Following an abrupt disbanding and five-year hiatus, local folk-rock group Roma di Luna's quickly sold-out reunion last weekend at the Cedar Cultural Center seemed as much about rebuilding personal bonds as reigniting the band's fiery political brand. Co-leader Channy Leaneagh, now the frontwoman for Poliça, said RdL's members spent most of their time in rehearsals talking and laughing. "And braiding each other's hair," added Leaneagh's (shaved-headed) bandmate and ex-husband, Alexei Moon Casselle, aka Crescent Moon of hip-hop group Kill the Vultures. The concert — buoyed by 30 vocalists from the Prairie Fire Lady Choir and definitely not under-rehearsed — quickly took a serious edge as topical songs like "Porcupine" and "Soldier Song" sounded pulled from the news of the day. "We wrote most of these songs before Obama took office," Leaneagh noted of the one-off show, a fundraiser for the American Indian organization Honor the Earth's campaigns for the environment and fighting sexual violence. "We had to come back together to support these wonderful causes." For better or worse, then, perhaps this won't be a one-time thing.
CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER
Winning!
No surprise that guests for the Minneapolis Wizard World Comic Con include "Doctor Who" stars Peter Capaldi and Jenna Coleman, "Star Trek's" original Uhura Nichelle Nichols and Incredible Hulk Lou Ferrigno. But Charlie Sheen? The actor, whose off-screen behavior has been more spellbinding than his TV and film work of late, will sign autographs, pose for photos and participate in a Q&A during the May 5-7 event at the Minneapolis Convention Center. How does Sheen fit into a gathering that revolves around dressing up in costumes and celebrating sci-fi pop culture? Nothing on his résumé jumps out, but in a 2011 interview Sheen credited his "grand wizard master" for all those eyebrow-raising quotes.
NEAL JUSTIN
Guggenheimers
Two players on the Twin Cities theater scene — playwright Carson Kreitzer and choreographer/dancer Pramila Vasudevan — have won prestigious Guggenheim Fellowships. Kreitzer will use the $55,000 prize to finish her first musical, about Polish painter and art revolutionary Tamara de Lempicka. "I am completely overwhelmed," she said. "This allows me to put so much more of my time and consciousness into the work, not into how I am going to keep my head above water." Other winners included Minnesota-bred theater artist Aaron Landsman and three poets published by Minneapolis-based Graywolf: Claudia Rankine, Matthea Harvey and Jennifer Grotz.
ROHAN PRESTON
Loop coup
A North Loop office building is a 2017 American Architecture Awards winner. Located at 240 9th Av. N., the sleek four-story home of the marketing firm Fast Horse — notable for its checkerboard facade and exterior staircases — is the work of David Salmela's Duluth-based firm Salmela Architect. The 23rd annual program honors "exceptional buildings designed for every stage of our lives," and is conducted by the Chicago Athenaeum: Museum of Architecture and Design and the European Centre for Architecture Art Design and Urban Studies in Dublin. The 79 winners were culled from more than 300 international projects.
