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Dwight Hobbes, Writer
Dwight Hobbes has written for ESSENCE, Reader’s Digest, the Washington Post, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the St. Paul Pioneer Press, City Pages, Mpls/St. Paul, MN Law & Politics, Pulse of the Twin Cities, the Minneapolis Observer, the Twin Cities Daily Planet, Saint Paul Almanac 2009, Women & Word, the San Diego Union-Tribune, The Circle and Insight News where he wrote the opinion column “Something I Said” and is lead arts critic. He contributes the commentary segment “Hobbes In The House” to Spectator (MTN-Ch. 17) over community access cable television in Minneapolis. And has spoken his mind over National Public Radio, Minnesota Public Radio, and Minneapolis-St. Paul’s KMOJ and KFAI. He was a frequent commentator on NewsNight Minnesota (KTCA-Minneapolis/St. Paul).
His plays are Shelter (produced at Mixed Blood Theatre by Pangea World Theater), Dues (produced by Mixed Blood Theatre in Point of Revue, selected for Bedlam Theatre’s 10-Minute Play Festival and published by Playscripts, Inc.), You Can’t Always Sometimes Never Tell (produced by Theater Center Philadelphia, Long Island University, read at the Kennedy Center, and published in the anthology Center Stage), and In the Midst (produced by Long Island University, starring Samuel E. Wright). Hobbes spoke on the “Farewell To August Wilson” panel at the Guthrie Theater, broadcast over Conversations With Al McFarlane (KFAI, KMOJ).
As a singer-songwriter Dwight Hobbes recorded the single “Atlanta Children” (BeatBad Records) and gigged 10 years in the Long Island/NYC area, including The Other End, Kenny’s Castaways and My Father’s Place. He briefly fronted the Boston blues-rock band Midlight. In Minneapolis, Hobbes has been heard over KFAI and opened for David Daniels at First Street Entry and James Curry at Terminal Bar. He has sat in with Alicia Wiley, Yohannes Tona at Sol Testimony’s Soul Jam, The New Congress at Babalú, Willie Murphy at the Viking Bar, and Wain McFarlane & Jahz at Lucille’s Kitchen. Dwight Hobbes still drops in at the occasional open mic around town.
Music note: Two songbirds, two styles
In the Twin Cities, we have more than our share of successful songbirds across a wide range of genres. From the pop of Allison Scott to the soul of Jevetta Steele—with a lot in between—we have some truly distinct stylists. I recently listened to Scott’s debut album Wish on the Moon and a pair of albums by Steele: My Heart and Two Queens, One Castle (the original cast recording from the hit play). Scott doesn’t quite live up to her rising-star reputation. Steele, on the other hand, shows you why she’s ensconced in the area firmament and has attained international fame. MORE »
Interview: "Invisible lady" Lynn Musgrave
When you attend Eugene O’Neill’s saga Long Day’s Journey Into Night at Theatre in the Round, it will be a page out of history, the playwright’s best known and most enduring work. It will also be an opportunity to catch premier rising talent, actor Wade Vaughn, in the cast along with respected names Rob Frankel, Maggie Bearmon Pistner, Tom Sonnek, and Rachel Finch. Between the script and the actors, you shouldn’t have any trouble being impressed by what you see. Who you won’t see, however—unless she happens to be milling about the lobby at intermission—is the person on whose head it heavily falls to make the night a success. After all, Long Day’s Journey is a cornerstone of European/American culture, and TRP is well known for its strong casts—so the invisible lady and guiding hand, director Lynn Musgrave, had better have it together. MORE »
Interview: Drew Druckery of Stone Soup
Stone Soup are blues rock at its best, with a classic style and solid chops. They’re also smart enough to have been patient with bringing the band along. Over the past couple of years, they have methodically gone from cutting a demo and digging up gigs to steadily building a following while working on their CD Roots. The whole thing is paying off handsomely. Instead making a common mistake—pushing a rushed product to market and then trying to hustle up an audience before the disc is obsolete—the guys have something to show for themselves and a faithful core of fans to show it to. MORE »
Interview: Rumba master Wallace Hill
Superb, veteran percussionist Wallace Hill is getting it together for Rumba Colombia Workshops: Thursdays After Work. It’s a monthlong foray into one of Colombia’s most beloved rumba stylings. At 5:30 p.m. every Thursday from May 8-29, you can experience rumba to a tee at Minneapolis’s Drums and Art courtesy of Hill, a Twin Cities legend in the world of Afro-Caribbean music. You get to listen to and try your own hand at rumba, and to watch rare footage of rumba sessions in Havana, Cuba. MORE »
Music note: Pachyderm's "So Large We Ran Out of Room"
Compilation discs are a crapshoot. Most times, you’re lucky if there’s more than a few good cuts. With Pachyderm Studio’s So Large We Ran Out of Room, however, your luck runs pretty good. MORE »
