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Kevin Kling, writer of Humanimal, during rehearsal at Open Eye Figure Theater on Monday evening.

“Humanimal”: Beyond Kevin Kling’s wildest dreams

August 7, 2013

Twelve years ago, a car altered Kevin Kling’s life forever. At the corner of Lake Street and Lyndale Avenue, he clung to life on his motorcycle after a near fatal crash. The accident left his right...

Book talk: “Brain on Fire” by Susannah Cahalan

August 7, 2013

Susannah Cahalan found two red dots on her arm one morning in February 2009. She figured she had bedbugs like many New Yorkers at the time. After several fumigations and increasing anxiety, Cahalan’s...

Barlows postcards may not depict scenic vistas, but they do offer a new take on the one of the first photographs taken.

Richard Barlow goes postal

August 7, 2013

Most of Richard Barlow’s recipients have no idea who’s sending mail to them. But when the artist picks someone for his “Daily Bromides” series of watercolors, he sends them one...

Actors Phillip Schramm, Brandon R. Caviness and Joel Thingvall in the play Stuck in an Elevator with Patrick Stewart featured in the Minnesota Fringe Festival.

Forever on the Fringe: comedies at the fest

July 31, 2013

Since 1994, the Minnesota Fringe Festival has offered a staggering amount of theater over its annual 11-day run. With 176 shows in 16 venues, the largest non-juried theater festival in the United States...

Dreamy psychedelic pop band Carroll.

Handle with Carroll

July 31, 2013

Carroll is a band with a hell of a work ethic. “Needs,” the only release by the Macalester College-founded group, is only six songs long, but the brief back catalog never meant they shied away...

Andy Kaufman’s debut album

July 24, 2013

Drag City recently released the first and only album by Andy Kaufman this month. Entitled Andy and his Grandmother, the infamous “song-and-dance-man” recorded the album’s material on...

Part Mammal practices at Elliott Snyders home on Monday June, 22nd 2013.

Part-time, Part Mammal

July 24, 2013

Every band needs a meeting spot. Between beers and bocce ball, Part Mammal first bonded at the Nomad World Pub. The West Bank bar has been the band’s natural habitat since 2010. A sign at the bar...

Comic book artist Zak Sally in his studio on Tuesday July 23rd, 2013.

Twin Cities comics scene gets physical

July 24, 2013

You can almost feel the sweat dripping off the pages of “Sammy the Mouse,” Zak Sally’s latest series of comic books. He spent months slaving over the first volume’s run, working...

Culture Compass: Jimmy Pardo, FLOW and Alabama Shakes

July 24, 2013

STUFF TO DO FRIDAY: Jimmy Pardo Fast-talking Chicago native Jimmy Pardo has a sweet job,warming up the audience every night for Conan O’Brien’s late-night show. Though one could see that gig...

Crime and medicine in “The Nazi and the Psychiatrist”

July 24, 2013

In October of 1946, Hermann Goering committed suicide. Inside his prison cell, the Nazi war criminal swallowed a vial of cyanide. Following the end of World War II, the remaining leadership of Nazi Germany...

Minneapolis artist Bill Ferenc is one of the many artists updating vintage science fiction novel covers from the 50s and 60s for the Light Grey Art Labs show Station Zero.

Odd future at Light Grey Art Lab

July 17, 2013

DreamHaven Books houses a vast repository of lost science fiction gems. Talking cats and floating cubes litter the pages of these ’60s- and ’70s-era pulp novels, but simply taking a look at...

Minneapolis residents gather round the pavilion near the Stone Arch Bridge to listen to local band Silent Agency on July 15th, 2013.

Hear this: World Listening Day at the Walker

July 17, 2013

Sometimes the vegetables give off a reedy low-pitched tone. Other times, Philip Blackburn’s talking plants emit a set of seemingly random percussive beats. “Some of them have more emotive qualities...

