When will the Minnesota Orchestra lockout end, and how can it possibly end well? It’s said that in a successful negotiation, nobody’s happy with the result, but it’s hard to imagine a worse situation than we’re in right now, or a positive outcome. 

A photo of the musicians on their Facebook pageshows “ghosts” representing 24 unfilled positions– musicians who have left or are leaving. Last week, music director Osmo Vänskä threatened to quit, and Burt Hara announced that after 25 years as principal clarinet, he had taken a new position with the LA Philarmonic. (More top players will very likely follow.) A full-page “Open Letter to the People of Minnesota,” published in Sunday’s Star Tribune and paid for by the musicians, called for readers to contact board leaders Jon Campbell and Richard Davis and “urge them to step aside.” An editorial Saturday urged (that word again) Minnesota governor Mark Dayton “to use the influence of his office to prevent a catastrophe at Orchestra Hall.” On Saturday, New Yorker music critic Alex Ross, who once said that “the Minnesota Orchestra sounded, to my ears, like the greatest orchestra in the world,” wrote on his blog, “The Minnesota Orchestra … is veering toward catastrophe” (that word again) and wondered aloud if “the board and management actually wish to destroy the Minnesota Orchestra.”

Maybe it’s time for the people of Minnesota to pick up their torches and pitchforks. If this orchestra is lost, it will be a cultural catastrophe for our state, and if our leaders sit passively by and allow it to happen, shame on them.

In other news: the Old Log Theater will be sold, but it won’t be razed and replaced by cabins or condos. The theater and its property are being acquired by Excelsior Entertainment, owned by Greg and Marissa Frankenfield. He’s cofounder and CEO of Magenic Technologies; both are theater enthusiasts and producers who plan to continue the Old Log’s tradition of professional, live theater. So it’s less of a sale, more of a torch-passing, which should make a lot of people happy — including 95-year-old Don Stoltz, who bought the Old Log in 1946.

Minnesota now has three more James Beard Media Awards, which look kind of like Olympics medals. At Friday night’s ceremony in New York City, Andrew Zimmern took Outstanding Personality/Host for “Bizarre Foods America,” seen on the Travel Channel. Daniel Klein and Mirra Fine won Best Video Webcast, On Location for “The Perennial Plate,” their online weekly documentary series. MSP magazine food writer Dara Moskowitz Grumdahl lost to Mike Sula of the Chicago Reader for the MFK Fisher Distinguished Writing Award. Don’t worry, Dara, there’s still plenty of time. On Saturday night, Zimmern and Tony Bourdain (who also won a Beard for his PBS program, “The Mind of a Chef”) will share the stage at the State in a program called “Guts and Glory.” Maybe they’ll wear their new medals. FMI and tickets.

Courtesy of the Science Museum of Minnesota

Omnifest: Big movies on big screens at the Science Museum

Love big movies on ginormous screens? From May 10-June 20, the Science Museum hosts its popular annual tradition, Omnifest. Five films will run in rotation on the Omnitheater’s 90-foot domed screen. This year’s films:“Tornado Alley,” about storm chasers, who are about as crazy as a bag of hammers; “Wild Ocean,” about what happens when billions of sardines migrate up the coast of South Africa toward a hungry crowd of sharks, dolphins, and whales; “Jane Goodall’s Wild Chimpanzees,” a Science Museum original production; “Lewis & Clark: Great Journey West,” a story of exploration and discovery; and “Antarctica,” a film about ice and snow, as if we need reminding. FMI and tickets.

The Minnesota Twins and K-TWIN are bringing local music to Target Field. Starting May 15, every Wednesday home game from May-August will feature Minnesota bands performing original songs live from the left-field balcony during pregame, inning breaks, and pitching changes. Here’s the line-up: May 15, The 4onthefloor; May 29, GB Leighton; June 12, Jack Knife and the Sharps; June 19, Hitchville; July 3, P.O.S.; July 31, Rocket Club; Aug. 14, Trampled by Turtles. The Aug. 20 game against the Kansas City Royals will present the winner of “The Sound Factor” contest, open to all local bands beginning May 15. FMI on that. 

The Minnesota Ballpark Authority voted last week to spend up to $300,000 on public art for spaces near Target Field where Hennepin County plans to build a transit interchange. It’s expected that a Public Art Selection Committee will soon be formed and a RFP sent out. The Strib had the story (a short one) on Sunday. 

Minnesota Citizens for the Artshas compiled a list of pending arts bills to care about. They include the Legacy and General Fund arts funding bills and three nonprofit tax issues: the ticket tax, and expansion of taxes to services done by nonprofits; street maintenance fees (will there be an exemption for nonprofits?); and a proposal to change how charitable giving is treated in Minnesota. One thing MCA would like you to do now: Send your legislator a quick email asking him or her to dedicate 50 percent of the Arts Legacy fund to the Minnesota State Arts Board and the Regional Arts Council. This way, that money will go towards arts activities in every corner of the state, which is what we voted for in the first place.

For artists: Springboard for the Arts is hiring an Artist Organizer to help the Cornerstone Group with the redevelopment of the Lyndale Garden Center site into a new Town Center for Richfield. The part-time position pays $30,000, with access to up to $25,000 for art projects. Information sessions are set for Monday, May 13 (6:30-8 p.m.) and Saturday, May 18 (10-11:30 a.m.) at 6334 Lyndale Ave. S. in Richfield. Download a job description, application and FAQs here.

May is National Chamber Music Month. Now that the SPCO lockout is settled and our magnificent chamber orchestra is officially playing again, you might want to act quickly to score your tickets to an upcoming concert.

April was National Poetry Month and National Jazz Month, and we’re idly wondering why there’s no National Bacon Month.

Our picks for the week

Tonight (Tuesday, May 7) at Pillsbury House Theatre: “Once in a Blue Moon.” Ten short plays written by professional playwrights (including Carlyle Brown and Jeffrey Hatcher), directed by professionals, and acted by top Twin Cities’ theater artists and neighborhood kids. Come for the plays, stay for the cookies and milk. 4 p.m. and 7 p.m., free.

Tomorrow afternoon (Wednesday) in downtown St. Paul (St. Paul workers, this is for you): the Cherry Spoon Collective plays an outdoor concert on Kellogg Boulevard across from City Hall. Michelle Kinney, a member of the multi-generational, multi-instrumental, multi-genre mini-orchestra, says they’ll be “improvising and grooving like a rock band, but not playing rock music.” Plans are to amplify the string section through a solar power system operated by sound designer Tim Donahue; if skies are cloudy, they’ll add bicycle power. It’s an hour, it’s outdoors, it’s free, it’s Food Truck Wednesday. What else do you want from us? Noon – 1 p.m.

Wednesday at the Fitz: Isabel Allende. A spring addition to the Talking Volumes series of literary conversations. Born in Chile, Allende is the author of “The House of the Spirits,” among many other novels and four memoirs; her latest is “Maya’s Notebook.” 7 p.m. FMI and tickets.

Wednesday at the Trylon:“Queen: Days of Our Lives.” Not the Queen, that Queen: Scaramouche, Galileo! Director Matt O’Casey tells the band’s colorful story in newly discovered archival film and interviews, with an extensive soundtrack of Queen hits and unheard studio outtakes. Part of the ongoing Sound Unseen festival of films about music. 7:15 and 9:15 p.m. FMI and tickets.

Thursday at the Bryant Lake Bowl: “Country Roads: Dennis Curley Sings the Music of John Denver.” Seriously, who doesn’t love John Denver? (“Take me home, country roads!”) Backed by members of local bands Blazing Saddles and the Galactic Cowboy Orchestra, Curley is wrapping up a two-month BLB engagement of old favorites and less familiar Denver tunes. Closes May 11. 7 p.m. FMI and tickets.

Thursday at Shepherd of the Valley Church in Apple Valley: the SPCO performs their first official concert since the lockout ended. Thomas Zehetmair conducts; Steven Isserlis plays Robert Schumann’s Cello Concerto. It’s a sure bet the audience will give them a very enthusiastic welcome. 7:30 p.m. Act quickly if you want tickets; only a few remained on Monday.

Courtesy of the Minnesota Potters of the Upper St. Croix River

Pottery bowl by Delores Fortuna of Galena, IL.

Starts Friday: the 21st Annual Pottery Studio Tour & Sale by the Minnesota Potters of the Upper St. Croix River. Short version: pots! Seven local pottery studios will host 50 top potters from 15 states (and one from Scotland). All are within a one-hour drive of the Twin Cities; each is a short drive from the others. So depending on how involved you get in looking at pots, talking with potters, and checking out what other people are buying, it’s possible to visit all of the locations in one day. Or just take the weekend, as  a lot of collectors do. Whether it’s the cup that holds your morning coffee, the platter that serves your Thanksgiving turkey, or your favorite noodle bowl, handmade pottery is just better — like live music. Visit the link for a list of potters, a tour map, and lots of photos.

The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra last night gave its first official concert since the end of the lockout, and how sweet it was. At Shepherd of the Valley Church in Apple Valley, the musicians were greeted with a prolonged standing ovation and shouts of “Welcome back!” Led by the ebullient Thomas Zehetmair, they did what they do: play beautifully as one, something a group of freshly minted conservatory grads could never manage.

We heard a bright, tight “Figaro” overture; Schumann’s gorgeous cello concerto, with guest artist Steven Isserlis giving a passionate, ecstatic performance; Schoenberg’s “Ten Early Waltzes for String Orchestra;” and Mozart’s majestic Symphony No. 39. The Schoenberg was a surprise for two reasons. First, because of its lilting beauty (this is Schoenberg, that 12-tone guy?), and second, because it’s brand-new to the SPCO. They’re playing it for the first time this weekend, and they didn’t get the music until a little over a week ago. Through Sunday. FMI and (very few) tickets. 

On Tuesday, the SPCO announced that Bruce Coppock will return as the orchestra’s president and managing director starting in June. Coppock served in that role from 1999-2008, during which the SPCO’s audience grew to an all-time high, the annual fund increased by nearly 70 percent, the endowment fattened significantly, and the budget was balanced in all but one year (the recession of 2003). Coppock left in 2008 for health reasons; most recently he was managing director of the Cleveland Orchestra’s Miami residency.

When the musicians of the SPCO signed the contract ending their months-long lockout, they called for “the immediate commencement of a search for a new SPCO leader with proven orchestra management experience, and the vision and skill to substantially increase revenues.” Coppock is all that, plus he’s a musician who has performed extensively, including with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Times are different now, but still, he sounds pretty perfect. Dobson West, who served as interim president and board chair since March 2012, will continue as board chair.

The Minnesota Orchestra’s 2012-13 season is gone but will never be forgotten. It’s the season that will go down in infamy. The lost season, the season of our discontent. All remaining concerts, two weeks’ worth, were canceled Wednesday by the orchestra’s management, which means we won’t end the season with Osmo Vänskä conducting Sibelius and Dvorák and that bubbly mix of this-season’s-over, looking-forward-to-the-next-one melancholy and anticipation.

Meanwhile, management has proposed a three-weekend summer season of six concerts (including Vänskä, Sibelius and Dvorák) at the Ted Mann from July 20-Aug. 2, provided the contract is settled, and has asked the musicians back to the bargaining table on May 20, 21 and 22, with a federal mediator present. The musicians have responded through their attorney with a series of questions they want answered before they say yes. (A sampling: Will MOA [the Minnesota Orchestral Association] terminate the lockout? What is your projected Orchestra Hall reopening date? What are your plans regarding Music Director Vänskä’s announced resignation intentions?) Meanwhile, the musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra will perform two free concerts on Sunday, May 19, of music by Bach, Vivaldi and Piazzola. Concertmaster Erin Keefe is among the featured soloists. At Temple Israel, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. Free.

Baz Luhrmann’s “The Great Gatsby” opens tonight. Get a little background on one of St. Paul’s favorite sons with a three-minute video from the Minnesota Historical Society. Or watch the video, read the book, and skip the movie. Do we really want to see Leonardo DiCaprio in 3-D?

Courtesy of Minnesota State Fair/Pieter M. van Hattem

MN Music-on-a-Stick at the State Fair Grandstand will feature Trampled by Turtles (above), Mason Jennings and the Chalice.

More State Fair Grandstand goodness: Three new shows have been added to the line-up. Monday, Aug. 26: The Happy Together Tour. The Turtles with Flo & Eddie, Chuck Negron (Three Dog Night), Gary Puckett & The Union Gap, Gary Lewis & The Playboys, Mark Lindsay (Paul Revere & the Raiders). A sequential series of blasts from the past. Thursday, Aug. 22: Dana Carvey, Dennis Miller and Kevin Nealon from SNL. Friday, Aug. 30: MN Music-on-a-Stick. With Trampled by Turtles, Mason Jennings, and the Chalice (so far; more artists TBA). Tickets to all go on sale Saturday, May 18.

On sale at 10 a.m. today: Diana Ross at the Orpheum, Wednesday, Aug. 28. That’s MISS Ross. FMI and tickets.

Our picks for the weekend

Tonight (Friday, May 10) at Burnet Gallery, Le Méridien Chambers: “Inner Workings” solo exhibition by HOTTEA opens. City Pages named HOTTEA (Eric Rieger) Best Street Artist for 2013. Maybe you saw the large piece he created for the Minneapolis Institute of Arts for last year’s Northern Spark. His first solo show is a collective self-portrait. Nine different pieces, including one you crawl into, form a rough chronological narrative. Opening reception 6 – 9 p.m. Free. Through July 7. FMI.

Courtesy of the Burnet Gallery

A street installation in New York City by HOTTEA (Eric Rieger).

Tonight at the Lagoon: “Angels’ Share” opens. Ken Loach’s bittersweet comedy about a high-stakes crime and a young Glaswegian hoodlum with a good nose opened this year’s Film Fest. It’s terrific. Here’s the trailer. FMI.

Tonight at the St. Anthony Main Theatre: “Caesar Must Die” returns after selling out multiple screenings during Film Fest. It’s a movie about staging Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” in a prison in modern-day Rome. We’re guessing there are no money shots of the Spanish Steps. Through Thursday, May 16. Trailer. FMI and tickets.

Tonight through Sunday at the Cowles: Zenon Dance continues its 30th anniversary season with Faye Driscoll’s “Mariana,” Wynne Fricke’s “Wine Dark Sea” (with live percussion by Peter O’Gorman), Mariusz Olszewski’s “Hotel Tango (para Sharon),” and Daniel Charon’s (Storm). These will be company member Greg Waletski’s final performances. Here’s our interview with Peter O’Gorman about what it was like to work with Fricke. FMI and tickets.

Tonight at Studio Z in Lowertown: Xavier Charles/Frederic Blondy/Guylain Cosseron Trio, Nick Hennies. Part of Jesse Goins’ “Crow with No Mouth” series of electro-acoustic improvisations. For the adventuresome and the big-eared. 8 p.m. Read what Goins has to say. FMI and tickets.

Photo by John Whiting

Laura Caviani

Saturday at Hopkins Center for the Arts: Laura Caviani: From Bach to Bop. Jazz pianist Caviani is one of the shining stars of our local scene, knowing for her too infrequent performances of music by Thelonious Monk. She’s classically trained, and this concert presents the best of both worlds: works by Schumann, Chopin, Bach, Stravinsky and more arranged for a jazz ensemble including Dave Hagedorn on vibes, Adam Meckler on trumpet, David Milne on saxophone, Phil Hey on drums, and Chris Bates on bass. 8 p.m. FMI and tickets.

Saturday at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds Eco Experience Building (formerly the Progress Center): Craftstravaganza. The well-curated indie craft show, now in its eighth year, features more than 90 artists with all kinds of things to bring home and admire: ceramics, glass, leather, prints, candles, candies, jewelry, paper. 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.. 1265 Snelling Ave. Free admission. FMI including list of vendors.

The New York Times has taken a particular interest in the Minnesota Orchestra. In an article published Sunday, James Oestreich reported on the latest developments: the cancellation of the rest of the 2012-13 season, Osmo Vänskä’s threat to quit, Burt Hara’s imminent departure. “While no one can question the need for financial prudence in an economy still rife with uncertainties,” Oestreich wrote, “the present course seems bent on destroying the institution in order to save it.” He called our situation “particularly agonizing and seemingly inexplicable,” the orchestra “an ensemble poised on the cusp of certifiable greatness” and Hara’s loss “immense.” And he noted, rather sternly, that “it is long past time for reasonable adults to sit down in a room and talk: if need be, in company with some friend of the orchestra, like the mayor or the chief executive of one of the city’s flagship corporations.”

Why has no one stepped forward – no friend of the orchestra, no person in power, no successor to philanthropist Kenneth Dayton? A May 4 editorial in the Star Tribune asked readers to “try to name a civic leader who could help broker a settlement in the bitter orchestra dispute.” Is there really, truly no one? How lame and sad is that?

In response to the musicians’ open letter to the people of Minnesota, published in the Star Tribune on Sunday, May 5, the orchestra board and management published its own letter on Saturday restating its position, summarizing the latest contract offer, and comparing the salaries, work weeks, time off, sick pay, and medical insurance of musicians under the new contract with those of the “average U.S. worker,” which the orchestra defines as professionals with PhDs and master's degrees. The Times compared apples with apples: “Players’ annual base salary would be cut from $113,000 to $78,000. (By comparison, the musicians of the San Francisco Symphony emerged from a recent strike and Carnegie cancellation with a base salary of $148,000.)”

Today is Tim Gihring’s last day at Minnesota Monthly. “After 10 years, hundreds of shows, boatloads of carp, and two still-missing ruby slippers,” he wrote on Facebook, “I’m moving on to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, where I’ll work in the Audience Engagement division as its new ‘brand narrator.’” MnMo’s senior arts writer, Gihring had served as acting editor after editor Joel Hoekstra’s departure in January to start his own business. The magazine's masthead is looking a bit thin. Gihring’s “Weekend Best Bets” ran in MinnPost on Thursdays during 2012.

In February, the Schubert Club’s artistic and executive director Barry Kempton told MinnPost, “We’re looking at programs aimed at an audience which might be attracted to a less formal ambiance.” We now know a bit more about that. On Monday, the Schubert Club announced that it will present a new series of concerts called “Schubert Mix” at Aria (the former Jeune Lune) starting in January 2014. Some will be in partnership with the SPCO’s Liquid Music series and the American Composers Forum. The line-up will come out later this month. “Our idea behind Schubert Club Mix is to relax our presentation style and the ambiance of the venue without at all compromising the quality of the music-making,” Kempton said in a press release. Aria founder Peter Remes added, “It has been our vision to develop this unique building as a destination for arts and culture." 

Courtesy of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts

Benedetto da Rovezzano, Saint John the
Baptist, circa 1505

You might have heard about this by now, but in case you missed it: The Minneapolis Institute of Arts has made a new acquisition with a thrilling backstory.“St. John the Baptist,” a Renaissance bust by Benedetto da Rovezzano, a contemporary of da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael, will be the earliest Renaissance sculpture in the MIA’s collection. During WWII, it was one of more than 6,000 masterpieces looted by the Nazis, hidden in Austria’s Altaussee salt mines and intended for Hitler’s future Führermuseum. When it became clear that the the Axis would lose the war, Hitler’s second-in-command ordered the mines destroyed. Instead, the miners saved it (and the art), and the Monuments Men of the U.S. Army later returned the bust to the Netherlands, where it was bought by a private collector. In a cosmic-justice twist, “St. John the Baptist” was put on display last Wednesday, the 68th anniversary of V-E Day.

