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12 THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2015 507 MAGAZINE • www.PB507.com events ENTERTAINMENT Entertainment Briefs Arts group to host lecture Rochester Friends of the Minneapolis Institute of Arts will host a lecture Nov. 19 at the Rochester Golf and Country Club, 3100 Country Club Road SW. Patrick Noon, a curator at the institute, will talk about “Delacroix’s Influence: The Rise of Modern Art from Cezanne to Van Gogh.” Coffee is served at 10 a.m., with the lecture at 10:30 a.m. The public is welcome. Mayo High School moves to ‘Chicago’ Mayo Stage Door will present the hit musical “Chicago” Nov. 19 through Nov. 22 at Mayo High School, 1420 11th Ave. SE. The acting program at Mayo is marking its 50th anniversary season this academic year. The school opened in 1966. “Our program is, first, learning theater, so that students are empowered with growing skills and talents,” said Amy Monson, Mayo Stage Door director. “Along the way we hope to produce quality shows of a caliber that surpasses our audiences’ expectations of high school stage.” Performances are at 7 p.m. Nov. 19- 21, and at 1:30 p.m. Nov. 22. Tickets are $12 and $9, and are available at www.showtix4u.com. For this production, the lobby will be decorated as if part of the stage, there will be a photo booth with show props available and Chicago-related concessions will be offered. Crossings hosts holiday art fair ZUMBROTA — Eight artists will display their work as part of the Holiday Art Fair Nov. 20 through Nov. 22 at Crossings at Carnegie, 320 East Ave., Zumbrota. The artists are Amy Brooks, Jorie LePlavy, Lynn Lentz, Chris Whillock, Jenny Nunnelee, Ian Baldry, Liz Plambeck and Sheila Kehren. Hot cider and sweet treats will be served, and the current exhibits of mixed-media work by Missy Hagen and ceramics by Amy Cass will be displayed. Hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Nov. 20, 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Nov. 21, and 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Nov. 22. — Tom Weber Contributed photo The Shaun Johnson Big Band Experience performs with The Rochester Symphony Orchestra at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 21 at John Marshall High School Big band, orchestra pairing quite an ‘experience’ By Tom Weber weber@postbulletin.com The musical partnership between Jere Lantz and Shaun Johnson had an unlikely start. “I came into the hall and saw a guy setting up mics and chairs, and then I was introduced to this guy and it was Shaun Johnson,” said Lantz, director of the Rochester Symphony Orchestra. “He’s that kind of guy. I like working with someone who has his feet on the ground and his head in an artistic universe.” That’s good, because Lantz and Johnson are working together on the Nov. 21 concert that combines the orchestra with the Shaun Johnson Big Band Experience. It’s a relatively new undertaking for Johnson, best known as a singer with the a cappella group Tonic Sol-fa. His Big Band Experience has performed Christmas shows in recent years, but playing in front of a full orchestra is something different. Johnson and his jazz band have done this once previously, with the South Dakota Symphony in Sioux Falls. “When there’s an orchestra behind you,” he said, “there’s nothing to describe it. It’s so inspiring.” But even that Sioux Falls concert probably would not have happened without the assistance of Lantz and the Rochester symphony. It all started last year, when Johnson had some music charts for jazz band and orchestra arranged by Dean Sorenson, a jazz instructor at the University of Minnesota. Sorenson advised Johnson to go through the charts with a symphony before doing a concert. “He said, ‘You really have to find out what works and doesn’t work for the musicians,’” Johnson said. Sorenson suggested the Rochester symphony as a test orchestra. “So we went down there,” Johnson said. “It was an amazing exercise. It was so much fun to see Jere direct. He has so much passion.” Johnson’s not the first to come up with the idea of combining a jazz band with an orchestra. “I love the sound of it,” he said. “But I don’t want to do it if you can’t bring something to it that’s your own. Take some songs people don’t expect.” For instance, Johnson’s jazz band will play the theme from “Spider- IF YOU GO What The Rochester Symphony Orchestra and Shaun Johnson’s Big Band Experience When 7:30 p.m. Nov. 21 Where John Marshall High School auditorium, 1510 14th St. NW, Rochester. Tickets $30 and $20 adults, $5 youth; 507-286- 8742 Man” with the orchestra. “That’s a different piece for a big band to do, but definitely something different for an orchestra to do,” Johnson said. They’ll also do a more traditional Billie Holiday piece, Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” and Michael Buble’s “Haven’t Met You Yet.” “We do pieces from the ‘30s and pieces from less than five years ago,” Johnson said.
