October 2005

« September 2005 | Main | November 2005 »

Tetes Noires founder Polly Alexander dead at 47

Filed under: Obituary

Paula Joan "Polly" Alexander, a founding member of Minneapolis's first all-female rock band, Tetes Noires, died of a heart illness on October 22. She was 47.

"She had such a light heart, but she was a loner at the same time," said Alexander's former band mate Camille Gage. "She was a guitar player, and she liked to be in the back. She had such a wonderful sense of style beyond her time--sort of '50s and '60s kitsch. We all looked half-ass most of the time, but she always looked great.

"Her apartment was filled with kitschy stuff, all this Elvis stuff and smiley faces. I've been thinking about her all day: She loved this one Rick Springfield song, and one time she filled a cassette tape with just that song, and played it over and over."

A native of River Falls, Wisconsin, Alexander was a freelance accountant and did tax work for many musicians and friends in Minneapolis. Tetes released three albums--Têtes Noires (1983); American Dream (1984), and Clay Foot Gods (1987)--about which the Trouser Press Record Guide wrote, "This Minneapolis sextet shows what can happen when a demented Girl Scout singalong turns into a pop band. Their musical assets are formidable, with three lead singers--ranging from credible to incredible--and a songwriting collective that easily harnesses its riot of pop influences to produce work that demands serious consideration."

Tetes Noires took pride in the fact that they wrote, recorded, and produced their own records without the help of anyone in the male-dominated music business. Nor were they under the guidance of a Svengali-type that oversaw the careers of all-female groups such as the Runaways (Kim Fowley) or the Ronettes (Phil Spector). Formed in 1982, the band pre-dated such groups as the Slits, Mission Of Burma, and Babes In Toyland.

"Polly was really proud of (our pioneer status)," says Gage. "We all were. If we weren't the first all-girl band in the country, we were one of the first. We don't know what was going on in garages all over America, but as we toured in places like New York and Chicago, people would say we were. We were just never big self-promoters. We're kind of the band that time forgot."

Alexander is survived by her parents, Dick & Joan Alexander of Alma, Wisconsin; two sisters and two nephews. The family requests memorials be given in Polly's name to the American Heart Association or East Side Neighborhood Services. A memorial service will be held Friday (2 p.m.) at First Congregation Church in River Falls. For more information, call Cashman Mortuary at 715.425.5644.

Posted by Jim Walsh at October 31, 2005 8:58 AM | Comments (10)

 

Archive of American Television interviews now online

Filed under: Television

TV lovers with lots of time to kill can now wallow in hundreds of hours of interviews with many of the medium's most important stars and creators. Thanks to the Google video site, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences has made its interview archives available for online viewing. These are not soundbite overviews, but lengthy, multipart discussions of careers and programming history. There are about 400 online now (scroll down for the list), from Edie Adams talking about Ernie Kovacs to syndication pioneer Frederic Ziv. (Note: videos require Flash 7.0 or higher.)

Posted by Steve Monaco at October 29, 2005 3:03 AM | Comments (1)

 

The end of movie theaters (and maybe DVDs, too)

Filed under: Film

The inevitable demise of movie theaters is only news to the industry itself, but now one of its biggest players is sounding the death knell. M. Night Shyamalan (Signs, The Sixth Sense) warned theater owners at this year's ShowEast convention that, if the studios have their way, DVDs will be released at the same time they hit the big screen. "If this thing happens, you know the majority of your theaters are closing. It's going to crush you guys." Meanwhile, the next move in DVD formatting-- Sony's Blu-ray discs and Toshiba's HD-DVD-- is already shaping up to be a "Beta vs. VHS" battle, and it's possible that neither will win, especially if Bill Gates has his way. Of course, if Hollywood just made better movies, none of this would really matter.

Posted by Steve Monaco at October 29, 2005 1:59 AM | Comments (1)

 

Host with the most finds best way to make toast

Filed under: Television

Following his cringe-worthy sitcom and even more embarrassing toothpaste shilling, it's safe to say Emeril has worn out his welcome. Rachel Ray has Oprah's financial blessing but she also has that creepy Joker smile. How is it that these kitchen clowns have their own big-time cable shows, while the genuinely likable Christopher Kimball is exiled in Saturday morning PBS? Kimball, the founder and editor of Cook's Illustrated, hosts America's Test Kitchen, one of the few culinary shows on television that views cooking as more of a science than an art. Kimball and his equally talented crew won't fancy up their raspberry cheesecake with sprigs of homegrown mint and lemon zest curlicues. They will, however, investigate over a dozen springform pans and twice as many brands of cream cheese. While his colleagues do most of the actual cooking, the gangly Kimball plays kitchen aide, quiz master, and guinea pig, asking a chef how many species coexist in a box of animal crackers or gamely downing Dixie cups of balsamic vinegarette for a taste test. Now that's a cooking show host. Kimball plugs America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook at the Edina Barnes & Noble November 8.

Posted by Lindsey Thomas at October 28, 2005 6:03 PM | Comments (1)

 

Sulu plots a course out of the closet

Filed under: Film

George Takei, who played Hikaru Sulu in the original Star Trek series and subsequent movies, has come out as a homosexual in the current issue of Frontiers, a Los Angeles GLBT magazine. "The world has changed from when I was a young teen feeling ashamed for being gay," Takei told the Associated Press. "The issue of gay marriage is now a political issue. That would have been unthinkable when I was young." Takei, a Japanese-American, spent ages 4 to 8 in a U.S. internment camp and grew up feeling ashamed of his ethnicity and sexuality. The 68-year-old Takei still acts and also serves on the advisory committee of the California Civil Liberties Public Education Program. Read the interview with Takei in Frontiers here.

