Scene june 2018

JUNE 2018 - southernminnSCENE.com

Southern minn

Scene

YOUR FREE GET-OUT SOURCE TO SOUTHERN MINNESOTA

90s Mankato ‘My Friend Stu’ 7

Red Wing man shares his 21,000 albums 22

SoMinn Biking Scene 32

SHELDON THEATRE

18/19 Season

Celebrate all year long!

18/19 Season Packages On Sale May 23.

Don’t miss the next unforgettable moment of your life at the refreshed Sheldon!

Go to sheldontheatre.org for more info.

651-388-8700 443 W. 3rd Street I Red Wing, MN 2

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It’s Coming...

2018 BEST OF

SOUTHERN Minn

Nominating begins

June 18th go to The Best of SoMinn 2018 at

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| JUNE 2018

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CONTENT JUNE 2018 / VOLUME 6 / ISSUE 5

Features:

7 My Friend Stu’s Return Highlights

Interview with 90s Mankato band “My Friend Stu”.

10 2018 Summer Festival Preview

A look at the upcoming summer fesivals in the Southern Minnesota area.

16 Little Houston County

Plays host to national artists.

22 Red Wing man with 21,000 albums

Man shares his collection of music albums with seniors.

26 The TimeLine

SoMinn’s most comprehensive

calendar of things to be SCENE.

32 The Biking Scene

The trails and tribulations for the SoMinn

biking community.

COLUMNS:

36 Album Review

13 Minnesota Music SCENE

Minnesota transgender glam rock icon

Venus de Mars.

18 The PHILM Column

Ranking Marvel’s Movies.

20 Mollywood BLVD

Janelle Monáe - Dirty Computer

37 The Bookworm Sez:

•

•

•

•

Bad Men and Wicked Women Natural Causes Tomorrow: A Novel The Trauma Cleaner: One Womans’ Extraordinary Life in the Business of Death, Decay, and Disaster

38 Woldum TV

Dads on TV.

Why the Obsession with Whodunnits?

24 Trivia

Go to

southernminnscene.com

to submit your pet photo and vote Southern minn

Scene July issue deadline is June 1st

Publish date is June 15 Contact Pam DeMorett - 507-333-3117 pdemorett@faribault.com 4

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Questions please email Philip editor@southernminnSCENE.com

ABOUT

Have a story idea?

Editor Philip Weyhe - 507-333-3132 editor@southernminnSCENE.com

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Copyright 2018 SouthernminnSCENE.com retains the publication rights to all content produced or supplied to the SCENE. Use of said materials without the written consent of SoutherminnSCENE.com is prohibited. Contents copyrighted; all rights reserved.

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Let’s get

SHOW AND EXPO OCT. 18 2018

with

Chef Guy Klinzing Gourmet Sponsor

Calling All Cooks!

GIRLFRIENDS MAGAZINE IS PUBLISHING

A COOKBOOK WITH THE REGION’S BEST

Let’s get

RECIPES – SUBMITTED BY OUR READERS – IN ADVANCE OF OUR 10TH ANNIVERSARY “LET’S GET COOKING” SHOW AND EXPO 2018 COO KBOOK

ON OCT. 18, 2018.

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Apps, soups and salads // Main dishes // Desserts Submit as many recipes as you’d like. Our guest Chef Guy Klinzing will select one recipe for inclusion in the cooking show and that individual will receive a $250 prize package! If we use one of your recipes in the cookbook, you’ll be eligible to purchase discounted tickets to Let’s Get Cooking.

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My Friend Stu’s

Return Highlights Mankato’s Incessant DIY Music Scene

BY Dan Greenwood editor@southernminnscene.com

D

espite a record setting blizzard this April, when most shops closed and the city of Mankato gave up on plowing, My Friend Stu were determined to play. And the 150 fans who would be catching the band for the first time in 25 years were determined to show up.

The group was part of the late 80s/early 90s Mankato music scene that spawned the Libido Boyz, a band that toured nationally and in Europe before breaking up in 1992 on the verge of mainstream success. They opened for Nirvana, were friends with Green Day and Babes in Toyland and showed the rest of us just how far being in a garage band could go.

I witnessed this era first hand as a teenager growing up in Owatonna. Something in the air changed around 1991, the year that punk broke, when bands like Nirvana, Sonic Youth and

Dinosaur Jr. inspired kids like me to form our own Mankato bands were doing just that. bands. We played our own songs at the local I reached out to Bunde after I moved to VFW and rented out the Chalet at Morehouse Mankato two years ago. He had hinted that My Park to showcase local music. Soon we would Friend Stu were considering a reunion show. The discover that nearby towns like Faribault and Libido Boyz did one last fall as the aging crowd Waseca had their own punk bands doing the stage dived and jumped around much as they same thing. But Mankato was the epitome of had when they were kids. I sat down with Bunde how huge our movement had become, a moveand My Friend Stu singer Leon Rohrbaugh to ment that said you didn’t have to be a rockstar to reminisce about that era and talk about where form a band and write your own music.

It wasn’t until we filled in for another local band with Mankato ties at a show on a farm outside of Mankato in 1992 that we - Leon Rohrbaugh realized we were just the tip of the iceberg. That was when I first met My Friend Stu drummer Eric they are now.

Bunde. The Libido Boyz headlined as the crowd “We got together with really no idea that we sang along to the lyrics, slam danced and stage were going to play a show,” Bunde said. dived in a frenetic storm of energy. I was blown They jammed at the Minneapolis home of away. Bunde’s first question to me; “Have you guitar player Mike Mrotz. The four of them were guys toured yet?” I had no idea you could do surprised by how much they gelled over all this that, but in that era we learned that anything was time. Singer Leon Rohrbaugh hadn’t seen bass possible. It would turn out that many of these player Eric Davis since their last show in 1993.

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Davis travelled all the way from Colorado to reunite with his old bandmates.

“I drove my motorcycle from Duluth to Mankato for pizza and then back up to the cities to Mike’s house,” Rohrbaugh said. “We stayed there for two nights, relearned the songs.”

With the chemistry still there, My Friend Stu agreed it was time to reunite alongside old friends Marble and Old Towne Ghosts for one April show in Mankato.

They played a short, but tight set of the favorites, including songs from their last release, My Friend Gerry’s Flower Groove, a compilation of like-minded bands of that era. Their hard to define songs still stand out after all of these years with a sound that still pushes the edge today.

“We didn’t have any pretense of what we wanted to sound like because this was the first band we were in,” Bunde said, although Rohrbaugh had been drumming for other bands like 40 Ton Beatnik, Reach and Billy Goats Gruff

“I drove my motorcycle from Duluth to Mankato for pizza and then back up to the cities to Mike’s house. We stayed there for two nights, relearned the songs.”

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My Friend Stu reunion show April 2018.

Rachael Shay Button.

CONTINUED from page 7 for a couple years before My Friend Stu formed.

Bunde and Rohrbaugh both credit the Libido Boyz for supporting and encouraging their new band when they formed in 1990. When Bunde and Davis were still in middle school in 1988, they saw their first Libido Boyz show at Mankato’s Teen Center, an all-ages venue downtown. It was intimidating at first, the punks at the shows back then wore spikes, slam-danced and skateboarded inside the venue. But as the night went on something clicked for he and Davis.

“By the end of the night we realized this was

8

a pretty safe place to be and these people were actually a community and we could feel that right away,” Bunde recalled. “We’ve talked about how absolutely life changing that night was. After that show I had this fire in my heart.”

My Friend Stu formed two years later, when the Mankato music scene was on the national radar. Rohrbaugh had already been playing local shows and weekend trips to Sioux Falls, which had a similar scene. It wouldn’t take long for the new band to acquire the Libido Boyz’ old touring van.

Rohrbaugh set up a little office in his bedroom closet and racked up phone bills calling punk rock venues across the country to play at. They booked

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shows all the way out to Colorado and back for a summer tour. Bunde said it never would have happened without the support of their parents.

“I was sixteen and my dad just threw me in a van with a box of groceries and said, ‘Well have fun!”

So off they went, playing a different city each night, opening for larger punk bands and sleeping in the van. At times it could be haphazard; this was long before cell phones and Google Maps, yet the tour went smoothly.

“I ended up taking off with these ladies one night in Boulder (Colorado) to the girl’s dorm,” Rohrbaugh recalls. “I didn’t know where we were.

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Somehow after an awesome night of hanging out I was able to find the guys, find the van, get some breakfast. We dumpster dove at Falafel King – ate some garbage falafel and made the sound check that day in Pueblo. It was a magical time.”

Rohrbaugh also credits their parents for allowing them to go as far as they did with their music.

“A big part of it – and it sounds silly to say – we were able to have such a great experience because our parents let us,” Rohrbaugh said. “We had multiple parents who’d buy us gear, drive us to the Entry on a Sunday night so we could play a punk rock show, get us back and still make us go to school. I think that was really important because if we didn’t have any support from anyone we would have been getting in trouble.”

When My Friend Stu got back from their first tour, they’d made friends with other bands on the road, including Chicago band 8 Bark, who let them crash at their place when My Friend Stu played there. Back in Mankato, they were still in high school and lived with their parents, but when touring bands came through town, they found a way to put them up.

“There was one time my parents came downstairs and there were 37 kids from Sioux Falls in the basement,” Rohrbaugh laughs. “So my parents would buy doughnuts and orange juice for the kids.”

As the Libido Boyz released their first record on a major label, the Mankato scene only grew.

Eventually there were over 20 local bands playing shows in town and around the Midwest. It also captured the attention of other established bands like the Offspring, Rancid, SNFU and Green Day, who played a memorable show in 1992 at a farm outside of St. Peter. My Friend Stu and Mankato friends Loin Groove opened.

“I had been approached by Adrian who was Billie Joe’s secret girlfriend (Mankato native and wife of Billie Joe Armstrong),” Bunde explained.

“She’s from here. They were looking for a place to play.”

Bunde immediately asked a high school friend who held shows at his house in the past.

“I passed Dan Fischer in the hallway (at school) and said, ‘Hey, Green Day is looking for a place to play, would you put them up in your backyard?”

So they came. The local bands finished playing

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33rd Annual

MoRRISToWN DAM DAYS May 30 - June 3, 2018

WeDNeSDAY SUNDAY SATURDAY · 7 pm Miss Morristown Queen · 8 am-12 pm Kids Fishing Contest & Little Miss Pageant. Meet Miss MN, including her piano performance.

Community Center.

THURSDAY · 7:30 pm Trivia at Old Town Tavern with M&M

FRIDAY · 1:30 pm Euchre Tournament Morristown Community Center · 5 pm Carnival Opens · 5 pm Food Stands & Beer Garden Opens · 7 pm Twilight Parade Chair Paige Dahle 330-3769 · 9 pm Old Country Boys Under the Big Top Tent

BUTToN ReqUIReD FoR eveNTS

$2 Buttons 00

My Friend Stu in 1992. Photo courtesy of Leon Rohrbaugh. right when the police showed up and shut the show down. A friend volunteered her parents’ farm near St. Peter, and Green Day and all of their fans drove the 10 miles so Green Day could play their set. They tipped over two wooden farm spools which stood seven feet tall on their sides. Armstrong and bassist Mike Dirnt played on one, while drummer Tre Cool played on the other. The show would go down in Mankato music history as one of the best.

That year was bittersweet. After the Green Day show, My Friend Stu’s audience grew to the hundreds. But their mentors were winding down. As they were making demos for Warner Bros., the Libido Boyz called it quits at the end of 1992, playing their last two shows to sold-out crowds at the What’s Up Lounge in Mankato and the 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis. By this point, Rohrbaugh had moved up to Minneapolis and the rest of the band were graduating from high school.

My Friend Stu played their final show in 1993 to a crowd of 300 in Mankato.

Until now.

The reunion show this April was a flashback in time in many ways; there were a lot of familiar faces. When the band took the stage, the crowd muscled their way to the front as the band plowed through 11 songs in 30 minutes, playing one of their tightest shows. It was obvious they all still knew their chops, but Bunde took a break from the drums for 10 years after My Friend Stu broke up. Then he realized he

Rain or Shine

Some events will be held under the big top tent

· 8 am-12:00 pm ALL U CAN EAT Brunch American Legion $8.50-Adult $4.00-10 and under Preschool Free · 10 am-3 pm Rivers Edge Art Show Next to BBQ Contest in the Park Contact Barb 685-2565 · 11 am-5 pm Water Powered Gristmill Demos and Museum Open Morristown Mill · 12 pm Kiddy Parade & Games · 1 pm 6th Annual Back Yard BBQ Contest by the River To register Contact-Tator Schmitz 507-330-4118 · 2 pm Baseball Game Morristown Morries vs. Wells Wildcats · 2 pm BAR BINGO - American Legion · 4 pm DUCK DROP at Morristown Dam · 4:30 pm-5:30 pm FREDDIE JUSTICE HYPNOTIST SHOW · 6 pm $1,000 RAFFLE TICKET DRAWING

times and Events subject to change

www.morristownmn.org

needed that outlet.

Bunde currently drums for War Rooster and Bee Balm Fields. Rohrbaugh has been a fixture of the Duluth Music Scene for 21 years. His old band Ballyhoo had their own reunion show at Duluth’s Homegrown music festival this spring; he currently sings and plays guitar for A Band Called Truman. But looking back they both agree that there was something special and unique about the Mankato music scene 25 years ago.

“When I was in it, I didn’t realize how special it was while it was happening,” Bunde said.

“It wasn’t until later that you realize it’s not so easy to book shows. It’s not so easy to get 200 people to show up. I don’t know what it was but we had some magic thing that happened here.”

He doesn’t know why everything came together then, but he thinks it was somewhat of a domino effect.

“To use a metaphor, Libido Boyz - Eric Bunde were the big rock that landed in the water,” Bunde said. “I feel like we were the next ripple and there are still ripples coming out from that time. There are still people that are striving for that type of spirit and energy to reemerge.”

And for them, My Friend Stu came from a special time and place in music history.

