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Welcome to Artcetera. Arts-and-entertainment writers and critics post movie news, concert updates, people items, video, photos and more. Share your views. Check it daily. Remain in the know. Contributors: Mary Abbe, Jon Bream, Tim Campbell, Colin Covert, Laurie Hertzel, Tom Horgen, Neal Justin, Claude Peck, Rohan Preston, Chris Riemenschneider, Graydon Royce, Randy Salas and Kristin Tillotson.

Posts about Nightlife

House of Legion scores big at ball

Posted by: Kristin Tillotson Updated: February 11, 2013 - 12:37 PM

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Shanti NNja performed on the runway early Monday morning at the Fantasyland Ball at the Gay 90s nightclub.
Photo by Jeff Wheeler
 
Neither sleet nor the Grammys could keep the fierce competitors of the Fantasyland Ball away from the Gay 90s Sunday night. One of the top ballroom-culture contests of the year, it drew men from Milwaukee, Detroit and Chicago as well Minneapolis’s own House of Legion, which hosted the event. From best costume to twirling performance to realness, they strutted their considerable stuff with exuberance, sass and athleticism.
 
It was the latest episode in what has become a revival of the 1980s balls held in New York’s gay nightlife underground, where gay men of color, who struggled with double discrimination in their daily lives, created a world all their own where they could shine and not worry about anybody else’s censure.
 
The local balls aren’t on a set schedule, as the scene is still relatively young here, less than two years old. Previous events have been held at Patrick’s Cabaret, the Cowles Center and Deseo Soundbar.
 
The balls mix drag, performance and high fashion. Unlike typical drag shows, they have many categories that can get quite specific, including “European” runway and “realness,” or posing as straight people, from business executives to schoolboys. And everyone’s got an alter ego or two, like William King, an imposing “runway” category contestant whose “house name” is Russiah. With an h, y’all.
 
Xavier Rucker sported black leggings that showed off every muscle and a translucent-gold winged cape. Rucker, aka Mother Paris Legion, said that the balls are “still mostly underground but more mainstream people are coming to them.” They sometimes allow a few women to compete as well,” but it’s mainly for black and Latino men,” he said.
 
Watching the virtually Olympian warm-up on the runway, with a crush of fit bodies sashaying, spinning and doing the bend-n-snap like runway acrobats against a backdrop of encouraging signs -- Vogue! Work it Miss Thing! Battle! – was nearly as fun as the show. Shanti NNja seemed a shoe-in for best twirler.
 
An entrant named Keyon, draped in black feathers and a knotted strand of pearls, was competing in both the “face” and “hands” categories, but wound up winning for his mad Steve Madden spiked heels. He said he drew his inspiration from “Legends. Icons. Statements. Stars. And Snow White and the Huntsman.” Michael Ingram, in shorts with suspenders, a bowtie and a stack of books in a strap vied for the schoolboy prize, but lost to one of the out-of-towners.
The House of Legion (pronounced lee-zhone, a la francaise) amassed several wins, including European runway (Russiah and Mother Paris Legion), All-American runway (Weeda Legion), Vogue performance (Ninja Legion) and the challenging  Butch Queen Sex Siren (Deveric Legion).
So what do the judges look for in these highly subjective competitions? It’s hard to say, according to Justin McDuff, one of the more experienced on last night’s panel. “You just have to look the part, and walk the walk.”
 

 Xavier Rucker, Michael Ingram and Marvin Humphries (left to right) all competed in the ball.

Photo by Jeff Wheeler.

Northern Spark festival heads to St. Paul for 2013

Posted by: Mary Abbe Updated: February 11, 2013 - 11:36 AM

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Northern Sparkers watch the "SitandSpinShanty" at the 2012 Northern Spark. Star Tribune photo by Megan Tan.

Northern Spark, a one-night festival of avant garde art events, will focus its activities in St. Paul's Lowertown in 2013.This year's  festival will start about 9 p.m. Saturday, June 8 and run til dawn on Sunday morning.

Many of the events will occur in or near Union Depot, a 32 acre site that includes a vast former train station and concourse now being renovated as a transport hub for light rail, bus and Amtrack transportation.

"We are a roving experimental, interactive, media arts organization and we're doing some roving and some experimentation," said Steve Dietz, president and artistic director of Northern Lights.MN, the non-profit sponsor of Northern Spark.

The city of St. Paul did not chip in any special funding to lure the event there, Dietz said. His organization has been developing a $500,000 public art commission for Union Depot for the past 18 months, however, and exposure to the depot's space and its potential inspired him to move the Spark there for one season.