Posted by Corey Anderson at October 28, 2005 10:30 AM | Comments (0)

 

"The death of 'alternative media' part two"

Filed under: Media

The day after news came of the New Times/Village Voice Media merger, an email from Punk Planet was forwarded by Melissa Maerz (with the above tag), headlined "Punk Planet's distro woes." It reads as follows: "Hey there, Last Thursday we received some distressing news--the kind of news that made our very bones ache when we heard it; the kind of news that felt so significant we simply couldn't function after it sank in. With a few days time and the ability to process it, we decided it's news worth sharing: It was a letter from the president of the Independent Press Association, the not-for-profit organization that owns the company that distributes the majority of Punk Planet's copies, BigTop Newsstand Services. The letter acknowledged the truth of a rumor that had been running through indie publishing circles for months now: the distributor was having cash flow problems..."

Here's the rest of the email:

Payments to publishers for magazines already distributed had been and would continue to be effected for an unknown amount of time. In case you don't operate a magazine, the money coming in from newsstand sales is vital to publishers' bottom line. For a magazine like Punk Planet, where our ad rates remain very low to cater to independent businesses, those distributor payments are even more critical.

This news leaves us in a tight spot: BigTop is the last distributor in the country that specializes in distributing independent press magazines like Punk Planet. When we started 12 years ago, there were close to a half dozen such distributors; each one that has gone belly up dragged a few magazines with it. Because BigTop is owned by the IPA, an organization whose mission is to "amplify" the voice of the independent press, we don't expect that they will go out of business; but we also don't know when we will see the money we are owed.

What does this mean for the future of Punk Planet? The truth is we don't yet know.

But we do know there are things you can do that will help us in both the short term and the long term.

1. Please consider subscribing (or resubscribing) and purchasing some
merchandise from our webstore today. If you have a product, idea, or event to advertise, purchase an ad.

An immediate influx of cash will allow us to pay off back debts--to contributors, printers, web hosts, etc--and better enable us to weather any coming storm caused by nonpayment from our distributor.
Our annual end-of year subscription sale is just starting now—get a
whole year for only $18, or really help us out and buy a couple of them!

2. Please forward this information--or this whole email--on to your lists and friends, and specifically ask them to subscribe or buy merchandise from us.

In addition to a two-year subscription for only $30, you can pick up
any of our amazing books—Joe Meno's HAIRSTYLES OF THE DAMNED, Bee Lavender's LESSONS IN TAXIDERMY, Mark Anderson's ALL THE POWER, or Jay Ryan's brand-new 100 POSTERS 134 SQUIRRELS now available for pre-order! We've also got Punk Planet T-shirts, underpants, and the awesomely cool PPAP: Punk Planet Artists' Prints wearable art series.

3. Consider donating to the Community Supported Journalism Fund. It's
a small-fund donations program, made up almost exclusively of donations of less than $20, but it's already allowed us to bring you
the amazing END OF RADIO cover story of PP69: four full articles on
different aspects of radio creation and tons of teeny interviews with
audio experts. It wouldn't have been possible without your support!

4. Please continue to support independent print media. The payment issues effecting us are not singular--there are others in the same
predicament that need your support as well.

Thanks so much,

Dan Sinker

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at October 27, 2005 12:01 AM | Comments (0)

 

Let's Be Phair

Filed under: Music

Liz Phair can certainly generate an argument, but until now I'd never heard someone attempt to insult her by saying she's not Sheryl Crow: Crow has never written a lyric that anyone could call, with a straight face, "brilliant." And neither has Phair for some time, but some time ago is important here, because nostalgia is why I, for one, will still go see her show (despite her Britney headset and other weirdness last time). Because Exile in Guyville is about a lot more than "emotionally unavailable men" (see above link again). It's eloquently about that and about so many more aspects of being a young, creative, smart-but-periodically-fucking-up-big-time, possibly emotionally unavailable woman.

It's about going to extreme lengths in doomed efforts to please, about wanting to be pretty but not wanting to want to be pretty, about tricks boys use to intimidate you and how they can work even though you know they're tricks, about how arguments with a significant other can devolve from specifics to sweeping accusations of worthlessness, about wanting (sometimes really wanting) sex but what's so wrong with wanting a little affection along with it?

And unlike her latest album, which unfortunately features not one but two songs heavily featuring the word "miracle" (and right in a row!), her first had a lot of songs that sounded really different from each other, and they were all her. True, nothing she's done since has been half as good. But if she now comes across as a soccer mom who should, but won't, give up the remnants of her "cooler" past, well, that too is probably something many of her fans and peers can relate to. I wish (and still have hope) that she could do something great again, but I'll always have Guyville, which sounds as good now as it did in '93. And I still wanna be mesmerizing too.

Posted by at October 26, 2005 3:36 PM | Comments (0)

 

Zak Sally leaves Low on a high note

Filed under: Local Music

Low bassist Zak Sally announced to Pitchfork today that he is leaving the 12-year-old Duluth-born band. He has been replaced by Duluth multi-instrumentalist Matt Livingston. Sally said in a press statement: "I sincerely hope that someday we can sit in the basement and make music together, but for now, there are more important things than music."

Sally has been busy with his artwork, comic books, and rejuvenated publishing venture, La Mano. Last month, he told CP he wanted to focus on telling stories that resonated the way San Francisco-based La Mano artist John Porcellino's comic-book memoirs can, even when detailing simple stories of eating asparagus for the first time. Sally, who at the time was days away from welcoming his first child into the world, also said, "There comes a time in your life when you just want to make people laugh," perhaps a sign comics and family were to become top priorities for the artist.

