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APRIL 2020

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SOUTHERN Minn

Big fun. big Talent. Q&A with Big 9 Music instructors

luke simonson From rural minnesota to nashville, simonson finds his own music path

THE

interview issue

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| APRIL 2020

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CONTENT

COLUMNS:

APRIL 2020 / VOLUME 8 / ISSUE 3

4 Mollywood BLVD

Love in the time of Coronavirus

10 Photographing SoMinn

Features:

The rewards of Red Wing

On Creating, Risk Taking and Being Her Weirdest Self.

22 Through a SoMinn Lens

5 Haley

Sign, sign, everywhere a sign...

8 Rochester’s Maestro

After 40 years Jere Lantz has no plans to retire.

12 Big Fun. Big Talent. Big 9 Music Festival Q&A with Music Instructors.

15 Luke Simonson

From rural Minnesota to Nashville, Simonson finds his path in music.

27 Album Review

• Name Drop: The Really Good Celebrity Stories I Usually Only Tell at Happy Hour • State of Play: The Old School Guide to New School Baseball • Stop Telling Women to Smile: Stories of Street Harassment and How We’re Taking Back Our Power • What’s Your Pronoun? Beyond He & She

Tame Impala - The Slow Rush

28 SoMinn FOOD & DINING Review

18 A Visit with Some SoMinn Artists

Jac’s Bar a& Grill

Southern minn

Q&A with Barbara Kinnick, Alan Wiltgen and Larry Ricker.

Scene

THE

25 SoMinn’s most comprehensive calendar of things to be SCENE.

30 The Bookworm Sez:

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Mollywood Blvd

MOLLY PENNY Molly Penny is a local radio personality and MSU Mankato alum. It was her love of pop culture that got her interested in doing a morning show gig for KOWZ 100.9. She is now Music and Promotions Director at KOWZ & KRUE Radio in Owatonna and can be heard on various airwaves in Southern Minnesota, including Hot 96.7 in Mankato. She resides in Mankato with her movie buff husband and YouTube obsessed children. Need to contact her? Shoot her an e-mail mollyp@kowzonline.com or catch her on Twitter at @mollyhoodUSA.

Love in the Time of Coronavirus

The Many Times in my Life I Thought for Sure We would All Die of the Plague or Other Such Crises

pidemics are older than humanity itself, and I have lost count of how many times I was certain that a virus of some variety was going to wipe out the human race. We are in the midst of another global virus that threatens to be a pandemic, with the COVID-19 or coronavirus impacting many countries throughout the world, threatening to impact the Summer Olympics and even prompting the dating app Tinder to add a warning to its app: “Tinder is a great place to meet new people. While we want you to continue to have fun, protecting you self from the coronavirus is more important,” and goes on to list some tips including washing your hands and not touching your face. In honor of our latest scare, I would like to take a stroll down memory lane past the biggest scares of my lifetime beyond just pandemics. It began…in the 80’s when it seemed that child abduction was on the rise. There was sincere panic over missing children- we would see their photos on the back of milk cartons when I was growing up and my heart still breaks for anyone who has experienced this nightmare. In 1984, Newsweek ran a cover story about child abduction featuring the photo of 10 year old Kevin Collins who is still missing to this day. In October of 1989, it hit close to home for us Minnesotans as 11 year Jacob Wetterling was abducted in his hometown of St. Joseph. 27 years later his killer led police to Jacob’s remains, but until then it had remained a chilling mystery. The high profile abduction of Polly Klaas in 1993 and in particular, the abduction of 9 year old Amber Hagerman in Arlington Texas, prompted the AMBER alert system in 1996 and regular citizens are notified immediately of these occurrences. Unfortunately the system has assisted in the safe recovery of far fewer children than we would hope. Another high profile case of a missing child occurred later that year in December of 1996 when child beauty pageant queen JonBenet Ramsey was reported missing and later found murdered in the basement of her family home. Cases like this are not fixed in the past, my own kids have lived

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Though it had originated decades earlier, HIV and AIDS did not really reach its peak in the US until the 1980’s and was commonly associated with homosexual men. Having lost 35 million to this disease, it earned its title as a pandemic. Luckily, thanks to science, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus is no longer a death sentence. Over time HIV would destroy so many CD4 cells that the body could no longer fight infections and diseases and the sufferer would then be deemed to have full blown AIDS, or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. Medicines and lifestyle choices mitigate spreading of the original HIV, but education and basic awareness of the disease has also helped curb the rise. There was such a stigma. Transmission was most common among homosexual men and people sharing of hypodermic needles, but as a kid that didn’t matter. I thought if I got someone’s spit on an open paper cut I was surely going to contract it. As I became more educated, I realized my odds were quite low. If you were a tween in the early seasons of MTV’s The Real World, like me, you probably wept as Pedro suffered and died from complications with AIDS. A popular film starring Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington, Philideplhia also came out in 1993. We lost Freddy Mercury shortly after learning he was HIV positive, but basketball great Magic Johnson is still alive and well. The Oklahoma City bombing of 1995 brought on a National bomb scare, but more notably caused anyone who wore aviator sunglasses and hooded sweatshirts to look suspicious as that infamous look resembled the composite sketch of Timothy McVeigh which went whatever the 90’s equivalent of “viral” is. In 1997 The “Uni-bomber” responsible for the domestic terrorism that claimed the life of 168 Americans at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, which included a daycare facility, was apprehended and sentence to death and subsequently executed in 2001. McVeigh behind bars did not quell the unrest that an act of domestic terrorism could happen literally anywhere. Then on April 20th of 1999, my Junior year of high school the Columbine school shooting happened on the same day that 8th grade Cally Jo Larson of Waseca was found murdered in her home after school. Talk about a horrible

day for all of the families involved, our local community and the Nation. As a seventeen year old at the time, it felt as though I may not make it to see the new millennium! Enter…Y2K, the shorthand term for the Year 2000. At the end of the century could not escape headlines about “Y2K”and the hysteria that life as we knew it would come to an end when the clock struck midnight on Jan 1, 2000. Yeah, so. What’s the big deal? We are talking about a culture that was pretty brand new to computer technology. Instead of allowing four digits for the year, many computer programs allowed only two digits, e.g. 99 instead of 1999. How in the world could computers compute when the date descended from 1999 to 2000? Would everything suddenly reset to 1900? Surely banks and power plans will shut down and all hell will break loose. The uncertainty of what, if any, implications this Y2K bug would have on the banking system had global markets on edge until the calendar turned. FEMA was standing at the ready, people flooded stores for canned goods, bottled water and batteries. I sucked down some blackberry brandy and watched the clock turn on my desktop PC as literally NOTHING happened. False alarm! And of course our current media hype Much like the current hype of COVID-19, Mad Cow Disease, Cholera, Ebola, SARS, the West Nile Virus, Bird Flu, H1N1 and Swine Flu just to name a few scares of the past 20 years, We know that it is going to have economic effects, and that the news will hype it up like they have every single time we have faced something similar. I think the scariest thing about the Corona virus is that it hit in the middle of an American Presidential election in a climate where memes run rampant, trust in media is an all-time low and division between and even within political parties is at an all-time high. Of all the pandemics I have lived through unscathed, this is the first I have heard the President of the United States refer to as a “hoax” despite the deaths of thousands across the world and even several in the U.S. Still, the chances of dying of Corona Virus if you are healthy is relatively low. Just make sure you are washing your hands, SMS people!

Story by Sarah Osterbauer Contributing Writer

HALEY

(fka Haley Bonar) has successfully maintained indie darling status. Big enough for Pitchfork but small enough to keep her street cred, she has spent 15 years mastering her craft. Born in Canada, raised in South Dakota and then ultimately spending her collegiate years and beyond in Minnesota, we claim her as our local. With six albums under her belt as Haley Bonar and one as the reclaimed HALEY, she basks in the light of self-assurance. A person who thrives on creating with a talent for moving down multiple artistic avenues, we sat down with her to talk new Gramma’s Boyfriend music, what it was like to open for Lana Del Rey and why performing presents her greatest challenge. Tell me what drew you to music

I started playing guitar when I was 14. I played piano as a kid. I moved to Minnesota and started playing open mics and that led to playing more weekly gigs and started making a little bit of money on the side. I was going to college. I went to UMD. But it never really felt like it was my “calling”. It was something that I really liked, that was important to me and was really personal to me. It wasn’t something that I started out to be a rockstar musician at all. I was like ‘I’m going to be a teacher’. And then one thing led to another, literally, and I’ve been self-employed for 15 years. National publications love to tell the tale of Haley being discovered by Alan Sparhawk (of Low) at an open mic. Is the Alan Sparhawk discovery narrative true?

y e l a H

Yeah, I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for a man! Just kidding. You know, everybody is at the mercy of whoever sort of helps them along, and that is something that I am very grateful for but it wasn’t like I wasn’t writing and performing my own work. I just roll my eyes at the word “discover”. It’s just, “Oh my God, I wasn’t on f*ckin’ American Idol,” like DISCOVER! Here I was, and I didn’t know what to do, and he was like, “I think you have talent, kid!”

CONTINUED page 6

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CONTINUED from page 5 I was asked by Low to open for them when I was 19 or 20, and I had my first record and they put it out on their small label called Chairkickers, and that’s kinda how I started touring, releasing records outside of my own small town. You’ve been making music for almost 20 years - how have you changed in that time? How has your music, your songwriting changed? Have things changed since you’ve been sober?

From there I was finding my own voice as a songwriter and that’s constantly developing and changing. I like to continue to challenge myself. I don’t want to be pigeonholed into one kind of artist. I feel like it’s developing in many ways that I never would have imagined, which I am grateful for.

“Yeah, I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for a man! Just kidding. You know, everybody is at the mercy of whoever sort of helps them along, and that is something that I am very grateful for but it wasn’t like I wasn’t writing and performing my own work. I just roll my eyes at the word ‘discover’. It’s just, ‘Oh my God, I wasn’t on f*ckin’ American Idol,’ like DISCOVER!”

Tell me about Pleasureland (HALEY’s 2018 instrumental album) - how did it come about?