The McKnight Artist Fellowship for Photographers, once a separate program administered by mnartists.org, has been folded into the McKnight Artist Fellowships Program for Visual Artists, administered by MCAD. “Photography remains a notably distinct discipline,” McKnight arts program director Vickie Benson said in a press release, “but it also has a logical home today within the broader visual arts.” Benson noted that “similar discipline-specific grant programs nationally consider these artists increasingly within one comprehensive group.” Will that mean fewer prized McKnight fellowships overall? “There is no intent to reduce the total number of fellowships,” McKnight communications director Tim Hanrahan told MinnPost. “We’re trying to put together the best program that meets the broadest needs. At this point, the program is still in development. This is not a cutback." 

If you love big-band music, don’t leave the Twin Cities for the next few months. Thirty-six big bands are performing 96 concerts in 41 parks, breaking all previous records of big-band insanity. A couple have already happened, but you can jump on the train as soon as next Tuesday (May 21), when the Minneapolis Southwest High School Big Band and Combos perform at the Lake Harriet Bandstand starting at 6:30 p.m. Go here for a complete list of concerts, places, and times through September 8. 

Photo by Aaron Fenster

Stephen Yoakam (The Poet) in the Guthrie Theater's production of An Iliad, adapted from Homer by Lisa Peterson and Denis O'Hare, translation by Robert Fagles.

Five reasons to see “An Iliad” at the Guthrie: 1) Playwrights Lisa Peterson and Denis O’Hare have made Homer’s 3,000-year-old epic poem about the Trojan War immediate and timely – partly by adding contemporary language and references (describing Achilles as “addicted to rage” and soldiers in the Greek ships as “boys from San Diego, from Lawrence, Kansas, from the Florida Panhandle”), partly by treating Robert Fagles’ famed translation as a living, breathing thing. 2) This is a one-man show, and Stephen Yoakam’s performance as the itinerant poet is spellbinding. He’s serious and funny, passionate and matter-of-fact, weary and anguished by the carnage he relates. When he sings of dead Hector’s wife, ululating her grief on the walls of Troy, it’s almost too much to bear. 3) The set, the sound, the staging and the lighting work in perfect harmony to pull you in. At first, the set is confusing – is that a pond? What’s the metal scaffolding for? – but then it all makes sense. 4) The beginning is wonderful. There's no wall (at first) between the theater and the lobby. We see the bar, the ushers, the light streaming through the floor-to-ceiling windows. Then an elevator opens and Yoakam walks out. 5) The long litany of wars the poet recites toward the end of the play – from the devastation of Sumer far in the past to the destruction of Kabul in our own time – is appalling and sobering. As he says at the start, "Every time I sing the song, I hope it's the last time." But he knows it won't be, and so do we. There's a lot to think about as you walk out of the theater into the sweet spring night. Through May 26. FMI and tickets.

Our picks for the week and weekend

Artscape is taking Friday off, so here’s what we like for the next several days.

Tonight (Tuesday, May 14): "Love Is Law" Concert on Ecolab Plaza. Governor Dayton will sign the Freedom to Marry Bill at approximately 6 p.m. And then it's party time. Follow the Minnesota Freedom Band from the Capitol lawn to Ecolab Plaza in downtown St. Paul for a night of celebration with Mayor Chris Coleman and special guests, with live music by Jack Brass Band, DJ Jake Rudh, H$B, Zoo Animal, P.O.S., the Twin Cities Gay Men's Chorus, and Chan Pohling and Friends. Food and beverage will be available for purchase. Approximately 6 - 10:15 p.m. Free.

Thursday at the TU Dance Center: Preview TU’s upcoming spring concert (May 31-June 2) at an in-studio showing. See excerpts from three world premieres including works by company co-artistic director Uri Sands and New York choreographer Camille A. Brown. Wine and cheese reception at 5 p.m, program at 5:45. 2121 University Ave. West, St. Paul. Free.

Thursday and Friday at Hopkins Center for the Arts: Armistead Maupin. In a free-spirited talk entitled "Untold Tales," Maupin reveals the real-life inspirations for "Tales of the City." The Pen Pals season finale. Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday at 11 a.m. FMI and tickets.

Thursday-Saturday at the Walker: Elevator Repair Service. The New York theater collective that brought us “Gatz,” the critically acclaimed six-hour retelling of “The Great Gatsby,” returns to the McGuire Theater with its latest work: “Fondly, Collette Richland,” experimental playwright Sibyl Kempson’s surreal story about a small-town couple’s island vacation. ERS is previewing “Fondly” here; it’s a Walker commission, and these are the first public performances. FMI and tickets.

Photo by Ariana Smart Truman

Elevator Repair Service is returning to the Walker.

Friday at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts: “Directed: The Intersection of Book, Film and Visual Narrative.” Book arts meet film in an exhibition of work by more than 70 artists from across disciplines and around the world. Films and videos present narratives in book-like ways; artists’ books use cinematic storytelling practices like montage, close-ups, fades, slow motion, flashbacks, and split screens. Opening reception 6-9 p.m. Through Aug. 4. Free. FMI.

Friday at the History Center: RetroRama. Some things never go out of style, like a good party, the perfect pair of jeans, or an heirloom hand-knit sweater. RetroRama celebrates the classics with an expanded fashion show DJ’ed by Jake Rudh featuring vintage clothes and original work by local designers. Wear something classic, practice your walk, and you can strut down the runway, too. The evening also includes carnival games by Lili’s Burlesque, pop-up boutiques, a make-your-own-charm-bracelet-or-tie-clip craft activity, cocktail demonstrations, and demos on the lost art of the old-fashioned shave. 8-11 p.m. Make it a night and head for the afterparty at the Amsterdam. 10:30 p.m.-2 a.m. FMI and tickets ($25/$20).

Friday-Sunday in Northeast Minneapolis: Art-A-Whirl. The 18th year of America’s largest open studio tour. See work by more than 500 artists in over 70 studio buildings, art galleries, homes, storefronts, businesses, and restaurants throughout the city’s arts district. View installations and demonstrations, hear live music, eat, drink, and people-watch; more than 30,000 art lovers are expected to attend. Plan your visit with the Artist Directory and Guide. (Pick up a free copy at any of the information booths.) Download a free Metro Transit pass and avoid parking hassles, then take the free trolleys from place to place. FMI.

Friday-Sunday at the State Fair Grounds: Art on a Line – Group Show of Midwest Watermedia Artists. Now in its 11th year, this is the single largest show of watermedia art in the upper Midwest, featuring over 4,500 works of original art by more than 90 artists. (Watermedia art = traditional watercolor and other types of water-based media including acrylic, gesso, gouache, ink, and some collage.) All three days will feature door prizes of original art and painting demonstrations. 10 a.m. – 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. – 4 p.m. Sunday. At the Fine Arts Building. Free. FMI.

Friday-Sunday at Studio Z: “Early Inspirations.” The baroque chamber music ensemble Flying Forms and the new music chamber ensemble Zeitgeist are neighbors on the second floor of the Northwestern Building in Lowertown. This weekend, they’ll come together in concert. Flying Forms (Tami Morse, harpsichord; Marc Levine, baroque violin) will play new work written for its instruments; Zeitgeist (Heather Barringer and Patti Cudd, percussion; Pat O’Keefe, woodwinds; Shannon Wettstein, piano) will perform new work inspired by music of the Renaissance and Baroque. 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday. $10. Tickets here.

Saturday at the Ordway: Sing-A-Long Sound of Music. Local cabaret star and force of nature Erin Schwab hosts one of our favorite things (like raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens). The film screens, the audience sings along, and everyone goes home happy. Noon and 6:30 p.m at the Ordway. FMI and tickets (limited).

Saturday at the Steeple Center in Rosemount: Jazz at the Steeple Center. The Rosemount Area Arts Council is launching a new jazz series with a concert by jazz guitarist Paul Renz and Broadway flutist Anders Bostrom. Doors at 7 p.m., music at 8. 14375 South Robert Trail, in the former St. Joseph’s Church building. Tickets ($15-$10) at the door.

Saturday and Sunday in downtown Stillwater: Rivertown Art Festival. Now in its 36th year, the St. Croix Valley’s largest art fair features more than 100 local artists and vendors. 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. in Lowell Park. FMI.

Sunday at Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church: Dave Brubeck’s ”Gates of Justice.” This concert of tolerance and compassion is the annual benefit for the Dignity Center, an outreach ministry that offers support, opportunity, and resources to persons in need on their path to self-sufficiency. Brubeck, the great jazz pianist and composer who died last December at 91, wrote “Gates of Justice” in 1969, shortly after the death of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. With the HAUMC Choir and Brass Orchestra, Laura Caviani on piano, Chris Bates on bass, Dave Schmalenberger on drums, and James Ahrens and Elwyn Fraser on vocals, all directed by William Mathis. FMI and tickets ($35).

The management and board of directors of the crippled Minnesota Orchestra have repeatedly stated that their financial plans are sound. Unfortunately, many outside observers are not so sure.

Emily Hogstad

I have spent much of my spare time since August writing about the orchestra's travails, and I can attest that there are dozens of questions about past and future fiscal performance that the management and board of the Minnesota Orchestral Association (MOA) have yet to answer. Chief among them are the following:

1) Throughout the $100 million-plus Building for the Future fundraising campaign, donors (and legislators) were never told that a "business model reset" was imminent — much less one that could result in the departure of key players or Music Director Osmo Vänskä. I have talked to dozens of people who say they wouldn't have donated to the hall construction effort if they had known what was coming. Their contributions combined number in the millions of dollars. Has the MOA created a plan to address the potential future loss of revenue from these patrons?

2) According to their 990 forms (available on guidestar.org), in FY 2009, the Minnesota Orchestra sold $28.7 million in securities at a nearly $14 million loss. This loss contributed to one of the worst investment income records among major American orchestras during the Great Recession. What were these securities? Who made the decision to sell? What is their value now?

3) According to their Strategic Plan Summary, in 2007, the MOA determined that in the fiscal year lasting from September 2007 to August 2008, the Association's invested assets would be worth a total of $192.4 million. They ended up being worth $168.5 million. Even before the market tanked in October of 2008, the MOA was off by 13 percent ... a mere one year into their projections. Who was in charge of drawing up these numbers?

4) In FY 2011, according to audited financial statements, the board approved an endowment draw of $12.1 million, but only $6 million of that went to operating activities. Where did the other $6.1 million go?

5) According to their 990s, the MOA's program service revenue fell by 15 percent from FY 2008-2011. This is an extremely poor program service revenue record compared to most other major American orchestras. During that same time, according to their 990s, the New York Philharmonic's program service revenue held steady, while the Cleveland Orchestra's increased by 8 percent, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic's increased by 7 percent. Even among orchestras that saw decreases, the Cincinnati Symphony only saw a drop of 9 percentage points, the Boston Symphony a drop of 8, and the Chicago Symphony a drop of 7. Why wasn't Minnesota Orchestra's management able to duplicate its peer orchestras' successes? Is it looking to more successful orchestras for ideas to implement here?

6) According to their Strategic Plan Summary, the MOA is striving for 80 percent paid capacity at Orchestra Hall post-renovation. (Their pre-renovation paid capacity was 69 percent.) However, several hundred seats were removed during the renovation. 69 percent of a 2,450-seat hall is 1,691 tickets sold, while 80 percent of a 2,092-seat hall is 1,674 tickets sold. In short, the MOA's self-described "ambitious but achievable" goal is to sell 17 fewer tickets per concert than it is now. How is this ambitious — or even desirable?

7) In publicly released minutes, the Minnesota Orchestra management praised the Detroit Symphony as an organization worthy of emulation. That orchestra's unrestricted endowment was only worth $23 million when it signed a contract with musicians in 2011 guaranteeing a base salary of $79,000. The Minnesota Orchestra's total invested assets are currently worth more than $150 million, yet it is proposing a base salary of $78,000. The disparity is puzzling. Could the board discuss the Detroit-Minneapolis comparison in greater detail?

8) The renovation of Orchestra Hall and resulting increase in rental fees has made the facility too expensive for many nonprofits. The Minnesota Youth Symphony and Suzuki Association of Minnesota will no longer be able to hold concerts or events there. Is this acceptable to management? What is being done to ensure these groups can perform at Orchestra Hall?

The board asserts that its plan will save the Minnesota Orchestra for future generations. I and many other patrons remain unconvinced. However, regardless of who is "right," the board is doing Minnesota a tremendous disservice by not explaining itself clearly, and by letting important questions like these stand ignored and unanswered.

It is discomfiting to know that the Minnesota Orchestra board of directors is led by Richard K. Davis, the president & CEO of U.S. Bancorp, and Jon R. Campbell, the executive vice president and director of government and community relations at Wells Fargo. One can only hope that these men lead their banks more effectively than they've led the board of the Minnesota Orchestra.

Emily E. Hogstad, a musician and writer from Eau Claire, Wis., writes the Song of the Lark blog.

The Minnesota Orchestral Association’s management-cited source of today’s crisis is the roughly $90 million gap between what its endowment has, and what in 2007 it had calculated to now have.

Management’s urging that financial "analysis" address merely the future of today’s unfortunate situation asserts that past actions are not relevant and only the remaining crisis-asset-level is germane. To some witnessing this state’s orchestral demise, that would be folly.

Make no mistake. All major stock indices are higher today than in 2007, as are bond indices (thank you, Fed). There have been six years of intervening dividend and interest payments — perhaps 2%+ per year — as well. Plus contributions.

So why is the MOA’s endowment so woefully behind?

Certainly it has been dipped into for operating needs, but nowhere near $90 million. The MOA’s FY2009 (ending 8/31/09) IRS Form 990 may be telling. It cites nearly $14 million in losses from securities sold in that fiscal year alone. Interestingly, the midpoint of that period was the stock market bottom in March of 2009.

Some wonder if MOA’s financial management did not endorse an asset-shift more into equities around its fateful 2007, now known as a cyclical market top, and then — perhaps frightened — allow a shift back out at or near the bottom, thus catching much if not most of the decline, but little of the recovery.

If so, management needs to come clean about its strategic asset decisions, so that donors and patrons alike can demand change and regain confidence that future donations will hereafter be managed with a steady, balanced hand on the tiller.

If this is not the case, management should be eager to let the sun shine on the endowment’s longer-term books, confident that it has been an admirable steward.

MinnPost welcomes original letters from readers on current topics of general interest. Interested in joining the conversation? Submit your letter to the editor. 

The choice of letters for publication is at the discretion of MinnPost editors; they will not be able to respond to individual inquiries about letters.

Fans of new music were thrilled when Kate Nordstrum was hired by the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. The organization seemed like a good home for the kind of adventurous programming she pioneered at the Southern before it was toppled by financial woes. The SPCO wanted to broaden its audience, experiment with new formats, and build relationships with up-and-coming composers. Nordstrum created a new series, named it Liquid Music, and planned the first season, which began with a bang in November 2012 with two sold-out performances by composer/musician/performance artist Laurie Anderson.

And then came the lockout. Liquid Music events involving SPCO musicians were canceled or rescheduled. Ticketholders who arrived at the Hamm Building for the remaining concerts were met by musicians and members of Save Our SPCO, who handed out leaflets titled “Liquidation Music.” What would have been the Minnesota premiere of a new work by Sarah Kirkland Snider hit a huge snag when members of yMusic, the New York-based instrumental ensemble, were warned by their union not to play. If they did, they would face expulsion and fines of up to $50,000. Most musicians didn’t learn this until they landed in Minnesota. This might have been the lowest point of a series that could have shriveled and died.

“It’s been a hard year to navigate,” Nordstrum admits. “But I’m incredibly proud of the projects that happened. I tried to do right by everyone – artists, funders, partners, ticket buyers, and management – but there was a lot of complication last year.” Now that the lockout has ended, she says, “I couldn’t be more excited to be working during a season where the musicians of the SPCO are back in the building. I feel optimistic, with a sense of starting over.”

Announced late last week, the 2013-14 Liquid Music season is strong, varied, and provocative. We’ll tell you more in a moment. But first, the answers to two questions we heard people ask at this year’s Liquid Music shows: 1) If the SPCO had to cut its own musicians’ salaries to stay afloat, how could it fund a new-music series? 2) When the Minnesota Orchestra locked out its musicians, it canceled everything including jazz concerts, Bill Cosby, and other events that did not involve its musicians. Why did the SPCO continue Liquid Music during its lockout?

Nordstrum took the first question. “All of the money for Liquid Music is brought in specifically for this series. Nothing comes from the SPCO in terms of overhead.” The series has its own grantors, sponsors and partners, including the Augustine Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the Saint Paul STAR program. Traditional SPCO donors are off-limits. For the second question, we turned to Dobson West, interim SPCO president and board chair. “It was a difficult decision in a difficult time, but we felt that moving ahead with the series was important to do,” he said. “We felt it was helpful to our mission in terms of expanding the audience base and testing the boundaries of classical music. We also moved forward with our CONNECT educational program and continued to offer our [online] listening library.”

This year's Liquid Music season is a fearless push of the restart button. Ten widely divergent events include co-presentations with the Walker, the Schubert Club, the Amsterdam and the American Composers Forum, three projects featuring SPCO musicians, and a recording inspired by the work of visual artist Jim Hodges. Concerts will be held at the SPCO Center, the Fitz, the Walker, the Amsterdam and Aria in Minneapolis. Sept. 22: Zola Jesus in collaboration with former SPCO artistic partner Stephen Prutsman; percussion and cello duo Ian Ding and Ashley Bathgate. Oct. 18: Seattle composer Jherek Bischoff with an all-star cast of guest vocalists and instrumentalists. Nov. 5: Ensemble Dal Niente. Nov. 16: Electronic experimentalists Oneohtrix Point Never and Tim Hecker.  Jan. 12, 2014: Violinist Hilary Hahn and Hauschka (German pianist/composer Volker Bertelmann). Feb. 13: Olga Bell with Tom Vek and Angel Deradoorian. Feb. 14-May 11 (in the Walker galleries): recorded music by the trio of rapper Serengeti, composer/producer Son Lux and singer/songwriter Sufjan Stevens. March 21-22: Timo Andres: "Work Songs" with Gabriel Kahane, Becca Stevens, and others. May 6: Daniel Bjarnason and Nadia Sirota. June 3: the "post-classical" string quartet ETHEL and "Documerica," a multimedia meditation on today’s environmental and social issues featuring music by Twin Cities composer Mary Ellen Childs. (The newest member of ETHEL is Twin Cities' violinist Kip Jones.)  FMI and tickets.

