Thursday, March 18, 2010

Weekend What's What 3/18-3/23

WHERE HAVE ALL THE ROCKSTARS GONE?

Okay, so the majority of our musical geniuses are off partying and rockin' out at SXSW in Austin, Texas. However, there's no need to despair! This weekend, while not too heavy on the music, is filled with a grip of cool, artsy events plus a very special rock n' roll reunion show AND the debut of a soon-to-be super hot new musical duo that will totally make up for the absence our musical brethren. Get out this weekend and see the sights, celebrate the impending Spring flowers, and take this weekend as an excuse to party double time -- you know our friends in Austin are!

xo-l'étoile

THIS WEEK ON L'ETOILE

Jahna Peloquin updates our Shopping & Sales Guide

Juleana Enright interviews Voltage designer Danielle Everine

If you haven't checked out our "
Winter's Last Breath" photo shoot, do it now!




THURSDAY MARCH 18TH

XVI: 16th Annual Juried Student Exhibit

@ Denler Art Gallery
Northwestern College
3003 Snelling Ave N
St. Paul

6pm-8pm / Free

It’s amazing what will sneak up on you when you least expect it. In this instance, it’s art by 23 young artists. In this show at Northwestern College juried by Natasha Pestich, Assistant Professor at MCAD, a wide range of mediums are represented, from photography to painting. Be there for the opening reception and awards ceremony and stake your claim to an undiscovered artist. Runs through April 2nd.

Click HERE for the Denler Gallery site


THURSDAY MARCH 18TH

PCRF Benefit featuring Guante, E.G. Baily and more

@ Fine Line Music Cafe
318 1st Avenue N
Minneapolis

7pm / 21+ / $10

Local hip hoppers come together this evening to benefit a great cause! Tonight's event includes talented, good-hearted artists Guante, E.G. Baily, West of Aldine, and Sha Cage who will be on hand to rock the Fine Line for The Palestine Children's Relief Fund (PCRF). PCRF is a non-profit non-political organization that seeks to provide children in the Middle East with medical treatment and specialized surgery. Before the concert at the Fine Line, head to nearby contemporary Indian restaurant, Om, for a bite to eat - a portion of those proceeds will be donated to the charity as well.

Click HERE for the Fine Line site


THURSDAY MARCH 18TH

History Books

@ Sauce
3001Lyndale Ave S
Minneapolis

9:30 p.m. / $3

After perusing the entries on Vita.mn’s best new band contest recently, we stumbled across this lovely new band. Fronted by singer-songwriter Seth McGaha, the melody-rich songs get a boost from the lush instrumentation of his band (think Broken Social Scene or Elliott Smith in his XO era). Despite the upbeat sound, the lyrics focus on nostalgia and include references to death and religion, tinged with occasional bouts of regret. But we can’t help but love the very Minnesotan references to Minnesota snow and summertime swimming, not to mention the hand-stamped CD packaging. Dada Trash Collage (another l’etoile favorite) and Ultrachorus round out the evening.

Click HERE for the History Books myspace


FRIDAY ART PICK: MNIMAL

This week's art pick is comprised of multiple art picks within one cool, cool website! Mnimal.com is the brainchild of curator/designer Joshua Serbus and web guru Andrew Hafferman who feature daily links to LOCAL artists, graphic designers, developers and more. We admit, we first came across this site via a Google alert for l'etoile that led us to the site where we discovered that l'etoile was a featured link (thanks guys)! After investigating further we discovered a plethora of featured artists that we know and love, as well as a number that we haven't yet discovered. Can you say "cool resource?" On the current front page alone -- which is a clean, well-designed grid of links with images -- we count some of our local faves including Jesse Draxler, Garrett Perry, Adam Brackney, Brock Davis and more. The site features close to 200 entries so far and they even take submissions. So whether you know an awesome artist, are one yourself, or are simply an appreciator, hit this website up asap. We could spend a whole afternoon browsing this fantastically curated selection of local "art picks." Love it!

Click HERE for the Mnimal site



FRIDAY MARCH 19TH

From the Mountain: Work by Drew Peterson

@XyandZ
3258 Minnehaha Ave S
Minneapolis

7-11pm / Free

Inspired by his recent printmaking residency at the Anderson Ranch Art Center in Snow Mass Colorado, the latest work from l'etoile fave and local artist Drew Peterson titled, From the Mountain, explores the process of layering and fragmenting using his signature style of abstract design, intaglio, screenprinting and mixed media. Reminiscent of a mountain, his works are a heavy mass of overlapping symbols, colliding images and acrylic formations done on gouache paper wall prints, large-scale installations, digital printing and canvas. Also on display tonight will be Peterson’s Pinwheel Series, ten correlating works never before shown in one exhibit. This eye-popping, valley-driven exhibit runs through April 24th, with an opening reception tonight!

