October 2005

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Happy Halloween from MF Scholtes

I was MF Doom and Toasty was Jessica Rabbit on Saturday, though we couldn't make First Avenue last night due to health issues (not code for a hangover). We'll be babysitting tonight as our younger siblings hit the First Avenue costume ball, which I recommend. New comments below (and at Culture to Go) on "Do They Know It's Halloween?", the New Times merger (and at the Rake), and the Suicide Girls. One of my co-workers dressed up as a VVM board member today, laying off everybody... hee hee...

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at October 31, 2005 4:44 PM | Comments (1)

 

Let me dance next to your fire... at the Blue Nile

Photos from Saturday's Samba Mapangala show at the Blue Nile in Minneapolis (one appeared in today's City Pages). The show, previewed below, starred Mapangala (in the ball cap three photos down), singer of Orchestra Virunga (listen to "Vunja Mifupa," "Virunga," and "Malako," or buy these CDs). DJ Top Donn was downstairs, though I missed him. It was all part of the Minneapolis celebration of Kenyatta Day, Kenya's independence celebration. Hip-Hop Colony, the documentary about Kenyan hip hop that screened earlier, was great, if talky (cool factoid: rap music made Swahili hep again in Kenya). Looking forward to talking more to Samora and Simbo, whom I met after the screening.

Bruce Odhiambo of Johari Cleff Studios in Nairobi, one of Kenya's premiere hip-hop producers, has written hundreds of songs for countless rap acts.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at October 26, 2005 9:20 PM | Comments (0)

 

Holla, MF Doom, if you're reading this blog...

From my DangerDoom review in today's Seattle Weekly: "Is MF Doom reading me? Addled by the brain-spam of an age that sells everything, including the words in this sentence, I wrote last year in Minneapolis's City Pages, 'Fans love Doom precisely because, like the Cartoon Network's Aqua Teen Hunger Force, he represents the only Dada that makes any sense in the communications age--the kind that makes no sense at all, and communicates nothing.' I added, rhetorically, 'No, he will not be right back after these important messages.' Doom's answer comes here, amid an album-length collaboration with Aqua Teen's creators at Adult Swim and producer Danger Mouse, the guy who combined the Beatles' White Album and Jay-Z's The Black Album into 2004's The Grey Album: 'Now we'll be right back after these messages,' rasps the masked rapper. 'Fellas grab your nut sack, chicks squeeze your breastesses.'" The rest of the review is here.

Background: Check out all my MF Doom articles and cartoons, the DangerDoom Myspace page, MF Doom Myspace page, and Scholtes Myspace page. Oh, and here's Michaelangelo Matos's review in City Pages (we traded places for a week!). And my Halloween costume (take a wild guess).

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at October 26, 2005 8:16 PM | Comments (0)

 

Um, he's out of the band again

As reported here via here, and discussed here, Zak Sally has once again left the great Duluth band Low. My kindest wishes to all of the musicians and their families, and I let's hope Sally doesn't go too Hollywood on us.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at October 26, 2005 7:39 PM | Comments (0)

 

"I hear they found a Replacement for Karl"

Walsh, Bream, Ross, MNSpeak, and TCPunk review last night's Soul Asylum show (more photos here). Dan Corrigan, who took the above photo, says Twin Tone co-founder Paul Stark ended up doing lights when the show had to be moved next door to the Mainroom due to PA problems in the 7th St. Entry. (Did I forget to mention Walsh has a blog?)

Before Soul Asylum rehearsals, bassist Tommy Stinson had been busy this year, collaborating with his old 'Mats mate Paul Westerberg on the soundtrack to next year's animated feature, Open Season (more here); writing songs for another 2006 film, Catch and Release; and producing the debut album by L.A.'s Bobot Adrenaline, who sound to me a little like Soul Asylum when they were Loud Fast Rules (click there for the Ramones poster, and here for another one)--a good thing! Of filling in for Karl Mueller, the late Soul Asylum bass player, Tommy says on his web site, "I'm told he would have wanted it this way so this is for him as well as Danny, Dave and Mary Beth."

Backround: Read the Karl Mueller thread on TCPunk.com.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at October 25, 2005 5:08 PM | Comments (0)

 

North Side rappers come to battle...

This is rapper Unknown at Freestyle Fridays, Oct. 21, 2005, at Digital City Music (905 West Broadway, 612.588.2000). Read the whole article here and/or here...

This guy, I don't know, but he was fierce. Or is that furce?..

Battle referee Tyson at work...

Young Sota battling Matic...

Matic...

A-Ztek...

A-Ztek with a friend outside the store...

See also: "MCs Come to Battle" (with pictures by a real photographer, not me), more MN hip-hop links at Complicatedfun.com/hiphop, and more Scholtes articles about local hip hop at Complicatedfun.com/hiphoparticles.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at October 24, 2005 5:14 PM | Comments (5)

 

