“Missing and Disappeared” brings to light the crisis of missing and unidentified women. Unlike the name, the exhibit is a space to honor the return of their stories. 

The exhibit, showing until March 7, displayed 30 images of former Jane Does backlit in resin and surrounded by silhouettes, envelopes and vintage clothing patterns. Minneapolis-based artist Rachel Coyne wants to celebrate the DNA Doe Project’s identification of women who were missing and disappeared. 

“These women are being returned to their families and returned to themselves in a sort of way,” Coyne said. “It’s a celebration of their names.” 

Coyne stumbled upon the DNA Doe Project on Facebook around four years ago. The nonprofit aims to raise money and awareness for genetic genealogy to efficiently identify missing persons. The project inspired Coyne to create art. 

Between the images of women, there are old family photographs set in resin. The places where women would be in the photos are cut out. Coyne casts every piece in resin to reflect the feelings of loved ones who lost someone. 

“Something that family members say quite a bit is, ‘When I lost my loved one, it feels like we’re all frozen in time,’” Coyne said. “There’s just this sense of being stuck.” 

A projector beams in the center of the gallery and reads, “A red shell blouse, flowered blue slacks, female undergarments, and black Italian-made wedge shoes were found with her remains.” 

Around the projector, there are more silhouettes of women in resin with scraps of clothing patterns representing how the remains of the women were found. Coyne wanted to emphasize how law enforcement used to describe Jane Does by their clothing.

The light shining on each piece not only represents the women’s story but also hope for the continued progression of DNA technology. Ten years from now, Coyne hopes there are no more Jane Does. 

Teagan Londo, a building arts student lead at Student Unions and Activities, came up with the idea to make the gallery space dimly lit. The portraits of the women are illuminated in the space. 

“It’s meant to symbolize how these women’s families were left in the dark, because for so long, they didn’t know what happened to them, and how they were found,” Londo said. 

Shannon Chambers, a student gallery attendant, said the nature and message of the exhibit resonates with a lot of women. To Chambers, we’re all aware of the commonality of women disappearing.

“It’s something we can all feel,” Chambers said. 

There are roughly 13,000 unidentified persons in the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, according to the gallery posting on the Student Unions and Activities page. Coyne found too many of them were women. Additionally, the DNA Doe database lacked identifications of women of color, Coyne said. 

“I also wanted to emphasize that the DNA database has its own shortcomings,” Coyne said. “It’s a little light on identifying women of color, particularly indigenous women.” 

Coyne focused on women who reflected key issues in this crisis in her artwork. 

For example, Melody Harrison represents the issue older DNA technology had identifying race. The race of Harrison, formerly known as Apache Junction Jane Doe, was misclassified. 

“Often people were found in a state of decomposition,” Coyne said. “If (law enforcement) really couldn’t tell what race the person was, they would enter them as white just as default.” 

When deciding on artists to showcase, Coyne’s application for an exhibit on campus stood out to Londo. 

“We promote a lot of stories that are underrepresented, and these women were actively being forgotten from history,” Londo said. 

The exhibit promotes GEDmatch, where anyone can upload a DNA file used in ancestry genetic testing programs. The files are used by volunteers who help identify Jane Doe’s. 

After the artist talk and reception on Jan. 23, Chambers said the gallery has gotten a lot of positive feedback. 

The Civil Rights Movement was just the start, G. Phillip Shoultz, III, associate artistic director of VocalEssence said. The VocalEssence WITNESS Program continues the fight. 

VocalEssence WITNESS: Eyes Still On the Prize, coming to Northrop Feb. 23, will present a roughly 90-minute choral concert of songs associated with the Civil Rights Movement. The concert tells the story of women involved with the Civil Rights Movement, including Ruby Bridges, Claudette Colvin, Mari Copeny, Reatha Clark King, Josie Johnson and Rose McGee, through song, narration and dance. 

