Thursday, November 12, 2009

Weekend What's What 11/12-11/17

VISUAL OVERLOAD

This week we're scrambling! There's simply too much to do, see and experience. Holiday shopping fever has already gone into overdrive and we're barely halfway through November. Does this mean we can kiss the recession blues goodbye? We certainly hope so. In addition to plenty of artsy shop-til-you-drop events we've also got a mind-blowing number of amazing new art exhibits opening this weekend. From massive group shows to solo exhibits jammed with glitterized mixed media works, we're quite sure you won't want for visual stimulation this time around! Be sure to take a peek at our just-released outrageously detailed guide to holiday shopping events as well.

xo-l'étoile



CHECK OUT OUR GUIDE TO HOLIDAY SHOPPING EVENTS!

This holiday season, we here at l'étoile challenge you to shop local. Think about it - what could be more satisfying than buying one-of-a-kind goods by local artists and artisans and supporting local businesses at the same time? And giving unique, handmade gifts will make you look thoughtful. So eschew the mall in favor of these holiday shopping events - your giftees will thank you.

p.s.-Keep your peepers peeled for our annual Holiday Gift Guide, featuring our personal wish-list items, coming soon!

CLICK THE IMAGE FOR THE HOLIDAY SHOPPING EVENT GUIDE



THURSDAY NOVEMBER 12TH

MNfashion Holiday Boutique Grand Opening

@ Gaviidae Commons
651 Nicollet Mall (first floor)
Minneapolis

4-7 pm/ free

This year, resolving to stuff all your holiday stockings with stylish local gifts just got easier as MNfashion announces the eagerly anticipated opening of their 2nd annual holiday boutique! Come celebrate with fashion designer and MNfashion curator, Anna Lee, as you sip wine and refreshments, rub shoulders with the designers and browse the latest winter wear styles from over 30 haute local designers including Ruby3, Calpurnia Peach, CounterCouture, FOAT Design, Liebling Designs, Maybe You Should Die and {AO3} Designs. Find a gift for the fashion forwards on your shopping list, and grab a few frocks for yourself – we won't judge! And don't forget to visit the boutique frequently as the holidays draw near because the local pop-up shop will be hosting designer events, trunk shows and great sales through December 31st. Oo-la-local!

CLICK THE IMAGE FOR THE MNFASHION SITE



THURSDAY NOVEMBER 12TH

Project Runway Weekly Screenings

@ Hell's Kitchen
80 S. 9th Street
Downtown Minneapolis

8-9pm Fashion Trivia with l'étoile
9-10pm Project Runway
10-11pm Models of the Runway


Come cheer on our hometown boy Christopher every Thursday at Hell's Kitchen -- Ra'mon has been auf'ed but we've got high hopes for Straub! Put on something snazzy and join us for weekly screenings of Project Runway, sponsored by l'étoile and Metro Mag! Show up early from 6-8pm for live music, drink specials and the full dinner menu, then play fashion trivia with Kate and Beth from l'étoile, who will be giving away sweet prizes including a $50 bar tab every week. From 9-11pm settle in and watch back to back eps of Project Runway and spin off show, Models of the Runway, live on Hell's big screen. Enjoy drink specials, fashionable revelry, and damn good food at Hell's Kitchen every Thursday with us! Parking: $5 parking in adjacent lot, or metered street parking.

Bonus: Christopher and/or Ra'mon will be joining us from time to time!

CLICK THE IMAGE FOR THE FACEBOOK EVENT



THURSDAY NOVEMBER 12TH

Soundstage with Demietoile: Volume Cinq

@ Club Jager
923 Washington Ave. N.
Minneapolis

10 pm-2 am/ 21+/ Free

In this month's installment of Soundstage, DJs Demietoile and Deus ex Machina (l'étoile's own Juleana Enright) indulge their disturbing obsessions with omnipotent Hollywood stars Michelle Pfeiffer and Yul Brynner – and force their guests to do the same. The night features dual dance sets of 80's minimal, dark new wave, foreign synth-pop, fierce electro, synth-rock, and a few tracks straight from the original movie soundtracks – Alan Parsons Project anyone?! – set to the fantasy backdrop of sci-fi adventure flicks Westworld and Ladyhawke. Don't miss fantastic drink specials and epic dancing all night long. Did we mention Yul Brynner's face gets melted off with hydrochloric acid in an infamous Westworld scene? If that's not entertainment you can dance to, we don't know what is!