New Times takes over Village Voice Media

And the first business decision of the long-rumored new company, which will soon own City Pages? Feed the scoop to the New York Times, not its own reporters. So much for our vaunted "online efforts," which are to be headed by outgoing VVM CEO David Schneiderman (here's his memo, dated yesterday). I'm hoping new CEO Jim Larkin recognizes a good product when he sees one, and doesn't sydicate film reviews (which have been kicking more ass than usual lately), tell Steve to shut up, or put the kibosh on national cover stories such as our "New Orleans: Survivor Stories" package, which I consider one of City Pages' finest moments. In the meantime, doesn't the SF Weekly owe the San Francisco Bay Guardian an apology? Updates: more in the Star Tribune and the Washington Post. More commentary at Jeff Chang's blog. The Village Voice non-report and more discussion at ILM. Here's AAN's Comprehensive Guide to Merger Coverage. Hans at the Rake's take (and my response). Much more at the Seattle Weekly. Nashville Scene on the new boss. NPR story on the merger. New Strib piece on City Pages. Opinion piece in the San Francisco Chronicle. Really interesting New York Magazine profile of Mike Lacey, with some paraphrasing of Christgau. Nov. 28 Blotter: Merger gets okay from Justice Department. Dec. 5: Voice Editor Quits

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at October 24, 2005 9:50 AM | Comments (3)

 

Kenyan hip hop and Afrofuturism

I found the above image while searching for pictures of Jomo Kenyatta (pictured), the first Prime Minister of Kenya. It's a 2003 mixed media work titled "Space," by Kenyatta, age 4. The picture somehow captures the themes of both Kenyatta Day and Afrofuturism, which happen to coincide Saturday in Minneapolis. While Kenyatta Day offers a glimpse of Africa's future in hip hop and cinema (see below), the local exhibit, discussion, and events surrounding Afrofuturism at the Soap Factory (near St. Anthony Main) peer forward into the future of the African Diaspora, and use the sci-fi imagination to satirize the past. (The whole thing winds up this weekend.) I wish there were more work up by co-curator Ernest Arthur Bryant III (scroll down), whose painting I've compared to defacto Afrofuturist MF Doom's rap music (more here), but there's great stuff here, and Saturday features an interactive day of art and activities for families, sponsored by KMOJ-FM (89.9) and Insight News, including "relevance trees" and "future wheels" (mapping out the sequence of events required to get from where you are to where you want to be) between noon and 5:00 p.m., as well as a public dialogue led by former Electric Skin editor and art blogger extraordinaire Cinque Hicks: "After Afrofuturism" (5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.).

Kenyatta Day in Minneapolis

The same evening, Kenyatta Day features the local premiere of Hip Hop Colony, a documentary about Kenyan hip hop, screening at 7:30 p.m. sharp at the Upfront Event Center in Brooklyn Center (5801 John Martin Drive Brooklyn Center, Minnesota 55430; 763.561.7100; directions here). San Francisco based Kenyan director Mike Wanguhu (pictured) will be on hand to discuss the film after. The event is preceded by a day of political discussion about Kenya and the legacy of Jomo Kenyatta, along with catered food, all at the Upfront Center beginning at 2:00 p.m. (Entire program at the Upfront is $20.00; advance tickets are encouraged so the caterers can cook enough food.) Then the film is followed by a night of music at the Blue Nile Bar and Restaurant, beginning at 10:00 p.m., with Samba Mapangala (check out these CDs) of Orchestra Virunga (famous for the songs "Vunja Mifupa," "Virunga," and "Malako") upstairs and DJ Top Donn (Donald Owino), a Kenyan deejay based in Chicago downstairs. ($15.00 advance/$20.00 at the door). For out-of-towners arriving early, the Blue Nile also presents a reception party Friday night featuring the Marimba Africa Band and Zilizopendwa upstairs, and DJ Top Donn downstairs ($10.00 at the door). Visit www.KilimanjaroEntertainment.com for updates and more information.

More on Kenyan hip hop

A City Pages article of local East African rapper Mo-Man, my 2004 review (scroll down) of The Rough Guide to African Rap, Africanhiphop.com, some music samples from the great Kenyan hip-hop group Gidi Gidi Maji Maji (more here, here, and here), who are featured on last year's essential The Rough Guide to the Music of Kenya (read Christgau's review). For more going on this weekend...

Complicated Fun at Culture to Go

Rap battle at Digital City Music (tonight), Juana Molina: When I go deaf (see her Saturday), Rob likes 'North Country'; Charlize Theron talks (opens today, discussion Saturday), The Last Block Party of 2005? (this Saturday, though the weather's sucking), "Do They Know It's Halloween?" (video), First Avenue Loosens Dress Code (ongoing), Minnesota Sur Seine (ends this weekend), "A four-hour documentary on Nazis" (continues this weekend), Go look at Mars (posted below), 3rd Annual Anti-Columbus Day Celebration (this sold out), 9:30 Club: The First Avenue of D.C (should screen again).

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at October 21, 2005 2:28 PM | Comments (0)

 

Gino Washington vs. Geno Washington

Both Gino Washington and Geno Washington are great rock and roll singers remembered for frenetic, legendary shows in the 1960s. Each was compared to James Brown in his day, each served in the military, and each still performs and records today. Since I inadvertently linked one to the other at Culture to Go (Gino appears on the new novelty song "Do They Know It's Halloween?"), I figured I owed it to these guys to compose biographies of each, using what I could glean from online sources. Good thing I did: Their music is wonderful (click their names above for links to sample tracks). Maybe somebody could get these two onstage together for a show sponsored by Gino's pizza, or Geno's pizza, or something.

Gino Washington

Gino with an "i" is the tough Detroit R&B singer born George Washington (in 1946, maybe), who appears on the new parody single "Do They Know It's Halloween?" (He recorded the cameo in his kitchen with producer Adam Gollner.) As "Jumpin' Gino" four decades ago, Washington recorded in the storied Golden World studio, cutting raw regional hits such as 1963's "Out of This World" and 1964's "Gino Is a Coward" (the Ric-Tic label's first single), a tune later reworked by Bruce Springsteen as "I'm a Coward For Your Love." These sides were big in some cities, but never cracked the national charts. Yet Washington was the only non-Hitsville act featured on the touring Motown Revue, and he ended up opening for the Beach Boys and the Rolling Stones in Detroit (though the singer was late enough to the Stones gig that the headliners had to go on first, amid shouts for "Gino!").

