State of the Arts Blog

Art Hounds: Duluth theater reopening, grafitti cover-ups and veteran rockers with a new sound

Graffiti painted over on a bridge at the corner of St. Anthony and Prior in St. Paul.

This week the hounds show us the unintentional beauty of graffiti that's been painted over, an old vaudeville theater Duluth that's getting a new life, and a new group of veteran rockers that are creating a new sound.

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Duluth artist and arts writer Ann Klefstad is happy to report the famed NorShor Theatre is back in the public domain. The city of Duluth purchased the 100-year-old former vaudeville theater and one-time strip club and asked the Duluth Playhouse to provide programming. Duluth mayor Don Ness will celebrate the NorShor's centennial with a $100 plate benefit to raise money for its restoration on tonight at 7pm. On Saturday, Aug. 21 at noon there will be an open house commemorating the NorShor's vaudeville history and that night, an evening of live music featuring the Duluth area's hottest bands.

If you happen to be stuck in traffic, painter and MCAD and CVA instructor Allen Brewer suggests you be on the lookout for graffiti that's been painted over. Allen says you can find it all over the Twin Cities -- on overpasses, the sides of buildings, railroad bridges, etc. He describes it as taggers and clean-up workers engaged in an accidental collaboration that results in unintentionally beautiful, completely pure abstract art.

Holly Newsom has discovered a band she wants the rest of the world to know about. Holly, the frontwoman for the Minneapolis indie rock band Zoo Animal, says Satellite Voices consists of a group of veteran local rockers and creates a sound all its own. She's especially impressed with the band's eccentric yet charismatic leader, singer-songwriter Knol Tate. Satellite Voices' next gig is at St. Paul's Turf Club on Thursday, Aug. 26. The group plans to release its first CD this fall.

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