Item World: P.O.S. gets a radio show, Garrison Keillor sponsors poetry contest, more

We here at Item World are suckers for a photo of a dog wearing a Twins Homer Hanky. Especially a World Series hanky. Especially a dog in El Lay. Especially a dog named Henry Harmon Muir. (That's for Henry Aaron and Harmon Killebrew.) The dog's owner, Erin Muir, figured that people couldn't resist a photo of her dog and that's why she's using her 2-year-old rescue pup to try to help win votes in the Vee Wall vocals competition. Muir, who grew up in Sauk Rapids, Minn., and performed with Le Cirque Rouge in the Twin Cities before moving to Los Angeles in 2006, is hoping to win the $100,000 first prize in a singing contest sponsored by veewall.com, a new video site. "The first week I didn't promote myself and I was No. 30," Muir told I.W. "I thought: 'What happens if I promote myself?' I got to No. 7. If I win, I'll use the money to record an album and give it away free to say 'thank you.' " Muir, who fancies herself a pop-classical crossover singer like a female Josh Groban, has also made fun videos with Henry singing Andrea Bocelli. You can vote for Henry's mom, through April 30, at http://www.veewall.com/vocals/video/erinmuir.

Jon Bream

While P.O.S. is still sorting through options regarding his troubled kidney, the Twin Cities hip-hop star will be part of a programming transplant at 89.3 the Current. He will host a new show at the MPR station on Saturday nights at 11 p.m., playfully dubbed "P.O.S. Is Ruining the Current." (The title is a nod to his Current-spun song "P.O.S. Is Ruining My Life.") His program will replace the hip-hop show "Redefinition Radio," whose host, Kevin Beacham, will launch a program on Wednesdays at 11 p.m. called "H2 on the Current" and co-hosted by the behind-the-scenes boss at Rhymesayers Entertainment, Siddiq. If you're keeping score, these two moves triple the number of African-American personalities on air at the public radio outlet.

Chris Riemenschneider

What a brave and wonderful move, opening up a contest to unpublished poets. Brave because — well, we know how many people secretly write poetry. And wonderful because — well, there just aren't enough venues for poets. But here come Common Good Books and Garrison Keillor with the first annual Common Good Amateur Love Poem Contest. ("Amateur" meaning you cannot have published a book of poetry.) Submit your poem (limit of 14 lines, or 200 words) by e-mail to info@commongoodbooks.com. Poems should focus on love or praise.The finalists will be announced April 1, and Common Good customers will vote. Keillor will announce the winner April 21 at a big Poetry Month event at Macalester College. "You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll rhyme," says the press release, and we can only imagine.

Laurie Hertzel

Only a year and a half after Florida-bred rapper Astronautalis began calling Minneapolis his new hometown, a fire damaged his duplex in January. While his losses were minimal, his roommates — including rappers La Manchita and Spyder Baybie Raw Dog, and Vicki Seymour — weren't so fortunate. This weekend, they're throwing a benefit at recording studio/party space Sound Gallery. Cheekily titled "Burning Down the House," the night will feature performances by Doomtree's Mike Mictlan, Spyder Baybie, the Chalice's Claire de Lune and Gayngs' Katy Morley, Fort Wilson Riot, Me And My Arrow and "super special surprise guests," plus DJ sets from Get Cryphy's Last Word and Doomtree's Ander Other. (10:30 p.m. Fri. $10. 414 3rd Av. N, third floor, Mpls.)

JAHNA PELOQUIN

Drummer Bobby Commodore will celebrate his 60th birthday with family Friday night at the Dakota. He will perform with the GCQ, his wife Ginger Commodore's backup quintet. And the late set will feature their talented kids Brandon Commodore (drums) and Ashley Commodore (vocals) in a funk band, the BoomBox. The GCQ's last scheduled gig got displaced by Prince's run of shows at the Dakota, so "you can expect a Prince cover tune at my party," Commodore told I.W. For a fellow who's kept a day job with the Minnesota Department of Commerce, Commodore has been a big presence on the local music scene, having played with Sounds of Blackness, Moore by Four and the Steeles and served as production worker or sound engineer for the Twin Cities Jazz Festival, Famous Dave's Blues Festival and the Dakota. "Most days, I don't feel old. Except in the mornings when I try to get out of bed and my body doesn't want to work," Commodore said with a laugh. "Or when I'm out at a club looking at all the young people in the audience. Hopefully, the music will help me stay young."

TOM SUROWICZ

Skewed Visions, the small Minneapolis theater group that puts on original work in novel sites, including street corners, an office building and a car, is trying out a new fundraising tactic to expand its programming— an annual membership fee of $35. "We only do a full-scale performance once a year, so we can't rely on season subscriptions like most theaters," said founder Charles Campbell. "But we'd have lots of other things going on every month." Some of those things are already happening, like "How Dare You," for which an outing to a particular arts event is followed by a discussion at a restaurant or bar. Among some new offerings being planned is "Zombie Killers," which Campbell calls "crowd-sourced arts criticism" involving artists critiquing a play or concert or gallery exhibit and recording the conversation. Find out more on the Skewed Visions Facebook page.

Kristin Tillotson