Washington's band, Gino and the Atlantics (led by killer guitarist Jeff Williams), made local history in other ways. They became a sort of a prototype for the Dirtbombs--a black singer fronting a white garage group--and were one of the first big interracial acts to gig across color lines in segregated-by-custom Detroit clubs, as well as teen dances. "My name is Gino, so a lot of people thought I was Italian," Washington told the Detroit News in 1999. "You'd go into an all-white nightclub and they'd think you're Italian, but you're black! Everybody would look at me. After we got on stage, though, they didn't care anymore."

Washington got drafted out of his teen band into the Army at the peak of his career, and was sent to Vietnam after a tour of duty in Japan. He returned home in '67 to find that a similar name was making a bigger name for himself: the UK's Geno Washington. (Left: recent photos of Gino and Geno performing today.) Gino with an "i" kept releasing records, many on his own label, ATAC. (Perhaps out of spite, and to the confusion of future collectors, he released at least one single under the name "Geno Washington.") And the singer hosted a variety show on local TV in the '70s. But in the end, his onetime backup singers from the early '60s became more famous: the Primettes went on to become the Supremes. And Joyce Vincent (of the Debonaires) and Telma Hopkins had hits as the fictional "Dawn" of Tony Orlando and Dawn. (Hopkins also enjoyed a long career in television.) Today, you're as likely to have heard Gino's nephew, Keith Washington, a quiet storm R&B crooner who got airplay in the '90s. But check out Gino's classic singles on the Norton Records' collection, Out of This World (reviewed here and here) and don't miss his occasional gig with his old friends Jeff and the Atlantics.

Geno Washington

Geno with an "e" is the equally tough soul singer who had two hit LPs in the United Kingdom in the swinging '60s (both live albums) while fronting the Ram Jam Band. But he's an American, born William Francis Washington in Evansville, Indiana, in 1943. Washington served in the U.S. Air Force, and was stationed in the UK in 1961, at RAF Bentwaters near Woodbridge. The singer made frequent trips to London, taking impromptu stand-in gigs, and upon his discharge in '64, decided to stay. Within a year, he'd been recruited as frontman for Geno Washington and the Ram Jam Band, named for the legendary Brixton hangout the RamJam Club, where older Jamaican immigrants mixed with young white mods, dancing to soul and ska records spun by DJs such as Duke Vin, Count Shelley, and Count Suckle. Touring the nation, the Ram Jam Band quickly became live legends on the '60s rock circuit, signing to Piccadilly by early '66, and breaking the UK Top 40 the same year with "Water." (Check it out on the 2000 Castle collection My Bombers My Dexy's My Highs: The Sixties Studio Sessions.) They headlined above the Small Faces (whom impatient crowds booed), Cream, and Jimi Hendrix before disbanding in 1970.

Washington returned to the States for the mellow decade, recording on occasion (a "comeback" album in '76, and some unreleased music with the Beach Boys) while otherwise studying hypnosis and meditation. But in 1981, Dexy's Midnight Runners released tribute single, "Geno," which became a number-one hit in the UK. The media attention brought Washington back to London for good, and he's been recording and performing ever since, though he touts his latest CD, 2003's Return of the G (produced by Ram Jam bass player Catfish Maitland), as the first to capture his live energy. Washington is currently booked around the UK through the summer of 2005 to promote the album, which is available through his web site and the Voiceprint label.

Washington has also published a fiction thriller, 2003's The Blood Brothers (Do-Not Press). Set in the late '60s, it follows the adventures of a black Vietnam vet named Robbie Jones, who travels from the jungles of South East Asia to the deserts of Mauritania fighting slavery and injustice. I wonder if he consulted Gino Washington for research.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at October 20, 2005 7:58 PM | Comments (4)

 

Suicide is painless?

Sick of hearing about Suicidegirls.com? Read today's City Pages for some serious second thoughts: "Subscribing to the site also means subscribing to a certain idea," write Jessica Hopper and Julianne Shepherd. "Its viewers get to lust after girls with shared cultural interests ('shaved pussy; loves Fugazi!'), and the models' 'feminism'... exonerates the guilt behind the gaze." One question: Exactly what are viewers guilty of? (Or what might they/should they be feeling guilty about?) My two colleagues never say, although their argument against Suicide Girls, who arrive Saturday in Minneapolis at the Fine Line with their burlesque, does outline a scandal that's news to me: The business is run by a guy, and a bunch of the iconic SGs (including Katie, pictured) have left, making accusations of misogyny, abuse, and ghostwritten journals, while joining a blog to air their grievances, Tales from the Dark Site. (See also: Gloomdolls.com.) One former model calls Suicide Girls "the Wal-Mart of alt-porn" in an article linked on the forum.

This is rich terrain for irony, obviously. But Jessica and Julianne come close to letting their entertaining anti-hypocrisy become anti-porn...

"Suicidegirls.com hinges itself on the idea that there is no male gaze, that pornography can exist outside the bounds of subject/object relations, that there is no soft-focus power imbalance inherent in paying to look at naked girls."