Shoultz chose to focus on women who are still alive and connected to the movement. 

“The movement for civil rights was not just that decade,” Shoultz said. “That was the beginning in earnest of something still ongoing that we are all heirs to. It’s no mistake all six of them are still living.” 

The Minneapolis-based choir organization challenges audiences to join their “lead with love” pledge. The pledge consists of 12 statements people should adopt into their lives moving forward. 

“These six women lead their lives with love in the ways that they have served others,” Shoultz said. “That’s one way we can celebrate them.” 

The concert is planned around five songs of the Civil Rights Era. Those songs are “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round,” “We Shall Not Be Moved,” “Keep Your Eyes on the Prize,” “Woke Up This Morning (With My Mind Stayed on Freedom)” and “We Shall Overcome.”

Shoultz said the songs have roots in spiritual hymns and gospels that have been used and changed. 

In 2014, renditions of “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ‘Round” with updated lyrics to say “ain’t gonna let no Ferguson turn me ‘round” circled after a police officer murdered Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. 

Every other song is an audience sing-along. 

“The act of singing these words together with the audience is giving people voice to things they might not have had the courage to say and hopefully gives them the conviction to act on their conscience,” Shoultz said. 

Music being used to unify is not a new concept, Shoultz said. He has seen the power of messages spread through song, and a university campus is a great place to do this. Campuses tend to be spaces where we engage in transformational conversations, Shoultz said. 

“Events like this just remind us we are stronger together, and that we can come together across ideological differences,” Shoultz said. 

There will be posters at the event with QR codes to scan and learn more. The concert is from 4-6:30 p.m. 

Two shows and some sock monkey pictures later, the owners of Bizzarro World, a new house venue in Como, have built a community.

The second-ever Bizzarro World show was on Saturday with sophomores Jack Olson and Sebastian Tusa, two of the owners, playing in their own bands, I Am Bent Around Her and The Waterworks respectively. 

Olson and Tusa said they plan to provide a space for freshman bands to gain experience playing in front of a crowd. 

“They don’t get a lot of opportunities to play,” Olson said. “It’s kinda like a job experience. They (established bands) want you to have a live show before you play their live show.”

Tusa said dorms are the best and worst place to form a band. Students live alongside talented people but do not have room for instruments like drums, not to mention the potential noise complaints. 

When Olson, Tusa and two of their roommates who help run the venue, Aidan Eggler and Noah Iovinella, first signed the lease in October 2023, the group floated the idea of hosting a house venue. They have a basement now, and three of them have backgrounds in music. 

Tusa said when they first saw the basement, they realized they could hold a live show there.

When five of them moved into the house (one of the roommates is not involved in Bizarro World) there were pictures of sock monkeys left behind sitting in an empty room on the side of the duplex connected to the basement. They own both sides of the duplex and named that side of the house “Bizzarro World” because of the bizarre encounter, Olson said. 

The basement venue inherited the name. 

They hung up lights, used some egg cartons to soundproof the walls, ran PA tests, put up sock monkey banners and practiced their sound in the basement.

The owners of the venue didn’t have to ask their friends to help with the show. Tusa said they helped clean the house, make hotdogs to sell, create banners and run doors. 

“Labor of love does not begin to describe it,” Tusa said. 

Bizzarro World welcomed around 80 guests for their second show Saturday. Tusa said the doorman, a good friend of theirs, had to turn people away and turn down bribes. 

Fifty people can fit in their basement, and they also have kitchen and living room space for guests to roam. The venue does not allow alcohol, and they wrap caution tape around the sewage pipe in the basement to prevent accidents, Olson said. 

Tusa and Olson consider themselves lucky to have the space to play and record music. They even have a room called Studio Tim where they record their own music, and they both have albums coming out in February. 

Olson said sharing music with others makes these shows special. People expressed gratitude and appreciation for the new venue after the last show. 