Culture Compass: Beyonce and Beer

July 17, 2013

STUFF TO DO   THURSDAY:   Beyoncé   She put on one of the most memorable Super Bowl halftime shows in recent years and hasn’t slowed down. Beyoncé Knowles-Carter...

Allegra Lockstadts half of Candy Arena features a row of flowers against Andres Guzmans abstract orbs.

Andres Guzman and Allegra Lockstadt bring eye candy to Paper Darts

July 10, 2013

  Andres Guzman and Allegra Lockstadt both complained of sores on their hands. “Don’t you get calluses from working with concrete or sanding things all day?” Lockstadt said. Neither...

Author Laura Waterman Wittstock Monday, July 8, 2013, at her home in Southeast Minneapolis. Her book, We Are Still Here gives a history of the American Indian Movement, which was founded in Minneapolis in the 1960s. JOE SENDING SOMETHING

“We Are Still Here” chronicles American Indian Movement

July 10, 2013

A band of demonstrators from across the country gathered outside the White House, right under newly elected Richard Nixon’s nose. As author Laura Waterman Wittstock remembers, the timing couldn’t...

Indie rock artist Mike Midwestern. He will release his new CD Oh My Soul during a release party on July 13, 2013, at Honey in Minneapolis.

Mike Midwestern releases “Oh My Soul”

July 10, 2013

  Green Day’s “Dookie” made an impression on a 14-year-old Mike Cunningham. “That’s really what made me want to play an instrument,” he said. Known as Mike Midwestern,...

“Looks Like Fun” at Will Call

July 10, 2013

  Who doesn’t like to add a shrewdly placed Hitler moustache to a stern portrait? What better way to pass the time than doodling a meandering trail of geometric shapes? Local artist Leanna Perry...

A caipirinha and a sangria make a great couple for summer cocktails.

A couple of college cocktails for summer loving

July 3, 2013

Let’s face it: that half jug of Gatorade is not the most enticing thing to offer a potential sexual partner. Why not add some class to your bag of beverage tricks? Make some stiff drinks to help...

Culture Compass: Los Lobos, Los Lonely Boys and “The Lone Ranger”

July 3, 2013

STUFF TO DO   SATURDAY:   “Pride and Prejudice”   Be honest with yourself: you’ve never actually read a Jane Austen novel. You might as well start with the most well-known...

Minneapolis psychedelic band Flavor Crystals

Underwater with Bathysphere at First Avenue

July 2, 2013

At First Avenue this weekend, fans will get to take what the venue bills a “psychonautical voyage.” The Bathysphere journey may be proverbial, but the festival boasts a list of trance-inducing...

Tao Lin edits the independent publisher Muumuu House. His previous novels are Eeeee Eee Eeee and Richard Yates.

Interview with Tao Lin: What happened in “Taipei”

June 26, 2013

Under a mountain of inked paper and Adderall, Tao Lin worked tirelessly on “Taipei.” Crafting his third novel — an alienating piece of comic fiction — required copious amounts of...

Jim Kolles, left, and Erica Krumm together make up Minneapolis band Oaks.

Local band Oaks release “Field Beat”

June 26, 2013

After a storm knocked out electricity for more than half a million homes and businesses in the metro, Erica Krumm and Jim Kolles entered their cramped Minneapolis practice space to check the power. The...

Minneapolis writer and author of Minneapolis Madams, Penny Peterson.

All of the red-lights

June 26, 2013

On a bike ride through the riverfront district in Minneapolis, Penny Petersen realized one brick building was out of place among the upscale housing. From what she knew about the late 19th century in the...

Culture Compass: Guante, Kanye and 10 Thousand Sounds

June 19, 2013

STUFF TO DO   FRIDAY:   “Speak Up and Get Down,” featuring Guante and the 2013 MN Brave New Voices team   Minneapolis underground emcee Guante is a busy man. As well as working...

Q&A with Dan Savage

June 19, 2013

Since 1991, Dan Savage’s syndicated advice column has served up frank sex talk to worrisome virgin teenagers, bi-curious feminists and everyone in between. “Savage Love” only represents...

