Author: Dan Alvin

Voltage Fashion Amplified 2010 at First Avenue

From my brief but evocative conversation with the owner of the recently opened BlackBlue boutique on Selby and Dale in St. Paul, I quickly surmised two facts: Steve Kang knows menswear. Steve Kang knows music. The entrepreneur fashion auteur dutifully pleased his…

Song of Zarathustra at Triple Rock Social Club

My screenplay-fixing bike-fixated friend Kraus said “Yeppers!” to close the evening on the way out the door and the next day I deconstructed a few pages of Derrida and felt karaoke (a lil’ bit a’ Lil’ Wayne) — it was what…

Kill The Vultures at Walker Art Center

As the haunting introduction of their classic “Beasts of Burden” provoked the mingling attendees to occupy a state somewhere between bewilderment and apprehension, Kill the Vultures‘ poet Crescent Moon and DJ Anatomy capped a wave of unbridled tension last Friday…

Retribution Gospel Choir at Triple Rock Social Club

I arrived at The Triple Rock too late to catch any of opener Andrew Broder’s material, so I could only imagine how one of our most unpredictable troubadours set the stage for the headliner Saturday night. When the clock struck 10:30,…

Mystery Palace and Ghost in the Water at Hexagon Bar

After nearly a decade of professional focus in the worlds of food, wine and public policy, I am finally returning to the deep roots I put down in art and music twenty years ago, with the aim of bringing a…