Back when the Schubert Club's artistic and executive director Barry Kempton told MinnPost he was taking that organization in new directions, he alluded to “younger audiences” and “a less formal ambience.” Also announced late last week: Schubert Club Mix, a new contemporary classical music series that will take place at Aria. Two of the three events in the debut season (Hilary Hahn and Hauscha, ETHEL: Documerica) are collaborations with Liquid Music. The third is something we’ve been hoping would come to the Twin Cities. On April 13, 2014, Mix will present Anthony de Mare’s critically acclaimed “Liaisons: Re-Imagining Sondheim from the Piano,” with newly composed solo piano pieces based on songs by Sondheim. Composers include Mary Ellen Childs, jazz pianist Fred Hersch, film composer Thomas Newman and minimalist Steve Reich. FMI and tickets.

***

On Friday, a sold-out, tightly packed audience at St. John’s Episcopal Church heard yet another poignant concert by the locked-out musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra: an evening of chamber music performed by 14 musicians, four of whom are leaving soon for positions elsewhere. A glittering Brandenburg No. 6, with departing violist Tom Turner and cellist Pitnarry Shin, preceded Marc Mellits’ String Quartert No. 3: Tapas, a challenging modern work the musicians started learning just two weeks ago at the urging of departing violinist Gina DiBello, who knows the composer. After the intermission, departing principal clarinetist Burt Hara soared in Mozart’s Clarinet Quintet in A Major. Does anyone have a more heartfelt and exquisite tone? Hara and cellist Tony Ross are members of the small south Minneapolis church. “Our silver lining is you,” Ross told the crowd before the Mozart. “The fabric of our orchestra is unraveling at an alarming pace.” During the lockout, the orchestra’s complement has fallen to 74 musicians, down from 98. (The Orchestra is disputing these numbers; we're checking them out and will report back when we learn more.) For a more detailed account of the evening, and more photos, go here.

MinnPost photo by John Whiting

The locked-out musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra played a sold-out concert at John’s Episcopal Church.

Following up on a few earlier items: We erroneously reported earlier that the Basilica Block Party was sold out. It’s not, but tickets prices have gone up … Erin Krakow (“Army Wives”) will play Miss Elizabeth Bennett opposite Vincent Kartheiser’s (“Mad Men”) Mr. Darcy in the Guthrie’s “Pride and Prejudice” this summer. Guthrie, are you going all Hollywood on us? If so, we wouldn’t mind seeing Henry Cavill (“The Tudors,” “Man of Steel”) on one of your three stages, or Mamie Gummer … The new FX series based on the Coen Bros.’ “Fargo” will be filmed in Alberta or Manitoba, not Minnesota or North Dakota. As reported by RadioTimes: “unlike Minnesota, Canada now offers tax incentives to attract foreign film and television productions.” 

Wait! Update! Starting July 1, Minnesota has $10 million to entice filmmakers to come here. The newly revitalized and far more robust Snowbate program, which offers incentives to qualified feature films, TV series, documentaries and commercials that locate production or post-production in Minnesota, was part of the omnibus jobs, economic development and housing bill signed by Gov. Mark Dayton on May 23. Yesterday we were the least competitive state for filmmaking; today we’re in the top 15. Note to FX: The heck do ya mean, Canada?

Stop by your local library for a copy of “From Main Street to Your Street: Minnesota Writers on the Map.” Produced by the Minnesota Historical Society, the Minnesota Book Awards, and Explore Minnesota, funded by Legacy money, this new literary map of our state features more than 100 writers, past and present, who have made significant contributions to our literary legacy. The map will move online sometime this month. We’ll post the link when we know it.

Do you think you’re funny? Funny enough to write a sitcom? Founded by Minnesota comic Scott Hansen and SNL’s Bo Kaprall, the First Annual Upper Midwest Sitcom Writing Competition may be your ticket to fame, glory, and hanging out with Tina Fey. The top three finalists receive a cash prize and a full-table read of their scripts. The winner’s script will be read by development execs at 20th Century Fox and 821 Productions. Packages range from send-a-script to a four-hour workshop ($59-$249). FMI and tickets.

Springboard for the Arts will commission three Lowertown/downtown St. Paul artists to create high-quality, easily reproducible B&W artwork picturing Lowertown. Throughout 2013, these “Lowertown Sketchbook” pieces will be reproduced on drink coasters available in Lowertown watering holes and other locations. Selected artists will receive a $200 stipend, plus their website/email will appear on the coasters. The submission deadline is Friday, June 14. FMI and submission form.

Susanna Schouweiler, mnartists.org editor, wrote on Facebook: “Finally! MN public TV is venturing beyond kids and old folks to draw younger, web-savvy audiences.” Read her piece for KnightArts on tpt’s new Open Air initiative, a smart combination of original web-only and broadcast material and live events. Now if only we could see some new stuff during pledge week. “Celtic Thunder” makes us want to throw rocks through windows.

Our picks for the week

Tonight at Bloomington’s Normandale Lake Bandshell: “Welcome Summer!” A free concert of festive music by the 90-piece band Minnesota Symphonic Winds. The program includes Berlioz’s “Hungarian March,” “Sundance” by contemporary American composer Frank Ticheli, folk tunes, Broadway hits, and “Minnesota Portraits” by Minneapolis Southwest High School alum Carl Schroeder, with musical depictions of Fort Snelling, sunrise at Lake Calhoun, and the Mississippi River. Bring blankets, lawn chairs, picnics, maybe a down comforter, depending on the weather. 7 p.m. at the intersection of 84th St. and Chalet Road in Bloomington.

Opens tonight at the Plymouth Playhouse: “The Geriatrical Theatrical: Celebrating the Chronologically Enriched.” A new musical about aging by playwright John Fenn and composer Drew Jansen, directed by Bain Boehlke and starring real-life husband-and-wife Richard Ooms and Claudia Wilkens. Through July 28. We just checked; tonight is sold out. FMI and tickets ($30/$27/$15).

Tomorrow at the Trylon: “Axe Giant: The Wrath of Paul Bunyan.” We Midwesterners think of Paul Bunyan as a kindly, king-sized folk hero. Director Gary Jones ("Spiders,""Mosquitos") takes a different view of the big man with the axe. The story: Bratty young adults sentenced to a first-time offenders' boot camp meet Bunyan in the woods, and he's still super mad about something that happened ages ago that ended badly for a bunch of loggers. The perfect summer horror flick for Minnesotans stars B-movie stalwarts Joe Estevez ("San Franpsycho,""Beach Babes from Beyond") and Dan Haggerty (“Grizzly Adams”) along with fresh meat, um, faces. Lizzie Borden would love this. Co-presented by the Minneapolis Beard and Moustache Club. FMI and tickets. 7 p.m., 3258 Minnehaha Ave., Minneapolis. On June 7, the film hacks its way to the Zinema in Duluth, where it stays through June 13.

Thursday at the Southern: “Trick Boxing.” Megan McClellan and Brian Sostek are donating several performances of their family-friendly physical comedy to the Southern as a benefit. The tale of a hapless apple seller, the former Fringe hit has played to audiences around the world; last year it had a run at the Guthrie. Rapid-fire dialogue, Fred-and-Ginger-style dancing, and puppets. Make a reservation, see it for free, then pay whatever you think it was worth. 7:30 p.m.Through June 8. FMI and reservations.

Thursday at Al’s Breakfast in Dinkytown: Dinner with Ragamala. The company’s annual fundraiser features an authentic veggie-friendly south-Indian dinner cooked by co-artistic director Ranee Ramaswamy and the rest of Ragamala. Dine in or take out (call in your take-out order at 612-331-9991). 5:30 – 8:30 p.m., 413 14th Ave. SE, Dinkytown. Minimum donation $12/plate.

Closes Sunday, June 9, at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts: “More Real? Art in the Age of Truthiness.” We humbly suggest that you don’t miss this groundbreaking, thought-provoking and thoroughly modern exhibition of works by 28 artists. Here’s what we wrote when we saw it in March. FMI and tickets.

This Saturday, June 8, is Northern Spark, the all-night celebration of art and community that begins at sundown (8:58 p.m.) in Lowertown. Get some sleep.

Congress, take back the wheel: NSA collection of phone numbers isn’t new

from Brick City Blog by Sean Olsen

The sad reality, though, is that these programs that collect huge amounts of data aren’t new. They’ve just been largely ignored by the media — in both the Bush and Obama Administrations.

Prismatic

from Mr. Dilettante's Neighborhood by Mark Heuring

The broad point of this morning's revelations is pretty simple -- we all stand naked in the public square, but our government does not. It's not a Republican/Democrat issue, either, since the programs began under the Bush administration and have continued apace under Obama. If there's a political point to be scored here, it's that there really aren't too many consistent civil libertarians on the field these days, and that the Fourth Amendment is pretty close to a dead letter, for this and other reasons. We're overdue for a national conversation about that sort of thing.

Will Target put Emmer back in its shopping cart?

from Wry Wing Politics by Joe Loveland

Target’s bankrolling of Emmer resulted in a long string of negative news stories, a national boycott, social media mocking, in-store protests and stockholder questioning.  It was not the Target brand’s finest hour.

The case against Majority Leader Tom Bakk - Part 2

from mnpACT! Progressive Political Blog by Dave Mindeman

Although Republican obstruction is the main problem with moving a Minnesota agenda forward, it is not the only problem.

Compromise is a good and necessary thing within a legislative issue, but taking a broader "let's make a deal" approach with unrelated pieces of the puzzle can be a set back.

An open letter to Minnesota Orchestra fans who purchased tickets for 2012-2013

from Thoughts Towards a Better World by Dick Bernard

To those of you who feel helpless in this situation, I understand. I feel helpless too.

But if each one of us in some directly affirmative way get into action, there is no way that the Board can continue its current posture, which is to stonewall, and blame the Orchestra Union for the stalemate which the Board, itself, created.

If we don’t act, we are complicit in the destruction of this World-Class Orchestra.

B'nai Abraham shares Range Jewish history with stories, music

from Minnesota Brown by Aaron J. Brown

When the Iron Range received a surge of immigrants in the early 20th Century it become one of the most diverse places in the country, a fact that often seems foreign on the Iron Range of today. Among its many groups was a vibrant Jewish community, and though that community mostly dispersed after the natural ore mines wound down in the 1950s and '60s, elements remain. Key among them, the B'nai Abraham Cultural Center in Virginia, Minnesota, still located at the corner of 4th Avenue and 5th Street.

Why every Christian leader needs to have a good answer about homosexuality

from Theoblogy by Tony Jones

If you’re a Christian leader, you might be asked about immigration or whether you believe in human-made climate change. You will get asked about homosexuality. At a pastors’ conference, on a radio show, on your blog, on Twitter, or just about anywhere.

Alzheimer’s disease and baby doll therapy

from Dating Dementia by Nancy Wurtzel

In return, the doll brings comfort. Comfort to a woman who is nearing the end of her life.  Comfort to an Alzheimer’s person who is almost totally dependent on others to provide for her.  Comfort to a person who deep down is still a mother.

Minnesota Daily humor issue, 1979

from MN70s by Dave Kenney

On June 4, 1979, the University of Minnesota’s student newspaper, the Minnesota Daily, published its annual finals-week humor issue and, in the process, set in motion one of the state’s most contentious First Amendment showdowns. Styled in the tabloid format of the National Enquirer, the publication satirized all sorts of individuals and groups. Most controversial was a mock, profanity-laced interview with Jesus of Nazareth. 

When a disturbed individual deliberately provokes law-enforcement officers in a threatening way and provokes a lethal response, we call it “suicide by cop.” When the boards and managements of the Minnesota Orchestra (MNO) and St. Paul Chamber Orchestra (SPCO) engage in lockouts that provoke much of their best talent to leave, infuriate their other stakeholders and threaten the very existence of the world-renowned orchestras, we ought to recognize it as “suicide by lockout.” The leaders of these orchestras are destroying them piece by piece, or as MNO violist Sam Bergman recently stated, musician by musician by musician. Classical-music lovers need to continue to pull together, stand up and loudly say “Stop! Don’t do it!”

A lockout is a strong-arm industrial labor technique used by management to force a unionized work force to accept major concessions. The employees are forced into submission by long-term denial of salary and health benefits c which threatens them with personal financial ruin. It was most recently used by American Crystal Sugar, which forced its employees to accept its original proposal after being locked out for 20 months. During the lockout, nearly one-half of American Crystal Sugar’s work force quit or retired.

Brutal industrial tactics should play no role in the delicate relationships between orchestra managements and the highly talented artists they employ. Nevertheless, MNO and SPCO, represented by the same law firm as American Crystal Sugar, have invoked the same tactic. MNO has locked out its musicians since October 2012, demanding that they accept a 32 percent pay cut and indicating from day one that its proposal is absolutely firm.

SPCO recently settled its seven-month lockout, with the musicians ratifying a contract giving them more than a 22 percent cut in base pay and up to 20 percent cut in individual musician “overscale" pay. The settlement included retirement incentive payments for musicians age 55 and older, and a reduction in the size of the orchestra from 34 to 28. As we have seen, the results for both orchestras have been disasters.

Massive exodus of talent

Let’s look at what is probably a partial list of the self-inflicted destruction:

Minnesota Orchestra

• Sara Kwak, First Associate Concertmaster, has resigned to become Concertmaster of the Oregon Symphony.
• Burt Hara, Principal Clarinet who has been with the orchestra for over 25 years, has taken the position of Associate Principal Clarinetist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.
• Gina DiBello, Principal Second Violinist, who had initially taken a section violin position with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, has now joined the first violins of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
• Principal Viola Thomas Turner, who joined the orchestra in 1994, is now listed by Musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra as a departing musician.
• Violist Kenneth Freed will move to Seattle to pursue other career opportunities.
• Vali Phillips, first violinist and previous Principal Second Violin, has resigned to join his wife Sara Kwak in the first violin section of the Oregon Symphony.
• Violist Matthew Young has resigned to join the San Francisco Symphony.
• Former first violinist Peter McGuire has become the Second Concertmaster with the Tonhalle Orchester Zurich.
• Yun-Ting Lee, who joined the first violin section last summer, has left to join the second violin section of the Cleveland Symphony Orchestra.
• Pitnarry Shin, cellist, will leave for New York to join her husband, departing SPCO musician Kyu-Young Kim, who is joining the New York Philharmonic. [See update below.]
• Most recently, Music Director Osmo Vänskä has threatened to resign if the lockout does not end in time to adequately prepare for upcoming recording sessions and scheduled performances at Carnegie Hall.
• Erin Keefe, Concertmaster, disclosed to Vänskä who in turn publicly disclosed that she has received two offers from elsewhere in the U.S. and will be compelled to leave if the lockout is not over soon.
• Musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra identify the orchestra’s open positions as: “Associate Concertmaster, three section 1st violins, Principal Second Violin, Assistant Principal Second Violin, four section 2nd violins, four violas, Associate Principal Cello, two section cellos, Principal Bass, Associate Principal Bass, Principal Oboe, Principal Clarinet, Bass Trombone, Piano/Harpsichord, and Assistant Principal Librarian.”

St. Paul Chamber Orchestra

• As mentioned above, Principal Second Violin Kyu-Young Kim has taken a violin section position with the New York Philharmonic. Update: After publication of this commentary, the SPCO announced that he will remain with the orchestra and will become senior director of artistic planning.
• Gary Bordner, Principal Trumpet, seeing the handwriting on the wall, took a leave of absence for the 2012-13 season and has now retired (see below).
• Violinist Yoonshin Song left in 2012 to become Concertmaster of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
• Thomas Tempel, oboist and English horn player with SPCO for over 40 years, recently announced his retirement.
• Timothy Paradise, Principal Clarinet for 35 years, resigned in the fall.
• Musicians of the SPCO recently announced that cellist David Huckaby is taking a leave of absence next year, indicating likely departure. Huckaby was one of the youngest and most recent additions to SPCO.
• There is no longer a keyboard musician in the orchestra since Layton “Skip” James retired in 2010.
• Resignations of a large number of the most senior musicians are now happening under SPCO’s supplement retirement package offering musicians age 55+ cash inducements to leave. Because of the lockout and generally hostile working environment, many musicians have decided to take the package and leave. Musicians of the SPCO have recently announced nine additional retirements: Thomas Kornacker, Co-Principal Second Violin;  Brenda Mickens and Michal Sobieski, violin; Evelina Chao, Assistant Principal Viola; Tamás Strasser, viola; Christopher Brown, Principal Bass; Fred Bretschger, bass; Gary Bordner, Principal Trumpet; and Paul Straka, horn. June 17 is the last day to participate in the program.
• A total of nine principal-level positions in the orchestra have become or now remain open: Principal Second Violin (upon Kim’s imminent departure); Co-Principal Second Violin (Thomas Kornacker); Principal Viola (Sabina Thatcher resigned in 2011); Assistant Principal Viola (Evelina Chao); Principal Cello (Ronald Thomas resigned in 2010); Principal Bass (Christopher Brown); Principal Clarinet (Timothy Paradise resigned in 2012); Principal Horn (Bernhard Scully left in 2011); and Principal Trumpet (Gary Bordner). There are so many vacancies that SPCO no longer lists them on its orchestra roster.

This massive outflow of extraordinary musical talent from Minnesota is unprecedented. It is sad and discouraging to watch the decimation of our two outstanding orchestras happening in real time.

Origins of the damage

How did these disasters come about? Much has already been written about this from different perspectives. SPCO cited a deficit of up to $1 million that it stated could not be allowed to continue. Yet SPCO dropped ticket prices starting in 2009 to attract more audience members (“thanks to a balanced budget”). Despite its outstanding international reputation, SPCO ticket prices are now the lowest in the nation for comparable orchestras. Tickets to see the finest chamber orchestra in the U.S. are as low as $10, and 80 percent are $25 or less. The maximum price of $40 is below the minimum pricing of some comparable orchestras.

In fact, there is no longer any reason to purchase either season or individual concert tickets, other than out of ignorance. That’s because SPCO also offers a “membership” program under which you can attend an unlimited number of concerts for $5 per month – driving net pricing well below $10. For example, even looking only at the 16-concert series at Ordway Center and ignoring other concerts on the schedule, the $60 annual membership cost nets out to an absurd $3.75 per concert.

SPCO boasts that its lower prices have helped fill the neighborhood concert halls and “break down barriers associated with concert attendance.” Those are admirable goals. However, SPCO seems blinded to the way rock-bottom prices devalue its concert offerings. SPCO leadership also does not recognize the devastation their pricing strategy has caused to the orchestra’s finances. For example, for its fiscal year ending June 30, 2012, SPCO ticket sales and concert fees generated a shockingly-low 18 percent of total "revenue and support.”

Eyes-on-the-prize donors

SPCO past and returning president Bruce Coppock has published a detailed “business” analysis explaining why he and SPCO believe “concerts are a loss leader” and “filling the hall is the sine qua non, even at the expense of ticket revenue.” Contrary to what music lovers might expect, it turns out that orchestras need to stop worrying about ticket revenue and instead need to “think of ourselves as being in the patron-development business.” According to this theory, orchestras need to “continually develop patrons to the next [donation] level” based upon “the alchemy of patron-revenue growth.”

SPCO, by bringing Coppock back, is plainly signaling that it is prepared to ride this disastrous pricing strategy into the sunset. Even in the face of recent declining corporate donations and large budget deficits, SPCO has rejected numerous calls to raise ticket prices (see also here, here and here). Its leadership obviously prefers to ignore revenue shortfalls and to focus solely on cutting expenses. That is why SPCO leadership instigated a lockout seeking to slash musician pay and the size of the orchestra, even at the rather predictable price of wide scale musician resignations. The leadership clearly wants a much smaller, cheaper orchestra, at least if we assume they intended the natural consequences of their actions. If not, then they played their cards very poorly.