Sally's currently working on a lighter follow-up comic to his beautifully dark and visceral Recidivist #3. He also has a cameo in Steve Martin's Shopgirl (reviewed here by Lindsey Thomas), where he plays a member of Hot Tears, the fake band Jason Schwartzman's character tours with. More CP Zak Sally and Low articles can be found here. The new Low line-up performs at First Avenue on December 9th.

Posted by at October 26, 2005 1:30 PM | Comments (2)

 

What would Wellstone do?

Filed under: Local Nightlife

He would head to Katrina benefits tonight and Friday, for one thing, if he were around Minneapolis. Okay, I actually have no idea what Paul Wellstone would do. But the third anniversary of his death passed today, and it just seems too eerie not to say anything, too accepting of the fact. Rent the movie about him, pick up the books, listen to a song for him, or read the old City Pages memorial issue. Or better yet, do something, anything, for somebody else, anybody else, to make the world (as they say) a better place. I don't know if that's what he'd do, but it's what you do if you want to be a human being. End of sermon.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at October 25, 2005 6:16 PM | Comments (1)

 

In My Life: New John Lennon exhibit in Paris

Filed under: Art/Museums

2005 would have been the year John Lennon turned 65. Instead, it's the 25th anniversary of his murder. A new multimedia exhibit in Paris, John Lennon: Unfinished Music, recreates the phases of his life, from his Liverpool beginnings to a replica of the Abbey Road recording studio. Many previously unseen personal drawings and manuscripts are being displayed for the first time, as well as his last piano and Sgt. Pepper-era costumes. (One piece of Lennon-obilia that won't be displayed is the envelope on which he wrote the lyrics for "Give Peace a Chance"-- it's going up for auction next month, and expected to sell for a quarter-million dollars.) Of course, it's all the property and under the control of Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, who never tires of shooting her mouth off about her late husband: when she's not dissing Paul McCartney in a roomful of his peers, she's telling Bono that he's Lennon's lovechild.

Posted by Steve Monaco at October 25, 2005 4:43 PM | Comments (0)

 

Country Duo Given Keys to the Ci-Tay

Filed under: Music

I just took a look at the two versions of the new Big & Rich video, both of which make it difficult to evaluate the single. One is a live clip heavy on crowd- and background noise. The other pursues a outer-space conceit, not as charmingly goofy as one might hope, and is heavy on sound effects. The song, "Comin' to Your City," (pronounced "Ci-tay," as on "Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)," last year's greatest single) is an arena rocker about touring. It's no "We're an American Band." But I do like the disco breakdown, and I look forward to hearing it freed from the videos' various distractions. The album, also called Comin' to Your City,

comes out on November 15, and the group plays with Gretchen Wilson and Cowboy Troy at the Xcel Energy Center on November 27. You can check out two video versions of the new Big & Rich single here.

Posted by Dylan Hicks at October 25, 2005 2:18 PM | Comments (1)

 

Soul Asylum's return to the stage

Filed under: Local Music

"Thank you; thanks," Dave Pirner told a half-full First Avenue Monday night; "(I've) been saying that a lot lately."

Pirner has been through the sort of year that forces a guy to either quit or count his blessings. June saw the death of his friend, Soul Asylum bass player Karl Mueller, and August saw the probable destruction of Pirner's home in New Orleans. He will see the damage first-hand next week, but first he and the revamped Soul Asylum took to the stage for the first time since Mueller's death.

In November of 2001, Mueller told the St. Paul Pioneer Press: "Our first show was Friday, Oct. 13, 1981. It was in the old (7th St.) Entry. The old layout. We opened for Husker Du. I was 18 years old, wasn't even old enough to be in the bar, and I was playin', and it was really fun, and (the Huskers) were in their early glory."

I suggested to Mueller that Soul Asylum might be like the Ramones, who named one of their albums "Too Tough To Die." This is what he said:
"I think it might be that we're more stubborn than tough. It's something that we all got comfortable with at some point. That took over 10 years, probably. We just enjoy it. There are a lot worse ways to make a living, and we've been lucky."

Soul Asylum showed their stubborn streak Monday, playing a 80-minute set that incorporated new songs from a forthcoming album with old hits, including an especially poignant "Runaway Train" and "Closer To The Stars." On bass was Tommy Stinson, the former Replacement; on drums was Michael Bland, and on guitar was Dan Murphy.

PHOTO BY DANIEL CORRIGAN

Missing was Mueller, and everyone in the place felt it--even though Pirner gamely tried to conjure him with a chant of "Karl, Karl," and suggested that his spirit was alive and well and in the house. But it was Murphy's body language that reflected the gig's surreal nature, which caromed between survivor's guilt and workmanlike epiphany.

While Pirner and the animated Stinson did their best to whip up energy, goof around, and go on with the show, Murphy spent much of the night with his eyes shut tight, concentrating on his playing, and avoiding eye contact with his bandmates and the audience. Near the end, Murphy tried to muster some enthusiasm by climbing on top of his amp riser and bouncing to the front of the stage, but it was clear that he dearly missed his friend.

He wasn't alone. Even though the band in question would blow away most comers, and even though Karl was buried months ago, many found themselves saying goodbye-to both Mueller and the band he started-because on that stage last night there was a hole in the Soul.