Metric performs live at Rock the Garden on Saturday June 15th, 2013.

Review: Rock the Garden (and Garage) 2013

June 16, 2013

Despite the mid-afternoon thunderstorm, Dan Deacon forged ahead underground on Saturday. When rain made his performance on the Walker Art Center’s outdoor stage for Rock the Garden completely impossible,...

Minneapolis artist and graphic designer J. Zachary Keenan works in his studio Tuesday, June 11, 2013, in the Washington North Loop. Keenan is one of the artists featured in the You Can Do It, Put Your Back Into It Exhibition at Light Grey Art Lab opening June 14.

Living in a perfect word

June 12, 2013

Words of encouragement cover everything from the walls of fluorescent-lit offices to college dorm rooms reeking of leftover pizza — the world runs on the genre of inspirational vernacular. Now that...

Indie pop band Hot Freaks.

Freaking out

June 12, 2013

With the arcade in mind, pop-funk, five-piece Hot Freaks enter the local music sphere with plenty of quarters and Mountain Dew in hand. Inspired by Nintendo’s back catalog of video game soundtracks...

Minneapolis teacher Jen Arzayus, left, and lead editor Zane Spang explain the process of shooting and editing a documentary on Thursday, June 6, 2013, at Arzayuss Minneapolis home. Her documentary White Cactus follows the story of her relationship and reunion with her father, a former Columbian drug lord.

“White Cactus” and white lies

June 12, 2013

Trash bags marked with red tape carried the cocaine. A trucking company would gather the haul like it was garbage at ports, sites where the cruise ships docked. In the 1980s, coke from Colombia poured...

Augies Bar lies behind the streetcars on Hennepin Avenue in this 1949 photo.

Gangsta’s paradise: “Augie’s Secrets” and Minneapolis mob life

June 5, 2013

Israel “Icepick Willie” Alderman punctured victims’ brains via their eardrums with his namesake tool — that way, an autopsy would fail to detect any sign of a homicide....

Theresa Kay’s Top Ten Trash Films

June 3, 2013

Each week, Trash Film Debauchery hosts screenings of the best of the worst movies. The kind of cheap thrills you're too shy to admit you love. So if you couldn't show your face at recent screenings...

From comedian Andy Hayness set on Conan: Im pretty broke which is hard to believe because I look like a senators nephew.

Growing Haynes

June 3, 2013

Andy Haynes no longer sleeps on an inflatable bed—now he’s making enough money to afford an actual mattress. When the stand-up used to live with fellow comic Rory Scovel in L.A., he slept on...

Summer block parties in the Twin Cities

May 29, 2013

  Nothing spells the advent of summer like the local block party, a Twin Cities tradition. Even though the First Avenue and River’s Edge festivals were shelved this year, the Cities are alive...

Claps, a local Dark Wave, Post-Punk band play a dark, minimalistic style of synth pop music that is comparable to acts such as New Order and Cold Cave.

CLAPS won’t leave the basement

May 29, 2013

Jed Smentek founded his band after buying a retro synthesizer off of Craigslist. To form CLAPS, he’d need the inspiration from the ’80s synth to build the moody minimalism his band is known...

Ryan of the shadow cast for the Rocky Horror Picture Show plays Frank N Furter live during a midnight showing of the film on Sunday, May 26, 2013, at The Uptown Theater. The theater shows Rocky Horror on the last Saturday of every month and actors from the shadow cast, Transvestite Soup, perform along with the movie while screaming profanities and interacting with audience members throughout the film.

Trash Talk

May 29, 2013

“Starcrash” hasn’t aged well, but last Wednesday, the 1978 Italian sci-fi romp graced the screen of the Trylon Microcinema, where B-movie fans gather each week to embrace the forgotten...

METZ means nothing

May 9, 2013

What: METZ with No Joy and Buildings Where: Coffman Union, Whole Music Club When: 8:30 p.m., Friday Cost: $5 for University students, $7 for the public Age: 18+ To hear METZ live means to hear the pulsating...