“I’ve talked to the other guys and we’ve never been able to capture that again,” Bunde said. “Every band we’ve been in since has had some idea of where we’re trying to go. It’s never been as natural as My Friend Stu was.” SMS

“When I was in it, I didn’t realize how special it was while it was happening. It wasn’t until later that you realize it’s not so easy to book shows. It’s not so easy to get 200 people to show up. I don’t know what it was but we had some magic thing that happened here.”

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· 9 am Co-Ed Volleyball Tournament Contact Todd 330-3473 to register · 9 am-12 pm FARMERS MARKET · 10 am Medallion Hunt need button to claim prize · 10 am Human Foosball – Baseball Field · 10 am-3 pm Top 25 Car Show Babe Nordmeier Baseball Field ($10.00 per vehicle) spectators $1.00 with a Button-Swappers Free · 12 pm-5 pm Water Powered Gristmill Demos and Museum Open Morristown Mill · 1 pm Remote Control Demolition DerbyAt the Car Show Randy Meschke 339-1300 · 2:30 pm Sign up for the Kiddie Tractor Pull · 3 pm Kidde Tractor Pull - Under Tent · 5 pm-7:30 pm All you can eat Pork Chop and Fish American Legion · 8:30 pm-12:30 am SMOKE SCREEN - Band Under the Big Top Tent $5 cover charge

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Beer Bacon Fest

BY MEGHAN ROOK editor@southernminnscene.com

I

f you don’t “festival,” are you even Minnesotan? It’s a question that has plagued mankind for centuries.

Festivals bring all things great: great grub, great music, great people/people watching, great beer, and likely, great memories. So even if you did have one too many soft pretzels or the rain threatened to wash you out of your campground, well – you’ve got those mems. And who better to share ‘em with than the rest of the people that call this place home?

From Mankato to the Cities, we’ve got all the festivals you’ll need to celebrate summer in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.

MAY Revival Festival May 25-27 // Geneva

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Here in Minnesota, we like to start the summer celebrations a bit early, so it’s only fitting that a festival named “Revival” would snap us out of our Ugg-wearing, hot-dish eating reverie. This Memorial Day weekend, make the trek over (or up or down) to Southern Minnesota’s Harmony Park Music Garden, where legendary Phil Lesh is headlining the annual Revival Fest. It’s been a long winter, folks – here’s your chance to experience the outdoors during that first looooong weekend of summer with a little starlight camping, soulful crooning, and that everlasting bonfire smell. For more info, check out www.revivalfestmn.com.

Soundset May 27, 2018 // MN State Fairgrounds in Falcon Heights Get your tickets for this one-day hip-hop festival, as 40 musical acts take over the Minnesota State Fairgrounds for ten hours of musical entertainment. This year’s lineup includes popular names such as Logic, Migos, and Tyler, the Creator, while still sticking to our Minnesota roots with the likes of Atmosphere and Prof. Oh,

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and did we mention there’s a Ferris wheel, custom car show, and a skateboard battle? Interested? Check out www.soundsetfestival.com for more details.

JUNE Faribault Heritage Days Jun 13-16, 2018 // Faribault From family-friendly fun to lively nightlife, there is certainly no shortage of activities during this four-day festival in Faribault.

Families can bring their kids and enjoy carnival rides, coloring contests, craft shows, and soap box races. At night, get set for the pub crawl winding its way around Downtown Faribault; afterwards head on over to Central Park for some dancing and beer in the beer tent, accompanied by music from local band, Pop Rocks. Saturday’s activities include a pop-up farmers market in the park and a Grand Parade at night – to end the weekend, swing by the Paradise Theater for a live performance of “Beauty & The Beast.” For more information, visit www.faribaultheritagedays.com

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Stone Arch Bridge Festival Jun 15 – 17 // Stone Arch Bridge area in Minneapolis Kick off your Father’s Day weekend with a free concert along the scenic Minneapolis Riverfront. The 3rd largest festival in Minneapolis, this weekend-long celebration features over 250 quality visual artists, a handful of live musicians, and a whole lot of finger-lickin’ good food. Pets are out and about and fashion mavens are in full swing as Minnesotans flock the cobbled streets of Northeast Minneapolis. From handcrafted wooden chess sets to flashy peacock earrings, it’s a great opportunity to shop and support local businesses!

For more info, check out www.stonearchbridgefestival.com

Twin Cities Pride Festival Jun 23-24 // Loring Park in Minneapolis A rainbow of excitement is surrounding this year’s TC Pride Festival, a free celebration of the LGBTQ community. Expect to find Minneapolis’ largest park teeming with brightly colored neon’s during this two-day festival featuring over 400 exhibitors, four stages with music and entertainment, and 40 food and beverage booths.

On Saturday night, check out Pride in Concert featuring Brandy, with a celebration of fireworks to follow. The next day, gear up for the 7th Annual Rainbow Run 5k and the sequential parade rocking it’s way through the streets of Downtown Minneapolis. For more details, check out www.tcpride.org.

Solstice, Mankato June 22 - 23 // Land of Memories Park in Mankato Mankato’s Outdoor Music Festival is back for another year of music and adventure. Located at Land of Memories Park in Mankato, Minnesota, this family-friendly festival is a unique melding of live music, nature, and people. This year’s lineup includes local rock jam band The Big Wu, Fat City All Stars, and Dave Sandersfeld, to name a few. Additionally, there will be on-site camping, bent-river paddling, and food trucks serving up delicious fare. Get more details at www.solsticemankato.com.

JULY Basilica Block Party July 6-7, 2018 // Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis What started in 1995 as a fundraiser for the structural restoration of The Basilica of Saint Mary has quickly become a longstanding summer music tradition for many Minnesotans. This year’s lineup includes indie pop band Fitz and the Tantrums, pop sensation Andy Grammer, and ‘90s alt-rockers Third Eye Blind. With sponsors such as 2 GINGERS Irish Whiskey and Prairie Organic Spirits, it’s not long before you’ll be humming along to the classic, “Semi-Charmed Life.” Ok, maybe just the ‘90s kids. For more details, visit www. basilicablockparty.org.

Dakota County Fair

Bacon and Beer Classic July 14, 2018 // CHS Field in St. Paul What happens when you combine America’s beloved salty snack with the Midwest’s favorite adult beverage? Well, a festival of course! This nationwide festival is coming to Minnesota and its bringing over 100 beers from regional breweries and more then 30 bacon-infused dishes from local chefs. The flavor combinations are endless. And if you’re one of those strange people who don’t like bacon, not to worry – these guys are offering a load of other food options, from seafood to southern BBQ and sweet, sweet confections. Got questions? Visit www.baconandbeerclassic.com.

Rice County Fair July 17 – 23, 2018 // Fairgrounds in Faribault It’s the 145th year of the Rice County Fair – from baking contests to the announcement of the fair queen; it’s your classic Minnesotan county fair, and more. There’s horse and car racing for the thrill-

seekers, rides for the kids, and card games in the beer tent for those looking to beat the heat. Each day hosts a variety of free events, including prize drawings, juggling, and even a comedy show – for more information, be sure to check out www.ricecountyfair.net.

AUGUST Dakota County Fair Aug 6 – 12, 2018 // Farmington This seven-day event, being held at the Dakota County Fairgrounds, will feature an array of live music and artistic showcases alongside a long list of food and beverage vendors. A mini precursor to the Minnesota State Fair, there will be rides, food tasting stalls, and entertainment for the kids. Stay up-to-date with more details at www.dakotacountyfair.org.

MN Bluegrass & Old Time Festival Aug 9 – 12, 2018 // Richmond The Minnesota Bluegrass & Old-Time Festival is back the second weekend of August with four intense days of music – and there’s nothin’ like the good old twang of a banjo to get your toes tappin’.

Check out Becky Buller, Minnesota’s own homegrown bluegrass maven, along with national acts such as Red Squirrel Chasers, Dreamcatcher, and Henhouse Prowlers, to name a few. For anyone looking to pick up an instrument or get lessons, hands-on workshops will also be available. And it ain’t just music – for a full list of what’s cooking in Richmond this August, visit www.minnesotabluegrass.org.

Blue Collar BBQ Music & Arts Festival Aug 11 // Paradise Center for the Arts in Faribault Voted “Best Music Festival in Southern Minnesota” in the 2017 Best of SoMinn Scene competition, this event is now celebrating its 10th year of excitement. Featuring over 12 hours of live music, family art making, kid’s activities, a BBQ competition, and beer gardens, there’s no wonder it was named the region’s hottest party.

Proceeds from the event support Paradise Center for the Arts, so show up and support local! More details can be found at www. paradisecenterforthearts.org.

Minnesota State Fair Aug 23 – Sept. 3 // Falcon Heights Perhaps the most well attended and popular state fair in the entire country, the Minnesota State Fair returns, as it always does, at the end of the summer. Like every year, unique beers and foods will be a major attraction, but let’s not forget the music. The Grandstand at the fairgrounds can fit up to about 15,000 people. Headlin-

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OTHERS NOT TO MISS Smokin’ in Steele: June 1-2 in Owatonna Winstock: June 8-9 in Winsted St. Peter Ambassadors Blues Fest: June 9 in St. Peter Blue Ox: June 14-16 in Eau Claire, WI Rock the Garden: June 16 in Minneapolis Twin Cities Jazz Festival: June 21-23 Lakes Jam: June 21-23 Hambone Music Festival: July TBD in Rochester SubOctave Music Festival: July TBD in Houston Basilica Block Party: July 6-7 in Minneapolis Trampled by Turtles at Bayfront: July 7 in Duluth Riversong Music Festival: July 13-14 in Hutchinson Lakefront Music Festival: July 13-14 in Prior Lake Moondance Jam: July 19-21 near Walker WE Fest: Aug 2-4 in Detroit Lakes Mankato Rib Fest: Aug 2-5 in Mankato Minnesota Fringe Festival: Aug 2-12 in Minneapolis Bayfront Blues: Aug 10-12 in Duluth Riverbend Music Fest: Aug 24-25 in Owatonna Rock Bend Folk Festival: Sept 8-9 in St. Peter Ramble Jam: Sept 14-15 in Farmington Boats and Bluegrass Festival: Sept 27-30 in St. Peter

Mankato Solstice

CONTINUED from page

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ing the first night (Aug. 23) is former boybander turned adult pop star Niall Horan, joined by the pop-country up-and-comer Maren Morris. The next night, the reunited Sugarland takes to the stage.

The Current’s Music On-A-Stick night features Trampled by Turtles, Lord Huron and Lissie. Other than that, you can see Earth, Wind and Fire, the Beach Boys, Jason Mraz, Old Dominion, Boy George and more. Get tickets and find more details at www.mnstatefair.org/ entertainment/grandstand.html.

SMS

July 17-22, 2018

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RIAN-Dicke MICHELS Rian-Dicke Michels, can be reached at editor@southernminnscene.com.

Minnesota transgender glam rock icon

“Often faced with prejudice, hostility, physical abuse and even occasional death threats, Venus [de Mars] came back from the brink of suicide to front artistic dark glam band All The Pretty Horses.” - Power Play Magazine U.K.

BY Rian Dicke-Michels editor@southernminnscene.com

Photo of Venus DeMars from her Facebook page. Photo by Nate Ryan.

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A

fter hearing about Venus de Mars only just recently, I was shocked to find I’d never heard about her or her band, All The Pretty Horses. Hailing from Duluth, Venus de Mars came out as transgendered 29 years ago, which means the artist has been out and rockin’ longer than I’ve been alive. But this group spent many years underground because it has always been risky business coming out. At the time, it nearly ruined her career. However, pure drive to rock and roll pushed Venus to embrace her music and re-create herself through glam-punk rock.

Venus wanted to prove to the world that she was transgendered and proud of it.

The journey was never smooth sailing. When Venus came out, she was kicked off of jury duty because it was assumed she’d rule in favor of a child molester. In addition, no one wanted to back the band because the transgender community wasn’t a supported group, and their performance style – leather, fishnets, and pasties – were too hot to handle, even for New York. This meant that their small group had to promote, fund, and book the shows themselves, and their first handful of audiences ranged from three to 10 people. Thankfully, these incidents did not discourage Venus’ drive to be a musician and trans community advocate.

All The Pretty Horses has consistently been Venus de Mars’ only group project. Overtime, the band has seen a turnover of members for one reason or another, mostly mutual. For some, the touring was too much, and for others, the plethora of parties took a toll. Despite differing agendas, the fortunate side of having occasional new members made room for the project to evolve. Although much of Venus’ inspiration came from T. Rex and the brilliant mind of David Bowie, the band members often had alternative ideas for where they, as a group, wanted to go with their sound and image. Venus remained true to her vision until being approached by Jim Walsh, who invited her to an event he called a Hootenanny. Jim said to come solo, with just five or six songs, and an acoustic guitar. It was a terrifying idea that Venus faced head on.

The experience opened the door for a whole new

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type of exploration for the artist. Venus de Mars evolved again through the difficulties of acoustic work. She decided to record the [2005] album “Flesh and Wire” at the Sacred Heart Studio in Duluth. Her most revealing album to date, it features two covers of Bowie songs, and quite frankly, she nails it with her version of “5 Years.” She stated that acoustic work was more difficult, because you can’t hide behind dramatic theatrics and a flurry of instruments. It’s raw, just a voice, a guitar, and minimal percussion.

In 2015, All The Pretty Horses went on tour with another trans artist, Laura Jane Grace and her band Against Me! This was the longest tour Venus de Mars had been on and it opened her eyes to what it’s like being out in modern times. As a white, cis female, I can’t speak to the struggles of trans folks, but to come from an era where your lifestyle is illegal, down to potentially being arrested for using a public bathroom, this tour created a new sense of openness for the artist. She spoke of moments working the merch booth and being surrounded by LGBTQ youth, fearful of how the parents would feel about her being around their children, but instead being seen as a role model. For Venus, it was a liberating tour.

Just a few months ago, Venus de Mars took to TedxMinneapolis 2017: Why Not? She performed one song, but first, she listed chronological moments that both created turmoil and pride over the course of her lifetime. She mentions how laws and incidents shaped her journey and if you’d like to know more about the artist, you can watch the award-winning rock doc “Venus of Mars” [2004] by Emily Goldberg in which Venus is the main subject.

The film also delves into Venus’ marriage to wife of 34 years, Lynette Reini-Grandell.