Posted by Jim Walsh at October 25, 2005 9:15 AM | Comments (2)

 

Freestyle Fridays at Digital City Music

Filed under: Local Nightlife , Local Nightlife , Local Nightlife , Local Nightlife

"I came to this battle not to get the money, y'all, but to get the kill," rapped one contender in last weekend's Freestyle Fridays hip-hop contest at Digital City Music (905 West Broadway, 612.588.2000). He could have been speaking for everyone on the mic. The competitive atmosphere of the month-old event was so fierce that, according to judges at the store, more than a few of those paying the $25 participation fee chickened out. Neither violent bluster nor disses of dark skin--"looks like your mom just got off the Amistad boat"--were taboo in front of the mostly black crowd, gathered around a cage of five-foot-tall chain-link fences. Spirits were high, however. "TJ," age 10, was invited by the referee to kick a verse, and with the words "got cash," the young rapper dropped a block of green bills to the floor, making the room erupt with laughter. Matic, 20, had some of the night's most inspired put-downs--"You got to brush your teeth 'cause your mouth look like Pikachu." But in the end he lost steam against the previous week's winner, A-Ztek, 15 (pictured with a friend, and his name misspelled on the marquee). The Patrick Henry High student told his opponent: "Homey, I don't got to beat you/Um, where's that shorty?/Let him eat you up." He'll win $1,500 if he takes four consecutive bouts, but the social benefits of the event are more enduring. "It's like when we used to breakdance at the Roller Gardens," says Roy Crockett, an old-school b-boy who helps put on the event. "We just had to give kids an alternative to the streets." See more photos at Complicatedfun.com. (Print version of this article here.)

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at October 24, 2005 5:33 PM | Comments (0)

 

Fill up your iPod with Jim Walsh's help

Filed under: Blogs/Web

City Pages staff writer and musical raconteur Jim Walsh has recently launched The Walsh Files, a weekly mix of 20 must-have tunes that will finally make your life worth living. Week One's roster includes tracks by Eels, Wolf Parade, R.E.M., Precious Bryant and Broken Social Scene. Walsh will offer a little commentary about each number, and school you on the local release of the week. Check out the site, and offer up your own opinions in the Comments section.

Posted by Corey Anderson at October 24, 2005 4:33 PM | Comments (0)

 

Fashion is the fashion

Filed under: Local Nightlife

We're halfway through Twin Cities Fashion Weekend (plugged here by, um, one of the participants), but since I'm no fashion plate, and more of an art person, I thought I'd call attention to tomorrow's Art as Fashion/Fashion as Art Exhibit sponsored by Mplsart and Ruby3: (from MNFashion.com) "featuring the premiere of 'Coffin Candy' by Shannon Schafer, the work of designers Andrew Schiff, Lauren Schad and Anna Lee (with more to be added!), and photos from L'etoile Magazine. Come dressed in funeral attire." Hey, that's pretty much what I wear, anyway! 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., Density Studios, 1330 Quincy Street NE, Minneapolis. "Coffin Candy" performance at 8:00 p.m. And for those not fashioned-out by this weekend, there's another event coming Wednesday, Nov. 2, Narcissism: Paper Doll Collection (at the Radisson), featuring a bunch of musical performers.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at October 22, 2005 1:14 PM | Comments (0)

 

Jazz Singer Shirley Horn Dead at 71

Filed under: Obituary

Jazz singer Shirley Horn died last night after a long illness. She was 71. Here is a review I wrote for the now defunct Request Magazine about Horn's 2001 disc, "You're My Thrill."

Some singers age like fine wine, but it seems as if 66-year old Shirley Horn has always been more like a good whiskey, distilled instead of fermented, with a slow, penetrating style imbued with a dry, smoky tang. Her phrases, like those of one of her early boosters, trumpeter Miles Davis, are full of graceful restraint and beautiful shadows, like sonic feng shui. Accompanying herself on piano, backed by the rhythm section that has been with her for more than a decade and some understated orchestration arranged by Johnny Mandel, Horn illuminates familiar ballads like "You're My Thrill" and "The Very Thought of You" with distinctive, understated wisdom. A particular highlight is Mandel's "Solitary Moon," a mature valentine that luxuriates in the quiet satisfaction of romance. There are wry interludes too--guest Russell Malone's sprightly guitar underscores the plaint of "Why Don't You Do Right?"--but most of You're My Thrill reinforces Horn's gift for articulating the ambiance of love during those moments when words are unnecessary.

And here is the press release about her passing from her current record company, Verve.

The Verve Music Group is saddened to announce the passing of Shirley
Horn, the legendary pianist and vocalist. Horn died last night in her
hometown of Washington, D.C. after a lengthy illness. She was 71 years old.

Ron Goldstein, President & CEO of the Verve Music Group, comments
"Shirley Horn was a true innovator. She created a unique style of
playing and singing that was not only original, but so penetrating and
so much her own that few dared try to copy it. She was also a great
character and I will miss all of my conversations with her, which were
delivered in the same deadpan, ironic style that we all knew and loved
from her performances. Her passing is a great loss to Verve, to Jazz,
and to the world."

Born on May 1, 1934, Horn began to play the piano at age four. After
majoring in music at Howard University, Horn put together her first trio in 1954. Miles Davis invited her to open for him at the Village Vanguard in 1960, an engagement which led to a recording contract with Mercury Records and a life-long friendship with Davis. Quincy Jones became an admirer and mentor of Horn's during this period, and produced two of her albums: Loads Of Love (Mercury, 1963) and Shirley Horn with Horns (Mercury, 1963). After parting ways with the label over creative differences, she recorded a number of albums for the Danish Steeplechase label which cemented her reputation as a singular talent. Horn was a devoted wife and mother, so much so that she eschewed touring for many years and instead chose to perform primarily in clubs around the D.C. and Baltimore area.