Youth and (architectural) beauty

At the same time, SPCO, through its participation in the St. Paul Arts Partnership, has helped raise over $50 million to renovate one portion of the Ordway Center. This is completely consistent with what Michael Kaiser, president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, recently dubbed the “Edifice Complex.” While SPCO will no longer have the nation’s finest musicians in its orchestra, at least it will have the shiniest and most acoustically brilliant concert hall in town.

SPCO also raised $3 million from a private fund earmarked to entice its senior musicians to leave, apparently because they are growing too old for – well, we don’t know for what. Fortunately, and to the musicians’ credit, newer and younger replacement musicians cannot be treated as second-class citizens. This is because the musicians adamantly resisted what management really wanted: a two-tier pay structure through which the “new” (read: younger) SPCO could be made even cheaper. Remarkably, both the musicians who would remain and those who knew they would soon be leaving made certain they did not benefit current employees at the expense of those who would come later. They thereby avoided leaving the future orchestra divided into two camps. There ought to be an award for that kind of selfless courage.

Drawing power

For MNO’s part, it has now been well documented from the Board Executive Committee’s own minutes that the financial “crisis” was deliberately created through management’s financial manipulation. While seeking public funding through the Legacy Amendment Funds, MNO took sizable draws from its endowment so it could “announce balances” showing that it was financially healthy. With labor negotiations upcoming, MNO made plans to turn off the endowment tap so it could “announce deficits” that would “demonstrate the need to reset the business model.” At the request of numerous Minnesota legislators, the legislative auditor has initiated an audit of MNO’s finances that will hopefully shed more light on these practices and the orchestra’s true financial situation.

Also suffering from the Edifice Complex, MNO raised $50 million to renovate the lobby of Orchestra Hall. The MNO board and leadership apparently saw no inconsistency in spending this massive sum on part of a building while claiming to have insufficient funds to pay competitive salaries to the musicians who are the heart and soul of an orchestra. In fact, a MNO board member publicly bemoaned the fact that nearly 50 percent of its expenses were to pay the musicians, without whom no performance could be held. The musicians aren’t buying it, and neither are the informed members of the audience or the public.

Activating the audience base

One bright spot emanating from these meltdowns is the organization of supporters of classical orchestra excellence, otherwise known as the audience. On the SPCO side, Save Our SPCO has organized audience members seeking a stronger voice and has brought together an Exploratory Committee of distinguished community members to look at forming an alternative orchestral organization and other options to improve the situation.

With the end of the SPCO lockout, Save Our SPCO has initiated a new fund-raising effort through which SPCO supporters can pool donations they would otherwise have given directly to SPCO. The funds raised, which currently stand at over $14,000, would be given to SPCO if changes sought by audience advocates are made. Those changes would include at least significant bard representation for audience advocates. If SPCO is not willing to meet those requests, the funds will be used to support Save Our SPCO’s other initiative, which is studying the feasibility of establishing a new, world-class chamber orchestra in St. Paul.

Save Our SPCO has announced through fliers distributed at recent concerts that it supports orchestral excellence, respect for SPCO’s world-class musicians, retention of top artistic talent, financial stability, new organizational and artistic leadership, candor, transparency and a strong audience voice. Save Our SPCO is currently “crowd sourcing” a set of Guiding Principles through Facebook and web site postings. The end product of this process will be published and will guide the organization’s efforts going forward.

New models

On the MNO side, similar calls for change have been made. Bill Eddins, Music Director of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, has proposed a comprehensive model for change in the governance structure that includes a greater role on the Board of Directors for both musicians and “friends of the MNO.” Attorney and advocate Lee Henderson has also written a $5 million, five-year plan of action. There have also been various calls for the musicians of MNO to break away and form a new organization with its own board and management (see comments posted here and here, among others).

MNO audience advocates have formed Orchestrate Excellence. That group states that it intends to serve as a “positive voice to help end the lockout ... seeking a solution to the current impasse that creates a path to a secure future for the orchestra and doesn’t compromise its musical excellence.”

Most recently, Young Musicians of Minnesota, formed “to express solidarity with the Musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra,” has set up its own website and Facebook page, published a letter of support to the musicians and released a video in which its members speak from their hearts and are shown taking action by writing letters to Gov. Mark Dayton.

Greater coordination between Save Our SPCO, Orchestrate Excellence, other audience advocates and labor leaders of the MNO and SPCO musicians would be appropriate and might lead to new ideas and opportunities to collaborate. Direct coordination and integration of the efforts may be too much to ask of what are essentially volunteer organizations. Perhaps we could start by meeting over another local art form, a Minnesota craft brew, to discuss how we can work together either to help prevent these two fine orchestras from putting themselves 6 feet under or to develop a breakthrough plan of action.

Jonathan L. Eisenberg is a business attorney and a director of SOSPCO. He and his wife have been season ticket holders of SPCO for more than 30 years and have also been concert attendees and supporters of the Minnesota Orchestra. The views expressed in this article are solely his own.

WANT TO ADD YOUR VOICE?

If you're interested in joining the discussion, add your voice to the Comment section below — or consider writing a letter or a longer-form Community Voices commentary. (For more information about Community Voices, email Susan Albright at salbright@minnpost.com.)

A recent Community Voices commentary by Jonathan L. Eisenberg inaccurately describes a “massive exodus” of talent from the Minnesota Orchestra. We appreciate the opportunity to set the record straight.

• Since the lockout began in October, two musicians have resigned and five have requested leaves of absence. In our field it is common for musicians to take a one-year leave during which time their position is held open while they try out a post in another orchestra.

• Three of the eleven musicians noted by Mr. Eisenberg actually left Minnesota in the 2011-12 season to try out positions in other orchestras. These decisions were made before our labor negotiations had even begun.

• Two musicians he describes as planning to leave have not announced that intention to us — one of whom has a husband who plays in the SPCO and just accepted a new position in that orchestra.

• By way of comparison, in a typical concert season, an average of three musicians will depart to pursue other jobs as part of the natural ebb and flow of any organization (this average does not include retirements). It’s regretful to lose any talented musician, and debating the impact of difficult contract negotiations on musician departures is fair. But that debate is best accomplished with facts rather than exaggerations or distortions.

Esther Saarela is the director of Human Resources at Minnesota Orchestra.

MinnPost welcomes original letters from readers on current topics of general interest. Interested in joining the conversation? Submit your letter to the editor. 

The choice of letters for publication is at the discretion of MinnPost editors; they will not be able to respond to individual inquiries about letters.

It's official: the Replacements will play again. Has it really been 22 years since their last live show? Will they give a reunion concert here? What will the actual line-up be? And is Mats worship all Jim Walsh’s fault? Here’s what we’ve picked up from Pitchfork, the Strib and the Current: The last time the Replacements performed live was July 4, 1991,  in Chicago. So far they’re booked for three Riot Fests: Toronto (Aug. 24-25), Chicago (Sept. 13-15) and Denver (Sept. 21-22). Singer/guitarist Paul Westerberg and bassist Tommy Stinson will play, but there’s no news yet on who will join them. (Guitarist Slim Dunlap is recovering from a stroke; drummer Chris Mars isn’t interested.) And at least one commenter at the Current’s website blames Walsh for everything Mats.

The Office of the Legislative Auditor (OLA) has concluded its special review of how the Minnesota Orchestra spent state money in fiscal years 2010-2013, including grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board and bond proceeds for costs related to Orchestra Hall’s renovation. Back in October, the locked-out musicians called for a joint independent financial review, but the two sides could not agree on terms. In March, 100 Minnesota legislators requested a legislative audit of the orchestra’s finances. Legislative auditor James Noble agreed to the audit but limited it to a review of the Orchestra’s use of public funds. We didn’t expect surprises, and we didn’t find any in the legislative summary, released yesterday. Key phrases: “The Minnesota Orchestra complied with applicable legal requirements related to the grant money it received  … We did not identify any payments for costs [related to the OH renovation] that did not comply with applicable legal requirements … While there are indications that the president [Michael Henson] and some board members had significant concerns about the association’s financial condition [during their 2010 testimony to legislative committees], it is not clear that a presentation of those concerns … would have affected the Legislature’s decision to support the Orchestra Hall renovation project.”

On second thought, that last part is rather surprising. The full report says: “More information about the association’s financial challenges might have caused some legislators to be more cautious toward the project, but it might also have persuaded others to be more supportive.” What does that even mean?

The orchestra's management issued a press release saying, “the Auditor has determined that the Orchestra has been a good steward of public monies.” The musicians issued a press release headlined, “Henson’s Legislative Testimony Contradicted Board Minutes.” The latter includes a statement by Tim Zavadil, chair of the Musicians’ Negotiating Committee: “The Auditors investigation concludes that Mr. Henson and management have not been forthcoming about their alleged financial situation with the public, just as they have not been honest with the Musicians.”

So much of what we see in movies these days isn’t real. Must all entertainment be computer-generated? Puppetry is one of the most ancient art forms, and it still has the power to kick our behinds, nowhere more than in “War Horse,” the spellbinding epic play that opened last night at the Orpheum. The star is a puppet – a horse named Joey, 8 feet tall, weighing 120 pounds, brought to life by three puppeteers, two inside its massive frame. Made of mesh, metal, Tyvek and bamboo, Joey walks, runs, rears, eats, even breathes. Actors ride him. When the full-grown Joey steps on stage for the first time, your heart may stop.

Brinkhoff/Moegenburg

Albert and Joey. Andrew Veenstra (Albert) with Christopher Mai, Derek Stratton, Rob Laqui (Joey)

Based on the book of the same name by Michael Morpurgo, set during World War I, “War Horse” is an unabashedly sentimental play about friendship, devotion, courage, carnage, grief and love. The stage is simple: bare and black, with what looks like a long strip of torn paper on the back wall. Onto that strip are projected black-and-white images and animations: dates, maps, landscapes, towns, and battle scenes that tell you when and where you are. Spectacular lighting and stage smoke blur the edges of reality, but there’s no attempt to hide the puppeteers or the mechanics of the puppets, which include more horses, birds flying overhead, carrion crows and a goose that provides moments of comic relief. The large cast – which features St. Olaf graduate Alex Morf as Albert, the teenager who raises and trains Joey, and Edina native Rob Laqui as Joey’s hind – seems utterly committed and passionate about every moment of the play. Said a man seated behind us during intermission, “I’m enjoying this more than I enjoyed the movie.” Through June 23. FMI and tickets.

Courtesy of Cromulent Shakespeare Company/Mark Vancleave

Audrey Anderson and Ryan Levin of Cromulent Shakespeare Company

See Shakespeare all summer – outdoors. Cromulent Shakespeare Company is presenting free performances of “Romeo & Juliet” in Minneapolis and St. Paul parks. Cromulent’s goal is to “embiggen the Bard.” Well said! The sets are bare-bones (basically, six ladders) and the music is live (guitar duets by the Poppen Bros.). Wherefore art Romeo? Tonight (Friday, June 14) at Powderhorn Park, tomorrow at Newell Park in St. Paul, and Sunday at the Lake Harriet Rose Gardens. Or catch another performance between now and June 30. Shows at 7 p.m. (Sundays at 2 p.m.), free. Complete schedule here. Now in its tenth year, the Great River Shakespeare Festival takes place in Winona June 26-Aug. 4. This year’s plays: “Twelfth Night,” “King Henry VI,” and “Macbeth.”Here’s a brief and enticing video about the company that decided early on not to be a “pumpkin-pants, leather-jerkin, hey-nonny-nonny” venture but a contemporary Shakespeare festival. The many free events include concerts, previews, discussions, and a sonnet contest. FMI and tickets. The 38th season of Shakespeare & Company, Minnesota's longest-running outdoor classical repertory theater, begins June 29 at Century College in White Bear Lake with "The Taming of the Shrew" and continues with "Macbeth" and George Farquhar's "The Beaux' Strategem." All performances are held at Century's outdoor theater complex on the west campus. Through Aug. 4. $15/$13. FMI. On Sunday, June 30, at Caponi Art Park in Eagan, the Actors Theater of Minnesota will present all 37 Shakespeare plays in 97 minutes. The whole canon performed by three men in tights. Sounds like a lot of fun. 6:30 p.m., 4545 Pilot Knob Rd., $5 suggested donation. FMI. Starting in July, the Actors Theater gallops through the Bard on the roof at Brit’s Pub. Four Sundays: July 14 (3 p.m.), July 21 and 28 (6 p.m.), Aug. 4 (6 p.m.). No cover. FMI.

A music festival with no beer? A sobering thought. It’s called “HazelFest” and it happens this Saturday at Hazelden in Center City, with music by singer/guitarist Brian Leighton, indie rockers Communist Daughter and “The Voice” finalist Nicholas David, all with recovery experience. Also on the schedule: a drum circle, author signings, an appearance by actress Kristen Johnson (“3rd Rock from the Sun”), and 12 Step meetings. 10 a.m. – 8 p.m. in Center City. $20 at the door. FMI.

Courtesy of Franconia Sculpture Park

The Chalice are performing at Franconia Sculpture Park on Saturday.

Also on Saturday, Franconia Sculpture Park launches its new Music@Franconia Festival Series with a day of girl power. The Women’s Indie Music event features the all-female hip-hop collective The Chalice (who recently closed out the Voltage fashion show at First Ave), post-apocalyptic vixen rockers L’Assassins, Korean-American pop artist Mayda, and Sleeper and the Sleepless (Heidi Brink and Jess Nelson, though we’re not sure which is which). 12 p.m. – 6 p.m., 29836 St. Croix Trail, Franconia. Free.

Our picks for the weekend

Tonight (June 14) and tomorrow at the Artists’ Quarter: Atlantis Quartet. If you follow local jazz at all, you’ve seen one or more of these musicians: Brandon Wozniak on saxophone, Zacc Harris on guitar, Chris Bates on bass, Pete Hennig on drums. Each is a skilled improviser with a strong sense of melody, so their original compositions (which is pretty much all they play, except for occasional forays into Coltrane and Led Zeppelin) are tuneful and exciting and also very likable. They want you to have a good time, and you will. 9 p.m. in the basement of the Hamm Building, $10 at the door.

Tonight and tomorrow at the Lab Theater: Destination Twin Cities. An impressionistic, time-traveling exploration of our neighborhoods, landmarks, people and places, with images of St. Paul’s Swede Hollow and landmarks like the Stone Arch Bridge. A collaboration among choreographer Sarah LaRose-Holland and Grammy-winning jazz pianist Butch Thompson, with the 12-member dance company Kinetic Evolutions and a cameo by singer Maud Hixson. Friday at 7:30 p.m., Saturday at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. 700 N. First St., Minneapolis. FMI and tickets ($30-$15).

Tonight through Sunday: Opera Under the Stars. As encores to its 50th anniversary season, and in thanks for decades of community support, the Minnesota Opera is giving us three free concert performances of Puccini’s “La bohème.” Tenor Harold Meers makes his company debut as the poet Rodolfo opposite soprano Karin Wolverton (“Silent Night,” 2011) as Mimì. Leonardo Vordoni (“Lucia di Lammermoor,” 2012) conducts the Minnesota Opera Orchestra and Chorus. Bring a picnic, family, friends and the DEET. Friday at Harriet Island (7 p.m.), Saturday at Lake Harriet Bandshell (7:30 p.m.), Sunday at Shattuck-St. Mary’s in Faribault (7 p.m.). FMI.

Saturday at the American Swedish Institute: Midsommar. The Swedish Institute is becoming Party Central. The day-long outdoor festival includes a parade, the raising of the Midsommar pole, singing, dancing, live music, demonstrations by Minnesota artists, festival food (pickled herring!), a flea market and  the opening of a new exhibit, “Pull, Twist, Blow – Transforming the Kingdom of Crystal.” Master glass blower Ingalena Klenell (her glass forest, “Homeland,” is part of the exhibit) will be on hand for conversations. 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. Included with museum admission ($7/$6/$4).

Saturday at the Stone Arch Bridge: Global Water Dance. We’ll see just part of an event happening around the world, beginning in the Pacific Rim and rolling westward through the time zones. In 60 cities on six continents, more than 2,000 dancers will bring awareness to the global water crisis. According to the World Health Organization, unsafe water causes 1.5 million deaths each year, and most who die are children under 5. Marylee Hardenbergh, artistic director of the global effort, lives in Minneapolis. 7 p.m. Free and open to the public.

Saturday and Sunday: Stone Arch Bridge Festival. A weekend of juried art and local music on the Minneapolis Riverfront. With 250 artists, three performance stages, a Father’s Day car show, a family art park and more. Saturday: Booths and live music 11 a.m. – 7 p.m., concert at Water Power Park 6 p.m. – 10 p.m. Sunday: Booths and live music 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. FMI.

Sunday at the Lake Harriet Band Shell: Cantus. The annual Father’s Day concert by the men’s vocal ensemble has special poignancy this year: it’s bassist Tim Takach’s final performance with the group he co-founded as a St. Olaf student. 2 p.m., 4135 W. Lake Harriet Parkway. Free.

Though orchestras may lose a few players to other orchestras, these are usually due to promotions to better-paying jobs and/or title positions. In the case of the Minnesota Orchestra, many of the departures would, in normal times, be seen as lateral moves at best.

Principal Clarinet Burt Hara left for Associate Principal in LA. Principal Second Violin Gina DiBello moved to Section First Violin in Chicago. Acting First Associate Concertmaster Peter McGuire left for a Concertmaster positions in Zurich's Tonhalle Orchestra. He's a Minnesota boy who won his dream job, and never wanted to leave. He contributed to the surrounding community as a chamber musician and educator, and should have been viewed by management as an ideal legacy player. Instead, MPR wrote:

McGuire said he started to feel uneasy long before the orchestra made its first contract offer this past spring. "There was this kind of 'the bully's going to meet you at lunchtime' feeling for at least a year and a half." ... "You say I'm much less valuable than I have been, and what choice do I have but to prove that's not the case?" he said. "A 42 percent cut — would you not look for work the next day?" ... McGuire said he doesn't want to stay with an orchestra he feels is moving in the wrong direction.

"Leave of absence" is both true and misleading. It is standard in orchestras and other professions to take a year's leave on accepting another position. This is not indecision about leaving; it is personal insurance. A new job may not work out as planned. The only other reason for these players to want to return to Minnesota is if they hold out hope for drastic changes in MOA management policies, direction, and/or leadership in the coming year.

MinnPost welcomes original letters from readers on current topics of general interest. Interested in joining the conversation? Submit your letter to the editor.

The choice of letters for publication is at the discretion of MinnPost editors; they will not be able to respond to individual inquiries about letters.

Legislators defending gay marriage vote should ask 'What Would Wellstone Do?'

from Wry Wing Politics by Joe Loveland

The late Senator Paul Wellstone was much more liberal than the majority of his constituents, just as DFLers in Greater Minnesota are on this issue.  Still, Wellstone was widely respected, even by those who disagreed with him, in large part because he was proactive, sincere, respectful, civil, unapologetic and direct about his disagreements with constituents.  When explaining differences, he made values-driven arguments, not politics-driven arguments.

