A fairly fun time Loyalty and the lure of State Fair food attracted a jumbo-sized crowd to the opening of Tom Arndt's photo show at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts last weekend. A snapshot would have shown photographers Lynn Geesaman, Chris Faust, Jana Frieband, Paul Shambroom and his wife, Joan Rothfus, a writer and former curator. Everyone munched mini corndogs, popcorn, M&Ms and Rice-Krispie bars-on-a-stick, the perfect food for Arndt, who takes in every fair he can find: state, county, small town and neighborhood.

MARY ABBE

Conduct unbecoming? Ouch. Former Minnesota Orchestra music director Neville Marriner doesn't fare very well in a Minnesota Public Radio-produced radio documentary about the orchestra that the BBC broadcast Tuesday evening in the conductor's native England. Then again, Marriner gave as good as he got. When his stint began in 1979 with a musicians' strike, Marriner said he was upset to encounter open disputes with unionized players in Minneapolis. During tours, "golf clubs were predominant" over instruments, he said, implying that musicians were lazy and indifferent. Outspoken oboist Basil Reeve fired back, giving Marriner low grades as a conductor. Back in the BBC's London studios post-documentary, MPR's Brian Newhouse played a Marriner-led recording of the MO playing a British composer (Britten). Perhaps this helped soothe ruffled British fans of Marriner, who was knighted in 1985.

CLAUDE PECK

LISTEN

to the MPR documentary at startribune.com/a/?4612

Mom always liked him best Mark Olson had just explained the meaning of "Life's Warm Sheets," the tune he and Gary Louris were about to play Saturday at the jam-packed Varsity Theater. But Louris needed more time to tune his guitar, so he asked Olson to talk a bit more. Olson explained how some things need to be aired out, "including bathrooms," prompting Louris to ask his longtime Jayhawks partner: "When did we become the Smothers Brothers?" Said Olson: "It's a natural progression."

JON BREAM

Memphis blues again While they didn't bring home the big prize, the Brothers Curtis -- guitarist/singer Curtis Marlatt and harmonica wizard Curtis Blake -- had a fine time at the recent International Blues Challenge in Memphis, onstage and off. "I was stumbling out of my hotel room one afternoon," Blake said, "and there was an elderly gentleman playing his guitar in the hallway." It was L.C. Ulmer, a recently rediscovered bluesman and star of the recent documentary "M for Mississippi." Black sat down and jammed with him, capturing an hour of their impromptu duo on video. They exchanged phone numbers and addresses, and hope to play some gigs this summer. "L.C. may be 80, but he doesn't drink and is in great shape," Blake said. "He even tap dances!"

TOM SUROWICZ

A sobering moment John Legend got Estelle on the pass list for a post-Grammys party last year even though no one knew who she was. Even Prince was curious about this new face. "I was drunk, dancing around, and he walked up and said, 'Hey, I'm Prince. What do you do?'" she told I.W. "It was insane. I sat quiet, looking at him. I think everyone was drunk that night other than him. It was a little bit of a moment."

JON BREAM

Into the closet Sheila E will tune in Saturday night to see what happens to her, George Clinton, Justin Guarini, Taylor Dayne, Micky Dolenz and the rest on the CMT reality show "Gone Country 3." Yes, she was in Nashville for 11 or 12 days of filming but hasn't seen the edited episodes. She wrote songs with Nashville writers, worked on a farm and did whatever "Gone Country" wrangler John Rich asked of the celebrity contestants. The biggest ordeal was having cameras in her face all the time, said Sheila, who was in the Twin Cities last week for a residency at McNally Smith College of Music. "I had to go in my closet to do my morning prayers," she told I.W. "They couldn't follow me into my closet because that's where I got dressed."

JON BREAM