Thursday, February 11, 2010

Weekend What's What 2/12-2/16

WE'RE SWEET ON YOU!

We "heart" this weekend! Valentine's Day is this Sunday so yep, you guessed it, this week's theme is LOVE. Whether or not you have a special someone this time around, there's no reason why you can't dote on your favorite people and let them know how awesome they are. Kisses all around! If you're single, hit up the Punk Rock Dating Game on Friday; or maybe get your flirt on at a dance party or love-tinged art show! The possibilities are endless. Top off the lovey-dovey weekend with a trip to the Rogue Buddha on Sunday night for l'étoile's "Paper Hearts" party. And if you're stumped as to what to get your sweetie for V-Day, check out our saucy "Guide to Getting Lucky 2010" for a plethora of suggestions. Happy hearting!

xoxoxoxoxo-l'étoile



GUIDE TO GETTING LUCKY 2010

Happy Love Week, Twin Citians! It's definitely not too late to do something thoughtful for the friends and lovers on your list. Use our sappy sweet guide filled with suggestions on gifting, entertaining, crafting and more to ensure your Valentine's Day has a happy ending. Pun intended. This year we've teamed up with our pals at Secrets of the City to present you with our Guide to Getting Lucky 2010!

Click HERE for our 2010 Guide to Getting Lucky!


THURSDAY FEBRUARY 11TH

NEMAA Fundraiser

@Mario’s Keller Bar
2300 University Ave NE
Minneapolis

9:00pm/ 21+ / $5

Join the Northeast Minneapolis Art Association this Thursday at Mario’s Keller Bar (in the cellar of the Gastof) for a celebration! The crew is planning a fundraiser night of melodic music to end their membership drive. A killer line up rock-and-roll tunes from the Crown Vics, the Floorshakers and the Hard Left plus cheap drink specials will keep you warm and rid your midwinter blahs. Stop by for the party or even sign up to become a member. Plus, your 5 bucks will benefit NEMAA and this year's Art-A-Whirl festivities!

Click HERE for the NEMAA site



THURSDAY FEBRUARY 11TH

MinnEconomy

@ Electric Fetus
2000 4th Ave. S
Minneapolis

6:30pm / Free

Ringo Starr recently got our indie-music-store-lovin’-panties in a bunch by wearing a Fetus T-shirt to the Grammys. You too can be as cool as a Beatle by grabbing your own Electric Fetus merch tonight while listening to in-store performances by Minor Kingdom and Anders Ponders. You can feel good about picking up your most coveted albums here, since the store is still recovering from their tornado damage and needs all the help it can get. Not to mention, music makes a great Valentine's Day gift!

Click HERE for the Electric Fetus Site

Photo of Anders Ponders by Nik Maier

THURSDAY FEBRUARY 11TH

Saint Valentine's Funk'n Fashion Show

@ Lost and Found
2542 Nicollet Ave. S.
Minneapolis

7pm / All Ages/ $5 advance, $7 door

All your amazing vintage finds in one place plus a snazzy party? Seems to good to be true. Or perhaps it's just the Nicollet Vintage Loop's stylish Valentine's Day gift to us. Either way, we'll take it! Tonight, hosts Lost and Found present a music and fashion-fused evening featuring unique pieces from B-Squad Vintage and Lost and Found collections. With looks by hair and make-up stylists at Head To Toe, the foxy models will be struttin' their stuff to funky tunes from DJ Rambo Salinas as you snack on tasty appetizers from our pals at Azia and sip on cold PBR brews. Then head on over to the after-party at A25 for raffle prizes and specials on cocktails and food. Valentine's Day just got funkadelic!

Click HERE for the Facebook event



FRIDAY ART PICK: CHRIS PARK

New talent crush alert! At last week's Vigilante Justice, local boy Chris Park caught our eye with his art piece of suspended sketchbooks featuring hand drawn illustrations and aquatic-themed comics. Encompassing a variety of artistic styles might seem like a quick way to an artist's demise, but every genre Park tries his hand at is not only dead-on but adds an element of modern appeal. From 19th century illustrative art and classical caricatures to Japanese etching and minimal line drawing, Park's work is a vividly colorful, intricate web of dynamic images and disturbing context. If comic art ruled the world, Chris Park would definitely be the Mayor of MPLS.

