Theatrical scenery and concerts make for strange bedfellows at the Guthrie Theater. On Monday night, jazz piano giant Chick Corea and banjo god Bela Fleck walked onto the stage set of "Harvey," the play about the invisible 6-foot, 3-inch pooka/rabbit that just opened at the Guthrie. Both musicians were immediately attracted to a painting, hung over the fireplace, of a woman in her senior years. Fleck fessed up that it was his great-grandmother on his paternal side (or did he say maternal?). Throughout the captivating concert, Great Grandma played a role. Namely, straight woman, or conscience or inspiration or adviser — or ghost. For instance, when Corea started plucking the strings inside his concert grand piano, Fleck glanced at Grandma and wondered what was going on. There is no word if the musicians asked the Guthrie if Grandma could join them for the rest of the tour. Jon Bream
Treasure found
Fort Snelling's star beamed brighter this week when it was named a "National Treasure" by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. There are only 80 such "treasures" in the country, and Snelling is Minnesota's first. It was cited for its importance as an American Indian gathering place, a 19th- and 20th-century military post, and other historic roles. Built in the 1820s, the fort occupies a prime bluff overlooking the confluence of the Mississippi and Minnesota rivers that gave rise to its name in the Dakota language, "Bdote," meaning "where the two waters come together." Following suit, the trust dubbed it "Bdote Fort Snelling."
Mary Abbe
Props for punks
With the Ramones on the cover, Rolling Stone is devoting a considerable chunk of its current issue to punk rock. Our own Hüsker Dü and the Replacements made the list of the 40 greatest punk albums of all time. With the Ramones' eponymous debut at No. 1, Hüskers' "Zen Arcade" ranked No. 13 and the 'Mats' "Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash" landed at No. 29. Was the love for our homeboys colored, in part, by the fact that two of the seven voters — Jon Dolan and Will Hermes — spent time in the Twin Cities before moving to New York?
Jon Bream
Docking in Winona
The Minnesota Marine Art Museum in Winona has picked Nicole Chamberlain-Dupree as its executive director, starting May 9. She follows Andrew J. Maus, who left Winona in January to become executive director of the Plains Art Musuem in Fargo. Chamberlain-Dupree has been an assistant in the paintings department of the Minneapolis Institute of Art since 2008. In that job she helped install "American Modernism," featuring paintings on loan from the estate of Minneapolis collector Myron Kunin, and worked on the 2015 blockbuster "Delacroix's Influence." She earned an M.A. in art history from the University of St. Thomas in 2012.
Mary Abbe
Not Joshing
"The First Monday in May," a documentary that premiered last week at New York's Tribeca Film Festival, offers a behind-the-scenes look at the annual Met Gala, the Big Apple's hottest social event. How organizers determine the pecking order of celebs is revealed — sometimes brutally, according to the New York Times. "Josh Hartnett? What's he done lately? Nothing," Vogue magazine's Sylvana Ward Durrett says at one point in the film. Not true. For one thing, he's busy being a daddy to his baby with British actress Tamsin Egerton. And he's filmed season 3 of Showtime's "Penny Dreadful," which returns May 1 — the night before this year's Met Gala.
Jon Bream
Find more coverage of the arts all week at our pop culture blog startribune.com/artcetera and follow us on Twitter @entertain_mn
