May 4, 2008 - May 10, 2008

« April 27, 2008 - May 3, 2008 | Main | May 11, 2008 - May 17, 2008 »

Bee + beer = win

Filed under: Local Nightlife

As many people probably realize, having a beer and playing a video game can be a good time, but what about beer with old-fashioned games?

I'm talking about games that can be played without electricity, $50, or special controllers. No, I am not suggesting a game of drunken horseshoe or croquet, which seems like a recipe for a head injury. I’m talking about a boozy spelling bee. This Saturday, the northeast’s 331 Club will hold a spelling bee for adults, hosted by Heiruspecs member (and self-professed hula-hoop extraordinaire) D.J. Jarred. The spelling starts at 7 p.m., and is $8 to sign up, which is a deal because you get a drink for each round. However, you must advance to the next round in order to obtain that next drink. It might be a good idea to bust out that old Speak ‘n Spell and a six pack tonight. Training can only help, right?

Pre-register by email afteralljess@gmail.com or visit www.myspace.com/mplsdrunkenspellingbee

Posted by Jessica Armbruster at May 9, 2008 3:00 PM | Comments (0)

 

Rawr: Erin Roof reviews Kitten Forever and friends at the Triple Rock

Filed under: Concert Review

Kitten Forever and friends
Triple Rock, May 7
By Erin Roof
Photos by Tony Nelson

“Woah, that bacon does a number on your throat. Blow It Out Your Ass Fest is coooool!” The lead singer of Hangun Man is howling into the mic, while the crowd waits with bated bacon breath for the next hormone-inducing boom ch-ch boom from the jacked-up drum kit. It is what you would expect from an event named “Blow It Out Your Ass Fest”: the asses of some bands blow and others shit out pure rock n’ roll turd gems. It is a night in need of Ritalin, blasting through seven bands in 20-minute bits of lovin’. But why waste precious interweb space on the undeserving? Here are the best butts of BIOYAF:

Hangun Man

Hangun Man by Tony Nelson. See more photos of the evening in Tony's slideshow.

This easy-breezy trio is worth its weight in the night’s free Triple Rock bacon. The band’s twangy, whisky-drenched warbling sounds like a southern fried Stephen Malkmus and is equally as charming. At times sounding like a cyclone in need of a strait jacket, the stripped-down fuzz is spiraling out of control much like the dry-humping orgy going down inside a beaten-up hula-hoop in the audience. Hangun Man does a powerful one-two stomp straight to the craw. The tunes are wildly unkempt, but massively pleasuring.

Kitten Forever

“This song’s about a cat who’s really sick. He ate something and it stuck in him. He probably ate bacon.” Liz Elton, the barefoot and yelping singer of Kitten Forever, is, of course, talking about the mighty Scout Growing Mountain. Scout is the band’s mascot and Elton is a little obsessed with him.

“He is not fat, but he’s 19.25 lbs and he is like a fucking linebacker,” she explains later through a choking cloud of American Sprit smoke. “He is like pure muscle. He is literally the size of a small beagle.”

Kitten Forever: badass feline enthusiasts

The band sings about equal parts felines, love, love of felines and vomit. It’s the kind of gnarly punk that steals your breath and makes you want to pass out, in an entirely good way. Kitten Forever is a surprisingly simple beast, with just bass, drums and vocals and lyrics that usually include the term “AAAAAAHHHHH.” But the trio has the magic to produce throbbing waves of whump that hit you right between the thighs before they make you smile, and leaves the audience dancing manic and uncoordinated jitterbugs.

Unicorn Basement

I think this dude ate wolves. Max Clark of Unicorn Basement is dancing like a bloody wolf claw is going to liberate itself from his stomach at any moment. It is only halfway through 11 when Unicorn Basement takes the stage in front of a now scantily crowded floor. But, who gets drunk on a Wednesday except the scours of humanity? That’s BIOYAF’s draw: the very fashionable dregs of society; the prettiest scumbags in the city. And the duo fits right in.

They may have awkward haircuts, but they’ve got lots of spirit. Free of instruments, except for one well-timed keytar appearance, Clark and Deanna Steege lunge and pounce in beatless formation to their programmed and croaking drum machine. They sound like electronic wonderlings Adult., only with less drugs and more sex, or a demon possessed radio that can’t choose a station, the songs shifting crassly eight times a minute.

