February 14, 2012, Tuesday - DMNA Board Meeting at Central Library

Time: 6:00pm

Location:  Central Library, Room N-202, 300 Nicollet Mall

Downtown Minneapolis Neighborhood Association

Agenda

February 13, 2012, Monday - Mike Birbiglia's My Girlfriend's Boyfriend at The Guthrie

Time: 7:30pm

Location:  Guthrie, Wurtele Thrust Stage, 818 South 2nd Street

In Mike Birbiglia's My Girlfriend's Boyfriend, Mike shares a lifetime of romantic blunders and miscues that most adults would spend a lifetime trying to forget. On this painfully honest journey, Birbiglia struggles to find reason in an area where it may be impossible to find - love.

Winner of the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Solo Show, My Girlfriend's Boyfriend was nominated for both the Drama Desk and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Solo Performance. The New York Times called the show "ridiculously enjoyable" and it was recognized as a Critic's Pick by The New York Times, Time Out New York, and New York Magazine. He has appeared in three Comedy Central Presents specials, a has been a guest on Conan O'Brien, David Letterman, Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon.

Mike Birbiglia is also a regular contributor on This American Life and The Bob and Tom Show. www.birbigs.com

February 12, 2012, Sunday - Chamber Music at MacPhail

Time:  7:00pm

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

Explore rich and diverse chamber music repertoire performed in the intimate setting of Antonello Hall at the MacPhail Center for Music. Experience the extraordinary talent of Minnesota Orchestra musicians in familiar and rarely performed works that will touch your heart and ignite your imagination. This is as close, intense and breathtaking as music gets.

RAVEL Sonata for Violin and Cello  
David Brubaker, violin
Eugena Chang, cello
 
MOZART Quartet for Oboe and Strings  
Basil Reeve, oboe
Gina DiBello, violin
Aaron Janse, viola
Katja Linfield, cello
 
RAVEL String Quartet  
Peter McGuire, violin
Jean Marker De Vere, violin
Aaron Janse, viola
Sachiya Isomura, cello

Please note: Seating in Antonello Hall is general admission. House opens approximately 45 minutes prior to concert time.

February 12, 2012, Sunday - MinnPost Book Club Blast at Open Book

Time:  1:30pm - 5:00pm

Location: The Open Book, 1011 Washington Avenue South

Third annual MinnPost Book Club Blast featuring Kate DiCamillo, the award-winning author of "Blink and Gollie," "The Magician's Elephant," "The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane," "The Tale of Despereaux," "Because of Winn-Dixie" and many other beloved and unforgettable tales.

More information and registration.

February 12, 2012, Sunday - Our Lady of Lourdes Annual Open House

Time: 9:00am - 1:00pm

Location: Our Lady of Lourdes Church, 1 Lourdes Place

The historic Our Lady of Lourdes Church invites you to its annual open house, featuring French meat pies for sale and complimentary beverages.

Come and enjoy hot slices and pick up whole frozen pies to go. Please call 612-379-2259 for more information. Masses will be held at 9:00am and 11:00am.

February 11, 2012, Saturday - 'Cake Mix and the Rise of Convenience Foods' at Mill City Museum Baking Lab

Time: 2:00pm

Location: Mill City Museum, 704 Second Street South

Cake Mix and the Rise of Convenience Foods

The postwar era of the late 1940s and 1950s ushered in a new era of kitchen conveniences. Using the example of the cake mix, this demonstration highlights the dramatic changes in cooking habits during this era and how those innovations affect our lives today. Visitors will learn about food history, sample cakes made from scratch and from mix, and take home a copy of a recipe.

Program is included with museum admission of $11 adults, $9 seniors and college students, $6 children ages 6-17; free for MHS members.

February 11, 2012, Saturday - Taste Twin Cities Downtown Minneapolis Skyway Tour

Time: 2:30pm

Location: 800 LaSalle Plaza (On Hennepin Avenue between 8th & 9th)

Taste Twin Cities Food Tours

While it's chilly outside, join us as we weave our way through the cozy corners of downtown Minneapolis skyways on a food adventure.  We will stroll through the "Broadway" Theatre District and enjoy VIP service as we visit some the newest and hottest award winning restaurant downtown has to offer.  The tour includes seeing the Minneapolis skyscraper that was modeled after the Washington Monument and visiting the famous Statue of Mary Richards tossing her hat.  Along the way we will also visit quaint eateries that have pride in local ownership; including a favorite since 1932.  You will participate in tea sampling, and learn the secrets behind the great food you are enjoying.  You'll leave the tour with a tasty experience of some of the best food finds Minneapolis has to offer all while learning history of downtown and soaking in the local culture.