Click HERE for Chris Parks' Blog



FRIDAY FEBRUARY 12TH

Valentine's: A MPLS.TV Premiere

@ Suburban World Theatre
3022 Hennepin Ave.
Minneapolis

8pm doors/ $5

The latest episode from local cable access variety show MPLS.TV is dedicated to “the love,” and its creators are pulling out all the stops for its premiere. Catch the special episode not on your laptop – no, not even on the tele – but on the big screen inside the Suburban Worth Theatre's retro digs. A mere 5 bones gets you into the screening, plus access to live performances by Gospel Gossip and Elite Gymnastics (featuring The Moon Goons' Josh Clancy and TML's Peter Lansky) and delicious DJ sets from Bach and Real Talk Radio. Grab a drink, an arm full of snacks and settle in for 22 mashed up minutes of local music, art and news as only MPLS.TV can deliver.

Click HERE for the Mpls.TV site



FRIDAY FEBRUARY 12TH

(Behind the) Bohemian Scenes

@ Four Seasons Dance Studio
1637 Hennepin Ave. #B
Minneapolis

7pm/ $10, $5 Tempo members

Dust off your furry gilets, broderie anglaise tops and hobo bags for tonight's bohemian chic-inspired soirée. Join Tempo's always stylin' members for salon-esque mixer with the stars of the MN Opera's upcoming production of La bohème. Enjoy gypsy jazz tunes by Parisota Hot Club; visuals by local artists Jamie Dean, Bethany Heemeyer and Ryan Nygard; classic portrait sittings by Konstantin Berkovski; plus striking 19th century gothic designs by Samantha Rei of Blashphemina's Closet and Neo-Victorian jewelry by Kristin Berwald of Bionic Unicorn. Munch on delicious complimentary hors d'oeuvres from Joe's Garage, sip a few cocktails and even brush shoulders with La bohème's handsome tenor, James Valenti – fresh from the Paris Opera! Ooh la-la! Boho chic or period style dress encouraged! For tix, call 612.333.6669.

Click HERE for the MNOpera/Tempo site



FRIDAY FEBRUARY 12TH

Go Live Go Red

@FIVETWOSIX
526 Selby Ave.
Saint Paul

7-10pm / $10 donations

Heart some art and save a heart! That’s right, the American Heart Association has partnered with our favorite Saint Paul Salon to create a night of music, fashion and attitude. Mingle with models while you fawn over the winning designs and meeting the designers of the Red Dress from Heart of Fashion competition. Purchase some pieces of heart-felt art (with 25% of proceeds going to the AHA!) featuring a number of talented local artists ranging from sculptors to painters to mixed media artists. On top of that, your taste buds will fall in love with the scrumptious munchies from Cheeky Monkey and Crave and sips from Solo Vino. What a perfect way to make your Valentine’s full of love, style, and fun -- all for a good cause of course! Tunes from DJ Mike Swoop round things out.

Click HERE for the Facebook event

Art by Erik Ritter

FRIDAY FEBRUARY 12TH

Punk Rock Dating Game

@ Bedlam Theater
1501 S. 6th St.
Minneapolis

7pm / $5-15 donation

Here’s a hilarious date idea for Valentine’s weekend. Start the perfect evening by grabbing dinner while a roaming accordionist makes your meal romantic, then get your picture taken in the l'etoile magazine/Digital Crush photo booth with your sweetie. At 9, the dating game starts, complete with cheap beer, loud music and punk contestants trying their luck at a love connection. Grab a few raffle tickets to win perfect date packages! The God Damn Doo Wop Band sings accapella between rounds, and after the show Zombie Season and Sleeping in the Aviary make sweet music for you to flirt and dance to. A benefit for Arise! Bookstore and Infoshop, who are inches away from owning their own building.

Click HERE for the Facebook event


FRIDAY FEBRUARY 12TH

Street Sounds

@ First Ave VIP Room
701 1st Ave N
Minneapolis

10pm-2am / $5 ($3 crossover from the Mainroom)

It’s about that time of month where our disco itch starts creeping up on us. Thank god for DJs King Otto and Ben Rebok, who will supply us with all vinyl, non-stop disco bangers alllll night. Residents Attitude City and Mike the 2600 King are out of town this weekend, but that certainly won't stop the funk! Co-Sponsored by l'etoile.

