Roma di Luna and A Night In The Box at Acadia Café on 12/1/07

By: Carl Atiya Swanson
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Roma di Luna - Photo from their MySpace It’s a pity that the Acadia Café on Nicollet and Franklin will be pulling up stakes and moving to the West Bank on January 1st, 2008. Its new location (kitty-corner from the 400 Bar in the old Riverview Café) will not have the separate theater area that made the Acadia so infuriatingly charming. The Nicollet space gets a bad rap; the sound mix...

Sol y Luna, a Zorongo Flamenco Dance Company production at Southern Theater on 11/29/07

By: Jon Behm
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Domingo Ortega - Photo by Jim Smith The Southern Theater was temporarily transferred to Southern Spain last night. While the audience remained firmly planted in their seats, The Zorongo Flamenco Dance Company’s Sol y Luna took us down a tour of Sevilla’s Barrio Santa Cruz’s mazelike streets, into hot cafes and Gitano enclaves. With only a little sweet red Spanish wine and a roomful of cigarette...

Barbara Field's adaptation of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol at Guthrie Theater on 11/25/07

By: David de Young
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Raye Birk as Ebenezer Scrooge - Photo by Michal Daniel "The Goose is on the Loose" I’ll make a concerted effort to say as little as possible about my choice of subtitles for this review, but if you’ve seen the show you know what I mean. And if you choose to attend, you’ll find out soon enough. It’s been years since I attended a production of A Christmas Carol at the Gut...

Between the Worlds, an Interact Center production at Mixed Blood Theatre on 11/23/07

By: Carl Atiya Swanson
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  The excitement was palpable in the lobby of the Mixed Blood Theatre for the gala opening of Interact Center’s Between the Worlds. It helped that the tiny lobby was packed to the rafters with nowhere to stand or turn that wasn’t in line for the food and wine. This is what happens when you have a cast of 45 and a reputation for courageous theatre: people come in droves.    ...

Ed Ackerson Interview and Performance on 11/21/07

By: David de Young
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The cover of Ed Ackerson's self-titled solo album On Friday night, November 23rd at the Varsity Theater, Ed Ackerson (of 27 Various, The Dig and Polara) will release his debut self-titled solo album on his own Susstones record label. At the show Ed will be joined by a band featuring Peter Anderson (drums), Marc Perlman (bass), Tim Osseau (keyboards), and Eric Lovold of the Alarmist...

Ike Reilly, The Alarmists and the Falls at First Avenue on 11/21/07

By: Pat O'Brien
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Ike Reilly - Photo from his MySpace (will add photo credit upon request) It’s hard to explain what happened at this show if you weren’t there. Now, I’m not going to get all pretentious on you and say that I saw God or anything like that. But I did step out of my comfort zone a bit for this show and was rewarded for it. It felt good.   Let this be known: I don’t like rockabilly. A h...

Lunch Show 5 with STNNNG, Signal to Trust and FT (The Shadow Government) at 7th Street Entry on 11/17/07

By: Pat O'Brien
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STNNNG - photo from myspace.com/stnnng You don’t often see shows this early in the day. As I looked around the near full 7th Street Entry at the bleary-eyed masses and got in line to heap some much needed grub onto my plate, this much was clear: most everyone was in various stages of being hungover and pretending not to be—in any way, shape or form. It was noon. Yes, you re...

Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings at First Avenue on 11/16/07

By: Joe Lang
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Sharon Jones - Photo by Alexa Jones Since the dawn of the 21st century, there has been a resurgence of bands carrying the torch of the Atlantic Records soul and R & B sounds of the early- to mid-sixties. Groups like the Quantic Soul Orchestra, The Budos Band and Lefties Soul Connection are conjuring up the gutbucket funk and groove of artists like James Brown and The Meters in a way...

The Current Fakebook with John Waters at Fitzgerald Theater on 11/10/07

By: Jen Paulson
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John Waters - Photo by Jon Behm For inspiration, not like I really need it, I am listening to the compilation, A Date With John Waters, put out earlier this year. It might be one of the best mixes ever made. The perfect, eclectic mix of old-time sweetness, roadhouse rockers and many out-of-the-ordinary oldies are a great combination of Water’s counterculture sensibilities.  So it goes without saying t...

3 Sticks presents Sarah Ruhl's Melancholy Play at Bryant Lake Bowl on 11/9/07

By: Janet Preus
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Melancholy Play publicity photo Directed by Eric Powell Holm Music by Andrew Lynch               The Question: Are we as a culture unable to appreciate what is appealing and satisfying about melancholy? Have we lost the sensuality to be melancholy? We’re angry, bitter, disappointed, depressed, sad – but melan...