Anyway...

Now, we're onto the final weekend!  This Friday is a special one.  There are earlier shows today than any other weekday of the Fringe.  I'm not sure why that is, except that perhaps one expects to skip out on work a little early on the final Friday of Fringe.  That being the case, there is one 2 p.m. show at the Bryant-Lake Bowl, and a whole bunch of 4 p.m. performances everywhere around the Fringe.

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Posted by Christopher O. Kidder at August 8, 2008 1:10 PM | Comments (0)

 

Vegan chocolate cake for all: Common Roots celebrates its first birthday

Filed under: Festivals/Celebrations , Festivals/Celebrations

Hey everyone, I have another block party for you. This time it’s at Common Roots Café, a restaurant that is, according to their site, 90% local, organic, and fair trade. They also make a killer fried green tomato sandwich, so if you see it on their rotating menu, be sure to order one.

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Posted by Jessica Armbruster at August 8, 2008 1:00 PM | Comments (0)

 

Fringe By Numbers, Day 4: "The Department of Angels"

Filed under: Fringe Festival

Day Four: 8:30 p.m. Time Slot

Show:The Department of Angels

Company: Schave & Reilly 

Venue:  Minneapolis Theater Garage

Die Roll: 13

I, like most people of my generation, were raised on Looney Tunes, the Little Rascals, and The Muppets.  With the exception of the Muppets which were brand new at the time, our parents had seen those same things when they were kids, too.  Through cartoons and the like, we have no seen the vaudeville style comedy for many, many years.  And so are perhaps a bit numbed to it.  My daughter, at age nine, has a different perspective of what comedy is because she watches all the Disney Channel shows, and sitcom-like children's programming that is unlike that which we grew up with.

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Posted by Christopher O. Kidder at August 8, 2008 12:45 PM | Comments (0)

 

Fringe By Numbers, Day 4: "Frustrated Muppets"

Filed under: Fringe Festival

Day Four, 7:00 p.m. Time Slot

Show:Life Sciences
Company:  Frustrated Muppets
Venue:  Playwrights' Center
Die Roll: 7

There was no program for this play, and there's not a lot of information on the Fringe website, either.  So, I don't have a lot of insight into why these guys put together this play.  I'm guessing that someone read the classic script No Exit and decided to do a modern (although it isn't that old to begin with) and comedic re-envisioning.

Re-envisioning things is one of the staples of theatre.  How many times has Shakespeare been set in some odd non-Elizabethan setting, or redone entirely?  How many classic operas got the Jeune Lune treatment over the last decade?  How many pieces of classic literature have been tackled byJohn Ferguson?  It's an effective way to create art.  You take something that people know, and you play with it until you have a new piece of art that can be remarkable in its own right.

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Posted by Christopher O. Kidder at August 8, 2008 10:34 AM | Comments (0)

 

She & Him charm the pants off First Avenue

Filed under: Concert Review

Review by Andrea Myers
Photos by Daniel Corrigan

Zooey Deschanel and M. Ward sure are easy to like. Everything about the She & Him duo is charming: their mismatched pronouns; their shy, disarming demeanor; their classic, old fashioned love songs. Within minutes of taking the stage at First Avenue, they had captured the attention (and hearts) of every person in the near-capacity crowd, and the audience hung on their every note and phrase. It was possibly the most soothing, engaging show I have ever seen at a rock club.

That's She on the right and Him on the left. More photos by Daniel Corrigan are here.

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Posted by Andrea Myers at August 8, 2008 8:19 AM | Comments (1)

 

Fringe By Numbers: Day Seven, "The Dawn of Tusk"

Filed under: Fringe Festival

Day Seven: 10:00 p.m. Time Slot

Show: The Dawn of Tusk Company: Voluptuous Tusk Venue: The Southern Theater Die Roll:  5

I made it to this venue with time to spare and bumped into the two technicians that run the space.  It's always nice to run into folks who have been working the Fringe and asking them about the different experiences they've had this year.  I'm normally in such a rush from venue to venue that making that personal connection with others around the festival doesn't get to happen until we're all at Fringe Central after the fact.  It makes me happy to actually have a chat or two along the way.

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Posted by Christopher O. Kidder at August 7, 2008 6:31 PM | Comments (0)

 

Fringe By Numbers: Day Seven, "Boom"

Filed under: Fringe Festival

Day Seven: 5:30 p.m. Time Slot

Show: Boom
Company: IL Productions
Venue:  U of M Rarig Center Arena
Die Roll: 9

Sitting in the darkness as this play begins the audience is treated to a selection of rules supposedly representing a list of rules on the proper use of bombs.  The final rule prior to the show's actual beginning is "When choosing between two bombs, always listen to your heart."

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Posted by Christopher O. Kidder at August 7, 2008 6:24 PM | Comments (0)

 

Fringe By Numbers: Day 8, the Beginning

Filed under: Fringe Festival

It's Thursday night.  Tomorrow is the official beginning of the final weekend.  Shows are coming up to their last or second-to-last performances, so if there's something you want to see, check your schedule and squeeze it in.  The Fringe is soon to be done.

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Posted by Christopher O. Kidder at August 7, 2008 4:19 PM | Comments (0)

 

Fringe By Numbers: Good Shows I'm Sure To Miss

Filed under: Fringe Festival

Prior to the festival starting, you may remember that I did a number of preview articles about different plays and companies that would be part of the Fringe Festival.  Then, I ran out of time before the Fringe got going and there were no more previews.  It was time to actually see and review shows.