Co-presented by l'étoile!




FRIDAY ART PICK: OVER AND UNDER: A SHOW OF STITCHES

From Jenny Hart, the embroidress that brought us Sublime Stitching, comes this show of contemporary artists working with embroidery. The show is at Yard Dog gallery in Austin, Texas, and while we expect you won't be in the neighborhood, we still insist you check out the exhibit's online gallery. Twenty artists from across the country are represented, stitch by painstaking stitch. If you feel yourself going embroidery-crazy, fuel your urges with Hart’s blog, Embroidery as Art, where she keeps a running log of her encounters with the needle.

CLICK THE IMAGE FOR THE OVER & UNDER SHOW PICS



FRIDAY NOVEMBER 13TH

NEMAA Fall Fine Arts Show

@ Grainbelt Bottling House
79 NE 13th Avenue
Minneapolis

Friday: 6-10pm
Saturday: Noon-5pm
Sunday: Noon-3pm

Free / All Ages

Northeast is all the rage this evening so why not do it D.I.Y. art crawl style? We'll list off more sweet N.E. events below, but we recommend you kick things off with a pop-in to the Grainbelt Bottling House! The Northeast Minneapolis Arts Association presents its 10th Annual Fall Fine Arts Show, which features over 150 works by member artists. See everything from photography to sculpture to paintings to mixed media and everything in between in the metro's largest annual group show. Show up before 8pm and vote for your favorite piece for the "People's Choice" award, snack on delicious fare provided by the Red Stag Supper Club, and yuck it up with fabulously eccentric artsy types from all over Northeast. Our own Kate Iverson is the producer of this annual community event and NEMAA's resident PR guru, so it's definitely at the top of our list this Friday. One of Kate's own cheeky photo works will be on display as well.

Other Northeast group art events tonight and this weekend: Caché at the Casket: Casket Arts' annual holiday sale featuring its bevy of local artists and artisans. Go Friday for live blues from Lonesome Dan Kase, food from our fave caterers Chowgirls, and a silent auction. (5-10 p.m. Fri. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Sat. 681 17th Av. NE., Mpls.) California Building also hosts its Second Saturdays open studio this weekend (2205 California Street NE, 11-6pm Saturday)

CLICK FOR THIS ART EVENT AND MORE AT MPLSART.COM



FRIDAY NOVEMBER 13TH

Robyne Robinson & Patty Paulus Opening Reception

@ Frank Stone Gallery
1224 2nd Street NE
Minneapolis

5-9pm / Free

l'étoile fave Robyne Robinson hosts two events for her jewelry line, ROX, this weekend. The jewelry designer and noted arts collector (and babe-alicious news anchor, of course!) will be showing her most elaborate designs alongside painter Patty Paulus at a month-long show at Northeast’s Frank Stone Gallery. Tonight's opening reception is the perfect precursor to an evening of arting in Northeast (with perhaps a stop in at our latest obsession, Anchor Fish and Chips, just up the block). On Saturday, head to Spalon Montage to get a glimpse of the designs Robinson created for "Project Runway" designer Ra'mon-Lawrence Coleman's Fashion Week show this past fall. (Noon-5 p.m. Sat. 3909 W. 49th St., Edina.)