To forgive A Nazi

from TCJewfolk by Rabbi Zalman Bendet

In light of the recent news that alleges that 94-year-old NE Minneapolis resident Michael Karkoc was a top commander of a Nazi SS-led unit, I was asked if there was a “Jewish perspective” on how Nazi war criminals should be treated. While I certainly do not hold exclusive rights to “The Authentic Jewish Perspective,” I will gladly share some of my thoughts with you.

MPR’s Bob Collins on Minnesota journalism

from Stubble by Tom Johnson

"I love the hell out of Minnesota. It’s very similar to the state I moved from – Massachusetts. In many ways they’re joined at the hip. Minnesota has a tremendous history of great journalists and great journalism and we should be all be very proud of that fact. It still has great journalists and great journalism here but I don’t think anybody in their right mind is going to suggest that THIS is the golden age of Minnesota journalism. It’s not. We’re all chasing revenue by chasing audience and I don’t know what to make about that or how to say that without sounding like the old man in the newsroom who was relevant once upon a time. But that’s what I think."

To the audience of the Minnesota Orchestra

from Thoughts Toward a Better World by Dick Bernard

What’s one to do? In my view, we audience members don’t reward the bad behavior of the Orchestra Board and it’s management by quietly accepting what is happening.

Rocking the Garden: The lows and highs of 89.3's music festival

from Thoughtful Bastards by Paul Udstrand

The summer of 2013 officially started last Saturday with my attendance at 89.3 FM’s (The Current) 11th annual “Rock the Garden”  (“annual” since 2002). This smallish music festival is held on the grounds of the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis MN.  

Amongst the gray

from Saint Paul By Bike by Wolfie Browender

Another gray day in Saint Paul with the threat of rain hanging nearly as heavy as the leaden clouds themselves. The flat lighting and dinginess give most pictures a drab look. It doesn’t really change the sights, only the way they feel. Still, it sure beats sitting home dusting or vacuuming.

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The Minnesota Orchestra will return nearly $1 million in Minnesota State Arts Board (MSAB) grant funds. The state dollars, which have been sequestered during the ongoing labor dispute with the musicians, were to be used for general operating expenses. The state’s fiscal year has ended without a contract settlement between Orchestra management and musicians, so back goes the dough – about $960,000. The musicians have been locked out since Oct. 1.

Musicians of the Minnesota Orchestra are performing twice between now and July 12. On Saturday, July 6, violinists Stephanie Arado and Michael Sutton, violist Megan Tam, and cellists Beth Rapier and Tony Ross will play a benefit concert of music by Dvorak, Schubert, and assorted cello duos at Sovereign Estates Winery in Waconia. $20/person suggested minimum donation, collected at the door. Music starts at 8 p.m. Open seating is limited; send an email with the number of seats you will need to RSVP@sovereignestatewine.com. A pre-concert dinner at 6:30 p.m. is available for $40/person (does not include suggested donation). Dinner tickets here. On Friday, July 12, musicians will accompany the winners of the 2013 e-Piano Junior Competition at Ted Mann Concert Hall, 2128 4th Ave. S., Minneapolis. 4 p.m. - 6 p.m., free.

The Guthrie has announced more details and dates for 2013-14 programming in the Dowling Studio, that amazingly flexible black box on the ninth floor with floor-to-ceiling lobby windows. (Go for the views, stay for the plays? Of course not, but the city and river vistas are spectacular day and night.) Sept. 14-18: “Moon Show 143” by Kyle Loven, directed by Nick Hubbard. Four fateful encounters between humans and the moon, with puppets. Sept. 19-22: “How to Be a Korean Woman” by Sun Mee Chomet, directed by Zaraawar Mistry. A one-woman show about an adoptee’s reunion with her birth family.  Oct. 29-Nov. 17 (previously announced):“Skiing in Broken Glass” by David Goldstein, directed by Joe Dowling. A lonely writer and a mysterious young male escort find themselves in an unlikely relationship. Feb. 25-March 16, 2014: “Freud’s Last Session” by Mark St. Germain. In the weeks before his death, Freud consults with the young C.S. Lewis. March 21-April 6: “Abe Lincoln and Uncle Tom in the White House,” written and directed by Carlyle Brown. Lincoln is visited by the character from Harriet Beecher Stowe’s abolitionist novel. Dates TBD: “The Three Musketeers,” a swashbuckling stage adventure directed by Amy Rummenie from a new adaptation of Dumas’s novel by John Heimbuch. And what could prove to be the season’s most harrowing event: “Wreck,” the story of 13 survivors caught in the hold of a sinking ship, choreographed and directed by Carl Flink with original music by Mary Ellen Childs.

The Metropolitan Regional Arts Council (MRAC) has awarded this year’s Next Step Fund Grants to 38 individual Minnesota artists. Funded by the McKnight Foundation, Next Step helps artists in the 7-country metro area complete projects that will help them rise to the next level in their careers. Nearly 400 artists applied for the 38 grants given. This year’s winners include writers, musicians, visual artists, photographers, dancers, and a blacksmith. Here’s a complete list.

Courtesy Forgotten Man Films/Samuel Goldwyn Films

What does it take to become a Master Sommelier?

What does it take to become a Master Sommelier? Passion, dedication, the ability to memorize countless facts, a long-suffering spouse or girlfriend (most sommeliers are men), and enough time and cash to work your way up through four levels of courses and exams given by the Court of Master Sommeliers. The title is prestigious, but the path is a bit of a plod, and director Jason Wise’s debut feature documentary, “SOMM,” has some slow parts. Wise follows four appealing young candidates – Ian Cauble, Dustin Wilson, Brian McClintic, and DLynn Proctor – through the three weeks leading up to the grueling Master Sommelier Diploma Exam, then reveals the moment at which each learns his results. Who’s exhilarated, who’s crushed? This is a film for wine nerds, and if you’re one, you’ll enjoy it. If you’re not, you may think it’s too much talking and spitting. “SOMM” opens Friday, July 5, for a weeklong exclusive engagement and regional premiere. On Monday, July 8, the Film Society of Minneapolis St. Paul offers the perfect pairing: a screening of “SOMM” with a wine-tasting event hosted by CMS-certified sommelier April Amys. FMI and tickets.

The world’s longest-running musical, “Les Misérables” has been re-imagined and re-tooled by producer Cameron Mackintosh for its 25th anniversary, with new staging, new scenery inspired by the paintings of Victor Hugo, and new orchestrations. This show made its Minnesota debut at the Orpheum in Dec. 2011; it returns for one week starting July 30. FMI and tickets. Learn more about “Les Miz” at a “Broadway Confidential” talk on Monday, July 29 at 5:30 p.m. at the New Century Theater. Free. RSVP to Melissa Koch at 612-455-9530.

On a sunny evening late last week, we stood on the Ford Center’s rooftop, looking down on a Twins Game at Target Field and feeling lucky to be alive. The occasion: the 30th anniversary celebration and benefit for Minnesota Film and TV, made especially festive by the recent $10 million in Snowbate funding. Founding supporter Sen. Richard Cohen was on hand to accept his Golden Chair award and pledge more Snowbate money in the future, depending on how things go. Actor John Carroll Lynch (Norm Gunderson in “Fargo”) was supposed to be there but had to cancel due to an emergency appendectomy. However, we did meet actor Erik Stolhanske (Rabbit in “Super Troopers”) and have been dropping his name ever since.

Each year, MSAB’s Arts Tour Minnesota program sends Minnesota artists around the state for performances, exhibitions and related arts activities. Grants range from $5,000-$100,000. (Although MSAB-funded travel outside the state has now been nixed, travel within the state is good.) Artists and nonprofits planning to apply should take part in one of two free webinars being offered Friday, July 12 at 10 a.m. and Monday, July 15 at 5 p.m. Registration is strongly encouraged. Read a program overview here.

The Chamber Music Society of St. Cloud is seeking an executive director, its only paid position. With the assistance and active involvement of the CMS Board of Directors, the executive director provides vision, leadership and expertise needed for CMS to fulfill its purpose of enhancing the cultural life of Central Minnesota through the presentation of world-class chamber music. The 2012-13 season featured the Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, the Flanders Recorder Quartet and the Tokyo String Quartet, among others. FMI.

And finally: July 7-14 is Nude Recreation Week. Minnesota is sadly absent from the list of locations with planned events.

Artscape is taking a brief holiday. We’ll be back Friday the 12th. Meanwhile, we’ll continue to post interesting arts events and news on our facebook page. Like us and don’t miss a thing.

Our picks for the next several days

Tuesday, July 2 (tonight): Honoring the Fallen with Century Brass Band. Part of the Minnesota History Center’s Nine Nights of Music series, this evening links to the Center’s “Minnesota and the Civil War” exhibit with a program of period music and dancing. After the concert, join a fife-and-drum processional across Kellogg Boulevard to the Josias King Monument for a brief memorial ceremony. King was a Civil War veteran. Pre-show activities (outdoor displays, games of the 1860s) start at 5:30 p.m. Music at 7:30. Candlelight processional at 8:30. All free.

Wednesday, July 3: The first of many After Work Wednesdays at the American Swedish Institute. Swedes celebrate happy hour with an “after work,” and surely it won’t take much for us to form that humpday habit, thanks to a little push (and some meatballs) from the ASI. With food and drink specials from FIKA including a Mystery Beer Bucket, herring, those fabulous meatballs, and seasonal surprise dishes. FIKA seating in the courtyard has been expanded and the galleries will stay open late. 3 p.m. – 8 p.m. Museum admission required to tour the galleries.

Courtesy of Blok Magnaye

"Take Courage," part of “You Can Do It, Put Your Back into It.”

Wednesday, July 3: “You Can Do It, Put Your Back into It.” Catch this motivational poster show at Light Grey Art Lab on your way to ASI; it closes July 5. 118 E. 26th St., Minneapolis. Wednesday hours: noon – 7 p.m.

Thursday, July 4: Where’s the best place to view the St. Paul fireworks on the Fourth? From the upper decks of the Minnesota Centennial Showboat, with the cast and crew of “Sweet Revenge.” You’ll need tickets to the show, an old-fashioned, action-packed melodrama featuring olios (musical interludes) by Vern Sutton. The Showboat is docked at Harriet Island, and the fireworks are ignited directly across the river. We went last year and it’s pretty gosh-darned spectacular. Call 651-227-1100 or go online. 

Friday, July 5: Dark Star Orchestra “raises the Dead” at the Zoo. DSO shows are built off the extensive catalog of the Grateful Dead. You might hear a setlist from an actual Dead show or a new one created for this night. The Dead toured for 30 years; DSO has been on the road for 15, playing more than 2,200 shows. At the Weesner Family Amphitheater, 7 p.m., all ages. FMI and tickets ($39.68 including fees and taxes).

Saturday, July 6: Beer and live music at the Harriet Brewing Tap Room. It’s a holiday weekend. Unless you’re away at the lake, this seems like the perfect way to spend a Saturday. 2 p.m.: Mill City Hot Club. 5:30 p.m.: Robert William Duo. 7 p.m.: Cait Leary. 9 p.m.: Kind County. Food truck: Simply Steve’s. 3036 Minnehaha Ave. S., Minneapolis. All shows are free.

Sunday, July 7: “Sound and Place: Minnesota” at Caponi Art Park. California composer Hugh Livingston, a McKnight Visiting Composer with the American Composers Forum, will lead a sonically animated summer evening stroll through the park. Musicians of the St. Paul new-music quartet Zeitgeist will move in and out of the woods, responding to the park’s natural sounds: birdsong, wind in the trees, water in the streams. A multichannel sound installation (hidden in birdcages hanging from trees) will add to the experience. 1220 Diffley Road, Eagan. Free, but if you want to donate $5, Caponi Art Park will happily take it.

Monday and Tuesday, July 8-9: Pharoah Sanders at the Dakota. Having warmed up by closing out the Iowa City Jazz Festival on Sunday night, Sanders will head north on Monday for two nights of saxophone mayhem at the Dakota. He got his start playing with John Coltrane; it was Sun Ra who gave him the nickname "Pharoah." Jazz legend with a capital JL. 7 p.m. and 9 p.m., 1010 Nicollet Mall. FMI and tickets ($30/$15).

Wednesday, July 10: "Downloaded" at the Trylon. The story of two teenagers named Shawn Fanning and Sean Parker who started a file-sharing business called Napster and forever changed the music business. "Music will be ubiquitous ... You'll be able to get it on your cell phone," Parker said back then, sounding like a nut. The Minnesota premiere of Alex Winter's documentary is part of the Sound Unseen series of films about music. 7 p.m. at the Trylon, 3258 Minnehaha Ave. S. FMI and tickets.

Courtesy of A24 Films/Wilford Harewood

“The Spectacular Now” at the Walker

Thursday, July 11: “The Spectacular Now” at the Walker. Director James Ponsoldt (“Smashed”) and producer Billy Rosenberg will be here to introduce Ponsoldt’s coming-of-age film adapted from Tim Tharp’s novel. Part of the Walker’s First Look series of sneak previews. 7:30 p.m. in the Walker Cinema. FMI and tickets ($12/$10).

The Minnesota Orchestra yesterday canceled six more concerts, which surprised no one who has been paying attention, since management and musicians are still not talking. The musicians have been locked out since Oct. 1 of last year. The canceled concerts were scheduled for July 20 to Aug. 3 at the Ted Mann. The 2013-14 season has been planned but not yet announced.

Recent weeks have seen a flurry of discussion about the orchestra’s increasingly dire situation. NPR reported on Aspen Music Festival president and CEO Alan Fletcher’s annual convocation address (June 24), which made a pointed reference to the Twin Cities.“This has not been a good year for many people we care deeply about in the world of music,” Fletcher said. “We’ve been seeing some terrible fractures in the historic cooperation that is needed to create music. For me, the very worst of it has been in Minneapolis-St. Paul, where two great orchestras were locked out of their halls. … A strike is a very unhappy thing, but a lockout is unworthy of us all.”

MPR’s Euan Kerr and Chris Roberts summed up the generally bleak outlook and noted that “several observers believe the Minnesota Orchestra dispute will only be resolved with outside help.”Musician and blogger Robert Levine responded, “The real problem … is that there is no third party willing to wade in and lean on the Minnesota Orchestra board to abandon an approach which has not worked and shows no signs of ever working. And why is that? I would guess it’s because the Minnesota Orchestra board chair and the head of the board’s negotiating committee – in other words, the two people most in charge of calling the shots – run, or help run, the two biggest banks in town. … There are not many people who could actually make a difference to a bad orchestra negotiation who are willing to tangle with that kind of firepower. Normally, one would expect the mayor, or the state’s governor, or perhaps the state’s U.S. senators, to get involved in a negotiation that’s garnering so much negative national publicity. But politicians need donations, and most certainly don’t need the fourth or fifth largest bank in the country opposed to them. Other board members are not going to be willing to go up against heavy hitters like that either – not if they might ever need a working relationship with one of those banks in the future.” Does the current stalemate really boil down to self-interest and fear?

There’s already talk of picketing Orchestra Hall if it reopens during the labor dispute. Things could get even uglier. So – where’s the third party? Over the past several months, we’ve asked a number of concerned and knowledgeable people, “If you could send anyone in to talk with both management and musicians, who would that be?” Many would like Gov. Mark Dayton to get involved. (An editorial published in the Star Tribune in May urged the governor “to use the influence of his office to prevent a catastrophe at Orchestra Hall.”) Other names mentioned include Fritz Mondale, former Gov. Arne Carlson, former St. Paul Mayor George Latimer, and Sam Kaplan, who recently returned from four years as U.S. ambassador to Morocco. Who else?  Ideas?

***

Photo by Sharolyn Hagen Photography

Stephen Paulus

St. Paul-based composer Stephen Paulus suffered a major stroke on July 4. The latest posting on his Facebook page reports that “he’s currently in critical but stable condition at a hospital in the Twin Cities.” His family has opened a CaringBridge page for updates and messages of support. Paulus is a prolific, respected and widely admired composer of music for orchestra, chorus, chamber ensembles, solo voice, keyboard and opera, a co-founder of the American Composers Forum, and a recipient of both Guggenheim and NEA fellowships. To date, he’s written more than 450 works – not nearly enough. Our thoughts are with him and his family.

The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra will present a three-concert series at the Capri Theater in north Minneapolis as part of its 2013-14 season. This is the fourth year the SPCO has performed at the Capri but the first series it has offered in this intimate, 250-seat venue. A third of the seats will be free – first come, first served. Season tickets for best available assigned seats are $30; order online or call 651-291-1144. Single tickets go on sale at a later date. Concert dates are Oct. 10, Feb. 6 and May 8. Program details TBA.

Union Depot is getting its second of 10 public art installations, part of a $1.25 million public arts grants program established by Ramsey County Regional Railroad Authority. Connecticut artist Tim Prentice is on site installing his kinetic sculpture as you read this (if you’re reading it between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Friday). Lightweight aluminum tubes linked together will glide on air currents, creating constantly changing patterns and reflecting light in unpredictable ways. (Prentice calls what he does “drawing on the air.”) The next time you’re in the Kellogg Entry, look up.

Photo by John Whiting

Artist Tim Prentice, left, and principal assistant, David Colbert, installing Prentice's kinetic sculpture at Union Depot.

We really like the line-up for the 17th season of Pen Pals, announced this week by the Friends of the Hennepin County Library. Oct. 10-11: George Saunders, a MacArthur “genius” grant recipient and master of the short story. His latest collection, “Tenth of December,” has been on the New York Times bestseller list since its release in December 2012. Nov. 4-5: distinguished English novelist, poet and critic A.S. Byatt (“Possession: A Romance”). Feb. 6-7, 2014: Tijuana-born storyteller Luis Alberto Urrea (“The Devil’s Highway,” “Into the Beautiful North”). April 24-25: artist and illustrator Art Speigelman, whose Holocaust narrative “MAUS,” written in comic-book style, is a Pulitzer winner and a must-read. May 8-9: poet Tracy K. Smith, whose most recent collection, “Life on Mars” (Graywolf Press) won the 2012 Pulitzer Prize. Subscriptions are on sale now; download a subscription form or call 612-543-8112. Pre-sale mail orders for individual tickets are being accepted now.

Courtesy of the Walker Art Center

Walker design fellow Sang Mun has created a typeface he claims is not recognizable by National Security Agency surveillance.

Want to foil those spying eyes? Walker design fellow Sang Mun has created a typeface he claims is not recognizable by National Security Agency surveillance. (He should know; he spent two years working for the NSA.) Called ZXX, it includes four styles that stymie Optical Character Recognition (OCR) softwares. Here’s Mun’s blog entry on the Walker’s website, complete with a link to a free download.

The Minnesota State Fair grandstand concert series is complete. Sheryl Crow, with special guest Dwight Yoakam, are set for 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 25. Brantley Gilbert has been added as the guest for the Tim McGraw concert on Monday, Sept. 2; Rival Sons has been added to Sammy Hagar’s Four Decades of Rock show on Saturday, Aug. 24. Now that we see the whole series, we’re putting Depeche Mode at the top of our list (Aug. 27). FMI and tickets.