“There was a lot of hugging,” Olson said. “Everyone’s like, ‘Thanks for everything you do.’ Everyone’s so friendly.”

Bizzarro World advertises its events on Instagram. During their last show, Tusa taped his phone to the wall to record an Instagram live. 

They plan to host their third show in March. Admission is $10.

Released Jan. 17, two days before what would have been Mac Miller’s 33rd birthday, “Balloonerism” reveals the relationship between a man and death. 

Addiction is a key theme throughout “Balloonerism.” The album is dark and tragic knowing he died of an accidental overdose in 2018. 

However, Miller approached this album with awareness of the negative effects of addiction while validating his own experience. 

Fans have long speculated about “Balloonerism” after various tracks leaked since Miller recorded it in 2014, according to Forbes. Miller said the album was important to him before his death, Miller’s estate said on Instagram. 

The album opens with “Tambourine Dream,” 30 seconds of what sounds like someone casually playing with a tambourine. It sets the tone for an innately human and real album. 

In collaboration with SZA, “DJ’s Chord Organ” has an idyllic and heavenly sound juxtaposed by lyrics explaining a loss of Identity, leading to dizzying exhaustion and ultimately substance abuse.  

“Cocaine is ruthless/I know the truth about it/Cocaine is ruthless,” SZA sings. 

The repetition of the lyrics throughout the song resembles the feeling of being stuck in a cycle. 

In “5 Dollar Pony Rides,” the lead single off the album, Miller repeatedly asks, “Can I give you what you want/Can I give you what you need?”

Miller sounds soulful while talking about the struggle of relationship and intimacy when two people deal with mental illness. Miller expresses the frustrations of a dead-end relationship and the inability to leave due to past connection. 

“Girl, you wastin’ my time, and I am wastin’ your time, but that’s okay,” Miller sings.

Tracks “Mrs. Deborah Downer” and “Shangri-La” describe relationships with drugs and fame. Miller validates the choice of addiction given the state of the world. He admits nothing in the industry is as it seems with the simple lyric “Just how super is a supermodel?” in “Shangri-La.”

“Funny Papers” is a track full of commentary on witnessing life and death in the “funny papers.” The news fatigue is delivered with piano and a soft beat, letting the lyrics stand out. This is my favorite track on the album because the topic is something everyone can relate to. 

“Excelsior” is a short, stand-out track dripping with nostalgia. In addition to this track, there is a short film on Amazon Prime with the same title as the album. 

Miller discusses orphan children playing on a playground and introduces the characters Johnny, Claire, Timmy, and Max. The film follows these children as they experience a life-altering loss of innocence.

Miller yearns for youthful ignorance when he raps, “Whatever happened to apple juice and cartwheels?” He explains a melancholy in the limitations and “brainwash” of the adult world to a mellow beat and children playing in the background. 

A telling lyric that stood out to me was, “Me, I used to want to be a wizard,” 

Miller voices the thoughts we all feel at one point or another. The final tracks on the album are when Miller wrestles with the concept of death the most, and his lyricism reveals an awareness his substance abuse will eventually be the thing that kills him. 

“But what can we do? What can we do?/’Cause I see the light at the end of the tunnel,” Miller sings on “Manakins.” 

The answers to Miller’s questions cannot be found in the tangible world, and he looks to death as being a release. The title “Balloonerism” enables a tone of wandering and journey. From start to finish, Miller journeys through life’s ups and downs in this album. He is constantly aware death is inevitable.  

Overall, this album acts as a warning of the dangers of fame, addiction and mental illness. Miller humanizes his own experience with his impeccable and persistent acknowledgment that his addiction is killing him.

The album is as poetic as it is tragic, and the casual but forward approach makes this album worth a listen.

Vendors and shoppers alike gathered at The Machine Shop on Sunday for the Minneapolis Craft Market’s Old St. Anthony Holiday Bazaar looking for potential gifts. 