But for Venus de Mars, the story isn’t over. The world is still changing, and the internet has created the space for trans kids to find themselves, but persecution is still an issue. Last year, over 25 trans folks were murdered in hate crimes, the highest number of that type on record. But at least, today, Venus de Mars is able to openly advocate for herself and others, and continues to pave the way for young people, while also doing what she loves: making music. SMS

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Little Houston County

plays host to national artists

BY Kelsey O’Hara editor@southernminnscene.com

C

imarron Corpé quickly caught the attention of coffee-enthusiasts and Houston County residents during his weeklong visit to the southeastern Minnesota community in September.

He generally sat at a table with giant fuzzy headphones on, often sparking interest.

“It’s always exciting to travel to a new region and see everything as exotic, but when you travel to a smaller community, you get to be down on the ground and engage with local folks,” Corpé said.

Corpé was one of four citizen artists in the Crystal Creek Lodge Citizen-Artist Residency, an experimental program that brought artists to Houston County to create work based on the unique personalities and beauty of the area. Four artists were scheduled to spend three individual weeks in the county in 2017— with the exception of citizen-artists Todd Melby and Melissa Wray, who worked collaboratively on their projects.

With a $445 donation by the program’s partner Houston Arts

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Resource Council, a Tri-County Electric’s MiEnergy $500 grant and a $3,000 donation from the Southeast Minnesota Arts Council, the artists are expected to create their own form of inspirational work while also attending a community meet-and-greet and a community workshop.

Corpé, of Victoria, Canada, has experience in geography and multimedia artistry. His interests often focus on landscapes and the role sound and images play in our spatial orientation and construction of place.

“Artists often incorporate a sense of place through their work. It can be very personal, but it could also be shared amongst a community,” he said.

Throughout his residency, Corpé interviewed and observed community members in Houston County. He found similarities to rural communities in Canada and Australia, especially in terms of transformation.

He found many long-term residents had the strongest connection to their community and “a tighter woven sense of where they live” while younger residents are still transitioning into their communities. But they are still taking time to build relationships and connections to their new homes.

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Back in town While, multiple artists took the chance to get to know the Houston community, one artist actually returned to her hometown during the residency.

During her stint with the program, Melissa Wray interviewed 16 local business owners, civic leaders and community members in Houston County, bringing her skills for storytelling to a new format.

“A lot of my work involves community building through storytelling,” Wary said. “And this was one of the first times I really saw myself as an artist because I started to dive into a new art form, podcasts.”

Wray brought her talents as a digital journalist back to her roots.

And as a 2006 graduate of Caledonia High School in Houston County, Wray, who currently lives in South Minneapolis, said she “learned a lot more” about her hometown.

“I grew up here,” she began. “And this experience let me meet with so many community members who I never met or heard of their work before. I met with people who pursue organic farming or work at the International Owl Center.”

Following interviews with different members of the community, Wray came away with one common thread about the vibrancy of

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“I grew up in the Driftless area on a vegetable farm surrounded by farmers, artists and naturalists. My hope is to bring my experiences back to this area and this residency is a great way to reconnect to those roots,” he said.

Along with Krause, two more artists will exhibit their work in 2018, including his wife Rachael Shay Button. Button is a writer, a teacher, an activist, and a place-based educator, and she holds an MFA in Creative Writing and Environment from Iowa State University. Miranda Moen, from Caledonia, will also participate with an architectural design project.

Wray was honored to be a part of the inaugural year of this arts residency, and she looks forward to seeing what other artists will develop with Houston County as their inspiration.

“This type of work is very important, and it allows us to reframe rural communities for people who lived in these communities as well as to bring people into these new regions,” she said. “Hopefully we can draw attention to the work being done outside the metro.” SMS

Cimarron Corpé. Photo by Erin Dorbin. this area.

“I think the key is better communication amongst all of the many things going on here,” she said. “People will come to this area for a day, drive from Houston, to Spring Grove, to Hokah to Caledonia.

They just need to know what the area has to offer and what is going on at any given time.”

After she produced the first season of her podcast, she hopes to expand into other parts of the state and visit other small towns and produce a series of podcasts on the challenges and how to solve them in rural Minnesota.

“I set out to better understand rural communities,” Wray said. “I wanted to better learn the nuances of life here from the people who live it. I wanted to find out what makes the community tick.”

Wray was joined by radio freelance journalist Todd Melby of Minneapolis. The pair hosted meet-and-greets in Houston and at the Caledonia library where they worked with guests on how to produce podcasts.

Wary noticed a common thread of audio elements throughout the projects during the 2017 arts residency program. She said each project emphasized similar themes in completely different formats.

“You can hear the echoes of the stories I presented in Harry Gradd Kimball’s music and [Corpé’s] field recordings,” she said.

Culinary Art The group of citizen artists for 2018 are covering a wide variety of

projects. Peter Krause, of Decorah, Iowa, is bringing his culinary expertise to the locals of Houston later this summer.

“I’m really interested in diving into what the Driftless area offers for farm to table and what that could look like in other communities,” Krause said. “I’ll explore farms, talk to community members who are growing food and teach classes about what can be created in Houston.”

Krause cultivated a love for food and farming on a small farm outside Decorah where he took part in growing produce for farmers, markets and restaurants. He learned about foraging for wild foods, fishing, and ecology and found joy in the annual rhythm of preserving the harvest with canning, dehydrating and fermentation projects.

He is bringing his passion for food to Houston where Krause hopes to bring a Driftless cuisine that is celebrated and shaped in the community and made up of the native flavors of its forests, pastures and rivers, and supports the many small farms well suited to the region’s landscape. SMS

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Rachael Shay Button.

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The PHILM Column

PHILIP WEYHE Philip is a reporter for APG and editor for Southern Minn Scene. Need to contact him? Shoot him an e-mail pweyhe@northfieldnews.com or catch him on Twitter at @nfnphilweyhe.

Ranking Marvel’s Movies

M

any of you are downright sick and tired of hearing about Marvel movies.

But I’m not talking; I’m writing.

Other than the ongoing Star Wars franchise, there is no more dominant series in film history than what Marvel Studios has brought to the table. In fact, Marvel movies take up six of the top 25 slots on the all-time domestic earners list. Of course, that doesn’t account for inflation, but we’re not getting into that.

Do they deserve that distinction? In short, no. But, if one genre of movie is going to be so completely dominant in the modern film industry, at least there is a studio consistently putting out a decent, and sometimes excellent, product.

So let’s look it over, shall we? Here’s a list of the 18 Marvel Studios films, ranked from meh to miraculous. I also threw in the box office scores, so you can get a sense of how audiences reacted, though that’s hardly scientific, and inflation factors in, but once again, we’re not getting into that.

Feel free to send emails or hand-written letters, letting me know how vomit-inducing my Pompeiiscale disaster of a list truly is.

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19 – Thor: The Dark World No disrespect to one of the generally more entertaining superheroes, but this movie could be described in three words: a bit boring. The stakes are high, but that’s not exactly surprising for a superhero movie. There just wasn’t enough driving this film forward.

Domestic Box Office: $206.4 million

18 – The Incredible Hulk (2008) I like Edward Norton. He’s a good actor. But four years later, Marvel literally just switched him out.

It was almost like they wanted us to forget about that second movie they released right after the original Iron Man … Almost. The movie gives us some nice acting and action, but doesn’t amount to much.

Domestic Box Office: $134.8 million

17 – Iron Man 2 (2010) Seemingly the most popular, or at least most famous, of the Marvel clan, Iron Man has put out three solid showings, but this is easily the worst.

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The bad guys, here, just don’t feel threatening enough and you never end up on the edge of your seat.

Domestic Box Office: $312.4 million

16 – Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015) It’s going to start getting difficult to be overly critical. Not a single Marvel movie was genuinely crushed by reviewers or audiences. Many may have this, the second of the Avengers blockbusters, much higher on the list. For me, it drops because of the letdown factor. After the excellence of the first Avengers, Age of Ultron seemed to fall victim to its most obvious trap: trying to fit too much in one film.

Domestic Box Office: $459 million

15 – Captain America: The First Avenger (2011) If you really wanted a slower, more meticulous superhero outing, then you probably really enjoyed this one. For me, it was a bit heavy on the story and a bit weak on the fireworks. It’s splitting hairs,

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really, but while the movie is clearly good, it’s not a standout.

Domestic Box Office: $176.7 million

14 – Iron Man 3 (2013) I kind of can’t believe I’m ranking this so low, but I just can’t justify, in my own brain, moving it in front of any of the flicks yet to be listed. This movie, featuring a very random relationship between Robert Downey Jr. and some kid, made me laugh quite a bit. But I barely remember the central plot, which doesn’t seem ideal.

Domestic Box Office: $409 million

13 – Ant-Man (2015) This one really only gets this high because Paul Rudd is really funny in it. In the grand scheme of the Marvel universe, the character is not hugely (get it?) important (at least not yet), and that mildly tempers the excitement. But again, it’s funny.

Domestic Box Office: $180.2 million

12 – Thor (2011) I actually really enjoyed this movie, so I’m both

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11 – Doctor Strange (2016) Ouch. I’m sure Benedict Cumberbatch is hurting to be left out of the Philm Column top 10. I guess he’ll have to add another four or five career-defining roles/performances over the next 12 months to make up for it. Doctor Strange, one of the studio’s more recent offerings, is a fun and even somewhat challenging affair. It didn’t have an impact on me like some of Marvel’s best did, though.

Domestic Box Office: $232.6 million

10 – Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) Like its predecessor, this one was an absolute blast. There are so many thrilling and funny moments. The Minnesota-born Chris Pratt is a definite star, and the supporting cast is excellent, too. On the negative side, it’s a bit choppy and the story is a little off-kilter.

Domestic Box Office: $389.8 million

9 – Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014) I think some of the most diehard Marvel fanatics rank each of the Captain America movies as the very best of the studio’s selection. Part of that might be because the films carry such an important weight in the overall picture. And The Winter Soldier introduces a very important plot line that has a ripple effect on future movies, and it does it well. It’s a really good movie. But it’s not an alltimer.

Domestic Box Office: $259.8 million

8 – Thor: Ragnarok (2017) Man, I really thought I liked Thor more than this, but apparently I hate his guts. The highest ranking of the Thor trilogy on this list, Ragnarok is massively entertaining. Cate Blanchett as the bad lady, was, simply put, an excellent casting decision. Ragnarok is weird and witty and wonderful.

I think what keeps it from being higher on my list is the ending, which felt a little overwrought and silly (which is kind of dumb to say in reference to superhero movies, but it’s all relative).

Domestic Box Office: $315.1 million

7 – Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017) I feel kind of bad about this one not reaching the top five, because spider-man is such a defining character in the Marvel universe, and the creators did such a marvelous job introducing him to this particular narrative. And my hot take is that Tom Holland is the best of the modern-day spider-mans (followed by Tobey Maguire and then Andrew Garfield, if you’re wondering). He blended seamlessly into the role, and he really captures the disposition of a younger hero. But at this point in the rankings, you gotta have it all, and Homecoming is a little lacking in the drama department.

Domestic Box Office: $334.2 million

6 – Iron Man (2008) According to reviews, this is one of the three best Marvel films of all time, but I think it benefitted from being the first of the series, and therefore was able to impress audiences who had less expectations going in. But this is a great movie. It’s intelligent and interesting and entertaining. Of all the heroes, Robert Downey Jr. is the most identifiable with his character, and that’s because he plays it so well. It’s hard to get tired of that impeccable sarcastic timing. This one’s just not quite as exciting as the top five.

There were times watching this movie when I wasn’t sure if it was truly among Marvel’s best, but by the end I was quite sure, and days later, I was certain. Really, it comes down to the story and how it was executed. This is some heavy material for a blockbuster, but the Russo brothers handled it with aplomb. I really should’ve been rolling my eyes at the end, but because the narrative was so perfectly laid out, I ended up in near tears (I did not cry).

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Domestic Box Office: $472.1 million (as of May 9)

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4 – Captain America: Civil War (2016)

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No Marvel movie has better action than this one. The very best fight scene involves just three characters, and, I imagine, a much smaller budget than some of Marvel’s more exorbitant moments.

When the Captain, Bucky and Iron Man are trading fists, there is an energy that pounds through the screen. The movie, as a whole, plays more like an Avengers offering than a Captain America sequel, but regardless, Civil War was a crucial and ridiculously well-crafted entry.

on Oct. 18, 2018.

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Domestic Box Office: $408.1 million

3 – Guardians of the Galaxy (2014) Of all the Marvel films, this is the most fun to watch. It is so dazzling, so hilarious, so genuinely pleasing. It zips along and almost never slows down. The cast has a perfect mix of energies.

The scenery is full of color and splendor. And the soundtrack reminded everyone that the 70s, known for its rock, had some killer pop, which was beautifully synchronized with the action. It’s not important enough to be the best Marvel movie of all time, but I’d rank it as the most watchable.

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Domestic Box Office: $333.2 miilion

2 – Black Panther (2018)

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Black Panther injected a badly needed dose of diversity into the superhero spectrum, but it would be criminal to write it off from there. This movie was a phenomenon. An origin story that outperformed the first two Avengers films at the box office. And for good reason. The fight scenes are intense, powerful, pointed. The scenery is vibrant and intoxicating. The characters are lovable and feel important. The story was resonant politically with its time, a major feat for a superhero movie.

Nobody – from the directors to the actors to the choreographers to the costume designers – put a foot wrong.

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Domestic Box Office: $693.8 million (as of May 9)

1 – Marvel’s The Avengers (2012) I think this one takes the top spot on my list, because there were so many pitfalls, so many ways this film could go wrong, but it didn’t. And in fact, it was near perfect. There were too many characters to fit into one film, but they made it work. The plot was too grand to manage, but it didn’t matter. The expectations were too high, but it didn’t matter. Moviegoers left the theater feeling more than satisfied. It had the humor of Marvel’s best films, the scale of Marvel’s best films, the quality acting of Marvel’s best films and the importance of Marvel’s best films. It checked every box, and it checked them twice, just to be sure. They just got it so right.