Clark, posing in gold lamé tights, aptly sums up the evening. “This is a party for the souls of a horrific universe where only terrible things happen,” he says. If “terrible” means awesome, then well said.
--Erin Roof

Posted by Andrea Myers at May 8, 2008 2:29 PM | Comments (12)

 

When All Else Fails, Books Can Lead the Way

Filed under: Art/Museums

According to this New York Times article, it wasn’t technology or business that rejuvenated the Minneapolis Warehouse District. It was books.

Times writer Lisa Chamberlain details the decline of the "thriving flour mill district along the Mississippi River," that "later became seedy bars and flophouses," in her April 30 piece.

When a plan for a technology corridor went defunct, a collaboration between three nonprofit organizations paved the way to the area's new found development with the Open Book Literary Arts Center, the largest literary and books art hub in the U.S., Chamberlain writes.

It is not uncommon for the arts to revitalize a neighborhood, but it is certainly unusual for old-fashioned literature and books to lead the way.

Open Book Literary Art’s Center debut in May, 2000, led the way for a several other artisan groups now in the area, including the Guthrie Theater, the Mill City Museum, the Mac Phail Center for Music, Minneapolis Central library and other theaters and galleries.

More than 1,000 new residential units have been built as well as new and redeveloped commercial property, increasing the value of neighborhood property to $334 million in 2006, from an estimated $25 million in 1994, according to the Metropolitan Council, a Twin Cities regional development organization. Where a sea of parking lots once existed, there is now a parking problem.

But, if books were to lead development anywhere, it’s no surprise that it’s here in Minneapolis, the nation’s most literate city. With the Loft Literary Center providing writing classes and space for readings; the Minnesota Center for Book Arts offering equipment and space for work in letterpress printing, hand bookbinding and papermaking; and Milkweed Editions offering an opportunity to publish, the non-profit collaborative has made the world of reading, writing and publishing accessible to everyone, Chamberlain writes.

The piece is filled with other interesting tidbits about the architecture and interior design of Open Book's space along Washington Avenue between the University and downtown, and the determined work of architect Garth Rockcastle, of Meyer, Scherer & Rockcastle.

"I had to convince them that the whole area was worthwhile....The neighborhood was precisely the exact center of three things: downtown Minneapolis, the University of Minnesota, and the three main highway arteries,” which was important, since few people lived in the area then.

Posted by Beth Walton at May 8, 2008 11:28 AM | Comments (0)

 

Watercolors: Caroline Palmer reviews ARENA's new dance

Filed under: Dance/Performance

ARENA: waterBRIDGE
Southern Theater, May 8-10
Review by Caroline Palmer

During the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries Austrian symbolist and Art Nouveau painter Gustav Klimt caused a stir in Viennese society with his sensual, color-saturated paintings. Among his subjects were water sprites, supernatural creatures inhabiting an alternative yet strangely beautiful realm most notably free of human inhibition. Choreographer Mathew Janczewski draws upon Klimt’s fantastic imagery as inspiration for waterBRIDGE but he also offers up a more complex physical and emotional journey that should ring familiar with mere mortals. Janczewski has remounted this 2002 work for his ARENA Dances troupe and it will be performed this weekend at the Southern Theater.

The work begins with water, naturally – droplets captured close-up on film and projected onto a white background. The dancers, bathed in Jeff Bartlett’s morning-golden light, slowly engage the space, scouting their territory, hugging the walls, flexing their limbs and melting into one another’s bodies. Janczewski is well known for his inventive partnering and the evidence of his skill comes early during a recent dress rehearsal. The dancers seamlessly wind and unwind around each other’s bodies. They toss and flip one another, at times teasing the edges of a small pool on the far side of the stage with lifts that send partners back safely into waiting arms or tumbling in a controlled manner to the floor.

Hey, wait: that's not Gustav Klimt!

Key to the work is its changing moods and subtle, even slightly ominous references to a coming change. Scott Killian’s original score is rich and layered, alternating between melancholy and euphoria, hard-driving energy and minimalist sound. Midway through the work both the music and the dance seem to reference, just slightly, The Rite of Spring, the 1913 Sergei Diaghilev ballet set to a composition by Igor Stravinsky. These seminal works signaled a seismic shift toward modernism and away from classicism in the arts and idealized pastoral life; Janczewski and Killian capture a similar sense of progress and change, albeit one that is also tinged with a longing for what’s compromised and left behind.

