Fraters Libertas

Here, There, and Everywhere

The fun thing about ferreting out instances of liberal bias at the Star Tribune is that you can find examples of it in nearly every nook and cranny of the paper. Take today's Arts & Entertainment Free Time section. (Please!)

In all my many years of reading the paper I can't recall an instance where an art exhibit in town was really panned or its legitimacy questioned. Of course that was before the Minneapolis Institute of Arts dared to feature an exhibit on guns (gasp!):

Should you be naive enough to imagine that the 65 guns now on view at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts are really just fancy-pants decorative art -- as the museum's promotional materials claim -- the gun sights will set you straight.

That's right these guns are about more than art. They KILL. Lest you forget that for even a moment reviewer Mary Abbe is quick to offer reminders:

Some of the early guns are indeed beautifully ornamented, with gold and silver inlays and fine carving typical of 17th-and 18th-century furniture -- not surprising, because the same artisans often made furniture and weapons. The bulk of the show, however, has no such aesthetic appeal, and quickly deteriorates into a gloomy display of killing tools.

Now perhaps I'm just a sick right wing bastage but a gloomy display of killing tools actually sounds intriguing. But for Mary Abbe it's about more than guns. It's the people who owned the guns:

The show is, in other words, impeccably grounded in cultural history and museum practice. Even so, it feels wrong in both time and place. Minnesota's recent gun-law changes make the museum look especially hypocritical. Like most cultural organizations, it bans guns and displays signs to that effect at each entrance. Yet the show celebrates and fetishizes certain types of guns: rich people's.

Guns and rich people. Can it get any more evil? Of course it can:

The institute's gun show, by contrast, is nothing more than celebratory propaganda hiding behind a thin veneer of historical gimcrackery. To take the most obvious example, it touts the talents of contemporary gunsmiths but says not a word about the Eurocentric classism inherent in a blood sport whose chief practitioners are rich white men. In Britain today, such traditional blood sports as fox hunting pit rural against urban voters and raise screaming newspaper headlines. No such brouhahas cloud the sunny days of happy shooting at the institute.

Now Mary's got guns, rich white men, and Western Civilization itself in her crosshairs (no pun intended). But wait something's missing. I can't quite put my finger on it but I know it should be included:

There are plenty of places where a historical gun show could be contextualized so it made more sense: Colonial Williamsburg; a Western Americana museum; a hunting museum. This show's heavy emphasis on contemporary guns catapults it into the current political debates and makes the Minneapolis museum appear to be a pawn in the gun lobby's maneuverings.

Of course. The epitome of darkness. The gun lobby. The NRA. Mary hits for the cycle by knocking that one out of the park. Syl Jones is waiting at home plate to give her a high five.

I have a hunch that had the art exhibit featured such works as say, a crucifix in piss, Mary would have been much more open minded about it.

But we're not through with the Free Time section just yet. How about some snide political commentary mixed in with your music courtesy of one Jon Bream?:

Norah Jones pulled at her long hair at Northrop Auditorium on Saturday and declared, "It's hot in here," echoing the refrain of a famous rapper. "I guess you don't have a.c. in Minn-e-sooo-tah," she said in her best "Fargo" accent. (A Northrop spokesman said a valve was inadvertently turned off due to an operator error.) The New York resident/Dallas native didn't realize that she was complaining directly to Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who was there as a fan, and not to receive a lecture about the inadequacies of University of Minnesota facilities. (Little did he know that this would be just the first time he'd be sweating in public over the next week.) Maybe now the guv will think twice about slashing the U budget. And maybe the U will send Jones to the Capitol to lobby, um, serenade the lawmakers. (J.B.)

And there's this tidbit from Chris Riemenschneider, a decent music writer (as opposed to the aforementioned Jon Bream) who just can't pass up a chance to take a potshot at the POTUS:

Folks in my former hometown of Austin, Texas, are all abuzz about Minneapolis this week after Austin native Bob Schneider's scheduled performance at the Basilica Block Party was canceled because of his sordid past with longtime side band the Scabs.

The Texans think of us Minnesotans as a bunch of prudes. Vetoing a guy who sings a tune called "Vagina" seems less embarrassing to them than voting a guy named Bush into office three times (twice as governor). Doesn't the fact that we throw a beer bash for a church fundraiser prove we have flexible values? Maybe too flexible.

I guess we can add Chris to the list of Texans (including Natalie Mains) now officially ashamed of their native state.

Finally on a completely non bias related matter I have to throw this nugget from Riemenschneider's column out there for JB Doubtless to chew on:

If you don't believe in rock 'n' roll fantasies anymore, then you probably haven't heard of local cult figure Michael Yonkers, whose fuzzed-out album "Microminiature Love" will be released Tuesday on Sub Pop Records after 35 years on the shelf.

That's right, the Seattle label that discovered Nirvana and Soundgarden is interested in an obscure, experimental Twin Cities guitarist and singer who was a buzz act during the Johnson administration.

"If this stuff had been heard, we think it would have influenced the Stooges, Velvet Underground and the acts we love," said Sub Pop's Andy Kotowicz, who signed Yonkers.

Woulda, coulda, shoulda. Imagine the impact that Yonker's album might have had on one of JB's favs, The Clash?