Movie review: “Upstream Color”

May 9, 2013

Shot on 16 mm film on a mere $7,000 budget, 2004’s “Primer” stands among the brainiest sci-fi movies ever made. But the technical story didn’t depend on a multi-million dollar Michael...

In The City Dark, biologists along the Florida coast study the effects of Miamis light pollution on sea turtles.

Seeing stars: “The City Dark” at the Bell Museum

May 2, 2013

What: “The City Dark” Where: Bell Museum of Natural History, 10 Church St. SE, Minneapolis When: 7 p.m., Thursday Cost: Free with museum admission   Armed with his homemade telescope and...

In addition to writing music, Colleen Green occasionally draws a comic centered around a cartoon version of herself smoking weed.

Green machine

May 2, 2013

What: Colleen Green Where: Memory Lanes, 2520 S. 26th Ave., Minneapolis When: 10 p.m., Monday Cost: Free   Colleen Green hasn’t had a real job in four years. Between stops in Canada and Detroit,...

Theophilus London Calling

April 25, 2013

What: Theophilus London Where: CoffmanUnion, Front Plaza When: 12 p.m., Friday Cost: Free   Delving into the list of influences that inspire Theophilus London feels dizzying. His culture-hopping retrospective...

Culture Compass: Danny Brown, Art in Bloom and Tim & Eric

April 25, 2013

THINGS TO DO   THURSDAY   Art in Bloom   Celebrating its 30th anniversary, Art in Bloom brings floral artists to the Minneapolis Institue of Arts for a four-day tribute to all things art,...

A Nick Drake Tribute at the Cedar Cultural Center

April 23, 2013

What: Nick Drake’s Musical Legacy Who: Joe Boyd presents Mason Jennings, Steve Tibbetts with Wendy Lewis and Haley Bonar Where: Cedar Cultural Center, 416 S. Cedar Ave, Minneapolis When: 7:30 p.m.,...

Documentary highlights the legacy of ACT UP

April 18, 2013

What: “United in Anger: A History of ACT UP” When: 7:30 p.m., Wednesday Where: Walker Art Center, 1750 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis Cost: $9   When the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power first...

New tech, ancient art

April 18, 2013

Home to 83,000 objects spanning 5,000 years of human history, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts collection only represents a puny fraction of the artifacts yet to be discovered on the ocean floor. Recent...

The botany of booze

April 11, 2013

  What: Amy Stewart Where: Magers & Quinn, 3038 S. Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis When: 7:30 p.m., Thursday   Not many authors readily admit to alcohol’s role in their work. But in “Wicked...

Big ‘Gulp’

April 2, 2013

Atypical subjects rarely faze Mary Roach, a science writer who has penned books about everything from cadavers to the feasibility of sending humans to Mars. For the latest line in her taboo-oriented books,...

Movie Review: ‘Starbuck’

March 28, 2013

“Starbuck” Where: Landmark Edina Rated: R Directed by: Ken Scott Starring: Patrick Huard, Julie LeBreton, Antoine Bertrand Opens: Friday   The opening scene of “Starbuck” finds...

Charles Sugnet, an English professor at the University, co-hosts KFAI radio’s “African Rhythms” show on Thursday, March 7, 2013 in Minneapolis.

Radio without borders

March 14, 2013

Until recently, the DJs on “African Rhythms” had to rely on more expensive means of finding new music. They’d use their connections to purchase obscure music everywhere from Mali to the...

Sea Change

March 7, 2013

  What: “This Clement World” When: 8 p.m., Thursday throughSaturday Where: Walker Art Center, McGuire Theater, 1750 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis Cost: $22 ($18 for members)   Within...

Culture Compass: “Searching for Sugar Man,” Dr. von Hagens and Yeah Yeah Yeahs

March 7, 2013

  THINGS TO DO   THURSDAY   “Searching for Sugar Man” Where: Landmark Lagoon Cinema, 1320 Lagoon Ave., Minneapolis Cost: $7   Sixto Rodriguez released two albums in the...