ARENA’s dancers – Gabriel Anderson, John Beasant III, Heather Klopchin, Stephanie Laager and Stephen Schroeder – are fearless movers who consistently find ways to inject warmth, dynamic flow, and dramatic tension into the challenging choreography. Klopchin is the featured performer and she transitions through several states – an innocent, a siren, a lover, an earth mother – while maintaining a compelling sense of control and grace. Along with Klopchin, the troupe functions as a tight unit, alternately conveying playfulness, aggression, hunger, loneliness, optimism and calm. In the final moments they stand together at the pool and gingerly step into it. They sigh in relief as their well-worked feet enter the cool water. -- Caroline Palmer

$18. Thursday and Friday at 8:00 p.m.; Saturday at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. Southern Theater, 1420 Washington Ave. S., Mpls.; 612.340.1725; www.southerntheater.org.

Posted by Jeff Shaw at May 8, 2008 6:53 AM | Comments (2)

 

Once and Again: The Swell Season at the Orpheum

Filed under: Concert Review

The Swell Season
Orpheum Theater, May 7

There aren't many performers more adorable than the Swell Season's Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova. Still glowing from their Oscar win and the unexpected success of their homespun movie, Once, the duo played an almost two and a half hour set of songs from the movie and songs by Hansard's band, The Frames.

From the moment he stepped on stage, Hansard commanded the room. For his first song, the Irish songwriter stepped in front of the microphone and sang “Say It To Me Now” into the crowd with just his acoustic guitar to accompany him, tearing down the wall between performer and attendees. It was an intimate moment, and possibly the most engaging part of the lengthy evening. And that's saying something, because the entire show kept the audience at rapt attention.

I have to stop here for a moment. It would be unfair of me to report on this show with the pretense that I was somehow objective. I love the movie Once, and consider it one of my favorite movies of all time, and for the past two months in particular I have found the soundtrack to be both comforting and cathartic.

I don't mean to play the role of the jaded rock critic, but it's not often that I get excited about going to shows anymore. Sure, there's still the thrill of the chase, the hope that I might uncover something unexpectedly awe-inspiring; but very rarely to I look forward to a show, become giddy with excitement and find myself screaming uncontrollably the moment the musicians take the stage. This happened to me at the Swell Season show. I laughed, I cried, I cheered, I sang along. I stopped taking notes and just wallowed in the moment, listening to Hansard tell neverending stories about ghosts, ex-girlfriends, and the difference between his heart and his head.

As I had hoped, the Swell Season played many of the songs off the Once soundtrack, but I was disappointed by how little Marketa Irglova was featured. Early on in the evening they had her take lead vocals on “All the Way Down” and in the encore she sang “If You Want Me,” but for the majority of the show she was either off to the side at her piano singing harmonies or off the stage entirely. It was clearly Hansard's show—which makes sense, to an extent, because he wrote almost all of the music—but it was strange to see her play such a minor role in the live setting when she was such a huge part of the film.

Regardless, the chemistry between the two performers was palpable. Between songs, Hansard and Irglova would whisper in each other's ears and laugh like they were in on a secret that we would never know. Their vocals mixed perfectly, so that at times when Hansard sang melodies in a higher range it was hard to tell who was singing which part. Even when Irglova was swept to the side, it was clear that she played a huge role in shaping Hansard's ever-evolving, increasingly lush sound.

The evening ended on a high note with a five-song encore that featured the Frames song "Star Star" and a brief interlude of the song "Pure Imagination" from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

Set List

Say It To Me Now
All the Way Down
Lies
This Low
Drown Out
When Your Mind's Made Up
Loved You Wrong
Falling Slowly
Leave
What Happens When the Heart Just Stops
Lay Me Down
Go With Happiness
Fogtown (Michelle Shocked)
The Model (Kraftwerk)
Once
---
If You Want Me
Blue Shoes (violin solo)
Fitzcarraldo
Star Star/Pure Imagination (Willy Wonka)/Hotel Lounge (Deus)
Finale with Damien Dempsey

Posted by Andrea Myers at May 8, 2008 6:00 AM | Comments (8)

 

Fireworks: Desiree Weber reviews Tokyo Police Club

Filed under: Concert Review

Tokyo Police Club
Varsity Theater, May 6
Review by Desiree Weber

Strobes and Fiery Youth, eh?

