The Wake

With summer come tank tops, shorts and sandals. The streets we’ve avoided all winter in exchange for force-heated buildings are now in high demand. Not far from campus, at St. Anthony Main, a little restaurant by the name of Pracna on Main is tucked away.Pracna’s scenery is one of its biggest selling points. Its front faces the Mississippi, showing off downtown’s skyline in the distant. A walking trail passes by, giving the area a park feel. The cobble stoned Main Street, the oldest street in Minneapolis, takes its visitors back to another time.This is all great, but even better when you’re sitting in front row seats: Pracna’s patio.Who doesn’t like to sip on a beer—Pracna has 20 different ones on tap—while unwinding in the sunlight, surrounded by urban wildlife? It’s not a bad place to …

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Spring time calls for new things to appear, and this is certainly the case for the Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition, “Refresh,” now at the Katherine E. Nash Gallery in the Regis Center for Art. “Refresh” features the art work of Master’s students David Bowen, Kristina Estell, Allen Peterson, Gregory Rose, Emmet Sandberg, Scott Stulen, Trever Nicholas and Liz Zlot. The show is innovative and imaginative showcasing the work of budding artists. The exhibit includes a variety of mediums and styles, creating a postmodern experience. The craftsmanship is excellent, as are the conceptual themes represented by each artist. Upon entering the gallery, one is confronted with Allen Peterson’s cobble stone-like cast iron sidewalk entitled “Terrain.” Moving across “Terrain” (you may walk on it), one finds the eight imaginative and clever pieces by Scott Stulen. …

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Huddling with the cast of The Rocky Horror Show around take-out food and lip shaped Rice-Krispy bars, I slowly realize I’m not quite prepared for what the evening holds. But I should have known better, considering the subject at hand is one of the most successful cult classics of all time. The Rocky Horror Show is a show like no other: first a play by Richard O’Brien and then a movie – this show is more than a night out on the town. One of the major things that set Rocky apart from other theatrical productions is the fact that participation is nearly mandatory to fully enjoy this cult classic. Yes, I said participation. Calling out whatever comes to mind in response to the action onstage (which I assure you, warrants a response) is welcomed …

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With just two tracks at around 28-minutes in length, Black Dice have created yet another release stimulating on both a musical and intellectual level. Continuing the broad themes that 2002’s Beaches and Canyons explored, Miles of Smiles shows Black Dice adding elements of musique-concrete and minimalism into their already intricate electronic-tinged music. The EP begins with the non-metrical title-track, a 13-minute composition that relies heavily on the stark contrast between a smooth, brooding sound and a dry percussive sound, showing its ultimate reliance on differing sound colors for its effectiveness. The second track, “Trip Dude Delay,” also contains this tension between polar sound colors, but is much closer to the atmospheric sounds of Beaches and Canyons. The track then is more like a vestigial remain than an indicator of what their upcoming full-length might sound …

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It is human nature to define. We love to neatly place and categorize the world around us. This disposition naturally influences our movies, food and CD collections. I have found a new sub-division within Indie Rock, which I have deemed Whimsical Rock I first thought of this branch of music when I was given a Broken Social Scene CD. It seemed different then anything I had ever heard. It used sound to its utmost emotional ability. After that, I began seeking out other bands that sounded like this. I unearthed an entire assemblage of melodically-driven groups that had been buried in the pile of worn-out New Wave and ‘70s Revival bands. These bands were worthy of a name of their own and Whimsical Rock flashed in my head. Whimsical Rock could be defined as rock-based, …

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In the Quest’s main room, platoons of pre-teens are waging a pop-punk war on sadness. But backstage, the mood is decidedly calm.In a small and dingy dressing room, Motion City Soundtrack are awaiting their turn to go onstage. Flanked by empty pizza boxes, bottles of Newcastle and the nuclear-bomb-blast beats of the opening band, the guys in M.C.S. shuffle around, darting in and out of the stage doors like waiters in a cramped downtown-diner. It’s a scene of sustained chaotic calm. Jesse Johnson, keyboardist for the Minneapolis quintet, is quietly patching up his Moog-synthesizer with neon-green electrical tape. Bassist Matt Taylor is greeting various people backstage; only handshakes here though: the noise of the nearby stage drowns out virtually everything else. The atmosphere backstage permeates with anxious anticipation. The band has seen the crowd, and …

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Recently I had the opportunity to speak with Neil Kernon. For those not aware of Neil’s work, he is one of the most talented producers around. In the seventies he worked with jazz fusion bands such as Brand X. In the ‘80s he worked with a wide range of artists, including Dokken, Hall & Oates, Queensrÿche and Kansas. At this point in time Neil produces a great deal of extreme metal, such as Cannibal Corpse, Macabre and Skinless. His productions have been nominated for several Grammy’s and has produced a Grammy winner. Do any particular moments stand out as your proudest as a producer?
I don’t know if I have any really. I never really set out to be a producer. I just wanted to be involved in music. I kind of gravitated to this …

