Arts and Culture : Buzz

MTV's "The Real World," a long-running reality TV show, recently visited downtown Minneapolis to discover potential cast members for an upcoming season, a City Pages story notes.

Writer Jessica Armbruster writes that "producers are especially on the lookout for applicants who are working through timely issues--or who at least have a timely look."   

It could mean that someone has a hard time with their weight, is grappling with a tragedy, has an alternative background, or wants to bring attention to a social issue, it states.

The show's executive producer, Jonathan Murray, is also quoted saying, "we look for characters from real life; people with strong personalities who are unafraid to speak their minds."

The Twin Cities will play Denver in some scenes of a movie called 360, which stars Anthony Hopkins, Jude Law, and Rachel Weisz, a Star Tribune story notes.

"Minnesota's snowy reputation didn't let down the movie's makers," the writer states.

The story quotes Anne Healy, who helped find the movie's locations, and who says the Twin Cities area was chosen for scenes in 360 because the movie's makers wanted "a major airport under blizzard conditions."

With the help of the Internet Movie Database, it describes 360 as "a look at what happens when partners from different social backgrounds engage in physical relationships."

Source: Star Tribune

A Pioneer Press brief highlights a recent film screening of a documentary called "Lowertown: The Rise of an Urban Village," at the Union Depot in St. Paul.

The documentary describes the development of the St. Paul neighborhood of the same name. Lowertown is a "warehouse district that, in stops and starts, has grown an arts quarter, a mid- to upscale bar and restaurant scene and a broad range of apartment, condo and loft housing," it reads.  

Twin Cities Public Television hosted the documentary's reception and screening, which included St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman and Ramsey County Commissioner Jim McDonough as presenters.

Minnesota Public Radio reports that the Minneapolis Institute of Arts will be the first in the country to exhibit a collection of Renaissance Venetian paintings from the National Gallery of Scotland.

It's part of a campaign to raise money for the National Gallery of Scotland and the National Gallery in London to buy some of the pieces, which the Duke of Sutherland is looking to sell.

John Leighton, who heads the National Gallery of Scotland, is quoted saying,  "I think it would be safe to say this was a moment of crisis for us."

The works are important, he says, because "They were painted by Titian at the height of his powers in the 16th century, when he was without any doubt the most influential, most famous painter anywhere in Europe, and they were painted for the most powerful monarch of the time, Phillip II."

Minneapolis is the third-most literate city in the nation, behind Washington, D.C., and Seattle, according to a study from Central Connecticut State University. St. Paul is also in the top 10 list, coming in at seventh place.  

For the study, which the university has done every year since 2005, researchers honed in on six main indicators for literacy within cities that have populations of at least 250,000. Those factors include the following: newspaper circulation, number of bookstores, libraries, magazines, and Internet-related resources, the university website states.

The rankings will help "better perceive the extent and quality of the long-term literacy essential to individual economic success, civic participation, and the quality of life in a community and a nation," the posting says.

At the American Library Association's book awards ceremony in San Diego earlier this month, five authors and two publishers from Minnesota received numerous prizes in various categories, which are tallied by the Star Tribune.  

Author Laurie Hertzel quotes Alison McGhee, who, along with Kate DiCamillo received the Theodor Seuss Geisel award for best book for beginning readers for "Bink and Gollie," saying, "The Minnesotans are ruling!"

McGhee describes the phone call about the news: "It was an unfamiliar number and I thought it was a marketer, but instead it was Julie Roach from the ALA and there was a roomful of people clapping and cheering in the background, so I figured it had to be good news."

As the news made waves on Twitter, Hertzel says in the article, Andrew Karre, editorial director of Minneapolis' Carolrhoda Books, tweeted about the Minnesotans' "stunningly good" performance."

For the first time since 2004, the Antiques Roadshow will drop by the Twin Cities as a part of its summer production tour that includes a handful of other U.S. cities, the Pioneer Press reports.

The long-running PBS show puts a dollar value on people's accumulated treasures.  

On July 9 the show will be staged in Minneapolis with host Mark L. Walberg--though a venue hasn't been announced yet, the paper says. 

Anyone wanting free tickets should sign up at the show's website well in advance, or by April 18, according to the Pioneer Press. 
 

It probably comes as no surprise to music enthusiasts everywhere that First Avenue and 7th Street Entry in downtown Minneapolis are featured by a Gibson Guitar Corp. blog post that pays homage to 10 world-class rock venues across the globe.

Both stages have hosted many pop icons, including some who started out in the Twin Cities, the blog notes. But when Prince and the Revolution stepped on to the main stage at First Avenue to perform the music in the film, "Purple Rain," the place was memorialized forever.

Throughout the 1980s, Prince continued to experiment with new songs in front of audiences at First Avenue. At the same time, 7th Street Entry turned out such noteworthy local bands as The Replacements, Husker Du, and Soul Asylum, the blog goes on to say, adding: "One wonders if the Midwest alternative explosion would have occurred at all were it not for this cornerstone venue." 

Some other venues that made the list include Whisky A-Go-Go in Los Angeles, the Apollo Theater in New York, and the Marquee Club in London, England.

In its recently released top 10 list, Songkick, an online source of all kinds of concert and band information, rated the Twin Cities as the country's seventh-most happening rock scene. 

Songkick mined a database of over 1.8 million concerts from 2010, including everything from alternative music to classic rock, it states on its website. Cities got a score based on how many rock concerts they had over the past year, per capita.  