Under construction

February 28, 2013

Building debris and unearthed rocks lie exposed in a deep pit next to the Soap Factory. As construction crews finish up work on another high-end apartment complex, continuing to mask the former industry...

The Ruby Suns Band Photo

Wandering star

February 21, 2013

What: The Ruby Suns with Painted Palms When: 9 p.m., Friday Where: 7th St. Entry, 701 N. First Ave., Minneapolis Cost: $10 advance, $12 door Age: 18+   Ryan McPhun’s frequent flyer miles are...

Culture Compass: Herzog and Ocean

February 14, 2013

THINGS TO DO   THURSDAY   “Happy People: A Year in the Taiga”   Uptown Theatre   2906 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis   7 p.m.   $12.50   To escape the commercial...

Beasts of the Northern Wild

February 14, 2013

Who: Justin Torres What: Reading and Q&A When: 4 p.m., Friday Where: Walter Library, Arthur Upson Room (Room 102),  117 Pleasant St. SE, Minneapolis Cost: Free   No language obscures the...

The crew finished their seven-year project 1989, editing the movie at the local ABC affiliate, WLOX-13.

State of the Ark

February 7, 2013

What: “Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation,” with co-star Chris Strompolos When: 7 p.m., Thursday Where: Riverview Theater, 3800 S. 42nd Ave., Minneapolis Cost: $8   Chris Strompolos...

Friday is the beginning of 2013s Lowertown First Fridays where illustrator David Witt will be releasing his first hardbound book, Portraits Volume One. Witt is the official artist of the annual Zombie Pub Crawl poster and has done extensive screen-printed poster workthroughout the years.

Prints among thieves

January 31, 2013

After needing an advertisement for his college band’s show, he designed a comic book-inspired flyer that would eventually carve out his career path. Plastered on various dive bars’ bathroom...

Storyteller’s Delight: A round-up of five local outlets

January 24, 2013

More amateurs and performers alike are telling their private tales on stage and over the radio. Nationally established storytelling syndicates like “This American Life,” “The Moth”...

Spilling Guts

January 24, 2013

What: Story City: “My First Time” When: 7 p.m., Thursday Where: The Loft Literary Center, 1011 S. Washington Ave., Suite 200, Minneapolis Cost: Free   When Adam Marquardt took the stage...

Book Club: Apocalypse Edition

December 12, 2012

Predicting the fate of the world generally creates a lot of disappointment. From the thousands of Millerites awaiting Christ’s second coming in 1843 to talk-radio personality Harold Camping’s...

Music: Now in Technicolor

December 12, 2012

Obsolete, energy-inefficient spotlights illuminated the stage of Ultan Recital Hall until this year. As theater technician and lighting designer Jessica Solinksy explained, the incandescent bulbs damaged...

Gallery installation coordinator Teréz Iacovino, right, installs the Minnesota Funk exhibition Saturday at the Katherine E. Nash Gallery with two interns, art history and French studies sophomore Kaitlyn Carver and art senior Chiara Parisi. The group exhibition will have a public reception from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Thursday.

Funk with my art

December 6, 2012

What: “Minnesota Funk” Public Reception When: 6 p.m., Thursday Where: Katherine E. Nash Gallery, Regis Center for Art, 405 S. 21st Ave., Minneapolis Cost: Free   Four years ago, artist...

Bruce A. Young reads lines during a rehearsal for A Stone Thrown at the Guilty on Saturday at Rarig Center.

Casting the first stone

December 6, 2012

  What: “A Stone Thrown at the Guilty” staged reading When: 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday Where: Stoll Thrust Theatre, Rarig Center, 330 S. 21st Ave., Minneapolis Cost: Free   Two...

