Friday news and reviews

Art

Face value

St. Paul painter Patricia Olson portrays St. Catherine University through the faces of its people.

- MARY ABBE, Star Tribune

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Tim Sievert: 100 Creatives

In 2008 Sievert published his first graphic novel, That Salty Air, a quiet-yet-striking tale about a son who seeks vengeance from the sea after his mother drowns.

- Jessica Armbruster, City Pages

SooVAC showcases the trippy world of Eric Timothy Carlson

Probably the most satisfying way to experience the exhibition would be to do mushrooms beforehand, but if that's not possible, the best thing to do is just chill out at as much as possible and let the art take you for a ride.

- Sheila Regan

Books

Mark Harmon cast in film based on book by Stillwater's John Sandford

USA Network announced Thursday that it has secured the rights to develop the two-hour movie based on the book "Certain Prey," the 10th in Sandford's series of 20 bestselling "Prey" novels.

- PAUL WALSH, Star Tribune

General

This weekend: Mancini at the Trylon, 'La Traviata' and a HUGE Theater fundraiser

- Max Sparber, MinnPost.com

Movies

Leapin' lizards!

Johnny Depp teams up with "Pirates" director Gore Verbinski to create an animated hero with a special swagger of its own.

- Colin Covert, Pioneer Press

Review: Don't buy animated movies? Depp's chameleon is one great scalesman

Nothing about this witty, inventive film obeys the rules.

- Chris Hewitt, Pioneer Press

More romance than thriller

Matt Damon tries to choose between love and ambition in this Philip K. Dick-inspired film.

- Colin Covert, Star Tribune

This '80s comedy is on the money

Topher Grace evokes the decade in a good way.

- Colin Covert, Star Tribune

Music

Hey, hey, the blues is all right

An unlikely hero picks up the torch a century after the birth of the music's greatest legend.

- BRITT ROBSON, Special to the Star Tribune

Say Amen

Gospel scholar André Thomas headlines this year's annual Witness concert by conducting a choir of 400.

- ROHAN PRESTON, Star Tribune

One Lucky record store

Gayngs' keyboardist and his wife are enjoying being newly wed to Yeti Records in south Minneapolis.

- CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER, Star Tribune

Opera pops up everywhere these days

Minnesota Opera's "La Traviata," opening Saturday, reminds us that we know more opera than we think we do.

- GRAYDON ROYCE, Star Tribune

Rapper Prof keeps the party hopping

Cocky Minneapolis MC ready to drop new album GAMPO

- Jack Spencer, City Pages

Nicole Atkins and the Black Sea at the Turf Club, 3/1/2011

Atkins was perfectly irresistible.

- Natalie Gallagher, City Pages

Rhymesayers mainstay Blueprint readies new full-length release

Fresh on the heals of the newest single from label stalwart Atmosphere comes another banger from fellow Rhymesayer Blueprint, "So Alive," from his upcoming Adventures in Counterculture (out April 5).

- Danny Sigelman, City Pages

Learning Curve Records celebrates 10 years

Learning Curve started in 2001 and has maintained a steady stream of almost exclusively Twin Cities-based releases in the new millennia.

- Loren Green, City Pages

Dead Man Winter at Turf Club, 3/3/2011

The newish band played at Turf last night, and while there was plenty of room, the club was still all a-buzz with a comfortable kind of energy that continued to improve upon itself as the night wore on.

- Natalie Gallagher

Stage

Savage Umbrella collaborates with South Korean theater group

- Sheila Regan, City Pages

Guthrie Theater launches nifty virtual tour

The Guthrie's new virtual tour invites visitors to explore many of its nooks and crannies in clear, glorious 360 degrees.

- Jessica Armbruster, City Pages

Review: The frailty of life lamented in Song of Extinction

Song of Extinction does attempt to equate the value of existence with its fleeting nature, but the play's oppressive mood makes it difficult for any hint of deliverance to break through.

- Brad Richason, Examiner.com

"Hair" at the Orpheum Theatre: Dicks and boobs everywhere

Being that the movie version of Hair essentially taught me everything I know about sex, war, and drugs, I was thrilled to finally the see the theatrical version.

- Becky Lang, TC Daily Planet

"Song of Extinction" by Theater Latté Da at the Guthrie Theater: Intelligently designed

The beginning is the end and the end is the beginning in Theater Latté Da's Song of Extinction.

- Christopher Kehoe, TC Daily Planet

Exit, pursued by infamy: The rise and decline of a ShakesBear

Growly McFurryPaws is the only bear to make an appearance in a Shakespeare play, in Act III scene iii of The Winter's Tale.

- Katie Sisneros, Arts Orbit