The Rake Magazine

As you've likely heard by now, we're no longer living in the Twin Cities — it's "Minneapolis Saint Paul," thank you very much, as per the new "joint branding initiative" rolling out in advance of the Republican juggernaut later this year. Nomenclature aside, this PR campaign aims to play up the native strengths of the Twin Cities (oops), rather than compare our assets with bigger and supposedly better metropolises (remember the Minneapple?).

But when it comes to the Dakota Jazz Club, it seems that Minnesotan modesty takes hold. This is one of the best places for live jazz in the entire country, but few seem to acknowledge that — or else they take it for granted. In the course of editing our cover story on Lowell Pickett, the Dakota's founder and co-owner, I heard tales about how the owners of legendary jazz joints in New York kowtow before Pickett when he visits. And as veteran jazz writer Britt Robson shows, Pickett himself is an extremely modest man — which makes us all the more proud to tell his story in our magazine.

Our other March feature is an astute and very personal take on another PR initiative of sorts: the Truth Project, which is designed to convince born-agains that "showing up to church, voting Republican, and putting a Jesus fish on the SUV isn’t enough," as writer Alyssa Ford puts it. Elsewhere in our pages you'll find an account of preschool-aged protesters taking to the streets in downtown Minneapolis; a letter from a soldier in Samarra, Iraq; a fresh look at fine-dining options that aren't getting the buzz they deserve; and, of course, much more.