Item World: Local news and views

Crowes escape the zoo John Prine's nickname for the Minnesota Zoo amphitheater is still our favorite ("The West Nile Virus Sanctuary"), but Chris Robinson also had a good time re-imagining the setting of Sunday's sold-out concert by his hiatus-bound band the Black Crowes. Looking up at the sharply sloped cement layout, the singer cracked, "I feel like I should be dissecting a patient like we're at a Victorian-era medical class. So if anybody has a cadaver. ... " Glancing at the rocky backdrop, he later added, "Wait, I figured it out: I'm Dr. Zaius and this is the Planet of the Apes." He even had the facial hair to play the part.

CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER

Dressing the part for 'Mad Men' The 10 a.m. cocktails and sexual liaisons are well underway on this season of AMC's "Mad Men" -- and so is the show's popular online casting call. Once again, Twin Cities DJ Jake Rudh is in the running -- along with a few other locals -- to get a walk-on role on the show. Contestants simply submit a photo on the "Mad Men" website and the public votes. In Rudh's photo, he's dressed in a vintage black tux and holding a lowball scotch. "If I was to have my 15 minutes of fame, I'd love for mine to be on 'Mad Men,'" said Rudh, who lives in a mid-century modern house and collects vintage furniture. He thought victory was within reach last year after he made the Top 10, only to be knocked out after AMC's website crashed on the final day of voting. This year looks like an uphill battle, but he's in the top 100 (out of nearly 4,000). Voting ends Sept. 17 at Madmencastingcall.amctv.com.

TOM HORGEN

The new Col. Sanders? Everything seems to go Brother Ali's way nowadays. The Rhymesayers rap star took the stage just as lightning, wind and rain kicked up at the end of last Saturday's Pizza Lucé Party. "Are we gonna let the rain stop the party?" he defiantly asked. Sure enough, the storm ended as suddenly as it came, and the rest of Ali's set was as clear-sky-happy as the ode to family life, "Fresh Air," that he delivered right after the weather cleared. The crowd bulged and bruised as an estimated 5,000 people crammed the side street off Lyndale Ave -- probably the biggest crowd yet for a Lucé Block Party, or any such street fest of recent memory. Host Ian Rans fittingly introduced the rapper as "not just the headliner of this Block Party, but the headliner for every one of these we've done." Ali sported his new, white, billygoat-style beard, which he described as looking "like a cross between Santa Claus and the Kentucky Fried Chicken man."

CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER

Rufus hates foosball When Rufus Wainwright's manager expressed her surprise that Minneapolis was one of the top-selling cities on his tour, the singer gave her this explanation: "They have a lot of rehab facilities there. They know where I'm coming from." Last week Wainwright played to a nearly sold-out Orchestra Hall and reminded the crowd he briefly lived here on separate occasions ("in different incarnations" is how he put it, referring to at least one rehab stint). It sounded like he's trying to forget at least one part of his local past, though: "I have to say -- only because I've done it so many times -- I'm happy not to be playing First Avenue this time. My last time there, the foosball in the background really got to me." Actually, it was an air-hockey game that disrupted a soft part of his performance in 2002 -- not that it's any less annoying, but it's more Minnesotan.

Hitching a ride Ivey Awards impresario Scott Mayer was recently on a downtown-bound light rail train when a voice came over the P.A. The train was returning to the airport because a car had rolled over on the tracks ahead, and passengers should find other transportation. In short order, another voice, with a touch of panic, piped up: "Is anybody going to downtown Minneapolis?" said a gentleman near Mayer. "I'm an actor in a show at the Guthrie Theater that goes on in an hour, and I need to get there but I don't have any money." Mayer raised his hand and offered to share his taxi with Phineas Clark, an extra in "A Streetcar Named Desire." On the ride down, the two talked about theater and discovered they had many mutual friends. Mayer's good deed was unexpectedly matched. The cabdriver, who overheard the story, gave Mayer a free ride home. "Now that's real Minnesota Nice," Mayer said.

ROHAN PRESTON

Location, location, location Looking at the Fringe Festival attendance numbers, I.W. was struck by a bolt of genius: Make a good show and get into a larger venue. Of the 15 best-selling shows, four (including "The Damn Audition" at No. 1) were in the Rarig Thrust, which can top out at about 400 people. More amazing is that seven top sellers were at Mixed Blood, which seats about 200. The similarly sized Southern had two shows and the Jungle (140 seats) had one. Obviously, more seats means you can sell more. But general location figures into it, too. Calculating the Top 15 by percentage of capacity, 11 were on the West Bank (including six in the Rarig Center). Something about synergy among several venues in close proximity comes to mind.

GRAYDON ROYCE