Master bread baker and poet Klecko: ‘Nobody’s imagination is as interesting as my life’In January 2018, St. Agnes Bakery, a 30-year-old wholesale bakery in St. Paul, was looking at its best year ever. Not only did St. Agnes supply restaurants and groceries in the Twin Cities, it also made buns for vendors at U.S. Bank Stadium, which… Sep 09 21September 09, 2021Article at MinnPost
Once they lived the jazz life in NYC; now they call Minnesota homeJC Sanford and Asuka Kakitani spent more than a decade living the jazz life in New York City, the jazz capital of the world. Sanford was an in-demand trombonist, composer and conductor who led several cutting-edge big bands including the… Aug 27 21August 27, 2021Article at Star Tribune
Jazzman Steve Kenny: ‘The pandemic did not destroy me. It made me stronger.’On Saturday night at a café in Lowertown, Steve Kenny will stand before a crowd and proclaim, his voice rising, “Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Saturday Night Jazz at the Black Dog!” The last time he said those words was March 14, 2020, 72 weeks… Jul 30 21July 30, 2021Article at MinnPost
Kevin Cannon on creating the State Fair’s commemorative art for 2020 – and 2021In late spring 2019, Minneapolis-based cartoonist and illustrator Kevin Cannon learned that he had been chosen as the Minnesota State Fair’s commemorative artist for 2020. “It’s a huge deal,” he told MinnPost yesterday by phone. “It sounds… Jul 22 21July 22, 2021Article at MinnPost
The M makes a major acquisition: the MPLSART 2020 sketchbooksBack in March, we spoke with Blaine Garrett of MPLSART.COM, a Twin Cities-centric visual arts website, events calendar and newsletter, about a project he was working on. In July 2020, with a global pandemic raging and the nation reeling from the… Jul 01 21July 01, 2021Article at MinnPost
Minnesota Orchestra Music Director Osmo Vänskä: ‘It’s going to be emotional’On March 13, 2020, when COVID-19 was closing in and the Minnesota Orchestra played a now-historic concert to an empty Orchestra Hall, Music Director Osmo Vänskä was not on the podium. He was on his way home from Europe. Some people, maybe a lot of… Jun 11 21June 11, 2021Article at MinnPost
A play becomes a graphic novel; Broadway @ the Ordway returnsGraphic novels have been adapted for TV series (“Watchmen”), movies (“Persepolis”) and theater (“Fun Home”). It’s rare to go the other way, from TV, movie or musical/play to graphic novel. But why? Especially for plays. Reading a graphic novel is… Jun 10 21June 10, 2021Article at MinnPost
Poet Michael Kleber-Diggs: ‘I want to be understood by as many people as possible’In “Every Mourning,” the poem that follows this interview, Michael Kleber-Diggs writes, “Dear friends, I am the nicest man on earth.” The poem is about Kleber-Diggs, a Black man, encountering a white woman in his middle-class St. Paul neighborhood… Jun 04 21June 04, 2021Article at MinnPost
Schubert Club announces 2021-22 season of live and in-person concertsThe Schubert Club’s announcement of its 139th season reads like it’s from the Before Times. There’s no mention of COVID-19 or streaming. The only nod to the pandemic is in the subscription information, which notes that “Single ticket availability… May 26 21May 26, 2021Article at MinnPost
Clara Osowski: ‘Singing to 20 people and 50 birds made a difference’Before March 2020, mezzo-soprano Clara Osowski was doing just fine. The North Dakota-born, Minneapolis-based artist had won important prizes in Germany, London and Montréal, received a McKnight Artist Fellowship for Musicians and released her debut… May 21 21May 21, 2021Article at MinnPost
Gallery talk with Teo Nguyen: Seeing the vast Midwest through the eyes of an immigrant from VietnamImagine you’re driving south through Iowa. Farm country. Fields and sky. The horizon is a straight line, a perfect horizontal. The fields are green and brown. The sky is an almost colorless color, light gray with the faintest trace of blue. Along the… May 13 21May 13, 2021Article at MinnPost
Friends President Beth Burns on virtual Minnesota Book Awards #2: ‘We’re getting gangbusters participation’When we spoke with Beth Burns in March 2020, the Minnesota Book Awards ceremony, scheduled for April 28 at the Ordway Concert Hall, had been canceled. Bars and restaurants had closed. Theaters had gone dark. Schools were preparing for distance… Apr 28 21April 28, 2021Article at MinnPost
Book promotion in the time of COVID: How Minneapolis author Jonathan Slaght has made the best of a bad situationOn Aug. 4, 2020, Farrar, Straus and Giroux published what would become one of the hottest books of the year. Nine months later, “Owls of the Eastern Ice: The Quest to Find and Save the World’s Largest Owl” won the $10,000 PEN America/E.O. Wilson… Apr 16 21April 16, 2021Article at MinnPost
‘Jazz Fest Live’ draws thousands of viewers to music made in Minnesota35 mins ago Tonight at 7, you can sign into Crowdcast or click on Facebook for Jazz Fest Live, a performance by Twin Cities-based jazz musicians. And you won’t be alone. You’ll be joined by thousands of people from across the United States and around… Apr 01 21April 01, 2021Article at MinnPost
Ananya Chatterjea: ‘What a beautiful view it is to imagine a just world’The A.P. Anderson Award, presented each year since 1999 by the Anderson Center in Red Wing, doesn’t come with a big purse or a golden statuette. Given in recognition of outstanding contributions to literature and the arts in Minnesota, it comes with… Mar 26 21March 26, 2021Article at MinnPost
Tech entrepreneur Abraham Piper: ‘We wanted to try something different’Abraham Piper is a puzzle. Why would the founder of a highly successful media company that reaches well over 100 million people a month decide to make jigsaw puzzles? Why did it take him 11 years to finish college? How does Piper pick which puzzles… Mar 19 21March 19, 2021Article at MinnPost
North Shore artists Dan and Lee Ross: Untying timeDan and Lee Ross start most of their days sitting on a bench in their home in Hovland, Minnesota, looking out at Lake Superior. They see animal shapes in clouds moving along the horizon. When ice sheets form on the lake and wind creates leads in the… Mar 12 21March 12, 2021Article at MinnPost
‘MPLSART Sketchbook Project’ surveys our visual arts community, supports local artists40 mins ago From July through December 2020, five sketchbooks traveled around the Twin Cities. Whenever one moved on, it carried with it something new: a sketch or two by an artist, who would deliver it to the next artist, and so on. Eventually, the… Mar 02 21March 02, 2021Article at MinnPost
Singer-songwriter Joyann Parker: ‘If I’m not being real I don’t want to do it’31 seconds ago Talking with Joyann Parker is, well, a joy. She laughs a lot, fully and freely, like she sings. She sings the blues, among other styles, but she laughs like someone without a care in the world, or someone who knows how to live with her… Feb 12 21February 12, 2021Article at MinnPost
The Great Northern’s Kate Nordstrum: ‘We never thought of calling it off’COVID-19 canceled the State Fair, Rock the Garden, the Basilica Block Party, the Twin Cities Jazz Festival, the Uptown Art Fair, ad infinitum. But the Great Northern? The winter festival? In Minnesota? That will start tomorrow (Thursday, Jan. 28)… Jan 27 21January 27, 2021Article at MinnPost