The opening chords of ominous distortion left no one in doubt whether Tokyo Police Club would bring it. They did. Quickly segueing into their first (of many) post-punk, brit-rock, synth-pop gems, these four boys from our neighbors to the north whipped the crowd into a strobe-enhanced frenzy. And if those weren’t enough hyphenated descriptors for you, you’re in luck. Their next energy-fueled nugget “In a Cave” was only out-paced by their biggest hit to date, “Swedes in Stockholm.” Singer/bassist Dave Monks leads this manic-energy quartet to a place few indie rock bands reach: it’s easy to dance to, easy to listen to and easy to like even more on the second or even tenth listen. Judging by keyboardist Graham Wright, it may also help you lose weight – he practically ran a marathon while pounding the keys or shaking his tambourine for all it (or he) was worth. Don’t get me wrong – guitarist Josh Hook and drummer Greg Alsop are no slouches either.

Putting aside their music for just a second, the light-show-in-a-box that created the back drop for their set was quite impressive on its own merits. I say “in-a-box” because the 8 LED towers situated behind the band could easily be fit into a (big) box, yet they changed the feel of the Varsity more than most bands’ performances do. Goodbye eclectic, romantic Café des Artistes, hello flashing blue, red and yellow strobe effects.

But back to the music. I found myself liking their songs for the same reason I like fireworks (the ones on the Fourth of July, not personal drama ones): they’re loud, fast, and remind me of my fiery youth. And they disappear before you get bored with them, by which I mean that the average song lasted between 2 and 3 minutes and ended before it collapsed under its own spent energy. Luckily these guys are no flash in a pan. Their lyrics are a step beyond the usual love-lust-loss triad, which is part of the reason they stand up to repeat listening. The other reason is that their mountains of sound are just intricate enough to keep you hooked. It also helps that the boys elicit audience participation, especially on crowd favorite “Citizens of Tomorrow” and the intense “Nature of the Experiment.” It can never hurt to clap your hands.

The opening band Smoosh is a duo (sometimes trio) of sisters that craft indie pop that’s heavy on keyboard-drum interplay and light on sappiness. It’s hard to believe the auteurs behind this stuff are 14 and 16 years old. Keyboardist and lead singer Asya seemingly transforms into a person much older than her actual age, singing with intensity not often believable in people twice as old. It’s only in between songs that the self-aware habits of a 16-year old sneak to the fore. Songs like “She’s Right” combine her ethereal, but robust, vocals with keyboard melodies and solid drum rhythms a la her sister Chloe. Their new song “Dark Shine” featured a darker, slower piano line and bass drum crashes that sounded like thunder claps before it mellowed into a more inviting chorus. In a night filled with youthful energy, Smoosh fit right in. -- Desiree Weber

Posted by Jeff Shaw at May 8, 2008 5:58 AM | Comments (0)

 

Flyer of the Week: City on the Make

Filed under: Flyer of the Week

Our favorite flyer this week is for a City on the Make show this Saturday at the Hexagon, with experimental hip-hop groups Face Candy (featuring Eyedea) and Abzorbr, the Chinch Bugs and Mr. Dufaux.

Posted by Andrea Myers at May 7, 2008 12:22 PM | Comments (1)

 

Unearthed: Lovelines by the Replacements

Filed under: Unearthed

In honor of the recent Replacements reissues on Rhino (Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out The Trash, Stink, Hootenanny and Let It Be), we dug out the issue of City Pages that Paul Westerberg famously quoted lines from on Hootenanny's "Lovelines."

This post is best read while listening to the actual song, so pull out your copy of Hootenanny and put it on track 9. If you don't have the disc or record, you can play this weird YouTube video while you read:

The following classified ads all appeared on the same page in the October 13, 1982 issue of City Pages. We cropped out the particular ads that Westerberg references in the song. Only a few lines were ad-libbed; for the most part, Westerberg is reading directly from the paper.

