Tegan and Sara at State Theatre on 10/11/08

By: Will McClain
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Photo from teganandsara.com Anyone who has been to or read about a Tegan and Sara concert is well aware of their live-setting schtick. The duo don’t so much hold concerts as travelling slumber parties; giddy tweens and their parents cram in next to respectable aficionados like me for big, fat living room gossip sessions—last Saturday night, the State Theatre downtown made fo...

Killer Joe, a Theatre Pro Rata production at Gremlin Theatre on 10/10/08

By: David de Young
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Pictured: Katie Willer and Zach Curtis. Photo: Charlie Gorrill Killer Joe is a 1991 “in your face” play by Steppenwolf Theatre Company playwright and actor Tracy Letts that had its initial debut in Chicago in 1993. Theatre Pro Rata’s production opened October 4 at the Gremlin Theater in Minneapolis.    As much a punch in the gut as a drama, I only find myself wishing I had seen ...

Nikki Schultz at Nomad World Pub on 10/10/08

By: David de Young
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Nikki Schultz (right) with Adri Mehra - Photo by David de Young Not much makes music writing more rewarding than unwrapping a CD by an artist previously unknown to you, popping it into the CD player, and finding music that is more than just good, but actually enriches your life. Nikki Schultz’s debut CD Lost and Found {and Lost Again} contains such music, and soon the disc was rid...

Podcast: HowWasTheShow/Minneapoliscast CD Reviews for October, 2008 on 10/10/08

By: David de Young
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HowWasTheShow's David de Young talks to Andrea Swensson of the City Pages, Stacy Schwartz of Cake in 15, and Pat O'Brien about some new and upcoming Minnesota music releases. 1. Umbrella Bed – “Go” – Selected by David de Young (http://www.umbrellabed.com/home.asp) 2. Lucy Michelle – “Postcard” – Selected by Andrea Swensson (http://www.myspace.com/lucymichell) 3. Western Fifth – “In...

Rift Magazine 36 Hour Songwriting Contest #6 at Bryant Lake Bowl on 10/9/08

By: David de Young
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   Sarah Pray at the Rift 36 Hour Songwriting Contest - Photo by David de Young A few years after I first moved to Minneapolis in 1988, I went to see a songwriter named Chris Herriges at a bar then called St. Anthony East on East Hennepin and S.E. 4th Street. Towards the end of his set, Herriges asked if there was anything the audience wanted to hear. “Play something brand new that you...

Jamie Lidell and Janelle Monae at The Varsity Theater on 10/7/08

By: Jon Behm
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Jamie Lidell - photo by Jon Behm   Jamie Lidell is a man of two faces. On one side you have the Motown inspired soul singer; Al Green reborn as a white Englishman. On the other, you have the experimental dance virtuoso, a microphone distorting soundboard jockey who has computer keys wired to his guitar's body.  I am personally a much bigger fan of the former, and was therefore a bit apprehensive to see ...

archy and mehitabel, life in lower case, an Open Eye Figure Theatre production at Open Eye Figure Theatre on 10/4/08

By: David de Young
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Sarah Agnew and Jim Lichtscheidl as mehitabel and archy - Photo by Lucas Saugen Open Eye Figure Theatre’s production of archy and mehitabel, life in lower case opened Friday in the theater company’s cozy space by the freeway in South Minneapolis. (The theater is located just off Portland Avenue South and 24th Street.)    Newspaperman Don Marquis created the character of archy [sic] the co...

Ani DiFranco at State Theatre on 10/3/08

By: Amber Schadewald
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Ani DiFranco - Photo by Jon Behm I think that every true third-wave feminist needs to see Ani DiFranco at least once. One must see her if not for the music, for the pure symbolism. Row after row of strong and confident women sang along to the endless of stream of DiFranco's powerful acoustic anthems. DiFranco has influenced millions with her musical poetry; a...

Chuck Klosterman w/ E.L.nO. at Triple Rock Social Club on 10/3/08

By: Pat O'Brien
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Chuck Klosterman - Photo by Stacy Schwartz Chuck Klosterman is the only person I’m aware of that isn’t a rock star who is a rock star. Sure, just a few months ago The Other Chuck--Chuck Palahniuk, made a tour stop at this very venue promoting his new book Snuff, at which he, among other things bizarre and Palahniukian, autographed and handed out a multitude of blow up dolls but a band didn’t play...

Wreckless Eric and Amy Rigby with Martin Devaney at 7th Street Entry on 10/3/08

By: Jen Paulson
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Jake Hyer (left) and Martin Devaney - Photo by Jenn Barnett There is something incredibly exciting about autumn rock shows in Minneapolis: The crisp in the air just feels special as the relaxation of a laid back summer turns into the complacency of that fall into winter transition. And the temperature change always brings, for some people, a time where there really isn’t anythin...