Minnesota

Selected FITK posts on the Professor’s sojourns in the Land of Lakes:

2021

Mysteries of Grand Marais
Wine Tour (Stillwater)

2020

Honky-Tonk Woman (Waverly)
The Last Gig (Northeast Minneapolis)
Jono’s Letter (Grand Marais)
Heroes and Villans (South Minneapolis)
Yard Concert (Robbinsdale)
Nature Preserve (Anoka) 
Prom Nights (Saint Paul)
State Fair Memories (Falcon Heights)
Adventures with the Green Van (Bemidji)
My Last Cigar (Cambridge)

2019

Take-out (Anoka)
Paradise Found and Lost (Minneapolis)
The End of Winter (Anoka)
Small Town Talk (Anoka)
Skaterdater (Minneapolis)
() (Minneapolis)
Halloween Terrors (Anoka)
Weekend in New Ulm

2018

Five From the Frigid Fair (Falcon Heights)
On the Town (Anoka)
Art-A-Whirl (NE Minneapolis)
I Live in a Magical World (Anoka)
I Dig the Nightlife (South Minneapolis)
Savoury Summer (Anoka)
Surreal Saturday (Downtown Minneapolis)
Waseca Wonders

2017

Grand Marais by Night
More Grand Marais
Farewell Grand Marais
Harriet and Desha (Saint Paul)
Food Truck Frenzy (Anoka)
Midnight Serenade (Chatfield)
Purcell-Cutts House (Minneapolis)

2016

Jack Clark’s Bar and Cafe (North Minneapolis)
Transition (North Minneapolis)
Green Lake (North Minneapolis)
Anoka Home Tour
Four More from the Fair (Falcon Heights)
Four from the Fair
Fair Friday Final Four
North (Cook County)

2015

Art-A-Whirl (Minneapolis)
Ergot Museum (Dassel)
Rivertown Ramble (Anoka)
Saturday in the Park (Waseca)
River Rats (Anoka)
Four From the Fair (Falcon Heights)
Four More From the Fair
Further Fair Foursome
Fair Final Four

2014

Trail Center (Cook County)
Young at Heart Records (Duluth)
Country Auction (1970-Upsala)
Art-A-Whirl (Minneapolis)
A Jolly Excursion (Minneapolis-Saint Paul)
From Paradise to Sunrise (Kanabec County)
The Crazy Lady’s House (Kanabec County)
Clambering in the Fog (Anoka)

2013

Street Street (Anoka)
Playing Hooky (Minneapolis)
Art-A-Whirl (Minneapolis)
More from Art-A-Whirl
Mr. Lucky (Minneapolis)
Family Values (Two Harbors)
Stale Pop (Minneapolis)
Mansion on the Hill (Anoka)
Loring Park Girls (Minneapolis)
I Love the Fair (Falcon Heights)
Pipestone

2012

Art-A-Whirl (NE Minneapolis)
Prairie Home Cemetery (Anoka)
Alice in Wonderland (Waverly)
William A. Porter (North Minneapolis)
Frank R. MacDonald (North Minneapolis)
Charles C. Webber (North Minneapolis)

2011

Sleepy Eye
Bands, Beer and Birds (New Ulm)
New Ulm
Hot Rods and Custom Dreams (Anoka)
Ye Old Mill (Falcon Heights)
Aprés-Ski (Morrison County)

2010 and older…

Postcards from the Fair (Falcon Heights)
Old Camden (Minneapolis)
Street Corner Philosopher (Minneapolis)
Twilight of the Goddesses (Minneapolis)
Luncheon on the Grass (Waverly)
Mysteries of the North Country
Curiosity Shop (Northfield)
The Interlopers (Lanesboro)
Beaver Flicks (Grand Marais)

More Mysteries of the North Country- #4

The Master Butchers Singing Club

A play by Marsha Norman based upon the novel by Louise Erdrich

Guthrie Theater, through October 30

Family secrets are by no means unique to the northern plains, but this play (and the book which preceded it) explores the dynamics of the relationships between German immigrants and American Indians in a small town in North Dakota. Louise Erdrich has written several novels exploring variations of this theme, with many of the same characters reappearing in different books. This novel was loosely based on the life of her grandparents, who actually operated a butcher shop in Little Falls, Minnesota up until the mid-50s. The adaptation by Marsha Norman ('night Mother, The Color Purple, The Secret Garden) does a commendable job of knitting several story lines together into a coherent whole. The playwright chose to make use of a narrator, the Indian woman Step and a Half, who comments on the action from within and at a distance from the happenings on the stage.

The play is set up as the chronicle of the life of a German immigrant, Fidelis Waldvogel and is family, but also of Delphine Watzka, her alcoholic father Roy, her reluctant lover Cyprian and her friend Clarisse. Delphine, who works at the butcher shop, doesn't know who or where her mother is, and as the story progresses circumstance and fate draws the two families together. Delphine discovers the truth about her mother and the tragic past which still haunts the town and its people.

This is drama, not just an entertainment. Erdrich explores the history of the tribulations of 20th century American Indians in all of her books. They are sprawling, messy affairs, realistically mirroring the often chaotic lives of these people who are trying to retain the values and traditions in the face of the white culture. Her writing is subtle and tempered with humor and understanding- creating a tension which makes for an enthralling, if somewhat exhausting, evening at the theater. This is the kind of production that the Guthrie needs to remain vital. Artistic director Joe Dowling worked on this project a long time and succeeded in elevating the one area where the Guthrie has been historically deficient- regional theater.



photo: minnesota.publicradio.org

Mysteries of the North Country

Hypothermia

An Inspector Erlendur Mystery
By Arnaldur Indriðason
Minotaur Books, 2010

I spent last week not in the North Atlantic, as my posts would appear to indicate, but rather halfway up northern Minnesota's Gunflint Trail, in a cabin a stone's throw away from the icy cold waters of Little Ollie Lake. The days were gorgeous for this time of year—unseasonably warm and generally sunny. The evenings did cool off enough to allow the building of a cozy fire in the stove. The nights have already gotten longer, making a perfect setting for this chilly Icelandic murder-mystery.

