Artist's Quarter
409 St. Peter Street
Hamm Building
St. Paul, MN
Mondays at 9:00 pm until closing
The Artist's Quarter is a choice venue for poetry, performance art, and music. It has a nice-sized stage with a good sound system. It does not surprise me that many jazz bands play there and take advantage of its classy yet intimate atmosphere. Not only was the venue welcoming, but the boisterous crowd seemed enthusiastic about the mixed bag of poetry, performance art, comedy, and music of the evening.
The best act of the evening was Fluffy Singler (aka Laura Winton). Fluffy read surreal poetry inspired by people-watching and bus rides. One fine example of her work is "Bus Reverie," in which she declared, "Just before sunrise, you can hear everything." Fluffy and a friend also gave a Dadaist spam slam. These hilarious, automated poems were gleaned through random spam email messages Fluffy received. Unfortunately, Fluffy Singler was just visiting the Twin Cities for a few weeks, though she might come back from New York for other spontaneous performances.
Other acts included a solo saxophonist, poems about bedrooms, a "Stairway to Heaven" sing-a-long, and acoustic guitarists. The announcer for the night sang some Irish ditties and antiwar songs. At the end of the night, my cheek muscles ached from grinning the entire evening and my stomach cramped from laughter—two signs of a good time.
Blue Nile
East Franklin Avenue
Minneapolis, MN
Monday and Tuesday nights at 10:00 pm until closing
The Blue Nile, a long-standing Ethiopian restaurant on East Franklin Avenue, has a cozy little stage area for bands and readings. From what I have observed, Monday nights seem to attract poets, and Tuesday nights are more music-oriented. The poetry read ranges from spoken-word to verse, and I was happy to see the variety of styles read. Tuesday nights' music seems to vary from rap to modern/alternative folk rock. The announcers for the open mike nights were friendly and respectful, and after some the open mike performances were done, the house band jammed funk tunes. Another thing I liked about the open mike nights is that the audience was very receptive and supportive of the people performing. Going to some of those nights seemed like visiting a small artists' community. I would recommend these open mike nights to anyone who would like to test his/her literary or musical prowess.