The Ultramods Celebrate the Release of Their New eBook

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO made the jaunt over to Kieran's this past Saturday. I think we all agreed that it was a cozy place to be on such a gloomy mid-afternoon. Some time during the reading the clouds parted and the sun came out. Obviously that's no coincidence.

For those of you who weren't there, Bunny and I celebrated the release of our eBook "Bunny and Coco Get Smashed: Stories from Six Years in the Drinking Life" which is a compilation of essays from The Daily Lush, an online magazine we started when we lived in the French Quarter. Naturally, we continued our research when we moved back to Minnesota (which explains the six-years part of the title). We explored many facets of the history and culture of alcohol and dug up plenty of obscure facts we think you'll enjoy.

It's a helluva lot of fun to read and you can buy it this instant through Amazon.com and Smashwords for $4.99.

I'd also like to thank our special guests who also read at our party. Thank you to Susan Marks, who read from her latest book "In the Mood for Munsingwear: Minnesota's Claim to Underwear Fame" (I reviewed it for City Pages). And Steve McPherson, who shared an especially poignant piece of writing about a fight that breaks out over the ignorance of knowing what it takes to make a perfect martini. Personally, I felt like it could have been a page out of my own biography.

But that's a book for another time.

Playing Spy, Getting Smashed, MN Int'l Film Fest

GREAT LOOKING COVER, yeah? Bunny and I are excited about this project, another in The Ultramods' repertoire. Our first book is a collection of essays from six years of consuming, and writing about, alcohol entitled Bunny and Coco Get Smashed, Stories from Six Years in the Drinking Life. It will be out in a week or so. I'll keep you posted.

ON WEDNESDAY I had an exhilarating time playing spy. In fact, I seemed to enjoy the experience in exact opposite degrees as some critics disliked it. I've long suspected these "some critics" don't enjoy much of anything, though, especially if there is the slightest hint at fun involved. So their reviews weren't much of a surprise. It doesn't seem to matter anyway, as the event is currently sold out. (But check in with them in case of cancellations! There may be a chance yet to participate!)

I'm talking about "A Machine To See With," an interactive experience created by London-based Blast Theory, brought to Minnesota through The Walker Art Center. From their description of the event:

Arriving at your appointed street corner, you wait for your cell phone to ring. When it does, your journey through the city begins. Keep your eyes peeled for traps. You are the lead in a heist movie; it’s all about you.

You can read the entire description here.

Obviously this experience can't be a recreation of The Game -- you remember that thriller with Michael Douglas? The one where he gets drugged, kidnapped, and confronted with a creepy camera-faced clown, etc? You've got to build up to an experience like that, honestly. "A Machine To See With" could be that introduction; despite the absence of drugs and flying bullets, it's far from a child's game.

After the first couple of phone calls I no longer had time to Tweet -- I was on the run! Also, I stopped tweeting because I was on a heist, after all. Top secret stuff. My pace quickened the moment I was told I had "better get the fuck out of there as fast as possible." What's not fun about that?

There is an underlying purpose to this project, of course. It wouldn't be a proper heist without one, really. According to an even more in-depth description of "A Machine To See With" on Blast Theory's Web page, the event is not only about cinema, but also the tyranny of choice and consumerism, and the financial crisis.

Just as one often does when attending more traditional theater, I enjoyed suspending my disbelief for this nontraditional experience. Additionally, I enjoy all manner of heist and spy lore and this was, to put it simply, incredibly fun. I had a blast.

The MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL started off in high-style -- and high temperatures! -- on Thursday. A large tent was set up to accommodate the festival's opening night party and whoever was in charge of heating the place, well done! It was a cold, rainy night but everything inside was cheery. Had a great time meeting RT Rybak again. Kieran Folliard insisted I get my photo with Minneapolis' mayor. Thanks for taking our picture, Kieran! I told RT I have been enjoying his tweets -- particularly the ice cream dilemma he had during the recent Twins game.

Saw the documentary Front Page: Inside the New York Times and enjoyed it very much. I always love a good newsroom/journalism story, and this one narrows in on the subject of the New York Times' Media Desk and how it is managing to survive in the shaky world of print newspaper. David Carr, who writes a column for the Times' Monday Business section, participated in a Q&A after the movie along with director Andrew Rossi.

Again we all shuffled out to the party tent where, after discussing the movie, The Ultramods and the Folliards closed the place down. Glad the rain stopped long enough for our walk to the car.