Click HERE for the Facebook event

COOL LINK: “TIGER” FROM BEAUFORT

Here's one for Valentine's Day – an Australian love story! No longer content with the menial fame of making music videos and electro remixes, Sydney electronic outfit, Beaufort, has taken their talent to the cinematic forefront by releasing the stunning full-length feature film, Tiger. The film has been described as a low-fi version of Lost In Translation – full of breathtaking scenery shots – but with prettier people. Nice! Pretty peeps indeed. The film stars two very dreamy Australian actors as models who fall in love during Tokyo's winter months only to have their torrid affair combust when their stay extends and their careers falter. The film recently screened at LA's low-brow hipster fest, Zero Film Festival and features a delicious indie and electro-glazed soundtrack with new music from DVAS, College, Cassian, Beaufort and Husky Rescue. Tiger releases on DVD in April so mark your calendars! And don't forget to check Beaufort's myspace page to watch the music videos they made for Pomomofo's “Island” and the Power Rangers spoof theme for Bag Raiders' “Fun Punch” video.

Tiger Official Trailer from Beaufort on Vimeo.




SATURDAY FEBRUARY 13TH

Twin Cities Maker presents Minne-Faire

@ The Hack Factory
3119 E 26th Street
Minneapolis

2pm-11pm / Free

A new creative space makes its debut today! The Hack Factory hosts Minne-Faire, a conglomeration of quirky inventions and art. From 2-6pm marvel at the clever concotions of local "makers" including a demonstration by Bill Gurstelle, the music of Tim Kaiser, air cannons, replica movie props, an arduino demonstration, a display by the local Tripoli rocketry club, art cars, a life-sized Operation Game as well as flamethrowers and pulse jets by local engineering firm CazTek. Yes, really. Stick around from 7-11pm for an art show and party to inaugurate the new space, complete with tasty refreshments.

Click HERE for more info


SATURDAY FEBRUARY 13TH

Art Bar 2: Super Heroes of Art

@ Mill City Cafe
California Building
2205 California Street NE
Minneapolis

6-9pm / Free

The artsy types at the California Building host the 2nd edition of "Art Bar," an art exhibit and cocktail party held in the building's cozy lower level Mill City cafe. Join Kendall Bohn AKA Scribblelicious Man; Susan Opitz AKA AbstractoGrrrl; and Aldo Moroni AKA Clayboy as they present their latest creations for your perusal. Lots of eccentric artsy types and good times will abound. Not to mention, local art makes a great Valentine's gift!

Click HERE for the Facebook event



SATURDAY FEBRUARY 13TH

Girls, with special guests, Boys
(a valentine's sequel)

@ Umber Studios
3109 E. 42nd St.
Minneapolis

8pm / free

The big V-Day is often a date scorned lovers and singletons avoid like the plague. But this year – on the eve of Valentine's Day – art is here to save you. Like an art version of the Sadie Hawkins dance, tonight's V-Day exhibit features four local lady artists and their four chosen counterpart boy artists. With femininely scratchy art from DC Ice, antler-ridden fragilities from Jessica Helvey, tender thread and thimble entwined art by Rebecca Sullivan and grotesque, circus-themed imagery from Torey Bonar. And special guest boys Tim Dieterle, Lucas Gluesenkamp, Joel Schwarz and David Ekdahl. Wearing pink and red isn't required for tonight's opening – but we think it would make for an adorable visual addition!
Click HERE for this art event and more at mplsart.com



SATURDAY FEBRUARY 13TH

Old Stage Saturday Night

@ Turf Club
1601 University Ave.
St. Paul

9pm/ 21+/ $6

Like any great holiday, the real fun starts the night before. Tonight, impress your Valentine's sweetie with your vast knowledge of local blues and down-home rockabilly by bringing him/her to ye' Old Stage Saturday Night with MPLS' legendary musician, Charlie Parr. Parr's 12-string pickin' banjo blues provide the perfect soundtrack to fall in love to – country style – and might even inspire you to take your sweetheart for a fancy spin around the Turf floor. With live sets from American folk song-crafter, Spider John Koerner and harmonica extraordinaire, Tony “Little Sun” Glover. If you invite enough of coupled-up friends, you could even start a square dance! Yee-haw!

Click HERE for the Turf Club site



SATURDAY FEBRUARY 13TH

Sweet Hearts Staraoke Night

@ Triple Rock Social Club
1808 S 7th St
Minneapolis

10pm/$5/21+

Overly romantic ballads and lovey-dovey duets are encouraged at this Valentine’s inspired night of loud karaoke and yummy cupcakes! As a kick-off for the soon to be opened Cake Eater Bakery, cutesy cupcake crafters Emily and Sheela are hosting a sing-a-long V-day event this Saturday at the Triple Rock. Stop by for just 5 bucks to munch on specially baked red velvet and raspberry lemonade cupcakes or sip on delicious drinks at the bar, the jump on stage and sing your heart out!