events ENTERTAINMENT 507 MAGAZINE • www.PB507.com THURSDAY, OCTOBER 29, 2015 13 ‘Winter’ is coming — to Rochester Civic Theatre By Matthew Stolle mstolle@postbulletin.com Singer and songwriter Dave Simonett will be shifting musical gears when his band Dead Man Winter arrives in Rochester to perform as part of the Americana Showcase performance series at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 18, at Rochester Civic Theatre. Opening the show will be Brandon Sampson, Barry Nelson and John Wheeler, of Six Mile Grove. The bandmates have indicated they plan to do something new and experimental during the opening, but aren’t revealing it until the night of the performance. For the past two weeks, Simonett and his Duluth-based band Trampled by Turtles have been touring the West Coast, so Wednesday’s performance will represent a musical change of pace for the talented lead singer and guitarist. Dead Man Winter has been a sideproject of Simonett’s, a departure from the foot-stomping, frenetic style of bluegrass music that has become Trampled by Turtles’ trademark. Dead Man Winter’s lyrics, all written by Simonett, show the songwriter’s mellower side, more introspective and mournful. One writer described those lyrics as being evocative of the “bleak and harsh” frozen landscape that “only Minnesotans can love.” The name of the band does that pretty well, too. “The drums and amps ringing in the back of my head have been getting louder, and the desire to play, write and record in a way removed from what I’ve been up to has been getting stronger,” Simonett said once in explaining Dead Man Winter’s genesis. While different, Dead Man’s sound is often viewed as complementary to TBT. It includes fellow Turtles fiddler Ryan Young and bassist-vocalist Tim Saxhaug. Other non-TBT members include guitarist Erik Koskinen, a previous performer at Americana Showcase events, and drummer Noah Levy. In a previous interview, Simonett acknowledged that the themes running through the Dead Man’s songs of winter and cold are rooted in where he was raised and lived. IF YOU GO What Dead Man Winter at the Americana Showcase When 7:30 p.m. on Nov. 18 Where Rochester Civic Theatre Tickets $19 in advance, $24 at the door “You can’t really escape where you’re from — particularly (being) from Duluth, where it’s even darker and colder,” Simonett said. “A lot of that same current runs through a lot of the bands up there, and I think it’s just part of our character.” Wednesday’s performance marks the midway point of Americana Showcase’s fall season. Two more performances are planned: Trailer Trash on Dec. 9 and Six Mile Grove and American Scarecrows on Dec. 16. The Rochester Civc Theatre’s lobby bar opens at 6:30 p.m.; the showcase starts at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $19 in advance and $24 at the door. All ages are welcome. Contributed photo Dead Man Winter, from Duluth, performs Nov. 18 at the Americana Showcase in Rochester. Bluegrass, gospel shows return to Mantorville Contributed photo Monroe Crossing will perform their Cabin Fever Gospel Show at 2 and 7 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 16, at the Mantorville Opera House. By Tom Weber weber@postbulletin.com MANTORVILLE — Monroe Crossing and Cabin Fever will present bluegrass and gospel concerts Saturday and Sunday at the historic Mantorville Opera House. This is the 13th annual bluegrass show by the two bands at Mantorville. Monroe Crossing is one of Minnesota’s busiest bluegrass outfits, taking their traditional bluegrass sound across the state and the Midwest. Bluegrass concerts are at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday. The all-gospel concert is at 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $17 in advance, $20 at the door. Advance tickets are available at Hardware Hank, in Kasson, and Memorabilia antique store, in Mantorville, and by phone at 507-635-5625.
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‘There’s a buzz in this city’

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