Thingies: Minnesota writers, ‘Behold the Monkey,’ science fiction opera
‘Round these parts
Louise Erdrich was honored for her contributions to the preservation of the Ojibwe language last Thursday evening (photo above) during the Foul Souls Symposium at Bluestem Center for the Arts put on by the North Dakota Humanities Council. Erdrich also read from her vast library of fiction and poetry; listen to audio of her reading of the poem Advice to Myself over at our Tumblr.
Music Theatre Fargo-Moorhead opens its new production of Jekyll and Hyde next week, and they’ve been doing a great job at getting the word out. They were part of the F-M Pride parade (in costume!) a couple weeks ago and they’ve been blogging extensively about their cast and crew over at their AreaVoices blog. Read up and get out to see them opening night.
The Lake Agassiz Regional Library just announced a solid lineup of Minnesota authors appearing during the month of September for its program “The Beat Goes On.” Annelee Woodstrom, Gerald Anderson, L.D. Bergsgaard, Barbara Sommer, and Rick Crume round out a month of oral history, genealogy, and mystery. Visit larl.org for details.
Elsewhere
The art world is in an absolute tizzy over the restoration of a 19th-century Spanish fresco by an amateur restorer. The finished product has been dubbed “Ecce Mono,” or “Behold the Monkey,” based on its original title “Ecce Homo” and, well, the fact that it kinda looks like a monkey. But wait. There’s more. The internet, in all its glory, is calling for a preservation of the restorer’s work after it became a viral sensation. Over 5000 signatures have been collected in an online petition to preserve what petition organizers call “…a subtle criticism of the Church’s creationist theories while questioning a resurgence of new idols.”
Science fiction opera? Check out this profile of electronic music pioneer Karlheinz Stockhausen and his seven-opera cycle, Light, which blends his daring musical voice with absurdist science fiction. (io9)
