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 another year with
Newman Rocks
, Mondays, July 20–August 10. On the big screen, the Walker salutes one of Hollywood’s greatest film stars—the legendary Paul Newman. Spend your hot summer evenings with some of the actor’s coolest ’60s rebels: the brooding foil to sensuous Elizabeth Taylor in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (July 20); the ruthless cowboy in Hud (July 27); the anti-establishment hero of Cool Hand Luke (August 3); and the smoldering pool shark in The Hustler (August 10).
The films will be paired with a diverse selection of international and local bands, including Minneapolis-based favorites Halloween, Alaska (July 20), who mix ambient electronic sounds with alt-pop sensibilities; the folk, bluegrass, and early country sounds of Roma di Luna (July 27); Northfield’s power-pop trio Gospel Gossip (August 3); and Hanggai (August 10), featuring young musicians from Beijing and Inner Mongolia who combine traditional Chinese folk music with the anthemic sound of rock. DJs from 89.3 The Current spin music between the bands and films.
Lunds will have picnic fare available for purchase in Loring Park. In case of rain, events will move to the Walker Cinema. Seating is first-come, first-served. Visit walkerart.org for details and updates.
Copresented by the Walker Art Center and the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board. Summer Music & Movies is sponsored by Lunds. Additional support is generously provided by Elizabeth Redleaf. Media partners: City Pages and 89.3 The Current.
SUMMER MUSIC & MOVIES: NEWMAN ROCKS
MONDAYS, JULY 20–AUGUST 10
LORING PARK, FREE
MUSIC BEGINS AT 7 PM; FILMS BEGIN AT DUSK (APPROX. 8:45 PM)
Monday, July 20
Music: Halloween, Alaska
“Moody guitar and keyboards bric-a-brac atop subtly quaking beats . . . glassy drones, worried groove glitch, a shy come-on cribbed from an old Prince song.”—Blender
Drink in the summer sun and crafty pop, pure and now, by members of such esteemed local outfits as Love-cars, 12RODS, and Happy Apple. Mining the breaks between electronic and organic, Halloween, Alaska ignites a gorgeously layered atmosphere of heady lyricism, indie hooks, and articulate beats. Featuring James Diers (voice, keys, guitar), Matthew Friesen (bass, sampler), Jacob Hanson (guitar), and David King (drums).
DJ: Steve Seel
Movie: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Directed by Richard Brooks
Plagued by secrets and financial ambitions, a wealthy Mississippi family wrestles with truth and desire in this lush Tennessee Williams adaptation that oozes old money and Southern charm. Newman, in his first of 10 Academy Award–nominated performances, plays ex-football star Brick—a sardonic, alcoholic, and impotent husband to the ambitious and conniving Maggie, “the cat” (Elizabeth Taylor at her sultry best). 1959, 16mm, 108 minutes.
Monday, July 27
Music: Roma di Luna
“Evoking an old-timey Americana vibe riddled with scary hints of neo-Gothic mayhem, Roma di Luna play sparse tunes that squirm and fret under thriving uncertainty.” —City Pages
Compelling and stark, lovely and dark, Roma di Luna cooks a lush hash of early folk, bluegrass, and old-time country shot through with an ethereal edge. From busking on the street to basking in the glow of critical acclaim, Roma di Luna is the wife-husband duo Channy Moon Casselle (vocals, violin) and Alexei Moon Casselle (guitar, vocals) with Ben Durrant (electric guitar), James Everest (bass guitar), Ryan Lovan (percussion), Jessi Prusha (backing vocals), and Michael Rossetto (banjo).
DJ: Mary Lucia
Movie: Hud
Directed by Martin Ritt
Newman demolishes the cowboy myth as Hud Bannon, an unprincipled, ruthless lothario in Texas’ windswept cattle country: “tremendous—a potent, voracious man, restless with all his crude ambitions, arrogant with his contempt, and churned up inside with all the meanness
and misgivings of himself” (New York Times). And when disease threatens to wipe out the herd, things definitely come to a head. Based on a book by Larry McMurtry, the film received seven Oscar nominations, including a nod to Newman and an award to Patricia Neal as Alma, the family’s tough-talking housekeeper. 1963, 16mm, 112 minutes.
Monday, August 3
Music: Gospel Gossip
“It’s fuzzy, pretty, and uberrhythmic—that midtempo, incredibly danceable pop that Fugazi and Nation of Ulysses popularized in Washington, D.C., in the early ’90s.”—Bitch Magazine
Northfield’s Gospel Gossip crafts beautifully sprawling, buzzed-out power pop with cathartic melodies, necessary noise, and playful bounce all fully realized through Sarah Nienaber’s inimitable vocals. Take in 60 minutes of fun and fierce songs that “harken to the finer, headier days when brainiacs like the Velvet Underground and New Order were called party music” (City Pages).
DJ: Barb Abney
Movie: Cool Hand Luke
Directed by Stuart Rosenberg
Newman’s spirited portrayal of an unruly Florida prison camp inmate created a quintessential anti-hero of the rebellious late ’60s. With memorable lines such as “What we’ve got here is failure to communicate,” and the classic scene that sparked egg-eating contests among young Americans everywhere, Cool Hand Luke remains Newman’s most unforgettable characterization of youthful defiance. 1967, 16mm, 126 minutes.
Monday, August 10
Music: Hanggai
“Distills everything powerful about Mongolian folk music and makes something new from the ingredients . . . transcendently powerful music that anyone from anywhere can understand.” —Pitchfork
Frenetic and foreign, ancient and avant-garde—it’s called “Chinagrass,” and we think you’ll like it. This Beijing-based sextet with members from China’s Inner Mongolia province has a decidedly eclectic take on East meets West roots and rock with an inspired blend of disparate sonic elements. Horsehair fiddles, surf guitar, traditional throat singing, two-stringed lutes, electronics, and an ex-punk rock singer take on centuries-old song forms. Wow.
DJ: Mark Wheat
Movie: The Hustler
Directed by Robert Rossen
Newman’s Fast Eddie Felson, an up-and-coming pool shark, meets his match in the legendary Minnesota Fats (Jackie Gleason) in a battle of skill and character. Awash in drink, the humbled Felson takes up with pretty alcoholic Sarah (Piper Laurie) and falls under the thumb of a crooked gambler (George C. Scott). With riveting pool scenes and hazy black-and-white cinemascope photography, “the characters one meets in the succession of sunless and smoky billiard halls . . . in the course of this tough film are the sort to make your flesh creep and whatever blood you may have run cold” (New York Times). 1961, 16mm, 134 minutes.
