At the Guthrie tonight. “Vietgone,” playwright Qui Nguyen, “a story about love.” 1975, Saigon fell, Arkansas refugee camp, … . Comedy, rap, … still processing this excellent show.
Category: Create
Five Watt Mouse Door
Finally noticed this mouse door near the entrance to Five Watt Coffee. It’s probably been there for years, so much for mindfulness. The local artist, Mows, has hundreds of these doors with different designs, placed around the world through collaboration and travel.
Interpreting American Music
Tonight: dinner and a show at the Dakota Jazz Club, downtown Minneapolis. Lizz Wright interpreted Jazz, Blues, Gospel, the American Songbook.
A New Neighborhood
Cycled past this building. It was falling down until developers rescued the surviving structure. Nearby, apartments are going up on brownfield land. We’d planned to have dinner here with friends, but postponed: both friends have had COVID, one still tests positive.
Featureless Faces
Inside, featureless faces stared out from a wall while two men sat at laptops. “How did you find us?” one asked. “I was cycling past and noticed the open door,” I replied. Perhaps anticipating another prosaic response, he didn’t ask for my thoughts about the art. Or, maybe, he’d already asked.
There’s Stories Everywhere
My cycle ride took me to the Joyce Kilmer Memorial Fireplace in St. Paul’s Como Park. Kilmer was a poet (“I think that I shall never see, a poem as lovely as a tree”) who was killed in the Second Battle of the Marne in World War I. He never visited Minnesota.
Loo or Louvre?
Stopped for coffee, resisted a waffle, at Black Coffee and Waffle Bar near the University of Minnesota East Bank Campus. Couldn’t decide if the back of the bathroom door was graffiti or art. Decided I was overthinking.
Theater Night
Walked over to the Guthrie for “Sweat.” Angry workers in a bar as their factory succumbed to the inevitable pressures of NAFTA in the early days of the 21st century.
Boundaries
Minnesota Orchestra tonight. Enjoyed our usual pre-show wine in the upper bar which had been set up as a piano lounge. At our usual seats in Orchestra Hall, found ourselves next to the just-announced music director, Thomas Søndergård, and his husband. Pretended not to notice… even when he stood up when he was welcomed from… Continue reading Boundaries
Bike, Art, Lunch
Cycled, then stopped for a bit of art and lunch at the Walker. Revisited the Hockney exhibit, where I was reminded he’s much more than gorgeous Los Angeles swimming pool pix. Over his career he’s worked many forms, including stage set design. This large-scale model was for a provocatively titled opera, Les Mamelles de Tirésias.