Sweat Stains, Pink Hobo, Urban Arts, Hannah

Drinking at Hotel Monteleone, French Quarter. Photo by Bunny Sparber.

SUSAN MARKS IS RIDICULOUSLY FUN TO drink cocktails with. The author of In The Mood For Munsingwear, Minnesota's Claim to Underwear Fame, was nice enough to get together with Bunny and I at the Bradstreet Crafthouse. It's the only place to get a well-made Sazerac. When Bunny and I drink Sazeracs, we get a little bit teary at the thought of our old place in the French Quarter, so I'd like to take a moment to both apologize to Susan, but also thank her for patiently waiting for me and Bunny to stop crying into each other's shoulders. Really, we're sorry for the awkwardness of that situation, Susan. If there is some way we could make it up to you? Maybe we could go out for drinks? I know a great place that makes a wonderful New Orleans drink called the Sazerac. OH GOD.

To distract us from our maudlin tendencies, Bunny and I switched to The McQueen and were thrilled that Susan was up for trying it as well. I'm pretty sure that drink is partly (or wholly) responsible for the three of us losing track of time. But when the conversation is that fun and interesting, why keep an eye on the clock?

SO IF YOU DIG THE BAR BAND SCENE, the current exhibition at the Stevens Square Center for the Arts gallery will definitely make you want to crack open a cold one and listen to loud music. "Sweat Stains Beer and Cigarettes" is the name of the show, and that pretty much spells it all out. See it. The exhibition shows moments of chaos, in-your-face action shots of performers, and condom machines that have been turned into dispensers of ultra-mini comics (bring quarters). Their closing-night party on April 16 sounds like it's going to be fun, too.


Bunny and I also stopped in to PINK HOBO'S OPENING NIGHT RECEPTION for their newest show, "The Itch That Burns." As I wrote in The Dressing Room last week, "'The Itch That Burns could be the name of a teenage cautionary tale or personal hygiene film from the '50s." But don't worry -- This particular exhibition at this self-proclaimed "geek" art gallery steers clear of VD and BO. It's a fun show where the titles of the pieces are just as fun as the paintings themselves. Be sure to look for Fat Lincoln.


URBAN ARTS THREW A PARTY this weekend, too, and damn it was a big'un. In honor of their first anniversary, this local organization (they advocate for visual, musical, and performance-based art forms) opened the doors to their giant warehouse space in the midway area of St. Paul to display over 300 works of art. Amidst all of the canvasses, there were dance performances, food, drinks, and dance music. Great party, guys!

STOPPED IN AT THE AMERICAN SWEDISH INSTITUTE where Swedish artist and cartoonist Jesper Löfvenborg has a wildly colorful exhibition on display. Even better? Sometimes Löfvenborg is smack in the middle of the display, standing on a little black-and-white checkered platform painting a brand new piece. The museum has two fun parties coming up this weekend, "Scandamonium" and "How Swede It Is" on April 15 and 16. They've designed a signature champagne cocktail and specialty dessert for both occasions. Read more about these events here.

SAW THE MOVIE HANNAH this weekend, too. Wow. This movie is ultra-cool. What more can I say? Oh yeah. See it.

Minnesota Naughty, Evidence, and Everybody is an Astronaut

THERE'S ALWAYS SOMETHING EXCITING GOING ON in the Twin Cities' art scene, and this weekend I found myself viewing some especially unique pieces at the University of Minnesota's Katherine E. Nash gallery and at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. The Minnesota History Center presented some equally unique imagery in its latest History of Hip lecture, too. So let's start with that.

Entitled "Minnesota Naughty," this lecture focused on Susan Marks' latest book, In the Mood for Munsingwear: Minnesota's Claim to Underwear Fame (I will review it soon), which explores Minnesota's connection to the underwear industry and the surprising ad campaigns that accompanied it. Marks pointed out the many connections ads had to homosexual culture. It's funny how, in this day and age, we may see these ads and think that it looks kind of gay but, since it was from that time, were the ad men just naive? Marks points out that no, it's more likely that back then naive folk would see the ads and think nothing of it, the more in-the-know folks may snicker or get a kick out of the modernity of the ads, but more importantly, the gay community knew who the ads were targeting. And, as Marks pointed out, the ads sold underwear. An intriguing look into the past, for sure.