CLICK FOR THIS ART EVENT AND MORE AT MPLSART.COM



FRIDAY NOVEMBER 13TH

18 Months

@ XYandZ Gallery http://thexyandz.com/
3258 Minnehaha Avenue S.
Minneapolis

7-11pm / Free

This off-the-beaten-path gallery hosts a preview show that gives us a sneak peek of what's to come over the next year at the new-ish art space. 18 Months is a pop-tastic group show featuring a number of local and not-so-local artists, all of whom will be exhibiting individually in upcoming XYandZ-curated shows. Lay eyes on wild works from the likes of Totem2 & Viper (Atlanta), Broken Crow (Mpls), Keegan Wenkman (Portland, formerly of Mpls), Drew Peterson (Mpls), Dane Johnson (Los Angeles), Eric Inkala (NYC, formerly of Mpls), and Ryan Quirt (Mpls, who passed away unexpectedly this year, leaving behind a collection of roughly 4000 original works). An eye-poppin' art show at a relatively new space is something we very rarely pass up, so see you there!

CLICK FOR THIS ART EVENT AND MORE AT MPLSART.COM
Art by Drew Peterson



FRIDAY NOVEMBER 13TH

Polaroid Prints by Nadine Gross

@ Black Blue
614 Selby Ave
St. Paul

7pm-10pm / free

How does one lady have time to be in horror films, be all-around awesome, and make 500 Polaroid prints? Ms. Nadine is a special one, and will be showing 30 of those insty-prints tonight at Black Blue, a new St. Paul clothing boutique. She’s thoughtfully printed them in large scale for you to buy, and take home, and contemplate her sense of line, geometrics, and clever cropping. Not to mention, we know from experience that Black Blue knows how to throw a party!

CLICK THE IMAGE FOR THE BLACKBLUE BLOG



FRIDAY NOVEMBER 13TH

Children of the Revolution

@ Suburban World Theater
3022 Hennepin Ave. S
Minneapolis

7:30pm-2am/$15 in advance, $20 at the door, VIP $50-$75

Pretend it’s 1899 and you’re young, fashionable, and have a Friday the 13th in your grip. The Libertine Asylum has quite the night planned for you! Fall/winter collections will be shown from plenty of designers, including one of our favorites, Blasphemina's Closet. Sawbones provides musical atmosphere, belly dancers and tassel-twirlers provide entertainment, and in true turn-of-the-century bohemian style, Lucid provides the Absinthe. Come dressed in period and you’ll be adored. All proceeds benefit the Civil Society.

CLICK THE IMAGE FOR THE LIBERTINE SITE



FRIDAY OCTOBER 13TH

Street Sounds

@ First Avenue VIP Room
701 1st Ave N
Minneapolis

$5 / 10pm-2am / 18+

While you might think, “Streets Sounds is every month, I can afford to miss one to do something sure to be less fun”, you are wrong. Because tonight is the night they have fog and lasers! Have you ever tried dancing to an all-vinyl set while fog swirls around your feet and lasers dart about your ever-increasing sweaty head? Ok, maybe you have, but it doesn't make it any less awesome -- so let Attitude City and Mike 2600 and their good friend Daniel Paul show you the real deal.

CLICK THE IMAGE FOR THE FIRST AVE SITE



FRIDAY NOVEMBER 13TH

Forever Young: Friday the 13th Edition

@ Old To Soho Storefront
715 Hennepin Ave.
Minneapolis

10 pm-2 am/ 18+/ $5 w/ RSVP, $7 w/out

Party hounds The Moon Goons, are back at it! Taking the party shenanigans associated with their famous – and now defunct – dance night, Honeymoon, to the next level, The Goons have returned with a new series cleverly titled "Forever Young." Much like its Alphaville reference, expect a kudos to cheesy '80s parties with crazy décor and zany theatrics. Plus, mad cheap drink specials, heavily sought after headliners and an ever-changing party locale. For their special Friday the 13th edition, the boys take over Hennepin Avenue's old To Soho storefront with beat-tastic sets from Cousin Cole (NYC, Flagrant Fowl), the Get Cryphy DJs, Gary Slam and The Moon Goons. RSVP at moongoons.com for $2 off the cover charge!

