On the list
This festive time of year is also the time when newspapers, magazines, radio stations, the interweb and people everywhere go a little nuts naming the best books of the year. Whatever the list, there are a few Minnesota names you're going to see over and over and over. Marlon James. Graywolf Press. Coffee House Press. James' novel "A Brief History of Seven Killings" has made the best-of lists of the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, Time magazine and Huffington Post. Graywolf is all over all these lists, too, with Eula Biss' "On Immunity," Claudia Rankine's "Citizen: An American Lyric" (also a National Book Award finalist), Jeffery Allen's "Song of the Shank," Vikram Chandra's "Geek Sublime," and Leslie Jamison's graceful and thoughtful essay collection, "The Empathy Exams." Jamison's book, a surprise bestseller, is showing up everywhere (including on the Star Tribune's notable nonfiction of 2014, the list every author wants to be on). It's also on best-of lists of the New York Times, Huffington Post, Chicago Tribune and National Public Radio. And then there's Coffee House Press, and its much-honored novel, "A Girl Is a Half-Formed Thing," by Eimear McBride. That book transcends borders: It's not just on the lists for NPR, the Times and HuffPo (and the Star Tribune), but also the Toronto Globe & Mail and the Edinburgh (Scotland) Herald. Go, flyover country, go!
LAURIE HERTZEL
The polka plays on
"Please know that until they lock the doors, we remain loyal to Nye's." So declared the members of the World's Most Dangerous Polka Band in a note on their Facebook page, following the widely decried news this week that northeast Minneapolis' famed supper club Nye's Polonaise Room will close next year and be replaced by a mixed-use high rise. Part of the bar's weekend music lineup for four decades, the polka vets carried on after the death of leader Ruth Adams in 2011, and they intend to keep playing once Nye's is gone, too (start the bidding now, other bar owners). However, the end is not imminent: They say they intend to keep playing there through next summer. Here's hoping the other weekly Nye's gigs continue, too, including St. Dominic's Trio on Tuesdays and the New Primitives on Thursdays.
CHRIS RIEMENSCHNEIDER
Remembering Mac
After playing two songs at First Avenue on Wednesday, Nick Lowe addressed what was on the minds of many music lovers: the sudden death that afternoon of Ian McLagan, the Rock Hall of Fame keyboardist who was to have been Lowe's opening act. In a graceful little speech, he acknowledged the usual challenges of the first night of a tour and thanked local harmonizers the Cactus Blossoms for filling in on short notice. (Forgive him for calling them the "Cactus Flowers.") Then Lowe talked about having "an extra burden." The former Faces piano man was "our friend and hero," he said. "To say we're reeling backstage is an understatement. But the show must go on. No one knew it better than Mac," a man who believed in the power of music and was renowned for cheering people up. "Mac, are you listening?" Lowe asked, his eyes gazing skyward. "I need your help."
Jon Bream
More than a village
For months, board chair Gordon Sprenger has used the meme that "it takes a village" to rebuild the Minnesota Orchestra. He repeated the mantra at Tuesday's upbeat annual meeting – the first since the orchestra's bitter labor dispute was settled last January — and thanked musicians, audiences, activists, board members and staff. However, in his remarks from the podium, new president Kevin Smith suggested Sprenger change his tune. "It takes an entire major metropolitan area" to rally, Smith said. Fine, said Sprenger, "You can tell Hillary Clinton that."
Graydon Royce