Sharing the bill with Marks was Sarahjane Blum-Murphy of Grapefruit Moon Gallery, who spoke a bit about the culture of pin-up art and even brought along two gigantic and gorgeous original Gil Elvgren paintings. Did you know that this iconic painter is a Minnesota-native? It was news to me!

AN EERIE EXHIBITION has befallen Gallery 262 at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Evidence is the culmination of Angela Strassheim's art background (she's an MCAD grad and received an M.F.A. at Yale University) and her crime scene photography training (between her undergraduate and graduate studies, she earned a living as a forensic photographer). If I remember correctly, I first saw her photography years ago at the Chambers Hotel's Burnett Gallery. Her Left Behind series was on display; a few of the photos in that series seemed just a little too squeaky clean to be completely innocent, if that makes any sense. In the simplest terms, the crisply dressed characters in the familial settings felt, well, creepy. I remember there being an unreal quality about them, making it hard not to gaze at every inch of each large-scale photo. This sense of wanting to look further into her photos, around the corners and in the closets, happens again with Evidence. In this series, she literally exposes the remnants of the gruesome histories that will never truly disappear from some now-happy homes.

The best example of this is her photo entitled "Evidence No. 10." A skinny wall in the center of a bedroom is pictured. On this wall hangs two photos -- the baby pictures of the married couple currently inhabiting the place. But Strassheim's photo, like all of them in the series, is dark. The lights in the room are off, leaving only rogue streaks of light coming in through cracks in the drawn curtains. And then there is another form of light, which is the focal point of the photos. This is the luminescent remnants of DNA, the sprays and spatters from decades-old crime scenes. I couldn't help but wonder what the current residents think about the photos of their homes.

This following short video is part of the exhibition. Strassheim talks about the luminescent spray she used to get the effect in her photos, and the process by which she approaches the people who now live in these homes. Supplementing this exhibition are vintage Minnesota-specific crime scene photos. This exhibition will be on display as part of the New Pictures 4 series at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts through October 11, 2011.


THE MFA THESIS exhibition Everybody is an Astronaut is currently open at the University of Minnesota's Katherine E. Nash Gallery. The show features works by Jennifer Anable, Ben Garthus, Bart Vargas, Sam Hoolihan, and Areca Roe. For the most part, all of these artists are working on a large scale for this show.

I'll mention only a little bit about the show here, but all of the works make up an impressive exhibition.

Jennifer Anable's ceramics creations have a surreal and comforting quality about them. For instance, she has made a pile of ghostly flowers and they are set in the middle of the floor. It's hard to believe these flowers are made out of porcelain; they look like wax and as delicate as real flowers. Squat down for a closer look, but take note -- it will be awfully hard to resist the urge to touch them. Before I gave in, her larger sculptures distracted me, and I quite enjoyed her refashioning of doors, and even how she managed to literally dig a hole in a set of dresser drawers. 

Photographer Areca Roe has a knack for capturing the unrealistic qualities of zoo environments. In the middle of her exhibition she includes mauled toys -- a giant red ball and a sled -- in boxes that may as well be coffins. Those toys have seen lots of aggressive animal teeth. 

And don't miss Sam Hoolihan's Etudes for Penney’s photographic series, either. As far as I can tell, this may be the best use of JC Penneys' photo studio ever.

Plaza Timelapse

Plaza Hotel, New York City.
3.22, 3.24, 3.25.11

New York City Edition and All About the Brain

FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO FOLLOW ME on Twitter, you probably noticed I struck up a love affair with New York City's famous Plaza Hotel this weekend. I was lucky enough to head to the east coast with my mom and I was able to recover from my nasty cold in the high-luxury digs on Fifth Avenue. Amazing how quickly a cold is scared off by white-glove service and a faux-mink comforter.

Loved my ride in the Plaza's Rolls Royce!

The first night I had a completely surreal experience in the hotel bathroom. You see, the tub was just so big that, while lying in it, I genuinely felt as though I had shrunk enough to actually go down the drain if I wasn't careful. I assure you, I was entirely sober -- from Nyquil and any other intoxicating liquids. (The second night, however, my sobriety made a quick getaway when the fixings for more than a few complimentary cocktails were sent up to our room.)

The week was filled with plenty of brain teasers and odd word associations. For instance, as my mom and I were walking back to the hotel along Central Park, she looked across the street and recognized something we had passed earlier in the day.

"Look, there's that Pinto again," she said. I immediately doubled over in laughter. I had completely forgotten that she was talking about one of the brown-spotted carriage horses and instead I pictured a dilapidated old Ford.

