UPDATE 7/15/10: Good News!  Erik’s lens was returned to him tonight!  No details given due to the anonimity offered by Mr. Hess, but regardless, we’re just glad he has his property back. Woot!

Local photographer Erik Hess was out doing what he does best last weekend, shooting rock photos at the 501.  It was here that we set the crime… a stolen camera lens. A very expensive and well-loved camera lens.  Hess is looking to recover his lens & is offering a healthy $200 reward for its return.  If you know ANYTHING, please contact Erik via the information below.

ALERT: Stolen Lens – Nikon 70-200 f/2.8 VR – Serial Number 219289

$200 Reward for information leading to the return of the lens!

If you or anyone you know has information related to the disappearance or current whereabouts of this lens please let me know. I have reason to suspect that it’s been stolen (and possibly already resold/fenced) by someone in or attached to the Twin Cities music community and I’m asking anyone with information to help me out with this. If I can get the lens back by the end of July I’m offering amnesty for anyone involved – avoiding a felony grand larceny charge for the thief or current possessor of the lens. While I’m beyond broke I’ve been able to gather $200 from myself and friends to cover a reward for information leading to the return of the lens.

Please, if you know anything give me a call or an email. I want this to be resolved without any further drama.

Thanks,
Erik Hess

me@ErikHess.com
612-276-2582
http://www.noisedamage.com

So The Last Prom on Earth came and went, and the Earth hasn’t stopped turning and Gayngs, the Midwest-indie supergroup that started as a stoned joke dropped their 69bpm album Relayted and made their improbable stage debut. It was a logistical feat to get everyone there and that was impressive in and of itself, but I’ll cop to it, I never had the chips to buy into this game (gayme?). I didn’t grow up with any awareness of yacht rock, and when I am subjected to something like 10cc or “Lady In Red”, I range between ambivalent and nauseated, I have no desire to reclaim some high-school glory-days-past prom nostalgia and I dress up pretty much whenever I goddam feel like it. With Ryan Olson and Solid Gold and Bon Iver and Megafaun and The Rosebuds and Doomtree and Maggie Morrison and Leisure Birds and Channy Moon Caselle and Michael Lewis on stage, this is what it was? Call it hayterayde if you will, but instead of the comfortable cushion of nostalgia, I would take a flawed but serious project that was personally felt from any one of those artists any day.

Yes, it was fun to see everyone else indulge their sartorial silliness and it made for awesome pictures, but was it really that sexy? Like shook down to the fundament or lingerie-model-on-lingerie-model hot and heavy (as one of their teaser videos suggested)? Not really. There was more awkward fumbling back in the day. When Mike Noyce of Bon Iver, whose appearance would make you think it was an all ages show, took off his shirt and howled it out, that was just about as louche as it got. And, with 23 people trying to re-create an overdubbed and sanded down and studio polished sheen on stage, we should just be happy that they got through most of the songs intact and hit the changes. There was also the whispered appearance of Prince showing up backstage- when the rumors flew, it was as close to high school as it got- who plugged in his guitar before declaring that Gayngs didn’t need his help. I do wish his Purpleness would have considered us underclassmen though, because as the cool kids messed around onstage, we could have used that spark to build up to that fancy expensive balloon drop. Still, I do really love what they did with Godley & Creme’s “Cry”, and the style shown by the many Minneapolitan partiers out that night was impressive. Keep that around and we’ll live up to the standard set by that freaky little man out Chanhassen.

Cry from GAYNGS on Vimeo.

Check out Staciaann’s City Pages slideshow of the shindig, and I gotta say, the #GAYNGS Twitter results are a nice mix of love, hayte and snark.

The 5th annual RetroRama, which was last Thursday was set the Minnesota History Center, is something of an odd duck: a combination of sock hop, rummage sale and fantasy camp, it is all set up as great excuse to don some vintage duds and have gimlet in an imposing building.

