Item World: Nye's Polka Band, Robert Robinson's reduction, Nick Lowe honors Ian McLagan, Soo to move, more

This festive time of year is also the time when newspapers, magazines, radio stations, the interweb and people everywhere go a little nuts naming the best books of the year. Whatever the list, there are a few Minnesota names you're going to see over and over and over. Marlon James. Graywolf Press. Coffee House Press. James' novel "A Brief History of Seven Killings" has made the best-of lists of the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, Time magazine and Huffington Post. Graywolf is all over all these lists, too, with Eula Biss' "On Immunity," Claudia Rankine's "Citizen: An American Lyric" (also a National Book Award finalist), Jeffery Allen's "Song of the Shank," Vikram Chandra's "Geek Sublime," and Leslie Jamison's graceful and thoughtful essay collection, "The Empathy Exams." Jamison's book, a surprise bestseller, is showing up everywhere (including on the Star Tribune's notable nonfiction of 2014, the list every author wants to be on). It's also on best-of lists of the New York Times, Huffington Post, Chicago Tribune and National Public Radio. And then there's Coffee House Press, and its much-honored novel, "A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing," by Eimear McBride. That book transcends borders: It's not just on the lists for NPR, the Times and HuffPo (and the Star Tribune), but also the Toronto Globe & Mail and the Edinburgh (Scotland) Herald. Go, flyover country, go!

LAURIE HERTZEL

"Please know that until they lock the doors, we remain loyal to Nye's." So declared the members of the World's Most Dangerous Polka Band in a note on their Facebook page, following the widely decried news this week that northeast Minneapolis' famed supper club Nye's Polonaise Room will close next year and be replaced by a mixed-use high rise. Part of the bar's weekend music lineup for four decades, the polka vets carried on after the death of leader Ruth Adams in 2011, and they intend to keep playing once Nye's is gone, too (start the bidding now, other bar owners). However, the end is not imminent: They say they intend to keep playing there through next summer. Here's hoping the other weekly Nye's gigs continue, too, including St. Dominic's Trio on Tuesdays and the New Primitives on Thursdays.

CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER

After playing two songs at First Avenue on Wednesday, Nick Lowe addressed what was on the minds of many music lovers: the sudden death that afternoon of Ian McLagan, the Rock Hall of Fame keyboardist who was to have been Lowe's opening act. In a graceful little speech, he acknowledged the usual challenges of the first night of a tour and thanked local harmonizers the Cactus Blossoms for filling in on short notice. (Forgive him for calling them the "Cactus Flowers.") Then Lowe talked about having "an extra burden." The former Faces piano man was "our friend and hero," he said. "To say we're reeling backstage is an understatement. But the show must go on. No one knew it better than Mac," a man who believed in the power of music and was renowned for cheering people up. "Mac, are you listening?" Lowe asked, his eyes gazing skyward. "I need your help."

Jon Bream

For months, board chair Gordon Sprenger has used the meme that "it takes a village" to rebuild the Minnesota Orchestra. He repeated the mantra at Tuesday's upbeat annual meeting – the first since the orchestra's bitter labor dispute was settled last January — and thanked musicians, audiences, activists, board members and staff. However, in his remarks from the podium, new president Kevin Smith suggested Sprenger change his tune. "It takes an entire major metropolitan area" to rally, Smith said. Fine, said Sprenger, "You can tell Hillary Clinton that."

Graydon Royce

Minnesota vocalist extraordinaire Robert Robinson was in fine voice and spirits Sunday at the Dakota. He sang soaring versions of "Wind Beneath My Wings" and "You Light Up My Life" and got lost in the funky glory of Al Green's "Going Away" and Gladys Knight's "Somehow He Loves Me." He even updated "If I Had a Hammer" with the ad-libbed "this hammer of justice needs to make it down to Ferguson." But the talkative and playful Robinson knew what inquiring minds wanted to know. "I've lost 194 pounds," he announced, explaining he still has bad knees that require him to use a walker. "I lost a human and I don't want him back."

Jon Bream

Come next April, Soo Visual Arts Center will decamp from its longtime home at 2638 Lyndale Av. S. and move to new quarters at 2909 Bryant Av. S., adjacent to the Minneapolis Greenway. The new spot will roughly double the center's size. The exhibition space will be more flexible than the current C-shaped gallery, which wraps awkwardly around the group's offices. It will also have new eco-friendly lighting, space for community meetings, and room to house SooLocal, the center's off-site programs. A true grass-roots operation, Soo has been quietly raising money for the past two years and is already more than halfway to its $200,000 goal. Of course, more dough is always welcome.

Mary Abbe