Domestic Box Office: $623.4 million

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Regular Admission $6.00 – with Discount Coupon $5.00 This coupon is good for any of these 2018 sales.

Domestic Box Office: $181 million

5 – Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

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confused and a little sad to see it outside the top 10, but facts are facts. It’s funny; it’s fun; it’s even dramatic. But it’s more of a “fun one to go back to” then a studio-defining victory.

Elko Traders’ Market

Antiques and Vintage Sale 2018 Memorial Day Weekend Sat., May 26th – 8-5 • Sun., May 27th – 9-5 Mon., May 28th – 9-4

Don’t miss these additional 2018 sales!

July 6th, 7th & 8th Labor Day Weekend - Sept 1st, 2nd & 3rd See reverse side for details and directions.

Phone (952) 461-2400 • www.tradersmarket.us • elkotradersmarket@gmail.com

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Mollywood Blvd

MOLLY PENNY Molly Penny is a local radio personality and MSU Mankato alum. It was her love of pop culture that got her interested in doing a morning show gig for KOWZ 100.9. She is now Music and Promotions Director at KOWZ & KRUE Radio in Owatonna and can be heard on various airwaves in Southern Minnesota, including Hot 96.7 in Mankato. She resides in Mankato with her movie buff husband and YouTube obsessed children. Need to contact her?

Shoot her an e-mail mollyp@kowzonline.com or catch her on Twitter at @mollyhoodUSA.

Dads on TV

I

t’s all about the dad’s! In all their glory, with their special lawn mowing shoes, favorite caps, corny jokes and more! Our dads had the hard job of raising us, which in my case, tended to be more of a drama than a sitcom. Sorry, dad! So, in honor of Father’s day in June, I wanted to run down my list of some of the best (and OK, possibly worst) TV Dads of all time.

Almost any list ever done on the topic includes Mike Brady and Walt Cleaver, so I’m going to think outside the box, and feature a few of the more modern day TV dads alongside some of the classics.

10

Archie Bunker All in the Family

Let’s start with the worst. Archie Bunker from All in the Family, everyone’s favorite bigot, makes the list at number 10.

He was a total jerk, but what would a ‘TV dad list’ be without Archie? Let’s face it – a lot of us had dads like him. To the moon!

9

Jack Pearson - This Is Us

(Spoiler alert) OK, so not really a spoiler, they reveal very early on that Jack dies. But the lovely part of the show is it hops around the timeline of the Pearson’s family life, so we still get to see lots of Jack. Basically, he is a gem. About as good a guy as they get.

And, I will admit it, the actor who portrays Jack, Milo Ventimiglia (Jess from Gilmore Girls!) is easy on the eyes.

8

Michael Bluth Arrested Development

Jason Bateman portrayed a dad and CEO of the family company on a short lived series that is nothing short of hilarious! Micheal Bluthor Nicheal Bluth, due to a misprinted birth

certificate, is selfish, dishonest and imperfect, but also endearing and funny. If you’ve missed the antics of the Bluth family as much as I have, watch for the Netflix reboot coming soon.

7

Jason Seaver Growing Pain

Alan Thicke passed away a few years ago, and America mourned. As the smart and loveable father of the Seaver clan, Jason Seaver moved his psychiatric practice into his home to be closer to his family, including his teenage son Mike, who had shenanigans that would make any parent crazy.

Thicke, who was a comedian and host to various shows, is probably most remembered for his role in this family sit-com which ran from 1985-1992.

6

Frank Costanza Seinfeld

It is no wonder why George Costanza is so neurotic. His parents are completely insane! Jerry Stiller’s portrayal of Frank Costanza is one of the most hilarious on screen dads ever. His invention of a holiday, Festivus, which includes such awkward traditions as the airing of grievances, the “fits of strength,” and let’s not forget the Festivus pole, make him a strong candidate for No. 6 as one of the most memorable dads in television history.

5

Dan Conner - Roseanne

Dan is another example of the archetype American dad. John Goodman plays a union man, living in the Midwest, who likes to enjoy a cold one after work. Playing good cop and bad cop with his wife Roseanne at times,

but they almost always came together as a unified parental front. He commands respect, while also providing warm love and humor. He was killed off in the most bizarre twist in the finale of the original series, but thankfully, brought back for the reboot where they gloss over the terrible ending of the show’s original run and poke fun at themselves for it in the first episode. He may be a stubborn man, but one thing that can be said about Dan is he always seems willing to grow and eventually admit when he is wrong. That sort of grace is enviable. Happy to have Mr. Conner back on Fox.

4

Homer Simpson The Simpsons

Matt Groening’s bald headed cartoon dad Homer Simpson, voiced by Dan Castellaneta , makes the list at No. 4. At 29 seasons and counting, The Simpsons is the longest running television series in primetime history. Homer is the archetypical beer drinking American dad who slaves away at a job he hates, in order to support his family.

He gambles, he swears, his third-grade daughter is smarter than he will ever be, and he falls short most of the time, but at the end of the day, the man has a heart of gold and wins his family, and the viewing audience, over, time and time again.

3

Uncle Phil - Fresh Prince of Bel-Air

Not all dads are biological dads.

Uncle Phil is a shout out to the father figures out there teaching life lessons and extending parental duties beyond their own brood. Obviously, the premise of the show is that Will is sent to live with his “Auntie and Uncle in Bel-Air” (You totally rapped that part, didn’t you?). But it is much more than financial support that James Avery’s Uncle Phillip Banks provides. In season four, we meet Will’s biological dad who failed to be present in much of Will’s life. Will puts that behind him and is filled with the sheer excitement of his dad being in town – only for him to leave him again as he had done so many times before.

The episode ends with a shot of Uncle Phil simply embracing Will. Uncle Phil is the father Will, and every kid, deserves to have.

2

Danny Tanner Full House

It did not get more wholesome or charming than Bob Saget’s Danny Tanner of Full House. As the widowed father of 3 girls, he won the hearts of viewers everywhere with his self deprecating humor and knack for the most cliché of dad jokes. Most episodes of the original series would close with Danny at the foot of one of his daughters beds giving a sentimental, drawn out speech about life and consequences, nearly always ending with a hug. He became America’s dad when he took on hosting credits for America’s Funniest Home Videos and later became the “TMI dad” as the voice narrator of dad Ted Moseby in How I Met Your Mother.

1

Andy Taylor Andy Griffith Show

Andy Griffith captivated audiences with his portrayal of Andy Taylor, the widower and single father of a young boy named Opie.

As sheriff of Mayberry and a member of the town council and civic choir, Andy would seem too busy to effectively parent a young boy, but whether it was fishing with Opie, strumming the guitar on the porch, or including him on days on the job with the ridiculous deputy Barney Fife (Don Knotts), he showed audiences that no matter how many roles a man plays, the role of father is indeed his most important. It aired throughout almost the entire decade of the 60s, and if you have a dad in that baby boomer gen, it is likely he modeled some of his parenting off of this show. If that is the case, you were lucky. He earns my spot as the No. 1 greatest TV dad of all time. SMS

Happy Father’s Day to all the fathers and father figures out there!

DOUBLE HITTER DADS: Ed O’Neil gets an honorable mention as a comic genius and type-cast dad, portraying both Al Bundy on Fox’s Married with Children and Jay Prichett on the hit show Modern Family. In retrospect, Cliff Huxtable, played by Bill Cosby on The Cosby Show, who may have made it high on this list prior to recent allegations, now makes the crude Al Bundy look like a saint.

And finally another double-hitter dad, Bryan Cranston, who played Walter White on Breaking Bad and the self-deprecating Hal Wilkerson on Malcolm in the Middle. These two dads could not be more opposite. They also deserve the honorable mention.

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| JUNE 2018

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Red Wing man with

21,000 Albums

Shares Music with Seniors

BY Samantha Stetzer editor@southernminnscene.com

I

f there’s one thing Bob Knutson knows for sure, it’s that a higher power has had a hand in his work.

I’ve got so many God stories, it’s unbelievable,” he said.

There was the time when one of the two dozen or so albums he brought to a senior center from his 21,000-piece collection had a song that was special to a couple for decades. Another time, after getting a request for an obscure album, he found one of seven

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in the world in his donation pile.

For the last four years, Knutson has been bringing vinyl music to senior living facilities, setting up more than 42 Technica Turntables for the residents and swapping out records on a 220-mile trek through Minnesota and Wisconsin each month.

Knutson started “Songs for Seniors – Red Wing, MN” in Red Wing when a neighbor and friend of his passed away, leaving him with a large collection of vinyl records. He donated some to a senior home, just thinking it was a nice gesture.

When he learned from staff of the home how much the residents enjoyed the music and the stories that came from

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“It touches your heart so much to see these seniors happy. They’re special folks too. The stories just keep going on and on and on … It just has fantastic results. I’m looking forward to doing this for a while.

I enjoy it.” - Bob Knutson it, Knutson was astounded.

“On the way home, I just chuckled. She’s embellishing all this … I couldn’t believe what she was telling me,” Knutson said. “(I) took it to another spot; the stories got bigger and better.”

Then he realized he had stumbled into a phenomenon. Memory care wards were lighting up, and senior living facilities were filling with memories.

And he does it all – donating the records, buying the turntables, driving and switching out the records – for free.

“It’s got some magic. I’m hoping it goes across the whole country because it’s just that good,” Knutson said. “A lot of things happen in your life because of timing. This is just a perfect time to do it.”

Since word has gotten out around the state and even the country, Knutson said he’s received more donations of old records.

Monetary donations are also accepted, Knutson said, as they go toward the cost of purchasing turntables for the senior living facilities.

Since stumbling into this, Knutson has also developed and gained a partner of sorts, Kelly Bystrom, owner of Vyntage Vinyl in Red Wing.

Bystrom and his friends help Knutson clean up the records once a week, and Bystrom donates records to Knutson’s cause.

The two became involved with the cause

together when Knutson stopped in Bystrom’s shop one day and explained his mission. Bystrom donated some albums he knew wouldn’t sell, and since then the two have been involved.

“He’s helped me so much; he’s got so much experience. He’s just a great guy. Comes down once in a while, brings a couple of his friends, they clean records for me,” Knutson said. “(He’s) just a super fella, and he feels good about this.”

As a record store owner, Bystrom said Knutson – whom Bystrom called a genuine person – is helping keep traditions alive.

“I don’t like to see the great old music go to waste, and there’s not a lot of people purchasing them,” Bystrom said. “But there’s still a lot of people enjoying them. What he’s doing, it’s helping a lot of senior citizens bring back memories they haven’t thought of in 30, 40 years.”

They are memories Knutson sees brought back to life each month – as part of a mission he hopes to grow.

“It touches your heart so much to see these seniors happy. They’re special folks too,” Knutson said. “The stories just keep going on and on and on … It just has fantastic results.

I’m looking forward to doing this for a while. I enjoy it.” SMS

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4 5

Until 1975, U.S. armed forces included cigarettes in every soldiers’ daily food rations.

Colors of sand you’ll find in the world: pink, black, green, red, white, purple, and orange. What determines the color is the material from which the sand originates – whether it’s rock, coral, or ancient lava.

By Terri Schlichenmeyer

6

In the summertime, because iron will expand in the heat, the Eiffel Tower in France can be measured as six inches higher than it is in the winter.

1 2

The average American eats almost 100 pounds of chicken each year.

Spartan soldiers reportedly wore only cloaks to protect themselves from bad weather – no coats for them! They were almost always barefooted.

3

Nearly half of the toothbrushes sold in the world sport red handles.

9 10 11

Even our ancestors were tormented: mosquitoes have been pestering other Earth creatures for some 30 million years.

The population of Myrtle Beach, SC in the winter: 30,000.

The population of Myrtle Beach, SC in the summer: 350,000.

If you’ve got the time, you can spend one single night in each of the hotel rooms in Las Vegas. But you’ll have to have a lot of time: it would take you nearly three hundred years.

It would take you the rest of your life to spend a single night in each of the rooms at Disney World in Orlando.

7

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The Number One ranking activity undertaken while ��������� ����������������������������� on summer vacation: shopping. Pam DeMorett

Get outta here: vacations have been shown to improve mood and boost brain-function.

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Watermelon is not a fruit. It’s very closely related to the cucumber, which is a vegetable.

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THE An Iliad

Winstock Country Music Festival

Rochester Civic Theatre May 24, 25, 26 & 31 and June 1 & 2 Absolute Theatre, Rochester’s semi-professional theatre, is presenting “An Iliad” by Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hara and directed by Mark Hansen.

Veteran Rochester actor, Larry Sinak, brings his virtuosity to this modern retelling of Homer’s classic about the Trojan War. Masterfully adapted by Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare from Robert Fagles’s acclaimed translation, “An Iliad” telescopes Homer’s Trojan War epic into a gripping monologue that captures A d d y o u r e v en t f o r FREE to the TIMELINE c a l en d a r . G O TO w w w. s o u t h ern minn s c ene . c o m / c a len d a r & C l i c k + A d d a n E v ent

Sat May 19, 2018 Dakota County Master Gardeners Plant Sale May 19th - 9:00 am | Free Dakota County Fairgrounds 4008 220th St. W. Farmington , MN 55024 Shop for quality, Minnesota grown perennials direct from our Master

Gardeners yards. Sale includes vegetables, annuals, heirloom tomatoes and more! Learn more at dakotamastergardeners.org Plant Sale for Mower County Horticultural Society - 9:00 am | Free Mower Co. Senior Center 400 3rd Ave NE Austin, MN 55912 Come join us for the Annual plant sale Featuring clematis from Donahue’sPerennials from Member gardens Dirt cheap boutiqueSome blooming annuals will also be available Event Sponsored by Mower County Horticultural society

Winsted – June 8-9

both the heroism and horror of war. What emerges is a powerful piece of theatrical storytelling that vividly drives home the timelessness of mankind’s compulsion toward violence.

“Intimate, unstuffy, timely, accessible-while preserving a sense of timelessness, and grandeur, [An Iliad] enthralls and pierces your heart…” Seattle Times www.absolutetheatre.org MetroDemic Scavenger Hunt in Saint Paul May 19, 19, Jun 2, 9, 2018 1:00 pm | $35 Landmark Center 75 5th Street West St. Paul, MN 55102 A massive epidemic has hit Saint Paul and it us to you to save the city! In MetroDemic, your team of 2-4 people will compete to save the most lives from a deadly epidemic in 90 minutes.