There was some great fashion on display, both on the party-goers and on the designers showing looks in the tented runway area. Designers took inspiration from a specific decade and showed two looks inspired by the times: Ivan Idland was a perfect fit for the 20s, with his art deco arches and a brown trenchcoat with a vaulted finish to give it the lift of a zeppelin. George Moskal Joynoelle had a standout look from the 30s 40, with a glamorous evening gown in a metallic green topped with layers of shimmering copper organza, like a lithe koi fish, and Max Lohrbach‘s clear vinyl-covered lacy cocktail dress was a wry nod the protective housewife of the 50s. Since everyone else was dressed to the nines, the participant fashion show, where people could get up and model their own outfits was mix of high class and kitsch, and a blast.

1930s by Joynoelle.

Later in the evening, Dark Dark Dark played in the high rotunda of the atrium and as much as we love DDD, they had a tough row to hoe, competing with the unexpected Etta James bleed from the classic karaoke going on below. Still, everyone had a good time, Blacklist Vintage and the other vendors sold their wares, we got a recipe for classic tomato soup and the future looks good through the eyes of the past. Staciaann has a photoset up for Vita.mn, so check that out here.

Also, if you are Art-a-Whirling this weekend, swing by the MNfashion space in the Grain Belt Bottling Building on 13th and Marshall. Not only can you vote from their computer there, but you can also check out Staciaann’s awesome photographs up on the wall, as she is an official MNfashion photog. Double win!

Also, again about the Refresh Everything Challenge, there are multiple winners in all categories and a number of local entries, so look around and find stuff to vote for. Since we pay for the companies to exist, we should be getting something back other than dentist’s visits.

Also, check out Death Vessel, the opener for the Jónsi tour. One guy, and it is a guy with a guitar singing in a beautifully high register, this folky side of Joanna Newsom and Joni Mitchell. Seriously, gender stereotyping cognitive dissonance aside, totally dug it, and despite warnings to the contrary, so glad we came on time.

There was a special kind of tag-team energy at the Fitzgerald Theatre last night, with songsmiths Loudon Wainwright III and Fairport Convention founder Richard Thompson, long-time friends and collaborators on their first tour together, bouncing off eachother and generally delighting the crowd. Loudon is of course, the father of Rufus and Martha, and has made a career singing wry and incisive songs about his own personal and family issues while Thompson is a master guitar player and formalist and so the two of them complimented each other’s styles and personalities in the songs they played together and showcased their own strengths in their solo sets. You can read the full recap for City Pages here, along with Staciaann’s slideshow here.

Allison Quinnell at Voltage: Fashion Amplified! 2009

In the world of non-profits, memberships are as necessary as important to the success of the organization as seeds are to farming. MNFashion, the non-profit behind MN Fashion Week and the annual Voltage: Fashion Amplified! blowout announced yesterday that they were launching a Founder’s Member Drive, seeking 100 new members in order to receive a $10,000 matching grant from the Pohlad Foundation. It is not the first time the Pohlad Foundation has helped out MNFashion, they were the granting organization that has made the holiday pop-up store in Gaviidae Commons possible the last two years. the press release went out yesterday and the final details on how to join will soon be available on the MNFashion website, but in good member drive fashion, they aren’t skimping on the giveaways: the first 45 people to join get a gift bag from Gigi’s Guide (valued at a $100), consulting time with MNFashion chief Anna Lee, invitations to closed-door events and that halo of prestige that comes with being in on something. Membership is $50, and just follow the link to join.

Obviously, MNFashion’s most visible contribution to the Twin Cities fashion & design communities is Fashion Week, culminating with Voltage (Friday, April 16th at First Avenue) but the organization has plans for much more, from business consulting for designers to talent development to a sewing co-op. With a sweet new office/work space in Northeast and this new member drive to get their footing solid, what started with a late night drunk joke about mixing rock and roll with a fashion show just might turn into a sustainable support system for all kinds of artists. If you want to support MNFashion further, there are two opportunities tonight, with an preview party tonight at Spill The Wine from 7-10pm to mix and mingle and then taking over Transmission at Club Jaeger at 10 for the CD listening party. If you were looking for something to do on your Wednesday night, now you got it.

