December 12, 2010, Sunday - Guitar and Songwriting Master Class: Jeff Lambert at MacPhail

Time: 1:00pm

Location:  MacPhail Center for Music, Room 127, 501 South 2nd Street

Cost: $5 General Admission at the door; free to MacPhail Students

At this workshop, MacPhail faculty Jeff Lambert will compose a song with material provided by the student(s), so they can see the songwriting process. By the end of the workshop, Jeff will create one or two completed songs. Students of any level are welcome. Jeff will discuss song form (with examples), how to choose chords (what chords belong in what keys), lyrics and rhyming. Students may actively participate, or merely watch and learn–bring your guitar and songwriting ideas!

December 11, 2010, Saturday - History Day Hullabaloo at Minneapolis Central Library

Time: 11am–3pm

Location: Minneapolis Central Library, Room N-361

Grade 6 and up. Get personalized help with narrowing your topic, developing your paper, identifying primary resources and finding the best library materials. Librarians, Minnesota History Day staff and mentors from the University of Minnesota will help you make sense of your project. Plenty of time for questions.

This project is funded with money from Minnesota's Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. Presented in collaboration with the Minnesota Historical Society.

December 11, 2010, Saturday - Open Studio: Paste Paper Class at MCBA

Time:  drop in 10am-4pm

Location: 1011 Washington Avenue South
 
Some experience necessary.

Join us in the paper studio for a day of fellowship and fun as you mix pigments, dampen, and pattern papers! Fee covers paste and methylcellulose, pigments, and some patterning materials. Supply your own paper or purchase it in The Shop.

$15 ($10 members)

Register for this workshop.

December 11, 2010, Saturday - Ring Out! Handbell Choir Holiday Concert at MacPhail

Time: 5:00pm

Location: MacPhail Center for Music, Antonello Hall, 501 South 2nd Street

Admission:  Free

December 10, 2010, Friday - Jodi Hills Book Signing at CorAzoN

Time:  5:00pm-10:00pm

Location: Corazon, 1026 Washington Avenue South

Join author Jodi Hills for a book signing of her latest work "friend".

About the author:
Jodi Hills operates her own studio - Studio J - in Minneapolis.  The studio features her collection of "visual verse" created with the intent to keep people guessing, praying, hoping and laughing.  Through her books, Hills explores the days we thrive, and the ones we survive, finding the beauty of both the tears and laughter along the way.

About the book:
Jodi Hills' newest title, friend, is written for anyone who has touched your life with friendship.  This bookd provides a way to honor and give thanks to those precious people you call friend.

December 10, 2010, Friday - Junior Honors Recital at MacPhail

Time: 7:30pm

Location:  MacPhail Center for Music, Antonello Hall, 501 South 2nd Street

Cost: Free

MacPhail holds four honor recitals per year to celebrate its students demonstrating the highest performance level. Performers are selected through competitive auditions and are honored by formal invitations and a special reception.

December 9, 2010, Thursday - Hitting the High Notes 3rd Annual Dinner at MacPhail

Time:  6:00pm Reception
           7:00pm Dinner and Program

Location: MacPhail Center for Music, Antonello Hall

Cost: $75 per person, Cash bar

Gather with friends of MacPhail for an intimate evening of music, awards and recognition.
Toast David O’Fallon as we honor his eight years of leadership. Join us in celebrating the high notes of the past year at MacPhail.
 
RSVP to Amanda Schroder, Schroder.amanda@macphail.org or 612-767-5343.

* * Space is limited, please RSVP by November 29, 2010 * *

December 9, 2010, Thursday - The Faces of New America: Our Evolving Identity at Minneapolis Central Library

Time: 6:30pm

Location: Minneapolis Central Library, Pohlad Hall

Explore the issues of identity, citizenship and how we relate to others. Photographer Jila Nikpay will discuss her portrait project of immigrant youth. Moderator Marlina Gonzalez will lead a discussion with adolescents whose portraits are in the exhibit about their immigration journeys and the struggle for acceptance in America.

This project is funded with money from Minnesota's Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. Presented in collaboration with the MELSA (Metropolitan Library Service Agency).