Well, time has passed, and it has reached the point wherein I can tell if I'm going to make it to a show or not (in some cases).  You see, though I don't know which shows I might see, I can tell at this point if a show has no more performances that correspond with the slots on my charts.  The shows at the Bryant-Lake Bowl only line up every once in a while.  Since my charts are designed for the standard one-hour time slots, the longer shows at the BLB only line up once a day on week days (10 p.m. slot) and only a couple of times on the weekends.  That means that I can tell you right now that though Brilliant Traces will be having two more shows.  I won't be seeing either one of them.

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Posted by Christopher O. Kidder at August 7, 2008 4:08 PM | Comments (0)

 

Salvia, Ron Paul, and the illusion of democracy: My interview with Joe Rogan

Many know Joe Rogan as the host of Fear Factor, the show on which contestants ate scorpions and hung off of buildings for cash prizes. Others may remember him as the surly janitor on News Radio. He even did a brief stint co-hosting The Man Show. In between these varied gigs he has trained in Tae Kwon Do (as a teen he was a competitive black belt), toured doing standup comedy, and now serves as the color commentator for the Ultimate Fighting League.

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Posted by Jessica Armbruster at August 7, 2008 10:02 AM | Comments (4)

 

Fringe By Numbers: Day Seven, The Beginning

Filed under: Fringe Festival

I have a song to sing o!  Sing me your song o!  There is a concert tonight at Fringe Central.  I don't personally know anything about the group, but I suppose I will after I hear them play. 

I thought I would take a moment to review reviewers.  Number one, on the very first day of the Fringe, I (and the rest of the audience) watched a certain Star-Tribune reviewer and his lady friend walk out of the show after only one third of the performance (walking out of the Lab theatre unnoticed is really hard to do, as the stairs are better lighted than the theatre itself).  Not surprisingly he gave the show a poor review.  But he also was only able to describe what happened in the first part of the show.  I, too, gave that same show a less than stellar review, but at least I could describe what happened in the last forty minutes of the performance.  These shows are only one hour long.  And they are spaced so you can make the next one without the least bit of effort.  Even if you're in a hurry you don't have to leave early.

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Posted by Christopher O. Kidder at August 6, 2008 8:25 PM | Comments (0)

 

Lupe Fiasco, Steve Earle, Mos Def join RNC festivities

Filed under: Music News

Consider this your daily RNC concert update: The Service Employees International Union has announced that Lupe Fiasco, Mos Def, Billy Bragg, Tom Morello, Steve Earle, Allison Moorer and Atmosphere will join together for a concert on September 1 at Harriett Island for the "Take Back Labor Day" festival. Tickets are only $10 and are available now through Ticketmaster.

According to the press release: "The festival will both celebrate workers' achievements and 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; and retirement security."

Posted by Andrea Myers at August 6, 2008 2:30 PM | Comments (2)

 

Fringe By Numbers: Day Six, "Beowulf or Gilgamesh, You Decide"

Filed under: Fringe Festival

Day Six: 5:30 p.m. Time Slot

Show: Beowulf or Gilgamesh, You Decide
Company:  Chopping Block Theater & Charlie Bethel
Venue: U of M Rarig Center Arena
Die Roll:  11

I wanted Gilgamesh!!!!!  Now that I've got that out of the way, let me tell you about Charlie Bethel's Beowulf.  Or even better, let's just start with talking about Charlie Bethel.  I finally met Charlie a couple of years ago because he was cast in a play that I wrote for Thirst Theater.  Charlie is one of this community's most under-valued assets.  Sure, he's got a small cult following due to the two shows that make up the repertoire of this production, but he's a damn fine actor and ought to be a regular on some of the bigger stages in town.

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Posted by Christopher O. Kidder at August 6, 2008 11:23 AM | Comments (0)

 

Fringe By Numbers: Day Six, The Beginning

Filed under: Fringe Festival

In an 11-day festival, day six is the halfway point.  It is like Wednesday in a normal week.  It is our Hump Day!  The strange thing is that some of the shows have just had one show, others have had four of their five already.  So, in some cases the excited Fringer may need to check and see if the show that sounds really good will still be around much longer.

Tonight at Fringe Central there is a special Fringe edition of Bar Trivia.  The folks at the Bedlam are doing their best to keep the feel of the Fringe going late into the night.

There's a new audioblog/Fringecast up.  You don't want to miss out on the sounds of the Fringe!  If you've missed a past edition, you can find them archived here. 

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Posted by Christopher O. Kidder at August 5, 2008 7:56 PM | Comments (0)

 

Fringe By Numbers: Day 5, The Rest

Filed under: Fringe Festival

Well, I got out of rehearsal with enough time to make it to a 10 p.m. show.  That show ought to have been at the Rarig Center, and I was just there with a minute to spare, but the parking ramp was being pressure washed and was closed to new cars coming in.  Once I tried to find other parking in the area, time had passed enough that I would have missed the first 5 minutes, at least, of the show.  So... giving up I turned my car's wheels toward Fringe Central.  The event of the night was to feature films made earlier in the year at the 48 Hour Film Festival.  I like seeing this cooperation between festivals.  That's part of the positive energy that I keep hearing so much about around the Fringe.

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Posted by Christopher O. Kidder at August 5, 2008 4:23 PM | Comments (0)