February 6, 2012, Monday - Open Streets Planning Meeting at Open Book

Time: 6:00pm - 7:30pm

Location: Open Book, Room 203, 1011 Washington Avenue South

Remember when two and a half miles of Lyndale Ave S were opened to people of all ages to enjoy walking, bicycling, skating and socializing? Do you want to help make it happen again in 2012? There will be a monthly meeting Monday, February 6, 6-7:30pm at Open Book (1011 Washington Avenue South), Room 203—please come on by!

For more information, contact: openstreets@mplsbike.org

Minneapolis Bicycle Coalition
Our goal is to make Minneapolis better for bicycling in all corners of the city.  We have a track record of success that has helped lead to new bike lanes, new bike parking, the hiring of the first-ever Minneapolis bicycle and pedestrian coordinator, and hosting the first-ever Minneapolis Open Streets event.

February 5, 2012, Sunday - Suzuki Seniors Recital at MacPhail

Time:  12:30pm

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

Help celebrate the accomplished musical journeys of nine Suzuki students as they enter their final semester in MacPhail's Suzuki department.

Suzuki Talent Education

In the Suzuki Talent Education program, instrumental study starts with children as young as 3 years old. You take an active role with your child in the education process by attending all lessons and groups, as well as practicing daily with your child at home. This is fundamental in the Suzuki method, as it is based on the belief that young children can learn to play music in the same way they easily learn their native language – through listening, repetition, encouragement and parent involvement. The initial process of learning to play by ear gives the student a strong foundation for note reading, an important part of the Suzuki method.

MacPhail’s Suzuki faculty is deeply committed and passionate about helping students experience the joy of music. Our personalized placement process ensures that your child will be placed with a teacher who best matches your child’s learning style, personality and goals.

February 4, 2012, Saturday - Washburn A Mill Tour at Mill City Museum

Times: 1:00pm

Location: Mill City Museum, 704 2nd Street South

Fee: $14 adults, $12 seniors and college students, $10 children ages 6-17 and MHS members. Tour includes museum admission.

Reservations: recommended, call 612-341-7555 or register online

Take an in-depth look at the historic Washburn A Mill complex and the award-winning Mill City Museum building on this guided tour. A museum interpreter will take visitors into the building’s many nooks and crannies, highlighting the lives of the men and women who worked there, how the building functioned during its peak flour milling years and the many changes to the building over time. Also covered will be how the mill ruin was converted to a museum and office building.

Although many parts of the A mill can be explored on a self-guided basis during a regular museum visit, this is the only opportunity for a guided tour through the entire museum building, and the only chance to see some of its non-public spaces. The tour includes admission to the museum gallery as well as the Flour Tower show.

February 4, 2012, Saturday - Print Your Own Valentine's Day Cards Family Workshop at MCBA

Time: 10:00am - noon

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

For families with children ages 6 and up.

Who is your Valentine? Show them some love this year with a hand-made, printed Valentine's Day card using our Vandercook printing presses, then embellish with rubber stamps with Valentine's Day messages. Envelopes provided!

$36 ($33 members) per adult/child pair; $18 ($17) each additional participant.

February 4, 2012, Saturday - Live Music at Crooked Pint

Time: 9:00pm  $5 Cover

Location: Crooked Pint Ale House, 501 Washington Avenue South

Tonight:  Swag

February 4, 2012, Saturday - Faculty Recital at MacPhail

Time:  3:00pm

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

MacPhail’s faculty concerts offer an opportunity to hear exceptional performances from our outstanding faculty of teaching artists.  With more than 174 faculty members teaching 35 instruments, many faculty members use these concerts as an opportunity for collaboration and innovation.  All faculty concerts are free to the public.