In 1986, she signed with Verve and made a series of critically-acclaimed albums which significantly raised her profile and exposed her to a new generation of jazz fans. During her tenure with Verve, she released fourteen albums and was honored with eight Grammy nominations. She was elected to the Lionel Hampton Jazz Hall of Fame in in 1996, and in 1998, she won the Grammy for Best Jazz Vocal Performance for her tribute to Miles Davis, I Remember Miles. In 1999, she received the Phineas Newborn, Jr. Award, along with a tribute concert in her honor. Other honors include a 2003 Jazz at Lincoln Center Award for Artistic Excellence, an honorary doctorate from the Berklee College of Music and inclusion in ASCAP's Wall of Fame as the 2005 Living Legend. In late 2004, Horn was honored at the Kennedy Center with an all-star tribute concert and was named 2005 NEA Jazz Master, the nation's highest honor for jazz musicians.

Posted by Britt Robson at October 21, 2005 6:11 PM | Comments (0)

 

Local photographer chases waterfalls; Surviving TLC members fail to respond

Filed under: Art/Museums

I was pretty stoked last week to visit photographer Alec Soth's Minneapolis studio and preview some stuff from his forthcoming book, a meditation on fading love made up of pictures taken around Niagara Falls. Most striking were some bleak yet pretty exterior shots of the area's newlywed-geared motels, and a few florescent-bright portraits of couples in the buff and in hard-to-determine states of endearment. Open about his influences, Soth also had on display his portrait of master color photographer William Eggleston, famous for his vibrant, large-format prints of average people and mundane things. --Dylan Hicks

Posted by Dylan Hicks at October 21, 2005 3:53 PM | Comments (0)

 

Kenyan hip hop and Afrofuturism, plus a rap battle

Filed under: Music , Music , Music , Music , Music , Music , Music , Music , Music , Music , Music , Music , Music

For a $25 entry fee, you can compete tonight in Freestyle Fridays at Digital City Music in North Minneapolis, where a grand prize of $1500 awaits the winner (if I have the rules straight). The rap battle is cheap to watch, in any case ($3), and I'll be there with a camera covering it for City Pages. 905 West Broadway, Minneapolis, MN 55411-2615, 612.588.2000. Registration is at 5:00 p.m., showtime 7:00 p.m. Click photo for more weekend hip hop as part of Saturday's local celebration of Kenyan independence (including a new Kenyan hip-hop documentary and a night of music at the Blue Nile). Also read more on Saturday's finale of the Soap Factory's essential Afrofuturism event, which kind of ties it all together.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at October 21, 2005 3:06 PM | Comments (0)

 

Local Rockers Issue Roundabout Judy Garland Tribute

Filed under: Local Music

"There Is No Place Like MPLS" trumpets the cover of the Cardinal Sin and Small Town Burn a Little Slower's new split 7" single EP (Grey Flight Records), the contents of which indeed ought to imbue area fans of melodic punkindie with civic pride. The vinyl is done in a lovely black-and-white marble pattern, which, in keeping with the theme of Midwestern provincialism, ends up looking Holstein-ish. Each band gives up an original and a cover (Small Towns take on Rocky Votolato's "Suicide Machine"; the Cardinal Sin do a faithful version of the Wedding Present's "Brassneck"). My no-contest favorite is the Cardinal Sin's "The Saddest Song," tough-plus-vulnerable and completely deserving of its "Yeaaahh!" conclusion.

Posted by Dylan Hicks at October 21, 2005 1:58 PM | Comments (0)

 

This just in ...

Filed under: Local Nightlife

Saturday night's New Pornographers gig at First Avenue has been canceled. The reason: bassist John Collins has to get his appendix removed. I guess we'll accept that as sufficient reason to bail on a show. No word on whether the band will reschedule.

Posted by Paul Demko at October 21, 2005 1:32 PM | Comments (0)

 

Radio Gaga

Filed under: Radio Gaga

With the far right in a bit of a slump, the time is ripe for pacifist country fans to make peace with superpatriot Toby Keith, an occasionally great singles artist with whom I for one continue to disagree on matters of foreign policy and beard length. The string of singles from Keith's excellent Honkytonk U started inauspiciously with the title track, a cocky autobiographical statement-of-purpose performed very much in the style of Waylon Jennings. Cocky autobiographical statements-of-purpose generally shouldn't owe an obvious debt to someone else for the same reason that heartfelt love letters shouldn't be ghostwritten. The follow-up singles, though, have been his best since 9/11. "As Good As I Once Was," a tuneful late-August-of-my-years romp performed very much in the style of the Mavericks, has Keith falling into barroom scuffles with rotund motorcycle enthusiasts and threesomes with cowboy-loving sisters. "I'm not as good as I once was," he tells the gals (twins, naturally), "But I'm as good--once--as I ever was." Nasty country hits really turn me on, as do Fender guitars, also heard here. Keith's new single, "Big Blue Note," is a rather blue-note-free toe tapper about getting caught unawares by a Dear John letter. The happy/sad juxtaposition is clever, though by the end the singer's mood is clearly in line with the tune's elfin melody and giggling rhythm. Nice recovery, Tob!

