Tuesday news and reviews
I love Tuesdays - so many theater reviews to peruse...
Art
In recent years fashion designer Laura Fulk's career has taken off as the Minnesota fashion scene blossoms. This is no coincidence, as her contributions have been influential and prolific.
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- Jessica Armbruster. City Pages
Books
Franzen nominated for critics award; local Graywolf has a nominee
Minneapolis-based Graywolf's nominee in the criticism category is Ander Monson's "Vanishing Point: Not a Memoir," described on the publisher's website as a "provocative ... series of meditations ... grappling with the lure of self-interest and self-presentation."
- Hillel Italie, Associated Press
Repeating the past: Two Minnesota writers
Since I was away for whatever artistic events tried to climb out from under the ice, snow, and sub-zero temperatures of the Twin Cities, I thought I would use my column today to do something I'd like to do infrequently from here on out, when I have the opportunity. And that's to revisit some of Minnesota's early contributions to the arts. It's a huge topic, as Minnesotans are compulsively creative but also seem to have virtually no institutional memory for what they have done in the past.
- Max Sparber, MinnPost.com
Funding
VocalEssence and CTC each win $50,000 2011 Joyce Awards
Two Twin Cities arts organizations, Children's Theatre Company and VocalEssence, will each receive 2011 Joyce Awards of $50,000, which are designed to promote new works by artists of color in dance, theater, music and visual arts.
- Pioneer PRess
Movies
"Red State" to preview at State Theater, with Kevin Smith attending
Minneapolis will be one of the first cities to see Kevin Smith's self-financed roadshow release of his fundamentalist horror film "Red State." The controversial satire of Christian intolerance will be coming to the State Theater March 9.
- Colin Covert, Star Tribune
Music
Dessa at the Cedar's 416 Club Commissions, 1/23/11
Barely into 2011, we can already see the growth of a year since Dessa's January 2010-released A Badly Broken Code. Nerves or not, the caliber of her performance and the brave new work that came out of the Cedar commission was mind-expanding; surely, Dessa's roots will only get deeper from here, and with any luck, we will be seeing her continue to push boundaries and break down walls.
- Natalie Gallagher, City Pages
Trumpeter Hargrove deftly melds modern influences into jazz grooves
Trumpeter Roy Hargrove, who opened a two-night stand Monday at the Dakota jazz club, could be compared to baseball hall of famer Joe DiMaggio. Like the late, great New York Yankees centerfielder, Hargrove gracefully covers a large expanse of (in his case, musical) turf, while seeming effortless.
- Dan Emerson, Pioneer Press
Some Assembly Required deconstructs
The weekly college radio show Some Assembly Required has been quietly peeling away at their broad mandate ("the creative reuse of fragments of recorded sound") since 1999.
- Andrew Flanagan, City Pages
Ben Folds at First Avenue: Seen, heard, felt
Ben Folds gets to do things with his piano that my mom used to yell at me for.
- Katie Sisneros, TC Daily Planet
Modern Radio's co-owners talk about the ever-changing record industry
The industry has changed since the label first started. Major labels have lost status, CDs are becoming relics, and music sales as a whole have tumbled, but [Tom] Loftus and label partner Peter Mielech have only made Modern Radio stronger.
- Loren Green, City Pages
Stage
For Odysseus, it's Ithaca or bust
Park Square's new adaptation of the classic Greek myth pits mortals against the gods.
- Quinton Skinner, Star Tribune
Park Square Theatre's "Odyssey": One thing after another
There are a number of things that confuse me about Park Square Theatre's production of William Randall Beard's adaptation of Homer's epic adventure The Odyssey. But they all feed into one central point of confusion: Why doesn't it work? Because it should work.
- Matthew A. Everett, TC Daily Planet
Speaking for a new Hmong generation
Katie Ka Vang's play meanders a bit on its journey to flesh out the experience of young Hmong-Americans.
- Graydon Royce, Star Tribune
'WTF' Mu premiere feels unfinished and unfocused
Playwright Katie Ka Vang likes hip-hop, break dancing, texting ... and silence. But, if she has a clear idea of what she wants to use them to say, it doesn't come through in "WTF," currently being premiered by Mu Performing Arts.
- Rob Hubbard , Pioneer Press