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Liege Lord is a band that is sadly unknown to many metalheads. Their music is of the traditional American power metal variety, meaning it is more aggressive and thrashier than the ridiculously happy European brand of the genre. On Master Control, Paul Nelson truly shows himself as a virtuoso guitar player, boasting his speed, heaviness, and intricacy. Joe Comeau’s vocals are marvelous. They remind me a great deal of Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden) mixed with a little bit of Lizzy Borden and Queensrÿche’s Geoff Tate. It has a commanding and masculine power, but is also of the soaring variety. There is a very memorable cover of Rainbow’s “Kill the King,” and the band truly shows their skill here. They own the song on this performance, and by matching Ritchie Blackmore’s playing, Nelson and Tony Truglio …

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Depending on what television networks you watch, what programs pique your interest and what time of day you tune in, you have likely seen vastly different advertisements for The Girl Next Door. Pushed back a month from its original release date, I have watched in amazement as three completely different films have been marketed under this title. The first is a light-hearted film about being a teenager and learning about oneself; the second, a movie about a shy teenager breaking out of his shell thanks to his friends and their wacky adventures; and the third, an all-out frat party, a la American Pie, where sexually-frustrated teenage boys get in trouble with easy women, and nothing is taboo. Three different marketing strategies for the same film, and all of them correct. I am still not sure …

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When it comes to film, women in rock and roll just can’t seem to catch a break. More often than not, females in rock movies are shoved aside into the roles of doting girlfriends or groupies (Almost Famous and That Thing You Do). The notion of an all-girl band being film material doesn’t seem too radical, yet it’s only been successfully carried out in a few ‘80s teen flicks banished to late night play on cable TV, such as the well done but rarely seen Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains.But in the just released on DVD Prey for Rock and Roll, Gina Gershon’s Jacki is no teen, instead is just days away from her 40th birthday. As the front woman for the all-girl group the Dandy Clams, Jacki is the stereotypical bad girl, covered …

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In the University of Minnesota’s metal sculpting foundry, students and faculty take busted-up radiators, rusty cast-off hardware, and failed art projects, and heat them to more than fifteen hundred degrees Celsius until they are bright red and as runny as milk. Under the watchful eye of professor and renowned metal sculptor Wayne Potratz, molten scrap flows into sand molds and becomes fine art. Only when heat forces iron out of its cool, stable state can it transform. But for graduate student Allen Peterson, the catalyst for transformation was three years in the cold.In order for the emerging artist to become a master of his medium, Peterson left his warm home state of Alabama for Minnesota. He grew up in Birmingham, a city forged by the iron and steel industries, and Birmingham is where he earned …

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Considering the majority of actors are female, it’s perplexing that so few women-written, women-performed plays actually make it to the stage. Now, in honor of women’s history month, locally-based Theatre Limina is putting on Parallel Lives. Written by comedians Mo Gaffney and Kathy Najimy, the play was originally part of the duo’s Kathy and Mo Show. Using the same skit style of comedy used in Saturday Night Live, the play boldly addresses issues surrounding being female in our society. Although the play encompasses multiple characters and multiple perspectives, only two actors make up the cast. Sarah Cantleberry, one of the theater company’s founding members, and Mia Dodson take on the arduous task of performing the play. Debbins notes that one of the defining qualities of the newly emerging company is its willingness to take on …

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What if your worst memories could be erased, the moments when you felt the most pain, humiliation or guilt? Is your brain working now, filtering through all the bad moments you wish you could zap first? For me, that bad memory exists in a dimly-lit hallway, outside a locked door; the end of a five-year relationship. What is it for you: a fallout with a lover, friend, a death or a goodbye? But there’s a catch: along with that bad memory will go its good counterparts. The pain that person caused will be absent but so will the happiness that person brought to your life. A complete erase, reset and restart. This is the central theme of director Michel Gondry (Human Nature) and screenwriter Charlie Kaufman’s (Adaptation) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, a dizzying …

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Ahhh! There’s nothing quite like that first cup of coffee to start the day. And with my beautiful, and insulated The Passion of the Christ™? coffee mug, I can remind myself as well as others around me the sacrifice that Jesus made for mankind…now if I could only figure out why people fiercely avoid me in the workplace? We’ve all heard about the merchandise tied with Mel Gibson’s film, and as absurd as the very notion – why not? The Passion is on track to well surpass the $300 million mark on its fifth weekend in the US. And, I guess merchandise such as mugs with crucifixes and nail jewelry are a little subtler than something like Burger King’s The Passion Kid’s Club Meal (includes a Jesus action figure – with battle damage!) But unlike …

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When Dave Grohl released Probot, I decided to put away my prejudice against him for his more well-known (not to mention overrated, lacking talent, etc) bands. Grohl has quite simply made an amazing metal album with the help of some of the genre’s most talented and under recognized voices. Featured here are Cronos (Venom), Max Cavalera (Sepultura), Lemmy Kilmister (Motorhead), Mike Dean (Corrosion of Conformity), Kurt Brecht (D.R.I.), Lee Dorian (Cathedral/Napalm Death), Wino (The Obsessed), Tom G. Warrior (Celtic Frost), Snake (Voivod), Eric Wagner (Trouble) and King Diamond (Mercyful Fate). Grohl is responsible for almost all of the instrumentation, although there is occasional assistance. The music on each song does reflect the vocalist, as each vocalist co-wrote their song. However, Probot does not sound like a mish-mash of disparate artists, but, instead, sounds coherent and …

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