Posted by Dylan Hicks at October 21, 2005 12:41 PM | Comments (0)

 

Jasper Fforde goes all CSI on Humpty Dumpty in The Big Over Easy

Filed under: Book Review

Jasper Fforde is known for his four-volume Thursday Next detective series, in which Next was prone to travelling via a "Prose Portal" into novels such as Jane Eyre and Wuthering Heights, interacting with the characters thereby alternating the plots themselves. Fforde supposedly bemoaned his cult status and hoped his current effort, The Big Over Easy, would appeal to the those without a masters degree in literature by delving into the world of nursery rhymes instead. Jack Spratt, beleaguered detective and notorious giant killer, heads up the Nursery Crime Division, and is charged with finding out who killed alcoholic womanizer Humpty Dumpty, found in a hundred pieces under his favorite sitting wall. An ambitious young detective named Mary Mary assists Spratt in interviewing witnesses and suspects such as Solomon Grundy, Wee Willie Winkie, and incarcerated mob boss Giorgio "Georgie Porgy" Porgia.

What Fforde has crafted is a hard-boiled (no pun intended) detective novel made whimsical through the use of beloved childern's book characters, with aliens, aging starlets, and a certain oversized beanstalk thrown in for good measure. It's a charming book, mostly when we witness Spratt's home life, with his beloved second wife (guess how his first wife, who could eat no lean, died) and his boarder Prometheus (yes, that Prometheus) who catches the eye of Spratt's eldest daughter, Pandora (no, not that Pandora).

Let me know if you've read the book by adding your comments below, and, if you liked it, look for Spratt and Mary to join forces once again in next year's The Fourth Bear. And if your "nursery crime" fix isn't sated, see Humpty Dumpty's murder investigated by a teddy bear named Eddie in The Hollow Chocolate Bunnies of the Apocalypse.

Posted by Corey Anderson at October 21, 2005 9:57 AM | Comments (0)

 

Spotted: The synergy of local rock aristocracy

Filed under: Spotted

Wednesday, 1:32 p.m., IDS Crystal Court: Dave Pirner, presumably a no-longer-part-time New Orleans resident and local hipster, with baby, stroller and Mama--gazing skyward in the atrium. After some failed attempts to get baby to also look up, there's some discussion about the fountain, and general resistance from baby to sit on a nearby bench. Then all three turn around, with Papa and baby heading out to Nicollet Mall, Mama and stroller heading toward some prime consumerism.

Wednesday, 2:28 p.m., IDS Crystal Court: Ruth Adams, full-time Nye's resident and leader of the World's Most Dangerous Polka Band, sitting on the exact previously ignored bench, muttering to herself and looking toward the heavens.

Posted by G.R. Anderson Jr. at October 20, 2005 5:18 PM | Comments (0)

 

Matthew Grimm & the Red Smear

Filed under: Music

For roughly a decade Matthew Grimm fronted the fabulous New York-based roots rock band, The Hangdogs. When I was in college I used to go see them at their home base, The Rodeo Bar, and it was always a ridiculously fun, boozy time. They were also semi-regular Twin Cities visitors, playing the Turf Club or Lee's Liquor Lounge.

Two year ago The Hangdogs effectively broke up when lead singer Matthew Grimm returned to his home state of Iowa to care for his ailing father. He's now formed a new band, Matthew Grimm & the Red Smear. Last January, Grimm spent two weeks in California recording an album with Pete Anderson, best known for his work with Dwight Yoakum. The resulting (unreleased) CD, Dawn's Early Apocalypse, is a full-throated yelp of political disaffection with song titles like "Hey, Hitler!" and "Kill the Poor." (Sample lyric from the latter: "Kill the poor, kill the poor, put a cap right in their brain.")

This kind of ham-fisted lefty preaching would be tough to stomach if it wasn't packaged with hooks juicy enough that W. might one day find himself inadvertently humming along with his Ipod. Grimm's making his first post-Hangdogs foray to the Twin Cities on the 28th, playing Lee's. I spoke with him yesterday by phone.

City Pages: What are people going to see on the 28th?

Matthew Grimm: It's guitar, guitar, bass, drums. We haven't really got our touring legs under us yet. There's all kinds of fucked issues, with people having babies and the same old bullshit.

CP: Are you doing Hangdogs songs as well?

MG: We will do a handful. Over the last year as we've sort of gotten our feet under us one thing I've tried to do is take the Hangdogs songs that work with this setup, which are like "Meet Me at Tommy's" and "Waiting for the Stars to Fall." And then take some songs I really like and figure out a way to make them more Red Smear songs. There's a song called "She's Leaving You" from the last Hangdogs record, which is kind of a somber, train beat, alt-country song that is now kind of a punk rock song. I love the song, but every now and again you sort of put a shot of B-12 in it and hear it a different way.

CP: What influence did Pete Anderson have on the recording process?

MG: Anderson's a very intimidating guy and he's a very talented guy. Intimidating by his reputation. But while he has a way of doing things—and I've understood in the past that could be very authoritarian and very didactic—for me it was casual from the get go. It was a lot of work but it was fun as fuck. He created an environment where his ideas, the bass player's ideas, the drummer's ideas, melded with the basic meat and bones of the songs that I had brought in. "Armies of the Lost" was a dirgy, Neil Young-y type song when we brought it in and it became something much more haunting. That was Pete hearing a kind of beat that [drummer Josh Day] was doing and saying what if we start with that? It sonically translated the ominous mood of the song.

CP: What prospects, if any, do you have for getting the album released by a label?

MG: Dick. I have dick prospects. I can count them on my dick. And that doesn't mean one. We finished this record at the end of February. So all we've been doing—all my manager's been doing—has been sending shit out. I don't know how many we tried. Every roots-rock thing you can think of. I don't know how desperately we went after the dedicated punk rock labels. I know one extremely edgy label told us the record was too in your face for them to be comfortable with. We tried and it just doesn't seem to be resonating. Maybe the record sucks and I’m too close to see it.

CP: Do you think the chief impediment is that people are scared off by the politics of it?