Culture Compass: Nada Surf, “Chasing Ice” and Emily Dickinson

December 6, 2012

THINGS TO DO   THURSDAY Who: Nada Surf with Eternal Summers Where: Fine Line Music Cafe 318 N. First Ave., Minneapolis When: 8:30 p.m. Price: $18   Somewhere between 1990s fuzz bands The Lemonheads...

Dirty Baby presents a melding of the works of artist Ed Ruscha, poet David Breskin and musician Nels Cline without a beatnik playing the bongos, as Breskin explained. Here they stand by a few barbecues for some reason.

Parental control

November 29, 2012

What: “Dirty Baby” with Nels Cline, David Breskin and Ed Ruscha When: 8 p.m., Thursday Where: McGuire Theater, Walker Art Center, 1750 Hennepin Ave., Minneapolis Cost: $25 ($22 Walker members)   Three...

A crane lowers Big Mouth, the Minnesota Zoos 1,700-pound beluga whale, onto an operating table.

In the mouth of the whale

November 27, 2012

What: Discussion of “Through the Portals of Pigs and Manure, The Story of the Minnesota Influence on American Surgery” with Dr. Arnold Leonard When: 4 p.m., Wednesday Where: Coffman Union Bookstore,...

Culture Compass: Titus Andronicus, Daniel Tosh and info-tainment

November 21, 2012

CULTURE TO CONSUME   Watch this: “Drugs Are Like That” Educational films from the sixties and seventies can be pretty addicting to watch, especially given the wide collection available...

Movie Review: “Life of Pi”

November 21, 2012

Wide release Rated: PG Directed by: Ang Lee Starring: Suraj Sharma, Irrfan Khan and Adil Hussain Opens Nov. 21   Lost in the Pacific Ocean after a shipwreck, Pi Patel only has a Bengal tiger as company...

Alan Sparhawk met his future wife and Low collaborator Mimi Parker at the age of nine and began composing music at age 13.

Lowdown

November 21, 2012

What: Low with Germaine Gemberling and Rich Mattson Where: Cedar Cultural Center, 416 S. Cedar Ave., Minneapolis When: 8 p.m., Friday Cost: $18 in advance, $20 day of show All ages   Clad in a black...

Pop-drunk love

November 13, 2012

What: The Magnetic Fields with Gal Musette When: 7 p.m., Tuesday Where: First Avenue Mainroom, 701 N. First Ave., Minneapolis Cost: $30 Age: 18+   Even though his lyrics tend to evoke ambiguity, Stephin...

Andy McCormick, left, Karen Majewicz, left center, Ryan Billig, center, and Chris Hepola of Dreamland Faces rehearse in their studio space in the Seward neighborhood on Wednesday. The band will be performing at the Hennepin County Library in Minneapolis on Thursday.

The sounds of silence

November 8, 2012

What: Buster Keaton’s “One Week” and Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle’s “Coney Island,” scored by Dreamland Faces When: 7 p.m., Thursday Where: Minneapolis Central...

The divided self

November 8, 2012

What: Opening reception for “PTSD: Coping with the Past Self” When: 6 p.m., Friday Where: Keg House Arts Building 34, Flow Art Space, 13th Avenue NE, Suite B002B, Minneapolis Cost: Free   Streamers...

Fifty shades of Foley

November 1, 2012

What: MPR’s “Wits” with Dave Foley and Mike Doughty When: 8 p.m., Friday Where: Fitzgerald Theater, 10 E. Exchange St., St. Paul Cost: SOLD OUT   One skit from the first season   of...

Review: “The Sessions”

November 1, 2012

“The Sessions” Where: Uptown Theatre Rated: R Directed by: Ben Lewin Starring: John Hawkes, Helen Hunt, William H. Macy Opens: Friday   Mark O’Brien spent the majority of his life...

Professor Louis Mendoza specializes in immigration and Chicano studies. Mendoza went on an 8,000 mile bike trip five years ago where he examined the United States treatment towards immigration issues.

