Arts & Culture

Avant garde spoken word and performance artist Laurie Anderson has received the 2020 Vanguard Award by The Public Theater in New York City. She will perform a yearlong residency at their Joe's Pub space, starting in March. Third Man Records is co-producing a new podcast all about the early years of the White Stripes called Striped: The Story of the White Stripes, though Jack and Meg White won't lend their voices to it. And Boston's Palehound has put out a note-for-note, but pretty awesome cover of Yo La Tengo's "Autumn Sweater." Bundle up! 

Grab your hip beanie hats and sweaters, because Justin Vernon of Bon Iver and Aaron Dessner of The National are curating the debut Eaux Claires Hiver Fest, November 21-24 in his native Eau Claire, WI.  Polica and Ani DiFranco are among the artists slated to appear. The gathering and resulting collaborations will foreshadow the 2020 return of the larger Eaux Claires Festival, which went on hiatus last summer.  Twin Cities' Channy Lenneagh of Polica has announced a new album When We Stay Alive, which reflects the recent time she was bedbound due a brutal injury she suffered while clearing ice on her roof. And the never-been-washed cardigan Kurt Cobain wore during the taping of the classic MTV Unplugged in New York, is headed for auction and is expected to fetch up to $300,000!

Chicago rocker Liz Phair blazed a trail for female musicians during an especially testosterone-fueled era of rock. The singer/songwriter/guitarist kicked down the dude rock door with girl retort classics, Exile in Guyville and Whip Smart. She's chronicled the underbelly of that period of her career as well as her later transformation into a pop artist in her debut memoir Horror Stories, which is out today. Elton John details how he wore out his welcome when he made a guest appearance during a Rolling Stones show in Colorado. He said the cocaine made him linger onstage beyond the planned "Honkey Tonk Women," and it took him awhile to get the hint, despite Keith Richards' death stare.  For a little uplift today, check out a newly-released video from this past summer's Newport Folk Festival, in which an all-star cast faithfully cover "Suite Judy Blue Eyes"  by Crosby, Stills and Nash. Stephen Still's muse Judy Collins herself joined Fleet Foxes' Robin Pecknold, James Mercer of The Shins, Jason Isbell and others for the "Do do do-do-do" chorus at the end. And Scottish band The Blue Nile's trifecta of excellent records in the 80's and 90's, including their opus Hats, are being reissued next month on 180 gram vinyl. But only a thousand copies will be pressed.

Ashley Kunz is a self-taught artist who is making abstract works in acrylic and alcohol ink.  For the FMVA Studio Crawl she is setting up a large canvas for visitors to add paint to over the two days (October 5th and 6th, 2019).  And of course, she has plenty of her own work to look at, and maybe buy.

The weekend of October 5th and 6th, 2019 is the Fargo Moorhead Visual Artists Studio Crawl, and one of the studios you can visit is the Roberts Street Studio.  It is unusual (though not unique) in the Crawl in having multiple artists (6) practicing different types of art.  James Wolberg talks about what you can expect to see and what is like working in a group arts environment.

Kim Shattuck, known for her raspy scream/singing in The Muffs, an LA alt-rock band that came to prominence in the 90's with tuneful rockers like "Sad Tomorrow" and a stellar cover of Kim Wilde's "Kids in America," has passed away from ALS at age 56. Tributes from Green Day, Waxahatchee and others have been pouring in for Shattuck's style and big, loud songs. She also was a member of The Pandoras ("In and Out of My Life in a Day") and in 2013, was the Pixies bassist after Kim Deal left. But Shattuck was fired after just a few months.  President Donald Trump tweeted out an image of Hunter Biden golfing with a Ukrainian gas executive, superimposed over a video for Nickelback's 2005 song "Photograph." The polarizing Canadian band's label Warner Brothers complained of copyright violations to Twitter, who removed the altered video. And as The Who ready their new album, WHO, which will out in December, they released the new single "All This Music Must Fade," which cynically takes on the idea of originality in rock and roll. 

The Fargo-Moorhead Visual Artists Studio Crawl is October 5th qand 6th, 2019.  Steve Revland has made furniture that is also art for his entire adult life, and has 35 new pieces he has been working on for this event.  In this interview he talks about the nature of his pieces and working as an artist.

Michael Stipe is 59. His former band R.E.M. formed in 1980. And, unbelievably, he has yet to put out any solo material. Until Saturday. That's when the single "Your Capricious Soul" will be out on his website. You can either buy it for 77 cents or download it for free. He's hoping you'll buy it because proceeds benefit Extinction Rebellion, a nonprofit climate action group who are organizing protests on October 7th for climate justice. Barrie Masters of pub rock pioneers Eddie and the Hot Rods has passed away at age 63.  Joe Strummer and legendary British DJ John Peele described the band as a precursor to punk rock in the mid 1970's. And fresh off her uber-hilarious take on Senator Kamala Harris as a TNT tv star in a Saturday Night Live skit, Maya Rudolph stars with Jack Black in a sendup of 80's hit sitcom Three’s Company. The comic pair play The Roepers in a new music video for long dormant LA 90's band that dog's comeback single "Just the Way."

David Gilmore, Loudon Wainwright III and Bob Mould were among the guests who joined Richard Thompson onstage at London’s Royal Albert Hall last night, for the master guitarist and literate songwriters' 70'th birthday celebration.  Thompson's ex-wife Linda also joined in for a song. Electronic dance music pioneer Moby introduced a Deutsche Bank whistleblower to House Intelligence Committee Chairman, Congressman Adam Schiff at a party in LA, prompting an investigation of ties between the global financial institution and the Trump Administration. And Wilco played their new single "Everyone Hides" on the Late Show with Stephen Colbert last night, as they get ready to wind down their tour in St. Paul next month. 

Foo Fighters frontman and Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl revealed in a recent BBC interview which celebrated the 50th anniversary of Abbey Road, that when he hears The Beatles’ "In My Life." he gets a knot in his stomach because it was played so movingly at Kurt Cobain's 1994 funeral service. He also cried over the weekend at the Rock in Rio Festival in Brazil when Weezer played a crunchy cover of Nirvana's "Lithium." In celebration of The Band's self-titled sophomore album's quarter century in existence, the classic will be re-released as a "super-deluxe package," which will feature photos, thirteen bonus tracks, their previously unreleased Woodstock performance, and a documentary. It's out November 1st. AND the family of Ginger Baker has tweeted out that the former Cream drummer is "holding his own" and receiving visitors after being hospitalized last week with an undisclosed ailment that was described as "critical."