Which assumes your agreement with the opposite: There is a male gaze; pornography can't exist outside subject/object relations; there is a power imbalance in paying to look at naked girls. Well, yeah. But these statements are incomplete to the point of misleading: That "gaze" is a complex and changeable thing. Pin-ups, the WWII-era phenomenon to which Suicide Girls owe much, arrived just as women were being looked at through needier male eyes (as economic agents in factories, or sexual agents in soldier fantasies). There is a subject/object relationship every time one person looks at another person as a sex object--something every breathing animal wishes to become at one moment or another. (I've barely looked at Suicidegirls.com, but I imagine subscribers are also well aware that the autobiographical info, like most "reality" media from Playmate Q&As to Myspace confessions, is just fodder for more fantasy.)

And if we agree with non-fanatic economists that there are "inherent" power relations in all markets, why single out paying for the sight of nude women?

The real news story, for feminists and labor-activists in the sex-entertainment industry, is how conservative Suicidegirls.com is. As reported recently on Susie Bright's and Shannon Larratt's blogs, SG has been early to surrender to the government's latest anti-porn witch hunt, preemptively taking down bondage photos that might be prosecuted by U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Apparently, SG had called the FBI against a potential competitor (over alleged hacking), and, in an effort to make themselves credible witnesses for the prosecution, turned over "a list of every single photo set that contains bondage, blood play, urination, etc." (according to SG's Steve Simitzis). Only later did it occur to them that the list might be used to other ends.

Suicidegirls.com is also reportedly threatening lawsuits against ex-models who are launching their own site, Godsgirls.com (see photo above, and Myspace page here--though apparently Myspace has censored comments about Suicide Girls). There's no mention of that project in the City Pages piece, but then, that would involve supporting pornography.

Update Friday: More commentary at the Sacredwhore.org blog.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at October 19, 2005 4:57 PM | Comments (5)

 

Way too much going on this weekend

Tonight, Oct. 14

Right now there's a freestyle battle at Digital City Music on Broadway (formerly Classic Records). But I'm heading out to the Afrofuturist exhibit at the Soap Factory before the gallery closes at 8:00 p.m. Look at Mars in the sky between 9:00 p.m. and 10:30 p.m. at the U of M, and then, if I'm not too fried, maybe head to Golden's show at the Cabooze, then maybe go to the Energy Lab at First Avenue. Punk Rock Holocaust has a midnight screening at Sound Unseen, and is worth seeing just for Atmosphere (Lindsey likes it). There's also Chicago house star DJ Boris (a.k.a. Jerome Baker, Lord Damian, Dorian Baker) taking the tables at 12:30 a.m. at the Dinkytowner. Later I might do a drop-by at the Session on KFAI between 2:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. Or I might be asleep...

Saturday, Oct. 15

There are a couple good early films today: The Sorrow and the Pity at noon. There's also The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T screening around the same time--I like the idea of a cult 1953 kids movie on 35mm. The same afternoon, Harvey Pekar appears at the Twin Cities Book Festival hosted by Rain Taxi. And Skoltz-Kogen's live AV show, Fluux:/terminal runs from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. at McNally Smith Auditorium. If you're looking for more fluffy afternoon entertainment, I recommend a matinee of the Joss Whedon blockbuster Serenity, or putting on makeup and joining the Zombie Pub Crawl. Otherwise, there's an early, all-ages show by the completely wonderful United State of Electronic (official site here) hitting the stage of the 7th St. Entry at about 7:00 p.m. (I'll have to miss La Fabrik-K: The Cuban Hip-Hop Factory, a 2004 video about Cuban hip hop, which screens once during Sound Unseen at 7:30 p.m.) I'd go to the U.S.E. drinky show if the evening weren't already so packed: Sound Unseen's musical highlight of the weekend is the Chairkickers' Union Party (here's the new label site!) hosted by Low's Alan Sparhawk (pictured) at the 331 Club in NE, with Paul Metzger, The Keepaways, No Wait Wait, If Thousands, and "DJ Sparhawk." (I'll probably hit this first.) The same night, I'll see French hip-hoppers and Eyedea/Stokley/Brother Ali at the Triple Rock (which I'll probably hit second) as part of Minnesota Sur Seine, and Omaur Bliss headlining a show at the Kitty Cat Klub with the Elementalz and Yoni (which I'll probably hit third). After that, Hicksy's house party goes late.

Sunday, Oct. 16
I'm just going to rest, and head to St. Olaf Church for the African Mass at 11:45 a.m. Then eat some food with my new Guinean friend Jean, who sings in the choir.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at October 14, 2005 6:31 PM | Comments (0)

 

Go look at Mars

Let's forget everything for a minute and look at the night sky. Mars has been big and bright since June, and, contrary to rumor, it's getting bigger. On October 30, only 43 million miles will separate earth from Mars, compared to an average distance of about 140 million miles. If you're in the Minneapolis area, the U of M Astronomy Department schedules public viewings on its rooftop using a 10.5-inch telescope every Friday evening between 9:00 p.m. and 10:30 p.m., if the weather's okay (call 612.626.0034 about an hour before the session and listen to the recording to confirm). Anytime over the next few weeks would be good for Marsgazing, but October 28 will be the Friday our planets are closest. This is the brightest Mars will be until 2018, and unlike in 2003, when the planets were closer, Mars is high along the horizon this time, giving us a clearer view. "Already backyard astronomers are seeing some extraordinary things--like the 'purple haze,'" reports NASA. Either that, or somebody's been smoking something in the physics building boys room.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at October 13, 2005 4:47 PM | Comments (0)

 

U2, DJ Spooky remix race and the American South

I've been avoiding reading the "New Orleans" issue of Rolling Stone, though it's been sitting here for weeks. There's good stuff here, no doubt. But I opened to a story about Sean Penn in NOLA (who cares), then flew into a shaking rage over the column quoting all the religious fanatics (the disaster was God's will, they say), then skip something about a CNN guy and scan "Music From a Lost City," an appreciation of New Orleans music culture that from all appearances, with its black and white photos and old musical references, could have been written 20 years ago.

