Even without Flav, Zombies set a record

The Zombie Pub Crawl took over the Warehouse District Saturday, as zombies lurched between outdoor stages and the 15-some participating bars and clubs. Cancellations hit the 10th annual undead drunk fest, with Flavor Flav and Rusko dropping the day-of and Sugar Ray bailing earlier in the week. Consumerism-skewering zombie flick icon George Romero might have chuckled at the long lines outside bottle-servicing clubs, while Twin Cities rebel-rapper P.O.S. (Flav's fill-in) performed at a half-full Fine Line and weathered inebriated stage-crashers. Although the equally beloved and maligned event drew a sellout crowd of 25,000 people, the bars' capacities didn't count toward the Guinness World Records tally that brought the "largest gathering of zombies" crown back to Minneapolis with 15,458 bibulous brain-munchers.

Michael Rietmulder

Downey, Duvall & Don

When Nick Schenk wrote the screenplay for "The Judge," the now-playing family/courtroom drama starring Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall, he sneaked in a little bit of home. "I named the street where Duvall runs the guy on the bike down Old Shelby Road, after Don Shelby," Schenk, a Minnesota native, said, referring to the retired WCCO icon. "I tried to get ['CCO sportscaster] Mark Rosen's name in there, too, but they took that one out." Schenk, whose first success was "Gran Torino," the 2009 Hmong/ Clint Eastwood drama originally set in Minneapolis but shot in Michigan for a bigger tax credit, also planted a local reference in that film. "The scene where Clint is drinking by himself on his birthday, reading his lucky numbers — those were all Vikings player numbers, including Randy Moss."

KRISTIN TILLOTSON

Life of Ryan

Whether you go to a Ryan Adams concert for his oft-brilliant songs or his oft-funny stream-of-consciousness patter, you were rewarded Monday at sold-out Northrop Auditorium. After arriving late, the Americana hero explained, "We couldn't find the stage. This place is like the goddamn Deathstar." Never mind that Adams had already been onstage earlier as the drummer for opening act Butch Walker. Adams babbled on about almond milk nipples, Twitter, the Wolfman, the band Yes, his hair, his lack of professionalism and other topics. He even reviewed one of his own jokes, admitting that it bombed. His best move was handing a piece of electrical tape to a front-row fan to cover the camera light while videoing Adams. The singer without a filter for his mouth also played a guitar for the first time that he'd bought that day at Willie's American Guitars in St. Paul. And on Twitter, he gave a shout-out: "Truly, I have never had a more pleasant, Prairie Home Companionesque helpful guitar store trip than at @williesguitars."

Jon Bream

Aubrey Anderson-Emmons

Garth-gantuan sales

Minneapolis has reclaimed the record for Garth Brooks concert-ticket sales. He has sold more than 188,000 tickets — and counting — for his 11 shows in November at Target Center. That breaks the mark he set last month of 183,535 tickets (more than $12 million worth) for 13 shows in Chicago. That topped his old record of 163,791 tickets (a gross of $3.5 million) from nine sellouts in Minneapolis in 1998. Expect every Target Center show to feature his new anthem, "Friends in Midwest Places."

Jon Bream

A child shall lead them

Word has come across the I.W. desk that Aubrey Anderson-Emmons will be at Illusion Theater's 40th anniversary gala. Aubrey, who turned 7 last summer, plays Lily Tucker-Pritchett on the hit sitcom "Modern Family." Her mother, Amy Anderson, has a long history with Illusion founders Bonnie Morris and Michael Robins. Aubrey will join Miss Richfield 1981, playwright Jeffrey Hatcher, musician Chan Poling and actors Dane Stauffer and T. Mychael Rambo at the gala, which starts at 6 p.m. Saturday at Illusion.

Graydon Royce

Turkey in November

Sweden had the filmmaking genius of Ingmar Bergman. Italy had Federico Fellini. Today, Turkey has Nuri Bilge Ceylan. A favorite of art-house audiences and a regular recipient of international acclaim, he is a repeat winner of the Cannes Film Festival's greatest awards. Ceylan will make his first visit to Minnesota next month, appearing at Walker Art Center's presentation of his winner of the latest Cannes top prize, "Winter Sleep." The film is an examination of Turkish society as a wealthy but tight-pocketed owner of a mountaintop hotel creates seething resentments, not only among his rural community, but his wife and sister as well. The film will show Nov. 1, a month before its U.S. theatrical release by Minnesota-rooted Adopt Films. Three earlier Ceylan films also will be screened at the Walker in November.

Colin Covert