The Bazaar is one of several markets set up by Minneapolis Craft Market throughout the gift-giving season. Holidays on Nicollet is another that runs Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. until Dec. 22. A handful of other craft markets can be found on their website. 

Both floors of the St. Anthony venue were full of vendors, with a DJ in the corner. From textiles to pottery, there were plenty of extraordinary gift options for shoppers.

Taylor Thompson and Ting Wang said they are hitting all the craft markets in the area in search of gifts. They said they actively try to shop locally to support Black, Indigenous, and people of color communities, especially when looking for stand-out presents. 

“It’s more unique when you’re getting stuff from small artists,” Thompson said. 

Keara Sullivan was also wandering the market looking for gifts on Sunday. When she shops, she looks for items related to someone’s personality. 

“I don’t really know what I’m shopping for until I see something and I’m like ‘Oh, my sister would like that,’” Sullivan said.

If Sullivan is looking for a specific present, she said she usually orders it online. Otherwise, if she is looking for something more creative, she shops small. 

I even bought a few gifts for my family members. When making my way through the market, I saw small paper polaroids with different color palettes in the package. They were do-it-yourself watercolor images from Lavendart Design with directions on painting images like a potted plant or an orange tree. 

Mind the Crown, founded by Adrianna Willis, sells items promoting self-care. Willis said her business is meant for women to buy gifts for themselves, such as cocktail mixers, robes and coloring books.

“Women don’t buy gifts for themselves,” Willis said. “With self-care, I’m trying to save a woman’s life.”

Willis founded her business in 2020 for people of color after the murder of George Floyd. She rebranded two years later to focus on all women. Although Willis markets to empowering women, men purchase her items for themselves as well. 

Multi-colored pottery from Basement Pottery Co. was organized neatly on wooden shelves, creating a visually pleasing display on Sunday. 

Basement Pottery Co. is a family business run from the Leininger family’s basement and began as a pandemic project in 2020. Maggie Leininger, who was running the booth, said her dad and her older sister are the artists, while she helps with glazing. 

Leininger’s dad was a potter since high school. She and her sister grew up with their dad teaching them how to make pottery. 

“We unearthed the studio and found that we had way too many mugs,” Leininger said. “I was like, ‘Hey, we should sell and share our work.’”

The Leiningers donate their proceeds to local Minnesota nonprofits. Every year they donate to Second Harvest Heartland, a nonprofit established to end hunger in Minnesota. 

Melissa Lenius and Nathan Paul said they stopped by the market for fun, not really looking for anything in particular. 

Realistically, Lenius and Paul said they mostly shop online for gifts while trying their best to support local businesses. Lenius buys most of her gifts from Etsy, an online marketplace for buying and selling handmade and vintage items. 

Jewelry business Nashipai displayed their beaded jewelry and ornaments on a colorful stand. Founded by Jenny Behrens, Nashipai partners with women artisans in India and Kenya who hand-make all the pieces. 

Behrens lived with a group of women artisans in Kenya for three weeks in 2019, and before she left, they asked if she could partner with them to start a business. Behrens helps run other pop-ups and fashion shows for the brand as well. 

Nashipai’s sparkly reindeer and beaded Christmas tree ornaments are very popular this time of year, and their statement jewelry makes for nice gifts, Behrens said. 

“I understand sometimes you have to buy bigger things from Amazon, but if everyone could buy at least two or three gifts locally made or handmade, it would better support the economy,” Behrens said.

Deep down, Dylan Salfer always knew he wanted to start his own band.

Lead singer and guitarist of the Dylan Salfer Band, Salfer said a lot of artists perform the bare minimum on stage. The older he gets, the more important it is for him to do the opposite. 

“Every single second has to be real and expressive for every member of the band, so there’s the importance of highlighting the song and the story,” Salfer said.

The band consists of Salfer, Peter Hennig and Matthew Mwangi on drums, José James on saxophone, Patrick Nelson on bass, and Jordan Hedlund playing keyboard. All bring different experiences to the table. 

