Nora Ephron knows a lot of famous people, and they come up in her conversation. At her Talking Volumes show Wednesday in St. Paul, the essayist/novelist/screenwriter/director showed off her perfect comic timing and got in mentions of Meg Ryan, Rosie O'Donnell, Tom Hanks, Harold Pinter, Eleanor Roosevelt, Norman Mailer, Brian De Palma, Meryl Streep, Stanley Tucci, Mike Nichols, Larry King, Eliot Spitzer, Michele Bachmann and Al Franken. Franken "is a good friend of mine," Ephron said, "and I wish he were my senator." At his urging, she had breakfast at Hell's Kitchen in downtown Minneapolis and ordered the Mahnomin Porridge, a popular dish made with Minnesota wild rice, blueberries, cranberries, roasted hazelnuts, maple syrup and a splash of cream. "It's one of the best things I've ever eaten in my life," said Ephron. As the writer/director of "Julie & Julia," the girl knows a thing or two about food.
RICK NELSON/CLAUDE PECK
Cult status symbol Offering a glimmer of hope for struggling local bands -- and/or just enjoying the chance to gloat -- Cloud Cult frontman Craig Minowa told a little sweet-revenge story Wednesday night at First Avenue, his band's first time there with its own star painted outside the club. He recounted a night in 2003 when he and bandmate Scott West were there handing out CDs simply trying to get any gig. "The security staff eventually came around and escorted me out for harassing the staff too much," Minowa recalled. "Now, here we are with our own star on the wall and two full-capacity nights."
CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER
Artworks that really work Love it or hate it, Peavey Plaza outside Orchestra Hall is an iconic Minneapolis landscape. For New York designer M. Paul Friedberg, the 1975 project was a breakthrough that brought international attention and high-profile commissions. The 79-year-old designer was back this week, working with two of the firms competing to renovate the much-neglected plaza; the City Council is expected to pick a design team Friday. He didn't offer specific suggestions, but endorsed "art that works," like the popular interactive sculptures in Chicago's Millennium Park by Anish Kapoor and Jaume Plensa. Friedberg also seemed open to changes to his original Peavey design. "Lots of my friends are artists who work for something called 'posterity' and want their work to exist for history," he said. "I work for the moment and the populace, so when the population changes and ideas change, the place should, too."
MARY ABBE
Home for the holidays? Fans of Playboy model Kendra Wilkinson can stop holding their breath in hopes of the E! reality star moving her show to the Twin Cities. That was the rumor after Wilkinson's husband, wide receiver Hank Baskett, signed with the Vikings. Appearing on George Lopez's talk show Tuesday, Wilkinson said she wouldn't be moving to our frozen tundra. Lopez wasn't surprised and drew a laugh from the audience when he asked: "You don't want to go to Minnesota for the holidays, do you?" Wilkinson then surprised him, saying she wouldn't mind spending some quality time Up North. Her plans? "Ice skating," she said. We'll be camped out at the Depot ice rink starting tomorrow.
TOM HORGEN