Click HERE for this art event and more at mplsart.com



FRIDAY MARCH 19TH

“If You Lived Here You’d Already Be Home” Launch Party

@ Magers and Quinn
3038 Hennepin Ave S
Minneapolis

7:30-10:30pm/free

We’ll admit, we were never that keen on those obnoxious “If You Lived Here, You’d Already Be Home” billboards, but John Jodzio’s short story collection titled with the same tagline has us reconsidering our stance. Story contributor to The Rake, Minnesota Monthly and two time winner of mnartists.org’s miniStories fiction contest, MN author Jodzio has teamed up with the McKnight-Loft Fellowship to produce his first collection. If You Lived Here, You'd Already Be Home is 21 compact stories cloaked in clever wordsmithery and tinged with Jodizo's signature wit and a dose of dark humor. Set to officially release tonight, Jodzio’s book will be the first publication to herald in Replacement Press, St. Paul’s latest publishing venture devoted to the voices of the next literary generation. Join Magers and Quinn as they host the launch party for Jodzio – the thematic traditionalist – and his fresh batch of whipsmart tales. After party immediately following the reading at nearby Chaing Mai Thai Restaurant.

Click HERE for John Jodizo's site

Whet your appetite with an excerpt from the book’s short story The Barnacle:



FRIDAY MARCH 19TH

Dane Kuttler

@ Peach
Northwestern Building
275 East 4th Street
Suite b200
Lowertown St. Paul

7:30pm-11pm / Donations accepted

Head to Lowertown this evening for a rousing round of eclectic poetic ramblings and climactic spoken word performance. Hip art collective, Peach, hosts Seattle-based slam poet Dane Kuttler, who is fresh off the boat from the Women of the World Poetry Slam Championships in Columbus, OH. Kuttler, joined by a flock of local poets, will regale the audience with her lyrical and personal words that are often based around the themes of Jewish and queer identities.

Click HERE for the Peach website



FRIDAY MARCH 19TH

The Soviettes Reunion Show

@ Turf Club
1601 University Avenue
St. Paul

9pm / 21+ / $7

If you were into the local music scene, oh, say, six or seven years ago, you undoubtedly remember the feisty pop-punk stylings of girl-fueled group, The Soviettes. One of the best local bands to grace the scene (in our humble opinion) the Soviettes made a quick but memorable imprint on Minneapolis with their catchy anthems and sassy punk rock swagger. This reunion show comes with an extra added bonus too: the gang will be releasing LP IV, a fiery collection of b-sites and rarities. Also on the bill are Soviettes member's current projects including The Gateway District (featuring guitarist Maren Macosko), Awesome Snakes (Annie Holoien and Danny Henry), and That's Incredible (Susy Sharp). We're crossing our fingers that this reunion isn't just a one time thing, and that we'll be privy to new Soviettes material in the near future. Please?

Click HERE for the Turf Club site




FRIDAY MARCH 19TH

Nightmoves

@ Clubhouse Jager
923 Washington Ave N
Minneapolis

10pm / 21+ / Free

Show us what you’ve got! The dancefloor will be slick with specialty drinks and the dewey perspiration of the city’s most attractive dancers, getting down to the sounds of DJ Teikio Westmar. Club Jager is one of the coziest, happening bars in town, and now that it’s nice out (early spring!) their patio (which quadruples the size of the dance floor) will be the perfect spot for twilight socializing. Teikio's promised classics AND guilty pleasures, let’s take up the offer!

Click HERE for the Facebook event



VOLTAGE DESIGNER SPOTLIGHT: DANIELLE EVERINE

With Voltage: Fashion Amplified just weeks away, l'étoile returns to give you the skinny on the talented local designers involved with this year’s runway show. Each week, tune in for a new designer spotlight and get the lowdown on their design aesthetic, style and a sneak peek of their ’10 Voltage collection. Not to mention, l'étoile Culture Editor, Juleana Enright will let you in on an intimate Q&A sesh with each designer, where they'll dish on everything from their favorite local spots to how they sharpen their creative chops. This week’s spotlight features locally-bred designer, Danielle Everine; an artist and sculpturist with a drive for fashion.