When looking at 2025, the band feels pretty good. 

Their first album is not complete, but it is projected to be released next year. 

The album is about heartbreak, addiction and love, Salfer said. It is a coming-of-age record executed through an eclectic mix of hip-hop, R&B, blues, soul, jazz, hard rock and reggae. 

“Harmonically, there’s a lot of chances taken,” Salfer said.

There is one traditional blues song on the album, a cover of “Same Old Blues” by Freddie King. Salfer himself takes a lot of inspiration from artists like Joni Mitchell, Stevie Wonder, Bukka White, B.B. King, Albert King and Freddie King. 

The band recorded their entire album together live during seven long days at Daydream Studios in Arden Hills. Most songs on the album were skeletons of ideas until they were fleshed out during those seven days. 

Right now, they are preparing a 25-minute set to perform at the International Blues Challenge, a competition held in Memphis, Tennessee in early January. In April of this year, they won the Road to Memphis Competition in St. Paul. 

Salfer said this will be his second time playing the competition since he was 15 and he looks forward to the competition and being in Memphis.

“Memphis, the whole city, is just spewing soul,” Salfer said. 

Salfer received his first guitar before he could properly hold one at 7 years old because he was obsessed with music. He started playing guitar when he was 9. At 10, his grandparents took him to the Bayfront Blues Festival in Duluth.

“As soon as I heard that music, it was immediately apparent that’s what I wanted to do and something I needed to study,” Salfer said. 

For many years, Salfer performed as much as possible. He said he played with Buddy Guy and James Cotton when he was attending blues camp as a young teen. At age 16, he toured internationally with Bernard Allison, a Chicago blues guitarist and son of blues legend Luther Allison. Three years ago, Salfer quit all his gigs to focus on creating what he always knew would happen. 

It took him around a year to form the band it is today because chemistry is important, Salfer said.

“When you get two drummers together, it’s really particular,” Salfer said. “Even if they’re two of the best, it could be a total train wreck if the chemistry doesn’t work.”

From July 2021 to October of this year, the band played nearly every Wednesday night at the North Loop bar Bunkers. Often, Salfer would show the rest of the band a song he wrote right before they went on stage. They would play it live and let it evolve from there. 

“It would form into what it was supposed to, you know, with everybody’s intuition and risk-taking,” Salfer said. 

Most of their songs start with Salfer writing alone. The songs are not finalized until the entire band collaboratively plays through it. What makes this band special is how organically everyone plays with one another, Salfer said. 

For anyone new to playing music, Salfer advises them to follow their passion. He suggests learning your favorite artists’ entire discographies and learning your favorite artists’ favorite artists. 

He said it fosters authenticity to know how music used to be and how it has evolved.

“The more you learn about these people, the more real you’re going to sound,” Salfer said.

Jesus Li, in partnership with Meet Minneapolis, created an artistic map depicting the seven distinct cultural districts of Minneapolis.

The seven cultural districts, Franklin Avenue, Lowry Avenue North, East Lake Street, 38th Street, West Broadway, Central Avenue and Cedar Avenue, are highlighted on the map with cultural symbols from each area. Symbols include the flag of Ecuador on a plate of food to represent the abundance of Ecuadorian restaurants in Central Avenue and a Black fist representing George Floyd Square. 

The city of Minneapolis established the seven cultural districts five years ago, said Courtney Ries, the senior vice president of destination branding and strategy at Meet Minneapolis. The city made a list of all the things they wanted to invest in these districts. The final item on the list was to get locals and visitors to go to these districts to explore and spend money there. That is when the city asked Meet Minneapolis for help.

In 2021, the team at Meet Minneapolis started working with local writers and photographers to tell the stories of the districts, Ries said. For the website, they created a distinct color palette inspired by the districts so it did notas it is not meant to look like typical Minneapolis branding.