The game is played outside on the streets of Saint Paul. Lives are saved by finding secret outbreak location questions and answering pub-style trivia questions at each stop.

Special Event - Botanicals - 2:00 pm | Free Blue Earth County Historical Society

Southern minn

History Center 424 Warren Street Mankato, MN 56001 Join us at the History Center for a spring celebration in partnership with Edenvale Nursery and artist Gerry Tostenson. Kim Sogaard, Edenvale Nursery employee and Landscape Designer, will present Gardening with Minnesota Natives and Their Cultivators. Sogaard will have additional information about Minnesota’s nonnative flowering favorites as well.

The Fabulous Vegas Guys - 3:30 pm | $15 in advance, $18 at the door Historic Paramount Theatre 125 4th Ave NE Austin, MN 55912 Las Vegas style variety show featuring

Scene 26

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If you like modern country music, Winstock would have to be considered a sort of paradise for you. In the tiny town of Winsted in Central Minnesota each year, some of the biggest names in country converge. And with them, come thousands of campers, a lot of jean shorts and a lot of drinking.

This year, the lineup is stacked with radio favorites – Dierks Bentley, Miranda Jonny Bird, the Man of Many Hats.

Tickets are $15 in advance or $18 at the door. Concert is a fundraiser for the Mower County Senior Center. For more information, call 507-434-0934.

Sons of Norway Kristiania Social Event - 6:00 pm | Free Our Savior’s Lutheran Church 2124 Viola Rd NE Rochester, MN 55906 Sons of Norway Kristiania 1-47 will hod their social event with a potluck.

The program will be piano music performed by Kristiana Piano Award recipients. Please bring a dish to pass and your own dinnerware.

Lambert, Brothers Osborne, Billy Currington, Luke Combs, Lanco, Walker Hayes and more.

The first few thousand campground spots are already sold out, but limited spots do remain. Tickets start at $130 for general admission, so get ready to spend if you want to go. www.winstockfestival.com

Thas - 7:30 pm | $25-$200 Ordway Center for the Performing Arts 345 Washington Street Saint Paul, MN 55102 A devout monk seeks to convert Thas, a ravishingly beautiful courtesan, but realizes too late that his pious obsession is rooted in lust, not religion.

Minnesota Opera produces Massenets sensual and melodic creation for the first time with Minnesota-born soprano Kelly Kaduce (Rusalka, Tosca, The Shining) in the glamorous title role. Set in the deserts and oases of fourth-century Egypt, this searing drama explores the conflict between the passion of the flesh and the salvation of the soul.

The Spitfire Grill - 7:30 pm | $28 Rochester Repertory Theatre 103 Seventh Street NE Rochester, MN 55906 A feisty parolee follows her dreams to a small town in Wisconsin and a job working at Hannahs Spitfire Grill. The only eatery in the depressed little town is up for sale with no takers. Until the newcomer, Percy, suggests raffling it off for the price of $100 and an essay on why you want the Grill, hope is on the back burner. When the entries start arriving by the wheelbarrow-full, things are definitely cookin at the Spitfire Grill.

The Divers at the Bothy Folk Club - 7:30 pm | $10

July issue deadline is June 1st Contact Pam DeMorett - 507-333-3117 pdemorett@faribault.com

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High Fidelity - 8:30 pm | $30 Electric Fetus 2000 4th Ave S Minneapolis, MN 55404 When Brooklyn record store owner Rob finds himself unexpectedly dumped, his life takes a music-filled turn toward the introspective.

Based on the popular novel by Nick Hornby, High Fidelity follows Rob as he struggles to discover how his relationship went awry, and strives to change his life in order to win back his sweetheart Laura.

Sun May 20, 2018 Thas - 2:00 pm | $25-$200 Ordway Center for the Performing Arts 345 Washington Street Saint Paul, MN 55102 A devout monk seeks to convert Thas, a ravishingly beautiful courtesan, but realizes too late that his pious obsession is rooted in lust, not religion.

Minnesota Opera produces Massenets sensual and melodic creation for the first time with Minnesota-born soprano Kelly Kaduce (Rusalka, Tosca, The Shining) in the glamorous title role. Set in the deserts and oases of fourth-century Egypt, this searing drama explores the conflict between the passion of the flesh and the salvation of the soul.

Rhubard Festival Lanesboro – June 2 The fun starts early with the Rhubarb Run on the beautiful Root River Trail. Then browse the Lanesboro Farmers Market where you’ll find all the in-season spring vegetables and other local delights.

The heart of the festival takes place in Sylvan Park in downtown Lanesboro. Enjoy free rhubarb games and contests including the Tasting Contest where you’ll taste a wide variety of delicious rhubarb treats and vote for your favorite. Great prizes for all events!

Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Mankato 937 Charles Ave. Mankato, MN 56001 The Divers are Peter Bloedel vocals, mandolin, guitar, harmonica, nose flute and more! Peter lives in Mankato,

Minnesota and teaches theater at Bethany Lutheran College in Mankato, Minnesota. Check out his published plays! Turn-ons: Food Turn-offs: Still looking. Loren Halvorson vocals, guitar, bass, melodica, box of junk!

Peggy Reich - 2:00 pm | For tickets or more information, call 507-4340934 or go to www.austinareaarts.org.

Historic Paramount Theatre 125 4th Ave NE Austin, MN 55912 This New York-based pianist will guide the audience through her performance of Puerto Rican music in ‘The Musical Pathways of Love’. For tickets or more information, call 507-434-0934 or go to www.austinareaarts.org.

Other free entertainment includes a rhubarb fashion show (you can be in it), an educational zoo, a story tree, pictures in a rhubarb cutout and Rhub-Art opportunities.

Music fills the park the entire day so bring your lawn chair and enjoy it all. This year music is provided by The Rhubarb Sisters, Matt and Brenda Stier and The Rutabaga Brothers. www.rhubarbfestival.org Stand-Up Comedian Tiffany Norton - 8:00 pm | $16.89 Royal Comedy Theatre 809 Mainstreet Hopkins, MN 55343 Winner 2016 Peoples Choice Award for Best Local Comic by City Pages

Magazine Originally from St. Paul, MN, she is currently a touring stand up comedian, Radio Personality/Traffic Reporter and Executive Producer of the award winning, Moon and Staci Show on KS95-FM 94.5 in Minneapolis.

The Spitfire Grill - 2:00 pm | $28 Rochester Repertory Theatre 103 Seventh Street NE Rochester, MN 55906 A feisty parolee follows her dreams to a small town in Wisconsin and a job working at Hannahs Spitfire Grill. The only eatery in the depressed little town

is up for sale with no takers. Until the newcomer, Percy, suggests raffling it off for the price of $100 and an essay on why you want the Grill, hope is on the back burner. When the entries start arriving by the wheelbarrow-full, things are definitely cookin at the Spitfire Grill.

Looney Lutherans - 4:00 pm | $10-$18 Paradise Center for the Arts 321 Central Ave. Faribault, MN 55021 The Looney Lutherans return with more recipes for laughs and not-sosage wisdom from their cookbook, USE YOUR FOOD. A GUIDE TO HEALTHY LIVING INSIDE AND OUT, FROM OUR KITCHEN TO YOURS, EAT LIKE A LUTHERAN! These original cast members of the Church Basement Ladies, Using use music, comedy, and some help from the audience, to share some age-old wisdom for living a long and healthy life, the Lutheran way.

High Fidelity - 7:00 pm | $30 Electric Fetus 2000 4th Ave S Minneapolis, MN 55404 When Brooklyn record store owner Rob finds himself unexpectedly dumped, his life takes a music-filled turn toward the introspective.

Based on the popular novel by Nick Hornby, High Fidelity follows Rob as he struggles to discover how his relationship went awry, and strives to change his life in order to win back his sweetheart Laura.

Tue May 22, 2018 A Green Pilgrimage May 22, Jun 4, 2018 6:30 pm | $10 Assisi Heights 1001 14th Street NW Rochester, MN 55901 winter has waned, the green season has dawned. The natural beauty of Assisi Heights is dressed up. Now is the opportune time for an environmental pilgrimage-on-foot strolling through the Temple of Nature. The serpentine road carves its way past a colossal cut of limestone to expose a wall creating

the hilly topography of Assisi Heights.

We will discuss the history of the land, conservation practices of prairie, solar panels and other environmental issues.

The BS of Bites and Stings - 7:00 pm | Free Quarry Hill Nature Center 701 Silver Creek Rd NE Rochester, MN 55906 Our speaker, Dr. Ann McKenzie, is a retired family physician with a passion for natural history. A birder, shes also active with the Minnesota Herpetological Society and various Invertebrate groups. A special interest for her has been the application of invertebrate biology to medicine. At this program she will share her knowledge of human reactions to invertebrate actions.

Wed May 23, 2018 The East Metro Symphony Orchestra (EMSO) presents Svensk musik och dans (Swedish Music and Dance) - 7:00 pm | $10$15. $10 ASI members$15 general admission American Swedish Institute 2600 Park Avenue Minneapolis, MN 55407 The East Metro Symphony Orchestra (EMSO) will present a special encore performance of Svensk musik och dans (Swedish Music and Dance), a cultural celebration of Swedish classical and folk music, featuring the Twin Cities Nyckelharpalag and the Twin Cities Swedish Folk Dancers.

Movie Night - McClintock! - 7:30 pm | $5 Historic Paramount Theatre 125 4th Ave NE Austin, MN 55912 $5 for a great night at the movies!

Purchase tickets at concession stand - no advance ticket sales. To request your favorite flick for future showings, email info@austinareaarts.org. For more information, call 507-434-0934. *subject to change

CONTINUED page 28

Over 70 Years of Pappas Family Ownership!

Minnesota Restaurant Association’s 2012 Restaurant of the Year

Superb Cuisine since 1854

The Hubbell House first opened as a stagecoach stop in 1854. Paul Pappas laid his eyes on the old limestone structure in 1946 and knew he had found the location of his dream restaurant. Thanks for voting us for Although times have changed, Early-American hospitality is still available in Mantorville.

BEST FINE DINING

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(25 Miles East on HWY 14, to Kasson Exit, then 2 miles North on HWY 57)

Reservations Recommended | www.hubbellhouserestaurant.com A d d y o u r e v e n t f o r F R E E t o t h e T I M E L I N E c a l e n d a r . G O TO w w w. s o u t h ernminn . c o m / s c ene / c a len d a r & C l i c k + A d d a n E v ent

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FREE EVENT! Sat., June 9th, 2018 12:00 pm - 9:30 pm Minnesota Square Park :30pm

7:30pm-9

North Star Bicycle Festival

Johnny Rawls

Southern Minnesota – June 13-17 Sponsored by North Memorial Health, the North Star Bicycle Festival starts in the metro, before heading south, eventually to the Mankato area, and looping back up to Stillwater.

Cannon Falls, a popular tourist destination in Southern Minnesota, is the trail head for the Cannon Valley Trail – the Midwest’s premier bicycle trail, which runs from Cannon Falls to Red Wing. Cannon Falls also offers the Cannon River Winery, excellent antique shops and great places to eat in its historic downtown. In North Mankato, the festival is teaming up with

5:00pm-7

:00pm

The Butanes m-4:30pm

2:30p

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Fri May 25, 2018

Left Wing Bourbon 12:00pm-

Bad Liquor Manangement

2:00pm

ArtRocks Open Jam Session - 7:30 pm | Free Austin ArtWorks Center 300 North Main Street Austin, MN 55912 The house band sets up and hosts the event.

Players bring their guitars, basses, horns, sticks, keyboards, washboards, etc, and singers and songwriters bring themselves, their words, and their voices. The house band will ‘back’ individual jammers, and allow for groups of jammers to get up and play.

Sat May 26, 2018 A Hard Day’s Night - A Beatles Tribute (Live Music/All Ages) - 7:30 pm | $15$20 Olde Pine Theatre

113 2nd St SW Pine Island, MN 55963 energy, authentic replication of a Beatles performance considered to be one of the top Beatles tribute shows in the nation. Started in 2006, A Hard Day’s Night has quickly become one of the most exciting Beatles tribute bands in the Upper Midwest. They play authentic instruments, wear authentic costumes, and sound just like the records. Sing along with all of your favourite songs as A Hard Day’s Night takes you back to the amazing 1960s with the greatest band there ever was, The Beatles.

Sun May 27, 2018 School Of Rock - The Musical - 7:00 pm | $30 Pantages Theatre 710 Hennepin Avenue Minneapolis, MN 55403 In May 2017, get ready for School of Rock!!

Based of the 2003 movie, much-loved by

Food and Beverages for sale

Proceeds to benefit the Minnesota Square Park improvements.

children and adults alike, comes to life onstage at the Pantages Theater!! with music

by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by Glenn Slater and a book by Julian Fellowes, the musical version Get ready to experience all the fun, the hilarity, and above all the music in the critically acclaimed stage production.

Grab tickets now and treat yourself and the whole family!!

Tue May 29, 2018 The Color Purple - 7:00 pm | $30 Pantages Theatre 710 Hennepin Avenue Minneapolis, MN 55403 Get ready to witness one of the most remarkable musicals of recent times Marsha Normans unlikely onstage adaption of Alice Walkers 1982 novel The Color Purple, telling the sometimes uplifting, often harrowing tale of Celie, an African-American woman in the mid-20th century American South. The win-

ner of multiple awards, the newest incarnation of the musical is a bare-bones version of the original that gets right into the heart of the story. Dont miss out on this truly unique work of musical theatre.

Wed May 30, 2018 Movie Night - A Streetcar Named Desire - 7:30 pm | $5 Historic Paramount Theatre 125 4th Ave NE Austin, MN 55912 $5 for a great night at the movies! Purchase tickets at concession stand - no advance ticket sales.