Join us for an evening of music including works by Handel, Villa-Lobos, and Paganini, performed by faculty and guests in solo and chamber ensembles.  Faculty performers include:

Momoko Tanno, soprano
Takako Seimiya Senn, trumpet
Gail Olszewski, piano
Karin Valdizan, violin
Teresa Campbell, violin
Emily Hagen, viola
Joe Kaiser, cello
Sue Ruby, piano
Tom Pieper, bass
Karen Pieper, piano;
Tom Pletscher, jazz piano
Jeff Lambert, electric guitar and vocals
Susana Pinto, electric keyboard and piano
Justin Hartke, bass
Rebecca Hass, piano
Jeremy Swider, violin
Joey Clark, voice

February 4, 2012, Saturday - Live Music at Aster Cafe

Time: 9:00pm  Cover: $10

Location: Aster Cafe, 125 Main Stree SE

Tonight: six mile grove

February 4, 2012, Saturday - History Day Hullabaloo at Central Library

Time: 11:00am – 3:00pm

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

Grades 6-12. 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.
Presented in partnership with Minnesota Historical Society.

February 3, 2012, Friday - Live Music at Crooked Pint

Time: 9:00pm  $5 Cover

Location: Crooked Pint Ale House, 501 Washington Avenue South

Tonight:  Hookers $ Blow

February 3, 2012, Friday - Live Music at Aster Cafe

Time: 9:00pm  Cover: $8

Location: Aster Cafe, 125 Main Stree SE

Tonight:  billy johnson w. james moors

February 3, 2012, Friday - Guitar Workshop: Fingerstyle Guitar with Bobby Stanton at MacPhail

Time: 6:30pm - 8:30pm

Location: MacPhail Center for Music, Room 126, 501 2nd Street South

Guitar Workshop: Fingerstyle Guitar with Bobby Stanton

The clinic, with McNally Smith College faculty Bobby Stanton, will be an overview of the development of the "Fingerstyle" genre. The styles covered will range from earliest beginnings in Kentucky to modern Fingerstyle.  Participants will also learn about Dead Thumb Blues, Travis Style, banjo on the guitar, open string ideas and harmonics.

Stanton will also give a brief explanation of the necessary requirements for study at McNally Smith College and what students should do to prepare for an education there.

Admission $5 (Free for MacPhail students)

February 1, 2012, Wednesday - City of Minneapolis Climate Action Plan Kickoff at Central Library

Time: 5:30pm to 8:00pm

Location: Central Library, Pohlad Hall, 300 Nicollet Mall

In 2012 the City of Minneapolis will be updating its Climate Action Plan - a roadmap to help the City achieve its emissions reduction targets.  Attendees will learn about the history and science of climate change in Minnesota, the health impacts of climate change, and the process Minneapolis will conduct to update the plan.

Speakers include:

Dr. Mark Seeley

Mark Seeley is a climatologist and tenured professor in the Department of Soil, Water, and Climate at the University of Minnesota.  He is a regular commentator on Minnesota Public Radio, and coordinates weather and climate education programs with the National Weather Service and the Minnesota State Climatology Office.  Dr. Seeley is the author of Minnesota Weather Almanac (a 200-year history of weather in the state), and co-author of Voyageur Skies: Weather and Wilderness in Minnesota's National Park.  Dr. Seeley has been awarded the Sigma Xi Science Communication and Education Award, the Mn/DOT Research Partnership Award for his work with the deployment of living snow fences, and most recently the University of Minnesota Extension Director's Award for Distinguished Faculty.

Kristin Raab

Kristin Raab is the Climate Change Project Director for the Minnesota Department of Health.  She directs a program to prepare Minnesota for the public health impacts of climate change. Ms. Raab’s work focuses on enhancing plans and policies related to the built environment that encourage sustainability and improve people’s health. Ms. Raab serves as an adjunct assistant professor at the University of Minnesota, Department of Landscape Architecture, and has co-taught a course on sustainable site design.

Registration will begin at 5:30 pm, with the program starting at 6 pm.  Pohlad Hall is on the second floor of the library, near the Nicollet Mall entrance.  Light refreshments will be served. 

Parking is available under the Central Library by entering on the 3rd Street side. Attendees arriving after 6 pm should use the Nicollet Mall entrance to the library.

