Guido's Guide and Arts Roundup For November and December (Check Out The Garcia Tie. He looks even sharper at 6 in the morning!)

In and around Brainerd: the Franklin Arts Center is currently hosting the Brainerd Area Art Club Holiday Art Show; Stroia Ballet will do “The Nutcracker” at Tornstrom Auditorium tomorrow (11/14); Greater Lakes Performing Arts opens “Bye Bye Birdie” tomorrow (all through next week) at Pequot Lakes High School; on 11/25 the Central Lakes College Concert & Jazz Bands will perform; on the 29th the Lakes Area Concert Association presents “Trumpet Invasion” at Tornstrom; and there’s more, of course---for times & other details: explorebrainerdlakes.com

Ripple River Gallery near Deerwood: Bob and Amy aren’t doing anything particularly holiday-ish this year, but they’ve got the usual “wide range of really good work” (Amy’s words) on the walls and shelves.

Jaques Art Center in Aitkin: the Jaques Christmas Marketplace starts tomorrow (11/14), where bidding opens on items in the Annual Dinner & Silent Auction, which will be Saturday, 11/22 at 5. Also: they’ve got St. Nicholas Tea and English Tea parties scheduled, the usual 3rd Thursday Brown Bag Lunch next week (11/20) with “Watercolor: A Mind Of Its Own” (Bev Abear). And let’s don’t forget the World Famous Fish House Parade in Aitkin on 11/28.

To Bemidji. At BCAC through 12/21, “It’s Only Clay”, their annual national juried ceramics competition and exhibition. Plus Judith Selby at Dunn Brothers, plus Cyrus Swann at Wild Hare, plus the Christmas Boutique at Gallery North, plus Mary Therese Peterson at Neilson Place, plus “Nuncrackers” coming up at Wild Rose, and so on. Plus: Bemidji Symphony Orchestra, “Miraculous Fanfares” Sunday 11/23 at 3 at the High School, and a Holiday Concert and Messiah Sing-A-Long at BSU on 12/9 at 7:30. Also at BSU the 40th Annual Madrigal Dinner in the Beaux Arts Ballroom the 1st 2 weekends in Dec. and music department concerts one after another.

In Bigfork at the Edge Center their Holiday Gift Show & Sale is up in the lobby through 12/14; in the theater, 12/5-12/7 “What Do I Do With My Hands? One Vaudevillian’s True Confessions”, comedy, songs and stories by Brian Kent Johnson; and on 12/14 at 2 it’s the Blandin Male Chorus, free.

Over on the Range it’s still “In The Dark” at Ironworld, through 1/4, and the Festival of Lights 12/4-12/7 (Xmas trees, food, music, egg decorating, wagon rides, etc.). At Hibbing Community College Ragamala Dance Company performs Thurs. 12/11 at 7:30, South Indian classical dance, as part of the Cultural Events Series. On 12/20 at 2 & 7 Reif Center Dance Company tours their “Nutcracker Sweets” to HCC. Info on classes/workshops in Hibbing, some Xmas-themed, at rangeartcenter.org

Grand Rapids. MacRostie Art Center’s Nov. exhibitors, sponsored by LuAnn & Frank Hanson, are Samuel Johnson from St. Ben’s/St. John’s, functional pottery, dark wood-fired and white-glazed work, and drawings by Krista Matison. At Brewed Awakenings it’s nature photos by Judith Kustelski. At Reif we’ve got a five-artist exhibit in the lobby: Liz White (also serving as the curator), Dorothy Hall, Deb Page, Diane Rutherford, and Mary Shideler. On stage at Reif: Next week, music: middle school bands Mon. & Tues. at 7:30 at Reif, then Itasca Orchestra, first with a gathering at Rivers Thurs. at 5:30 with Soprano Hope Koehler and Itasca Orchestra’s Executive Director Kathy Dodge, and the Fall Concert at Reif on Sat. (11/22) at 7:30 (Dvorak’s 8th, Sullivan’s Overture to Yeoman of the Guard, Handel’s Rinaldo, and, featuring Ms. Koehler, a suite of Puccini arias that Dodger promises you will leave the theatre humming, in part because they’re so memorable, in part because they’ll be done so well). Funding by the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council through an appropriation by the MN State Legislature.

Out of town: in previews, at the Belasco in NY, a revival of David Mamet’s signature “American Buffalo” with a terrific cast (Cedric the Entertainer, Haley Joel Osment & John Leguizamo).