Fri Jun 1, 2018 Our Next Fabulous Adventure Markets - 4:00 pm | Free Our Next Fabulous Adventure Markets 61437 235th Ave Mantorville, MN 55955 Begun in 2017, NFA outdoor markets feature a variety of artists, makers, growers, bakers selling their unique works. Family & pet friendly, rural setting outside of Mantorville on County 12. Just follow the big yellow signs. Live music & refreshments Friday evenings.

Sat Jun 2, 2018

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a grant from the Prairie Lakes Regional Arts Council, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund, Saint Peter Tourism & Visitor’s Bureau, and the Carl E. & Verna Schmidt Foundation.

No pets allowed, even if they are leashed.

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www.northstarbicyclefestival.com

Deuces Wild Dueling Pianos - 7:30 pm | $23-$28 Paradise Center for the Arts 321 Central Ave. Faribault, MN 55021 The dynamic dueling pianos duo is back!

Dave and Ted have sold out shows at the Paradise and across the country. Deuces Wild Dueling Pianos continues to defy all expectations and experiences of a dueling piano show. Its a zany, witty and wild night of entertainment. Whether you are twenty-five or eighty-five, get ready to be part of the musical action and fun.

www.stpeterambassadors.com

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Artsplash, a local art fair that helps raise money for the North Mankato Library. Meanwhile, the beautiful downtown of Stillwater is always worth a visit.

Here’s the full schedule: June 13 in St. Paul, June 14 in Cannon Falls, June 15 in Minneapolis, June 16 in North Mankato and June 17 in Stillwater.

Pine Island, MN Ribbon Run/Walk 8:30 am | $25 Behind the Pine Island High School 7518, 223 1st Ave SE Pine Island, Mn 55963 Join us as we raise money to Run cancer out of existence. June 2, 2018. Proceeds from

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“ A N ABSOLUTE National Pro Fastpitch Softball Caswell Park in North Mankato – June 19-23 The Mankato Peppers, a youth softball organization, is hosting National Pro Fastpitch In Mankato for a six-game, five-day series.

The Series will feature the NPFs most historic franchise the Chicago Bandits vs Beijing Shougang Eagles. The Beijing Eagles are a Chinese National Team competing in the NPF preparing for the 2020 Olympic games in Tokyo, Japan.

Local standout and NCAA Division II National Champion pitcher Nicole “Coley” Ries currently plays for the Chicago Bandits

this event will be used for cancer esearch, education, screening and treatment programs.

All survivors will be recognized folling the race.

Our Next Fabulous Adventure Markets 10:00 am | Free Our Next Fabulous Adventure Markets 61437 235th Ave Mantorville, MN 55955 Begun in 2017, NFA outdoor markets feature a variety of artists, makers, growers, bakers selling their unique works. Family & pet friendly, rural setting outside of Mantorville on County 12. Just follow the big yellow signs. Live music & refreshments Friday evenings. BYOB. Twilight Garden Club Plant Sale - 10:00 am | Free Historic R.D. Hubbard House 606 S. Broad St. Mankato, MN 56001 Celebrate spring and the blossoming gardens at the Hubbard House! The plant sale will include hardy Minnesota Perennials grown by Club Members including annuals and hostas plus garden dcor. Visitors can learn more about the Twilight Garden Club, enter for door prizes and receive a $1 off coupon for a Hubbard House Tour with each purchase.

Tue Jun 5, 2018 UMR Connects: Choral Arts Ensemble Community Sing - 7:00 pm | Free University of MN Rochester, 4th Floor 111 S. Broadway Rochester, MN 55902 Join Choral Arts Ensemble on Peace Plaza for an evening of singing together. Backed by a small combo, we’ll engage in ‘group karaoke’ of classic Broadway and pop hits of the 60’s and 70’s. Choral Arts Ensemble, founded by Artistic Director Rick Kvam in 1985, is an auditioned choir whose members come from all over southeast Minnesota.

Wed Jun 6, 2018 Berne Wood-Fired Pizza Summer Concert Series Jun 6, 13, 2018 5:00 pm | Free Zwingli United Church of Christ 23148 County Highway 24 West Concord, MN 55985 Free live music every Wednesday night at Berne (West Concord)! Two live bands each night, beginning at 5 pm and 6:30 pm, on the beautiful grounds of Zwingli United Church of Christ. Pizza and refreshments available for purchase.

Matisyahu Performing Live! - 7:00 pm | $31-$60 Cabooze 917 Cedar Avenue Minneapolis, MN 55404 GRAMMY-nominated artist Matisyahu has announced his 2018 Strength To Strength Tour alongside eight-time Grammy award winning singer, musician and producer Stephen Marley.

Thu Jun 7, 2018 Recycled Art Sale Jun 7, 9, 2018 12:00 pm | Free Paradise Center for the Arts 321 Central Ave. Faribault, MN 55021

If you are, or if you’ve recently redecorated, moved, downsized, or inherited art, please donate to the Recycled Art Sale. If you’re looking for new artistic treasures, then shop the Recycled Art Sale, you never know what you will find! Proceeds from the sale benefit the Paradise Center for the Arts and the Mural Society of Faribault.

Sat Jun 9, 2018 PhotoRx Class - Minneapolis - 8:00 am | $199 Mill City Museum 704 South Second Street Minneapolis, MN 55401 Join Phillip Breker on Saturday, June 9th, 2018 and learn how to take better photos, enjoy great food and have fun at Mill City Museum in downtown Minneapolis! Get out of auto mode and harness the potential of your creativity!

Free Family Day - 1:00 pm | Free 125 Live Center for Active Adults 125 Elton Hills Dr NW Rochester, MN 55901 Join us at 125 LIVE for Free Family Day, an intergenerational afternoon. The Community is invited to participate in family fitness activities like yoga, zumba and dance parties as well as create art in our painting, drawing and pottery studios. Meets the 2nd Saturday 1- 4 PM of every month.

The Daisy DillmanDOUGH Acoustic Returns FROZEN to Thrill Fans - 8:00 pm | $20-$23. $20 in advance, the door. PIZZA TAKE$23Nat BAKE Crossings 320 East Ave Zumbrota, MN 55992 GLUTEN FREE Stymie, Feagan & Pat the three original lead vocalists and founding members of the BULK BAKING Daisy Dillman Band, bring their well known 3-part high harmony to an unplugged and ICE Marking CREAM intimate setting. their 40 plus years together, its humor, stories, originals and the CAKE best of West Coast Country Rock: Poco, DECORATING Eagles, Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young.

and will be featured in the series.

The event could bring 3,000 to 5,000 visitors to the area, rivaling what one week of Vikings Training Camp would have brought to the area. That’s welcome news, as Vikings Training Camp will no longer head to Kato

RIOT”

GREAT RIVER SHAKESPEARE F E S T I V A L 507.474.7900 | grsf.org

www.mankatopeppers.com

A Summerset Theatre production. In this hilarious satire of musical theatre, one story becomes five delightful musicals, each written in the distinctive style of a different master of the form. The basic plot: June is an ingnue who can’t pay the rent and is threatened by her evil landlord. Will the handsome leading man come to the rescue?

Austin Community Band Concert - 7:00 pm | Free Bandshell Community Park 4th Street and 9th Pl SW Austin, MN 55912 Free concert! Bring your blanket or lawn chair, kick back, and enjoy the music!

Thu Jun 14, 2018 SEMVA Art Gallery of Rochester Showcases Artists - 5:00 pm | Free SEMVA Art Gallery 320 S. Broadway Av Rochester, MN 55904 SEMVA Art Gallery of Rochester Showcases Artists, June 14 SEMVA Gallery (Southeastern Minnesota Visual Artists) will be hosting member art receptions throughout the summer. The first reception will be held Thursday, June 14 from 5-7 pm and will showcase the works of three of their artists including Beth Sievers, Joel DesLauriers, and Judy SayeWillis who all incorporate natural elements into their work.

FROZEN DOUGH · TAKE N BAKE PIZZA GLUTEN FREE · BULK BAKING ICE CREAM · CAKE DECORATING

Graduation Headquarters!

Tue Jun 12, 2018 UMR Connects: Honors Choir of SE MN Performs Music from Wizard of OZ - 6:45 pm | Free University of MN Rochester, 4th Floor 111 S. Broadway Rochester, MN 55902 Honors Choirs of Southeast Minnesota is a nonprofit organization of four youth choirs for grades 3-12, and a musical learning class for children in grades 1 & 2. Founded in 1992, its mission is to promote the highest standard of excellence in the preparation and performance of choral music, seeking to provide artistic challenge and growth opportunities for youth throughout the region and enjoyment for the community at large.

Wed Jun 13, 2018 Musical of Musicals, the Musical Jun 13, 14, 2018 7:00 pm | $18 for adults, $10 for students Frank W. Bridges Theatre, Riverland Community College 1900 8th Ave NW Austin, MN 55912

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Southern minn

Scene July issue deadline is June 1st

Publish date is June 15 Contact Pam DeMorett - 507-333-3117 pdemorett@faribault.com

Go to

southernminnscene.com

to submit your pet photo and vote Questions please email Philip editor@southernminnSCENE.com An all-day, all-ages celebration of the music, art, and food of Southeast Minnesota.

Accepting applications for artist vendors through July 31. Visit our website for application details and event information.

Chatfield Center for the arts

7 • Monroe Crossing |21507.884.7676 405 Main St April S April • Beach Boys Tribute May 19 • Greg Brown chatfieldarts.org

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Floral Design Elements Melissa Tellijohn Melissa is a designer at The Design Element in the Mankato Design Center. She can assist with your design projects from planning to final product selections in addition to assistance with floral arranging!

T

he love of art generally drives the mind of a person who chases visual perfections. My interest in design stems beyond or beside Interior Design.

I found art to be a big part of my life at a young age. When I grew up, and owned my own home, I quickly became interested in interior design; with a particular passion for midcentury modern. I soon ran out of space to fill in my home, and found myself looking outside to the landscaping for the opportunity to design something new. Landscaping quickly led to floral gardening and soon to floral design. I loved the concept of completing the look of a space using containers that fit the style of a design and how the flower selection revealed a very important part of my design concepts. Soon after, I began

designing for others and bringing these concepts into their space.

Flowers are strong indicators of style when placed in a space. They can replace art or compliment the objects in a room. Floral arrangements can enhance a space by simply considering what they are put in.

Character can be brought to a home or business simply by using textured ceramics or ceramics with rich glazes.

It may be more important to find the right vase or pottery piece than deciding what to put in it. These objects can work as an anchor and be beautiful on their own, or be enhanced by filling them with the soft beauty of blossoms.

Lets be realistic though, not all can afford to keep replenishing their space with perishable products every

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week. Not all flowers have to be fresh cut to deliver the same great effect. Silk faux flowers of a higher quality will appear to be very realistic and can be professionally arranged to co-ordinate with the style of any interior; everything from rustic and country, to eclectic and contemporary. So often floral arrangements are viewed solely as gifts for a holiday or celebration. Granted these are great reasons to gift flowers or decorate for an event. But as a Designer, I would encourage the use of floral design in any home or business space as a happy and welcoming detail. A wreath on the door to represent the change of seasons or to celebrate the holidays is a great way to welcome friends and family to your home.

It softens the harsh components of metal and glass. Planters filled with flowers and foliage outside our homes and businesses can create the same soft, welcoming effect.

In design, it’s important to consider all elements of the surroundings.

Color and proportion are key factors.

Ask yourself, “What look and feel am I trying to accomplish?” Once you establish a concept, sketch a design idea keeping in mind color, texture, open space (or void space), and the sharp lines that play into the arrangement. Again, the container is key in creating a piece of art and very often

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directs the design. Designing the interior of a space, painting a picture, landscaping, or making a bouquet, fresh or faux, are all rooted in the same elements and principles. Here are some of the main points to focus on: Element one: Line Line provides many things for a design. It provides the shape and structure. The line also allows the person looking at the arrangement to find a path. There are many ways a designer can create these lines.

Element two: Color The most visually noticeable concept for most people to see is color.We all have favorite colors but, it’s far more important to understand the color wheel and how colors can play off each other.

Element three: Form Height, width, and depth is what creates form. It is the hardest part of design I feel, because it takes a bit of practice to truly perfect.

Element Four and Five: These go hand-in-hand and create

diversity and interest that helps a viewer notice the different individual flowers.

Just like creating a painting or sculpture, putting together the perfect floral arrangement for your space takes practice and some trial and error. Luckily, if you don’t want to invest that much time and energy, there are many professionals, boutiques, and design studios that would be happy to help you. Many even have beautiful arrangements already made and ready for purchase.

With Spring upon us, and Summer just around the corner, consider bringing some of the outdoors in by adding some well done, well made, and carefully considered floral arrangements to your home.

SPONSORED BY

The Design Element 1711 Premier Drive Mankato, MN 507.345.8708

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Biking

The

Dana cross country.

BY GRACE WEBB editor@southernminnscene.com

The trails and tribulations for the SoMinn biking community 32

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W

hen Mankato resident Dana Sikkila got onto her bike to ride home from work one night in January, it seemed like any other for the avid bicyclist. As always, she was covered in protective gear and riding with working lights to stay safe along the poorly lit streets.

Leaving her art studio, the 410 Project, she biked along downtown Mankato until she reached the residential area of lower North Mankato and turned onto the street where her house is located.

Cars were parked on both sides of the street, making it narrow and cramped, but she wasn’t worried; at 10 p.m., there wasn’t much traffic around — except for

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a car she could hear coming up behind her. She figured the car would go around her or at least slow down, but instead, it accelerated.

And then it hit her.

The car rammed into Sikkila’s back tire, launching her forward and sending her skidding along the icy pavement until her bike flew out from underneath her.

She fell backwards onto the snow, hitting it so hard that she received a concussion.

The car never stopped to check on her.

“It felt very strategic and planned,” Sikkila said afterwards. “It took me a couple days to realize what had happened, and then I started getting really angry about it. Someone did this, and it completely affected my physical body.

Someone instantly took away my physical and mental strength.”

Unfortunately, Sikkila’s story isn’t unique. During the past year, several people have spoken up about being harassed and injured while biking in Southern Minnesota. Besides being hit, Sikkila has had eggs thrown at her three times since moving to Mankato in 2008, and she said drivers have shouted at her to “get off the road,” honked and more

while she was using bicycle lanes.

