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Special Guests
Saturday, July 6, 2002
ENTOURLOUPE is a French-Canadian band that combines
all the talents of its members to form a "new" kind of traditional
music. Though rooted in traditional Quebec music (Quebecois), Entourloupe
“has developed a unique understanding of a world where myth and
truth overlap enticingly.” In other words, their music is is simple
and evocative and frankly, perfect for a warm July night in St. Paul.
Their songs tell the stories of their homeland, and we’re glad
they’re with us tonight to share them with us.
Entourloupe is Eric Favreau (fiddle, vocals, viola),
Paul Marchand (guitar, vocals, feet), Stephane Landry (accordian), and
Claude Methe (vocals, fiddle, mandolin). They’ll also be joined
by traditional dance caller/stepdancer/choreographer Jean-François
Berthiaume, often called a “sort of long, tall, youthful leprechaun
of Francophone Persuasion.” Entourloupe’s latest album is
Les choux pis des melons (2001), although they’ve each got albums
of their own.
For more information about Entourloupe, see their web
site at www.vizou.com
STEPHANIE DAVIS has a cattle ranch in the
foothills of the Beartooth Mountains in Montana, up where the entire island
of Manhattan could be hidden away in a box canyon and lie undiscovered
for decades; this doesn't necessarily give a person wisdom but it does
offer a certain perspective. She grew up in Bridger, part of a fourth
generation of Montanans, and if you've been raised there it draws you
back.
She had a successful career writing songs in Nashville and singing and
touring, but at some point it all seemed no more important than raising
cattle; she still travels, but now writes from a one-room log cabin on
the range built by a Finnish bachelor and reclaimed from years of occupation
by Angus steers. It's springtime there and wildflowers are blooming, and
calves are running around and acting about as silly as cattle ever get.
And if you press her on it, she'll admit to writing better than she ever
has.
DAN NEWTON plays the Ethnoclectic Accordian, an instrument with
a range so broad it takes seven bands to cover it. Paradise Ranch plays
western swing; Dot Combo does jazz, ska, blues, hits, and favorite folk
songs "of your groovy life;" Daddy Squeeze & the Doctor
do old time acoustic blues; Art Carnage is a contemporary jug band; Guys
Can Talk do square dances and contradance; Jumbo Ya Ya is a straight-ahead
zydeco and cajun band; the Cafe Accordian Trio plays tangoes, bossa nova,
waltzes and French Cafe, "the music of passion and romance."
Lately passion and romance are at the Minneapolis Cafe on Wednesdays and
at Zinc (10th and Nicollet) on Fridays. He also hires out solo in two
versions, the very sophisticated Dan Newton Accordioniste and the down-home
Daddy Squeeze.
One might think that winning the Nebraska State Accordion Contest in the
Czech Festival at Wilber 15 years ago would have been enough for anybody,
but it seems to have just set a fire under Mr. Newton, and we¹re
always glad to see him on our stage
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A national holiday in Lake Wobegon is always gaudy and joyful. But what is going on between Clint Bunsen and Miss Liberty?
Everyone is here—Pastor Ingqvist, the Sons of Knute, Sister Arvonne of Our Lady of Perpetual Responsibility and her ocarina band, the Norwegian bachelor farmers, Dorothy and the Chatterbox Café, Wally in the Sidetrack Tap—as crowds converge on the little town to celebrate American independence, even as the chairman of the event broods on the great question of the day: Shall we struggle on valiantly here or shall we burst the bonds and find beautiful life in the golden west?
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Scripts and bits from A Prairie Home Companion celebrate the secret society of men and women who possess excellent spelling and punctuation skills. (You know who you are.)
Selections include "The Six-Minute Hamlet," a tribute to Emily Dickinson, a Guy Noir adventure that exposes an MFA scam, a riveting "Professional Organization of English Majors" drama, and guests Billy Collins, Robert Bly, Roy Blount Jr., and Calvin Trillin.
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