Summer Music & Movies
, the Walker Art Center and the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board’s popular annual series of free concerts and film screenings in Loring Park, celebrates its 30th year with
Screwball Masters: Sturges, Hawks, and Cukor
, Mondays, July 17–August 21. Defined by a breakneck pace, ridiculous situations, witty banter, slapstick, and sexual innuendo, screwball comedies of the late 1930s and early ‘40s raised the spirits of Americans going through the Depression and early years of WWII. Directors Preston Sturges, Howard Hawks, and George Cukor crafted hilarious Hollywood classics famous for the chemistry of their comic pairings: Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn, Joel McCrea and Veronica Lake, and Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda. The films included in this year’s series include Sturges’ Sullivan’s Travels (July 17) and The Lady Eve (July 24); Hawks’ His Girl Friday (July 31) and Bringing Up Baby (August 7); and Cukor’s Adam’s Rib (August 14) and The Philadelphia Story (August 21).
The films will be paired with a diverse selection of musical acts, including Senegal’s Daara J (July 17), whose infectious blend of old-school East Coast hip-hop, reggae, soul, and Cuban punch turns the tables on gangsta rap through the positive power of rhyme. Other musical performers include avant-jazz trio Fat Kid Wednesdays (July 24); the country-twinged torch songs of Haley Bonar (July 31); local punk rockers STNNNG (August 7); dance-pop maestro Eric Appelwick’s alter-ego, Vicious Vicious (August 14); and Low (August 21), the Duluth rock minimalists who have been internationally lauded for their hauntingly hypnotic harmonies and gentle but powerful orchestrations. Local notables spin music between the bands and films.
In case of rain, events are canceled unless otherwise noted. For more information, call 612.375.7600.
Summer Music & Movies is copresented by the Walker Art Center and the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board. Summer Music & Movies is made possible by Lunds. Promotional partners City Pages and Drive 105.
Additional support provided by the Lander Group.
Lunds will be selling old school movie munchies including Lunds 100% beef hot dogs, Angie’s Kettle Corn, candy, beverages, and more in Loring Park during Summer Music & Movies. Don’t miss Lunds Night on Monday, August 21, where you’ll enjoy a complimentary bag of Garden of Eatin’® tortilla chips!
SUMMER MUSIC & MOVIES
SCREWBALL MASTERS: STURGES, HAWKS, AND CUKOR
MONDAYS, JULY 17–AUGUST 21
LORING PARK, FREE
MUSIC BEGINS AT 7 PM; FILMS BEGIN AT DUSK (APPROX. 8:45 PM)
Monday, July 17*
Music: Daara J
Hailing from Senegal, West Africa, Daara J’s infectious blend of old-school East Coast hip-hop, reggae, soul, and Cuban punch turns the tables on gangsta rap through the positive power of rhyme. Though the rapid rhymes in Wolof are peppered with English, French, and Spanish, their raps about globalism, the environment, and spirituality are universal—believe it when they tell us, “Born in Africa, brought up in America, hip-hop has come full circle.”
DJ: Salif Keita
Movie: Sullivan’s Travels
Written and directed by Preston Sturges
The need for humor in troubled times is central to this hilarious and fast-paced verbal onslaught. Affluent director John Sullivan (Joel CcCrea) decides to hit the road as an undercover down-and-outer to research the tough lives faced by those affected by the Depression for his next film. Sullivan fails miserably until he meets a stunning struggling actress (Veronica Lake) who shows him what it really means to be poor. 1941, U.S., BW, 16mm, 90 minutes.
*Please Note: In case of rain, this event will be moved to the Walker Cinema. Seating is first come, first served.
Monday, July 24
Music: Fat Kid Wednesdays
The telepathic avant-jazz trio of Michael Lewis (saxophones), Adam Linz (bass), and JT Bates (drums) is respected internationally for their hearty stew of post-bop, free-flow freedom, and of-the-moment fervor. Open your ears and dig the next generation of jazz (influenced equally by Ornette Coleman, Bjork, and Oval) by the young titans of the increasingly vital Twin Cities scene.