Wheels in motion

October 25, 2012

What: Discussion of “A Journey Around Our America: A Memoir on Cycling, Immigration, and the Latinoization of the U.S.” When: 4 p.m., Thursday Where: Coffman Union Bookstore, 300 Washington...

Somalian novelist Nuruddin Farah is the author of ten novels, a nonfiction book, and numerous articles. Farah was a visiting professor at the University of Minnesotas English department.

Keeping Somalia in his heart and on the page

October 25, 2012

What: Discussion of Nuruddin Farah’s “Crossbones” When: 7p.m., Oct. 29 Where: The Loft Literary Center, 1011 S. Washington Ave., Minneapolis   Distance and time usually separate...

Culture Compass: Sea Wolf, unholy monsters and ghost stories

October 25, 2012

CULTURE TO CONSUME Album: “Allelujah! Don’t bend! Ascend!” Godspeed You! Black Emperor   Ten years have passed since this Canadian post-rock instrumental band has released an album,...

Professor Mark Pedelty has published his third book, “Ecomusicology: Rock, Folk, and the Environment” and still finds time to play in a band called The Hypoxic Punks.

Professor sees greener musical pastures

October 18, 2012

The tenants of rock ‘n’ roll usually champion excess and abandon, clearly incompatible with conservationism. Rarely do festival attendees in a psychedelic stupor want to consider about their...

Joyce Lyon, co-curator of the “shadows traces undercurrents” exhibit and a University associate professor, reflects on her work.

Mapping the invisible

October 18, 2012

What: “shadows traces undercurrents” public reception When: 6 p.m., Thursday Where: Katherine E. Nash Gallery, Regis Center for Art, 405 S. 21st Ave., Minneapolis   Discarded thoughts...

Undead ends

October 11, 2012

Zombies no longer occupy a distant fringe of pop culture, with continual examples of the obsession with reanimated corpses cropping up every year. AMC’s television series “The Walking Dead”...

Beach House performs a sold out show at First Avenue on Tuesday night.

Review: Beach House at First Avenue

October 11, 2012

  Victoria Legrand’s voice never faltered in last night’s concert, consistently enthralling the sold-out First Avenue crowd. The Beach House vocalist sang behind a thick matte of hair...

Fiction Prescription

October 9, 2012

What: Talking Volumes: Abraham Verghese hosted by Kerri Miller Where: The Fitzgerald Theater, 10 E. Exchange St., St. Paul When: 7 p.m., Wednesday   Dr. Abraham Verghese speaks about his initial foray...

Sophomore speech-language-hearing sciences major Lauren Shibley does an improv warm-up exercise with the rest of the MinnProv teammates during their first meeting of the year at Coffman Union.

MinnProv members make it up as they go along

October 4, 2012

In one of Coffman Union’s dull fluorescent-lit rooms, 14 amateur student performers gather each week for the sake of comedy. Thriving in the mundane spaces normally used for study groups, the improv...

New book recounts a 1970 St. Paul murder

October 2, 2012

  What: Author William Swanson discusses “Black White Blue” Where: Coffman Union Bookstore, 300 Washington Ave. SE, Minneapolis When: 4 p.m., Tuesday Cost: Free   On the evening of...

Take a whiff

September 27, 2012

    What: The van Gobots’ “Free Smells” EP Release Show When: 9 p.m., Saturday Where: Cause Spirits and Soundbar, 3001 S. Lyndale Ave., Minneapolis Cost: $5 Age: 21+   The...

Warm heart of Africa

September 27, 2012

  What: Music for Malawi: A benefit concert featuring The New Gruv and The Debuts When: 7 p.m., Sunday Where: Kieran’s Irish Pub, 601 N. 1st Ave., Minneapolis Cost: Suggested donation of $20   Malawi...

Vestiges of a dictator

September 27, 2012

  What: Screening of “El General” with director Natalia Almada When: 3 p.m., Friday Where: Nicholson Hall, Room 135, 216 Pillsbury Drive SE, Minneapolis Cost: Free   Understanding...

