Friday, December 12 2008

If you crave satisfaction this is the place to find that action. Coming to this theater as its next attraction is the picture that will put you in traction. Dolemite.

Rudy Ray Moore, the self-proclaimed “Godfather of Rap” who influenced generations of rappers and comedians with his rhyming style, braggadocio and profanity-laced routines, died last month at 81.

Gertrude Stein’s groundbreaking “cubist” novel, The Making of Americans, is the launching pad for this innovative, media-rich chamber opera. Celebrated Boston-based experimental theater director Jay Scheib, Brooklyn-based composer Anthony Gatto, local new-music stalwarts Zeitgeist, and upstart New York string quartet JACK conspire to reimagine Stein’s groundbreaking history of all humanity. This ambitious collaboration unfolds in front of sets and machines designed by Minneapolis artist Chris Larson.

Theatre in the Round stages this rediscovered 1950s gem. Click here for tickets and information, and here to read Dwight Hobbes’s Daily Planet review.

Join the Holiday Train on Friday, December 12 from 7:15 -7:45 p.m. on the railroad tracks on the upper level of the Central Parking System ramp on Kellogg & Broadway in Lowertown St. Paul. Monetary and non-perishable food donations will be collected from the crowd to benefit Second Harvest Heartland, the Upper Midwest’s largest hunger-relief organization. This year’s entertainers include Shaun Verreault, best known as the virtuosic singer/guitarist/song-writer for blues-rockers, Canadian live favorites Wide Mouth Mason, and Juno award-winning singer and songwriter Melanie Doane.

Support: Turisas, Powerglove
Price: $25 ADV, $30 DOS
Get your tickets from Ticketmaster or Myth Box Office
All Ages Event
For more info call 651-779-MYTH

Felony Fest at Ramsey County Courthouse, 9am*****

Several people facing felony charges have court appearances this Friday. Joe
Robinson’s sentencing and Dave Mahoney’s pre-trial are at 9am, and then Cam
Kennedy’s pre-trial is at 1:15pm. Joe has asked that we pack the courtroom for
his sentencing. No rooms have been assigned yet, but go to 15 West Kellogg
Boulevard, 131A, and look at the screens for Joseph Robinson and David Mahoney
before 9am and for Cameron Kennedy before 1:15pm. Their room assignments will
be posted.

WHAT:
> Celebrating its first holiday season in Minnesota, Holiday Lights in
> the Park is a new community event that focuses on raising funds for
> local charities and providing an impressive and affordable means of
> holiday entertainment for people of all ages. Visitors will enjoy a
> spectacular array of holiday lights and animated displays as they take
> an evening drive through Phalen Park in Saint Paul. The delightful
> tour is approximately 0.6 miles in length along Lake Phalen and Phalen
> Golf course.

Andrea Carlson
EARTH DIVER

EARTH DIVER features new works from Andrea Carlson’s ongoing series that both challenges and champions issues of cultural appropriation, assimilation and consumption. Drawing heavily on contemporary museum studies, Carlson’s new paintings on paper reference cannibalism as a metaphor to describe the commodification of culture and cultural tourism in museums and on film.

Hours: Wednesday – Saturday, noon to 5 pm

With surreal beauty and deliberate ambiguity Megan Rye’s paintings encourage viewers to see the Iraqi War through the eyes of those who’ve witnessed it firsthand. Her works in “Long Night’s Journey into Day” explore her ongoing fascination with images taken primarily by her brother, Ryan Nosek, while stationed in Iraq as a U.S. Marine. Rye has based her work off her brother’s photographs since 2005, the year he returned from duty.

An exhibit of Polaroid photography by Sean Tubridy. Click here for details.

A retrospective exhibit celebrating 15 years of Kulture Klub Collaborative, a non-profit pairing artists with homeless youth. Click here for details, and here to read Sheila Regan’s feature on the exhibit.

Artist Greg Lindquist will unveil a painting of the 35W bridge rebuilding when his exhibit “Remembrance of Things Present” opens at Bethel University’s 9th Street Entry Gallery on November 7. Details of the event are below.

Explore the traditions associated with Saint Lucia, from her origins as a fourth-century martyr to the legends of her appearance in Sweden.

There are many legends associated with Lucia starting in fourth century Sicily. A young woman gave her dowry away to the poor and confessed herself a Christian. For this she was accused of witchcraft and put to death. Another legend tells of a famine in medieval days. A glowing figure dressed in white, Saint Lucia came across a great lake in the province of Värmland, Sweden.
She brought gifts of food to the starving people.

A major exhibit of contemporary art from India, at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

Bethel University’s Olson Gallery pleased to present new works by Bethel University Associate Professor of Art Jeff Wetzig.

Jeff Wetzig’s collection of prints transform their traditional roots in Japanese woodblock prints to explore the medium as a means of installation. He investigates the idea of boundaries and borders as they relate to themes such as mass communication, repetition, and fear. The delicate nature of line and color in his woodblock prints are an interesting contrast to their subject matter.