So I read this one—aloud—to the Weaver while she knitted. Reading the place-names of dozens of Icelandic locales really tested my concentration, and I found that I actually could suss out most of them, in my fashion, after awhile I had even started to unconsciously trill my "r's"!

Arnaldur Indriðason's latest novel (latest novel to be translated into English, that is) continues with the existential struggles of Inspector Erlendur as he tries to deal with his inner demons while struggling with some decades-old missing-person cases as well as a recent suicide. The twist in this book is the introduction of a theme of supernatural events: seances, visitations, and dreams. Erlendur steadfastly refuses to believe in any of it, but is also aware that something is going on; more than one coincidence usually means it isn't a coincidence at all. This a talky book, with lots of circular conversations, often repeated with several different people. The mystery isn't too hard to figure out, the story's strength lies more in watching Erlendur come to an understanding of the chain of events and how the suicide case spurs new insight into the older case. Erlendur is, as usual, haunted by the childhood death of his brother, a death he feels responsible for, and a feeling which was shared by the suicide victim. He is also haunted by his failed marriage and his dealings with his ex-wife and children. There are a lot of dysfunctional family dynamics going on here—Indriðason incorporates them brilliantly in the plot, giving this mystery a definite sense of depth.

A note on the translation: Bernard Scudder, his original translator, passed away a few years ago, being replaced by Victoria Cribb. The dialog seems less fluid; I think Scudder may have had a better touch for this kind of writing. In addition, the book was riddled with typos! They may have rushed the production a bit, I can't recall reading a book that had been so poorly proofread! You might want to opt for the UK softcover edition, hopefully these mistakes have been corrected in them.

More Mysteries of the North Country- #2

I found them in one of the numerous antique stores in Duluth.

An old pair of glasses, in a common style. Nothing really valuable, but I had seen them before. Perhaps not this exact pair, but it didn't really matter. The glasses were possibly 80 or 90 years old, but I had found the same style in another junk store 40 years ago, when they were “almost new.” My girlfriend at the time was smitten with them, and had the frames fitted with her prescription. There was sort of a hippie-gypsy-old time eclectic fashion movement going on at the time, and they fit right in.

Were these her actual glasses? No way to tell, really.

And if they were, what of it? Just another random coincidence in a junk shop, there to stir an old memory.

More Mysteries of the North Country- #1

Naniboujou Lodge, dining room

North of Grand Marais is the unique Naniboujou Lodge. The link gives you the straight story, but it must really be seen to be believed. It is open throughout the warm months, while restricted to weekends in the winter. It is a rather sedate place despite its bizarre decorations and the restaurant, while not haute cuisine, is pretty good for the area. Well worth a stop if you are ever traveling on the upper end of Highway 61.

BTW, that's the original paint- from 1929!

More Mysteries of the North Country- #7

Mirror image

Each evening when it's not totally overcast a 30 minute light-show appears to anyone at a lake. When the wind dies down as well the mirror image of the sunset appears in the water- Alice's looking-glass on a colossal scale. In warmer months, you can even wade into the water and become one with the illusion but on a chilly October's evening one must be content with admiring this vivid panorama from the shore.

This scene is eternal- existing since there have been eyes to see it. Did my prehistoric ancestors get the same feeling of awe as I do when I gaze upon this glorious illusion- a scene with two worlds in plain sight, yet both unreachable?

Heaven's gate.

Mysteries of the North Country Redux

This is an expanded FITK re-post from October, 20, 2010



I found them in one of the numerous antique stores in Duluth.

It was just an old pair of glasses, in a common style.

Nothing really valuable, they were possibly 70 or 80 years old, but I had found a pair in the same style in another junk store 40 years ago, when they were “almost new.” My girlfriend at the time was smitten with them, and had the frames fitted with her prescription. There was sort of a hippie/gypsy/old time/eclectic fashion movement going on at the time, they fit right in.

Were these her actual glasses? No way to tell, really.

And if they were, what of it? She wouldn’t be wanting them back.

More Mysteries of the North Country- #6

Cabin Culture

Piney views, inside and out. The warmth of pine, aged to a deep amber, coupled with a wood fire (more pine, if only for kindling) in a cabin surrounded by pine, birch cedar and poplar- a rhapsody in wood, as it were. Ever since I was a child, staying in a flimsy motel cabin on a trip to the north shore, I've been attracted to this wall covering material. When I was a little older, I had a bedroom furnished in it. Endless hours where spent imagining what creatures the knots and grain suggested.

I've got three rooms of my current house covered in it (and a fourth with birch paneling and a porch with cedar shakes.)

The outdoors comes in.

More Mysteries of the North Country- #5

The Frank Lloyd Wright gas station in Cloquet, Minnesota, is an island of 50's modernity in a sea of nondescript modern commercial buildings. Originally designed as part of Wright's Unsonian City, it is not as odd-looking now as it first seemed, and it remains a working service facility:

More Mysteries of the North Country- #3

Non Sequitur on Highway 61.