Register.

February 11, 2012, Saturday - Roses are Red Family Workshop at MCBA

Time: 10:00am - noon

Location: Minnesota Center for Book Arts, 1011 Washington Avenue South

For families with children ages 2-10.

Begin this Valentine’s Day class with the story My Love for You by Susan L. Roth. Then discover how to turn pieces of paper into a variety of pop-up and pocket valentines. Decorate them with all sorts of stamps, stickers, doilies, colors and even real valentine candies. Yum!

Join Ellen Ferrari for Saturday mornings of family book arts fun! Each workshop starts off with a story and game to warm up your creativity and then dives into a book arts project. Workshops accommodate a range of developmental levels so that adults and children (or) adult/child teams may choose to work together or side-by-side. Each participant receives supplies to use during the workshop, but may choose to bring one set home if working with his or her partner. Ellen will provide older children with suggestions for extending their learning.

$30 ($27 members) per adult/child pair; $15 ($14) each additional participant.

February 11, 2012, Saturday - Live Music at Crooked Pint

Time: 9:00pm  $5 Cover

Location: Crooked Pint Ale House, 501 Washington Avenue South

Tonight: Tropical Zone Oechestra

February 11, 2012, Saturday - Live Music at Aster Cafe

Time: 9:00pm  Cover: $8

Location: Aster Cafe, 125 Main Stree SE

Tonight:  sasha maria

February 11, 2012, Saturday - Second Story Reading Series: Sheila O'Connor and Susan Runholt at The Loft

Time: 2:00pm

Location: The Loft, Performance Hall, 1011 Washington Avenue South

Second Story, the Loft's reading series for authors of children's and young adult literature, presents middle-grade authors Sheila O'Connor and Susan Runholt.

Sheila O’Connor is the award-winning author of three novels, Tokens of Grace, Where No Gods Came, and Sparrow Road. Booklist called Sparrow Road a “timeless piece of middle grade fiction” and Indie Bound selected it as Kids Indie Next Summer 2011 Pick. O’Connor teaches in Hamline University’s MFA Program, where she also serves as fiction editor for Water~Stone Review.

Susan Runholt is the author of the Kari and Lucas mysteries for middle grade readers, published by Viking, which critics have called the "Nancy Drew books for the 20th century." The series includes The Mystery of the Third Lucretia, which was a runner-up for the Debut Dagger Award by the Crime Writers' Association of Great Britain, Rescuing Seneca Crane, and Adventure at Simba Hill. She is finishing a standalone mystery/adventure for middle grade readers featuring two young dogsledders from Duluth. A Minnesota native, she lives in Saint Paul with her dog, Piper.

February 10, 2012, Friday - Live Music at Crooked Pint

Time: 9:00pm  $5 Cover

Location: Crooked Pint Ale House, 501 Washington Avenue South

Tonight:  9 Tomorrows

February 10, 2012, Friday - Live Music at Aster Cafe

Time: 9:00pm  Cover: $12

Location: Aster Cafe, 125 Main Stree SE

Tonight:  michael monroe

February 9, 2012, Thursday - Dog Day at the Dome

Time: 5:00pm - 9:00pm

Location:  The Metrodome (Enter the dome at Gate B)

Admission $5.00

◦It's $5.00 per dog / owner combo (up to 2 dogs).
◦If there are two people and one dog then the trio gets in for $5 as well.
◦However if there are 2 people and 2 dogs then each pair pays $5.00.
•Parking is free at the Metrodome parking lot and entrance is accessible at 5th Street and 11th Avenue.
•Plus, you get a free botle of water upon admission along with all sorts of goodies from vendors.
Cleaning supplies, hand sanitizer and water for the dogs will be provided.

Vendors and pet licensing will also be available during Dog Days.

Next date: Tuesday, February 28, from 5p to 9p

February 9, 2012, Thursday - Taste Twin Cities Downtown Minneapolis Skyway Tour

Time: 2:30pm

Location: 800 LaSalle Plaza (On Hennepin Avenue between 8th & 9th)

Taste Twin Cities Food Tours

While it's chilly outside, join us as we weave our way through the cozy corners of downtown Minneapolis skyways on a food adventure.  We will stroll through the "Broadway" Theatre District and enjoy VIP service as we visit some the newest and hottest award winning restaurant downtown has to offer.  The tour includes seeing the Minneapolis skyscraper that was modeled after the Washington Monument and visiting the famous Statue of Mary Richards tossing her hat.  Along the way we will also visit quaint eateries that have pride in local ownership; including a favorite since 1932.  You will participate in tea sampling, and learn the secrets behind the great food you are enjoying.  You'll leave the tour with a tasty experience of some of the best food finds Minneapolis has to offer all while learning history of downtown and soaking in the local culture.