It's a good thing our main activity for the following day involved checking out Brain, The Inside Story at the American Museum of Natural History, currently on display through August 15, 2011. Here we were able to learn all about the human brain and the odd associations that sometimes spark within it. And I was reminded of this oldy-but-goody:

Say the color of the ink (don't read the word.) Red Blue Green

From the exhibition's webpage: “I see this exhibition as a coming-out party for the 21st-century brain,” says lead exhibition curator Rob DeSalle, a curator in the Museum's Division of Invertebrate Zoology who conducts research at the Sackler Institute for Comparative Genomics. “I think visitors will be fascinated with the complexity of their brains. Brains change with every bit of information that is taken in, and the stimulating information and stunning exhibitry of this exhibition will engage the brains of every visitor.”

The exhibit is filled with brain teasers that point out the odd ways in which the brain works. I couldn't help but think of the museum's resident astro-physicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, who is always ready to point out the ways in which human brains are defective -- not teased. The exhibit points out all of the ways other brains may work differently from your own, too. 

Mona Lisa, upside down, made with spools of thread.

Entering the exhibit is a dramatic transition into the dark recesses of the human brain. Visitors meander a narrow, winding path among a dense forest of wires hanging from ceiling to floor in messy clumps. The hallway is dimly lit so that placards with facts about the human brain are visible ("The primate cortex is so large that it has to be folded to fit inside the skull. That's why the surface of the brain is wrinkly.") Bright pulses of light punctuate the wires, representing electrical activity in the nervous system, though actual brain signals "involve less than one-tenth the voltage of an ordinary flashlight battery."

At the end of this tunnel we were met with a giant model of the human brain. Alongside this model, a movie played about a woman who was preparing her audition for dance school. Through each step of her process, different parts of the brain model would light up, demonstrating what parts of the brain were in control at specific times.

The exhibit also explores the science behind why it's easier for children to learn new languages, why taxi drivers tend to have a larger hippocampus, and the intriguing condition known as synesthesia. There is a special focus on Daniel Tammet who is a savant living with synesthesia today. I am curious how many people discover that they see the world differently from the general population as a result of this exhibit. How many people will say to themselves, "You mean everyone doesn't see the number seven in pink? Not everyone feels the color red?" I know I always feel something special happen to me when I hear a champagne cork pop, but I suspect this is not because I have synesthesia.

Brain, The Inside Story not only explores the quirks of the human brain, but also how the act of thinking works, how the human brain changes over time, how 21-century technologies may alter our brains as well as the history of brain study.

Even if you're of the Emo Phillips school of thinking -- "I used to think that the brain was the most wonderful organ in my body. Then I realized who was telling me this" -- there's no getting around that this exhibit really is filled with amazing facts and hugely fun interactive displays, making for a truly fascinating experience.

Brain or bug?

WHAT ELSE IS GOING ON AT THE AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY?
For many, a visit to the American Museum of Natural History is not complete without visiting the big blue whale, but for me I must visit the Rose Center for Earth and Space. And I had to see their space show again, too, called Journey to the Stars in the Hayden Planetarium. This is something that must be experienced. Watching images of outer-space on the giant curved 360-degree screen, you can't help but experience the surreal feeling of floating through space. 

From the Hayden Planetarium's webpage, the movie features "extraordinary images from telescopes on the ground and in space and stunning, never-before-seen visualizations of physics-based simulations, the dazzling new Journey to the Stars launches visitors through space and time to experience the life and death of the stars in our night sky, including our own nurturing Sun. Tour familiar stellar formations, explore new celestial mysteries, and discover the fascinating, unfolding story that connects us all to the stars. Those who come along for the journey may never see the night sky in the same way again." Check out the trailer.

This year also marks the museum's 11th-annual butterfly exhibit, The Butterfly Conservatory: Tropical Butterflies Alive in Winter. Visitors can get up close to over 500 of these fluttering works of art. If you're unable to visit in person, be sure to check out the live webcams.

Broke-ology, St. Patrick's Day, and a Sore Philtrum

 TO ALL OF YOU WHO HAVE WORN YOUR philtrums red from blowing your nose, whose rib cages have been heaving at all hours from coughing -- hang in there. Beware, however. Just when you think think your cold has run its course, it may come quickly return with even more force. Such was the case with mine and Bunny's colds, anyway. So though my weekend may have started on Wednesday, my activities came to a pretty quick halt when a coughing fit woke me up on Friday.