December 9, 2010, Thursday - Baby Storytime at Central Library

Time: 10:00am

Location: Minneapolis Central Library, Children's Library

For children from birth to 24 months. Delight and stimulate your baby's senses with books and music. Build brain power.

December 9, 2010, Thursday - Reading by Keith Hollihan at The Loft

Time:  7:00pm

Location: The Loft, 1011 Washington Avenue South

The Loft presents a publication reading by 2010 Minnesota Writers’ Career Initiative Grant winner Keith Hollihan for his debut novel The Four Stages of Cruelty.

About Keith Hollihan:

Keith Hollihan lives in St. Paul, where his wife, artist Rosemary Williams, is a professor at a local university. After ending a short career as a business analyst, Hollihan works as a freelance writer and ghostwriter, and has produced over a dozen nonfiction business books.

About The Four Stages of Cruelty:

Ditmarsh Penitentiary holds many secrets within its walls, and the inmates aren’t the only ones who keep them. Given absolute authority, the guards often slip across the divide from law enforcement to criminality. Officer Kali Williams tries her best to stay on the right side of the law. Then she meets an inmate named Joshua who claims that another prisoner has drawn an elaborate comic book that holds a guide to Ditmarsh’s criminal underworld. Intense and arresting, The Four Stages of Cruelty is a powerful debut for fans of Umberto Eco and Carlos Ruiz Zafón.

“This is one intense book—brutally sad and heartbreakingly brutal, and filled with precise, vivid detail that brings the world of Ditmarsh Penitentiary vividly to life. I found it impossible to put down, not only because the plot is kinetic but because of Hollihan’s deep understanding of moral and emotional complexities.” – Dan Chaon, author of Await Your Reply and Among the Missing

December 9, 2010, Thursday - Central Riverfront Forum Presentation and Open House: Restoring the Falls, and Mysteries Under Main Street at Mill City Museum

Time: 6:30pm-8:30pm

Location: Mill City Museum

Come learn how a “new” waterfall can be restored to the Mississippi’s East Bank near downtown and be the first to see inside the mysterious, magnificent tunnel under Main Street. A lot is happening on the riverfront, and you can be part of it. Convened quarterly by the Minneapolis Riverfront Corporation, the Central Riverfront Forum engages people to help shape a vibrant, vital community in the St. Anthony Falls Heritage Zone.

December 8, 2010, Wednesday - Breakfast with a Preservationist at the Mill City Museum

Time:  8:00am to 9:00am 

Location: Mill City Musuem, ADM Conference Room (6th Floor)

Join Preserve Minneapolis for their Annual Year End Invitational: Standing Out in the Open But Who Sees It (an ordinary building you particularly appreciate).

Following on their successful “This Place Matters” presentation from February, they need your participation for thier last BWAP of 2010. It may take you a bit of time to recall “that building – or place” which somehow appeals to you, seems to have a place in its surroundings, but has no public-recognition.  BWAP is asking you to send them the modest and humble place that appeals to you. Email them a picture of that place, or give them an address and a name, and they will gladly go out and shoot it.

They will present an array of images, selected by people just like you, along with your fave. They will ask each person who submitted to describe why their building or place appeals to them. Please send your place or building to: egales@preserveminneapolis.org by Wednesday, December 1, 2010. Parking is available at meters on neighboring streets and in a parking garage across from the museum.

Cost:  Free

December 8, 2010, Wednesday - Special Spoken Word Performance by Imani Woomera at The Loft

Time:  7:00pm

Location: The Loft, 1011 Washington Avenue South

Cost: $12 General, $6 Students

Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1981 and raised in Nairobi, Kenya, from the age of 11, Imani has worked as a multidisciplinary artist since 2000. As a performer, teacher, radio presenter, author, producer, recording artist, and cofounder of the Slam Africa Movement, Imani has played an integral role in the spread of the spoken word art form in East Africa. She is the author and producer of two poetry books and spoken word audio albums, Morning Rain (2006), and Pearls (2009).

