Northside Arts controversy / Scrabble rap

For today's lead story, Sheila Regan went beyond official statements to find a story of change and controversy in the Northside Arts Collective—an organization that seems to be failing, say many of its members, because it's drifted too far from its community roots. Also, in a Daily Planet exclusive, see one of the Twin Cities' hottest rappers in a long-lost 2004 hip-hop video about...Scrabble? Is the Northside Arts Collective finished? Board of directors say yes, many members say no By Sheila Regan, TC Daily Planet In the organization's December newsletter, the Northside Arts Collective's board chair Kelly Hoffman wrote that the board has voted to start the process of legally dissolving the organization. Many members are unhappy with the decision, and blame the board, which they say is made up mostly of non-artists. Some are still upset about the termination of the organization's executive director, Connie Beckers, last year. Others want the current board members to resign, and for the artists to take control over the collective, starting over in a sense but without losing the organization's nonprofit status.MORE » Capri Theater Governor Dayton in January, after Emmer concession today By Mary Turck, TC Daily Planet The Minnesota gubernatorial race has ended, with Mark Dayton heading for the governor's office in January after Tom Emmer conceded the race December 8  in Delano.MORE » Bachmann, McCollum oppose Obama tax plan By Andy Birkey, Minnesota Independent Despite coming from opposite ends of the political spectrum, Reps. Michele Bachmann and Betty McCollum have found something to agree on: that President Obama's compromise with Republicans over extending tax cuts and unemployment benefits is a bad idea.MORE » MUSIC | Ian Flomer, John Henry of MC/VL, and the hottest Scrabble-themed rap video of 2004 By Jay Gabler, TC Daily Planet Nearly every Tuesday from 2004 to 2009, Hamil Griffin-Cassidy played Scrabble against the city of Minneapolis. Griffin-Cassidy, now best known as the producer of Freaky Deeky, was host of an MTN show called Totally Scrabble Tuesday, in which he'd position one rack of Scrabble tiles facing a camera and one facing himself; members of the public would call in and tell Griffin-Cassidy which letters to play from the public rack, then Griffin-Cassidy would play his own turn.MORE » Arts Orbit Radar 12/9/10 By Jay Gabler, TC Daily Planet What's happening this week Thursday, December 9MORE » On the radar: Ryan Olson has been a force for years in the Minneapolis music scene—he was a member of Digitata, among other groups—but this year the scene swirled around Olson like cotton candy on a stick. He created the supergroup GAYNGS, who released a nationally acclaimed album and threw one of the year's most ridiculously fun parties, then spent the summer pursuing projects including mysterious noisemakers Marijuana Deathsquads. Olson comes out from behind his laptop for an intimate conversation (well, not quite this intimate) tonight at the Whole as part of the "Making Music" series. Inside the Daily Planet THEATER | In the Heart of the Beast's La Befana is a warm, rich story on all scales by Leslie Kruempel, TC Daily Planet Up until very recently, my exposure to puppets was mostly limited to preschool years spent immersed in the Neighborhood of Make-Believe (rest in peace, Mr. Rogers). This gave me the mistaken impression that puppets are for kids. After seeing Harry Potter in IMAX 3D, how much "wow" factor can a puppet show have, right? In the Heart of the Beast Puppet and Mask Theatre is quickly turning me around. MUSIC | Vänskä's Messiah is dynamic and stirring by Jay Gabler, TC Daily Planet It was a festive scene Wednesday morning at the crowded Orchestra Hall as Osmo Vänskä lifted his baton over Handel's Messiah, the first time he'd done so in Minnesota. A woman in front of me pulled her fur around her shoulders and peered through opera glasses; a couple to my left readied the bound Messiah scores they'd brought to follow along with; and the woman to my right revealed a Santa Claus sock as she crossed her leg. When tenor Thomas Cooley finished his first solo, the woman tugged at my sleeve and whispered proudly, "That's my son!" VISUAL ARTS | Painting Zombies at the University of Minnesota's Katherine E. Nash Gallery by Maddy Hughes, TC Daily Planet A visit to an art gallery has the power to make people feel uncomfortable. There's complete silence, save for the noises of hushed exchanges among patrons, the hum of video projectors, the cranking of heaters, and the like. Here the visitors are, ready to be enlightened by multiple perspectives on life showcased by paintings hanging on walls, or sculptures mounted atop blocks, or murals placed high up by the ceiling. Why is all of this intimidating? Because viewers feel they're not "getting" it, that they don't know what there is to take away from an exhibit. This is not always the case, but when it is, it is a disappointment. Unemployment benefits pay off in big way, study says by Michael Kuchta, Workday Minnesota Unemployment insurance does more than keep out-of-work workers afloat. It prevents additional workers from losing their jobs and gives taxpayers a 2-to-1 return on investment, a new Labor Department study says. The study, commissioned during the Bush administration, makes it harder to understand why Congressional Republicans are so willing to pull the plug on 2 million unemployed workers between now and New Year's Day. NEW IN BLOGS BLOG OF THE MODERATE LEFT | Quite possibly the most important discovery in the world by Jeff Fecke • I'm not being hyperbolic. This is something that will have a dramatic impact on biology, the search for extraterrestrial life, and evolutionary thought. SAINT PAUL ALMANAC | St. Paul: The speaking place by Angela Mack • I am a mother of three who moved to St. Paul about a year ago from one of the meanest cities in the world, I think: Chicago. When I arrived at Saint Paul's Greyhound bus station, I was terrified. I did not know a soul and had nowhere to go, but I was determined to start a new life for me and my children. WHO IS THAT? | Carolyn Kopecky, artist on TV and on a Segway by Jay Gabler • To start a conversation with her, yell "Bunny!" and point. THE OPTIMISTIC PESSIMIST | For a switch, Oscar bait by Jim Brunzell • Movie theaters around town are starting to heat up with releases of potentially Oscar-nominated films. Whether their creators end up thanking or cursing the Academy, many of the films being released this month will surely find their way onto end-of-the year top ten lists. CLIMATE CHANGE | The end of a week: Cop16, Day 5 by Andy Pearson • "The approximate value of this car," said Paco, our driver, "is $500,000. That's because it's a prototype." I was riding with two other undergrads from Cancunmesse to the Moon Palace in a Nissan Leaf, one of 20 all-electric cars which Nissan provided to the COP16 organizers to supplement the buses that usually operated on this venue-to-venue shuttle run. This time, we had gotten lucky: a Leaf happened to be the next vehicle in the shuttle queue and we happened to be there.
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