I don't claim to "know" this still-living city more than Rolling Stone, and I don't presume to instruct anyone how to mourn what's been lost. I lasted barely as long as Degas did in New Orleans, living in the building next to his old one on Esplanade between 1994 and 1995. But I left being aware, at least, of the depths of my gaps in knowledge: As I've written, the city is part public party, part secret society, and tough for white northerners to truly enter. (Though my colleague Katy Reckdahl moved down there from Minneapolis and seemed to possess the charm to bypass all the secret codes of race and family, having a baby with a black trumpet player and happily dismissing my insistance that the place was dangerous.)

Frankly, I'm just happy to see Christgau mention Mannie Fresh, and if none of these funeral speeches mentions the ReBirth Brass Band, the Stooges Brass Band, the Soul Rebels, or any of the other modern second-line groups after the Dirty Dozen, maybe that's a sign of my own neglect as well as the profession's. Like every other city, New Orleans was overflowing with vibrant and weird local culture for years, and the Stooges (who drew only dozens at their Minneapolis show last week) had toured before, but I missed them. Rolling Stone should run a photo of those guys along with the one of the Young Tuxedo Brass Band (though I'd swear that's the Eureka Brass Band in the picture). Even if they don't, it's not some huge cultural injustice. New Orleans local music, like local culture across the country, was long invisible to the national media, and still is. Not just the bounce rappers but the eccentric punk bands like (and I'm going back a few years) Blacula, or the goths bicyling around town, or the weirdo pizza parlors that popped up in the early '90s, or the Magnolia projects dwellers (where the Nevilles and C-Murder came from), or the drag queens, or the just-hanging-on CD stores, or the endless subcultures within subcultures. New Orleans could feel like an endless series of after-parties and after-after-parites in which fewer and fewer people were invited. The black clean up crew in the building where I worked as a security guard asked if I was British, and when they spoke to Mr. Brimmer, the old junk man who came by every night, their rapid patois became impenitrable. One of the black cops I worked with was arrested as part of the New Orleans 8, the corrupt police guarding crackhouses. ("You want to know how a cop affords a truck like that?" said one of the other guards, looking out at the SUV on the street. "Good credit.") And the cop who replaced him was a white guy who assisted the FBI sting. Their worlds were equally alien to me, and the white cop had that racism that never admits it's racist: He would talk about "they" a lot, but when it came down to it, he said, the issue was self-respect. New Orleans, I keep telling people, was abandoned long ago, and many inner cities are going the same way. I'm rambling.

I found out something disturbing earlier this year, while combing through hundreds of local newspapers from 1915-1916 to research the history of the Varsity Theater--tonight's venue for DJ Spooky's "remix" of D.W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation (which also opened in 1915). Turns out Griffith's racist totem was hugely popular in Minneapolis, as it was across the U.S., enjoying a long downtown run with prominent advertisements in daily papers. A founding work of cinema, The Birth of a Nation was also an influential piece of white supremacist propaganda, based on the book The Clansman by Thomas F. Dixon, Jr., which heroized the Ku Klux Klan for protecting white women from black men. The ranks of the KKK swelled as a result of the film's success, as did the popularity of "movies" (then still taking quotes). By 1923, the Pioneer Press was reporting the presence of a KKK unit in St. Paul, and a University of Minnesota's homecoming parade had included a KKK float (read more here). Tonight's belated "response" of sorts features the great illbient turntablist Spooky orchestrating a live, three-screen, multimedia re-imagining of Griffith's silent "classic." By now filmmaker's primary claim on history is seen mainly by film students (MN Film Arts' Search and Rescue project recently unearthed a print at the U of M) and others curious about the work's anti-inspiration for Spike Lee, so this event (featuring new imagery and music) might actually be a good way to see the picture for the first time. Showtime at 7:30 p.m. at the Varsity Theater in Dinkytown, with an after-party at the same club featuring Spooky, DJ Nikoless, and Dessa's duo with Jessy Greene, Urban Ivy. See Complicatedfun.com for a complete Sound Unseen festival roundup, and the official festival site for a full schedule.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at October 13, 2005 2:43 PM | Comments (0)

 

Joel Gersmann memorial in Madison Nov. 12

From Geri Ager, Joel Gersmann's widow: an open invitation to a memorial event in Madison, for the late director of Broom Street Theater:

Dear Friend,

In the weeks and months following Joel's death, I was overwhelmed with calls and letters from people whose lives had been altered by knowing him and being a part of his work. I came to realize that Joel was more complex than any one of his friends or co-collaborators could know. His connections to people were distinct and intense. The irresistible force of his intellect and the sharp edge of his imagination flushed out creative impulses in actors, painters, writers, family, and friends. Please join me and the folks from Broom Street Theater for a memorial reunion and exhibition as we raise Joel from the dead through the power of collective memory...

