The Wake

I can’t imagine how many reviews of Cat Power’s new CD use the title as the heart of their arguments, so please excuse me if it has been done before. Cat Power has at last, after over ten years of recording, found its forte in the aptly titled The Greatest, their most comfortable CD to date.The confidence and pure soul of this album leads me to believe that the Chan Marshall who offered up nauseatingly nervous live performances was a farce. The woman who turned her back to the audience in order to force a note past her shaking vocal …

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Clocking in at 35 minutes, The Plastic Constellations’ Crusades is a ten-song disc with a single mindset. Complex guitar riffs, capricious song structures and the occasional hook cause the listener to drift through the CD, almost without noticing when one song ends and the next begins. The only problem: They all start to sound the same after about 15 minutes. A local success story, the Plastic Constellations have been playing and recording together since high school. They garnered national recognition with their second release, 2004’s Mazatlan. In their music, fast guitars meet unintelligible lyrics in a way that’s not quite …

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The undulating waters and serene sand-scape provide a breathtaking backdrop for this poetic tribute to the maxi-pad.“Beach Towels” by Paul McCartney - $3,000
Oh, don’t worry, Ringo, it’s really simple. Just click on that little icon there and drag it to the trash. Now let’s never speak of this again.“Help” by Ringo Starr - $2,000, on SALE for $1,650
Pretty much my favorite band…bred for their skills in magic.“Generations” by John Entwistle - $950

I love movies. That’s why I truly enjoy writing about them. Yes, there are many bad movies out there, but part of what I love is that every once in a while, a film so utterly astounding comes along that it lets me forget the rest of the crap released by Hollywood and reinvigorates my love of movies as both entertainment and art. Right now that film is The Constant Gardner.The story centers on Justin Quayle (Ralph Fiennes) and his relationship with a woman named Tessa (Rachel Weisz). It also involves countless deaths in Africa, pharmaceutical companies and government cover-ups. …

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The Katherine E. Nash Gallery, located in the Regis Center for Art on the West Bank, is currently home to an exhibition titled “Cities” that includes 2D and 3D work from several different artists. These works range from the standard black and white photography of skylines and bridges to miniature clay renderings of Babylon and even a few paintings of Fargo, N.D. A long table near the entrance holds perhaps a hundred white stoneware dishes, cups and bowls. Tetsuya Yamada’s display of housewares seems too domestic for the exhibition, but at a closer glance reveals itself to be an Ikea-inspired …

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Books and beer have never gone well together. I once tried to drink a few margaritas and study with my roommate on a Saturday night. As one drink led to five, thoughts of my homework floated blissfully away on a stratus of sobriety, and I ended up at a party with a keg cup in hand. Case and point: drinking and studying have never been a good combo, but there is a bar that is trying to break those rules—sort of. The Library has returned to Dinkytown with borders of books and kegs of beer living in harmony.The Library opened …

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Wade Oden, front man of Minneapolis’ versatile Space Station Alpha, leads his band with an infectious, fluttering energy. The minstrel-like singer was exactly as you would expect him to be at the band’s CD release party on Jan 20 at the Varsity Theater.“We’re just so blessed to share this music with you and to be here,” Oden beamed, all excited smiles and gracious thanks for the attentive audience that gathered to hear selections off Flora, Space Station Alpha’s latest album. The occasion, shared with performers Martha Berner and Jenny Dalton, is just the beginning to what Oden anticipates as a …

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Let me make one thing clear about Kung Fu High School: It’s not one of those traditional coming-of-age stories about, say, an asthmatic kid who gets picked on at school and starts practicing martial arts to prove that he’s just as good as the next kid. No, that would be Sidekicks starring Chuck Norris. Kung Fu High School, by Ryan Gattis, is structured in much the same way as most martial arts movies are with 45 minutes of exposition in the first half, 45 minutes of climactic high-action fight scenes in the second half.Imagine, if you will, a …

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(Somewhere in the middle of it all)On the wind docks we sat
alone – so solitary for a we.
You shivered and said you
were uncomfortable, but
I wanted to feel the wind caress
a little longer.I did not know that the wind
was the villain
these past couple years.
It took me until now to realize
just how far it carried
me.I belong to the parachute people –
they call me to duty.
I wage war on the wind docks
(The wind always seems to take me,
however.)Now I fly above the willow forests
seeking news …

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The white chapel was there
still buzzing with
the energy of yesterday.
Ivory innocence
of sparkling eyes
hot blushed surround in lace
sticking like spider webs to
simple whitewashed boards.
Trodden grass, rice, and sparrows lead to
one steeple embedded in green
interwoven hills.And then came the music
wholesome grade A cream.
Thick, milky, and soulful
crying out for more,resonating with laughing people
and rustling programs
waiting for the bride.There she is, step by step
floating through the orchard
under blue sky filled with red apples
slowly, honey weathered wood opens
to reveal her coming
through dappled light…

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On one side of an impassive avenue tall industry silos flower service roads
and lots filled with gravel, creeping vine, and light green weeds that
split into bunches of three seriated leaves clasping rust colored buds.
Between this avenue and a long river terminating in an enormous gulf many
latitudes away he observes a spacious dichromatic tableland. The river runs
a somnolent pace a dim blue color occasionally muddy. The ovate plateau
level with the avenue is a few comfortable stories above the river. In
defiance of what would be a weeded and bushy elm tree hazed ravine the
inhabitants …

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Students walking through the “Knoll” area of campus last year noticed the construction being done to the area, particularly on Jones and Nicholson Halls. The projects are part of the developing humanities district in this historic part of campus. On Jan. 27, the university held a special open house in celebration of the reopening of Nicholson Hall, which has been open for classes since the start of spring semester.Nicholson Hall, which is on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Old Campus Historic District, was built in 1890 by architect Leroy Buffington, who also worked on Eddy, …

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Forty or so avid student skiers and snowboarders gathered and toted pizza, pop, and stories of their most recent trip to Copper Mountain, Colo. punctuated with exclamations like “That jump was fuckin’ awesome!” or “That slope had some of the sickest turns ever!” The University of Minnesota Ski and Snowboard Club meeting had commenced.The Ski and Snowboard Club (SSC), one of the largest student groups at the university according to club co-president David Dellanave, is, as you might expect, “a social organization that promotes skiing and snowboarding.”Dellanave makes it clear that if one’s interest lies in tackling high-flying and dizzying …

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This year’s Pro-Alumni baseball game was played Saturday at the Metrodome. The game, in its 15th year, has featured two Hall of Famers, a combined 26 All-Star appearances and numerous other major league players throughout its history.Year after year, Gopher alumni at the pro level have returned to the Metrodome to face off against the current Gopher squads. Rob Fornasiere, an assistant coach with the Gophers since 1992, said it all began when head coach John Anderson and he were looking for ways to reconnect with Gopher alumni.“There’s a long tradition of baseball here at the university,” Fornasiere said. “And …

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The U.S. Women’s Olympic Hockey Team is Golden. Not because they are a hockey powerhouse searching for a second gold medal in the past three Winter Olympics, or because they defeated Canada for their first gold medal in the 2005 World Women’s Hockey Championship. They are Golden because five players representing the U.S. in Torino, Italy are past or present Golden Gophers, showing once again that the U is a hotbed for women’s hockey. Krissy Wendell, Natalie Darwitz, Courtney Kennedy, Kelly Stephens and Lyndsay Wall—all National Champions with the Maroon and Gold—now patriotically wear the Red, White and Blue in …

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