January 31, 2012, Tuesday - Last Day of Year-End Clearance Sale at MCBA

Time:  10:00 - 9:00pm

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

An opportunity to get you in the Valentine's Day spirit -- stop by The Shop at MCBA to see our great display of new handmade cards and gifts, artwork and other great tokens of your affection.

Grab a little something for your loved ones, then check out the last days of our Holiday Super Sale -- our year-end clearance sale ends on Tuesday, January 31 (open late 10am-9pm)! Don't miss this last chance to get crazy savings on handmade cards, ornaments, gift wrap, stationery sets, and great stocking stuffer items like notepads, magnets and constructable toys, before they all disappear.

The Shop is also proud to introduce a wide variety of brand new artist's books -- stop in and browse the shelves, and also drool over our special display in the Open Book Lobby display cases!

January 31, 2012, Tuesday - Talk of the Stacks with Gabrielle Hamilton at Central Library

Time: 7:00pm

Location: Pohlad Hall at Central Library, 300 Nicollet Mall

Gabrielle Hamilton is the chef/owner of Prune restaurant in New York’s East Village. She received an MFA in fiction writing from the University of Michigan, and her work has appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, GQ, Bon Appétit, Saveur, and Food & Wine. She has appeared on The Martha Stewart Show and the Food Network, among other television programs. Her memoir, Blood, Bones & Butter, is an unflinching and lyrical memoir about her unconventional journey as a cook for the last twenty years.

“I will read this book to my children and then burn all the books I have written for pretending to be anything even close to this.”— Chef Mario Batali

Program is free and open to the public. Seating is first-come, first-served. Program begins at 7 PM. Doors open at 6:15 PM. Book sale and signing follow presentation. For more information: 612.543.8107.

A program of Friends of the Hennepin County Library, with volunteer support from Friends of the Minneapolis Central Library. Premier sponsor: The Private Client Reserve of U.S. Bank. Supporting sponsor: Dorsey and Whitney LLP. Additional support provided by Marquette Hotel, Minn Post and Magers and Quinn Booksellers.

Talk of the Stacks

January 30, 2012, Monday - Cities 97 Live Broadcast at Crooked Pint

Time: Live broadcast from 3:00pm to 7:00pm, with music from 5:00pm to 6:00pm.

Location: Crooked Pint Ale House, 501 Washington Avenue South

Cities 97 will present national recording artists Andy Grammer and Eric Hutchinson in this live broadcast at the Crooked Pint.

January 29, 2012, Sunday - Brownie Demo at Mill City Museum Baking Lab

Time: 2:00pm

Location: Mill City Museum, 704 Second Street South

Scratch vs. Mix: Which Brownie is Better?

See how history is revealed in food in the Baking Lab. Museum staff demonstrate making brownies from scratch versus a mix and share the history of the development of baking mixes. Visitors will be able to taste the results and vote on their favorite, learn home baking tips and take home a copy of the recipe.

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

January 28, 2012, Saturday - Live Music at Crooked Pint

Time: 9:00pm  $5 Cover

Location: Crooked Pint Ale House, 501 Washington Avenue South

Tonight:  Salsa Del Soul

January 28, 2012, Saturday - How'd They Do That Workshop at the Guthrie: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Time: 9:00am 

Location: Guthrie, Wurtele Thrust Stage

What was the inspiration for the set? Was the play rewritten in rehearsals? Aren't those wigs itchy? Through these eye-opening workshops, you can learn how the Guthrie's artists and staff create a production - from early development and designs to rehearsal, costume fittings and staging of the play.

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof Panelists include:
Richard Girtain, Technical Director
Patricia Olive, Props Manager
Carla Steen, dramaturg for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

January 27, 2012, Friday - Live Music at Crooked Pint

Time: 9:00pm  $5 Cover

Location: Crooked Pint Ale House, 501 Washington Avenue South

Tonight:  Dan Israel and Al Grande Band

January 27, 2012, Friday - Live Music at Aster Cafe

Time: 9:00pm  Cover: $5

Location: Aster Cafe, 125 Main Stree SE

Tonight:  Jack Klatt & The Cat Swingers