The Most Beautiful Jew in the World: A Tribute to Joel Gersmann

The Reunion (Nov. 12)
Friends of Joel and the theater, past and present, will gather for socializing, recollecting, food, drink and the premier showing of a documentary film about Joel at the Wil-Mar Neighborhood Center, 953 Jenifer Street, Madison WI on Saturday, November 12, 2005 from 2:30-5:30 PM. Broom Street alumni from many eras and areas around the country have promised to come. Free of charge.

The Exhibition Opening (Nov. 12)
Following the reunion, please join us at the theater, 1119 Williamson Street, for the opening of The Most Beautiful Jew in the World: A Tribute to Joel Gersmann from 6:30-10:00 PM also on Saturday, November 12. It is free of charge and will include music, light refreshments, and a look at Joel's life and work with many of his closest friends. Door prizes as varied as gift certificates from local businesses and Gersmann memorabilia will be awarded.

The Exhibition (Nov. 12-Dec. 4)
This year, in honor of Joel's central role in Broom Street Theater's long record of accomplishment, theatrical production will be suspended from November 12 to December 4 to allow the theater space to be used for a multi-media exhibition documenting Joel's life and work. The exhibition will include videos of past productions and of Joel being Joel; posters and programs; critical correspondence; visual images of Joel and his work; samples of his poems, and his literary, music, and food reviews.

The Most Beautiful Jew in the World: A Tribute to Joel Gersmann will be open to the public free of charge as follows:

Saturday November 12th, 2005 (Opening) 6:30 PM to 10 PM
Sunday November 13th, 2005 1 PM to 4:00 PM
Friday November 18th, 2005 7 PM to 10:00 PM
Saturday November 19th, 2005 7 PM to 10:00 PM
Sunday November 20th, 2005 1 PM to 4:00 PM
Friday November 25th, 2005 7 PM to 10:00 PM
Saturday November 26th, 2005 7 PM to 10:00 PM
Sunday November 27th, 2005 1 PM to 4:00 PM
Friday December 2nd, 2005 7 PM to 10:00 PM
Saturday December 3rd, 2005 7 PM to 10:00 PM
Sunday December 4th, 2005 (closing) 1 PM to 4:00 PM

Join the Mailing List
If you, or someone you know would like to be added to the Broom Street Theater mailing list, drop a line to the address below, email the theater at boardofdirectors@broomstreet.org or call 608.244.8338

Support Broom Street's Future
All memorial events are free of charge. Broom Street Theater is also raising money to ensure the continuation of Joel's vision of independent original and experimental theater. Help sustain the creation and production of new works at the theater. Make out checks to Broom Street Theater.

Mail to
Broom Street Theater
1119 Williamson St.
Madison, WI. 53704
608.244.8338

Broom Street Theater expresses its deep gratitude to the Marquette Neighborhood Association for its support of this event, and of Joel's work over many years.

Previous posts about Joel:

Joel Gersmann: Costumes are for losers (7/13/05)

Joel Is Not There (scroll down, 7/12/05)

Joel Gersmann changed my life. Now he's dead. (7/7/05)

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at October 11, 2005 6:45 PM | Comments (0)

 

Complicated Fun at Culture to Go: a roundup

Even my friends don't read what I write at cpculture.com--apparently complicatedfun.com is complicated enough. So for their convenience and yours, here's a sampling of still-relevant highlights from "that other blog" posted over the past couple months (with most recent first): The King of France play tonight (as in Oct. 11), 'Scene Minneapolis: 1977-1986' screens tonight (also Oct. 11), Doomtree made into dolls at Robot Love (pictured), New Public Enemy available only at... Best Buy? (plus informative response), MMA Meltdown (rad photo by Lindsey), Muppets reality show? (plus Mr. T graphic), "The only animal that needs controlling" (Hook and Pelecanos on humans), Diana Watters, R.I.P. (links to tributes and photos), Rich Mattson moving back to the Iron Range (plus shows list), The Loop: 'This Minnesotan Life'? (great show), ReBirth rocks the Cabooze (a transcendant moment for local New Orleanians), Local graffiti artist in Strib (with complete local graf links), Little Red Footballs? (they never noticed this, thank God), Best Katrina Hip-Hop (still hoping to add to this), Garrison Keillor suppresses "Prairie Ho Companion" T-shirts (Rex says I can have one)...

CBGB: "open until the cops come" (still open), Minutemen documentary links, and my take (too talky), Why City Pages could really suck soon (a history of Village Voice Media ownership and New Times cooperation), Ant to Tour with Atmosphere (snapshot before fame), Christgau comments on Voice pay cuts (snapshot before merger), Christopher Walken for president! (why not), Pro wrestler the Sheikh of Baghdad escaped Saddam in real life (good book)

Some other items you might have missed
New Times to Take over City Pages? (update at Blotter), Keep up with hurricane benefit shows at complicatedfun.com/katrina (bi-weekly updates), My interview with Derrick Tabb of ReBirth Brass Band in City Pages (all stories worth reading)

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at October 11, 2005 6:35 PM | Comments (0)

 

Sound Unseen weekend summary

Don't skimp on my full list of recommendations below, but here's a recap of what to see this weekend at the Oak Street Cinema-based Sound Unseen festival of music and film (complete official schedule here): Friday: T.Rex movie, with afterparty at Four Seasons. Saturday: Musical animation classics and more at the Walker Art Center from noon to 9:00 p.m. (also Sunday). A 1:15 p.m. screening of The Point, the 1971 16mm animated classic narrated by Ringo Starr. 930 F Streeet, a new doc about the Washington, D.C. venue the 9:30 Club (the First Avenue of D.C.) at 9:30 p.m. Shawn Hewitt and the National Strike perform preceded by videos at the Entry. Sunday: More musical animation/avant-garde classics at the Walker Art Center from noon to 9:00 p.m. Stranger: Bernie Worrell on Earth, a doc on the P-Funk keyboardist, screens at 5:30 p.m. Shakespeare Was a Big George Jones Fan screens at 5:45 p.m. at the Bell. The 2005 hip-hop doc Tragedy: The Story of Queensbridge (screens at 9:00 p.m. Then there's an afterparty at Pizza Luce downtown, with reggae DJ Tony Paul.