DJ: Cecile Cloutier
Movie: The Lady Eve
Cowritten and directed by Preston Sturges
Sturges twists the biblical fable of Adam and Eve into an elaborate romantic spoof with Barbara Stanwyck playing the seductress to Henry Fonda’s virginal patsy. In her first comedic role, Stanwyck dupes gullible millionaire Fonda not once, but twice—first posing as a sophisticated world traveler and second as English nobility. The dialogue clips speedily along in this tight, sexy, saucy romp. 1941, U.S., BW, 16mm, 97 minutes.
Monday, July 31
Music: Haley Bonar
Sometimes the power of a voice can bring tears to your eyes, no matter what the lyrics are and regardless of the Rhoads or Stratocaster being played to moody perfection in the background. Luckily in this case, Haley Bonar’s delicate but straightforward expressiveness and the subjects she tackles are pure, in emotion, tone, and poetry. She mixes no-depression style country angst with the wonderings of new folk, channeling Emmylou Harris and Freakwater into songs that are unexpectedly devastating and hopeful.
DJ: Suzy Greenberg
Movie: His Girl Friday
Directed by Howard Hawks
Jealous newspaper editor Walter Burns (Cary Grant) fumes when his ex-wife and star reporter Hildy Johnson (Rosalind Russell) announces that she’s going to be married the following day. This gives him barely 24 hours to use his cunning, wit, and chicanery to win her back. 1940, U.S., BW, 16mm, 92 minutes.
Monday, August 7
Music: STNNNG
Remember when punk was scarydirtyrude and relevant to boot? Don’t lose hope, hometown heroes STNNNG certainly haven’t, and they’re here to make you care about the past and future of the form once again. Building on the legacy of broken wailers like The VSS and Nation of Ulysses, this hard-charging fivesome play lightning-quick songs riddled with tight guitars and even sharper lyrics that accuse but never abuse, and definitely, always, have an opinion.
DJ: Mike Hoyt
Movie: Bringing Up Baby
Directed by Howard Hawks
Hawks ramps up the zany, wacky antics in this battle of the sexes in one of the most endearing comedies of all time. Uptight paleontologist Dr. David Huxley (Cary Grant) is bewitched by the clumsy and eccentric Susan Vance (Katherine Hepburn). When his precious dinosaur bone goes missing, it’s her pet leopard named “Baby” who’s suspected as all hell breaks loose. 1938, U.S., BW, 16mm, 102 minutes.
Monday, August 14
Music: Vicious Vicious
With one of the smoothest frontmen in all the Midwest, Vicious Vicious could and likely have charmed the skin off snakes with smart sincerity (their MySpace profile lists Rufus Wainwright under “Sounds Like”) but also inflect their sound with a healthy dose of sexy fun and brash satire (see again MySpace, Usher). Their sound invites multiple happy listens rather than world-weary navel-gazing that’s perfect for dancing in the summer heat.
DJ: Arzu D2 and Joel Stitzel
Movie: Adam’s Rib
Directed by George Cukor
Prosecutor Adam Bonner (Spencer Tracy) takes a case of a woman accused of attempting to murder her husband. He’s irked when his wife (Katharine Hepburn), also an attorney, decides to defend her in court. The sparring moves from the courtroom to the bedroom in this gabby battle of the sexes. 1949, U.S., BW, 16mm, 101 minutes.
Monday, August 21*
Music: Low
Duluth’s favorite rock minimalists, who describe themselves as “Joy Division meets Simon & Garfunkel,” have quietly been turning it up for more than a decade. Internationally lauded for their hauntingly hypnotic harmonies and gentle but powerful orchestrations, the trio has a new found sound that cascades and sparks through increased tempos and fresh sonic ideas but still maintains the earnest beauty of their earlier work. Enjoy the shimmer of an August evening with one of Minnesota’s most significant bands.
DJ: Phil Harder
Movie: The Philadelphia Story
Directed by George Cukor
Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn recreate the comic chemistry that they had shown in Bringing Up Baby in this much-beloved classic. Haughty socialite Tracy Lord (Hepburn) is furious when her ex-husband (Grant) shows up at her doorstep with a tabloid reporter Mike Conner (Jimmy Stewart) on the eve of her second marriage. Lord is then forced to juggle her affections for three men; her philandering ex who is out to get her, her current uptight beau, and the intriguing dashing journalist who distrusts the rich. 1940, U.S., BW, 16mm, 112 minutes.
*Please Note: In case of rain, this event will be moved to the Walker Cinema. Seating is first come, first served.