Click HERE for the Cake Eater Bakery site


SATURDAY FEBRUARY 13TH

Let’s Dance

@Red Stag Supper Club
509 1st Avenue NE
Minneapolis

11pm/$5/21+

This year, Valentine’s Day is all about finding that special someone... and grindin’ on them! Especially now that V-Day’s Eve lands on the second Saturday of the month, which just so happens to be the same night as the one year anniversary of “Let’s Dance” at the Red Stag. The supper club has once again dropped its fancy-shmancy set up to host one of Minneapolis’ best monthly dance parties. Find your Valentine amongst some of the most handsome men and pretty ladies in town while encouraged by hot tunes from DJ Millions Billions and Tendercakes. Plus, our favorite hunk, Jonathan Ackerman will be this month's guest DJ!

Click HERE for the Facebook event



SUNDAY MUSIC PICK: THE BLOW

Broken hearted and always in love, this is a project of one lovely lady Khaela Maricich on K Records. Never sappy, always hopeful, dancey and catchy, The Blow puts out consistently good albums with lyrics our hearts can get behind.

Click HERE for The Blow Myspace



SUNDAY FEBRUARY 14TH

Paper Hearts

@ Rogue Buddha Gallery
357 13th Avenue
Minneapolis

8pm / Free

Join l'étoile and our pals at the Rogue Buddha Gallery this Valentine's Day for a lovey dovey get together designed for singles and couples alike! Lay eyes on the current exhibit "Till Death Do Us Part" featuring work by artist couple Karen O'Bryan and RM Hanson while you mingle! Write sweet sentiments to your lovers, friends or that sexy stranger across the room on a pink paper heart and pop it in our anonymous "love note" box. We'll be periodically posting them up on the wall for everyone's perusal. Think of it as a live version of "Missed Connections," or a way to say what you really feel to someone you "heart." Enjoy pink specialty sips from UV, sweet treats courtesy of the lovely dames of Cake Eater Bakery, and saucy love songs from DJ Matt Perkins of MPR/Nomad Pub. Come party after Valentine's dinner with your sweetie, or gather your single friends for a V-Day flirt-a-thon! We'll even have a cozy makeout room ready and waiting!

Click HERE for the Facebook event

TUESDAY FEBRUARY 16TH

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:

FEB 16: Dreamcatcher
FEB 23: Nightwatch
MAR 2: The Hunger

This week's flick is Dreamcatcher



GUEST BLOGGER: LE PETIT CONNAISSEUR

Jahna Peloquin highlights the new lookbook from local designer Emily Bryngelson aka Tender Cuts.

Tender Cuts Spring 2010 lookbook

Check out these just-posted photos from Tender Cuts by Emily Bryngelson's Spring 2010 lookbook (as modeled by the designer). All designs, which debuted at the Avoid the Grey fashion show a couple of weeks ago, are currently available at Cliche. (2403 Lyndale Ave. S., Mpls.) The senior at the University of Minnesota just showed her senior collection on Saturday night, which I'm hoping ends up on the racks of Cliche as well.

Click HERE for the Le Petit site

Photo by Natalie Olbrantz

NEWSWIRE

Congrats Chris!

If you missed Vita.mn's Hotness Party on Wednesday night, you certainly missed out on some eye candy! While l'étoile's own staff designer Chris Larson didn't take home the crown, he was a runner up, as were our good pals Paul Teravskis (Clubhouse Jager) and Trent Raygor (who you may remember from a couple choice l'etoile photo shoots!). Check out the winners AND Finalists in this week's issue of Vita.mn on stands NOW, or check 'em out online HERE!


Vote for XYandZ Gallery's public art project in the Pepsi Great Idea Contest!

Locally-based artist co-op the XYandZ Gallery has thrown their hat into the ring for the Pepsi Great Idea Contest! Each month, the soft drink giant plans to give away $1,300,000 in grants to artists and dreamers. In other words, peeps with great ideas! XYandZ has proposed a big public art project to transform vacant buildings in the Twin Cities into art installations. They are going for a $50,000 grant for the project. VOTE HERE to move them up in the rankings! They are hovering around #40 right now, but with your help we can push them up and beautify the Twin Cities at the same time! Voting runs through Feb 28th.

Editor in Chief: Kate Iverson // Contributors: Lacey Prpic Hedtke, Juleana Enright, Lauren Gantner, Kate Iverson, Beth Hammarlund, Jahna Peloquin

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