Item World: Local news and views 5/25

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Continued: Item World: Local news and views 5/25

Article by: STAR TRIBUNE STAFF , Star Tribune
Last update: May 24, 2012 - 2:49 PM

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DLR meets DNR

Seemingly looking for a location that suggested peace and serenity, David Lee Roth took to "the woods just north of Minneapolis/St. Paul" over the weekend to film a video for Van Halen's website addressing the cancellation of the latter half of their summer tour, which Rolling Stone blamed on infighting. "The band is getting along famously, better than we have in quite some time," the singer insists in the clip, which shows him next to a babbling brook in woodsman-looking overalls alongside his dog, Russell. I.W. couldn't help but wonder if the location was somewhere near Hazelden. Roth and Eddie Van Halen indeed appeared to be best companions onstage Saturday at Xcel Energy Center. Diamond Dave's less-than-pristine voice also supported his claims that "unnecessary roughness" was the real reason the tour is called off after June 26. "We bit off way more than we can chew when it came to scheduling," he said. And then two buxom babes in skimpy bikinis came out of the woods and kissed him on the cheek. No wait, that was another Roth video. -CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER

Freewheelin' with Bob Dylan

Long before he helped Sacha Baron Cohen create "Borat" and "The Dictator," Larry Charles was a prolific TV writer with no plans to tackle movies. Then in 2001 he got a call to meet with Bob Dylan. Much to Charles' surprise, the encounter put him at the helm of Dylan's film comeback, "Masked and Anonymous." Charles said Dylan brought a box to that first meeting: "It was all these little scraps of paper, stationery from all around the world. And on each scrap of paper was an aphorism or a line or a name of somebody. He dumped it out and said, 'I don't know what to do with all this.' I started looking and I said, 'This can be a line of dialogue. And this could be the person's name who says the dialogue.' That's how we started to write that script, actually." Sounds like the script was tangled up in glue. -COLIN COVERT

The Chicago way?

The Twin Cities-based Hubbard family may be huge Twins fans, but they might want to buy the Chicago Cubs' home station. Stanley S. Hubbard, CEO of Hubbard Broadcasting, told I.W. this week that he's interested in WGN, the Chicago TV station that broadcasts nationwide. It's owned by the financially troubled Tribune Co., which might be selling its publishing and broadcasting units after it gets out of bankruptcy. "I don't think they would offer it to us, but we just don't know," Hubbard said. "We've had no conversations with them about it." Hubbard said he's not interested in any of Tribune's radio stations or newspapers. Hubbard Broadcasting, which broadcasts Twins game on ESPN 1500, spent $500 million on a radio acquisition last year. "Obviously, that would limit how much we could invest in it," he said. "But we could still handle it." -NEAL JUSTIN

Church at the Cabooze

Even though he'd have you believe he was bleary-eyed drunk, country star Eric Church showed a crystal-clear memory of some of his earlier Minneapolis gigs during last week's sold-out Target Center concert. While introducing his song "Jack Daniels" -- which he claimed was partially inspired by those Twin Cities barroom nights -- the North Carolina bad boy remembered, "We used to play this little place here called the Cabooze, and I swear those were some of our rowdiest crowds ever." He later added, "Our goal tonight is turn this place into the Cabooze." The only thing missing was a photo of Tina & the B-Sides on the backdrop. -CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER

Elementary, Watson

Sherlock Holmes has been a summer box-office favorite for Park Square Theatre on a couple of occasions. Now the franchise has spiked interest among actors. Park Square reported that more than 180 actors auditioned for "Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Suicide Club," by Jeffrey Hatcher. The production in June 2013 -- a year from now -- will be directed by David Mann, with Steve Hendrickson playing the famous sleuth. Hendrickson has performed the role in both of Park Square's previous Sherlock shows. Park Square's Connie Shaver said the number of actors auditioning was "more than three times the response for a show of this size." Robert Downey did not toss his hat into the ring. -GRAYDON ROYCE

Summer Set fest set for Somerset

A month after its own Soundtown festival, Somerset Amphitheater is going to play host to Summer Set, an Aug. 24-26 music celebration that will feature an eclectic, psychedelic mix of about 50 dance, rap and jam-band acts, including Pretty Lights, Umphrey's McGee, Big Gigantic, Nas, Black Star, Yelawolf, Cloud Cult, Solid Gold, Prof, Lotus and MSTRKRFT. The event is a co-production by Twin Cities dance promoter SIM Shows and React, the Chicago company behind that city's popular North Coast festival. SIM Shows' Jack Trash, a veteran of the Twin Cities electronic scene, said, "I think musically we're pretty far away from what Soundtown is doing." They also have a different kind of game plan, including DJ-driven after-hour parties planned at the neighboring hockey arena. Surely, that'll be a first for Somerset. Three-day passes start at $75 at SummerSetFestival.com. -CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER

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