 "Working with Union Depot is a once in a lifetime opportunity, so we're going to focus a lot of energy on it and Lowertown this summer," Dietz said. "It's a place really no one has seen much of since 1971and, while it's now reopened, it hasn't reached maximum use. We're going to take over all 32 acres and have indoor and outdoor projects and stages."

Spark events will spill out into Lowertown including Mears Park and the riverfront. Nevertheless, it will be "more compact than either of the first two years," said Dietz.

Since it was first launched in 2011, Northern Spark has been staged throughout the Twin Cities but tended to concentrate in Minneapolis. Many events clustered near the Stone Arch bridge spanning the Mississippi River and at key venues including Walker Art Center, the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, and the Soap Factory.

The 2013 festival will have about the same number of participants as in the past, Dietz said, that is 45 partner organizations and about 75 artist-projects involving about 100 artists.Highlights are expected to include a house that artist Chris Larson plans to build  -- an exact copy of a Marcel Breuer house that overlooks the Mississippi River -- plus several new public art commissions.

Dietz acknowledged that attendance could fall because of the move, but insisted the risk was worthwhile. "When you change location, there's always that chance, but I think we'll gain some new audiences, and it's all part of trying to remain true to our mission of being experimental," he said.

Besides, in 2014, "We'll be back in Minneapolis for sure, and looking forward to it," he said.

 

Russian Art Museum plans first jazz concert

Posted by: Mary Abbe Updated: February 5, 2013 - 6:42 PM

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The Museum of Russian Art in Minneapolis will stage its first jazz concert featuring Estaire Godinez (vocals), Peter Schimke (piano), Billy Peterson (bass) and Irv Williams (saxophone). Given the intimate size of the concert hall in the lower level of the museum, seating is limited and pre-registration required.

(5 p.m. - 7 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 23, $20. The Museum of Russian Art, 5500 Stevens Av. S., intersection of Hwy 35 W. and Diamond Lake Rd., in south Minneapolis. )

Walker Art Center extends "Cindy Sherman" show hours

Posted by: Mary Abbe Updated: February 5, 2013 - 6:18 PM

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 Everyone loves photographer Cindy Sherman it seems, so much so that  Walker Art Center is adding hours on the Sherman show's  final weekend. (It ends Sunday, February 17).

Here's the deal: The popular show will open to Walker members one hour early, i.e. at 10 a.m., on Saturday and Sunday, February 16 and 17. And it will remain open for everyone two hours longer at the end of those days, i.e. until 7 p.m. General adult admission to the Walker is $12 and includes the Sherman show.

But, wait, there's more! Savvy art shopers know that the Walker is always free on Thursday evenings and that it always stays open 'til 9 p.m. Thursdays. Couple those fab facts with Valentine's Day, which just happens to fall on Thursday this year, and you've got a huge February 14 bonanza for your sweetie.

Other Valentine nite fun stuff:

5 p.m. - 9 p.m. Valentine's Day three-course prix fixe menu at Gather by D'Amico, plus Love Potion cocktails.

6 p.m. - 9 p.m.: Party People Pictures photo booth (dress up in Sherman drag, please)

7 p.m. - 8 p.m.: Social/Brief: The Love Version (share your own Hallmark-style love poems in 20 seconds or less)

8 p.m.: Take a "Love and Heartbreak" tour of Cindy's show.

 

 

Craft beer news: New Bohemia now open

Posted by: Tom Horgen Updated: October 16, 2012 - 10:51 AM

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A small craft beer bar with big ambition debuts in northeast Minneapolis Tuesday. New Bohemia Wurst & BierHaus is opening quietly for lunch at 11 a.m. in a former Panera Bread. In June, co-owner Jeff Bornmann told me he hopes to open more locations in the Twin Cities with an eye toward nationwide expansion.

The bar currently has 34 craft beers on tap, many of the them coming from local and regional breweries: Lift Bridge, Badger Hill, Fulton, Harriet, Indeed, Lucid, Bell’s, Founders and Dark Horse to name a few. They’re also offering flights ($8-$12). View the beer menu here. There’s some great pedigree behind the beer portfolio. Jason Alvey of the Four Firkins consulted on the menu and Catherine Pflueger, formerly of the Happy Gnome, will manage the place.

Pegged as a Euro-style beer hall, the food is mostly sausages (18 to be exact) and fries. Beyond the Belgian frites, they’re offering German potato salad and Krautsalat (slaw). Check out the menu here.

Bornmann definitely has the backing for a potential expansion beyond Minneapolis. One of his partners is Noel Bowman of Las Vegas ice bar, Minus5.

Details: 233 E Hennepin Av., Mpls., 612-331-4929, www.newbohemiausa.com.
Hours: 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Sun.-Wed. and 11 a.m.-2 a.m. Thu-Sat.

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