MG: I think that has a lot to do with it. I write good melodic hooks. That's one of the few things I can say I do good musically. There's a lot of good, well-formed songs on the record that it seems to me are catchy as fuck. There's nothing patently offensive to the aural nature of the product that we produced. I think the politics of the record played a major part in people saying A), Do we really want to take a shot on this? And B), Do we really want to take a shot on this with somebody that nobody's ever heard of? I'm a no name guy out of Iowa City.

Posted by Paul Demko at October 20, 2005 4:59 PM | Comments (1)

 

"Do they Know It's Halloween?"

Filed under: Music , Music , Music , Music , Music , Music , Music

Watch the video for "Do They Know It's Hallowe'en?" and consider plunking down dough for the charity single, now in stores. Performed by "the North American Halloween Prevention Initiative," the parody track benefits UNICEF (as in "trick or treat for...") and features Beck, Sum 41, Les Savy Fav, the Arcade Fire, Sonic Youth, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Joey Waronker, Sloan, Peaches, Feist, Devendra Banhart (who performs Tuesday at the Fine Line, and is reviewed by Andy Beta in this week's City Pages), Wolf Parade, Postal Service, Buck 65, Elvira, Malcolm McLaren, Gino Washington (for more on him, see "Gino vs. Geno" at Complicatedfun.com), Roky Erickson, Rilo Kiley, Sparks, Tagaq, and producer Steven McDonald of Redd Kross, though I have to admit, the only voice talent I recognized on first listen was David Cross. (By the way, did you read his parody of Pitchfork reviews?) Here are the lyrics. Listen while you carve your own virtual jackolantern.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at October 19, 2005 8:07 PM | Comments (4)

 

Rob likes 'North Country,' Charlize Theron talks

Filed under: Film , Film , Film , Film , Film , Film , Film , Film , Film

Forget praise from the film's subject herself. My fears about North Country, opening Friday, were put to rest by Minnesota cinema connoisseur Rob Nelson in today's City Pages: "Minnesota-movie vets, including Chris Mulkey (Patti Rocks) and Frances McDormand (you betcha), were offered supporting roles as part of what could easily be seen as a show of respect for our cinematic tradition," writes Nelson. "(Boy-from-the-north-country Bob Dylan was tapped to supply a half-dozen vintage tunes.) And, consciously or not, [director Niki] Caro seems to be channeling the independent spirit of Wildrose (1984), John Hanson and Sandra Schulberg's little-seen classic about the struggles of an Eveleth divorcee (Lisa Eichhorn) working among sexist men at the Iron Range's Mesabi Mine." Read Rob's appreciation of The Heartbreak Kid for background (cover image here), and check out this social action organization spawned by North Country and Good Night, and Good Luck, with accompanying group blog. (See also: a hi-def North Country trailer, Ranger reactions, a real Ranger's preview, and other items in MNSpeak's search engine.) Theron and Caro will participate in a video-conference Q&A after a 7:00 p.m. screening tonight (Wednesday) at the Regal Eagan Cinema 16. A screening at Lagoon Cinema on Saturday at 1:30 p.m., sponsored by and benefiting Minnesota Women in Film and Television, will be followed by a panel discussion of sexual harassment in the workplace.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at October 19, 2005 5:50 PM | Comments (0)

 

Don't mess with ET in Texas

Filed under: Film

Twin Cities indie filmmaker James Vculek will be in the Lone Star state this weekend for a screening of his film Two Harbors at the Austin Film Festival. The movie deals with the evergreen issues of interpersonal communication and extraterrestrial contact, and debuted at last year's Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival (the former director of which, scattershot visionary Jamie Hook, is apparently looking for a roomate in New York).

Posted by Quinton Skinner at October 19, 2005 2:07 PM | Comments (0)

 

Sound Unseen by the numbers

Filed under: Lists , Lists , Lists , Lists

Attendance for the 6th annual Sound Unseen's top 6 films
1. Amazing Grace: Jeff Buckley - 680
2. Born To Boogie - 275
3. ReBirth of a Nation w/ DJ Spooky - 262
4. Be Here To Love Me: Townes Van Zandt - 259
5. Favela Rising - 247
6. Scene Mpls - 189

Overall number of seats sold
2004 attendance - 8400
2005 attendance - 9600

Posted by Lindsey Thomas at October 19, 2005 1:48 PM | Comments (0)

 

There's a Riot Goin' On

Filed under: Local Music

Fort Wilson Riot are in fact composing a five-part suite about globalization, Yankee arrogance, mystical birds, pirates, and more than can be here explained, with music sometimes reminiscent of Sondheim and Beethoven, and yes that might be extravagantly ambitious for a four-piece rock band with only an EP to its name. But don't count them out till you hear how funny and smartly arranged the work-in-progress is, especially its completely over-the-top pirate song. The just-over-a-year-old band--singer-multi-instrumentalist Amy Hager, bassist-beatboxer-singer Joe Goggins, guitarist-singer Jacob Mullis, and drummer Ben Smith--are both earnest and pranksterish, a rare and in this case winning combination that helped them make the Top 10 of our recent Picked to Click new-band poll. We sat down with them last week at the Seward neighborhood's Pizza Luce, where the conversation ranged from the short fiction of Paul Bowles to the risks of making drug references at high school talent shows.

City Pages: So did any of you do musical theater in high school?

Joe Goggins: I didn't do any theater, but I was usually in the talent shows, mostly because it was a way to get out of class for the day. I played original songs. "Barnyard Pervert" was one of them. We auctioned off eggs and hickory before the show. The last one I did was called "Joe's Bong Shop." The administrators didn't like that one, but it was my senior year.