I love that record. I feel like it’s the record I always I don’t really like talking wanted to make. about sobriety just because I’ve always it means so many things to loved classical different people. I feel like piano. As a kid I’ve to normalize sobriety is to always loved clasnot acknowledge if you are sical piano. That’s or not. For me! That’s my all I wanted to do, personal thing. play fake classical As far as developing as music. I did put a songwriter, I was a baby out some instruwhen I started writing. mental music on So it’s come a long way, my record Golder yet hundreds of songs that came out in later I’m still making music 2011 and a couple which is surprising to me EPs that have had sometimes. But I feel like I instrumental tracks Haley McCallum started out like everybody and also I’ve done does; you sort of emulate that for pitches the music you listen to. I for my publishing was covering a lot of Ani agency if whatever commercial is looking for DiFranco, Elliot Smith and The Cars, all kinds of this type of song blah blah blah. But I had never music that I like to listen to. devoted myself to making an entire album. I just

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sort of built off a couple pieces that I already had and felt really connected to finding those feelings and describing those feelings in a different way rather than using words. It was just a really heavy time everywhere and for me personally. I was going through a lot of personal growth, feeling upset and powerless I guess, just because of the political climate, since 2016, that’s when I did most of the writing for this. I didn’t want to make a political record that was a political record talking about all my fuckin beliefs. This is a statement because I feel all of these things and like most people I don’t even know where to start. I don’t even know how to explain this. I don’t know what’s up and down and this is all so weird. To me that was like a peaceful place and it was a good way to explore those feelings without putting a name on them. What are your future plans? I heard something about a book of short stories? Did that ever happen? I don’t know if you read that I started a Patreon. I don’t know how much you know about Patreon, but it’s the wave of the future, it really is. Basically you get to build your own subscriptions with different artists, podcasts, film companies, illustrators, painters, every kind of media and artistic form and you support them directly with your membership. It’s a bit more of a personal way to see what people are working on in between releases or in between shows. I feel like it’s the kind of platform that I need for me as an artist, because I don’t just do music. I also started painting. I’ve been doing that a lot lately. I do have a lot of short stories. I don’t have the time to devote what I need to make that happen so it’s fun to release those as I

feel comfortable. It’s a neat way to gauge interest in whatever I’m doing before I make any big decisions that cost money. It feels good to have people that are interested in you as a human with a creative outlet versus just someone that you see on Instagram. I feel like that kind of got off topic but to answer your question about the stories, that is sort of the way I’ve been culminating all of the things into this one platform. Do you think you’ll record more music with Gramma’s Boyfriend? Uh-huh! I just had a meeting with them today, because we’re putting out an EP, and we’re going to try to get some cassettes printed. We’ll do a digital release, too, but for our artifact, we decided to do tapes and hand-make the covers. That will be done in April. We’ve got a bunch of shows coming up in April and May, which I am very happy about. I’m excited for our new record. It’s called “Bozo.” [I laugh] Exactly. That’s it. That’s why. Bozo. Every time I tell somebody, it’s because of that, because you laugh. How would you describe Gramma’s Boyfriend’s music to an outsider? Best band name ever by the way. Thank you! The band name came before the band. I decided I wanted to have a band called Gramma’s Boyfriend, first it was Teenage Grandpa. [Gramma’s Boyfriend is] if Devo and Missing Persons and Suburban Lawns had a party and one of them was on acid, and one was drunk and the other one was just sad and they were all

dancing together. It’s kind of a you-have-to-seeit-to-experience-it thing I think. This [new] record I can’t WAIT to play it for people. It’s so fun and dancey. Do you already have it all put together? We’re going to go mix it in two weeks. Cool! So the First Ave show will be all new stuff? Yes. We are psyched to do that show. We have a substitute drummer and it’s Jendeen from All The Pretty Horses. We’ll have two trans people for the First Ave show, and it’s gonna be baller. And Sean’s band is so great too. Will you be doing another album under HALEY? Do you foresee that music being similar to your last album?

Yeah, so her brother Charlie lived here and he just moved back to LA to live with her and their sister. But he had sent her my music and she was like, “Oh my God, you should play Madison.” She Instagram messaged me and I was like, “Is this fake?” I didn’t believe it. I was like, “Who is this asshole?” I screenshotted it and sent it to my sister, “Is this real?” And she was like, “Yeah, if it’s a verified account.” I wrote back, “Yeah.” And she wrote back and said, “If you want to sing one of your songs or we can do a cover.” And we went back and forth about that and then she found out I was from South Dakota and she was like, “We have not been able to find anyone to play there!” She’s amazing. She’s really nice and genuine and down to earth. She’s had the same people in her band and crew for almost 10 years, so she treats everyone well. Happy crew, happy band. I really respect her a lot. We ended up doing a song I wrote called “Eat For Free,” and I am hoping we can get a legit recording of it. It was amazing! It was amazing if I don’t say so myself, which I do!

that, I was thinking this is the closest I can get to painting. And now I am [painting]. It’s another thing. It’s challenging to try something new. I really love video editing, and I’ve been working with some other artists. I’m working with this rapper D Mills, and I’m producing her track next week, which is cool, because I’ve never worked on hip hop before. It’s cool; we already did a session. There are a lot of things that are kind of going on, and this is the most fulfilled that I’ve ever

record after doing 10 records where my voice was on. And I expected that. But it was also the extremeness of all of that sort of and falling away in front of my eyes and needing to re-navigate and re-center myself and who was there to really support, that wanted me to be something I wasn’t. It was a good thing for me to do regardless and the joke is on whoever. Letting go of other people’s expectations of you and just holding yourself accountable and having high expectations of

been in my life. I know who I am. I know what makes me happy. I know what I am capable of, and I am not really scared to try things anymore and be my best weirdest self.

yourself, I think that’s what serves you the best.

For me, it feels like you weren’t ever scared, everything you put out feels really personal. Your musical choices have always felt fearless.

Oh yeah, it was very tumultuous. It’s not easy to be the only one in the room who thinks you have a good idea, no matter what it is. Even if you’re strong and standing there taking all of that wind, do you want to be doing that? F*ck no! But I was there, and I took it, and I had to defend it. It’s not easy to take risks but if you don’t take risks, then nothing happens. SMS

“There are a lot of things that are kind of going on, and this is the most fulfilled that I’ve ever been in my life. I know who I am. I know what makes me happy. I know what I am capable of, and I am not really scared to try things anymore and be my best weirdest self.”

Yes and yes … yes and no. I’m not going to be releasing an album. I’ll be releasing songs individually over the next year and then depending on how that shakes out, eventually - Haley McCallum put something out in physical format. I just feel like, at this point, it doesn’t make sense to do that anymore. People are always just putting out singles and it saves so much money to do one song at a time. I really like to work with different people on every song, just so I can combine my voice with different people’s, like as a producer, or, literally, I’m going out to New York in April and I’m going to work with this woman, Vanessa Silverman, who’s an engineer I met at Dave Grohl’s studio. She’s a super badass producer and engineer. I love her and then there are two women - drummer and bass player. I’m excited to go to a new place and to be doing music that I’m used to doing with my band of mostly dudes and kind of re-owning it I guess. We’re going to reconstruct the song a little bit. I’m just excited to have new energy in it. New femme energy. Fresh ears, not be in Minneapolis and surrounded by magnetic New York City energy. How does your writing process work? Do you hear melody, lyrics first, write on piano, guitar? Sometimes it’s one and sometimes it’s a combination of those, but I feel like everything has to start with melody somehow. Even if it’s building a progression, I think that could be a melody, too, and I’ll put something over top of that. Sometimes I’ll sit there and play the same two chords for 20 minutes, just make words up, make melodies up. I always have my voice memo on. It’s like catching fish! You just hold your net and wait and something, like “Whoa, OK,” even if it’s one little thing. I really love that. The rest of it was total bullshit. That one little second is something I can build on. It’s different for me every time. I feel like I’m most inspired after seeing other people’s art. Anything that inspires me, I just want to put that inspiration into something. It seems really easy when it’s like that. But when it’s not, it’s like sit down, buckle your seatbelt and play some fuckin arpeggios. I feel like meandering is just as valuable as rehearsing the same song 50 times. Tell me about opening for Lana Del Rey. It was two shows? And she wanted local openers and was a fan?

What would you say brings you the most joy as a musician and what is the most challenging? I think the most joy is finishing something and sharing it with people. Like sending it to my friends and family. Even just demos. That’s why I do what I do. I just want to share. I want to make things and show people. That makes me happy. I like giving gifts. It’s the same kind of chemistry in my brain. I get this endorphin, this rush from sharing things and that’s the way that I show love. The most challenging thing is performing. That’s something that I have always struggled with. I had horrible horrible stage fright and anxiety for years and years and years. I used to not even be able to face people. I would tour and I had a wurlitzer that I brought with me and I would set it to face the wall so the audience was here and I would play like this (gestures away from them), so I wouldn’t have to face people. I see that kid and I’m like, “Oh my God! Poor baby!” I just needed therapy really bad. Now I’m way better about it. I was just such a ... in the beginning, it was such a personal thing that I liked to do on my own time, share the songs I wrote with people that I trusted. But getting in front of a bunch of people that I didn’t know, it’s never something that has been easy. But I felt compelled to do it, nonetheless. I feel like, as time has gone on, I’ve been able to hone into what I love best about making music and creating art. That does not include the performance element of it as much anymore. I love performing with Gramma’s Boyfriend, because that is more like performance art for me. It’s a different kind of ... I don’t know, I feel like I’m a different person. I get to emulate something outside myself. The funny me, the goofy me. People that know me say the Gramma’s Boyfriend you is the most you. I’m an introvert, like 1000%! It’s the one thing where I feel like I don’t get nervous, because it’s such an in-your-face performance. You’ve mentioned that you paint, and I know you love visual art as well, has that always been important to you? With Pleasureland, when I first started doing

Thank you! I feel like anybody that is choosing to build a business or anything out of what they make and what’s close to them, it takes guts. You have to be able to be bold but it’s also you know, releasing that record kind of blew up a lot of things in a really good way for me. It shook up the people that I was working with who were interested and invested in me as an artist versus the people that were interested in making money off of me as an artist. I’m completely aware that not every suit is going to be behind you doing an instrumental

Was it difficult to navigate through all that? Did you question yourself during that process?

Haley plays with her band Gramma’s Boyfriend April 2 in the First Avenue main room, supporting Heart Bones as a part of First Avenue’s 50th Anniversary celebration. They also play April 23 at the Uptown VFW.

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Rochester’s maestro

Jere Lantz has led the Rochester Symphony Orchestra for 40 percent of its 100-year history. He’ll step down from his CEO responsibilities in June but remain artistic director. (Marie Ferguson, courtesy of the Rochester Symphony Orchestra) Story by jay furst Contributing Writer

hen Jere Lantz came to Rochester to lead the local orchestra, he thought he might be here for five years, maybe 10. But 40 years fly by when you love what you do, and Lantz clearly revels in being out front and making music. “I think of myself as an evangelist -- an evangelist for great music,” said Lantz, who now more than even looks the part of the maestro, with a mane of gray hair that flies loose when he’s waving his arms or jabbing the baton. “I love to pass along my love of music. I like to get up in front of people and talk, and you can’t stop me. People tell me to just say a few words and it hardly ever happens, it’s always a number of words. It’s the same thing with conducting.” The Rochester Symphony Orchestra is a century old this year, and Lantz, 71, has been artistic director for 40 percent of its history. The orchestra and maestro have been celebrating the occasions all season, and on

Lantz, who counts Leonard Bernstein and George Szell among the conductors who most influenced him, works on a score in advance of the Rochester Symphony Orchestra’s concert on March 14, a celebration of his 40 years on the podium. (Photo by Elin Lantz Lesser)

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March 14, Lantz will took a bow with a program called “Cheers to 40 Years,” featuring music that has special meaning for him -- the first piece he conducted with full orchestra, Wagner’s “Meistersinger” Overture, for example, and the Symphony No. 2 by the composer he’s come to realize is his favorite, Johannes Brahms. Lantz has had a remarkable impact on Rochester’s arts and culture life since the days of Jimmy Carter and vinyl records. Theater directors have come and gone (some under dark clouds), other institutions such as the Rochester Art Center have had their ups and downs, and the city has boomed even as its arts attractions have not. Through it all, with creative programming, a lively wit and common touch, and a Bernstein-like talent for spreading the gospel of classical music, Lantz has helped keep the Rochester Symphony growing, vital and relevant. That’s no easy task in an era when there’s an infinite number of ways to be entertained, and fewer kids grow up listening to the classics. Forty years with a baton in your hand and a score in front of you -- or in your head -- is quite a feat. The League of American Orchestras estimates that the average tenure of current U.S. maestros is 13 years. “Jere Lantz’s tenure is a powerful testament to his

success in providing audiences in the Rochester, Minnesota, community with a meaningful musical experience,” said Jesse Rosen, the league’s president and CEO. “The orchestra’s centennial anniversary underscores the strength of Jere’s leadership, the Rochester Symphony’s ability to connect with its constituents, and the value of one of Rochester’s oldest cultural institutions to its residents.” Philip Brunelle, artistic director of the Minneapolis-based choral ensemble VocalEssence, knows something about longevity in the music business. He started what’s now VocalEssence 51 years ago and remains out front at age 76, touring nationally. “You have to love what you’re doing and be excited about it,” he said in a phone interview from Pittsburgh last month. “You have to wake up every day and say, ‘Oh good, another day at this.’ Jere is extremely good at sharing his feelings about music with the audience and the wider community. He’s always finding new avenues and trails for enjoying music.”

