Item World 12/29: Favorite quotes of 2011

"The Office" star Rainn Wilson, who got his big break at the Guthrie Theater, returned for an onstage interview with artistic director Joe Dowling. What about a comeback for a legitimate production? "We'll keep talking," Dowling said. "And he'll keep saying 'No.'"

After canceling twice at First Avenue, British pop siren Adele landed at Xcel Energy Center. "I'm so sorry," she said, mentioning her double postponement. "I'm not very good in arenas. I get really nervous. That's why I'm only playing half the room. But I'll make it feel like First Avenue."

Chaska poet Joyce Sutphen, upon being told she would succeed Robert Bly as Minnesota's poet laureate: "Why me?"

After 34 years at WCCO-TV, crime reporter Caroline Lowe left to work in California. She reflected on her biggest stories, including the night she was on the I-94 bridge during the Republican National Convention: "A cop I knew called me the next day and said she was worried that she might have to use her baton on me. Then she asked if she could get a copy of the video."

After his band got signed to famed U.K. label Rough Trade Records, Howler singer/guitarist Jordan Gatesmith, 19, rushed to the Augsburg College admissions office and said: " 'Get me outta here!' ... It's weird being treated like some sort of rock star in England. I've never even been out of the country."

When writing his memoir "Blue Guitar Highway," singer/songwriter Paul Metsa was concerned that his tales of drugs and drink might embarrass certain parties involved. So he asked his editor: "Do you think I should be using synonyms in this book? He said: 'I think you mean pseudonyms. But you should probably be using both.'"

After years of being the state's most successful Irish pub owner, Kieran Folliard created his own Irish whiskey, 2 Gingers. At the time, business partner Peter Killen, joked that it was just Folliard being his usual busybody self. "Kieran needed a new project," Killen said. "'Cause I told him we're not opening any more pubs!" Six months later Folliard sold his pubs to Killen to go into the whiskey business full-time.

Director John Command, on the treats that actors brought to rehearsals for "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum" at the Jungle: "It's like rehearsing at a Sizzler!"

Kevin Kling, on writing a picture book about his younger brother, who has always been much bigger than he is: "We fought our whole lives, but when the world turned on us, there he was at my side. And I knew if he did to the world what he did to me, the world didn't stand a chance."

In December, Kling collaborated with composer Steve Kramer on a holiday show. Kramer said their director, Peter Rothstein, was an important element in the recipe: "When you have the two of us out there on the strong side of psychotic-A-D-D, it's good to have him there."

Ed Asner, in town for a one-man show about Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was full of spunk when Mary Tyler Moore's name came up during a cocktail party at the Fitzgerald Theater. "She's changed," he said. "She's a Republican. Last time I saw her, she said Sarah Palin was a great lady."

Promoting his memoir "See a Little Light: The Trail of Rage and Melody," rocker Bob Mould said: "Everybody should have a first band as good as Hüsker Dü. Music would be a lot better for it."

Before playing his eighth sold-out concert at Xcel Energy Center in March, country kingpin Kenny Chesney was asked if he'd ever consider playing in one of the Twin Cities' new stadiums. "I'd never say never. The Xcel Center has always been so good to us, the energy has been great. It's always felt like the place to play." Then in November, it was announced that Chesney (along with Tim McGraw) would play the first-ever concert at Target Field, scheduled for July 8.

After her book, "Heart of a Samurai," and a friend's book, "Dark Emperor and Other Poems of the Night," were both named Newbery Honor Books, Duluth writer Margi Preus posted on Facebook: "I'm kinda loopy right now! Yahoo, Duluth!"

Minnesota native Melissa Peterman remained optimistic after her sitcom was canceled. "I would have been perfectly content coming back and having a career in Minnesota, but I didn't want to be 45 and saying, 'I could have been a star.' I mean, who wants to be married to that girl -- although she can be fun during a drunken Thanksgiving."

Before heading north for his sold-out gig at the Cedar Cultural Center, Texas blues-rock-howler Black Joe Lewis recounted living in Rochester, Minn., for a year as a teenager: "I hated it. Too much snow, and there were as many rednecks up there as there are here in Texas."