“The hope was that we were able to talk about something new,” Ries said. 

The map was meant to refresh Meet Minneapolis’ branding of the cultural districts, Ries said. They chose Li as an illustrator because of his nuanced perspective. Ries added Li has a distinctive artistic style, he is passionate about the districts and he has the perspective of someone new to the area. 

The goal of the map is to inspire tourists and locals to explore the cultural districts, according to Ries.

“It is a reminder that the city, just like the people, contains multitudes,” Ries said. “There is a place for whatever you’re looking for.”

Li conducted extensive research on the cultural districts for this project. He drove around each district, took the bus, ate at restaurants and asked locals questions. 

Li made a list of themes and concepts that could translate into icons and symbols for each district. A lot of those symbols represent different foods and international cuisines Minneapolis offers.

“Food is an element that brings people together regardless of our differences,” Li said. 

In 2021, Li moved to Minneapolis from Peru for a career change. He wanted to leave behind the severe impact of the pandemic and some cultural challenges. 

In Peru, Li worked in advertising for 15 years. Once moving here, he earned his masters in visual studies from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design and started working on art installations, visual graphics, video and community work. 

“After doing the research, it made me realize I want to stay here in Minneapolis,” Li said. 

The map was distributed in late August as a mailer for Minneapolis residents. Handouts were distributed in hotels and the Meet Minneapolis visitor center. 

Li’s favorite part of the project was conducting research and exploring the richness of each cultural district. 

“I just enjoy listening and seeing people being themselves,” Li said.

Sean Baker’s “Anora” explores the double-edged sword of transactional relationships. 

In this screwball dramedy, Anora, played by Mikey Madison, is a sex worker from Brooklyn who does not have much. She gets a chance at romance and a glimpse of a better life when her prince charming, Ivan (“Vanya”), proposes an impromptu marriage in Las Vegas. 

Ivan is a video game-obsessed 21-year-old boyish man, who is the son of a Russian oligarch. 

Once his powerful Russian family finds out about the marriage, a series of comedic chaos unfolds. Ivan’s parents employ goons to watch Ivan and get the marriage annulled.

The neon-distributed film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May of this year. Then, it was released to select theaters on Oct. 18 and released nationwide in the U.S. on Nov. 1. “Anora” won the Palme d’Or award, also known as the Golden Palm, at Cannes. The award is given to the best feature film at the festival. 

Baker, the director of “The Florida Project” and “Red Rocket,” created a sparkling and colorful film that is as funny as it is gut-wrenching. The small budget of $6 million did not seem to inhibit the film’s vision at all. 

There was not an intimacy coordinator on set, which was surprising given the protagonist is a sex worker, but Madison was visibly comfortable in her role. Intimacy coordinators ensure the comfort and safety of actors during intimate scenes.

Madison’s performance stands out in this character-driven film. She portrays Anora’s inner dilemmas effortlessly. Her Brooklyn accent is also hilariously accurate.

The film depicts the downside of sex work and the horrid realities of grappling with objectification. Despite its heavy themes, it still healthily balances comedic elements. This story could not have been told in a better way. 

The balance between seriousness and hilarity shows in the way Anora approaches her life lightly but hides her terrible relationship with sex and identity in a man’s world. Anora feels she has to use her body to get ahead by the consistent transactional intimacy in her life. 

The male characters in this movie constantly disappointed me, which is reflective of the behavior I’ve seen from men in real life. They were funny, idiotic and brought a mess of chaos everywhere they went. 

On the other hand, the character Igor, a hired goon, shows quiet sympathy for Anora throughout the film. His character grounded the serious elements of the story and reminded the audience other characters were mistreating Anora. 

Not a single character in this film had a true change in their character arc. Anora tried to change the negative views of sex work Ivan’s family had, but that was a lost cause. Anora’s view of her own identity did not change, and Ivan acted like the privileged kid he was. He remained stubborn in his place within his powerful family despite Anora’s efforts to convince him to act like a man. 