Portion of proceeds go to the nonprofit organization, the KGSA Foundation, which provides free secondary education, artistic programming, and athletic opportunities to young women living in the slums of Kibera Kenya.

December 8, 2010, Wednesday - Science Happy Hour at Aster Cafe

Time: 5:30 pm

Location: Aster Café, 125 SE Main Street, St. Anthony Main

A Sip of Science: A Science Happy Hour - Weather vs. Climate: A local perspective.

This series, featuring discussions on the second Wednesday of every month, bridges the gap between science and culture in a setting that bridges the gap between brain and belly. Food, beer and learning are on the menu in a happy hour forum that offers the opportunity to talk with researchers about their current work, its implications, and its fascinations.

The December topic will focus on weather and climate. Are summers in Minnesota really getting more hot and humid? Are we experiencing more frequent thunderstorms than we used to? If so, what does it all mean? How do we put our day-to-day weather experience into the context of a changing Minnesota Climate? University of Minnesota Climate Professor and State Extension Climatologist/Meteorologist Mark Seeley has the lowdown on the differentiation between weather and climate and what climate change has in store for the state of Minnesota.

Join us for happy hour at Aster Café to learn the local perspective. No cover charge; food and drink will be available for purchase.  Click for more information.

December 7, 2010, Tuesday - Public Tour of Minneapolis Central Library

Time: 6:30pm

Location: Minneapolis Central Library, 300 Nicollet Mall

Tour this stunning Cesar Pelli structure with a green roof, an art gallery, special collections, four-story atrium and much more!

Register Online, or call 952-847-8000.

December 7, 2010, Tuesday - Riverfront Design Competition “Designer Ask” Input Community Meeting

Time: 7:00pm

Location: Minneapolis Park and Recreation Board Headquarters, 2117 West River Road North

The public is invited to provide input to the four design teams working on proposals for the Minneapolis Riverfront Design Competition through an on-line or printed survey, as well as at the above community meeting.  

More Info

December 6, 2010, Monday - American Red Cross Blood Donor Center Open

Location: American Red Cross Minneapolis Blood Dononation Center, 1201 West River Parkway

Time: Noon-6:00pm

Donation Types: Blood

Phone: 800-448-3543

December 6, 2010, Monday - Saint Anthony Falls Heritage Board Meeting at Mill City Museum

Time:  3:30pm-5:00pm

Location: Mill City Museum

You are invited to attend this public meeting of Saint Anthony Falls Heritage Board.
 
A note of interest is that this will be the final meeting for Chair Nina Archabal. She will be honored for her 22 years of exceptional service to, and accomplishments for, the Saint Anthony Falls Heritage Board.
 
There are several exciting updates planned, including a presentation of the East Bank visualization project, consisting of a computer fly-through model and photographic documentation of the Pillsbury A Mill tunnels.
 
Please RSVP to Pat Naidl at patrick.naidl@mnhs.org to confirm your attendance.

Meeting Agenda:

I.   Welcome and Call to Order   
II.  *Approval of the June 28, 2010 minutes (Addendum I)
III. Report on Minneapolis Riverfront Design Competition
IV.  Presentation of East Bank Energy Center Documentation Project
V.   Brief updates on projects
      a. Greening the Riverfront Series
      b. East Bank Coordination
         1. East Bank Falls
         2. Dakota Conference and Consultation
      c. Timeline for Historic District Design Guidelines
VI.  Farewell to Nina Archabal
VII. Adjourn

December 5, 2010, Sunday - Our Lady of Lourdes Church Bake and Craft Sale

Time:  9:00am–1:00pm

Our Lady of Lourdes Church, One Lourdes Place

Our Lady of Lourdes Church, the oldest continuously operating church in the city, invites you to their annual Bake and Craft Show. This event will feature their famous French Meat Pies for sale, baked goods, crafts, silent auction baskets and a raffle. You can enjoy your meat pie there or take it “to go.”

There will be free parking in the Riverplace underground ramp.  Call 612-379-2259 for information.

December 5, 2010, Sunday - Vikings vs. Buffalo Bills

Time:  Noon