Best bets: Music to fest, books to read, and a play at CSS

Christa Lawler, Duluth News Tribune, Minn.
·3 min read

Mar. 3—Spinning barefoot (in your living room)

How are we feeling about online music festivals? No walking tacos, but no outhouses, and you can still be barefoot. Land of 10,000 Streams is a three-day Minnesota-centric virtual festival with performances from more than 50 artists — including musicians with Duluth ties like Ryan Young of Trampled By Turtles (1:30 p.m. March 6) and The Brothers Burn Mountain, Ryan and Jess Dermody, who live north of Duluth and have a new album on the horizon.

Also in the lineup: Gabriel Douglas, Jillian Rae, Mark Mallman, Annie Humphrey, Annie Mack, Mother Banjo, NUR-D, Jeremy Messersmith and more. Rather than a wristband, this fest asks that you donate directly to the artists. Go to landof10kstreams.com.

'Dark Ages' comedy onstage at CSS

"Incorruptible: A Dark Comedy about the Dark Ages" is the story of dueling miracle-making churches in France, 1250: One is a small chapel with the holy relics of St. Foy; the other is a neighboring chapel that claims to actually have the true relics of St. Foy. With no miracles in the past decade, pilgrims have shifted to the latter. Meanwhile, the pope has plans to visit.

The College of St. Scholastica's production of this comedy by Michael Hollinger and directed by Tammy Ostrander will be available for streaming March 4-7. Tickets are $10 per person or $35 for a group at spotlight.css.edu.

'Nickel Boys' picked for read-along

"The Nickel Boys" by Colson Whitehead is the Pulitzer Prize-winning story of a reform school set in Jim Crow-era Florida. Elwood Curtis is sent to the Nickel Academy, where he makes friends with Turner, who has a more skeptical take on the world.

This novel, inspired by the discovery of a graveyard behind a state-run school for boys in Southern Florida, is a brutal place where it doesn't take much to get beaten in the back shed — and not every kid makes it back to his dormitory.

The 2019 book, which won the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction (following Whitehead's win of the same prize for "The Underground Railroad" in 2017), is this year's pick for the One Book Northland, the annual regional read-along. This year's discussion and themed events will be held virtually. For event listings, go to duluthlibrary.org.

You should see me in a crown

The Nordic Center's month-long exhibit is a look at the crowns of Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland — including ornate bridal crowns and pieces made from metal, paper, straw, fabric and more. "Nordic Crowns and Beyond: In Celebration of Women," is tied to International Women's Month and will include a display, which will be available for virtual tours in addition to gallery tours, lectures and workshops via Zoom.

The exhibition opens with a Zoom workshop on crown making (1-3 p.m. March 7), a limited gallery viewing at the Nordic Center (5-8 p.m. March 12, 23 N. Lake Ave.), Gallery Zoom Talk (1-3 p.m. March 13) and The Power of Silver: Traditional Norwegian Jewelry (7-8 p.m. March 19).

Register at nordiccenterduluth.org.

Winter art lessons, dig it

The Duluth Art Institute's "For the Love of Winter" series continues this week with two ways to make the cold your muse. Snowshoeing with Vern Northrup is at noon March 6. The session will include snowshoeing at the sugar bush, a mindfulness practice, lessons about the land and a promise that attendees will see winter anew. Bring a camera. Northrup uses his phone and has been able to work wonders. Ann Klefstad, who is often called upon to create public art, will host a session on winter sculptures at 2 p.m. March 4 on Minnesota Point. The artist will guide the sculpture-making using found natural materials, and they will be dismantled and left behind at day's end. Christine Woods, director of the DAI, will talk about why the land is sacred for the Anishinaabe. Sign up at duluthartinstitute.org.