In 2015, when the Rochester orchestra’s executive director abruptly resigned, the board asked him to take on that job as well as his musical one. “I said I could give them five years,” he said, and that’s how it has turned out. He’ll step down from the executive duties in June and return to being the artistic director exclusively, which he calls “semi-retirement.” He’ll also continue to conduct two ensembles in the Twin

Lantz doesn’t aspire to Mehta’s longevity, though he jokes that he only has four years to go to top Harold Cooke as the longestserving Rochester maestro, “so I have a record to break.” “There’s kind of a cliche of the aging conductor,” he said. Many stay around too long. Some go out with their boots on, such as the former Minneapolis Symphony maestro Dmitri Mitropoulis, who collapsed during a rehearsal at La Scala and died hours later. “When I was in graduate school, the comedian Danny Kaye came in and conducted a concert, and one of his bits was to be the old conductor. He was hilarious. I don’t want to be that old conductor. Physically I’m not as energetic, and at some point I may just leave it, but it’s fantastic aerobic exercise. There’s nothing better than conducting -- and it’s low-impact.” After stepping down as CEO, he’ll have more time to read -- he wants to fill in the Shakespeare plays he hasn’t read -- perform more often with his wife, Kristina, who’s a violinist in the The Rochester Rochester and Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra Pops orchestras, and goof will celebrate Artistic off. “There’ll be days when Director Jere Lantz’s I’m not going to think about music at all, or the business 40 years on the of music, or the Rochester podium with a special Symphony. I’m looking concert at 7:30 p.m. forward to that.” Saturday, March 14, He and Kristina plan to at Presentation Hall stay in Rochester. “We love our house and love the in Rochester. On the community, and we’re so program: Wagner’s glad we’re not in the Twin “Meistersinger” Cities anymore.” Overture, William He also plans to focus Walton’s “Suite from on a few projects that are close to his heart: building Henry V,” and Brahms’ up the endowment to keep Symphony No. 2. the orchestra on an even keel, and beating the drum for a first-class concert hall in Rochester, which doesn’t have anything of the kind now. The acoustics in Presentation Hall, the orchestra’s home in Mayo Civic Center, were improved with a renovation a few years ago, but no one would say it’s good or versatile or attractive enough for the city’s size and ambitions. “It would be a concert hall for everything, not just for the Rochester Symphony,” he said. There’s almost no public talk about the idea currently, it would cost $60 million or thereabouts, and there’s no great tradition of arts philanthropy in Rochester, aside from the Mayo brothers’ generosity a hundred years ago. Still, for a city that aspires to destination status, it’s not impossible. Lantz would be uniquely qualified to lead such an effort. Though many assume we’re in the twilight years of classical music, Lantz is an optimist. There’s infinitely more competition for time and attention than when he arrived in Rochester, but managers and maestros have become less doctrinaire about what type of music belongs on the program. “We might bring a piece of film music into a concert alongside a Beethoven symphony, for example. We’re becoming more adept at creating programs that have relevance to the community and meaning for people.” That’s been among his virtues as Rochester’s maestro: his willingness to embrace all kinds of music, with the exceptions of country and hip-hop. Just about everything else has been fair game. To keep the classical tradition going, you need an audience, and if that means you compromise and add some razzledazzle to get people through the door, so be it. “The mission is to have people really appreciate great music, whether it was written 300 years ago or last week,” he said. After more than 40 years, you might guess he’s conducted everything he wants to play at least once, but there’s one big item on the bucket list and if there’s any justice he’ll get his chance to do it: Beethoven’s opera, “Fidelio.” Not that Lantz is in an elegiac frame of mind, but when asked how he wants to be remembered for his decades of work in Rochester, he says without missing a beat, “I want people to remember the wonderful time they had with music when I led it, talked about it, introduced it. I want them to look back and say, ‘That was good. I’m glad I went to that. And because of that gift of music, I hope they give it to somebody else, their children or grandchildren.” SMS

“Cheers to Forty Years”

A short stay became a long stay Lantz grew up in East Stroudsburg, Pa., population 7,000, in the Pocono Mountains. “There was no orchestra. I didn’t hear an orchestra until I was in late middle school or high school.” But his parents were well-educated and his mother played the piano -“she could play Mozart sonatas and the easier At age 71, Lantz has one major item on his bucket list as a conductor, to lead a perforChopin polonaises.” mance of Beethoven’s opera, “Fidelio.” He’ll celebrate 40 years as the Rochester Symphony He took to the piano Orchestra and Chorale’s maestro with a concert on March 14. (Marie Ferguson, courtesy of and also picked up the the Rochester Symphony Orchestra) trombone. He went to Yale to study economics but left with an Cities, the Minneapolis Pops Orchestra and the Minnetonka advanced master’s degree in music instead. Choral Society. The Pops Orchestra, which he’s led for a mere 33 Brunelle, then music director of the Minnesota Opera, hired years, plays about a dozen outdoor concerts all around the city Lantz as his assistant in 1977 and he’s been a Minnesotan ever of Minneapolis in July, and the Minnetonka chorus “takes care of since. When that gig was up in 1980, Lantz was hired to lead the the choral side” of his musical interests, along with the RochesRochester orchestra, which was founded in 1920, only 17 years ter chorale, which has 90 singers and is an integral part of the after the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra (now the Minnesota organization. Orchestra). The Rochester orchestra is semi-professional -- it’s not a full When he arrived in Rochester, the orchestra was operated by time job for the 70 or so musicians but “everyone gets paid, the city Music Department and his office was in old City Hall. every time,” he said. There’s little turnover from year to year, Twelve years later, the city “decided my job shouldn’t be fullwhich allows for more consistency and growth than with a comtime, it should be half-time,” so he and his family moved to the munity orchestra. Half the players are from the Rochester area, Twin Cities, where he added other musical work “to put a living the rest are from the Twin Cities, Wisconsin and Iowa. “We have together, support the kids and all that,” but he continued to lead a tri-state trombone section, for example,” he said. “They get the Rochester Symphony. along just fine together.” He thought about taking a shot at the big leagues in the mid-1980s; he completed his doctorate in conducting at Yale, which opened doors to top academic jobs. He also had an agent who found guest-conducting work for him all over the country. Forty years in charge of anything is an accomplishment, but “I would conduct this orchestra in upstate New York and that in the music world it’s exceedingly rare. Eugene Ormandy was orchestra in California and that orchestra in Alabama, and it was music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra for 44 years. James kind of fun,” he said. “But my kids were growing and I wanted Levine ruled the Metropolitan Opera orchestra for 41 years -- too to give them more attention, so after nine years I parted comlong, as it turned out -- and Zubin Mehta has conducted the pany with the agent, stopped traveling so much and decided to focus here. We just really liked it here.” Israel Philharmonic for more than half the country’s history.

The maestro’s bucket list

Jay Furst is a Rochester journalist and music critic. He reviews Minnesota Opera productions for Opera News magazine.

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Photographing SoMinn:

The rewards of

Red Wing

Photos and text by Elizabeth Nida Obert www.nidaphoto.com elizabeth@nidaphoto.com

he Big Turn Music Festival in Red Wing literally sounded too good to be true: “209 bands. 23 venues. Two days of exploration.” Feb. 22 was balmy by Minnesota winter standards and the perfect day for my husband and me to roam the charming riverside town and float in and out of coffee shops, churches, legions and restaurants to listen to a range of music. Favorites included the artistic SYM1; talented Turn! Turn! Turn! and energetic Under the Pavilion. We stopped not once, but twice, to snack on savory street tacos at La Mexicana Market & Restaurant. We indulged in baked goods from the popular Hanisch Bakery and Coffee Shop. We walked along the Mississippi River backwaters near the old train depot and admired the towering grain elevators as we discussed the historical significance of Red Wing as a shipping port. We rummaged at Jump the Broom Wedding Consignment. Our adventures in Red Wing have been dozens through the years and seasons. They include hikes at Barn Bluff; stays at the St. James Hotel; coconut cream pie at Stockholm Pie’s Pie Plate Café and tiny turtles that crossed our path and blessed our day. SMS Freelance writer and photographer Elizabeth Nida Obert, a former newspaper staff photographer for 18 years, has degrees in both and is passionate about telling stories in words and pictures. She thrives on travel and adventure and is always looking forward to where the next open road – or door – will lead.

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BIG FUN. BIG TALENT.

BIG 9 MUSIC FESTIVAL Amanda Kaus

Q&A

with Music Instructors Century HS, Owatonna HS Story by PAT GARRY Contributing Writer

ne of the longest standing and most impressive music events in southern Minnesota belongs to some of the regionâ€™s youngest performers. The 88th annual Big Nine Music Festival is Friday, May 1, at Rochester Century High School. It is a spectacle of top-performing choirs, bands and orchestras of the Big 9 schools. Top musicians are chosen from each school, to prepare special music for the select orchestra, select choir and select band performances. The festival brings over 2,000 student musicians together to perform for each other and clinicians and to showcase the musical talents of the students in the Big Nine Conference. The 12 schools in the Big Nine Conference include Albert Lea, Austin, Faribault, Mankato West and East, Northfield, Owatonna,

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Red Wing, Winona, and Mayo, John Marshall and Century, all from Rochester.

Q&A with Amanda Kaus Century Band Director/Century HS Approximately how many of your band student performers gather for the festival, throughout the day? AK: The festival brings together one representative band (orchestra and choir) from each school. Symphonic Winds is the ensemble representing Century and is comprised of 61 students. What time do band performances get underway, on the day of event? AK: Performances begin at 8:15 a.m. and continue every

interactions across the conference in the athletic setting, and the music festival allows students to hear concert ensembles and witness the variety of programs and musical selections within the context of a supportive, encouraging environment.

Q&A with Sandra L. Justice Orchestra Director/ Owatonna HS

30 minutes throughout the day, with a lunch break. Bands will be performing in the Century Auditorium, Orchestra in the Century Gymnasium, and Choirs at Redeemer Lutheran Church. The Grand Finale Concert takes place at 7:30 p.m. in the Century Gymnasium.

What does this event mean for your school, its music program, and the community? SJ: This event means dedication, persistence, and pride for our school, music programs, and community. For the Owatonna music department, excellence is the expectation of all of our ensembles, and we pride ourselves in the quality of musicians

that we produce not only at this festival, but at every performance we give throughout the year. What is your opinion/observation of what this experience means to the students, i.e. comments you might have heard from some of the performers, etc.? SJ: This day really opens students’ eyes as to what the musical offerings of the Big 9 Conference are. We are familiar with the athletic programs due to our competitions, but this day is really about embracing what role music plays within our conference. The students enjoy listening to other schools perform and have a mutual understanding of the work and effort put in. It is an opportunity to support one another in a non-competitive environment and really cheer on the successes each group has to offer. As a past participant in the Big 9 Festival, I can tell you that I routinely talked about this festival throughout my time teaching in Missouri and Texas. It is a gem of a festival and is a great opportunity for our communities to gather for a day of sharing the gift of music. The legacy that has been created of students who have participated spans multiple generations. It is a true honor to continue this great festival. The educational benefits and comradery created through performances at Big 9 is unique and unrivaled.