Click HERE for Juleana's interview with Danielle Everine



SATURDAY MARCH 20TH

Obscura Day

@ House of Balls
212 3rd Avenue North
Suite 108
Minneapolis

Noon-4pm / Free

Happy Obscura Day! What the heck is Obscura Day, you ask? Well, according to the website, it's an "international celebration of wondrous, curious and esoteric places" that counts 80+ cities all over the world as its venue. So, in other words, a new holiday (one that we can fully get behind for once!). The Minneapolis installment of Obscura Day will bring you to the eccentric and rarely traversed confines of Allen Christian's "House of Balls" in the Minneapolis Warehouse District. A quiet but steady staple on the scene for nearly 20 years, this blink-and-you'll-miss-it shrouded storefront art gallery/fun house keeps odd hours and does few events, so today is the perfect opportunity to delve into the strange and wildly creative mind of "the Willy Wonka of Twin Cities art." Christian's own imaginative mixed media sculptures and installations overrun this cramped, fully-decked out art space -- a space that certainly doesn't lack a plethora of delightfully whimsical details. Obscure? Yes. Awesome? Totally.

Click HERE for more info on Obscura Day



SATURDAY MARCH 20TH

Green Gala

@ California Building Gallery
2205 California St NE
Minneapolis

7-10pm / $20

Tonight, one man’s trash is another man’s fashion show as the Bottineau Neighborhood Association presents their annual Green runway show and fundraiser. The family-friendly event will feature a glam array of vintage, recycled and reused wearables, plus stylish clothing designed with the environment and social responsibility in mind. Stephanie Ash (Powder Keg Live and Electric Arc Radio) emcees as models strut fashionable looks from local thrift stores, reuse shops and Green designers. Tonight’s Green Gala also features a trunk sale and a silent auction with items from the Modern Café, NE Social Club, Ginger Hop, and Live Fast Die Young Tattoo – among many others! Plus, tasty hors d’oeurves and a live jazz set from the Greg Schaefer Trio. Proceeds will go to benefit the annual Earth Day Watershed Clean Up project. Recycled attire encouraged!

Click HERE for the Facebook Event Page

Green Gala 2009:



SATURDAY MARCH 20TH


Unnatural Oddities

@ Sweeney Todd's Hair Salon
2429 S. Lyndale Avenue
Minneapolis

7pm-Midnight / Free

A colorful explosion of bright, bold illustration, paintings, and mixed media work will greet you at Sweeney Todd's this evening as artists and compadres Charlie Forbes and Josh Van Heuveln present Unnatural Oddities. Tattooists by day, imaginative dreamers by night, these two creative cats will pop your eyes with their detailed and often surreal works of art. Who knows? You may leave with an idea for your next great tattoo -- and the business cards of the artists who can totally make it happen. Beer, wine, and eye candy abound.

Click HERE for the Facebook event





SATURDAY MARCH 20TH


Super Injunction

@ Art of This
3506 Nicollet Ave
Minneapolis

7pm-11pm / Free

Luke Aleckson and Matt McAuliffe urge you to think about ownership, reality and isolation, in a show taking its name from a double-gag order. A Super Injunction "is a gag order on a gag order, such that the public is not even allowed to know that a gag order on whatever information we do not know what is be gagged is gagged, a double encryption of an event or situation." These Minneapolis artists use historical and cultural events as their starting point, then strip away context. Thought provoking, visually intense, and somewhat disturbing, if you ask us! Runs through April 11th.

Click HERE for this art event and more at mplsart.com


SATURDAY MARCH 20TH


Equinox: A New World Language

@ Cult Status Gallery
2913 Harriet Ave S
Minneapolis

8pm-12am / Free

MPLS’ badass gallery, the Cult Status, is an art studio not to be reckoned with. Let’s just put it this way, you wouldn’t wanna meet it in a dark alley. Converted into a common art space by the folks at 33Design Gallery, curator Erin Sayer and the MPLS Deth Crew, the gallery features alternative art from some of the cities’ most interesting underground artists. Think gender-mashes, monster themes, gloom ‘n’ doom and a plethora of pop cult references. For tonight’s exhibit, Equinox, 10 groups and individual artists have collaborated to create a 1,500 sq. ft. wall installation inspired by the work of MC Escher, street-art, vampires – see we told you! – and mixed mediums creating a new platform of art through their translation. The artists involved had 10 days to complete the show, from March 10th until tonight, March 20th, aka the equinox, thus the show’s moniker. Peep outrageous art from the MPLS Deth Crew, DJ Danny Sigelman, Erin Sayer, Top Gun Familia, Desecrated Embyros and many others. Plus, enjoy a crooning set by dark cabaret folkers, the Butcher’s Bag, and place your bids in the silent auction. Don’t be scared to visit their digs; l'étoile is here to protect you.

