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State of the Arts Blog

Art Hounds: Future Bible Heroes, Savoy Family Band and Dust Bowl drama

Art Hounds: Future Bible Heroes, Savoy Family Band and Dust Bowl drama

This week, in our first web-only installment, the Hounds recommend two touring music acts (one synthy and the other homey) and a lyric look at identity during the Dust Bowl era. Musician Matt Latterell recommends Future Bible Heroes: “Why Future Bible Heroes?” It’s a question that I can’t be the only music geek to ever…
by Molly Bloom

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The Cedar names new Artistic Director

The Cedar names new Artistic Director

For the first time in five years, The Cedar has an Artistic Director – and she’s the same age as the multicultural music venue. Longtime Cedar employee Sage Dahlen, 25, is taking on the role which includes booking bands from around the world. For the past five years Executive Director Rob Simonds has handled the…
by Marianne Combs

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Art Spiegelman, A. S. Byatt headline new Pen Pals series

Art Spiegelman, A. S. Byatt headline new Pen Pals series

Friends of the Hennepin County Library have announced this year’s author lecture series – known as Pen Pals – and it’s an impressive one. The season begins with short story master George Saunders, the author of “Tenth of December.”  The New York Times writes that Saunders’ best stories “are animated by true fellow feeling and…
by Marianne Combs

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Great literature… by women

On several occasions in recent history I’ve perused lists claiming to cite the “100 best modern novels” or “books you must read before graduating from college” and “50 books to read before you die.” All these lists share something in common – a stunning lack of women. At best women make up 10 percent of…
by Marianne Combs

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Critics split over Tennessee Williams’ “Camino Real”

Critics split over Tennessee Williams’ “Camino Real”

It’s always interesting to see what kind of play inspires critics to take opposing sides. Evidently Tennessee Williams’ “Camino Real” is one of those plays. Lacking a central plot, the characters (including Casanova and Don Quixote) inhabit a sort of dreamscape . Girl Friday Productions’ remount of this work from the 1950s has elicited strong…
by Marianne Combs

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Composer Stephen Paulus suffered stroke, in critical condition

Composer Stephen Paulus suffered stroke, in critical condition

Twin Cities composer Stephen Paulus suffered a major stroke on Thursday, July 4. Paulus is 63. According to his colleagues at Paulus Publications, he is in critical but stable condition at a hospital in the Twin Cities. Information about his future recovery is unclear. His family has requested privacy while coping with the situation. A…
by Marianne Combs

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Twin Cities jazz singer Nancy Harms performs “Mood Indigo”

Twin Cities jazz singer Nancy Harms performs “Mood Indigo”

Nancy Harms is by birth a small-town Minnesota girl. Not exactly the type of person you expect to find crooning in a New York City jazz club. But after growing up in Clara City, Harms discovered jazz while attending Concordia College in Moorhead. Jazz vocalist Arne Fogel writes that within a year of Harms moving…
by Marianne Combs

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Banks, power and the Minnesota Orchestra

Euan Kerr and Chris Roberts recently reported on the bleak outlook of Minnesota Orchestra negotiations with its locked out musicians. In it, musician and blogger Emily Hogstad stated she believes progress will require the intervention of a third party. “Whether that’s a politician, a community leader, a mutually respected arts consultant, somebody like that —…
by Marianne Combs

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Photographer Camille Seaman chases storms to capture “lovely monsters”

Photographer Camille Seaman chases storms to capture “lovely monsters”

As a Shinnecock Indian, photographer Camille Seaman was raised with a deep awareness of her connection to the environment. Eventually her dual loves – nature and photography – combined into a career documenting glaciers, and then storms. Seaman recently shared a selection of her storm photography at a recent TED conference. Storm chasing is a…
by Marianne Combs

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Erotic lit for the elder set

As our population ages, new markets are opening up catering to seniors. Movies like “Red” and “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel” feature aging stars, and there are entire health clubs created for people 55 and over. Now, The Daily Beast reports, there’s a new trend in writing erotica with the aging body in mind. Take…
by Marianne Combs

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