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What does this event mean for your school, its music program, and the community? AK: This will be the 88th Annual Big 9 Music Festival and is the oldest high school conference music festival in the country. For many, it is the highlight of the musical year and something we work toward throughout the year. It is a source of pride to continually bring together ensembles from all the conference schools and feature the hard work and musicianship of our school ensembles. Please give me names of guest clinicians that will be on site. AK: Band – Andrew Mast, Lawrence University; Choir – Timothy Sawyer, University of Northwestern, St. Paul; Orchestra – David Kozamchak, University of Northwestern, St. Paul. What is your opinion/observation of what this experience means to the students? AK: I think the festival is a unique experience for students, as it provides them both an opportunity to share their music with others beyond our own school and community, as well as experience performances from other members of the conference. Students are familiar with the

Sandra Justice

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Q&A with Robyn Watts Orchestra Director/Century HS Approximately how many of your orchestra student performers gather for the festival, throughout the day? RW: There are 38 students in Symphonic Strings that will perform at Big Nine. What does this event mean for your school, its music program, and the community? RW: Gathering all the schools in our conference together to celebrate our love of music is a wonderful opportunity we are all honored to take part in. There is joy and beauty in creating music, and this is a time when we are able to enjoy the hard work and dedication all of our students have put in. We are able to take all we’ve learned in the classroom and apply it to a performance experience in an uplifting and supportive environment. Hosting this experience is a lot of work, but will be worth the time and effort. This event is open to the community to come and observe part or all of the day. As we see more and more need in our society for improved social/emotional skills, music can help students and audiences alike to tune into this often-neglected area of our lives. In order to create music, not just notes on a page, students need to be dialed into the emotional feel of the pieces they play. They need to be able to express to their audience the “story” that unfolds during this one moment in time that we create this piece of music together. What is your opinion/observation of what this experience means to the students, i.e. comments you might have

heard from some of the performers, etc.? RW: Students very much enjoy this day. It’s a chance to celebrate their hard work behind closed rehearsal doors. Century students are especially proud to be hosting this year. They enjoy the

40th Anniversary Celebration Saturday, April 25

opportunity to perform for other schools and hear the other schools as well. The feedback from the adjudicator serves to encourage and motivate them. It’s one thing for their teacher to say “well done”, it’s another to hear it from an objective adjudicator. SMS

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From rural Minnesota to Nashville,

Luke Simonson

Story by AUDREY KLETSCHER HELBLING Contributing Writer

t 26, southern Minnesota native Luke Simonson already holds an impressive resume as a professional musician now living in Nashville. He’s worked with Sony, Disney, Nintendo, Netflix, Facebook … He’s recorded for video games, movie soundtracks (including Harriet), theme parks, albums, TV series and more. He’s performed with orchestras. All on the oboe, his instrument of choice, although he can also play the English horn, clarinet, flute, saxophone and piano. Simonson is inherently modest about his accomplishments as a freelance and session musician, who also supports himself by teaching oboe and handcrafting reeds. We caught up with him via email and phone to learn more about his background, his experiences and what drives him. He loves the challenge of going into a job without seeing the music prior, of knowing he will need to tap into his sight-reading, recognition of style, genre flexibility and ability to play well with the metronome skills to succeed. And he has succeeded, a progression which began while attending Faribault High School. Before graduating in 2012, he’d already performed with the Mankato Symphony Orchestra and achieved other musical recognition. While at St. Olaf College, he toured nationally and internationally with the band and orchestra. Following grad school, he moved to Nashville, where he continues to grow his career. “I love the mystery of not knowing what the next project will be,” Simonson says, adding that he’s particularly excited about connecting his pas-

finds his path in music

sion for video games with his work as a professional musician. Among his growing list of video game credits are Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Madden NFL 20. If Simonson’s vague about some of his projects, it’s unintentional. Confidentiality agreements, and the fact that even he’s sometimes kept in the dark, keep him from publicly divulging details. But he knows this. He loves his work. He loves Nashville.

And his talent, experiences and connections are opening doors for him in the music world. Let’s start with your early interest in music, when you were growing up on a farm between Faribault and Morristown. Tell me about your introduction to music and whether your mom, Nancy, a music and piano teacher, played a part in developing

your musical interests and talents. You were quite involved in music while at Faribault High School, too. How did you grow your skills during that time? I was never really introduced to music, as it was always a part of growing up at home. I guess I just

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St. Olaf Orchestra

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Greyhound sor, Richard Killmer. He suggested I move to Los Angeles, and I was almost set on it. I auditioned at the Colburn School of Music in hopes of earning a performance certificate while freelancing in the area. Unfortunately, I was not allowed in and I decided to move back home to Minnesota. About four months after graduating, I got a call from Mr. Killmer that one of his colleagues was retiring from freelancing as a session musician in Nashville. I contacted him and got connected to some of the contractors down here. They called me for a couple gigs and I finally decided to make the move on December 27, 2018.

CONTINUED from page 15 naturally absorbed it, as my mother taught piano, the older of my two sisters played trombone, and my older brother and my other sister played piano. I wanted to learn piano, but my mom was always so busy teaching other students that, by the end of the day, she didn’t have time to teach me. While I was at Faribault High School, I was awarded a grant to take private oboe lessons outside of school. I found a teacher in Mankato and studied with her for four years. She helped me develop my skills, which helped me get into Minnesota All-state Band and Orchestra. I remember hearing you play oboe during worship services at Trinity Church. Why pick the oboe? What other instruments, if any, did you try before settling on the oboe? How would you describe the sound of this woodwind instrument? It’s a funny story about how I picked the oboe. I started playing alto saxophone in my fifth grade band and, within my first year of playing, was invited to join the high school jazz band. After deciding that saxophone was too boring, I started looking for something else. My mom had a book about orchestra checked out from the library and I thought the bassoon looked pretty interesting. My school didn’t have a bassoon, so I was handed the oboe, and it just kinda stuck. I would describe the sound of the oboe as the most vocal of all the woodwinds. The double reed which I play on works extremely similarly to how human vocal cords work and it produces a sweet, yet poignant sound. By the time you graduated FHS, you clearly knew you wanted a career in music. You got your undergrad degree in music theory and composition from St. Olaf and performed as

the principal oboist of the St. Olaf Orchestra. You went on to earn a Master of Music in oboe performance and literature from the prestigious Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y. What influenced your decision to become a professional oboist and was that always your specific career path? What memorable moments or experiences from college reaffirmed your career choice? At the end of my sophomore year, I participated in a music composition internship at St. Olaf. My job for the summer was to write a piece commemorating the 125th anniversary of the St. Olaf Band. I found that time to be very stressful, demanding and unfulfilling. After that summer, I began looking for other career paths. I remember my oboe teacher at that time, Dana Maeda, thought I could do a performance degree. During my junior year, the Bergen Wind Quintet visited St. Olaf from Norway. I played for their oboist and he encouraged me to pursue oboe performance. So that year, I started taking double the amount of lessons and worked diligently to get into graduate school. Now you’re in Nashville. When did you arrive there? What prompted your move from small town Minnesota to “The City Built on Music?” When I was in grad school, I had the opportunity of playing in a couple recording sessions for the students in the film industry degree. I was close to graduating and had taken some orchestra auditions and didn’t really know if that was the route I wanted to take. I really enjoyed recording and brought that to the attention of my profes-

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You’re currently working as a freelance and session musician and have some pretty impressive credits already in film (e.g. Oscarnominated Harriet), TV, the video game industry (e.g. Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and Madden NFL 20) and elsewhere. As someone fairly new to the music scene, how did you land those opportunities? Which accomplishments stand out for you as professional highlights and why? In any sort of freelance work, someone takes a chance hiring you. If you perform well, they’ll want to hire you again and might give your name to other contractors. I guess the moment that solidified my place with one contractor was when I recorded a solo part for some emotional scenes in an upcoming film (Simonson can’t say which). The clients said to me that they were crying in the booth, and afterward the contractor said to me that I’d be hearing from him more. So that moment stands out particularly. You performed with Mannheim Steamroller during their 2019 Christmas tour stop in Nashville at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center. I want to hear all about that experience—from how you were selected, specifics on your part in the show and how it felt to play with the top Christmas music artist of all time. When I was recording for Jurassic World Live Tour, we had a pretty large orchestra and seating was tight. I sat next to a trombonist, who is also a contractor, and he must have liked my playing because he hired me for Mannheim Steamroller’s Nashville performance. We only had one rehearsal the day of, and we all had headsets with a count-

off, metronome and full soundtrack. At times it was difficult to tell what was actually being performed versus what was just in my headphones. It was a fun experience overall and I’m grateful my family could come and see me perform. What’s next? I hear you may be part of a Tom Hanks’ film. True? Let’s hear details. That is true. I did some overdub work for the movie (Greyhound) that is coming out this May. Overdubbing is when you record separately over other pre-recorded tracks. It’s a technique used so that the individual volume levels can be adjusted independently. What’s next? I find it exciting that I never really know due to the nature of the job. Session musicians almost never know what projects we get called for until we show up. We don’t get to see the music in advance and only get a few times to sight-read it perfectly. It seems high pressure, and sometimes it is, but I really enjoy it.

We haven’t talked about your crafting reeds for oboes and English horns. That started with a reed-making class at St. Olaf and now you’ve developed this into a business, Lone Pine Reeds (named after your childhood farm.) Why do this, too? What makes your reeds different from any other reeds on the market? I’m constantly making reeds for myself to play, so I decided, as many oboists do, to sell my reeds for some extra profit. Many beginning oboists buy handmade reeds, and part of the journey is finding a reedmaker that makes reeds that work well for you. My reeds tend to have a little more cane toward the back of the tip, which lends to a richer tone, but can be more difficult to balance response. In addition to all this, you teach oboe to students, both as an adjunct professor at Lipscomb University and in a private studio. Why teach? I’ve been teaching for about seven years now, and I’m passionate about it. I figure if I have an understanding of how to perform well, hopefully I can impart that knowledge to others that are willing and eager to learn from me. Now that you’ve been in Nashville for awhile, what’s your take on “Music City?”

EXHIBITION

AUDITIONS AUDITION Purple Door Youth Theater

THEATER

Madden 20 and Jurassic World Live Tour Do you see yourself staying there for awhile or moving back to Minnesota or elsewhere? What’s your long-term goal? What drives you in your music? I’m perfectly content here in Nashville. I feel like the freelance work here suits my skill set very well, and I hope to be here for a long time. You can’t beat the hot chicken either! What advice can you offer to a young person considering a music career? Work hard, practice with intention.

It’s sometimes hard to balance, as I could spend anytime at home making reeds or practicing. Often I go for runs outside, play video games and, more recently, read books. Because I am a pet lover, usually once a week I go on “doggie dates” where I take a dog out of my local shelter for a few hours to help them decompress. I’ve also started training my cat to do basic commands like sit, down, stay, paw and off. When I’m practicing, he usually swiftly exits the room. I tend to practice right before his meal time, so once he hears me stop playing and start to put my instrument away, he’s meowing his head off begging for food.

I want to touch on your interests outside of music. How do you balance your busy professional life with a personal life? What do you do for fun? I’m also wondering about your cat, Gus. How does he react to your oboe playing? I mean, is he supportive or does he run and hide under the bed?