Mural Detail- Photo via Cult Status Website

The destruction of art is bound to create a buzz, and the Cult Status Gallery might just reach that, based on the reaction to the martyrdom of the fresh Deuce 7 mural on their outer wall. The newly formed gallery makes it’s home at 2913 Harriet Avenue South in the LynLake area and just opened its doors this winter. In celebration of the opening, Cult Status got ahold of street/graffiti artist Deuce 7 (who has shown locally at SooVAC and been celebrated in New York) to paint a mural. With the apparent blessing of their landlord, painting began on March 10th, and was a big step up from what had been outside of the building; in conversation, gallery honcho Erin Sayer noted that, “before…it was disgusting, it was just this gross garage where they kept all their stuff,” and in a blog post on the controversy, says that the outside had been graffitied with anti-Obama and pro-gun epithets. Not your family-friendly fare for South Minneapolis, nor something really to be proud of.

Quickly into the painting process, though, Sayer received a worried phone call from her landlord, expressing surprise that the mural used so much color. The landlord had been expecting Sayer to be painting one of her own two-tone silhouette works on the outside wall and expressed concern about the progress of the mural. Sayer convinced her landlord to let them finish the mural and appeared to have the support of the other tenants in the building as well as neighborhood residents. When Cult Status held an opening on March 30th, Sayer noted that the new neighbors came over, some bearing cookies. Things seemed to be going well.

Photo by Matt Porath via Facebook

Then on April 2nd, Sayer received a call from her landlord informing her that one of the tenants was uncomfortable with the mural, to the point of threatening to move out. In lieu of losing the business, the landlord decreed that the mural had to be painted over, and initially slated Wednesday the 7th as the destruction date. Unwilling to reveal which of the tenants was offended by the mural Sayer set about to try and convince the other tenants that the work was worth preserving. As she said over the phone, “it’s not even offensive material. It’s totally benign, it’s like Chagall. I think that’s the only reason that they don’t like it, because it’s graffiti-style, even though it’s the best graffiti you’ll ever see.”

A Facebook post unleashed an outpouring of support and so far, Sayer says that 2 of the 3 other tenants, Shelter Architecture + Design and the Healing Garage seem to be on board with the mural, and they have been granted a stay of execution in order to meet on Wednesday the 7th at noon to discuss the fate of the painting. If all does not go well, this weekend is going to be a sad day for art in the Twin Cities, but Sayer says they’ll make the best of it, with full documentation of the event, and an open invitation to come down and support the art/protest the cover up. Hopefully, though Deuce 7’s art will be allowed to stay in it’s street context where it functions more subversively and powerfully than in a reduced gallery setting.

There are, of course, take-away lessons here. Should Cult Status had been more clear about their intentions for the mural? Yes. Should the landlord have been more clear about his expectations for the mural? Yes. Should there have been more communication with the other tenants about the mural? Probably.

However, we live in an age where so much of our publicly viewed space is mediated by private ownership, to the point of mass disempowerment, that if there is not privately sanctioned public art, all you are going to be left with are crass tags and puerile spray-painted phrases. Paintings on public walls like Cult Status’ Deuce 7 mural can mitigate that destructive impulse associated in the public’s mind with graffiti by creating personality and ownership to counteract the bland, sterile inoffensiveness of latter day America. Sayer said it over the phone; “I think mainly [this is] just the age old discussion of what is graffiti and why is it all bad. I think the public’s thoughts about graffiti need to change. It has such a bad connotation with so many people. It’s been going on for thirty years and its just never going to end, it’s going to keep growing. I think this movement is our defining art movement of this generation.” Here’s to fighting the good fight.

Photo by Matt Porath via Facebook