Twin Cities’ lost era of funk and soul

September 24, 2012

Tomorrow marks the release of Secret Stash Records’ Twin Cities Fun & Soul: Lost R&B Grooves from Minneapolis/St. Paul 1964-1979. The 21 track compilation uncovers the lost era in Minneapolis-St....

Your own “Legend of Zelda” symphony

September 22, 2012

Tonight the first ever video game themed concert comes to the Orpheum Theatre for The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses. A full symphony orchestra will recreate those moments on your N64 or GameBoy...

Culture Compass: Maria Bamford, Fire in the Northern Firs and F. Scott Fitzgerald comes alive

September 20, 2012

  CULTURE TO CONSUME Listen to this: “Sleeping Ute” by Grizzly Bear The second single from Grizzly Bear’s latest album, “Shields,” showcases the Brooklyn four-piece’s...

Working magician Tyler Erickson, a magic teacher and member of the International Brotherhood of Magicians, poses in the theater at Twin Cities Magic and Costume Co. When the company moves, the theater won

Tricks of the trade

September 20, 2012

    What: Masters of Illusion Live! When: 7:30 p.m., Sept. 21 Where: State Theatre, 805 Hennepin Avenue, Minneapolis Cost: $43.50 to $79   Most people have polarized views of magic. Their...

Uncovering Junot Díaz

September 18, 2012

    What: Talking Volumes Who: Junot Díaz hosted by Kerri Miller Where: The Fitzgerald Theater, 10 East Exchange Street, St. Paul When: 7p.m., Sept. 18 Cost: $25 ($23 for MPR members)   Time...

Joel Maturi’s Chris Farley connection

September 17, 2012

According to a new story in the Duluth News Tribune, the U's former athletics director Joel Maturi may have been the inspiration behind one of the most memorable sketches in Saturday Night Live history....

Recap: Michael Ian Black at Coffman

September 15, 2012

Last night, the VH1 talking head known for his role in the I Love the 70s/80s/90s/New Millennium series performed his particular brand of sarcastic comedy in front of a packed crowd in Coffman’s...

Abandon censorship

September 13, 2012

What: BANNED! [The Title of This Event Has Been Censored], a lively panel discussion of literature and censorship Who: Authors Ellen Hopkins, Pete Hautman, Pamela Klinger-Horn, James Klise and Charlotte...

Book Club: Afterlife Edition

September 13, 2012

This week, we’re reading books dealing with life beyond death. Featuring both a scientist and an LSD user straight out of Berkeley, Calif., the two selections provide mind-altering accounts that’ll...

Panel talks book bans

September 13, 2012

Whether asserting Harry Potter’s satanic origins or Captain Underpants’s poop-related insensitivity, young adult literature remains contested by overly protective parents who voice their unwarranted...

Crisis professionals

December 8, 2011

  Patti Hecht-Kressly, a former police officer for 13 years, now surrounds herself with actors. She coaches them to reproduce symptoms of mental illnesses like post-traumatic stress disorder for training...

Kiss kiss bang bang

December 8, 2011

  What: âÄúStop KissâÄù When: 9 p.m., Thursday through Saturday; 2:30 p.m., Sunday Where: Xperimental Theatre, Rarig Center Cost: Free (email [email protected]) âÄúLaw & OrderâÄù...

Zach ?ondon of Beirut performs Dec. 3 at First Avenue in Minneapolis.

Review: Beirut at First Avenue

December 4, 2011

  Zach CondonâÄôs once solo project Beirut developed out of recordings consisting of faraway abstractions of places the young high school dropout wanted to go. Distant nostalgia first defined...

The indie rock quintet Clap Your Hands Say Yeah brags fans including David Bowie and David Byrne.

Fancy Claps

December 1, 2011

  What: Clap Your Hands Say Yeah with Waters and Saturday Night Duets Where: Varsity Theater, 1308 Fourth St. SE, Minneapolis When: 8 p.m.,ThursdayCost: $19 Defying the record industryâÄôs...

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