If there’s anything else you’d like to share, please do. And congratulations on your successes thus far. Thank you for taking the time to interview me and learn a little more about what I do. SMS

Luke Simonson Film & TV Credits:

Jurassic World Live Tour Super Nintendo World recorded music for this new theme park opening in Japan Mannheim Steamroller 2019 Christmas show in Nashville - played and performed multiple oboe solos Facebook Sound Collection Voctave Symphony Series (album)

Harriet Greyhound (Tom Hanks’ film releasing in May) Saint Seiya: Knights of the Zodiac Other unnamed Netflix and Disney Plus series

ReadySet Heroes Lost Words: Beyond the Page ShadowVerse Destiny 2: Shadowkeep Star Wars: Battlefront II Marvel Spider-Man The Mean Greens Lineage Citadel Forger with Fire

Video games: Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order Madden NFL 20

Other recent musical projects/ experiences:

Dollywood Wildwood Grove - recorded music for Dolly Parton’s Tennessee theme park Remnants (album by Austin Wintory) Los Angeles Anime Expo Gateway Chamber Orchestra, Clarksville, TN., Nutcracker Suite Tennessee Philharmonic Orchestra

EXHIBITION

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A VISIT WITH SOME SOMINN ARTISTS

Q&A with Barbara Kinnick,

Story by PAT GARRY Contributing Writer

Mixed-Media Artist riginally self-termed “collage artist” Barbara Kinnick has since transitioned into a “mixed media” artist, using numerous art materials and practices within the same creations. A Southeastern Minnesota Visual Artists (SEMVA) member, Barbara enjoys the process of getting an idea for a piece, thinking of the colors she wants to use, and digging through boxes of scrap papers, fibers, small objects or fabrics.

“I find deep satisfaction in creating and “painting” with paper. Whether showing a playful or more serious story, I hope my work brings joy and pleasure to the viewer.”— B. Kinnick

make things with my hands--painting, knitting, drawing, sewing, playing piano etc. I love to create things with my hands. My father did not allow me to study art, so I went to nursing school instead. But the art and music has always been there. I took classes and continued making things as I could while raising a family. When my children reached adulthood, I was able to devote more time to making art. I have always loved art and just naturally drew and painted growing up, but pursued nursing as a profession. What is your artistic medium of choice and why that medium? BK: I work in mixed media because that’s what works for me. I use mostly papers and fabrics to create my images, but also may include ink, pastels, watercolor and found objects in my pieces.

Can you give me a little background, and do you work at a job other than your art profession? BK: I grew up in Michigan, and I am a retired piano teacher and RN.

What inspires you to create your material? BK: I am inspired by color, texture, nature, and ideas that come to me. I love to work with my hands. My process is very messy, and so is my work area!

Tell me about the first time you knew you wanted to become an artist. BK: For as long as I can remember, I have been compelled to draw and to

What kind of creative patterns, routines or rituals do you have? BK: I am involved with several projects and groups outside of art, and

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also run the household, so I am not able to work on art every day. I do not have a regular routine, but I try to get to my studio 2-3 times a week.

Q&A with Alan Wiltgen,

How do you deal with low-creativity times? BK: When I get stuck on a problem, I put that piece aside and move on to another work in progress. I usually have at least two going at the same time, often more just for that reason. I find I need a reason to get myself into the studio, and so I show my work and enter special art projects that will motivate me to create. For example, right now I am in a group project creating art to educate the public about the MN Driftless Area and the ecological importance of it.

Alan covers his anxiety with paint and hangs it on the wall. For him, painting is healing. Wiltgen says that it’s the most honest way to bring his feelings inside-out.

Where do you sell your work? BK: I am a member of SEMVA Art Gallery in downtown Rochester-an artists’ coop, and I show and work there. I also have a website and a business Facebook page for my images. www.barbarakinnick. com What’s the best advice you ever received about your passion? BK: The best advice I ever heard regarding making art is to just get in the studio and get busy-like any other job! It works, and so do things like deadlines and prompts for creating, and I use those tools as well. Professionally speaking, what is your goal? BK: My goal is simply to create because I love to make things, and I hope it brings some joy to those who see it.

acrylic paint-on-stretched-canvas artist

“I treat painting as a form of communication. When I am finished with a painting, I feel a new release and understanding of why that feeling existed in the first place. This process cultivates compassion to one’s self. And once we find compassion in the mirror, it becomes easier to find it in another being.” — A. Wiltgen

Can you give me a little background, and do you work at a job other than your art profession? AW: I grew up in Harmony, MN and graduated from Fillmore Central High School. I moved to Rochester, MN to get my associates degree at RCTC. In Rochester I acted in many community theatre productions at RCTC and The Rochester Civic Theatre. I then moved to Minneapolis to pursue a career in theatre. I got a

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job at Brave New Workshop Comedy Theatre and was assistant manager there for 6 years. I would say it wasn’t until 4 years ago that I picked up a brush and decided this is the path I wanted to go down and further pursue. Currently, I work part-time at Two Bettys Green Cleaning Company, as a house cleaner. They actually employ several artists in all types of art forms. They do a great job supporting artists by paying a living wage and respecting artists’ time/schedules. Tell me about the first time you knew you wanted to become an artist. AW: Well I have been doodling and creating things ever since I could pick up a pen. I have enjoyed creating in just about every art form. But I would say it wasn’t until 4 years ago that I really knew I wanted to be a visual artist in a professional way. I was going through a rough break-up at the time and needed to do something to get through it. Art has always been therapy for me. I had always been interested in painting, although I hadn’t really ever had much formal training in it. I just decided at that time that I needed to do this. So I bought a bunch of painting supplies and canvas, turned a small spare bedroom into a studio and just started to paint. I fell in love with it; in a way that I hadn’t loved any other art form. It was an addiction. It soon felt odd to have multiple days pass without painting. The more hours I put into painting and the more that I learned, the more I realized this was what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. What is your artistic medium of choice and why that medium? AW: Acrylic paint on stretched canvas. I use acrylic because I can work fast. I like to get my paintings out start-to-finish in one sitting. Acrylic dries fast enough to allow me to layer colors and textures while still moving at my desired pace. For me moving fast allows me to capture what is coming through in that specific moment. What inspires you to create your material? AW: Life. I use painting to help release past traumas, capture current emotions, and understand difficult questions. The way I paint is the way I eventually aspire to do everything; and have a complete trust and understanding with each moment. In my paintings there are no mistakes and no plans. I sit down to a blank canvas and I know in 4 to 6 hours something unique will show itself to me. I just have to get out of my own way and let the creativity appear on the canvas. What kind of creative patterns, routines or rituals do you have? AW: Usually I paint at night. I start with being totally accepting. The background layer of my paintings are always improvised, abstract paintings. During this part of my process, I use music and dance to help guide my brush. After I have the background layer down, I squirt a blob of white paint over the top of the abstract background. I move the blob around until I see a form. It’s almost like carving out a figure. The figure will show itself to me. The physical form of the character then informs me on a narrative of the painting. For example, if the character’s arms are close together in the air while standing straight up, maybe I think this character is fishing. Then I go from there to build the narrative of the painting. The most important part is finding the character from the blob of paint. That is the part that often feels like pure magic. But after I have the background layer set, the character fully formed, the setting and nar-

rative of the painting complete; then I basically sketch out the edge of everything with black paint. The black paint makes everything in the painting really pop. How do you deal with low-creativity times? AW: I think being inspired is important. If I am feeling stuck and sluggish, I will look at my favorite artists’ works. My artwork is heavily influenced by German Expressionism and Cartoons. So when I’m feeling not so creative, I just look at paintings by Max Beckmann and Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. Or I will watch my favorite cartoons like Ren and Stimpy and Rocko’s Modern Life. Where do you sell your work? AW: Currently, you can see all my work on Instagram @alwilt and my website alwilt.com. You can contact me through my website for commissions or browse and buy original work there. What is your favorite thing you’ve ever created? AW: I think the entire painting process I have…is the favorite thing I ever created. It has taken 4 years and continues to grow and expand. It is something that I have been successfully able to share with other people; people that don’t even consider themselves artists. It is just so therapeutic and fun, that I think it could be beneficial to a lot of people. What, in your opinion, is the hardest step in creating a masterpiece? AW: I think letting go of expectations. I never think “I am going to create a masterpiece”-Well I probably think it, but try to quickly let that thought pass, and move on. It’s about allowing the process to be the result. I get the most joy from painting, not selling the painting, or posting the painting, or seeing the painting in a gallery. I love creating, and the only way to keep creating in the volume that I create, is to just let go of any expectations or self-judgments. Do you have any interesting anecdotes about an experience involving your artwork? AW: I sign my paintings with my initials, AW. I sign them in a special way that is in every painting I have ever made, which at this point is over 400 paintings. I thought when I started, this was a cool, unique signature that I created. Unfortunately, my brother informed me a couple of years into my painting, that I stole this signature from him. He has the same initials as I, and sure enough, as I looked back at his artwork from high school, he had the same signature. Thankfully, he let me keep this signature as my trademark. I like to think we collaborated on its creation :P. What is the best advice you ever had about how to be more creative? AW: Just start - whatever it is. If you love dance, just start dancing. If you love writing, just start writing. If you love art, just start arting. Stop thinking you can’t make art because you can. You

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certainly did as a kid. You picked up a crayon, with no idea what you were making, and when you were done, you had something that came from pure curiosity and creativity. All I do when I paint is tap back into the space, we all used to live in as kids. You are the only artist who can make your art. And I believe so strongly that we are all artists. Professionally speaking, what is your goal? AW: To relentlessly keep painting. My goal is to keep following my creative spark and curious nature. I want to collaborate with other artists of all mediums. And I would love to share/teach my process with as many people who want to learn it.

Q&A with Larry Ricker, Nature Photographer Larry’s work has appeared in Canoe & Kayak, The Boundary Waters Journal, Canoeroots and Sports Illustrated magazines; in addition, his material has been featured in several camping, canoeing and Boundary Waters-related books.

“Whether canoeing, hiking, camping, or snowshoeing, I enjoy being out in nature, preferably under my own power. I particu-

larly enjoy being in wild areas of northern Minnesota. Traveling as I do, allows me to experience beautiful areas that few people visit. I photograph to preserve my memories of these special places, and I love sharing the beauty with others – through my photos.” — L. Ricker

Where do you sell your work? LR: My work is in the SEMVA (Southeastern Minnesota Visual Artists) Gallery. During the summer, some of my work is in “The Cabin”, a gift shop in Ely, MN. I also participate in a handful of art shows throughout the year. My work can also be found online at Fine Art America/Pixels (https://larry-ricker.pixels.com/). I’m also in the process of increasing my online presence with my own websites: https://lhrimages.online and https://lhrimages.photography.

Can you give me a little background, and do you work at a job other than your art profession? LR: I am a retired IBM electrical engineer; and a mostly self-taught nature photographer. I learned the art through books, magazines and the occasional community education classes and seminars.

What is your favorite thing you’ve ever created? LR: This is a super tough question to answer. I have many favorites, but it’s very hard to pick just one. I guess one of those favorites is a photo I made during an October Boundary Waters trip a few years ago. We had an awesome, foggy morning, with the rising sun turning everything an awesome orange. My trip partner paddled out on the lake to collect water. I captured an image of him, silhouetted by the sun and surrounded by wisps of fog.

Tell me about the first time you knew you wanted to become an artist. LR: Growing up, I loved the photos in National Geographic and similar magazines. It was always a dream to become just like the photographers featured there. What inspires you to create your material? LR: Simply put, Nature inspires me. I love being out and about in natural settings; camping, canoeing, hiking, etc. Whenever I’m out, I find inspiration in the beauty of the natural world. How do you deal with low-creativity times? LR: I try not to stress about it, knowing that something will come along to trigger the creativity. I’m never under any particular stress to produce.