CLICK THE IMAGE FOR THE MOONGOONS SITE



FRIDAY NOVEMBER 13TH

Guystorm + Nyteowl + Ultrachorus

@ 501 Club

10 pm/ 21+/ no cover

Tonight's Friday the 13th rock show is all about the y-chromosomes. What do we mean? Why, sexy local guy-fronted bands, of course! Featuring dance-inducing live performances from indie breakbeaters, Ultrachorus; guitar-slinging, testosterone garage rock from Guystorm; and funky synth beats and soulful vocals from Nyteowl. Enjoy tasty cocktails off 501's signature drink menu and be prepared to rock your body sideways to the hot sounds. A little eye candy with our Mai Tai? Don't mind if we do.

CLICK THE IMAGE FOR THE 501 SITE



COOL LINK: WHO WHAT WEAR

Whether you’re looking for trend reports, shopping guides, or a breakdown of Diane Kruger’s red carpet choices, Who What Wear is the ultimate internet destination for the style-obsessed. This must-read website features the most cutting edge trends in fashion and beauty, and provides plenty of inspiration to its readers by featuring looks pulled together by stylists, off-duty models, celebrities, and girls on the street. Curious as to how you can pull off over-the-knee boots without creating a Pretty Woman moment? Who What Wear has advice for that. Trying to figure out how to incorporate inspiration from Howard the Duck and Return to Oz into your wardrobe? Their regular feature “Currently Channeling…” can you help you out there as well.

CLICK THE IMAGE FOR THE WHO WHAT WEAR SITE



SATURDAY NOVEMBER 14TH

@ 1419
1419 Washington Ave. S.
Minneapolis

7-11 pm/ free

In the midst of economic woes and a housing market downturn, many Americans have turned into Bob Vila, ransacking the nearest Home Depot for DIY home repair fodder. Inspired by the artist context of this craze, the six emerging artists in “Walls Were So Last Year” have created original artwork using everyday materials found at home-improvement stores for an exhibit that challenges the concepts of “high art” and materialism. Artists include: TJ Barnes, Miles Mendenhall, Broc Blegen, Jon Duff, Alex Schluender, Sarah Baker and Nick Rummler. During the exhibit's showcase span, 1419 will unveil its new street-level gallery space where art, video and performance work by local artists will be viewable 24 hours a day.

CLICK FOR THIS ART EVENT AND MORE AT MPLSART.COM



SATURDAY NOVEMBER 14TH

Diverging Boundaries

@ Chambers Burnet Art Gallery
901 Hennepin Avenue
Downtown Minneapolis

6-9pm / Free

Celebrate the work of artist S. Catrin Magnusson at the opening of her new exhibit “Diverging Boundaries” at the Chambers Burnet Art Gallery. Magnusson’s work explores displacement, movement, boundaries, and “the in-between space,” taking inspiration from sources as abstract as the concept of permanence and as scientific as geology and the movement of tectonic plates. As expected, The Burnet Art Gallery will supply the exhibition with plenty of well-dressed patrons for some excellent people watching.

CLICK FOR THIS ART EVENT AND MORE AT MPLSART.COM



SATURDAY NOVEMBER 14TH

Local-to-Global Jewelry Artist Mart

@ Walker Gift Shop
1750 Hennepin Avenue
Minneapolis

11am-5pm / Free

Meet the designers behind the baubles at the annual Local-to-Global Jewelry Artist Mart event at Walker Gift Shop. Jewelry designers will be flying in from Brooklyn, San Francisco, and Chicago for the meet-and-greet, joining local designers Tia Keobounpheng of Silver Cocoon and Devon Driscoll and Ann Lamrecht. Local chocolatier J. T. McElrath will be on hand from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. offering samples of his delish delectables.

CLICK THE IMAGE FOR THE WALKER SITE



SATURDAY NOVEMBER 14TH

Presence of the Holidays

@ Suburban World Theatre
3022 Hennepin Avenue
Minneapolis

10am-5pm / Free

This handmade gift mart curated by artist Karla Haugen features work by 35 artists and artisans, including artwork, jewelry, fashion, food, beauty and home and holiday décor. Livening up the atmosphere will be live entertainment, food and drink, and a silent auction to benefit the theater.