Courtesy of KFAI

Dr. Willie Dean

KFAI – Fresh Air has a new executive director. Dr. Willie Dean most recently served as president and CEO of the YMCA of Arlington, Texas, and earlier as executive director of the Monsanto YMCA in St. Louis. During his tenure, the Monsanto Y was named one of ten model YMCAs serving urban communities in the United States. Dean earned his Ph.D. in education from the University of Minnesota. He takes over for Suzann Eisenberg Murray, who stepped in as interim executive director when Janis Lane-Ewart left the executive post in December after 12 years.

The Cedar has a new artistic director, someone who already knows the ropes. Sage Dahlen has worked at the Cedar since 2005, beginning as a volunteer, joining the staff as house manager, becoming part of the development team, serving as executive director Rob Simonds’ assistant, and in 2012 moving up to booking coordinator, a position from which she programmed many of the Cedar’s more than 200 yearly concerts. “It is my intention to build upon the qualities that our patrons have come to expect while also challenging those expectations, and stretching perceived definitions of global music,” Dahlen said in a prepared statement. The Cedar is pretty stretchy already, a gem of a venue that hosts a consistently interesting parade of artists from surprising places. (Like, for example, the Norwegian musician who played instruments carved from blocks of ice. He was great.) We look forward to seeing what Dahlen does next.

Courtesy of the Cedar Cultural Center

Sage Dahlen, the Cedar Cultural Center's new artistic director, someone who already knows the ropes.

The Jerome Foundation has announced the recipients of its 2013 Travel and Study grants. Funds support travel for professional and creative development. Grant categories for this round were music, theater, and visual arts. Several artists from Minnesota will travel near and far to study, do research, and form personal and professional connections. A few examples: Adrienne Dorn, director of development at the Cedar, which is located in a neighborhood that is home to a large Somali population, will attend the second annual Copenhagen-Somali Seminar in Denmark. Scott Thomas will go to Sarajevo to research Bosnian blues. Writer and performance artist May Lee-Yang will travel to Los Angeles to attend the Cornerstone Theater’s Summer Institute to learn their process of community-engaged theater, because theater is a relatively new form within her Hmong community. Kristopher Douglas of Rochester will travel to Johannesburg and Cape Town, South Africa, to conduct research in support of an exhibition by South African-born artists to be presented at the Rochester Art Center in 2015.

On the topic of artists and travel, specifically Minnesota lawmakers’ recent decision to nix the use of State Arts Board grants for out-of-state travel (and also for bringing artists here from elsewhere), the Daily Planet’s Jay Gabler had plenty to say earlier this week.“For a state that prides itself on having a strong arts scene, in this instance Minnesotans acted like people who think that making art is a complete waste of time and money,” Gabler wrote.“Many have called the Legislature’s decision provincial, and of course it is – but that doesn’t even get at the crux of why this decision is so deeply offensive to all Minnesotans who care about art … Let’s call this what it is: artist shaming.”

Finally: If you ever played Twister (or whatever you called it; people had their own special names for this game), a moment of silence for inventor Charles Foley, who died July 1 at Golden Living Center in St. Louis Park. He was 82.

Our picks for the weekend

Starts tonight (Friday, July 12) at the Bryant Lake Bowl Theater: “Push Button. Get Bacon.” A satirical sketch-comedy review by the Recovery Party, a company comprised of Dudley Riggs/Brave New Workshop alums. The sketches, songs, and monologues deal with mail-order brides, evaporated milk, 3.2 beer and other hot topics. Scanning the BLB menu, we found a turkey, avocado & bacon sandwich. 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through July 27. FMI and tickets.

It’s LEGO weekend at the Mall of America. We’re talking an 8-foot-tall Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles model. A big LEGO map of the United States. The giant LEGO robot at the LEGO store. Hundreds of kids building things with LEGOs. And the guiding, inspiring presence of LEGO master builders. Friday – Sunday, 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. daily.

It’s Basilica Block Party weekend in downtown Minneapolis. Nineteen bands, three stages. Tickets are still available for both tonight (Friday) and tomorrow. 5 p.m. – 10:30 p.m. on the Basilica grounds.

Saturday is all about music – outdoors, so let’s do our Good Weather Snoopy Dance.

•  First Annual St. Croix Vineyards Wine & Jazz Festival. Show up and help start a tradition. With Mike Salovich and Marc Anderson, Patty Peterson and the Tanner Taylor Group, Seven Steps to Havana and the Atlantis Quartet – an exceptional line-up. Wander the grounds, sample some award-winning wines, maybe bring home a bottle or two. 11 a.m. – 6 p.m. Free (except for the wine you buy). 6428 Manning Ave. N., Stillwater.

•  Music @ Franconia. The summer-long series at the sculpture park continues with a Bluegrass, Folk & Country Festival featuring the High 48s, Thea Ennen, Cactus Blossoms and Roe Family Singers. Noon – 6 p.m. Family-friendly and free (parking $5/car). At the intersection of Hwy 8 (Lake Blvd) and Hwy 95 (St. Croix Trail) in Chisago County, Franconia.

•  Third Annual Twin Cities’ Roots, Rock & Deep Blues Music Festival. Twenty-eight artists on four stages at Patrick’s Cabaret, Harriet Brewing and Mosaic Café. With the Meat Puppets, Erik Koskinen Band, Jawaahir Dance Company, Chastity Brown Band, L’Assassins, Gospel Machine, Spider John Koerner, and many more. Noon – 10 p.m. $15 advance/$20 door. Tickets here. 3010 Minnehaha Ave. S., Minneapolis.

•  Midtown Global Market Music Festival. Live music and dance from around the world, food, drink, arts, crafts, and fun for kids. Performers include the Tropics Steel Drum Band, Bad Habits Brass, Machinery Hill, Duniya Drum and Dance, and Dick and Jane’s Big Brass Band. 2 p.m. – 8 p.m. Free. On East Lake St. between Elliott and 10th, Minneapolis.

We’ve been waiting to hear how many St. Paul Chamber Orchestra musicians would retire, and now we know: a whopping 10, each with more than 30 seasons of playing with the SPCO. An incentivized retirement package was part of the contract signed in April by musicians and management after a 191-day lockout. The new contract also reduced the size of the ensemble from 34 to 28. Subtracting 10 from 28 leaves the equivalent of a mid-sized big band. Departing are Gary Bordner, principal trumpet; Fred Bretschger, assistant principal bass; Christopher Brown, principal bass; Evelina Chao, assistant principal viola; Thomas Kornacker, co-principal second violin; Brenda Manual Mickens, violin; Michal Sobieski, violin; Paul Straka, horn; Tamás Strasser, viola; and Thomas Tempel, oboe. MPR’s Euan Kerr has been reporting the story. “On the one hand,” SPCO president Bruce Coppock told Kerr, “we are saying goodbye to old friends. On the other hand, orchestras are evolutionary beings.” Since evolution is a long, slow process, we can only speculate on how the orchestra will sound going forward. But at least now we know the immediate damages.

For the moment, Minnesota Orchestra management and musicians are not pelting each other with rotten tomatoes. Even after last week’s cancellation of the summer season, both sides were uncharacteristically silent. The Strib’s Graydon Royce reports that exploratory talks with a mediator are taking place behind the scenes. A letter from a reader published Wednesday in the Strib posed a rueful what-if: “One can’t help wondering how differently the past year might have turned out if the Minnesota Orchestra board had begun by praising our wonderful musicians to the skies and telling us, in an all-out fundraising campaign, just what it would take to keep them.”

If the Minnesota Orchestra labor dispute miraculously ended tomorrow, the problems facing the orchestra – and many orchestras across the U.S. and around the world – would not go away. Formed earlier this year, Orchestrate Excellence, an independent coalition of audience and community members committed to preserving the quality of the Minnesota Orchestra while finding a path toward a secure financial future, will hold its first community forum Tuesday, Aug. 20, from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. at Westminster Presbyterian Church in downtown Minneapolis. The keynote speaker will be Alan Fletcher, president and CEO of the Aspen Music Festival and School, who made the state of classical music the subject of a recent convocation address. The forum is free and open to the public.

Open now at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts: “It’s New/It’s Now: Recent Gifts of Contemporary Prints and Drawings.” Over 120 original works on paper, dating from 1960 to the present, including works by Francis Bacon, Chuck Close, Jasper Johns, Elsworth Kelly, Roy Lichtenstein, David Hockney, and more. Tickets here ($14/$12, free to members).

Courtesy Francesco Clemente

Francesco Clemente, Untitled (Self-portrait), 1984. Color woodcut on Kozo paper; artist's proof. Gift of Kate Butler Peterson. 2010.107.3.

With the Minnesota State Capitol soon to become a construction site until December 2016, you might want to head over for a final look before the banging starts. Guided tours are still being offered daily (suggested donation $6). FMI. A Capitol Art and Artists Tour takes place Saturday, July 27, and an Architecture of the State Capitol Tour on Saturday, Aug. 17, both at 11 a.m. ($9/$8/$6). Learn about more tours here. Interior work begins Sept. 2.

For “Downton Abbey” fans, both those suffering from withdrawal and those still sore about Season 3: tpt is rerunning the documentary “Secrets of Highclere Castle,” in which it is revealed that the real lord and lady of the place where the series is filmed seem like regular people, except they live in Downton Abbey. Sunday at 7 p.m., Monday at 1 a.m., next Saturday (July 27) at 5 p.m.

Three Minnesota State Arts Board grant programs are now accepting applications:Artist Initiative (which supports the artistic and career development of individual artists at all career stages), Arts Tour Minnesota (which supports performances, exhibitions, and other activities in Minnesota by professional touring artists and arts organizations, and supports Minnesota presenters in hosting them), and Cultural Community Partnership (designed to enhance the artistic and career development of artists of color). Grants range from $1,000-$100,000 (the big ones are for touring). Learn more at the links.

The new owners of the Old Log have announced the 2013-14 season of the New Old Log Theater. Sept. 5-Oct. 26: the honky-tonk musical comedy “Cowgirls.” Nov. 8-Dec. 7: the regional premiere of “Rancho Mirage,” a new play by Steve Dietz. With Stacia Rice, Ann Michels, and James Denton (“Desperate Housewives”). Nov. 18-Dec. 29: the Tony-nominated “A Year with Frog and Toad.” Bring the kids. Jan. 23-Maych 29, 2014: “Almost, Maine,” a midwinter night’s love story. April 3-May 18:“Steel Magnolias.”Season and individual tickets are available now.

The Walker’s Internet Cat Video Festival has gone global. Will it become an annual Twin Cities tradition – like, say, “The Nutcracker” or the Zombie Pub Crawl? We certainly hope so. This year it moves from the Walker lawn to the State Fair Grandstand (Wednesday, Aug. 28, 7 p.m.), with seats instead of grass. Further upgrades include a clever host, Julie Klausner, a New York-based comedy writer, performer, author and podcaster (“How Was Your Week”) who has a cat named Jimmy Jazz. Also appearing: celebrity cats and auteurs (like Will Braden of “Henri Le Chat Noir”). Plus there’s that brand-new 70-minute video reel. Vote for this year’s Golden Kitty Award by Wednesday, July 31. Get tickets here ($10).

In response to the Trayvon Martin verdict, Stevie Wonder has announced that he will not perform in Florida until the state’s “Stand Your Ground” law is abolished.Slate says Wonder’s boycott is “politically savvy, morally righteous, and it could be enormously important.” In a searing Facebook status update posted early Thursday, musician and Minneapolis native José Jamesdescribed being “brutally assaulted by a white man in broad daylight walking on the street I grew up on.” He was 14. He was later told by the police “it was my fault for provoking him + I needed to ‘watch out’ in the future.” James concludes, “I love my fans but I am canceling all my shows in Florida.” Since last year, James has been touring the world and performing for big crowds in support of his new album for the storied Blue Note label. He’s exactly the sort of musician young people in Florida want to see.

Our picks for the weekend

Photo by Jason Creps

Husband-and-wife singer/songwriters Brett and Rennie
Sparks are the Handsome Family

Tonight (Friday, July 19) at the Cedar: The Handsome Family. Don’t let that sweet, innocent name fool you. Husband-and-wife singer/songwriters Brett and Rennie Sparks are not the Brady Bunch. Their songs are dark, their sensibilities twisted. Their new album, “Wilderness” (Carrot Top), gave us chills. NPR and the New Yorker and Mother Jones all love them. This is modern roots music, sunk deep in decaying soil. Old-timey ballads spiffed up with samples, loops, and effects. Songs titled “Flies,” “Octopus,” “Spider,” and “Wildebeest.” Lyrics about being crawled on, maybe eaten. Doors at 7 p.m., show at 8. FMI and tickets ($15).

Tonight at the Rochester Civic Theatre: Experimental & Underground Queer Cinema: A Brief History. In celebration of Rochester’s 2013 Pridefest, this 90-minute screening of eight films spans 1947 to the present. Here’s the list. The films start at 10, but arrive early for music by Dianna Parks & Friends on the patio stage. Free and open to the public. Cash bar available. Mature audiences only. Co-presented by the Rochester Art Center.

Courtesy of Light Grey Art Lab

Tonight at Light Grey Art Lab: opening night for “Station Zero!” Read a vintage science-fiction novel, then design your own cover and make it poster-size. That’s what more than 80 artists have done for this show, which should be a lot of fun. Sci-fi, old books, new art: what’s not to like? Runs through Aug. 9. 7 – 10 p.m., 118 East 26th St., Minneapolis (on the corner of Stephens and 26th).

Tonight through Sunday at the Ritz: Eclectic Edge Ensemble’s 10th Anniversary Concert. The jazz dance company revisits favorites from the past and premieres new work in an evening-length performance of choreography by artistic director Karis Sloss and live music by local composers. Includes “Sailing the Sky Waltzing,” two duets from “Reeling Over Love,” and “Still,” a meditation on the difficulties of dealing with mental-health issues featuring banjoist Michael Rossetto (Spaghetti Western String Co.), cellist Ethan Sutton, and percussionist JT Bates (Fat Kid Wednesdays). 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Tickets here ($17 advance/$20 door) or call 612-436-1129.

Saturday in St. Paul: University Grove Home Tour. A unique neighborhood of 103 single-family homes owned by University of Minnesota faculty and staff, situated on land owned by the U, University Grove is a collection of early- and mid-20th-century architect-designed homes. The New York Times has called it an “architectural time capsule” of modern America. View exteriors and a few interiors on this tour presented by the Minnesota Historical Society. The 9 a.m. tour is sold out; some tickets ($35/$30) are still available for the 1 p.m. tour. Register here or call 651-259-3015.

Photo by Darrell Tangen

The Minnesota River Arts Fair

Saturday and Sunday in Savage: Minnesota River Arts Fair. Each summer brings an abundance (some might say a deluge) of art fairs, but the Savage Arts Council has done something different. Along with holding their festival at The Landing in Shakopee (formerly Historic Murphy’s Landing), an 1880s village setting with costumed interpreters, they have added a major literary event. A new Literary Landing Pavilion will host 12 Minnesota authors who will be on hand the entire time to present their latest books in readings, talks, and signings. At noon on Saturday and Sunday, popular crime novelist Erin Hart will give a keynote talk. The fair will also feature a plein-air painting competition, activities for kids, music, food vendors, and (of course) artists’ booths. 10 a.m. – 5 p.m., 2187 Highway 101 East, Shakopee. Free; park fees are waived for the weekend.

Monday in Loring Park: the Walker’s Summer Music & Movies series begins with “The Hawks and the Sparrows” (“Uccellacci E Uccellini”), a comic fable directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini starring Toto, the stone-faced clown. Italian with English subtitles. The night opens with the Current’s DJ Barb Abney and live music by Prissy Clerks – “new pop for now people.” Music at 7, movie at dusk. Free. If it rains, everything moves to the Walker Cinema, where seating is first-come, first-served.

Classical music blogger Norman Lebrecht says something is up with the Minnesota Orchestra. On his Slipped Disc blog he writes: “Aribitration in Minnesota has produced an offer that the musicians are about to reject. Both sides are dug in so deep after 11 months of lock-out that neither can climb out. From documents that we have seen but are not at liberty to quote, the offer is:

• the lockout would end September 1, 2013;
• the old contract would prevail for a two-month period of negotiations;
• however, if no agreement is reached on a new contract by that time, a two-year agreement would snap into effect with 25% across-the-board pay cuts.

That’s the board side of the deal. The players’ Negotiating Committee calls this proposal ‘absurd and unacceptable’… . After 110 years, this could be the day the music died.” In an earlier post Lebrecht predicted this latest impasse will trigger the resignation of Osmo Vänskä.

On the death of Rosalie Wahl, the PiPress’s Emily Gurnon writes: “Wahl was remembered Monday as a remarkable jurist whose accomplishments paved the way for other women and whose deep commitment to justice formed the heart of her work. Wahl, 88, of St. Paul, was the first female justice to serve on the Minnesota Supreme Court. Wahl was taken to the Regions Hospital emergency room Sunday evening and died of natural causes at 7:15 a.m. Monday, according to her daughter Jenny Blaine.”

At MPR Elizabeth Stawicki and Jon Collins write: “At 3 years old, when Rosalie Wahl's mother died, she and her little brother went to live with their grandparents on a 160-acre farm of rolling Kansas pastureland. At 7, her grandfather and little brother were killed by a train. Her grandmother had to sell the farm. To cope with the losses, she threw herself into reading books and writing. She became a staunch advocate for justice. During the mid-1940s while attending the University of Kansas, she co-founded an on-campus interracial housing co-op. She married and moved to Minnesota, where she had four children. … By working in the public defender's office, Wahl gained valuable experience arguing appeals before the state Supreme Court. She argued more than 100 cases, sometimes two or three a day. She earned a reputation as a strong advocate for the poor, people of color, and those disenfranchised from societal power. Wahl used to say that she viewed the justice system from the bottom up.”

At William Mitchell, where she attended Law School, they write: “She is also nationally recognized as a pioneer in clinical legal education and William Mitchell named its expanded legal practice center in her honor in 2003. Many of the standards used in legal education today are the result of her leadership and recommendations. Her work emphasized practical skills education and the idea that lawyers should be taught to be more sensitive, tolerant and passionate—in other words, use their hearts in addition to their brains.”

Right after Labor Day… Jennifer Brooks of the Strib reports: “Work crews could begin ripping up the stately green lawns of the Minnesota Capitol within weeks, after getting a final go-ahead Monday on a full-scale gutting and upgrading of the aging structure. The Capitol Preservation Committee, led by Gov. Mark Dayton, voted Monday to proceed with the $272 million renovation that could see parts of the exterior being demolished shortly after Labor Day. The project is expected to go on for several years. … The design plan approved Monday will make drastic improvements. There will be new public spaces for historical exhibits and staging areas for public tours. There will be glass elevator doors to bring in light and offer breathtaking views of the Capitol interior.”