Jacob Mullis: Fort Wilson Riot has actually played "Joe's Bong Shop."
I was in musicals in high school. The first show I was in was Pippin. I did Into the Woods, and later, I did some professional theater for about a year.

CP: So tell me more about this five-part song cycle you've been working on.

Ben Smith: Well, you heard the first three parts at the last show. We're still working on the fourth and fifth. It was inspired by a short story by Paul Bowles, something I started working with quite a while ago, and then Amy started fooling around with it. It's called "Idigaragua." It's about an American journalist traveling in a foreign country who gets drunk in a bar and makes a fool of himself, and then wanders off and passes out in a boat, which floats out to sea. That's where he has these dream-like hallucinations that make up the different sections of the piece. The whole time he's being stalked or led by this bird who keeps singing out, "Idigaragau." Of course we can't really tell you yet how it all works out.

CP: What are some things--concerts, books, whatever--that really inspired you over this past summer?

Joe: The Belles of Skin City CD-release show with Dosh and Thunder in the Valley was amazing. I dance so much I think I annoyed people. Jacob and I ended up having a discussion about the ethics of dancing.

Jacob: Joe's really tall so that factors in that debate. But yeah, it feels like an inspiring time just to be part of the music community. There are so many great local bands going right now--the Alarmists, Murzik, Coach Said Not To, The Gleam, the Knotwells, Belles of Skin City, Thunder in the Valley, Dosh, I could on and on.

Amy: The Worn-Out Shoes is another one. They live in Wisconsin, but they come to town a fair amount. I've also been inspired by this internship I'm doing at the University Good Samaritan Center. I studied music therapy in school, and that's what I've been doing, working by playing music all day.

Fort Wilson Riot with Le Cirque Rouge and Thunder in the Valley; Friday, October 21; Triple Rock Social Club; 612.333.7399

Posted by Dylan Hicks at October 19, 2005 10:42 AM | Comments (2)

 

When I go deaf

Filed under: Music

Last month brought this announcement from the department of "duh": "Researchers at the University of Minnesota have determined that concerts damage hearing, and wearing ear plugs can help if people are convinced to wear them." They pay people for this stuff? (Read the rest of the press release here.) "It's not just the loudness of music at concerts that puts your hearing at risk," adds one doctor. "Crowd noise can also have a big impact." Which is what I've been telling that guy behind me for years. What I told the tender ears of singer Juana Molina (pictured), who performs Saturday at the Walker and whose City Pages interview is now live, is what my colleague David de Young has always insisted: that the key to enjoying concerts safely is expensive ear plugs, not just cheapies you buy at the bar. (Most clubs don't even have those.) Soon I'll check out the tinnitus clinic that opened in Edina earlier this year, Audiology Concepts, and report back with consumer advice. Meanwhile, not-quite-deaf Pete Townshend is blogging his novella: Perhaps only a brain attached to those failing ears would mention that the deepest note ever detected from an object in the universe is a B-flat, "57 octaves below middle-C," sounding from a massive black hole in the Perseus cluster. If a tree falls...

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at October 18, 2005 6:04 PM | Comments (3)

 

2005's Last Block Party?

Filed under: Local Nightlife

On Saturday, there's a block party "with musica, poesia, teatro, baile, etc." at 27th Avenue and E. Lake Street in Minneapolis at around 3:00 p.m., featuring artists from the Spanish-speaking community and hosted by the Resource Center of the Americas, 3020 27th Ave. S., Mpls, MN 55406. Coming soon: November yard sales?

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at October 18, 2005 4:23 PM | Comments (0)

 

Yeah, it's the new Green Day but my eyes are up here

Filed under: Music

A British scientist says breast implants will one day be able to hold mp3 players and thousands of songs. "If a woman has something implanted permanently, it might as well do something useful," says Ian Pearson. Oh, and the same technology might alert women to heart murmurs and breast cancer. But let's get back to what's important. In 15 years, the female audiophile will be able to listen to Big Black on her rack, A-Ha on her ta-tas, T Rex on her pecs!

Posted by Lindsey Thomas at October 18, 2005 1:28 PM | Comments (3)

 

And the Lord said "deep-fry that puppy!"

Filed under: Food

The Minnesota State Fair may be head and pork shoulders above its competitors when it comes to deep-fried oddities on a stick, but some folks at the North Carolina State Fair take their cue from the Fryer Upstairs. "I had a vision from God to do the banana," declared Vincent Thomas, 49, of Creative Catering of Raleigh. Thomas introduced fried banana puddin' bites at last year's fair and will be showcasing fried strawberry cobbler, fried apple cobbler, and fried pina colada strips this year. The North Carolina State Fair runs through October 23 if you've got frequent flyer miles and are feeling peckish.

Posted by Corey Anderson at October 17, 2005 5:30 PM | Comments (0)

 

Charles Rocket, 1949-2005

Filed under: Obituary

The body of former "Saturday Night Live" cast member Charles Rocket was found in a field on October 7. The Connecticut state medical examiner has ruled his death a suicide. Rocket, who hosted Weekend Update from 1980-81, is best known for getting kicked off the show for saying "fuck" during a live performance. His subsequent acting career included playing Bruce Willis' brother on "Moonlighting" and Geena Davis' philandering fiance in Earth Girls are Easy. Audiences who caught Sound Unseen's screenings of TV Party, will also recognize Rocket as the guy who played accordion and sang "Wild Thing" on the NYC cable access show.

Posted by Lindsey Thomas at October 17, 2005 2:25 PM | Comments (0)

 

Fake presidential debate = ratings bonanza! Huh?

Filed under: Television

When did you stop watch