"Lovelines"
Replacements

Stop it
(sniffs)
Slightly overweight girls need sex also
Send your note and desires
Means of contact P.O. Box 8941

Baby you have been along
I'll read another
As soon as it comes around

Feeling pressured?
Call Lovelines

JD if you need a fishing partner
please let me know
Visitors welcome instruction
5 generation Master Gin Foon Mark

Hey Ellen
Mark says hi
Tom what else can I say
I love you very much
I'm glad we're together
miss you a lot
Love kitten

Ooh yeah ooh yeah Kitten
Ooh yeah ooh yeah

Lurkin' lizards lyin' in the Tanners
under an oral fix
waiting for the return of the crawling kingsnake
John Lee

Okay
Grin & bear it

Fantasy Phone Swingers' Hotline
Pure silk, pure seduction
G-strings in petal pink
Hell

Attract some women
scientific formulated
spray the conductive male hormone
work turn the lights off

ooh baby, let's turn a page
Person-to-person

And it's all a bunch of shit
Wednesday, October 13th, 1982
volume 4, number 79

If you have a reissued copy of Hootenanny, you will also notice that there is a bonus version of "Lovelines" that is a different take of the song. Here is the full-sized scan of the classifieds page so you can follow along with the bonus track (click to enlarge):

Posted by Andrea Myers at May 6, 2008 6:00 AM | Comments (0)

 

Over the Weekend: May 2-4, 2008

Filed under: Over the Weekend

Kate Nash, The Cops, Dosh, and more -- here's a rundown of the shows we saw this weekend. Now with 33% more pictures!

Kate Nash
First Avenue, May 2
By Jeff Shaw
Photos by Daniel Corrigan

Charles Bukowski once advised playing the piano drunk like a percussion instrument until the fingers began to bleed a bit. Kate Nash wasn't drinking anything stronger than tea, but her First Avenue show was at its best when most percussive.

"We love you, Kate! Please stop telling us to be quiet!." More photos.

A prime example: Nash mashing the keys toward the end of upbeat songs and her backing band employing multiple drummers during "Mariella." Employing a powerful backbeat helps Nash's melodies advance. The 20-year-old Brit's innocent stage presence permits her certain trespasses -- like shushing the audience not once, but twice, before quieter songs -- that other artists might do well to avoid. But she curtsied to the crowd while wearing a skort, and how adorable is that? She might have broken the heart of one concert-goer by shooting down his shouted proposal ("You can't propose yet, you haven't even met my dad," she chided), but everyone else left satisfied.

Blind Shake, The Cops, The Slats, Strut & Shock
Hexagon Bar, May 2
By Andrea Myers

The Blind Shake drive the ladies crazy. Photo by Jon Behm.

"I've already lost the heel on my shoe and the tuning peg on one of my guitars," announced The Cops's lead singer Michael Jaworski, a few songs into their set. "This is gonna be a good night." Despite having problems keeping track of their physical belongings, The Cops played a powerful set of gritty-yet-melodic punk. The Seattle, Wash. band were the only out-of-towners on the bill Friday night, but they fit in nicely between locals The Blind Shake and The Slats.

Another highlight of the evening was Strut & Shock, a new project from Selby Tiger's Arzu Gokcen. The band is still rough around the edges (perhaps intentionally?), but with Gokcen's snarling vocal melodies and badass Joan Jett vibe leading the way there's a good chance that Strut & Shock will be the next quintessential local girl-punk band. At the end of their set, Gokcen announced that their debut album will be released late next month.

World of Dosh
Walker Art Center, May 3
By Andrea Myers

Image by Cameron Wittig

It was easy to be awestruck by the massive amount of talent pulsing through the room at the "World of Dosh" show -- if a bomb had been detonated at the Walker Saturday night, it would have been the death of Minneapolis's experimental jazz and electronic scenes. What was even more impressive, however, was that even when all seven or eight guest musicians were playing at once (including Andrew Bird, Jel, Jeremy Ylvisaker, Andrew Broder, Mike Lewis, and J.T. Bates), their instruments blended together into unified tapestry of lush and muted chaos. There were no mind-blowing solos -- though many of the musicians playing could have likely melted our faces at a moment's notice -- and no vocals, aside from a few looped grunts and moans. Instead, the guest musicians were like pawns at Dosh's disposal, their contributions bent and broken down at his command.

The Walker's McGuire Theater was the perfect setting for such an event. Patrons were able to sit quietly and digest the minute details of Dosh's spiraling creativity as it unfolded. The stage was scattered with microphones and pedals, and videographers were on hand to capture the proceedings from every possible angle and project live feeds onto a screen behind the band.

To learn more about the magical world of Dosh, see Jeff Severns Guntzel's extensive coverage in last week's issue of City Pages.

Posted by Andrea Myers at May 5, 2008 6:00 AM | Comments (0)

 

« April 27, 2008 - May 3, 2008 | Main | May 11, 2008 - May 17, 2008 »