Today is Sunday, Aug. 3, the 215th day of 2025. There are 150 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On August 3, 2019, a gunman opened fire at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, resulting in the deaths of 23 people; after surrendering, the gunman told detectives he targeted “Mexicans” and had outlined the plot in a screed published online shortly before the attack.

Also on this date:

In 1492, Christopher Columbus set sail from Palos, Spain, on his first voyage that took him to the present-day Americas.

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In 1852, in America’s first intercollegiate sporting event, Harvard rowed past Yale to win the first Harvard-Yale Regatta.

In 1916, Irish-born British diplomat Roger Casement, a strong advocate of independence for Ireland, was hanged for treason.

In 1936, Jesse Owens of the United States won the first of his four gold medals at the Berlin Olympics as he took the 100-meter sprint.

In 1972, the U.S. Senate ratified the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union.

In 1977, the Tandy Corporation introduced the TRS-80, one of the first widely-available home computers.

In 1981, U.S. air traffic controllers went on strike, seeking pay and workplace improvements (two days later, President Ronald Reagan fired the 11,345 striking union members and barred them from federal employment).

In 2004, the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty opened to visitors for the first time since the 9/11 attacks.

In 2018, Las Vegas police said they were closing their investigation into the Oct. 1, 2017, shooting that left 58 people dead at a country music festival without a definitive answer for why Stephen Paddock unleashed gunfire from a hotel suite onto the concert crowd.

In 2021, New York’s state attorney general said an investigation into Gov. Andrew Cuomo found that he had sexually harassed multiple current and former state government employees; the report brought increased pressure on Cuomo to resign, including pressure from President Joe Biden and other Democrats. (Cuomo resigned a week later.)

Today’s Birthdays:

Football Hall of Fame coach Marv Levy is 100.
Actor Martin Sheen is 85.
Football Hall of Famer Lance Alworth is 85.
Lifestyle guru Martha Stewart is 84.
Film director John Landis is 75.
Actor JoMarie Payton (TV: “Family Matters”) is 75.
Hockey Hall of Famer Marcel Dionne is 74.
Actor John C. McGinley is 66.
Rock singer/guitarist James Hetfield (Metallica) is 62.
Actor Lisa Ann Walter (TV: “Abbott Elementary”) is 62.
Rock musician Stephen Carpenter (Deftones) is 55.
Former NFL quarterback Tom Brady is 48.
Actor Evangeline Lilly is 46.
Olympic swimming gold medalist Ryan Lochte is 41.
Model Karlie Kloss is 33.

You Can Skip It

“Ping Prov” is more like a party game for friends than a show for an audience. A rotating cast of three improv groups perform unrelated games at the start of each show, then all group members gather for the main event: Actors shout out a person or object they want to become, hurl a ping pong ball at a Solo cup and only enter a scene if the ball goes in. This yelling and crashing of cups in the background is more disruptive than funny: It’s difficult to hear the conversation between a toilet and a piece of poop while people yell “merlot!” and “Philly cheesesteak!” It seems like a fun challenge for the performers, though.

Presented by Ryan Klima at Southern Theater; 5:30 p.m. Aug. 5, 8:30 p.m. Aug. 8, 7 p.m. Aug. 10

Still trying to decide what to see? Check out all the Pioneer Press 2025 Fringe reviews, with each show rated on a scale of Must See, Worth Considering, Could Be Worse or You Can Skip It.

The Minnesota Fringe Festival is presenting nearly 100 hourlong stage acts from July 31 through Aug. 10 around Minneapolis. Visit MinnesotaFringe.org for ticket and show information.

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Fringe review: Storyteller ‘Ranger Jim’ finds quiet beauty in life, death and nature

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Worth Considering

Cora Casper’s debut Minnesota Fringe festival show, “Insomnia Dogs,” follows a group of friends on a quest to stay awake and unlock their creative potential by eliminating the space between dreams and reality. While the show’s narrative is difficult to grasp at times — and several subplots lack context or are left abruptly unresolved — the originality of unpredictable scenes and dialogue is commendable. Characters become more disgruntled as time passes, and reality becomes blurred. Is the audience watching the characters’ realities or dreams? It’s a cool concept and would be more enjoyable if fewer questions went unanswered.

Presented by Cora Casper at Mixed Blood Theatre; 5:30 p.m. Aug. 3, 10 p.m. Aug. 5, 8:30 p.m. Aug. 9, 1 p.m. Aug. 10

Still trying to decide what to see? Check out all the Pioneer Press 2025 Fringe reviews, with each show rated on a scale of Must See, Worth Considering, Could Be Worse or You Can Skip It.

The Minnesota Fringe Festival is presenting nearly 100 hourlong stage acts from July 31 through Aug. 10 around Minneapolis. Visit MinnesotaFringe.org for ticket and show information.

Related Articles

Fringe review: ‘Pineapple Kryptonite’ is a tepid monologue on the mundane

Fringe review: ‘Academonic’ draws audiences into the suspense

Fringe review: ‘Duluth: An Improvised Midwest Murder’ is klutzy and funny

Fringe review: Storyteller ‘Ranger Jim’ finds quiet beauty in life, death and nature

Fringe review: ‘Walter Is Bankrupt’ is goofy but deeply underdeveloped

In their largest local show to date, Swedish metal band Ghost turned in a positively slaytanic performance Saturday night at St. Paul’s Xcel Energy Center.

Led by 44-year-old singer/songwriter/majordomo Tobias Forge — who currently uses Papa V Perpetua as his stage name — Ghost kept the crowd of about 11,500 deeply under their spell, thanks in part to a mobile phone ban that kept all eyes on the stage. (Concertgoers had to keep their phones in a secure sleeve that was unlocked at the end of the show.)

And Ghost gave the audience plenty to see. They perform in full costume and masks, dressed as demonic, rocking skeletons. Forge and his eight-piece band, who are known collectively as the Nameless Ghouls, go deep into Satanic imagery on stage as well as in their lyrics. The backing vocalists wear bat wings and one of their most warmly received songs Saturday night was called “Satanized.”

It’s all tongue in cheek, of course, and comes off as campy, not spooky, much like KISS and Ozzy Osbourne. And Forge has a delightfully twisted sense of humor and a certain rakish charm. Early on, he asked the cheering crowd: “Are you going to show us what love means? Are you going to knock us up?”

Ghost is also much more than your average metal band. Yes, there are enough loud guitars and headbanging to qualify for the genre, but Ghost aren’t afraid to expand beyond their boundaries to include everything from ’70s arena rock to show tunes. Their songs are often reminiscent of the late Jim Steinman, the theatrical songwriter best known for his work with Meat Loaf and Bonnie Tyler.

“Call Me Little Sunshine,” “The Future Is a Foreign Land” and “Cirice” all flirted with doomy alt-rock with a side of Pink Floyd. The aforementioned “Satanized” and “He Is” sounded like Queen at their grandest and poppiest. Oh, and the audience cheered for the cowbell that fueled “Umbra,” one of the numbers from the group’s sixth and most recent album, “Skeletá.”

While often ridiculous, the two-hour concert was also a heck of a lot of fun. It helped that Forge and company aren’t afraid to lean into sheer goofiness in a way most acts at the arena level rarely do. All that, plus it wrapped just after 10 p.m., giving the fans the chance to get up early Sunday morning and not go to church.

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