Month: October 2003

  • Desert Island Duffel

    It don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that swing, as the saying goes, and Leslie Johnson’s Mississippi Rag has devoted thirty years to keeping the swing alive. Her Bloomington-based newspaper is a torchbearer for early-twentieth-century ragtime and jazz. It may not have Rolling Stone’s circulation numbers, but it has worldwide reach; the Rag…

  • Straight Talk

    In the mid-nineties, the Hang Ups were the most prominent purveyors of what was sometimes called ’Sota Pop. Lead singer Brian Tighe and his bandmates eschewed bar-scene three-chord punk for heart-on-sleeve harmonies and shimmering layers of melody, best exemplified on songs like “Runway,” “Top of Morning,” and “Jump Start,” the latter two of which you…

  • for the heart

    Of all the places I have ever lived, Minneapolis is the most confusing. One might have thought it would be otherwise. It was meant to be laid out, after all, on a Jeffersonian grid. Yet one cycles down the street, blithely confident that the 3800 block of Sheridan Avenue South will lead ineluctably into the…

  • Good Real Food

    The Twin Cities have recently been through a golden Age of fine dining, but times are tough. From Heartland to Pickled Parrot, Minnesota struggles with its identity by way of its appetite. AS chef de cuisine and proprietor of Heartland, Lenny Russo has say over every ingredient, every wine selection, and every hire, but what…

  • How to Prepare Your Snowblower for The Winter

    But you should still protect your investment! Here are some tips for extending the life and enjoyment of that silly, useless contraption. Prevent snow from falling in the first place! Throughout the year, you should start and run your snowblower for a half hour at least once a week. This will ensure you’re doing your…

  • Getting Away to It All

    Jim Stowell will literally go halfway around the world just to get a good story. A prominent force in the local theater community for thirty-five years, the actor and playwright has developed a specialty in the last decade and a half as a master monologuist. His deeply personal tales—funny, angry, politically aware, and wry—draw from…