CLICK THE IMAGE FOR THE SUBURBAN WORLD SITE



SATURDAY NOVEMBER 14TH

FEAST

@ Traffic Zone Center for Visual Art
250 3rd Avenue North #115
Minneapolis Warehouse District

6pm/$10–20 cash donation, no one turned away

So you want to be an art patron, but don’t have thousands? After tonight’s FEAST (Funding Emerging Art with Sustainable Tactics) you can start using the title of "benefactor," because you’ll be supporting local art in all the right ways. Your donation at the door gets you a ballot and some dinner; you’ll dine with some of the city’s interesting and ambitious artists, art lovers, and patrons. Artists will propose projects that need funding and whichever gets the most votes will be awarded the profits from this evening’s soiree, and will present their project at the next FEAST. Talk about a sustainable art community!

Bonus: Meander the halls of Traffic Zone after your feastings, as a seasonal open studio event accompanies tonight's festivities.

CLICK THE IMAGE FOR THE FEAST SITE



SATURDAY NOVEMBER 14TH

Heavy Petting

@ The Gallery at Fox Tax
503 1st Avenue NE
Minneapolis

6pm-11pm / Free

Ah, Rob McBroom. From the moment we first encountered you, we knew you were an odd one. Odd in the most fantastical, sequined, glittered, and wonderfully whacked out way possible, of course. A longtime favorite of l'étoile, McBroom's been layin' low lately, so tonight's opening at the Gallery at Fox Tax is a wickedly momentous occasion in our opinion. Twelve new 3' by 3' works by the most meticulous mixed media artist in Minneapolis, McBroom's entire collection is based on Edward Lear's nonsensical 1871 poem "The Owl & The Pussycat." Of course, McBroom's current interpretations may take a more, er, "Adult" spin on things, if we know him at all. Throw in his staple "pop culture hoo-haw, candy colored whim whams & sparkly doo-dads" and you've got not only a dazzling visual representation before you, but also numerous, thought-provoking art puzzles that you'll have a ridiculous amount of fun examining and deciphering. If there's to be one art opening on your list this weekend, let it be this.

CLICK FOR THIS ART EVENT AND MORE AT MPLSART.COM



SATURDAY NOVEMBER 14TH

Fuck Knight's CD Release

@ Triple Rock
629 Cedar Ave S
Minneapolis

9pm / 21+ / $6

Whether strutting their own original material or thrashing out innovative covers, Fuck Knights shows are simply among the very best live rock experiences in town, offering the perfect blend of dirtbag garage punk and skuzzy freak outs. After releasing two live CDs already this year, tonight's show celebrates the release of a new four-song EP that promises to elate even the stodgiest of show-goers. Supported by Kill the Vultures, the Gleam, Coltrane Motion.

CLICK THE IMAGE FOR THE TRIPLE ROCK SITE
Photo by Jon Behm



SATURDAY NOVEMBER 14TH

Lets Dance

@ Red Stag Supper club
509 1st Ave NE
Minneapolis

10pm-close / $5 donation

Only in Minnesota are you encouraged to dance in a supper club. And not just any supper club, but the city’s only LEED-certified one. Million Billions and Monsterbrusten (Josie from Tendercakes and Molly Kroeten) want you to dance, prance, and sashay your way across the dining room at this funky monthly throw-down. Drink specials from 10pm to 2am and bar menu until 12:30. We'll take a cheese plate with a side of bitchin' electro jams, thank you very much.