So Wednesday. In the evening, Bunny and I went to see Broke-ology at the Pillsbury House Theater. The show stars James Craven, fresh off the set of Ma Rainey's Black Bottom which played at the Guthrie, Sonja Parks, Mikell Sapp, and Darius Dotch. Craven had to slow down quite a bit from his previous character in Ma Rainey whose speech was a speedy rat-tat-tat, to his current character who is suffering the effects of MS. The show deals with how a growing family's plans can change. In the case of this family, their lives change as a result of a death in the family, aging, limited finances, and just plain growing up.

The dynamics between the cast (including a giant lawn gnome) could be reminiscent of any family you may know, or knew in the past when you were growing up. The set looks great -- like the home of any working-class couple who are just starting to build a family of their own without living beyond their means. There are many great smaller touches to the set, too; note the grocery bags stashed behind the fridge. The brotherly jibes between Sapp and Dotch are especially exciting and in many cases highly entertaining.

From talking with the cast after the show, Mikell Sapp is here from Alabama and Darius Dotch has been doing a great job of showing him around the Twin Cities.

A wonderful detail that must be shared is the fact that all tickets to every performance of Broke-ology are pay-what-you-can. Seriously. You can name your price.

Thursday, St. Patrick's Day, started with seeing a preview of the newest exhibition on view at The Walker entitled Midnight Party and, wow, what a party this is. This show is nothing short of stunning. Here is a little bit of what I wrote about the exhibition for The Dressing Room, an arts-based blog on the City Pages website:

Midnight Party has all the makings of a great party -- or the telltale signs that one has already happened. The furniture is messed up; Nari Ward’s mangled chair-like sculpture rests, twisted and angular on a throw rug. There’s a giant hole in the drywall serving as an entrance to Kiki Smith’s kitchen area. And there is a starlet hanging upside down while black and white movies flicker images of exposed breasts onto the walls.

Galleries 4, 5, and 6 in the Walker have been transformed into a sort of ersatz house for Midnight Party, guest curated by Joan Rothfuss. While roaming about the large gallery spaces as well as smaller, cozier theme rooms built especially for this exhibit, one gets the eerie feeling that the party’s hosts aren’t home, but it is most certainly open for a party. There’s even a wunderkammer featuring treasures including a meat dress (literally made out of 60 pounds of meat and 60 pounds of salt), Kranky Klaus masks by Cameron Jamie, and a time capsule, among other fascinating items too numerous to mention.

And then it was time to dash over to St. Paul to catch their St. Pat's parade. I thought for a moment how strange it was to have such a large parade so early on a weekday, but then I considered the madhouse it would be later in the day -- after everyone had a few drinks in them -- and realized the early hour must be quite on purpose. Here is my photo slideshow from the event:



And then we returned to home just long enough to warm up before Bunny had to head to the Guthrie to meet with Peter Michael Goetz. I tagged along for the interview, which soon relaxed into reminiscing about the Twin Cities theater scene (be on the lookout for some great theater anecdotes in Max About Town). Goetz met us at Sea Change, and soon after he ordered a salad, he wished he could order a martini. He decided to go with something non-alcoholic, though, because he was in the middle of tech rehearsal. We ended up sharing a delicious corned-beef sandwich. As for drinks, Bunny and I sipped a special green cocktail the bartender had just shook up.

Peter Michael Goetz has been in many great movies and theatrical productions, but I had to ask him about C.H.U.D., a horror film made in 1984. "Oh my god! Chud!" he said. He hadn't thought about the film in years, but he remembered what the anagram stands for. "Cannibalistic Humanoid Underground Dwellers," he said. We talked about how great the cast was for that film -- John Heard, Daniel Stern, Jay Thomas, and John Goodman just to name a few. I was sure to mention that the DVD commentary for the film has reached a legendary status and that, if he ever has the time, he may want to watch it. It's absolutely hilarious.

The three of us spoke for a bit before Goetz had to return to rehearsal. Bunny and I returned home, opting to skip the Minneapolis St. Pat's parade and a night of drinking because our coughs were returning. Turns out we might as well have stayed out all night whooping things up, shaking our green beads along with everyone else. Because the next day we were back to nursing our colds, which had rallied with much more fury than any old hangover ever could have.

Feel better soon, kiddos.