Posted by Peter S. Scholtes at October 7, 2005 11:10 AM | Comments (1)

 

The Sound Unseen Festival, Oct. 7-16

City Pages reviews the films, Terri Sutton riffs on docs about dead dudes, and the Sound Unseen festival site otherwise runs down its full schedule of movies and music from Friday, Oct. 7 through Sunday, Oct. 16. To sort it all out, here's an opinionated guide to everything essential about the fest (and you might as well mark your calendars now for Shawn Hewitt at the Entry on Saturday, DJ Spooky's live "remix" of The Birth of a Nation at the Varsity on Monday, and Scene Minneapolis, 1977-1984 at the Oak Street on Thursday, Oct. 13). All films screen at Oak Street Cinema unless otherwise noted...

Friday, Oct. 7 (Opening Night)

T. Rex fans in Minneapolis/St. Paul, tonight is your freakfest. Some of you might own the 1972 cult film Born to Boogie on DVD, but the film screens here in 35mm (Dylan Hicks digs it), preceded by a cool local band, Little Man (more here), and followed by a "T. Rex Trashy Prom" at Four Seasons Dance Studio near Loring Park, featuring the Shim Sham Shufflers, a dance contest, and more.

Saturday, Oct. 8

With a sound so fresh, you'll remember where you were when you first heard it, Shawn Hewitt and the National Strike are the sort of unlikely indie-R&B act that must come from Canada: The Soft Society (Universal) is like Rufus Wainwright playing D'Angelo, or Marc Dorsey covering Radiohead, and otherwise fits Hewitt's own "prog soul" description. The band performs at the 7th St. Entry preceded by a screening of Canada Now!, featuring rock videos from Hewitt, Broken Social Scene, Death From Above 1979, the New Pornographers, and more. With openers the Swiss Army, Digitata, and Beatrix Jar.

Otherwise, camp out today and Sunday (between noon and 9:30 p.m.) at the Walker Art Center for a series of classic and bizarre musical films, curated by Christian Marclay. Highlights include Walt Disney's Fantasia in 35mm and "Skeleton Dance" on 16mm, rarely screened Mauricio Kagel films on video, a Sonic Youth re-creation of "Piano Piece #13" on video, Peter Moore's 1964 short Stockhausen's Originale: Doubletakes on 16mm, and the four-and-a-half-hour Rameau's Nephew by Diderot (Thanx to Dennis Young) by Wilma Schoen on 16mm, which Rob digs (that screens on Sunday at 7:00 p.m.) Here's a full schedule of the two-day festival-within-a-festival.

Also essential is 930 F Streeet, a 2005 video doc about the Washington, D.C. venue the 9:30 Club (the First Avenue of D.C.), which screens at 9:30 p.m., and again on Oct. 13. One particular former 18-year-old went to the club many times at its old location circa 1988-1990, and it permanently shaped his ideals for multi-culti punk/hip-hop clubgoing. The vid shows with a 2003 Mission of Burma video doc I haven't seen.

There's also the Townes Van Zandt 2005 documentary on 35 mm screening today at 7:30 p.m. (Terri wrote about it).

Watch the 1979 reunion of Count Basie, Big Joe Turner, Jay McShann, Dizzy Gillespie, and Charlie Parker on 35mm in 1979's Last of the Blue Devils, which screens at 5:00 p.m. (as well as Sunday at 3:30 p.m.) (Though this, too, is available on DVD.)

The 2004 DJ documentary Put the Needle to the Record (which Matos wasn't nuts about) screens at 7:00 p.m. on video at the Bell (and again on Oct. 11 at Oak Street).

There's also 2004's Isn't This a Time, a sort of video update of Wasn't That a Time (Michael seemed to dig it) featuring the great Pete Seeger and others, screening today as well.

Finally, for cool family fare, consider today's 1:15 p.m. screening of The Point, the 1971 16mm animated "classic" narrated by Ringo Starr.

Sunday, October 9

Hicksy likes 2005's Tragedy: The Story of Queensbridge (screening at 9:00 p.m. and again October 14 at 10:00 p.m.) a video about the notorious New York housing project that produced so much great hip hop.

Otherwise, Christian Marclay's Sound Art Cinema series continues at the Walker (see above).

Demko likes the 2005 video Shakespeare Was a Big George Jones Fan (which screens at 5:45 p.m. at the Bell, and again at Oak Street on Oct. 16). More on Jack Clement here.

For its important and largely untreated subject, Stranger: Bernie Worrell on Earth seems worthy. The 2004 video doc protrays the great P-Funk keyboardist (who hit on my then-girlfriend before his last show at First Avenue), and screens at 5:30 p.m. today (and again on Tuesday). Dylan lamented the absence of the man himself and much of his music, but it could still be a nice slice of funk history. Screens with the appealing-sounding 2005 video The Human Hambone.