Click HERE for this art event and more at mplsart.com



SATURDAY MARCH 20TH

BNLX EP Release

@ Sauce
3001 Lyndale Ave S
Minneapolis

9pm / 21+ / $5

As modern rock continues to try and recreate itself by slapping together every genre known to humankind, incorporating every instrument from the furthest reaches of the globe in search of uncharted sonic territory, there's something comforting about the sassy, straightforward rock of local "newbs" BNLX, the mystery-shrouded new project from Susstones guru Ed Ackerson (Polera) and his wife Ashley Ackerson (Mood Swings). While not straining to reinvent the musical wheel, BNLX's solid, pop-forward tunes sound like they could have been recorded in Britain some twenty years ago, and have that certain punch that just makes you want to shake ass. Help them celebrate the release of their debut EP #1 tonight with the likes of the Red Pens, Merc Rage, and Bluesky Blackout.

Super Fun Fact: BNLX's debut EP was produced by Ackerson homeboy, Paul Q. Koiderie, who has lent his formidable skills to artists such as the Pixies, Hole, Dinosaur Jr., the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and many more, including Radiohead (who was said to be convinced to release the career-making song "Creep" by none other than Koiderie).

Click HERE for the BNLX Facebook page

Teaser vid for "Row and Row"



SATURDAY MARCH 20TH

Bread and Puppet’s Dirt Cheap Cabaret & Circus

@ Bedlam Theatre
1501 S. 6th St.
Minneapolis

10:30pm / $10

The Bread and Puppet Theater has come all the way from quaint Vermont to bring tales of radical utopia, a cabaret of undecipherable events, and its puppetry to you, kind viewer. Bread and Puppet is one of the oldest non-profit theatrical companies in the country, so they must be doing something right. Accompanying the Dirt Cheap Cabaret & Circus is the Even Cheaper String and Accordion Ensemble, so a combination of the two is a great deal. Through March 21st.

Click HERE for the Bedlam site


SUNDAY MUSIC PICK:
HowWasTheShow.com Voltage Band Spotlight: Ruby Isle

Click the link below for the first in a series of Voltage 2010 band spotlights HowWasTheShow.com will be running, one each week up until the week of the show. The first band profile is of Ruby Isle, who will be playing Voltage 2010 at First Avenue on Friday, April 16th.

Click HERE for the full article on Ruby Isle at HowWasTheShow.com


TUESDAY MARCH 23RD

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.

NEW SCHEDULE ANNOUNCED!

MAR 23: Alice
MAR 30: Metropolis
APR 6: Beyond Thunderdome
APR 13: Strange Days
APR 20: Doctor Who: The Enemy Within
APR 27: Tank Girl
MAY 4: Moon
MAY 11: Ghostbusters
MAY 18: Pontypool
MAY 25: Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy
JUN 1: The Neverending Story

This Week's Flick is Alice:


GUEST BLOGGER: LE PETIT CONNAISSEUR

Jahna Peloquin salutes talented photographer Ashley Lebedev -- a photographer who we'll soon be working with on a l'etoile photo shoot!

Local fashion photographer Ashley Lebedev hinted that her work would soon be appearing in a national publication, and today she announced the details - and posted scans of the gorgeous spread.

Click HERE for the full post and more pictures



L'ETOILE NEWSWIRE

Save the Date: Imagination Mechanism
an interactive fashion party exploring the creative process

Friday, April 23, 2010 / Free
7pm to 11pm (photo shoot styling begins at 7:30pm)

Join l'étoile magazine for a real-time peek inside our creative process! We'll return once again to the Eitel Building's gorgeous Rooftop Sky Park on Loring Park for a stylish, interactive mixer that will invite you to play creative director for a day. Try your hand at designing fashion photo shoot mood boards and story boards with the help of l'étoile staff, then watch as we implement these same processes to create a live fashion photo shoot that will include everything from styling, shooting, retouching, and even editorial layout -- all right before your eyes. Complimentary cocktails and appetizers will be available, along with music from l'étoile DJs. And dress to impress: we'll be giving away prizes to the most "fashion photo ready" attendees! Sponsored by l'étoile magazine, MNFashion and Secrets of the City.

Voltage Tickets on Sale NOW!

Voltage: Fashion Amplified returns to First Avenue on Friday, April 16! An MNfashion production, Voltage is the flagship fashion event held each spring, kicking on MNFashion Week! Filled with a bevy of local fashion design set to the backdrop of rockin' local bands, Voltage is a can't-miss event! For a full lineup of designers and bands, to purchase tickets, and also keep up on Voltage news, teasers and the schedule for the Vintage Voltage Rock Show series held at the 501 Club leading up to the big event at 1st Avenue visit www.voltagefashionamplified.com.


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

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