What, in your opinion, is the hardest step in creating a masterpiece? LR: For a photographer, it’s difficult to get all the required elements to come together at once... subject, lighting, background, foreground. While it’s possible to control some of the elements, there are others that simply can’t be controlled. You just have to be watching and waiting for those elements to come together.

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Through a SoMinn Lens:

Beyond simply a

sign

TOP: Sandwich board sign outside Belview Bar & Grill. ABOVE: Roadside sign in Wadena, MN. Bakery sign in Cannon Falls, MN.

Sign, sign, everywhere a sign… Sleepy Eye, MN, sign on former theater.

Crosby, MN, Iron Range Eatery sign.

Photos and text by Audrey Kletscher Helbling www.mnprairieroots.com audrey@mnprairieroots.com

hose lyrics from “Signs,” released by the Five Man Electrical Band in 1971, repeat in my head, an earworm connecting to my visual appreciation of signs. I collect signs with my camera, drawn to the unique, and often vintage, signs found in small town Minnesota. In places like Sleepy Eye, boasting an especially eclectic collection in the downtown. But you will find memorable signs everywhere, if you simply look. Their purposes are primarily to identify a business, promote a message and/or provide direction. Yet, I see beyond the practical aspects to the art—fonts and colors and graphics. I appreciate, too, the age of signs, preferring those

Ag sign in Rice County Historical Society collection.

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that have been around for awhile, that are anything but modern nondescript cookie cutter. Like an old beer sign. Or a custom-made sign. Or signs that speak to a strong sense of place. You can learn a lot about a community by studying its signs. Five Man Electrical Band members may have blasted signs as blockin’ out the scenery in lyrics that focus on signs controlling behavior. But I welcome signage (when not overdone and not offensive), as part of the scenery, as part of the fabric and history and stories of our communities. SMS

On her travels through Minnesota, Faribault writer and photographer Audrey Kletscher Helbling looks for signs to add to her photo collection like these photographed in recent years. She encourages you to do the same, to appreciate small town Main Streets and the visual delights and surprises they offer. Find more of her work on her blog, https://mnprairieroots.com.

Nordic Lounge sign in Ulen.

Hammâ€™s beer sign close-up, downtown Waseca.

Sleepy Eye, MN, bar & signage.

Crosby, MN, sign on brewery.

Sign near Pierz, MN.

Crosby, MN, Skogmos sign.

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MORE PHOTOS page 24 | APRIL 2020

TOP: Sleepy Eye, MN, stained glass sign. ABOVE: Sleepy Eye, MN, signs on side of downtown building.

Sign collection at Rice County Historical Society, Faribault.

Schmidt beer sign in Hendrum, MN.

St. Thomas, MN, sign on former bar.

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Sign on bar in Randall, MN.

Sign at Treasure City in Royalton, MN.

THE Calendar Compiled By Anne Kopas editor@southernminnscene.com Luverne. The expo features around 40 local businesses offering deals on a little bit of everything. Throughout the day, attend seminars on a variety of topics like cooking, furniture, beauty and gardening. Stick around to win one of many gift card drawings and expo cash giveaways throughout the day. In addition to food and beverage tastings, you’ll also want to come early for the free brunch (served while supplies last). It’s a day to celebrate womanhood with friends and family—and maybe meet new friends while you’re at it. Plus, admission is free.

performance follows the story of two siblings journeying through a surreal land of air, where ordinary objects take on a life of their own. Fabrics dance, balloons drift through the sky, giant silks float over the audience, and confetti turns into the night sky. It’s at once an homage to the power of air and breath and a nod to the whimsy and poetry of childhood. Merging circus and street theater with sculpture, this is one show sure to enthrall both children and adults as they laugh and gasp in wonder. sheldontheatre.org/event/air-play

luverneevents.com

Rochester International Film Festival

Hops for Habitat 3-7 p.m. April 4 Four Seasons Centre, Owatonna

Imagination Celebration 10 a.m.-2 p.m. April 4 Northfield Arts Guild, Northfield Head to Northfield for a Saturday packed full of art of all kinds. This long-running event always draws a crowd at the Guild as families enjoy the area’s all-school art show, an exhibition of work by Northfield’s K-12 students, with tours led by art educators. Stick around for performances in the dance studio, demonstrations and try-it activities in the clay studio, and a day of open art making for all ages (stay tuned for a more detailed schedule of performances and listing of artmaking opportunities). Get your creativity on to celebrate all things art in this not-to-be-missed annual party! northfieldartsguild.org

Drink beer, build houses! The third annual Hops for Habitat event aims to raise money for Habitat for Humanity homes in Steele and Waseca counties. Tickets get you an afternoon of beer and cider tasting; so far, confirmed breweries from around the area include Tanzenwald Brewing Company, Blacklist Brewing, Castle Danger Brewery, Bent Paddle Brewing, Mankato Brewery and many more. VIP ticket holders will have access to an exclusive wine pour from Vintage Escapes Winery. Again this year, country singer Travis Thamert will provide musical entertainment throughout the event. Bring your friends to support the cause and taste some new beers. tworivershabitat.org/hops-for-habitat

Love the Ladies Expo 9 a.m.-4 p.m. April 4 Grand Prairie Events, Luverne Grab your girlfriends for this women-oriented expo event in

April 17-25, Marcus Rochester Cinema, Rochester Each year, the Rochester International Film Group brings southern Minnesota the best in films that aren’t part of the regular commercial theater circuit. Experience the latest in both international cinema and Minnesota-made films and documentaries. For those interested in learning what goes on behind the scenes, the RIFG will host a series of filmmaker panels after selected screenings. Last year’s lineup included nearly 30 films, including a few family-friendly movies—come for just one or two, or try to watch as many as you can! Check the website for an updated film schedule. rifg.org

A Starry Night: 2nd Annual Night to Prevent Child Abuse 6-11 p.m. April 18 The Inn at Shattuck-St. Mary’s, Faribault Here’s your opportunity to get a prom do-over and support a worthy cause at the same time! Enjoy an evening of dinner, dancing, a silent/live auction, photo booth and music. Things kick off with a grand march and social hour before dinner, along with a presentation. Later, local band Culture Bend will take to the stage so you can dance the night away. Dress as formal or casual as you’d like; whether you come with a date, group or alone, you’ll be sure to make friends. Ticket proceeds support the Exchange Club Center for Family Unity, an organization that provides education and outreach to prevent child abuse in several southern Minnesota counties.

Air Play

centerforfamilyunitymn.com/night-to-prevent-child-abuse

April 17-18, Sheldon Theatre, Red Wing Part circus, part play, all musical, magical adventure. This unique

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Jazz from Broadway 7:30 p.m. April 18 Christ United Methodist Church, Rochester The Rochester Chamber Music Society’s annual jazz concert features a variety of Broadway showtunes. Led by the society’s Jazz Quintet and Minneapolis pianist Steve Gilbertson, musicians will perform music originally composed for Broadway musicals, now reinterpreted with a jazz twist for woodwinds and a rhythm section. You’ll also experience an early performance of a newly composed jazz suite by Robert S. P. Gardner, titled “3Mornings.” For more than a decade, all RCMS performances have been free in order to bring the best of the region’s chamber music to as wide an audience as possible throughout southern Minnesota.

along with TedX and other national stages. Don’t miss this innovative performance as it passes through southern Minnesota! chatfieldarts.org/performances problem by seceding from Texas entirely, leading to a new level of chaos that will surely leave audiences rolling with laughter. actonbroadway.com/2019-20-season

rochesterchambermusic.org

Common Chords 5-7 p.m. April 21 and 7-9 p.m. April 23 Historic Paramount Theatre, Austin Sit back and enjoy two performances by some of Minnesota’s best musicians. Ensembles of Minnesota Orchestra musicians will play a variety of selections on Tuesday, April 21, accompanying a special exhibition of William Taufic’s photography project “Our Austin, Our America,” which explores the lives of local residents, whether they’re brand-new to the area or have lived here their whole lives. Come back on Thursday for an encore by the orchestra’s woodwind quartet, plus the opening of the Paramount Theatre’s new mini-museum history exhibitions. Enjoy some music and learn a little something while you’re there! Both performances are completely free; at the Tuesday concert, a cash bar will be available to Austin Area Arts members. austinareaarts.org/events

Doublewide, Texas April 23-May 2 Marion Ross Performing Arts Center, Albert Lea Grab your cowboy hat for this upcoming performance by the Albert Lea Community Theater! This community theater group, which has been putting on shows since the 1960s, will present a hilarious, fast-paced comedy set in the town of Doublewide, Texas. Residents of the state’s smallest trailer park are thrown for a loop when they learn of a plot by Tugaloo, the neighboring town, to annex them. Things quickly turn to mayhem as the residents attempt to solve the

Bluff Country Studio Art Tour April 24-26, Winona area

Poet-Artist Collaboration Reading

Enjoy a variety of art in one of Minnesota’s most scenic spots: the southeastern bluff country. There’s no set tour agenda, so take a leisurely drive and stop at the galleries of over 25 local artists at 20 studios. Get your fill of everything from ceramics, woodwork, clay, fiber, sculpture, photography, jewelry and more, with studios open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. Pick out some locally created new pieces for the home, or simply enjoy the opportunity to meet the artists and view their work. There will also be a few tour stops in northeastern Iowa, for those who want to branch out of Minnesota. Bluffcountrystudioarttour.org

5 p.m. April 24 Red Wing Arts Depot Gallery, Red Wing Each year, Red Wing Arts brings together poets and visual artists to create a chapbook and showcase works in a gallery exhibition. Join the writers, artists and art supporters for an informational reception with beverages and appetizers at the Depot Gallery before the 7 p.m. reading at the St. James Hotel overlooking the Mississippi River. After the reading, join the fun back at the Depot Gallery for the afterparty reception and celebration of local arts and literature. If you can’t make the reading but still want to check out the display, the exhibit itself will be open for viewing April 2-27. redwingarts.org/poet-artist-collaboration

Heatbox 8 p.m. April 24 Chatfield Center for the Arts, Chatfield Heatbox, known as the “One Man Entertainment System,” puts on a live music show that’s almost impossible to define by genre. The Minneapolis-based performer blends vocal percussion (beatboxing) and live looping, simulating horns, strings, musical instruments and various other sounds to create something wholly unique. A highly respected beatboxer among the hip-hop community, Heatbox has appeared on NBC’s “The Sing-Off” and “America’s Got Talent,”

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Earth Day Celebration 9 a.m.-9 p.m. April 25 Armory Square, Northfield Go green and celebrate the planet (while having fun) at Northfield’s annual Earth Day Celebration. Explore a wide variety of educational booths and family-friendly activities about climate change, recycling, clean energy, water quality, green transportation

dozen countries, from Mexico to Germany to Greece, what’s not to love? While you eat, enjoy entertainment that celebrates the world’s diverse cultures with dance performances, music and art. This free, family-friendly community event is an easy way to take a trip around the world in a single afternoon while learning more about the varied heritages of community members from Austin, Minnesota and beyond.