“It’s something that’s been happening a lot this past year in Mankato,” she said.

“People biking … they shouldn’t have to feel like they’re at risk of being physically hurt or harassed. If you ask 10 bikers if they’ve been harassed, the majority will say ‘Yes.’ You start wondering, ‘Is it safe for me to ride by myself? Is it safe for me to ride on a street with no bike lanes?’ It’s to that point.”

A thriving bike community Sikkila, who has biked in cities across the country, said she has never had as much of an issue anywhere else compared to Mankato.

“A lot of people who bike in this town would say there’s a lot of negative backlash towards people who bike,” she said.

“It’s a weird mix of positive and negative energy when it comes to people and their opinion about cyclists in this town, compared to anywhere else I’ve gone.”

Yet Sikkila is quick to praise Mankato’s bike scene, saying the city does an

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Making residential areas safer People may feel nervous about biking next to fast-moving traffic, but Sikkila said it’s actually residential areas that have been the most dangerous to her friends in the biking community.

“Any time I’ve had an issue, it’s never in the downtown area,” she said. “We should focus more on residential areas.”

She said one problem is how many residential streets don’t have very good lighting. Adding lights and sidewalks to streets that have none could go a long way in helping cyclists stay safe, she said, especially at night.

Dana on tour.

“amazing” job of making it easy for cyclists to get around the city. She points to the city’s numerous bike lanes and extensive trail system, which can even take people to places such as Eagle Lake and Faribault. In addition, the biking community is active, welcoming and full of opportunities, whether you prefer mountain biking, road cycling, fat tire bikes or even bike polo.

Key City Bike is a nonprofit organization that teaches people how to repair their own bikes, along with reclaiming and recycling old bikes to offer at low prices, and the Nicollet Bike Shop not only sells bikes but also hosts group rides and offers biking clinics.

The Mankato Area Mountain Bikers (MAMB) Club and Mankato High School Mountain Bike Team both offer people the chance to explore mountain biking, while the Blue Skunks polo team swaps horses for bikes every Thursday evening.

In addition, annual events such as the Mankato River Ramble have become beloved staples of the biking community. The ramble is a 12-50 mile ride (depending on riders’ preferences) that takes bikers along five scenic routes in Southern Minnesota every October. Then there’s the Mayo Health Clinic’s annual bike rally, where the clinic offers helmet fittings and discounted helmets courtesy of Scheels, and the annual Mayors’ Bike Ride, hosted by Mankato and North Mankato mayors Eric Anderson and Mark Dehen in May. “Mankato is a really good biking community, just in terms of the people,” said Lee Ganske, president of Greater Mankato Bike and Walk Advocates. “We’ve got all the ingredients to make for a good bike community.”

In fact, Mankato and North Mankato were designated a “bronze” Bicycle Friendly Community by the League of American Bicyclists in 2016, making the area one of only around 200 in the nation to receive such a distinction. This selection was thanks in part to the area’s 26-plus miles of trails and the city’s “share the road” perspective whenever it works on street projects. Dozens of bike lanes have been added in recent years, and the city also added five bike repair stations last year.

“Any street project is looked at from a multi-modal perspective, whether it’s a simple overlay of bituminous or a full reconstruction project,” explained Mankato City Councilor Mike Laven. “It’s somewhat of a

Trailside bike repair. standing marching order, business as usual, how we look at bikes and transportation as a whole. It’s not just cars.”

More to be done Mankato has made a lot of progress in recent years when it comes to making the city more bike-friendly, but, according to Acacia Wystaske, executive director of Key City Bike, it still has a ways to go.

“I feel like Mankato is way behind on being a bike-friendly community,” she said.

“But with that being said, I see they’re trying to move forward.”

Wystaske said making Mankato safer for cyclists could mean radically overhauling the way the city looks at transportation, pointing out that bigger cities such as Minneapolis have worked to narrow roads, broaden sidewalks and slow traffic speed so that it’s safer for other modes of transportation. She also suggested adding far more bike lanes

Blue Skunks bike polo.

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Educating bicyclists When it comes to keeping streets safe for everyone, it isn’t just drivers who need to learn to share the road — bicyclists sometimes don’t understand traffic laws either.

“There are people out there who are biking and not following the rules,” Sikkila said. “Cyclists are responsible for knowing those rules too.”

When bicyclists use roads, they’re required to follow traffic laws such as riding in the same direction as other traffic, stopping at stop signs, yielding at yield signs and passing on the left. In addition, bikers are encouraged to always wear protective gear, use lights on their bikes and wear reflexive clothing that can catch drivers’ eyes—as well as making eye contact with drivers to ensure that the driver sees them.

“As a biker, it’s our job to put ourselves in safe situations,” Sikkila said.

Eggs.

Mankakto Area Mountian Bikers (MAMB).

Mankato River Ramble.

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throughout Mankato and North Mankato, even if they’re just temporary lanes that give new riders the chance to feel safer while commuting across town.

“People feel safer when there’s a bike lane,” she said. “I would like the city to plan more bike lanes, especially in our downtown area. Why not get more cars off the road?

Right now, our society is very car-centric.

[The city] could go a lot further, making it more pedestrian friendly. That’s really how city centers thrive.”

Wystaske said she personally hasn’t had many problems while using bike lanes, saying Mankato drivers have been pretty good about giving her space and treating her as another vehicle. The biggest danger, she said, is when someone opens a car door to exit the vehicle and doesn’t first check to make sure there isn’t a bicyclist passing by.

Another concern Wystaske has is how police and public safety respond to accidents involving bicyclists.

“They have procedures they have to go by, but those procedures don’t protect

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cyclists,” she said. “The head coach of our mountain biking team was hit about six months ago, and it was really poorly handled. The driver only got charged with driving with an expired license — not failure to yield, not attempted manslaughter.”

She added that representatives from both Mankato Public Safety and the highway patrol attended the most recent Greater Mankato Bike and Walk Advocates meeting, which at least helped people understand more of the legal side of things.

“We didn’t make a lot of progress, but we heard their side,” she said. “Based on their professional procedures, there’s only so much they can do, and their hands are tied.”

“That’s a real serious concern for us,” Ganske agreed. “We have a desire that law enforcement and public safety take a little more active role in policing bad driving and bad cyclist behavior. It just doesn’t seem like it’s a very high priority. [But] cyclists and pedestrians are super vulnerable… What would be a fender bender for two cars can be fatal if it’s a vehicle crashing into a cyclist.”

“I understand that frustration,” Coun-

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Mankato River Ramble.

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Call For Artists

FESTIVAL

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Fat tire bking in the winter.

cilor Laven said. “What’s the purpose of having these laws if these people aren’t held accountable? It’s very similar to how other crimes are reported and/or handled, whether it be assaults or property crimes or violent crimes. If we really don’t have an understanding of how to respond to these types of crimes … what other things do we do differently or not consistently?”

Changing attitudes As important as physical improvements like bike lanes are, the biggest way to make Mankato a more bike friendly community is changing people’s attitudes about biking. As Sikkila explains, Mankato’s biking community is strong, but it isn’t a totally accepted part of the Mankato community as a whole.

“There’s still kind of a separation between a biking community and a driving community,” she said. “Biking is

really strong, but they’re not really strong together. We’re putting all this work into bike positivity, but as a community, we’re backtracking, not just by little things but big things like being physically injured or harassed. It’s [affecting] people’s… interest to bike.”

She says education is the biggest part of bringing the two communities together, and there are already efforts across the city to raise awareness about biking, both for drivers and for bicyclists. Key City Bike volunteers work with elementary students at after-school programs, teaching kids how to commute safely on the road, and the organization also offers workshops for cyclists on everything from basic maintenance to shift cable replacements.

Meanwhile, Greater Mankato Bike and Walk Advocates have certified instructors through the League of American Bicyclists who are able to meet groups across Mankato to teach about bike safety.

Updating Riverfront Drive When the city of Mankato announced last year that it was planning to improve Riverfront Drive, one of the city’s largest corridors, biking enthusiasts hoped the updates would keep cyclists in mind — but not everyone is happy with how the ultimate proposal looks.

“They’re not putting in bike lanes,” Wytaske explained. “That’s so backwards.”

She said she contacted the city to express her concern and was told that she should just use the bike lanes on Broad Street, but that’s out of her way.

“I’m not going to get out of my way to get on a bike lane just because [they] designed something from the 1960s,” she said. “I have every right to be on the road.”

Wystaske said she’d like to see the city of Mankato become even more involved in educating people about bicycling, such as including blurbs and videos about bike safety on its Facebook page and “Visit Mankato” website.

Overall, everyone could get more involved in addressing the problem, Sikkila added.

“People think it’s just a personal problem, but a topic like biking is a community’s problem,” Sikkila said. “That’s a community issue that we need to address on a bigger level. We’re creating these experiences… [and] giving people that sense of negativity through something that’s supposed to be an amazing experience. That shouldn’t be happening.”

No matter what happens, though, Sikkila will not let herself be discouraged.

“I’m not going to stop biking,” she said. SMS

WORKSHOP

THEATER

When asked about the Riverfront proposal, Laven said the city is still looking at ways to make the corridor safer and more accessible to other types of transportation. One idea is slowing down traffic, while another is reducing lanes from four to three.

“Part of me thinks that’ll make it easier to bike on the street because you’re narrowing the road and reducing the speeds,” he said. “It’s similar to residential areas.”

No matter what happens with the project, though, Laven stressed that bikes have the right to be on the road.

“Bikes are perfectly fine on any part of the street,” he said. “Sometimes people have the perspective that, if the bike isn’t in the bike lane, the bike’s in the wrong. But people need be more aware that bikes can be everywhere.”

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ALBUM REVIEW

By Daniel G. Moir editor@southernminnscene.com

O

n her third album, singer Janelle Monáe delivers an innovatively inspired release that is honest and funky.

Album Grade: A

Janelle Monáe Dirty Computer

Released shortly after the second anniversary of Prince’s death, Janelle Monáe takes up the purple one’s mantle to deliver a daring, tuneful collection of songs that is both commercial and challenging. Lyrically direct, Monáe drops the Cindi Mayweather alter ego used on her two prior concept albums to move on to a new narrative that reveals the artist’s deeply personal side. Much of Dirty Computer’s concept, and accompanying mini-movie, centers on oppression of sexuality and race. While Monáe maintains her continued science fiction futurism, she is clearly rooted in the issues of today.

Beach Boy Brian Wilson’s harmonies accompany the opening title track that illustrates the record’s premise. People are viewed as computers and those outside the generally accepted straight, “mainstream” population are considered “dirty.” They are then cleared of bugs and “re-programmed” into a more acceptable version.

Dirty Computer is an album about resistance to oppression and the acceptance of self, regardless of whether or not it makes others uncomfortable. Monáe’s vision and focus throughout make this a “concept album” that deserves to stand with Tommy, American Idiot, The Wall and other classics of the genre.

On leadoff single “Make Me Feel,” Monáe both starts from, and improves upon, Prince’s hit “Kiss” to assemble a spare, funky dance song. Prior to release, Monáe had indicated that the late musician was highly involved in the album and this tune in particular. Even a casual listener can spot his fingerprints all over it. An unusual descending vocal line is repeated prior to the chorus and gives the song an innovative quality that stands out.

The funny and frank “Screwed” features Zoë Kravitz and goes directly for the jugular lyrically. Her directness is dark, quick and to the point. While the sharp lyrics may shock, it is the muscular, funky bass line that drives the song musically. Pared with the catchy, bright melodies, this track is instantly memorable and will lodge into your head. “Screwed” segues into “Django Jane” making the latter feel like a coda to its catchy predecessor. The skill at which Monáe delivers her lyrical grenades on the first sunshine wrapped song is both impressive and engaging.

The variety of musical styles and references that shape Dirty Computer is what

makes it such a special work. “Take A Byte” is slinky and danceable, while the “fifties-styled” vocal harmonies found on “I Like That” are sweet, unusual and reminiscent of New Jersey trio, The Roches. In this song, Monáe recounts childhood experiences that shaped and informed the person she would later become. She is unapologetic in owning who she is, and the self-confidence shown makes this a winner.

Monáe makes good use of guests like Pharrell Williams on “I Got The Juice,” and Grimes who appears on the delicately charming “Pynk,” but at no time do they overwhelm or distract from Monáe’s singular vision. The contributions simply add new shades of color to the sonic picture and enhance the already impressive work.

The uplifting, raving “Americans” give the album a fitting closure. While homophobia, racism, and sexism are the album’s dominant theme, Monáe uses this last song to further expand her scope to issues that eventually oppress nearly everyone. It is a quest for unity among all citizens. Calling out gender disparity in income (“Seventy-nine cent to your dollar”), as well as police brutality before intoning “Until poor whites can get a shot at being successful, this is not my America” to end the album. This is a mature, honest look at the negative aspects of American history, but by also declaring “I pledge allegiance to the flag” in her lyrics, Monáe also offers up the direct promise of “life liberty and the pursuit of happiness” referenced earlier on the album in “Crazy, Classic Life.”

Ultimately, Dirty Computer succeeds due to the authenticity Monáe brings to it. Sexual identity and gender politics are all over the release, and Monáe’s recent announcement on her own sexual identity give the album nuance and credibility.

Where Taylor Swift’s martyr preoccupation on Reputation failed due to lack of believability, here Monáe’s raw, intimate directness affirms that this is an artist who has experienced what she is talking about.

While commercially successful, the much larger attention garnered by artists like Bruno Mars and Beyoncé as an important major star has so far eluded her. Dirty Computer is the rare record that every one of the 14 tracks included is absolutely essential, both for the emotional story and the musical cohesiveness. This will be the album where Monáe makes the leap to the very front level of fame and respect.

Bottom Line: This is the best album of 2018 so far. An honest, insightful work of social critique from an artist who makes a leap from moderately popular to IMPORTANT with its release. SMS Daniel G. Moir has forgotten more about music than all the rest of us know combined. Reach him at editor@southernminnscene.com

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THE BOOKWORM SEZ By Terri Schlichenmeyer

Bad Men and Wicked Women

by Jerome Dickey

Natural Causes

by Barbara Ehrenreich

Tomorrow: A Novel

by Damian Dibben

The Trauma Cleaner:

One Woman’s Extraordinary Life in the Business of Death, Decay, and Disaster

by Sarah Krasnostein

Terri Schlichenmeyer is a book reviewer based just across the river from SoMinn in LaCrosse, WI. She can be contacted at bookwormsez@gmail.com

Blood is thicker than water.

