I’m sure that, the day after the Big Bang, someone looked over at the Supreme Being and said, “Great job, now what have you got for an encore?” So it may not say anything about Cars, Pixar’s latest foray into the bits-and-bytes world of computer animation, that I was unable to summon up quite the enthusiasm I did for Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Finding Nemo and The Incredibles. (A Bug’s Life and Monsters, Inc.? Eh.)
I’m sure that, the day after the Big Bang, someone looked over at the Supreme Being and said, “Great job, now what have you got for an encore?” So it may not say anything about Cars, Pixar’s latest foray into the bits-and-bytes world of computer animation, that I was unable to summon up quite the enthusiasm I did for Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Finding Nemo and The Incredibles. (A Bug’s Life and Monsters, Inc.? Eh.)
Fans of piano jazz know Evan Mook from his gigs tickling the 88’s around town. Mook, who toured with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra for two years, was a student of local Suzuki method teacher Kay Pitt. When Pitt decided not to take on more new students, Mook became the Suzuki instructor for piano in town. Although it’s unusual, he has dedicated himself as much to jazz as classical music. In fact, Mook has gradually spent more time teaching jazz music to advanced classical players and musicians with a rock background. Local rocker Brian Kingston, whose music has appeared on MTV, and also been written up internationally, has been studying jazz with Mook over the past year.
The thing about the popular local burritto restaurant Atomic Burrito is that there is often a band, always a crowd, and usually the crowd is as diverse as it gets. Part of the secret to Atomic’s success, according to bartender and music booker Josh Lowry, is that the staff really loves music. Typically, the bartenders will make the call on which band plays the bar on the nights that they work, and the resulting live shows cover everything from country to hip-hop to garage rock. Lowry, who heads The Hillbilly Werewolf and Bucks and Gallants (recently recorded at Monkeyclaus), gave me some of his personal favorites, live
and otherwise.
The Break-Up (PG-13, 106 minutes) Peyton Reed’s “anti-romantic comedy” about a mismatched couple (Vince Vaughn and Jennifer Aniston) is often funny, sometimes uncomfortably so.
Local artists and writers have paired up at the Second Street Gallery to “speak” about loveâand the results are as diverse as the emotional responses to love itself.
As the music business continues to inch toward the digital age, both on-line promotion and music downloading seem as inevitable as pizza delivery. Of course, with digital downloading (just like home-delivered pizza), what you lose in sonic quality is reimbursed in convenience.
April Johnson-Bynes was considering med school, but when she won the school talent show in fourth grade as a singer, she began to think, “Well, maybe I can do this.”
A Prairie Home Companion PG-13, 105 minutesOpens Friday at Vinegar Hill Theatre Minnesotans don’t like to draw attention to themselves, and the man who’s been pointing that out for over 30 years—drawing oodles of attention to both him and them in the process—plays the emcee in A Prairie Home Companion, Robert Altman’s cockeyed salute […]
Red Stick Ramblers mine the musical history of Louisianaâblues, zydeco, bluegrass and Cajunâand mix it up with traditional ’20s and ’30s jazz as they tour for their fourth album, Right Key, Wrong Keyhole. This young quintet has très strong instrumental and songwriting chops-heir tight Western swing will have you saying, “Laissez les bon temps roulez!” Jolie Fille opens. At Gravity Lounge, Tuesday, June 13. $10, 8pm.
The Break-Up (PG-13, 106 minutes) Reviewed in this issue. Playing at Regal Downtown Mall 6 Cars (G, 116 minutes) Now that Pixar and Disney are playing nice, the never-miss computer animation firm revs up the engine on its latest family outing. We’ve got a cocky stock car (voiced by Owen Wilson) who gets sidetracked on […]