CLICK THE IMAGE FOR THE RED STAG SITE



SUNDAY MUSIC PICK: ZOLA JESUS

We have a bit of a girl crush on Wisconsin-based Zola Jesus (aka Nika Roza Danilova) and it's not just cuz she's got the voice of a dark angel and the face of a brazen vixen, or the fact that she lives close enough to stalk. Her latest LP, The Spoils, (released late this summer on Sacred Bones Records) features the creative talents of a seasoned musical genius trapped in the body of a 20 year old. Zola Jesus' low-fi, distorted goth-pop sound combines haunting vocals and truly disparaging lyrics with a twinge of rebellion and a subtly air of innocence – a mixture only a youth could pull off. In the video for the single, “Clay Bodies,” Zola pays homage to the famous French short film director, Man Ray, as she takes on the role of Kiki de Montparnasse, romping around like an ethereal renegade through Detroit's most ornate abandoned spaces. This track makes us want to break down in a neo-Victorian bedroom, our mascara heavily smudged, wearing only a tattered Betsey Johnson gown...but that's just us.




TUESDAY NOVEMBER 17TH

JagerCon: Sci-Fi Tuesdays

@ Clubhouse Jager
923 Washington Avenue N.
Minneapolis

Every Tuesday
10 p.m. / 21+ / Free

Join hosts Kate Iverson (l'étoile magazine, Secrets of the City) and Beth Hammarlund (l'étoile magazine, A Tiny Machine) every Tuesday Night for JagerCon! JagerCon is a weekly sci-fi party featuring screenings of classic nerdy movies and television shows -- topped off with 2-4-1 cocktails all night served by Star Captain Paul!

Mingle with like-minded sci-fi geeks, discuss D&D strategies, and use that Captain Picard impression you've been perfecting to pick up chicks at the bar. Snort-laugh the night away while bragging about your MMORPG addiction and enjoy a cozy, nerd-friendly environment.

Upcoming Events:

Nov 17th: Class of Nuke Em' High
Nov 24th: Legend

This week's flick is Class of Nuke 'em High!



GUEST BLOGGER: A TINY MACHINE

Beth Hammarlund oohs and ahhs over the new Lady Gaga video, and we fully concur. Outrageous!

oh my ga-god

Holy heavens, Lady Gaga's video for "Bad Romance" has finally been released. Manfriend has already been forced to sit through it eight times. Of course, the divine Miss G was the first to rock the Alexander McQueen high heels from hell. Bless her heart.

Click HERE for more from A Tiny Machine!



L'ETOILE NEWSWIRE

Crispin/Secrets of the City Photo Contest

"Whether represented by a photo or an illustration, we want to see your image of what is so damn cool in these towns. Think of an Ah Haa! discovery, a small wonder, a fresh perspective…something we will be delighted to know about. In short, we want to see your artistic impression of a Secret of the City! Email your artwork or image (up to three per person) in a jpg or gif file format, under 1MB, to CONTESTS@secretsofthecity.com, with subject line: Crispin Cool. Please include your full name, and a description, if needed, of under 25 words. The contest is open through November 3. A select group of finalists will be invited to show their work at a special event (details TBD), and receive very cool Crispin on Ice products. Who knows what other Secret prizes might be revealed?"

Click HERE to learn more about the contest and check out some other entries!

$25 for a custom Joynoelle frock? You don't say!

The Shubert Center and designer Joynoelle team up to bring you a totally awesome raffle benefiting a good cause -- the Shubert Theater of course! Enter for your chance to win a custom designed dress from Joy Teiken of Joynoelle, one of the Twin Cities leading fashion designers. Joy will work personally with the winner to design a custom dress for the opening night gala of the Minnesota Shubert Center. Raffle tickets are $25 each and can be purchased online or by mailing a check to the Minnesota Shubert Center. The winner will be announced after the Shubert Theater's groundbreaking ceremony on November 19th. Click HERE for more info!


L'ETOILE-O-WEEN PIX BY DIGITAL CRUSH!

For some reason we forgot to post these in last week's edition, so here's our huge gallery of images from our fabulous Halloween soiree at Clubhouse Jager! Enjoy.

CLICK THE IMAGE FOR ALL THE PHOTOS



Editor in Chief: Kate Iverson
Contributing Writers: Lacey Prpic Hedtke, Robyn Lewis, Juleana Enright, Kate Iverson, Beth Hammarlund, Jahna Peloquin, Rob Callahan

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