(we don’t blame you), know that you’re also supporting Life Mower County, an organization that provides services for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities in the area. lifemowercounty.org/tomc2019

facebook.com/TasteofNationsAustinMN

and more. There will also be food trucks and live music, as well as both outdoor and indoor games. Check back on the event’s website for more details; last year’s events also featured an evening contra dance, silent auction, Earth Day yoga, tree planting, lawn care workshops, community trash cleanup, comedy performances and demonstrations of electric vehicles. Also, you’ll have an opportunity to hear from officials on local efforts to preserve the environment. northfieldearthday.com

Taste of Nations

America: 50th Anniversary Tour 7 p.m. April 26 Mayo Clinic Eventer Center, Mankato

10th Annual Taste of Mower County 4-7 p.m. April 26 Holiday Inn Conference Center, Austin

11 a.m.-2 p.m. April 25 Austin Packer Arena, Austin Austin’s annual Taste of Nations is known for drawing a big crowd, and it’s growing every year. Now in its 11th year, it’s getting bigger and better than ever. With food samples available from over a

Enjoy a wide range of food and beverage tastings from Mower County’s best restaurant chefs and home cooks. Last year’s offerings included a little of everything: pork sandwiches, jalapeno poppers, macarons, pizza, enchiladas, Bundt cakes...the list goes on! Stick around for games, a cash bar and a range of entertainment, along with a silent and live auction. While you’re eating as much as possible

2020 marks the 50th anniversary of the classic rock favorite America. The band made its name on the Top 40 charts in the 1970s with hits like “A Horse With No Name,” “I Need You,” “Ventura Highway” and “Lonely People,” and continues to appeal to cross-generational audiences. While it’s mainly a rock band, the group is also known for dabbling in pop, folk, jazz and Latin rhythms along with former bandmate Dan Peek’s country-rock sound. Decades after the band members originally met in high school, they’re still touring with the same lyrical storytelling and internationally appealing sounds that made their name way back when. mayoclinichealthsystemeventcenter.com

ALBUM REVIEW By Daniel G. Moir editor@southernminnscene.com

ustralian CBD-influenced psychedelic favorites deliver an insightful and well-formed collection of songs based on a common subject that unites everyone. Album Grade: A-/B+

Tame Impala - The Slow Rush

There are several subjects that all writers inevitably tackle during their creative life. Many of these are quite obvious with love, loss and journeys among the most common. Eventually, just about every creative person draws their attention to the more subtle points of time. Time is the one topic that covers all the bases. Time impacts both love and loss, ultimately focusing on the very journey through time itself as a person ages. On The Slow Rush, this is where Tame Impala’s studio wunderkind multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker finds himself concerned with. The Slow Rush states its intents with the album’s first track, “One More Year.” Here, Parker finds himself physically in the same space as he was a year ago and takes a moment to reflect on what has changed, and more importantly, what perhaps has not changed. The driving standard time beat and hypnotic, repetitive groove of the song reflect both the forward progression of time as well as the singer’s observation of lack of personal change despite it. The Slow Rush benefits greatly from this type of start. Much like a retail organization might look at current year results among comparable

stores against that of the prior year, it serves as a control group for the ruminations to come. Musically, the sonic repetition perfectly matches the ambivalent viewpoint of the album’s character as they assess their situation. There is an admission that they haven’t done much over the prior year and are just fine with that. “On Track” has a mid-tempo ballad groove with lush keyboard instrumentation as Parker attempts to justify his seeming lack of personal progression in life when questioned about it. The feel created in the music is laconic and equally formless, darting unexpectedly as if to reflect the searching nature of the lyrics. Parker’s wispy high tenor voice throughout the album serves as both a counterpoint and reflection of the lyrics sung. Replete with a slinky, vibrant bassline, “Lost In Yesterday” is a fond bit of nostalgia on how bad previous situations are viewed through the rose-colored glasses of “now.” Far more than just easy romanticism, it is also an opportunity to discard the negative feelings that haunt and tend to hold people back. The drive is not to live in the past, but to learn and take all the baggage and “lose them in yesterday” as part of an effort to move into a more positive present day. Things begin to change as the album moves to its conclusion with the song “It Might Be Time.” Musically similar to Supertramp’s “The Logical Song,” the repetitive driving keyboard part is vibrant and insistent. Similarly, the lyrics also reflect a growing sense of anxiety and maturation as well. Here, the protagonist admits a growing unease and realization that maybe it is time to leave past lifestyles behind. It acknowledges the effect

time has. “You ain’t as young as you used to be.” “You ain’t as cool as you used to be.” The sensation that friends are growing up and moving on leaves behind the creeping feeling that perhaps something is missing as a result. It is a small step, but an important one. The Slow Rush is filled with surprising melodies and electronic flourishes throughout its 12 tracks. While lyrical themes are complex and well formed, The Slow Rush is also an album that you can dance to as well. A rare collection that works to be enjoyed in a variety of ways. Fittingly, the The Slow Rush closes with “One More Hour” to bookend the opening track. Here, instead of a relentless drum beat driving the piece, it is a keyboard played much like the drums in the previous “It Might Be Time.” When a drum beat does emerge, it is subdued and played with a much more relaxed feel. Here, time serves as a comfort, an opportunity to assess lessons learned from it, and most importantly, to take a proper inventory of what is ultimately important to the individual and how they want to focus on over the time left in life. A common theme perhaps, but Kevin Parker masterfully explores it to a satisfying conclusion on Tame Impala’s fourth album. One of the first remarkable albums of 2020 so far. Bottom Line: Stocked with thoughtful lyrics, solid rhythmic grooves and fresh, sprightly melodies, The Slow Rush is the first great album release of 2020.

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| APRIL 2020

SoMinn Food & Dining

Review

pat garry JOURNALIST – COPYWRITER – EDITOR – FEATURE WRITER My experience spans 19-years, and I will apply my skills to help beef-up any lifeless copy within your website, brochure, press release, catalog, etc. - patgarry@charter.net

Jac’s Bar & Grill

amie & Robin Arthur, coowners of Jac’s Bar & Grill, Chatfield, have been in their beautifully-remodeled restaurant (with a recently-added pizza kitchen) for nearly three years. The kitchen managers are Becky Irish (25 years’ experience) and David Parkhurst, whose 10-years’ experience, brings a younger taste to the table. Co-owner Jamie Arthur is the main chef. “It has always been a dream of his to own a restaurant. He takes pride in the food we put out to our customers and community. He puts his heart and soul into everything he prepares,” said Robin. The Arthur’s daughter, Brittany, is a great asset, working as a manager, a server, and a bartender. Maggie Haugstad is also instrumental in keeping the restaurant running smoothly, and she joins a staff

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of 20; who all make JAC’s a great place to eat. The Arthurs serve lunch and dinner, and they feature daily dinner specials every night of the week, after 5:00 p.m. They also provide catering services, and the venue houses a large, back room for events and parties. JAC’S boasts many signature items, like the Caprese Flatbread; which is hot, fresh, and delicious; presented on a seasoned, flatbread crust, with garlic olive oil base, mozzarella cheese, sun dried tomatoes, basil, and topped with balsamic vinaigrette. The notorious Monkey burger is a fresh, never frozen, burger patty, topped generously with bacon, swiss cheese, jalapenos, and a house-made Ranch, with secret monkey sauce. “Hands down, our crispy chicken wrap is one that everyone must try. It includes crispy chicken, bacon, lettuce, tomato, and mayo, served with a side of our signature dill dip. We wrap up the week by offering $1.00 off our wraps, every Sunday after

5 pm,” explained Robin. Other all-time favorites include boneless and bone-in wings; a plethora of sauces include BBQ, honey BBQ, bourbon BBQ, Carolina BBQ, Carolina sting, stinging honey garlic, garlic parmesan, sweet chili, teriyaki, buffalo, and monkey; or dip’ em in the house’s very own Ranch dressing, which is an absolute must have on wings, fries, wraps, and more. Aside from a friendly, knowledgeable staff, JAC’s offers delicious, fresh home-style burgers, wings, pizzas and flatbreads (freshly made), a full salad bar, craft beer selection, and service with a smile. There is something for everyone, from gluten-free options, to vegan-Beyond burgers. Occasionally, JAC’s features live entertainment and DJ/Karaoke (check out Facebook for upcoming events). “We know that many people drive by because they don’t know we are here, and that they think we are only a bar. But once they step inside, they are amazed at how cozy the place is and that we are fam-

ily orientated. They discover that we are not just a bar. We purchased old booths from the Wicked Moose when they closed, and they now have a new life in our cozy lounge seating area,” Robin said. In August, the Arthurs host a street dance for Chatfield Western Days. Additionally, JAC’s sponsors the Annual Molly-Jake Alumni Basketball Fundraiser and Jared Hammel Volleyball fundraiser events; held to raise funds for the community. JAC’s is also the place for an annual Halloween Party and New Year’s Party. “I think that extra care and love goes into what truly makes JAC’s a special place; all the way down to our cleaning ladies…each and every one puts in her own, special touch. We get to know our customers and always make sure to let them know how much we appreciate them!” exclaimed Robin. Jac’s Bar/ Grill, 129 S Main St., Chatfield (https:// www.jacsbargrill.com/home) SMS

Denelle Schimek

Cabinetry Plywood vs Particle Board

Denelle is a designer at The Design Element in the Mankato Design Center. She can help you with all your design needs from planning to product selection.

hen it comes to designing a kitchen, most people have a general idea of what they want their space to look like. As kitchen designers, we help our clients choose appliances, counter tops, layout, plumbing and electrical configurations, materials, cabinets, and even décor. While there are thousands of iterations of kitchen cabinets, be it color, finishes, wood species, and style, with a few questions from the kitchen designer, we can quickly narrow in on what type of cabinets they SPONSORED BY have in mind. The Design Element One of the most difficult 1711 Premier Drive decisions to be made is what Mankato, MN 507.345.8708 type of box construction should be used, plywood or particle board. The two materials have very different characteristics, so it’s good to become familiar with the pros and cons of each before choosing your kitchen cabinets. Each material has benefits to consider. Plywood is an engineered wood product consisting of several layers of wood veneer that are glued together. They alternate grain direction in various angles and are ‘sandwiched’ together. This is done to create a high dimensional stability that resists splitting and warping. In contrast, particle board, also known as furniture board, is made of wood fibers that are glued and pressed together. Plywood is generally thought to be the better product when building cabinets. It has superior construction longevity because it holds screws and other mechanical fasteners more efficiently. It has a slight advantage in the ability to bear weight. It weighs less than particle board which can be advantageous when hanging large cabinets. And, it is also more resistant to dents and scratches than particle board. Particle board also has its own advantages. It has great stability, doesn’t warp due to temperature fluctuations and environmental changes, and its thickness is consistent throughout the board. Most notably, it costs less than plywood. By using particle board, one can generally save between 10-15% on the cost of the cabinets. Particle board is affordable, durable, doesn’t warp, and is easy to install. Either choice for the box material does not affect the material of the door, which is chosen separately. Generally, these are the components made from solid wood – so most components you will see and touch are solid wood of the species of your choice. Either plywood or particle board can be the right decision depending on the situation. Neither material is a solid wood material, and both are considered “engineered”. The drastic climate changes in your region should be considered when choosing building materials and engineered is generally better in these environments. In frameless construction cabinetry, particle board is used for tighter joints and to resist warping and cracking. However, if inset doors are a specified design feature, this is only available utilizing plywood construction. Not sure which option is best for you? Our design professionals at The Design Element are here specifically for that reason. We sit down with you and determine the best layout and design that reflects your lifestyle. Do you know exactly what you’re looking for in your new cabinetry? The Cabinet Lab can draw and design to your specifications in several semi-custom cabinetry lines.