Hipsters will descend upon As Smart as They Are, a 2005 video documentary about the McSweeney's house band, which should play to a pre-sold audience of McSweeney's enthusiasts and might be as funny. It screens at 7:30 p.m., and again on Oct. 10.

Thom York fans, meanwhile, probably shouldn't miss a screening of Radiohead Television, the 2004 vidfest.

There's also an afterparty at Pizza Luce downtown, with reggae DJ Tony Paul.

Monday, Oct. 10

I'm still wrapping my head around this one: DJ Spooky's ReBirth of a Nation features the great illbient DJ orchestrating a live, multi-media "remix" (on three screens) of D.W. Griffith's 1915 silent film "classic" The Birth of a Nation, a founding work of cinema and a white supremacist document for the ages (based on the book The Clansman by Thomas F. Dixon, Jr., which heroizes the KKK). As someone who just paged through hundreds of local newspapers from 1915 and 1916 while researching a history of tonight's venue, the Varsity Theater (which also opened in 1915), I can say with confidence that The Birth of a Nation was hugely popular in Minneapolis, just as it was across the U.S., enjoying a long run downtown with prominent advertisements. The ranks of the Ku Klux Klan swelled as a result of the success, as did the popularity of "movies" (then still taking quotes). By 1923, the Pioneer Press was reporting the presence of a KKK unit in St. Paul, and a University of Minnesota's homecoming parade had included a KKK float (read more here). By now Griffith's claim on history is seen mainly by film students (MN Film Arts' Search and Rescue project recently unearthed a print at the U of M) and others curious about the work's anti-inspiration for Spike Lee. The "remix" features a new soundtrack and new imagery, so look for a review in Culture to Go. Showtime at 7:30 p.m. at the Varsity Theater in Dinkytown, with an after-party at the same club featuring Spooky, DJ Nikoless, and Dessa's duo with Jessy Greene, Urban Ivy.

Otherwise, Britt loved the 2005 35mm film Favela Rising, which screens at the same time at Oak Street, and which Britt describes as a Brazilian "hybrid of Hotel Rwanda, Gandhi, Fame, and Walking Tall." But at least this screens there again on October 13: Go to the Varsity tonight.

Same for Rough Cut and Ready Dubbed, a 1982 video (also on DVD) and newly restored obscuro punk document screened with Chuck Statler's accompanying James Chance video (sweetening the deal) at 9:45 p.m. at Bryant-Lake Bowl. It screens again at Oak Street on Oct. 12, so go to the Varsity tonight.

Either way, you can still make a 5:00 p.m. screening of Spectrum: Minnesota Soundtracks Vol. 3, the latest and by far the best collection of locally-produced music videos associated with the event, which recalls the inspiration of MTV's toddler years (and the wildly varied budgets), with vids finding visual and conceptual hooks as well as pop ones. One turns Heiruspecs into hip-hop icons just by letting each musician get face time (who knew rapper Felix should have belonged in Handsome Boy Modeling School?). There's rich entertainment just in seeing otherwise familiar faces from the local scene (Vox Vermillion, Chariots, Revolver Modele, Ela, Jessy Green, the Soviettes) look glammer than life on the big screen. (Here's the Star Tribune preview.)

Meanwhile, a screening of Too Late Blues offers the opportunity to see the 1961 Cassavetes film on 35mm. It screens at 9:15.

There's also a Death Cab For Cutie 2005 video doc screening at 5:00 p.m. at Bryant-Lake Bowl, but it screens again at the same venue on Oct. 12 and it's already on DVD (though this has timing going for it: the band plays the same evening at First Avenue).

Tuesday, Oct. 11

Here's the kind of event these festivals exist to bring. Screening only once, tonight at 7:30 p.m., Scene Minneapolis: 1977-1986 collects vintage local rock footage by Mike Rivard, Craig Sinard, and Chuck Statler from the late '70s and early '80s, of bands including Things That Fall Down, the Psychenauts, the Wallets, Johnny Rey, the Suburbs, and more. Let's hope this includes the Replacements footage Rivard has never released. Screens with the 2005 premiere of Soul Asylum: Never Too Late, Never Too Soon from Harder/Fuller Films, which features long-lost concert footage shot in December 1987.

Otherwise, the Bernie Worrell 2004 video doc screens again at the Bell tonight.

Wednesday, Oct. 12

This could be amazing: Search and Rescue's music edition digs up a treasure trove of vintage 16mm footage from the archives of the University of Minnesota. Screens at 9:40 at the Bryant-Lake Bowl.

Meanwhile, Life in a Box, a 2005 video doc about the gay country duo Y'All, actually sounds fun.

And Rough Cut and Ready Dubbed (see above) re-screens at Oak Street.

Thursday, Oct. 13

Terri didn't care for this 2005 video doc on grunge icon/Mother Love Bone singer Andrew Wood, Malfunkshun: The Andrew Wood Story, which screens at 7:30 at the Bell. But it's a subject of inherent interest to a lot of locals, who for years viewed the Seattle scene like a sister.

Otherwise, Gordon Parks's 1976 Leadbelly movie screens on 35mm. (The Leadbelly exhibit at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was the highlight by far, so I'm excited about this.)

There's also a screening of the 2004 video TV Party, a vintage punk document that has not (so far as I know) reached DVD.

For some of the best local bands (and drink specials), check out the 2024 Records Showcase (here's the label site) at the Varsity Theater, featuring Valet and more.