Another update on … mosquitoes.Jeff Strickler of the Strib writes: “Mosquito monitors also have spotted new-to-Minnesota species that are more aggressive than the mosquitoes we’ve swatted for years. The interlopers — the Asian Tiger and Japanese (also called Asia) Rock Pool mosquitoes — bite more and fly farther looking for dinner. Because both of the new species are capable of spreading disease, mosquito control officials are worried that the more-aggressive newcomers might overrun the mosquitoes native to Minnesota. … Because the backlog of hatches has caught up, the worst of the bug baby boom is likely behind us. But those bugs aren’t going away. We’ll merely to return to the normal levels.”

Big of her... Remember Our Favorite Congresswoman’s in-from-Pluto comment last week about President Obama giving illegal immigrants the right to vote? Kevin Diaz of the Strib writes: “... Bachmann’s office has backed off a widely-mocked remark suggesting that President Obama gave illegal immigrants the right to vote last year. … Since the interview was posted a week ago, Bachmann's comments have generally been derided as the latest example of her reputation for disregarding facts. But unlike in previous instances, Bachmann’s office took the trouble on Monday to re-state what she now says she meant. ‘The point the Congresswoman was making was a hypothetical one given an ongoing theme of the Obama presidency — selective enforcement of laws,’ said spokesman Dan Kotman.” Oh… well now it’s entirely understandable.

How do you knock a guy who’s “pro-tree?” Laura Yuen of MPR reports: “Minneapolis mayoral candidate Mark Andrew wants to double the number of trees planted in the city every year. Andrew would direct $500,000 in city money to increase the park board’s annual plantings from 5,000 to 10,000. Without such a program, the emerald ash borer epidemic will devastate the city’s tree canopy, he added. The plan would also rely on matching funds from businesses and philanthropies and would encourage residents to plant trees on their own yards. … Park board commissioners who are backing the former Hennepin County commissioner say the thousands of trees destroyed in the recent storms represent just a fraction of the onslaught expected from the emerald ash borer.”

The Ideal Diner is back in business. Emily Weiss at City Pages writes, “…owner Kim Robinson confirmed that the Ideal Diner on Central Avenue has officially re-opened for business following a months-long hiatus. Robinson, a longtime server at the diner, bought the restaurant from Kevin Kelzenberg back in April and closed it down temporarily in order to work on a re-model. Robinson planned to update the kitchen, but leave the original 13-seat counter area mostly untouched. Her plan is to be open seven days a week from breakfast until late afternoon. Dinner service may be added after everything gets up and running again.” I still laugh when I recall taking movie director John Waters to the Ideal for lunch. The owner was delighted that a big time Hollywood guy was in his place … until the story ran and he found out what “Pink Flamingos” was really all about.

Talk about bringing in the big gun… Graydon Royce of the Strib reports: “He helped broker peace in Northern Ireland. Now, former U.S. Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell has stepped into the Minnesota Orchestra’s lengthy and bitter labor dispute. Mitchell met last week in Washington, D.C., with representatives of management and labor to see whether he can coax the parties into a mediated settlement, say sources close to the situation. Mitchell’s involvement is the latest twist in a stalemate that has lasted 10 months and is the longest among major American orchestras. … Mitchell’s potential involvement comes as significant dates approach. Music director Osmo Vänskä stated earlier that he will resign if the contract is not settled by Sept. 9.”

Also, officially and for the record…Royce writes: “Both sides in the Minnesota Orchestra labor dispute are distancing themselves from a blog post that suggests a new offer has been made by management and will likely be rejected by musicians. British critic Norman Lebrecht, who writes the blog ‘Slipped Disc,’ posted on Monday that he has seen a document that indicated a management proposal to lift the lockout on Sept. 1, for a two-month period of negotiations. Musicians would be paid during that period under the terms of the old contract. If no new contract were reached at the end of that time, a pay cut of 25 percent would be imposed. Musicians spokesman Blois Olson would not comment on the report other than to say ‘there are several inaccuracies.’ Management spokeswoman Gwen Pappas said in a statement, ‘Our position is that we are respecting the negotiating process, trying to work out of the limelight, so we have no comment on the Lebrecht piece.’ ” Hmm... pretty limp denials, IMHO.

Bad pun alert: So is this thing finally coming to a head? Mark Stodghill of the Duluth News Tribune reports: “The city of Duluth is tired of babysitting Last Place on Earth head shop owner Jim Carlson, who acts like a 2-year-old in creating a public nuisance and continually flaunting the law, Deputy City Attorney M. Alison Lutterman told the court Tuesday. Carlson’s attorney, Randall Tigue, responded that the city has made his client the personification of everything evil. Tigue said the city will break any rule in an attempt to put Carlson out of business because the end justifies the means, making the city far more dangerous than the seller of synthetic drugs. The city obtained a temporary restraining order to close Carlson’s business on Friday after Duluth police made a controlled buy of synthetic drugs from the store, which isn’t licensed to sell them. The city is now seeking a temporary injunction, keeping the store closed, until legal questions are answered.”

No, the big lake did not consume it… A report in the Strib says: “A bowsprit problem on one of the tall ships destined for a Duluth festival will keep it away from the event. Capt. Bruce Randall [says] the bowsprit on the 118-foot schooner Halie & Matthew failed and hasn't been repaired. That's the long pole that extends from the front of the ship and supports the masts. More than 1,000 tickets for a ride on the schooner have been sold. Organizers say most of those ticketholders will be redirected to other tall ships in the fleet.”

And yet again… Conrad Wilson at MPR reports: “A Mille Lacs County sheriff's deputy has been charged with sexually abusing young boys who accompanied him on fishing trips. Aaron Joseph Heuer appeared in Otter Tail County District Court Tuesday on four counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and four counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct. Investigators allege Heuer inappropriately touched four boys, ages 8 to 10 years old, last month while working as a volunteer fishing guide at Lutheran Island Camp in Henning, Minn. The criminal complaint alleges he then ordered the boys to have sexual contact with him. The complaint says Heuer threatened to push them out of the boat if they refused.” Who screens these characters?

More bad publicity for my people… Andy Rathbun of the PiPress reports: “A 32-year-old Edina man was arrested in Wisconsin Tuesday afternoon after he allegedly held a woman against her will in a car on Interstate 94. The Wisconsin State Patrol received information just before 1 p.m. that a woman was being held in a Chevrolet Equinox traveling west on I-94 near Eau Claire, Wis. The woman, who had met the man online, was communicating by text message, according to the State Patrol. Troopers stationed themselves along the interstate from Eau Claire to Hudson, Wis., in an effort of locating the vehicle. The 19-year-old woman from Whitehall, Wis., was able to convince the man she needed to use the restroom, and they exited the interstate. She was able to communicate to law enforcement that she was in a restroom of a gas station near Elk Mound, Wis., the State Patrol said.”

Need a few dozen bowling shoes? A 40-foot bar?Nick Ferraro of the PiPress writes: “The former owner of West Side Lanes will be selling the insides of the now-closed bowling center Tuesday through Friday, offering everything from bowling shoes to beer signs to a 40-foot wooden bar. Juette Holseth, who owned the West St. Paul bowling center for 17 years, has until Friday night to sell the contents of the building, at 1625 South Robert St. Hours of the sale are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. … Items for sale include bowling equipment (balls, shoes and 20 AMF lanes), office equipment (safes, an ATM machine and a security system), bar and restaurant equipment (bar stools, mugs, commercial ovens and walk-in coolers and freezers), as well as miscellaneous items such as vending machines, TVs and wainscoting.”

At the moment it may not have a rival for the crown of Ultimate Geek Fest, (unless there’s a “Glee” convention somewhere) but City Pages has a photo gallery— which they say is staff produced — of characters from Comic-Con in San Diego.

Another tax hysteria myth bites the dust.Rachel Stassen-Berger of the Strib reports: “…state spending per capita in Louisiana, Wyoming and even Wisconsin grew more than spending in Minnesota over the last decade. According to the Tax Foundation, Minnesota's state spending grew by 22.5 percent from 2001 to 2011, ranking it thirty-fifth in real dollars spending growth. … According to Minnesota numbers (linked and below), the state's general fund spending (a slightly different calculation than the Tax Foundation used) has been growing steadily since 1960 with only one biennial dive. In Gov. Tim Pawlenty's last year in office state general fund spending dipped, comparing two year cycles, by 11.5 percent.” Next thing you know someone will tell us austerity doesn’t cure a recession.

On the heels of this week’s news that peace envoy and former U.S. Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell will help (or try) to bring an end to the Minnesota Orchestra labor dispute, let’s take a look at the orchestra — by the numbers.

During the 10-month lockout, it hasn’t been easy to grasp the actual size of the orchestra — how many musicians are still here, how many have left or are leaving. We’ve seen the photograph of “Minnesota’s ghost orchestra” on the musicians’ website and Facebook page. On the website, the spectral figures represent 24 “musicians lost to the lockout.”

After a May 31 concert by locked-out musicians, we reported that “the orchestra’s complement has fallen to 74 musicians, down from 98.” The orchestra management called this an “erroneous claim.” (In retrospect, we should have treated this as a quotation, which it was, by Minnesota Orchestra principal cellist Tony Ross from his comments to the audience that night.)

Numbers don’t lie, but numbers can differ, dependingon who’s adding them up and how. In any conflict, each side is likely to arrive at a sum that reflects most favorably on its own position.

The musicians' numbers

The musicians count 24 “musicians lost to the lockout,” or open positions: 

1. Associate Concertmaster: Sarah Kwak, resigned, now with Oregon Symphony
2. 1st Violin: Vali Philips, resigned, now with Oregon Symphony
3. 1st Violin: Peter McGuire, leave of absence, now with Tonhalle Orchester of Zurich
4. 1st Violin: Chou-hei Min, retired
5. Principal 2nd Violin: Gina DiBello, resigned, now with Chicago Symphony
6. Assistant Principal 2nd Violin: Julie Ayer, retired
7. 2nd Violin: Yun-Ting Lee, never offered a contract despite winning audition, now with Cleveland Orchestra
8. 2nd Violin: Edward Stack, retired
9. 2nd Violin: David Wright, retired
10. 2nd Violin: Kristin Kemper, resigned
11. Principal Viola: Thomas Turner, leave of absence, now with San Diego Symphony
12. Viola: Matt Young, resigned, now with San Francisco Symphony
13. Viola: Ken Freed, leave of absence, now residing in Seattle
14. Viola: Ben Ullery, resigned, now with Los Angeles Philharmonic
15. Viola: Gareth Zehngut, never offered a contract despite winning audition, now with San Diego Symphony
16. Associate Principal Cello: Janet Horvath, resigned for medical reasons
17. Cello: Mina Fisher, resigned for medical reasons
18. Principal Bass: Peter Lloyd, resigned many years ago, position never filled
19. Associate Principal Bass: Fora Baltacigil, resigned, now with New York Philharmonic
20. Principal Oboe: Basil Reeve, retired
21. Principal Clarinet: Burt Hara, leave of absence, now with Los Angeles Philharmonic
22. Bass Trombone: David Herring, resigned
23. Piano/Harpsichord: Vladimir Levitski, retired many years ago, position never filled
24. Assistant principal Librarian: Jennifer Johnson, resigned four years ago, now with Metropolitan Opera, position never filled

In fact, there are 25. Clarinetist David Pharris requested leave after this list was compiled. That he’s not on the list is “an oversight,” said musicians’ spokesman Blois Olson.

According to the musicians’ website, “This list represents all current vacancies in the Minnesota Orchestra, including a few musicians whose departures occurred years before the lockout began. Some of these departing musicians were never replaced because of MOA’s reluctance and occasional outright refusal to schedule auditions to replace them.”

Management's numbers

We spoke earlier this month with orchestra spokesperson Gwen Pappas, who had objected to our claim that the orchestra’s complement had shrunk by so many.

“The reality is that since Oct. 1, when the lockout began, two musicians have outright resigned and five have requested leaves of absence,” Pappas said. “Other than those seven positions, the complement of the orchestra is exactly what it was and has remained unchanged from last summer, when the orchestra played the last concert of the [2011-12] season.”

Seven positions recently became eight with a new request for leave from trumpeter Robert Dorer. 

What is the actual complement of the Minnesota Orchestra? According to the previous contract, now expired: 98 (95 musicians, 3 librarians).

“The contract proposal on the table right now suggests a complement of 84,” Pappas said. “That doesn’t include librarians.”

We requested confirmations with names, which Pappas provided in follow-up emails:

• Resignations: Gina DiBello (Principal Second Violin) and Yun-Tin Lee (Second Violin)

• Leaves of Absence: Peter McGuire (Acting First Associate Concertmaster), Tom Turner (Principal Viola), Ken Freed (Viola), Burt Hara (Principal Clarinet), David Pharris (Clarinet), Robert Dorer (Trumpet)

In a convention peculiar to the orchestral world, a musician may take a leave of absence for up to one year to try out a position somewhere else. Meanwhile, the orchestra holds the position open. When the leave ends, the musician may return or resign. If the musician resigns, the position can be filled through the audition process.

“In a typical season – going back 10 years – an average of three musicians leave to take jobs in other orchestras,” Pappas said. “We’re sitting a little bit above that average now, which is not surprising. But it’s not about 25 people who have departed the orchestra.”

Except during the lockout, when no auditions are being held, “there’s always an audition process under way,” Pappas says. “On average, we hold three auditions a year. So the orchestra is always in the process of filling positions … The second the dispute is resolved and the orchestra is playing again, there will be a schedule of auditions.”

The most recent auditions, for bass trombone, were held July 18-21, 2012. Two finalists were identified, and each was asked to come back and play with the orchestra. That hasn’t happened because of the lockout.

We were sent the pre-lockout roster of Minnesota Orchestra musicians. Included in the October “Showcase” magazine, it was never made public because the musicians were locked out before the season’s first concert. It lists 82 musicians, seven open positions, and two librarians. (“Over the last several years,” Pappas said, “the orchestra has typically been performing with a complement of between 85 to 87 players.”) Three musicians are marked with a cross (+) as being on leave: Sarah Kwak (First Associate Concertmaster), Vali Phillips (First Violin), and Matthew Young (Viola). All three have since resigned. Hyejin Yune (Second Violin) is marked with an asterisk (*) as a replacement musician; he had a one-year contract and was not offered a position.

The open positions are Assistant Principal Second Violin, Associate Principal Bass, Associate Principal Cello, Bass Trombone, Principal Bass, Principal Oboe, and Piano, Harpsichord, Celesta (the latter three instruments are all one position).

“ ‘Open’ positions do not necessarily mean empty chairs on stage,” Pappas said. “They are typically filled with substitute players, either from within the section or on one-year contracts, until an audition for a permanent position can be held … The majority of current ‘open’ positions in the orchestra are slated to be filled.”

The musicians list two string players, Yun-Ting Lee (Second Violin) and Gareth Zehngut (Viola), as “never offered a contract despite winning audition.” Both signed contracts, but because of the lockout, neither contract took effect. Meanwhile, Lee won another position and resigned from the Minnesota Orchestra. Zehngut "has a guaranteed position when the orchestra plays again," Pappas said.

Let’s look at the musicians’ list again, this time through management's eyes: 

1. Associate Concertmaster: Sarah Kwak, resigned before the lockout
2. 1st Violin: Vali Philips, resigned before the lockout (Philips is Kwak’s husband)
3. 1st Violin: Peter McGuire, leave of absence
4. 1st Violin: Chou-hei Min, retired at the end of the 2011-2012 summer season
5. Principal 2nd Violin: Gina DiBello, resigned during the lockout
6. Assistant Principal 2nd Violin: Julie Ayer, retired at the end of the 2011-2012 summer season
7. 2nd Violin: Yun-Ting Lee, resigned during the lockout
8. 2nd Violin: Edward Stack, retired at the end of the 2011-2012 summer season
9. 2nd Violin: David Wright, retired at the end of the 2011-2012 summer season
10. 2nd Violin: Kristin Kemper, resigned before the lockout
11. Principal Viola: Thomas Turner, leave of absence
12. Viola: Matt Young, resigned before the lockout
13. Viola: Ken Freed, leave of absence
14. Viola: Ben Ullery, resigned before the lockout
15. Viola: Gareth Zehngut, won audition, contract hasn’t started yet
16. Associate Principal Cello: Janet Horvath, resigned before the lockout
17. Cello: Mina Fisher, resigned before the lockout
18. Principal Bass: Peter Lloyd, resigned before the lockout
19. Associate Principal Bass: Fora Baltacigil, resigned before the lockout
20. Principal Oboe: Basil Reeve, retired at the end of the 2011-2012 summer season
21. Principal Clarinet: Burt Hara, leave of absence
22. Bass Trombone: David Herring, retired at the end of the 2011-2012 summer season
23. Piano/Harpsichord: Vladimir Levitski, retired years ago
24. Assistant principal Librarian: Jennifer Johnson, resigned before the lockout

Subtract everyone who retired or resigned before Oct. 1, add Pharris and Dorer, and we’re left with the orchestra’s count of eight: 

1. 1st Violin: Peter McGuire, leave of absence
2. Principal 2nd Violin: Gina DiBello, resigned during the lockout
3. 2nd Violin: Yun-Ting Lee, resigned during the lockout
4. Principal Viola: Thomas Turner, leave of absence
5. Viola: Ken Freed, leave of absence
6. Principal Clarinet: Burt Hara, leave of absence
7. Clarinet: David Pharris, leave of absence
8. Trumpet: Robert Dorer, leave of absence

Did some musicians retire and others request leave because they knew a contract storm was coming? In November, shortly before Peter McGuire left for a position in Switzerland, he told MPR’s Chris Roberts that “there was this kind of ‘the bully’s going to meet you at lunchtime’ feeling for at least a year and a half.” McGuire probably won’t be coming back when his leave ends, but he has that option. 

By now most of us have heard that former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell has been enlisted as peacemaker in the Minnesota Orchestra’s endless labor dispute. Here’s Graydon Royce’s piece for the Star Tribune, and Euan Kerr’s for MPR. Were Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and John Kerry also on Gov. Mark Dayton’s list of possible mediators? Will orchestra President Michael Henson and Mitchell share tales of their time in Ireland? Henson was CEO of the Ulster Symphony from 1992-1999 and the Bournemouth Symphony from 1999-2007; Mitchell was special envoy for Northern Ireland from 1995-2001.

It seems SPCO violinist Thomas Kornacker is not the retiring kind. Last week he was on the list of 10 musicians who had taken the incentivized retirement package offered in the new contract. By Tuesday he was back in a brand-new role: special assistant to SPCO president Bruce Coppock. In a letter to “members of the SPCO family,” Coppock wrote that “Tom … will work especially hard on an issue of particular importance, assisting in SPCO auditions and the mentoring of new musicians as they come into the orchestra.” A big job in a formerly close and intimate ensemble now reduced by a third.

Courtesy of The Schubert Club/Tim Rummelhoff

Accordo consists of top players from the SPCO and Minnesota Orchestra.

Accordo, the sensitive, expert, exploratory and agile string ensemble made up of SPCO and Minnesota Orchestra principal players, has announced its 2013-14 season. Co-presented by the Schubert Club and Kate Nordstrum Projects, all concerts take place in the Saarinen-designed Christ Church Lutheran, a National Historic Landmark in the Longfellow neighborhood in Minneapolis. Monday, Oct. 7: Mozart and Brahms string quintets. Monday, Dec. 9: works for flute by Mozart and Debussy, the Françaix string trio and a Mendelssohn string quintet. Monday, Feb. 17, 2014: Handel/Halvorsen’s Passacaglia for Violin & Viola, a piano quintet by Tanayev and Beethoven’s “Archduke.” Monday, April 28: piano works by Schumann, Shostakovich and Dvorák. All concerts at 7:30 p.m. FMI and season tickets. Another event, not part of the series, is set for Tuesday, Oct. 8 at the Amsterdam in St. Paul: Mozart and Brahms with drinks, context and conversation.