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| APRIL 2020

THE BOOKWORM SEZ By Terri Schlichenmeyer

Name Drop: The Really Good Celebrity Stories

I Usually Only Tell at Happy Hour

by Ross Mathews Some people collect glassware. Others collect books or sweaters or Santa statues or fancy cars or any one of a million things there are more than two of. Scientists say that, as a species, we’re hardwired to do it, even if you just collect friends. And in “Name Drop” by Ross Mathews, some of them might even be famous. From the time he was a little boy growing up in a farm community in Washington state, Mathews wanted to

have friends that were celebrities. He imagined what it would be like to hang out with them and gossip… and then it actually happened. Now, he says he hates when people “name drop,” but “honey,” he has stories... His celebrity circle started when he was an intern on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, which sent him to report on the Olympics three times, which led him to start a blog, and that’s how he became BFFs with Rosie O’Donnell. They’ve been fast friends ever since, though it was she who “made” him “sleep with a Republican.” He worked with Chelsea Handler on Chelsea Lately and because of where the show was filmed, he met and became friends with the Kardashians, who were filming

State of Play: The Old School Guide to New School Baseball

by Bill Ripken Grip the bat lightly. Elbows loose, feet comfortably apart, shoulders and hips perpendicular to the mound, hands by your shoulder, eyes on the pitcher. It’s a basic recipe for batting that every good player knows and knows how to change to fit a situation. And what else about baseball has changed? Find out in “State of Play” by Bill Ripken. There are two ways of looking at baseball: old school, and “new school.”

So says Ripken, and he thinks that while new school “things are different... they may not be as good as they once were.” We talk about baseball differently, for one, and we look at statistics that never used to exist. When Ripken’s father, Cal Sr., worked as a playermanager for the Orioles organization, he didn’t have a computer or stop-motion recall on a screen. He filled out nightly reports from memory, wrote his thoughts by hand, lived the game, played the game, even drove the bus when needed, and he knew that a win wasn’t a do-or-die goal, particularly when the season was young. He had four tenets that he called “The Ripken Way,” and the first one mandated simplicity. That, as Ripken suggests, doesn’t apply to baseball

Terri Schlichenmeyer is a book reviewer based just across the river from SoMinn in LaCrosse, WI. She can be contacted at bookwormsez@gmail.com

their reality show in the same building. The Chelsea gig also gave Mathews the opportunity to be on the sidelines when his beloved Seahawks won the Super Bowl in 2013. That was the year he also got to play celebrity matchmaker. He had a chance to meet two of the Spice Girls. He got a quick-click photo op with Celine Dion. He met Omorosa and scooped every rabid reporter on TV; he met “Liza with an OMG” and spent all night talking with Christina Aguilera. But “not every celebrity story is going to end like a fairy tale where the famous person and I end up bonding...” says Mathews. Especially when it’s Barbara Walters, Faye Dunaway, or Elizabeth Taylor… No doubt about it, “Name Drop” sure is fun. It’s got the feel of a Friday night at your bestie’s house, where the snacks on the kitchen counter are bottomless and so are the Skinny ‘Ritas, and you scream yourself hoarse in mock horror and real laughter at

the stories you’re told. It’s got the kind of gossip you want about the stars you love (or love to hate), spilled with a little snark and a charming amount of awe. It’s got an absolute (and absolutely relieving) sense that being famous sometimes doesn’t make a person act famous – although sometimes, it does. And it’s got “Rossipes” (Rossipes!) you can make to go along with your reading. Like a red-carpet walk with a broken heel, though, “Name Drop” sometimes limps. Author Ross Mathews is funny and punny, but not both simultaneously: alas, the puns are too much, too overwhelming, so feel free to groan and ignore them. The dishy tales you get in this book are way more fun; in fact, if you love boymeets-girl-celebrity tales, you’ll find that “Name Drop” is a great collection.

anymore. Take, for example, pitch framing: Ripken says those stats are not important. Improving a launch angle is something he doesn’t completely understand. He imagines tunnelling in a way that makes it make sense (and he wishes he’d cashed in by naming it years ago). WAR (Wins Above Replacement) doesn’t, as he sees it, have one cohesive definition; and automated strike zones change, depending on the hitter, thus being not calibratable. Line ups, at least for the first five players, aren’t created like they used to be. RBIs are not even the same, and Ripken says there are other terms that he can’t quite clarify. And the big question is this: are the players even using these stats? So let’s say you’re the kind of baseball fan who casually likes to listen to the game while grilling, washing the car, gardening, cleaning house, as background noise. This is not really a book for you, just so you know.

Instead, author Bill Ripken speaks to those rabid fans who think that more stats equals more science to the game of baseball even though, as he believes, these additional game bullet-points don’t enhance the way the game’s always been played, and they might even leave a fan baffled. More bafflement: when Ripken seems to sometimes contradict himself, often in the same paragraph, leaving readers to wonder if they’ve actually caught what’s been pitched or if something’s out in left field. Readers who are dedicated fillers-out of statistic booklets won’t call that a strike, however, nor will those who’ve welcomed the changes that have been made to the game itself. If that’s you, this book by a “qualified, crusty baseball man” is perfect for argument-enders or debates. If you’re not so into all that, though, “State of Play” is likely a book you’ll just bat away.

Stop Telling Women to Smile:

women, harassment becomes a part of their daily lives. Says Fazlalizadeh, men who engage androgynous women in unwanted ways “are particularly likely to harass masculine women” out of a false sense of their own masculinity; they’re also likely to harass trans women because they feel “tricked” by a trans body. Women of color receive “markedly different” harassment from white men than from men of their wanting to be seen.” Catcalls, creepy comments, own races. Pregnant women receive unwelcome unwanted compliments about her young body followed touches, as though they’re good-luck charms; and her from street to sidewalk, coming from men who Muslim women are verbally attacked for their clothing. made her feel afraid, ashamed, and definitely harassed. And who can women “go to for protection” if the The “sheer quantity” of it struck her as she got older harasser is a police officer? and in 2012, Fazlalaizadeh, a street artist, started a What can be done? movement she calls Stop Telling Women to Smile. Fazlalizadeh says that she sees hope for today’s As part of her work, she invites women to her studio children, who are raised learning not to harass – but to tell their stories as she sketches their portraits. Some beyond that, the solution “is a large question that can have many answers.” of her results are in this book – and they’re powerful. Give yourself a minute to skim through “Stop Telling The most common response to street harassment, Women to Smile,” and it may seem like the book is little she says, is anxiety, a lingering dread of what could happen – physical violence, stalking, emotional terror – more than same-but-different which, after awhile, is too whether one interacts with a harasser or not. For many homogeneous and overgeneralizing. Dig a little deeper,

Stories of Street Harassment and How We’re Taking Back Our Power

by Tatyana Fazlalizadeh Heeeeey, look over here! You look fine today, Mama, Sugar, Honey, Baby, fill-in-theblank with names you’re called by men you don’t know. Just think, Sweetie, Pretty, you were minding your business before this monkey business started. And just know, by reading “Stop Telling Women to Smile” by Tatyana Fazlalizadeh, that others deal with it, too. Like many women, Tatyana Fazlalizadeh spent her teen years in public “not

What’s Your Pronoun? Beyond He & She

by Dennis Baron (He / Him / His) Words can never hurt you. Even as a child, that last half of the retort to playground taunts never made sense to you. Of course, sticks and stones broke bones but even then, you knew that there’s no sharper weapon than a word said in anger or misunderstanding. In the new book “What’s Your Pronoun?” by Dennis Baron, you’ll see that some of those weapons go way back. Language is a funny thing. Words hurt, they sooth, and in today’s world, a “pronoun without sex is...

sexy.” We ask ourselves, and others, which ones to use as “an invitation to declare, to honor, or to reject, not just a pronoun, but a gender identity.” Generally, though, and until relatively recently, “he” was the default pronoun used by many to indicate both masculine and undeclared gender. As far back as 1792, neutral “he” was thought to be confusing, however; one writer even suggested that “one” might work better than “he” to indicate gender neutral. “They” was brought up for consideration in 1794. A century later, and with mostly men controlling law and business, “he” was firmly the pronoun of choice, and it had become politicized; when women protested that “he” clearly didn’t include them, lawmakers stated that “he” also implied “she.” Women countered that if

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“he” could hold office, then it was implied that “she” could, too, and, well, you can imagine the arguments – not to mention the injustice of three masculine pronouns (he, his, him) but just two for the feminine (she, her)! Oh, the scandal of it all! Through the decades, other words have been suggested (zie, hir, thon) to indicate gender neutral or unknown but none have seemed to stick. Many felt that there simply was no good way to signify neither male or female, or a separation of gender-neutral and nonbinary, and some bemoaned the lack of a “missing word” that was easily understandable. Says Baron, though, in sifting through the possibilities, we’ve had the word all along... Sometimes, as author Dennis Baron points out in his introduction, people today offer their preferred pronoun without being asked, so ubiquitous is the question. Still, we sometimes struggle with the right word, but in “What’s Your Pronoun?” he offers a solution of which readers may be skeptical.

Name Drop: The Really Good Celebrity Stories I Usually Only Tell at Happy Hour by Ross Mathews, c.2020, Atria Books, $26.00 / $29.99 in Canada, 225 pages.

State of Play: The Old School Guide to New School Baseball by Bill Ripken, c.2020, Diversion Books, $24.99 / Higher in Canada, 240 pages.

though, and this book opens like a flower with pages of emotion, outrageous tales, anger, unwarranted shame, and a chapter for feminist men that could spell welcome change. Dig a little deeper, though, and you might shudder. Author Tatyana Fazlalizadeh makes this book feel like a raw gallery performance, and it shouts with power but not a lot of caution. Some of the “What Women Want to Say to Street Harassers” sidebars come off as advice, and safety isn’t stressed nearly enough there. There’s strength in Fazlalizadeh’s words and they’re stand-up-and-scream inspiring, but they just need a hair more prudence. And yet: this is an invaluable book for any women’s group, it’s a great launching point for conversations with teens of any gender, and parents will absolutely want to read it. For that, for them, “Stop Telling Women to Smile” is worth a look-over. Stop Telling Women to Smile: Stories of Street Harassment and How We’re Taking Back Our Power by Tatyana Fazlalizadeh, c.2020, Seal Press, $28.00 / $35.00 in Canada, 226 pages. First, though, it’s true that this etymological history is a good read, especially for word nerds. It’s not collegelecture level; Baron writes with a lighter hand and doesn’t preach, and the occasional threads that spring from the stories here are explored appropriately and in an inviting way that displays no drudgery. It’s like sitting down at a workshop you’ve eagerly anticipated, and being more delighted than you hoped you’d be. And yet, there is such a thing as information overload, and the obvious solution isn’t so obvious. Proof is at the end of the book, in which we see more than two centuries of verbal wrangling. So: em, thon, zier, they? We haven’t heard the end of it, but maybe we’re close; certainly, reading “What’s Your Pronoun?” couldn’t hurt. What’s Your Pronoun? Beyond He & She by Dennis Baron (He / Him / His), c.2020, Liverlight, $25.95 / $34.95 in Canada, 304 pages.

4th AnnuAl BridAl Show 11am-2pm â€¢ March 22nd

Vendors, Food, Prizes, Fashion Show &

FREE CaRiCatuREs!

The first 30 brides will get a swag bag filled with goodies! Please email starfireeventcenter@wasecamac.com for vendor information.

EAStEr Brunch at the Starfire Event Center Sunday, April 12th - Seatings at 9am, 10:30am & 12pm - Crafts, Games, Face Painting & the Easter Bunny! Please call

507-461-1387

to make your reservation!

204 2nd Street SW, Waseca, MN 507.833.8756

Call for information & Reservations: 507.835.1146 After 4pm: 507.837.9848

204 2nd Street South West, Waseca, MN 507.833.4700

206 2nd Ave. SW For Reservations: 507.461.1387

204 2nd Street South West, Waseca, MN 507.833.7540

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Call for information & Reservations: 507.835.1146 After 4pm: 507.837.9848

| APRIL 2020

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