MN Shortlist, Aug. 22-28: music, poetry, ghosts

MN Shortlist is your weekly curated roundup of recommended events from MPR News, highlighting standout performances, exhibits and gatherings around the region.

Davina and the Vagabonds at the Minnesota State Fair

Aug. 22 — Mixing jazz, blues, and Americana, Davina and the Vagabonds have been tickling the ivories and delighting audiences for over 20 years. Originally formed in the Twin Cities, Davina Sowers and her band have traveled internationally, bringing a sound reminiscent of Billie Holiday, with snappy horn solos and powerful percussion. Davina and the Vagabonds are now returning for a few performances at the State Fair at the Bandshell. (Jacob Aloi)

Jay Grammond’s virtual tour of Minnesota’s ghost signs

Aug. 22 — Like any metropolitan area, the Twin Cities is evolving. With that comes the loss of historic and dated relics like printed ads on the sides of brick buildings. What were once practical advertisements are now weathered ghosts — Coca-Cola or Grain Belt Beer signs flaking away.

Minnesotan photographer and historian Jay Grammond will lead a virtual tour of these old advertisements that tell Minnesota’s commercial history. Some of these companies trace back to the 1800s, leaving no shortage of stories. Grammond’s work is part of a book about fading ads, or “ghost signs.” (Anika Besst)

‘Ghost Quartet’ at Theatre Elision

Through Aug. 23 — Composer and playwright Dave Malloy is perhaps best known for his musical “Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812,” which premiered to positive reviews in the early 2010s before opening on Broadway in 2016. While his partial adaptation of “War and Peace” was making its way to Broadway, Malloy premiered “Ghost Quartet” in 2014, a theater piece that weaves together a story about love and death.

The show is billed as a song cycle — a series of songs built around a central theme or story. For “Ghost Quartet,” the songs draw from fairytales and ghost stories across cultures and periods. This production is presented by Theatre Elision, which has previously produced the show. For this year’s staging, the theatre is drawing performers from several of its past shows. (Jacob Aloi)

Juxtaposition Arts’ Sneaker Ball and anniversary celebration

Aug. 23 — Juxtaposition Arts, or JXTA, is celebrating its 30th anniversary with the annual Sneaker Ball. The event will feature deejays, trapeze artists and a dance floor.

The north Minneapolis nonprofit is a hub for art and design geared toward mentoring youth, with studio classes, workshops, an art gallery, public mural programs, apprenticeships, a free summer graffiti art camp, an international artist residency and a new archive.

“It’s really huge,” says artist and co-founder Roger Cummings of making it to this milestone. “We’re leaning into the next generation of leaders and designers.”

It’s especially noteworthy as Cummings noted that JXTA is experiencing a shortfall of about half a million dollars in grant money due to federal cuts to the National Endowment for the Arts.

“We either have to pause programming,” Cummings says, “or do it like a shoestring, and so that’s what we’ve been doing.”

JXTA will also host an open house on Aug. 28, where attendees can tour the nonprofit’s campus, which completed an expansion in 2024.

“We wanted to be able to be a part of having artists thrive in the creative environment,” Cummings says of JXTA’s origins. “Since we had, you know, your Targets, your 3Ms, your Best Buys — this is like an advertising and creative hub. We wanted to be able to be a part of that in North Minneapolis, in Minneapolis in general, with people of color.” (Alex V Cipolle)

Dralandra Larkins poetry reading

Aug. 24 — Minneapolis-based spoken word poet and multi-genre writer Dralandra Larkins is holding a reading for her debut poetry collection, “Before I Lie.” The book blends Afrofuturistic poetry with confessional prose, showcasing Larkins’ authentic style while exploring intimacy, vulnerability and identity. The event includes a poetry performance by Larkins.

As a teaching artist in the Twin Cities, Larkins has developed a storytelling technique that creates spaces for sharing and workshopping, encouraging healing, advocacy, self-discovery and connection. Most recently, she was co-editor of Cracked Walnut’s anthology “Rewilding Hope, 2023” and Hansel-Cabello’s “The Nations Underground: Writing with Our Ancestors 2024,” based in Minneapolis. (Anika Besst)