According to the charted results, the Twin Cities notched above Seattle. Austin, Texas was the most musically inclined while Nashville, Tenn. came in tenth. The average price of a concert ticket in the Twin Cities was also among the most reasonable, at just under $12. 

About the results, Songkick states on its blog, "We wanted to do a top 10 list that reveals something unexpected about the best places to see a show," adding, "We hope you'll agree that the list is surprising."

The Walker Art Center in October began a policy of free admission for everyone age 18 and younger, Minnesota Public Radio reports:

"Walker Public Relations manager Ryan French said teens have long been an important part of the Walker audience, and he hopes the new policy will encourage even more young visitors.

"'So this is really meant to target the teen audience that really is critical to the Walker,' French said. 'In fact it's 14 percent of our overall audience, or about 84,000 teens visit annually.'"

City Pages has the story of how the proprietors of a local music studio saw the writing on the wall and decided to embrace new technology rather than hope it went away.

Or in their words:

"We just put our big-boy pants on and moved on to something else, instead of sitting in the corner muttering under our breaths about these youngsters with their flying machines."

Matthew Foust and Evan Olcott co-founded Integral Studio in 2000. Soon after that they started developing recording and other music-related software and founded Audiofile Engineering.

Those development skills have since become in demand, as City Pages explains.

Oddee.com takes a break from cataloging the odd and bizarre to make a list of the world's 10 most breathtaking gardens. Of only three in the Western Hemisphere, one is the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden:

"The Minneapolis Sculpture Garden is one of Minnesota's crown jewels and its centerpiece, the Spoonbridge and Cherry, has become a Minnesota icon. Claes Oldenburg best known for his ingenious, oversized renditions of ordinary objects, and Coosje van Bruggen, his wife and collaborator, had already created a number of large-scale public sculptures, including the Batcolumn in Chicago, when they were asked to design a fountain-sculpture for the planned Minneapolis Sculpture Garden....Van Bruggen contributed the cherry as a playful reference to the Garden's formal geometry, which reminded her of Versailles and the exaggerated dining etiquette Louis XIV imposed there."

Read the entire article here.

An idea born in Minneapolis is growing into a phenomenon in cities around the world, Cool Hunting reports. Artcrank art shows of inexpensive posters that celebrate local bicycle culture have spread to the West Coast and the United Kingdom:

"Started in Minneapolis just three years ago, the Artcrank show was a quick, fun way to publicize local artists by inviting them to create posters about bike culture. Since then, the concept has spread with lightning speed to cities like Portland, San Francisco, Des Moines, and even London. With new cities taking part every year, 'Artcrank is growing roughly 10-15% faster than I can keep up with,' said Charles Youel, Artcrank's director and curator--not a bad problem to have. ...

"Local works on display each sell for an affordable $30 apiece at each venue. 'The more accessible those experiences are, the more diverse and interesting a biking and artistic culture becomes. I see people arriving on bikes, discovering local artists they've never heard of and connecting with causes. If free beer and cheap posters are the catalyst for that, it's cool by me,' continues Youel....

"'We're betting that Artcrank can and will work anywhere that people love bikes and art. So far, it's a bet we've won every single time.'"

Read the entire article here.

Mark Mallman stayed awake for 78 hours, playing music with help from fellow rockers from near and far. The Mark Mallman Marathon III astounded fans at St. Paul's Turf Club and around the world via the Web. City Pages live-bloggers bore witness to an event that blew off any dust that had gathered on the local scene since Mallman's last marathon. Afterward, CP collected quotes from others who can say they were there:

"Some of us may remember when our friend Mark Mallman decided to do his first 'Marathon' in 1999. Knowing Mark, it didn't seem weird that he would attempt such a stunt. The man has far too much energy and tends to be one of those creative juggernauts that fill the Twin Cities music scene....There was a sense of pride in being able to participate and carry the music on stage, while in the club and on the internet the event created a pervasive feeling of unity in the community. On a zombie-filled weekend intent on keeping the Twin Cities weird, Mark Mallman finished his Marathon Sunday night to roaring applause from all walks of life in St. Paul, Minneapolis, and around the world."

Read the entire article here.

Two mainstays of the local classical-music scene, the Schubert Club and the Music in the Park concert series, have merged their organizations. Both are in good shape but see their merger as a route to bigger and better things, reports the St. Anthony Park Bugle:

"Opportunity, not desperation, prompted Himmelstrup to accept van Bergen's proposal. 'We were not in trouble. We are rock-solid. We have a good amount of money in the bank,' Himmelstrup says, noting an annual budget of more than $150,000. 'It's good for both sides. Together we can cook up a whole lot of things.'

"Joining a well-established and well-respected institution like the Schubert Club, which has an annual budget of nearly $2 million and a 12-person staff, was a seductive proposition for Himmelstrup, who, with a part-time manager, makes up half of Music in the Park's staff. Still, the decision to merge with Minnesota's oldest arts organization was not made in haste.

"'We thought long and hard' before accepting van Bergen's proposal, says Himmelstrup who started the chamber-music series in 1979.

"'She is taking a big leap of faith and trusting us to carry and grow her baby,' van Bergen says. 'How do you continue to grow this amazing thing that she's built?'

"For more than three decades, Himmelstrup has served as artistic director for Music in the Park, bringing chamber music (including jazz) to St. Anthony Park, exposing the neighborhood to nationally prominent and promising musicians and composers.

"Still, joining forces made sense on both an artistic and a financial level. It ensures the future of the Music of the Park series and expands the program offerings of both organizations.

"'Two healthy organizations coming together�we really couldn't ask for a better scenario,' says van Bergen."

Read the full article here.