That’s what they say: your relationship with family – blood – is stronger than any connection you’ll have with someone unrelated. Blood is thicker than water – except, perhaps, as in the new novel “Bad Men and Wicked Women” by Eric Jerome Dickey, when the blood shed is your own.

Fifty thousand dollars is a lot of money.

But that’s how much Ken Swift’s estranged daughter, Margaux, suddenly demanded of him.

She claimed that it was payback for all the years he was absent. She said it was a small price to pay for abandoning her. And then, just in case he had no plans to give her the cash, she uttered a name that he never wanted to hear again.

It was a name that went far into his history, one that tied

him to his boss, San Bernardino, who told Swift what to do and where to be. San Bernardino was why Swift put Margaux off: he had business to take care of on the swanky side of town. Richard Garrett owed somebody some money that he wasn’t paying, and Swift and his best friend, Joe Ellis, were told to take care of the problem.

But a quick visit to Garrett’s mansion opened a world of issues that Swift didn’t need. Joe Ellis, an “instigator” and woman-magnet, flirted with Garrett’s wife, which spun Garrett into a rage. Though Garrett promised to have the money to San Bernardino by that night, Ken Swift sensed that that wasn’t the last they’d see of him.

It wasn’t as if Swift couldn’t use more money himself.

Without that fifty grand, Margaux was threatening to take the secret name to the police. Margaux’s mother was back in the States from Africa, and Swift realized that he was still in love with Jimi Lee. All this made him forget his girlfriend’s birthday, and Rachel Redman was threatening to return to her Russian lover. Swift was up to his neck in women with problems – a neck that was stuck far enough out to be vulnerable to attack…

One strong indicator of a good book is how eager you are to return it. “Bad Men and Wicked Women” surely fills that bill.

Don’t expect that feeling immediately, though. Author Eric Jerome Dickey takes his time getting to the point here; there’s plenty of fluff-dialogue in this tale that doesn’t do much but fill pages, and some that screams “TMI.” We don’t, for instance, need several pages on one character’s intestinal problems.

What we do need is action, and it arrives in a page-turning fury that handily douses the superfluousness that precedes it.

Its presence is like getting your back scratched: it puts you in a mood and you don’t want it to end. Indeed, larger-than-life scenarios are near-hallmarks in a Dickey novel, and nobody does them better.

Yes, there’s trash, flash, and violence in this book but you shouldn’t be surprised. You wouldn’t want it any other way, in fact, because “Bad Men and Wicked Women” is thick with thrills.

We all gotta go sometime.

For most of us, that time is later: eight, nine decades of wringing out every last drop of life, if we’re lucky. A few tucks here, a little dye there, hours at the gym, smaller meals, and we might manage to get a year or two more – although, as Barbara Ehrenreich reminds in her new book “Natural Causes,” you can run from your own mortality, but you can’t hide.

Some time ago, Barbara Ehrenreich decided to forego most recommended medical tests.

It wasn’t because she was feeling rebellious; instead, she thought that such tests seemed to be looking for problems that didn’t exist, with “overdiagnosis” as an end result. And besides, Ehrenreich decided, she was “old enough to die.”

The fact of the matter is, we all are. The freedom to acknowledge that, and to reject panicked unnecessaries concerning our health, “is worth celebrating.”

It all begins before we’re even born, in what Ehrenreich calls “rituals.” Until the 1970s, for example, women gave birth in positions more convenient to their doctors, and they did it without question; before that, laboring mothers were often rendered unconscious to have their babies. The tide turned, in part, because women were empowered enough to start demanding change.

Yes, Ehrenreich admits, there are many good reasons to have vaccines, tests, screenings, and exams – but there are many good reasons not to. Some cancers, especially those that hit elder patients hardest, are slow-growing enough that it’s safer not to treat them. Going for a full head-totoe physical may make you feel better, but that doesn’t guarantee that a problem won’t crop up a week after you’ve had one. Some treatments, she says, can even backfire, and make things worse.

Okay, so you’ll just self-monitor, try to eat right, and stay active, then.

Sure. But remember one thing….

Says Ehrenreich “Many of the people who got caught up in the health ‘craze’… – people who exercised, watched what they ate, abstained from smoking and heavy drinking –

have nevertheless died.”

And there you have it: author Barbara Ehrenreich’s book is not so much an anti-medical-establishment treatise. Though not always complimentary about medicine in general, she’s balanced. She’s not against healthy lifestyles at all. Instead, “Natural Causes” is more of a reminder that you can rant, wail, avoid “junk food,” and exercise until your muscles scream, and you’re still not getting out alive.

Even so, reading this book will make you see your body in a different light. Ehrenreich writes about cutting-edge science and in doing so, makes the human body seem like a cellular-level Ninja Warrior. That total badness can work quietly, unseen, against us, as researchers recently discovered to their horror, which proves the whole premise of this book: when it comes to our health, we only think we can control it.

Yeeks, that’s a sobering idea but it’s softened by wry humor and fascinating, eyebrow-raising info that’s irresistible.

For science geeks, the health conscious, and anyone who dreams of immortality, “Natural Causes” is a book you gotta go get.

You have a little shadow.

All day long, wherever you go, your dog is right beside you. He goes from bedroom to kitchen, to the garage, to the TV; if you’re there, so is he. He follows you everywhere – as in the new novel, “Tomorrow” by Damian Dibben, he’d even follow you through the centuries.

His master told him to wait by the cathedral steps.

And so he did, for two hundred twenty-five years, since they day they were separated by a crowd inside that stone building.

He even slept nearby, waiting, in case there was one molecule of smell from the man he loved – but there was nothing.

Once, they lived in a palace and life was an adventure.

His master had been a chemyst who could cure anything and his potions were known throughout the land, but few

noticed that he never aged. Indeed, because of a powder his master created and the crescent-shaped belly scar they shared, they’d seen many centuries together, good times and bad, love, pain, and death. He thought about those times as he waited on the cathedral steps, until the day he caught a scent that made him think his master was near.

He wasn’t.

Instead, it was the man named Vilder, a colleague of his master’s who’d caused much anguish. He was never sure if Vilder was benign or cruel, threatening or cajoling; Vilder interested him, and frightened him, both. He’d seen Vilder tender with his lover, a soldier; and he’d seen Vilder in a rage. He’d smelled danger then.

He smelled it again now, and though he had friends in the city and he’d been told to wait, he had to follow their enemy. He had to see if Vilder might lead him to a reunion.

Vilder, as he knew, could be the last link to his master…

The very first thing you’ll notice, as you start “Tomorrow,” is how the dog-narrator’s voice sounds inside your head. It’s got strength and intelligence, it’s keenly emotional, and it’s there immediately.

From that surprising beginning, author Damian Dibben takes readers on a tour spanning more than two centuries in a dazzling story that’s rich with details. The language is perfect, the scenarios lend a whiff of magic, there’s chance to shed a tear or two, and the history is dead-on. It’s fantasy without being fantastical - and yet, that’s still not the main appeal of this book.

What will pull readers in and keep them there is the narrator himself, a dog whose name we don’t learn until the end of the tale. This is an animal you’ll wish were yours.

You’ll think of your own pooch as you read this story of faithfulness and friendship, loss, hope and despair. You’ll understand its urgency, and you’ll turn pages like mad…

Alas, because of its dark fairy-tale tone, this book won’t appeal to everyone. Even so, if you loved Umberto Eco, James Owen, or tales of palace intrigue, war, and danger, you’ll love “Tomorrow,” without a shadow of a doubt.

Wash your hands thoroughly.

That’s good advice, no matter where you are. At the risk of sounding germophobic, you never know what lurked on that which you just touched. Stay healthy, keep clean, be tidy, and wash your hands because, as you’ll see in the new book “The Trauma Cleaner” by Sarah Krasnostein, messy life, messy house.

The woman didn’t seem very old, but it was really hard to tell. She wouldn’t let anyone past her screen door – as if the stench wasn’t enough to keep most people away.

Hoarder situations like that, suicides, undiscovered deaths, and accidents are business-as-usual for Sandra Pankhurst, 60-something owner of Specialized Trauma Cleaning (STC) in Australia. But as author Sarah Krasnostein learned when she befriended her, Pankhurst extends to those clients compassion, and nothing less.

There was ample reason for that.

Although many of the questions Krasnostein asked Pankhurst were waved away with claims of disremembering,

it’s true that Pankhurst was born a boy, raised as a boy, became a man, married a woman, and fathered two sons.

But “Peter,” as Krasnostein pseudonymously calls Pankhurst then, was hiding a part of himself so, soon after his youngest son’s birth, he left his family to live as a woman.

Though “her reality is as conflicted as it is real,” Pankhurst told Krasnostein tales of being a sex-worker and a madam.

Dates and locales may’ve been incorrect and names forgotten, but it’s also true that Pankhurst eventually fully transitioned, and continued to work in the sex industry until she was raped and almost lost her life. She fell in love, fell out of love, fell in love again, married an older man, and divorced.

It was because of her ex that Pankhurst founded STC. “As a boss,” says Krasnostein, “Sandra is, variously, mother hen… bad cop… and hanging judge.” Her business cleans up sites affected by hoarding and death, and she’s matter-offact about bugs, vermin, and smells as her staff hauls away pathogen-soaked furniture while ensuring that next-of-kin are treated with kindness.

Says Pankhurst, “None of us know what tomorrow’s got in store.”

As enjoyable as this unique tale is, there are a few things you’ll need to know before you sweep through “The Trauma

Cleaner.”

First of all, in her get-to-know-you time, author Sarah Krasnostein became close friends with her subject, which is good in most cases. Here, though, Krasnostein uses familiarity to gush about her subject in a way that could make readers wince uncomfortably. She’s also exceedingly, perhaps needlessly, explicit in details of a sexual nature while largely ignoring big opportunities for enlightenment on the business side of the book.

And yet...

The goodness – and there’s an industrial-sized dustpan full of it – comes between the lines. This is a biography of cringing, compassion, and somebody’s-got-to-do-it resourcefulness, plus irritations, but with a breezy heft of fabrication built in. It’s so singular that it’s almost irresistible; indeed, if you can get past the gushing and the gruesome, “The Trauma Cleaner” is a book you shouldn’t wait to get your hands on.

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Bad Men and Wicked Women by Eric Jerome Dickey c.2018, Dutton $27.00 / $36.00 in Canada 371 pages

Natural Causes by Barbara Ehrenreich c.2018, Twelvey $27.00 / $35.00 in Canada 256 pages

Tomorrow: A Novel by Damian Dibben c.2018, Hanover Square Press $26.99 / $33.50 in Canada 335 pages

The Trauma Cleaner: One Woman’s Extraordinary Life in the Business of Death, Decay and Disaster by Sarah Krasnostein c.2018, St. Martin’s Press $26.99 / $34.99 in Canada 291 pages

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WOLDUM TV

RACHEL WOLDUM Rachel Woldum is a former television snob who has embraced the medium as it has entered its Golden Age. Contact her at editor@southernminnscene.com

Why the Obsession With

M

ystery shows, detective shows, police procedurals … these make up a significant pool of the content on TV (especially network). So what’s our fascination with them? Why can we watch show after show after show within this genre? (Why are there 15 seasons of CSI?) Why the obsession with “whodunnit?”

Personally, I’ve loved mysteries since I was a kid, long before I was watching them on TV. I read Nancy Drew and the Secret of the Golden Pavilion before I knew what a pavilion even was. Mysteries were scary and spooky, but unlike horror or ghost stories, they were a scary I could handle. I liked the girl detective and romanticized settings (in Nancy Drews there were always mansions, secret passageways, and trap doors), but I think even more than that, I liked the idea that there were Unknowns out there, stories with pieces missing that could be figured out, if only you were clever and imaginative enough.

The best detective shows/murder mysteries on TV not only have unexpected plot twists and creative crimes, but are thoughtful character studies and surprisingly astute examinations of the human condition. They ask not just “whodunnit,” but whydunnit…what could’ve prompted another human to act so despicably and heartlessly? As we watch each case unfold, we witness an investigation that reveals not just the motivations and thought process of the murderer, but the life and behavior or the victim, and the fears, biases, and trauma of the detectives themselves.

Good detective shows demonstrate not just their protagonists’ strengths, the traits that make them so well-suited for the job, but their weakness — those prejudices or experiences that may make them short-sighted about certain cases, or what incidents will cause them to react or withdraw.

I’ve also always been fascinated by how the detectives and team of forensics must try to recreate a moment or event using just the setting and physical evi-

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dence left behind. They’re essentially trying to recreate a moment between two people using everything but the people themselves. The smallest detail could mean the key to the puzzle, or it could mean nothing. I’ve always wondered, if someone were to go through my bedroom — the scraps on my desk, my lipstick-stained empty coffee cups, the stack of books by my bed, the clothes tossed carelessly on the floor — what would they conclude? Could they build an accurate picture of my day, my time spent in that space, and the sort of person I am? Or would some of these small details be misleading?

Detectives are charged not with building character, but with rebuilding character — with creating a portrait of someone and their life once they’re already gone. It’s a poignant demonstration of what makes up a human, and the hole left by them when they’re no longer with us. Yes, we’re what we own, where we live, and where we go, but we’re also so much more than that, as evidenced by how close the detectives can get to the truth, and yet how much they miss.

People are knowable only to a certain extent; our personhood will always transcend the evidence we leave behind.

And so for all of these reasons, writers and filmmakers continue to invent puzzles for their characters to solve, and in doing so, give us the chance to think a little more about the greatest mystery of all: humankind.

Mystery Shows Worth Checking Out Top of the Lake Search Party Veronica Mars Prime Suspect Luther The Killing How to Get Away With Murder Happy Valley Broadchurch The Fall The Bridge / The Tunnel True Detective (Season 1) Twin Peaks

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