Item World: Neil Gaiman meets fans, Ian McLagan meets Paul Westerberg, Low meets 'Edmund Fitzgerald,' more

He's calling it his Last U.S. Signing Tour, but novelist Neil Gaiman assured the crowd Monday night at Bloomington Jefferson High School that this doesn't mean he'll never tour again. It means, he said, that he's unlikely to do readings and book signings again, because when there's a big crowd — as there always is these days — the autographing can go on for hours. "Last night [in Ann Arbor, Mich.] I finished signing at 3 in the morning," he said. By the time he was done, "Everything hurt. My brain hurt. I could no longer spell common names, like 'Dave.' " Gaiman spoke to a capacity crowd at an event sponsored by Barnes & Noble Galleria to promote his new novel, "The Ocean at the End of the Lane." After the reading, he answered questions submitted on note cards. Will you write any more "Dr. Who" episodes? "I don't know. They have asked me," Gaiman said. "I don't know. If they could pay me in months rather than money. … Sure, I'll write an episode. Can you send me six weeks in return? Right now, time is kind of squishy." He sounded pensive. "It depends on time. It all depends on time."Afterward, Gaiman stuck around for hours, signing books and posing for pictures until midnight.

Laurie Hertzel

In his Twin Cities solo debut last weekend at the newish Belmore club, former Faces pianist Ian McLagan charmed with his gift of gab and of song. While dropping every name from Prince Charles to Prince, he took aim at a Minnesotan he's met — Paul Westerberg. Their first encounter was at a Replacements gig at the Palladium in Los Angeles. Saying he took it seriously because he knew Westerberg was a big Faces fan, McLagan got all dressed up. "I'm like Mr. Clean," he recalled of meeting the band backstage beforehand. And the Replacements were wearing "boiler suits that looked dirty. They were out of their [bleeping] tiny minds. Paul said, 'Do you wanna sit in?' I said, 'Well, have you got a piano?' 'Well, no.' " McLagan's next encounter with Westerberg was in 1993 when Paul was recording his "14 Songs" album. The pianist was invited to a recording session for the project. But he got drunk the night before at an Irish pub in San Francisco and went to bed at 5 a.m. Five hours later, his manager calls about the session. Hungover, McLagan drags himself to the studio at noon. "I'm drunk and smelly and Paul was Mr. Crisp," Mac remembered. "I was [bleeped] up. When you're [bleeped] up, you can't write a check or make a phone call but you can play the piano."

Jon Bream

Well-known customers of Willie's Guitars, the fellas of Los Lobos didn't make any comments about the St. Paul store this time around for their sold-out Minnesota Zoo concert Sunday. Instead, they and openers Los Lonely Boys made several dedications to Twin Cities concert promoter Sue McLean, who passed away in May, with the Lobos delivering a bittersweet "Matter of Time" in her honor. It was Rick Nielsen of Cheap Trick who paid mind to Willie's a night earlier at the zoo, making a shout-out to store owner Nate Westgor and singing the shop's praises. "Now that we've mentioned you," Nielsen tactfully tacked on, "I feel like we should get a discount there."

CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER

Bob Dylan never acknowledged the city of his birth at Tuesday's Americanarama concert in Duluth, but Chicagoan openers Wilco — who were given the key to the city last time at Bayfront Park — did offer something special for the location. With fellow opener Richard Thompson on guitar, frontman Jeff Tweedy welcomed Duluth's own rock heroes Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker of Low to sing what he called "the most important song ever." Cue Gordon Lightfoot's "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," an epic as intertwined with Duluth culture as Lift Bridge postcards and parking brakes — and as wordy as "War and Peace." Sparhawk and Parker pulled it off with the help of lyric sheets, one of which Sparhawk tore up and ate at the end of the performance in a colorful display of triumph. "That was a hard job," Tweedy said. "And they didn't even know they were going to do that until they got here tonight."

It's free, it's free. Every summer, the Plymouth Music Series presents concerts at the Plymouth Church in Minneapolis. Kevin Kling and Simone Perrin performed this past Tuesday. Pianist Butch Thompson and singer/fiddler/guitarist Pop Wagner are on tap this coming Tuesday. Looking ahead, on July 23, a quartet of Maria Jette, Lisa Drew, Vern Sutton and Jim Bohn will sing selections from operettas, with Sonja Thompson on piano. And on July 30, bluegrass pickers Monroe Crossing will perform. The concerts begin at 7 p.m. in the Jones Commons at Plymouth Church, 1900 Nicollet Av. S., Mpls.

Graydon Royce

Two high-profile nonprofits announced new leaders: the Minnesota Fringe Festival and KFAI community radio. The Fringe has promoted from within to fill the job of executive director. Jeff Larson, who started as a technician in 1999 and is now associate director, will take over when Robin Gillette steps down after this year's festival, Aug. 1-11. Gillette had announced in April that she was moving on after seven years with the organization. The Minnesota Fringe celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. Meanwhile, KFAI (90.3 FM Minneapolis, 106.7 FM St. Paul), a k a Fresh Air, the eclectic radio station staffed mostly by volunteers, has a new executive director — Willie Dean, whose professional background comes primarily out of the YMCA. Dean, most recently the president/CEO of the YMCA of Arlington, Texas, and previously executive director for a YMCA in St. Louis, replaces Janis Lane-Ewart, who left after serving since 2001. Dean earned a Ph.D. in education from the University of Minnesota.

Staff reports