The film unconventionally depicted a group of contrasting characters with hidden motives going through an outrageous situation. All come out on the other end equally, if not more, damaged. 

The twisted Cinderella story is painstakingly brilliant and comes to a cognizant end reflective of harsh reality. 

This is the kind of film you cannot stop thinking about. It blew me away, and hopefully, it will be a front-runner for Best Picture.

Minneapolis band Unstable Shapes is finally releasing music after forming around five years ago.

Lead vocalist Andrew Cahak threw out the idea of forming a band over drinks with guitarists Mitch Gustafson and Ryan Jaroscak at Amsterdam Bar after seeing Massive Attack at Palace Theater in September 2019.

It had been a running joke to start a band. Cahak, Gustafson and Jaroscak had been friends for nearly a decade. Gustafson and Jaroscak have both played guitar for nearly 25 years, while Cahak had untapped creativity after finishing ten years of stand-up comedy. This time was different.

“It felt more like, ‘Yeah, sure. Why not?’” Gustafson said.

The band is held together with five members — Cahak, Gustafson, Jaroscak, Kevin Hurley and James Taylor. Hurley, the bassist, was introduced into the band in late 2019. Taylor, the drummer, joined the band around July 2021. Hurley has been playing bass for 16 years, and Taylor has been drumming since the late 90s.

Cahak described their sound as heavy, but not heavy. Aggressive, but not too aggressive. Their music is serious, emotional and noisy.

“We are not necessarily serious men, but we are a serious band,” Cahak said. 

The band only has time to practice once a week. After bouncing off of each other’s talents during the writing process for three years, they finally finished their first album, “Delicate Machinery,” this past July. It is set to release in early 2025.

The release date for the 10-track, 38-minute album is undetermined.

The first four members fit four or five practices in before January 2020. Then COVID-19 hit, and the band was put on hold until the summer of 2021, Cahak said.

Jobs, family and COVID-19 were and continue to be roadblocks that prevent the band from finding time to make their post-punk, post-hardcore reminiscent sound.

Gustafson did not want to take any chances being out in public during the initial surge of COVID-19. His daughter was born prematurely around that time and prone to sickness.

All of the band members have careers that keep them busy. Hurley and Taylor are in their own separate bands, The Great Went and LAAMAR respectively. Gustafson is a technical writer for a software company, Cahak works in customer service at a cable company, Jaroscak works at a bank and Taylor is a booker for First Avenue.

Choosing the band name was just as collaborative a process as writing a song. Gustafson made a spreadsheet where each band member could dump any idea they had for a name.

Each member then went through and voted on the names on a one to five scale. Consequently, it posed a challenge for five people to agree on a name, but the band came to an agreement on “Unstable Shapes.”

Gustafson said there were additional pressures from friends and family wondering when the band was going to start releasing music and playing shows.

“Just the fact that you made this thing, and people who you’ve never met and will never meet can like it,” Cahak said. “That’s a really gratifying thing.”

The band takes bits and pieces of inspiration from bands like Interpol, Unwound, Drive Like Jehu, Hot Snakes and Sonic Youth. Gustafson said he can’t describe the band’s sound.

“I really don’t think we sound like any other band,” Gustafson said.

Cahak said finally releasing music is hugely satisfying.

Unstable Shapes now has three released songs. “Glass Ladder”, a song about loss, and “The Local Sphinx”, a song about making sense of the world, came out this past February. The latest single, “Feral Joy,” came out Friday, Nov. 1. 

“Feral Joy” is full of tension from the bustling instruments and Cahak’s poignant vocal drawl. It is a song about navigating a sense of self, and the lyric, “I’m a vulgar werewolf in a tuxedo,” reflects that, Cahak said.

“I’m holding it together, but I’m a wild animal,” Cahak said to explain the lyrics. “I have no idea what’s going on. I don’t know how to react to things. I don’t know what to say.” 

