How I Learned to Drive, a Theatre Unbound production at The Neighborhood House on 11/17/08

By: David de Young
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How I Learned to Drive publicity photo, courtesy of Theatre Unbound Paula Vogel’s How I Learned to Drive premiered Off-Broadway in 1997 and went on to win the coveted Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1998. One could easily list several more awards the play received, but let’s suffice it to say it’s a very good script. Theatre Unbound’s Twin Cities production of ...

The Hold Steady and Drive-By Truckers at First Avenue on 11/15/08

By: Bob Longmore
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The Hold Steady - Photo by Stacy Schwartz I had a feeling going to a Hold Steady and Drive-By Truckers show that more than a few beers would be consumed. I was right. Both bands tell big stories with plenty of sing-along hooks that feel so right lifting your tallboy can of PBR in the air. In front of a huge “Rock and Roll Means Well” banner...

The New Monarchs with Ghost in the Water and Laarks at Kitty Cat Klub on 11/15/08

By: David de Young
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   Mandy of Ghost in the Water - Photo by Jenn Barnett (See full photo set from this show here.) Dinkytown was crawling with an abundance of stumbling college students and watchful police Saturday night just as it is most weekends, and Eau Claire’s Laarks had already taken to the stage at the Kitty Cat Klub when we arrived about 10:30. Laarks is a band headed up by keyboard player Ian...

Bill Mike Band CD Release w/ Hummingbird at Cedar Cultural Center on 11/14/08

By: Donette Ambrosy
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Bill Mike Band - Photo by Jenn Barnett “Mommy, is this rock ‘n roll?”   “Yes, darling. It’s the Bill Mike Band.”   This naïve yet profound exchange between my four-year-old son and me serves as an adequate summary of the experience we shared at the Cedar Cultural Center Friday night.   My kiddo requested an unprecedented “spiky hairdo” for...

Shadowlands at The Guthrie Theater on 11/9/08

By: David de Young
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Simon Jones as Lewis and James A. Stephens as Warnie in Shadowlands - Photo by Michal Daniel “The pain now, is part of the happiness, then.  That’s the deal.”  - C.S. Lewis in Shadowlands   William Nicholson’s Shadowlands is the mostly true story of Oxford professor and author C.S. Lewis’s life in the 1950s during the early success of his...

Death and the Maiden at Minneapolis Theater Garage on 11/8/08

By: David de Young
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Delta Rae Giordano and Gabriele Angieri Jr. in Death and the Maiden - Publicity photo by Jon Behm Nimbus Theatre’s production of Chilean playwright Ariel Dorfman’s Death and the Maiden opened Friday at the Minneapolis Theatre garage.    The play, taking its name from a Schubert quartet, was written in 1991 and had its American premier that same year. Nimbus co-artistic director Liz Neerland...

Jack's Mannequin at The Varsity Theater on 11/7/08

By: Patrick Strait
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Andrew McMahon of Jack's Mannequin Let me just start out by saying that in all of my years of checking out live music, I’ve never once worked to find a ticket.   If I can get tickets from the venue; I’ll go. If I can get in free; I’ll definitely go. But never once have I found myself hunting the internet, looking for a ticket to a completely sold-out show. Aft...

Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park, by Starting Gate Productions at Mounds Theatre on 11/7/08

By: Janet Preus
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  Starting Gate Productions kicked off their Season of Laughs this weekend with a classic Neil Simon comedy, Barefoot in the Park. If there is anybody reading this who has never read or seen a Neil Simon play, you owe it to yourself to include this niche of popular American culture, dominated by Simon for decades. Thankfully, directing veteran Richard Jackson understands what’s funny about Simon&rsquo...

Podcast: HowWasTheShow/Minneapoliscast CD Reviews for November 2008 on 11/7/08

By: Bob Longmore, Pat O'Brien, David de Young
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  HowWasTheShow's David de Young talks with Bob Longmore and Pat O'Brien about new and upcoming Minnesota Music CDs.    1. Superman Curl – “Dressed to the Nines” (Selected by all)  (http://www.myspace.com/supermancurl)    2. Bill Mike Band – “Truce” (Selected by Pat O’Brien) (http://www.myspace.com/billmikeband)    3. Flin Flon...

Solid Gold w/ Mystery Palace at The Varsity Theater on 11/7/08

By: Pat O'Brien
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   James Buckley of Mystery Palace - Photo by David de Young For years there has been an anti-electronic movement regarding music. There have been (and most likely always will be) people adamantly opposed to music created by or supplemented with what they derisively refer to as “machines”. I myself have always found this a little silly since amplifiers, microphones, etc. all qua...