Register.

February 8, 2012, Wednesday - A Sip of Science at Aster Cafe

Time: 5:30pm

Location: Aster Cafe, 125 SE Main Street

A Sip of Science: Rivers, Plate Tectonics, and People: Life on the Ganges-Brahmaputra Delta

Bangladesh, one of the world's most densely populated and impoverished nations, occupies an extremely dynamic and hazardous portion of Earth's surface.  The ongoing collision of tectonic plates between India and Asia produces very large earthquakes within and around Bangladesh. Meanwhile, one of the world's largest river systems, the Ganges-Brahmaputra, constantly changes the landscape through yearly monsoonal floods and channel shifting.
 
Researchers at the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory at the University of Minnesota are involved in a project to understand how the tectonic forces interact with these rivers to create the landscape on which 150 million people try to live their lives.  Join Dr. Andrew Petter, one of the SAFL scientists, in exploring life on a tectonically-active delta.

About Andrew:
 
Dr. Andrew Petter is a post-doctoral associate at the St. Anthony Falls Laboratory and the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Minnesota. He completed his bachelor degree in Geology at Rice University, and his masters and PhD in Geology at the University of Texas at Austin. His work looks to understand how active rivers and deltas create sedimentary deposits and conversely, how ancient sedimentary rocks can inform us about Earth's past.

A SIP OF SCIENCE 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. 

February 8, 2012, Wednesday - Margaret Wurtele Publication Reading at The Loft

Time: 7:00pm

Location: The Loft, Performance Hall, 1011 Washington Avenue South

Margaret Wurtele reads from her debut novel The Golden Hour.

The Golden Hour begins in the autumn of 1943 when German forces invade the peaceful vineyards and olive groves of Giovanna Bellini's village in Tuscany. At seventeen, she is at first intrigued with the dashing Nazi officers who have taken over her house and the school where she works. Her life changes wehn her brother joins the partisans and recruits her to smuggle food. What begins as a lark takes a drastic turn when she's asked to hide a wounded freedom fighter, who is not just a partisan but also a Jew.

Margaret Wurtele is the author of two memoirs Touching the Edge: A Mother's Path from Loss to Life and Taking Root: A Spiritual Memoir. Her career has centered on fundraising for the arts as development director for the St. Paul United Arts Fund, as managing director for the Dayton Hudson Foundation, and as a a board member of such Twin Cities arts organizations as the Guthrie Theater, the Minnesota Opera, and The Loft Literary Center. She and her husband divide their time between Minneapolis and California's Napa Valley, where they are the owners of Terra Valentine winery. The Golden Hour is her first novel.

February 8, 2012, Wednesday - 'That's Amore' Italian Wine Dinner at Spill the Wine

Seating Time: 6:30pm

Location:  Spill the Wine, 1101 Washington Avenue South

$45/person (tax included)

'That's Amore' Italian Wine Dinner - 4 course dinner featuring multiple Italian wine pairings featuring Alfonso Aiello with Wine Merchants and Chef Craig Johnson.

Reservations.

February 7, 2012, Tuesday - Charles Dickens Bicentenary Concert at Central Library

Time:  7:30pm - 9:00pm

Location: Central Library, Room N-361, 300 Nicollet Mall

Singers Maria Jette, Vern Sutton and pianist Dan Chouinard will celebrate Charles Dickens’ 200th birthday with an evening of words and song! They will share the rich musical legacy of the great English author, performing songs mentioned in and inspired by his novels.

February 7, 2012, Tuesday - 2012 Precinct Caucuses

Anyone who will be eligible to vote in the November 6, 2012, election can participate in a caucus in the precinct where they live.  They start at 7:00pm.

To find your caucus location, use the Secretary of State's Caucus Finder.  For our neighborhood, here are the addresses:

Green Party 
Edison High School, 700 22nd Avenue NE

Independence Party 
Dunn Brothers Coffee, 201 3rd Avenue South

Republican Party 
Hennepin County Government Center, 300 S 6th Street 

Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party 
Mill City Apartments, 225 Portland Ave  

Districts: 
Congressional:  05
MN Senate: 58
MN House:  58B 
County Commissioner:  04 
Judicial: 04 
Park: MINNEAPOLIS 3
School: MINNEAPOLIS 
1 DISTRICT 3