The band played their first show in February 2023, Gustafson said. They’re going to play their 21st show at Zhora Darling on Nov. 15. 

Comedian Marcello Hernández left the audience in Northrop barreling over and slapping knees Friday night.

The “Saturday Night Live” (SNL) cast member sold out Northrop for his two-and-a-half-hour show on Oct. 25. The comedy show featured host, Matt Richards, and two other comedians, Alexis Carabaño and Emil Wakim, who went on before Hernández.

Richards warmed up the crowd for 15 minutes with a terribly accurate Donald Trump impression and jokes about the vice presidential debate and pandas.

Richards made some dated jokes, but they still worked. He made a joke about the 2023 Chinese spy balloon incident. He said he hoped it was a gender reveal when the government shot it down.

Despite the recycled use of gender reveals in comedy, I laughed.

At this point in the show, the crowd was lively and erupting with laughter. Richards asked the crowd if they wanted to hear a dirty joke or a clean joke.

“Dirty!” the crowd yelled.

Next, Alexis Carabaño hopped up to the microphone and jumped into his set. Carabaño moved through his set rather quickly but filled it with body language and sound effects. It made for an interesting set.

Carabaño’s sound effects were nearly spot on. He moved around a lot and made several awkward stances, grabbing the crotch of his jeans or kicking his legs around, but charmingly displayed his personality with his body language.

Carabaño joked about women knowing too much about astrology, a joke that is overused and not funny anymore. It made me lose a little faith in his set.

Carabaño did mention Frank and Andrea’s, and the crowd responded strongly.

Emil Wakim, a new SNL cast member, went on next. Wakim’s comedy felt like a conversation with a funny friend. He seemed very comfortable on stage.

Wakim appealed to a Midwest crowd easily. He joked about the offensive things said on a boat in the middle of a lake and Carhartt jackets.

“Why do they feel the need to go out there?” Wakim said on stage. “No one goes to the middle of the ocean to say, ‘God, I miss the Obamas.’”

Wakim intelligently jabbed at politics and made jokes about both liberals and conservatives without crossing the line into extreme bias and offensiveness.

After nearly an hour, Marcello Hernández danced up to the microphone in a Gophers basketball jersey. The crowd was hyped.

Running with a bit without tiring it out is Hernández’s biggest strength.

In the middle of a joke about flying on a plane, Hernández was interrupted by a few crowd members. Someone threw a yellow headband on the stage that had “Domingo” written on it. A few people in the back of the crowd were yelling for “Domingo.”

Domingo is a character from a skit in Ariana Grande’s “SNL” episode on Oct. 12 played by Hernández. He sings a song to the beat of “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter. The crowd asked for a reenactment.

Of course, he did the bit.

Although he interacted with the crowd many times, Hernández always seamlessly returned to whatever joke was interrupted.

Hernández made me feel like I was laughing with a friend as well. He reenacted a scene from “Full House” as if it were someone I knew telling me a story.

He discussed the different environments of white and Latino households with clever and relatable humor.

Hernández jokes about how women are less focused on how a potential partner looks, and they just want someone who listens to them. He made jokes about his own attention deficit disorder (ADD) and struggles with listening. Nevertheless, Hernández stated he appreciates women.

“I respect women like people respect the ocean,” Hernández said to the crowd.

Hernández brilliantly made light of current political and social issues, especially among people of color. He talked about what it is like growing up Latino, the Latinx community and mental health in our country.

I was not the only one laughing and slapping my knee. There was a man at the end of my row laughing loudly and unabashedly.

Hernández’s set went on for longer than I thought it would, but I was not upset. He ended the night talking about how women should date “short kings.” He then took some audience questions.

Someone asked how tall he was. Five feet and eight inches tall, Hernández said.

The next crowd member asked him what he was doing later.

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Hernández responded.