Jack El-Hai

Think of it as a book lover's mini-Bonnaroo. As part of its MFA Summer Residency program, Augsburg College is holding an intensive series of back-to-back readings by visiting writers and faculty— and inviting the public. Tonight (Friday, July 26): fiction writer Stephan Clark (“Sweetness #9”) and biographer Jack El-Hai (“The Nazi and the Psychiatrist,” “The Lobotomist”). Saturday, July 27: screenwriter Christina Lazaridi (“One Day Crossing,” “Coming Up Roses”). Monday, July 28: memoirist Sue William Silverman (“Love Sick,” “Fearless Confessions”). Tuesday, July 30: novelist and poet Cass Dalglish (“Nin,” “Sweetgrass”) and poet Cary Waterman (“When I Looked Back You Were Gone”). Wednesday, July 31: poet Ed Bok Lee (“Whorled”). Friday, Aug. 2: novelist Benjamin Percy (“Red Moon,” “The Wilding”). All events but one will be at the Tjornhom-Nelson Theater in Foss Center (22nd and Riverside). Lazaridi’s will be a screening in Sateren Auditorium down the hall. 7:30 p.m. Free. FMI. 

On Tuesday the U.S. House of Representatives Interior Appropriations Subcommittee (seven Republicans, four Democrats including Minnesota’s Betty McCollum) approved its initial FY 2014 funding legislation, which includes a proposed cut of $71 million to the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA). This 49 percent cut would bring NEA funding down to $75 million, the amount it received in 1974. Funding for the NEA has already been cut by more than $29 million over the past three years. (The subcommittee bill also proposes slashing the National Endowment for the Humanities’ funding by the same amount, with the same bottom line.) Americans for the Arts has made it easy for you to contact your member of Congress and voice your concerns.

If you have children, even grown-up children, chances are you know the work of author, illustrator and Edina native Nancy Carlson. We spent a lot of time at our house with her characters Loudmouth George (a rabbit), Louanne Pig, and Harriet the golden retriever. Carlson has launched a new blog, “Putting One Foot in Front of the Other,” in which she shares a devastating diagnosis (her husband, Barry McCool, has frontotemporal dementia) and how it changed their lives overnight. It’s a wake-up call to all creatives (may we say especially women creatives?) to get their finances in order.

The best-lookin’ man in comedy has signed to local label Secret Stash Records, specialists in 1970s-era Afrobeat reissues, famous for the “Twin Cities Funk & Soul” collection of vintage R&B tracks from Minnesota, which we think we’ll cue up right now because it’s so awesome. When asked how he feels about joining Secret Stash, Fancy Ray said, “Them joining forces with Fancy Ray is a brilliant move.”

Courtesy of Secret Stash Records

Fancy Ray with Eric Foss, co-founder of Secret Stash

Walking the dachshund near the Lake Harriet bandstand last weekend, where a band was playing to a happy crowd, we were reminded to remind you of the truly amazing Music in the Parks programs offered by both the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board and Saint Paul Parks and Recreation. We’re well into summer and each is in full swing. The heat wave has lifted, life is short, get out there. Here’s the full schedule for Minneapolis, ditto for St. Paul.

On the topic of good weather, USA Today has named the Midtown Greenway in Minneapolis the best bike path in the U.S. Better even than the spectacularly scenic Lakefront Trail in Chicago, a hard act to beat. All nine of the other trails look awfully good, so hurray for us.

On sale today:The Second City: “Happily Ever Laughter” at the Fitz on Saturday, Sept. 7. The Daily Show’s John Oliver at the State on Saturday, Oct. 12. Nine-time Grammy winner John Legend at the State on Tuesday, Nov. 19. On sale Saturday at 10 a.m.: Bonnie Raitt Slipstream Tour 2013 with special guest Mavis Staples at the Convention Center, Wednesday, Oct. 23. Ticketmaster.

Our picks for the weekend

It’s possible, and highly recommended, to party in and around the Dakota all weekend and into next week. Start tonight (Friday, July 26) with rootsy, bluesy, piano-pounding Davina & the Vagabonds, a guaranteed good time. Come back Saturday for the Dakota Street Fest, a noon-to-10 p.m. blowout with live music on four stages, a Kidsville, fire dancers, Chicks on Sticks stilt walkers, a Jaguar tent (that's cars, not cats), and more. With music by Debbie Duncan, Patty Peterson, Toki Wright, Walter Chancellor and Hydroponic Jazz, Sonny Knight and the Lakers, Paul Metsa and Willie Walker, Nachito Herrera – and a Secret Stash After Party. On Nicollet Mall between 10th and 12th. On Sunday and Monday, Kermit Ruffins & The Barbecue Swingers bring NOLA north. (Special note to jazz fans: The great bassist and Miles Davis alum Dave Holland brings his new quartet, Prism, to the Dakota Sept. 28-29. With Kevin Eubanks on guitar, Eric Harland on drums, and our own Craig Taborn on keys. How many ways can we say, “Don’t you dare miss this”?)

Courtesy of the Dakota/Andrea Canter

The Dakota Street Fest takes place on Saturday from noon-to-10 p.m.

Tonight in Northeast Minneapolis: Northeast Dog Parade. An evening for dogs and owners alike with treats including Dogtail Hours and a Flea Market. 6 p.m., Chute Park at Central and University. Related: “Bark at Art … and purr,” a pet-friendly art opening benefiting The Pet Project. Artwork inspired by our furry friends, a showing of last year’s Internet Cat Video Festival video. 7 – 10 p.m. (film at 8), Gallery 122 at Hang It, 122 S. 8th St., Minneapolis.

Tonight and tomorrow in the Chanhassen’s Fireside Theater: “Unforgettable: A Tribute to Nat King Cole” with Dennis Spears and the Wolverines. If you saw Spears at the Penumbra in “I Wish You Love,” you know he can totally do Nat King Cole. 8 p.m. FMI and tickets.

Tonight through Sunday on the Lake Harriet trolley: Solve a murder mystery staged by current and former Southwest High students directed by Dave Premack. “A Most Modern Murder,” an interactive whodunit, happens on the trolley at 9 p.m. all three nights (plus next Friday, Aug. 2). FMI and tickets ($15).

Saturday in Mears Park: Lowertown Roots Music Festival. Zydeco, blues, bluegrass, and Nordic roots music, free for the hearing in lovely Mears Park. The full day of music ends with Randy Sabien’s Violin Roots Ensemble (7 p.m.) and headliner C.J. Chenier and the Red Hot Louisiana Band (8:30 p.m.). The music starts at 2:30 p.m.

Courtesy of The Grand Hand Gallery

Untitled (jazz trio with Malcolm) by Malcolm Myers

Saturday at the Grand Hand Gallery: opening reception for “Malcolm Myers - All That Jazz.” Minnesota painter, printmaker and longtime U of M professor of art Malcolm Myers (1917-2002) loved American jazz and blues. He found inspiration for much of his work in music. The Grand Hand is working with his estate to offer a selection of his paintings and prints – limited releases of remaining work by a major Minnesota artist. Opening reception 5 – 7 p.m., with saxophonist Irv Williams expected to play. 619 Grand Ave., St. Paul. FMI.

Saturday and Sunday in Stephens Square Park: Red Hot Art & Music Festival. Affordable art by more than 100 emerging artists, a varied musical line-up including up-and-coming bands, DJ sets, performances by Brave New Workshop and the Afro-Brazilian Capoeira Association, free bike tune-ups, food trucks, and interactive games. A grassroots arts festival in a historic urban neighborhood. Saturday 11 a.m. – 7 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. At 19th St. between Stevens and 2nd Aves., Minneapolis. FMI.

Monday at Subtext: Investigative journalist Russ Baker discusses “Family of Secrets,” his book about the Bush Family and NSA surveillance. Subtext says he’ll talk about the new surveillance scandal and what you need to know. 7 p.m., 165 Western Ave. N., St. Paul.

What’s that rumbling sound we hear, growing louder by the minute? It can only be the vast and teeming carnival wagon known as the Minnesota Fringe, our annual festival of performing arts, now in its 20th year.

From Thursday, Aug. 1 through Sunday, Aug. 11, tens of thousands of people will attend 896 performances of 176 different productions on 16 stages in the metro area. Last year, 46,284 tickets were sold. Two new venues have been added this year, the New Century Theatre and the James Sewell Ballet Tek Box in the Cowles Center, both on Hennepin Ave. in downtown Minneapolis. All other venues are in Minneapolis as well: downtown, Uptown, in the Loring neighborhood and on the West Bank.

If you’re a Fringe regular, you can skip ahead. If you’re a newbie with some time on your hands, some money to spend (tickets are $12) and an open mind, here are four Fringe facts that should help you enjoy this sprawling, exhilarating celebration of all things theater.

Fact 1: The Fringe is not juried. All shows are chosen by lottery. In other words, it’s a total crapshoot. The artists are taking risks, and so, my friends, are you. Is this a bad thing? Certainly not. It’s what art, especially live art, is supposed to be about. While some shows will be amazing, others may be clunkers. C’est la Fringe.

Fact 2: You are not signing up for three-hour plays or Wagner’s “Ring” cycle. All shows are 45-60 minutes long. They start and end on time. There’s no late seating, and there’s a 30-minute break between shows.

Fact 3: The Fringe website is very sticky. That means well-organized, rich in content and features, and easy to use. This is a website you’ll want to cover in kisses because it gets your heart pumping with possibilities. Start by watching a trailer or two. (Is that an R.T. Rybak action figure? Can you really summarize 50 years of “Dr. Who” in 50 minutes?) Look around the Postcard Table, where a picture is worth … you know. (“The Forger’s Apprentice” must be about painting. “Stuck in an Elevator With Patrick Stewart” makes us worry about the guy in the red shirt.) Jump into the schedule and click on show titles. Descriptions are short and sweet. Content tags below the descriptions tell you more. Go to the “Shows A-Z” page and notice “Filter by genre” at the side. Now you can look for things that interest you most. Figure out what days you can go, then start creating a queue and a schedule – all on the website.

Fact 4. Other Fringers are there for you. They love spreading the word about good shows – and not-so-good shows. They post reviews on the website quickly. They are not attention-seekers or trolls. Heed them. New this year to the Fringe website: My Fringe 5, where Fringe users share what they can’t wait to see. (Seth Lepore has a thing for one-person shows; Gregory Abbott likes dark comedy.) You can also talk to people in line at shows about what they have seen or plan to see. Look for lanyards. Orange = Ultra Passers, or mega-Fringe-bingers. Blue = Artists, eager promoters of their own shows. Stop by Fringe Central (Crooked Pint Ale House) for a drink, some food, and the skinny on the day’s shows. The Strib’s Rohan Preston spoke with a couple in their 50s who’ve been coming for years and have seen hundreds of Fringe performances. Find them and follow them around. (OK, don't do that last thing.)

Offered purely in the spirit of fun, here are our Top 12 Favorite Fringe Show Titles: 1) “Arts Administrators Got Talent!” (sorry, we couldn’t resist), 2) “Don’t Fake Your Own Death: Shakespeare’s Rules of Love,” 3) “Four Humors’ Lolita: A Three Man Show,” 4) “Gwen and Mary at Glen Ross” (a David Mamet parody), 5) “How to Swear Like a Minnesotan” (a Joseph Scrimshaw show), 6) “It’s Raining Inside Again: The Arts Administrators Show,” 7) “Lord of the Files,” 8) “Promiscuous Fiction: The Runaway Stories of Jonathan Lethem,” 9) “RT + MPLS: The Legend of RT Rybak,” 10) “Shelly Bachberg Presents: How Helen Keller and Anne Frank Freed the Slaves: The Musical,” in which Shelly Bachberg looks a lot like Michelle What’s-her-name, 11) “Stuck in an Elevator with Patrick Stewart” and 12) “Yelling at Bananas in Whole Foods.”

Tickets, passes, and buttons ($4, required for everyone except kids 12 and under for entrance to all shows) online or at any Fringe venue.

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In "A current snapshot of the Minnesota Orchestra, by the numbers," published last week, we named eight musicians who have requested a leave of absence or resigned from the orchestra since Oct. 1, 2012, when the lockout began. We have since learned that while Sarah Kwak (Associate Concertmaster), Vali Phillips (First Violin) and Matt Young (Viola) all requested leaves during the 2011-12 season, before negotiations for a new contract began in April 2012, they resigned in March 2013, after the lockout took effect. Additionally, Mina Fisher (Cello) resigned in November 2012 following a two-year leave. So eight becomes 12. 

In 2011, Garrison Keillor told the AARP Bulletin that he would retire from “A Prairie Home Companion” in the spring of 2013. File that under “News from Lake Wobegon” – eloquent, touching and fictional. The show’s 39th season starts Saturday, Sept. 14 at the Fitzgerald with Keillor at the helm. The season opener will be followed by the annual Street Dance (free) and Meatloaf Supper ($5). Show tickets go on sale today (Tuesday, July 30) at noon through Ticketmaster or in person at the Fitzgerald box office, 10 East Exchange St. in St. Paul. MPR members may order by phone at 651-290-1200.

How would the Wall Street Journal spend a weekend in Minneapolis?By dining at Burch, drinking at Icehouse, visiting the Mill City Museum and the American Swedish Institute ("a model for how a small institution can draw visitors with exciting programming"), stopping in at Forage Modern Workshop, hearing a concert at the Lake Harriet Bandshell, taking a self-directed architectural walking tour of downtown, checking out First Ave and the Dakota, and more. 

We know when the first same-sex marriage in Minnesota will become official – sometime very shortly after midnight this Thursday, Aug. 1 – but where? City Hall or America’s largest mall? The first wedding in downtown Minneapolis, where Mayor Rybak will officiate, will begin at 11:45 on July 31 and count down to midnight, when Hizzoner will seal the deal for two couples, Cathy ten Broeke and Margaret Miles and Al Giraud and Jeff Isaacson. Meanwhile, at the Mall of America, the Chapel of Love will perform its first-ever same-sex wedding, for Holli Bartelt and Amy Petrich of Wykoff. According to the press release, the MOA wedding won’t actually start until 12:01 on Aug. 1. Someone there must know it’s not nice to trump the Mayor of Minneapolis.

Courtesy of MCAD

MCAD is contributing limited-edition serigraphs created by MCAD artists to the Aug. 1 City Hall marriage marathon.

The City Hall marriage marathon will be an artsy affair, with more than eight hours of music curated by indie musician Jeremy Messersmith. MCAD is contributing limited-edition serigraphs created by MCAD artists. Each is hand-printed, numbered, and signed. Each couple will be presented with the print of their choice as a wedding gift; family members, friends, and well-wishers are also welcome to take a print. Participating artists are Christopher Alday ’13, MCAD faculty member Diana Eicher, Kara Faye Gregory ’14 and Ben Proell ’13.

Steven McCarthy

Graphic designers, this is for you: on Wednesday (July 31) at SubText, U of M design professor Steven McCarthy will discuss and sign copies of his new book, “The Designer As … Author, Producer, Activist, Entrepreneur, Curator and Collaborator: New Models for Communicating.” We wish he had communicated that title in fewer words, but you’ll probably want to hear what he has to say. 7 p.m., 165 Western Ave. (corner of Selby) downstairs from Nina’s in St. Paul.

Our picks for the week

Any day but Monday:“Pull, Twist, Blow – Transforming the Kingdom of Crystal” at the American Swedish Institute. Presented in partnership with The Glass Factory of Sweden, one of Scandinavia’s largest glass museums, this a major art glass show that will only be seen here, nowhere else. It transcends the pieces on display to touch on many topics: how younger artists are shaking things up, what’s happening with glass in Minnesota, the decline of the art glass industry in Sweden (beset by financial woes, Orrefors Kosta Boda, names you might know if you’ve ever bought a wedding gift, has closed factories, laid off workers, and will outsource 70 percent of its production), how the future of glass might look.

MinnPost photo by John Whiting

"Homeland" (glass trees and panels) by Ingalena Klenell

Start with“Homeland,” Ingalena Klenell’s glittering forest of seven lacy glass trees, each 6 feet tall, suspended from the ceiling of the ASI’s new Osher Gallery in the Nelson Cultural Center. Also in the gallery: Klenell’s large, impossibly thin sheets of glass printed with landscape scenes, each like a dream remembered. To the right of the door as you’re leaving the Osher: a selection from the Institute’s large collection of Swedish art glass. Lining the Link (the ground-floor “skyway” between the contemporary Nelson Center and the historic Turnblad mansion, aka the castle) are pieces by eight Minnesota glass artists including Michael Boyd, Todd Cameron and Fred Kaemmer. Displayed throughout the castle– the turn-of-the-20th-century building filled with carved woodwork, ornamented plaster ceilings, and Swedish tile stoves – are 40 works by 11 mostly young and hotshot Swedish artists, all making their U.S. debut. Those are presented side-by-side with historic works from the Glass Factory’s collection that served as reference points for the modern pieces (much like the castle did for the Nelson Center). Objects include glass dentures, a glass suitcase, a jar of glass heads in green gel, a tongue pickler, a tear bottle, and large installation pieces, some moving, some disturbing. As you take in the show, knowing the plight of Orrefors Kosta Boda, you might wonder if you’re looking at an endangered art form. Closes Sunday, Oct. 13. Museum admission required ($7 - $4, free to members).

Tuesday (July 30) at the Artists’ Quarter: Adam Meckler Orchestra. Composer, trumpeter, and bandleader Meckler is a true Twin Cities musician, meaning he's in about 12 different bands. For the past two years, he’s been leading his own big band, an 18-piece ensemble that plays all original music composed and arranged by Meckler. After a long run at Jazz Central, the Adam Meckler Orchestra is moving to the AQ on the last Tuesday of every month, starting tonight. 9 p.m., 408 St. Peter Street (in the basement of the Historic Hamm Building), St. Paul ($10).

Courtesy of Drafthouse Films

You’ll need a strong stomach to sit through this award-winning documentary about Anwar Congo, mass murderer and death squad leader during Indonesia’s communist purge of 1965, now a national hero.

Wednesday and Thursday at the Walker: Joshua Oppenheimer’s “The Act of Killing.” Some films aren’t made for amusement or diversion. They’re made because film is still the best way to tell a story. You’ll need a strong stomach to sit through this award-winning documentary about Anwar Congo, mass murderer and death squad leader during Indonesia’s communist purge of 1965, now a national hero. Oppenheimer challenged Anwar and his friends to reenact their real-life killings in the style of the American movies that inspired their methods, and this film is the chilling result. Errol Morris and Werner Herzog are executive producers. Here’s the trailer. Theatrical version Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., director’s cut Thursday at 7 p.m. Oppenheimer will be present at both. 7:30 p.m. in the Walker cinema. FMI and tickets.