West news briefs: Poetry Month salute is April 17

The west metro Poetry Club, based in St. Louis Park and Edina, will celebrate National Poetry Month on April 17 with Minnesota poets Joyce Sutphen, John Rezmerski, John Caddy and David Brink.

Sutphen was named Minnesota's Poet Laureate in 2011 and Caddy was honored by the McKnight Foundation last year with its Distinguished Artist Award.

The four poets will read from their work, discuss poetry and answer questions. Light refreshments will be served.

The event is free and will run from 10 a.m. to noon at the Edina Senior Center, 5280 Grandview Square. For more information, call Sue Weigle at 952-833-9570.

City of St. Paul Poet Laureate Carol Connolly and Cass Dalglish, an English professor at Augsburg College, will read from their poetry in honor of National Poetry Month next Tuesday from 7 to 8:30 p.m.

The event will be in the Fireside Room at the lower library level of the Edina Senior Center. Books will be available for signing and purchase.

The event is sponsored by Friends of the Edina Library, the Edina Community Foundation, the Edina Senior Center, Friends of the Hennepin County Library, Edina High School, Edina Community Education and the Edina Resource Center.

It's been there since 2008 and was recently expanded. Go to the city's Facebook page at www.facebook.com/cityofedenprairie to vote for one of three names: Prairie Play Zone, Prairie Fly Zone or Prairie Landing. The name with the most votes wins and will be unveiled at its five-year anniversary May 11. Go to www.edenprairie.org/playstructure for more details.

Allina Health, the city of Bloomington and the Minnesota Brain Injury Alliance will pre­sent a free seminar on preventing brain injury and concussions.

The event, scheduled for May 4, includes concussion testing for people ages 10 and up, information about concussions and education for coaches that meets continuing education requirements.

A sports and health resource fair and a special presentation by former Gophers tight end and professional football player Ben Utecht also will be featured.

The seminar runs from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Bloomington Civic Plaza, 1800 W. Old Shakopee Road. Registration is required for concussion testing because space is limited.

Thousands of books, including children's and adult fiction and nonfiction, will be on sale at the Friends of the Excelsior Library book sale from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on April 13.

Most items in the sale, which includes other media, will be priced at $1 or less. Customers using book scanners must pay a $5 fee.

The sale is at Mount Calvary Lutheran Church, 301 County Road 19 in Excelsior. Donations will be accepted at the Excelsior Library until April 11 during open hours. No textbooks, magazines or phonograph records will be accepted.

Our Savior Lutheran Church and School will host a free session for parents on addressing Internet access, screen time and cellphone use and the impact it has on their children.

The session, "Taming the technology monster in your home," will take place from 9:30-11:30 a.m. April 12 at the church, 23290 Hwy. 7, Excelsior.

For more information, go to www.oslcs.org.

Grammy Award-winning saxophonist Eric Marienthal will appear with the JazzMN Orchestra for a concert at the Hopkins High School Performing Arts Center at 7:30 p.m. on April 27.

Marienthal is featured in Gordon Goodwin's Big Phat Band, and he has recorded with artists such as Elton John, B.B. King, Barbra Streisand, Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder, Patti Austin, David Lee Roth and Ramsey Lewis.

Tickets are $29 on the main floor, $27 in the balcony and $17 for students in advance. Student rush tickets at the door are $10; other tickets at the door are $33 for the main floor and $29 for the balcony.

They are available at www.jazzmn.org or by calling 866-811-4111. The Hopkins High School Performing Arts Center is located at 2400 Lindbergh Drive in Minnetonka.

The bins cost $55 and the rain barrels cost $69 — half the retail cost. Go to www.recycleminne sota.org to place an order. They can be picked up from 3-6 p.m. on May 10 at the Plymouth Maintenance Facility, 14900 23rd Av. N., Plymouth.

The St. Louis Park Senior Program Men's Group is sponsoring "Election Day — A Look Back at 2012 and a Look to the Future" from 9-10 a.m. Tuesday, April 16.

Election expert Doug Chapin of the University of Minnesota's Humphrey School will discuss last fall's election and look ahead to how voting will evolve in the next few years.

The program is open to all at the Lenox Community Center, 6715 Minnetonka Blvd. in St. Louis Park. For more information, call 952-928-6444.

The Metropolitan Ballet will present "The Sleeping Beauty" at 1 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday and at 3 p.m. Sunday at Hopkins High School, 2400 Lindbergh Drive in Minnetonka.

West metro cities are among 22 Hennepin County communities that are competing for trophies in the fifth annual "Step to It" exercise challenge.

Residents of Excelsior, Golden Valley, Hopkins, Maple Grove, Minnetonka, Minnetonka Beach, Orono, Osseo, Plymouth, Richfield, Robbinsdale, Shorewood and St. Louis Park will be competing.

Registration is open now for the May competition, in which participants track their physical activity online for a month to try to win the Most Active Community award.

The friendly competition is intended to get people moving and raise awareness of the health benefits of an active lifestyle. For more information and to register, go to www.steptoit.org/StepToitStatic/Home.html.

"Rock 4 Real," billed as an "authentic rock 'n' roll experience for adults," will be offered from April 10-May 12 at the MacPhail Center for Music in Minneapolis.

Participants will be placed in bands on the first day of the workshop, and each band will receive direction and coaching from Arturi and Mahoney in preparation for a live performance at the Nomad World Pub on May 12. Peterik will give a class on songwriting and live performance and also will work with all the bands during dress rehearsal. He also will be present for the final performances.

Register at www.macphail.org/offerings/adults/classes or by calling MacPhail at 612-321-0100.

Registration is open until April 17 for a knowledge bowl fundraiser organized by Chaska High School senior Mark Meier to benefit his friend Tommy Costello, who has been battling cancer for the last year.

The event will take place from 8:30 a.m.-2:30 p.m. May 4 at Chaska High School. Students or adults interested in forming teams of five to compete in the knowledge bowl can e-mail Mark at marqueis.tennis.14@gmail.com to register before April 17. It costs $10 per person to register for teams of up to five people.