Author: Brad Zellar

  • Free Verse series: Kevin Young

    Young, a poet and contributor to the catalog for the ongoing Kara Walker: My Complement, My Enemy, My Oppressor, My Love exhibition, is appearing as part of the Rain Taxi/Walker Art Center Free Verse series. You hear too much nonsense about poets whose work is steeped in jazz or the blues, but Young’s work is…

  • Second Chance for Third Second

    Twin Cities native Tommy Nehls was talking on the phone from Ft. Lauderdale, where he has been living since 1986. Nehls sounded alternately incredulous and bemused that an obscure record he made with a bunch of high school pals had become a hot (and pricey) commodity among a small but international community of vinyl fetishists…

  • Thus Far, A Season Without A Script: The Weekend

    The Twins have now lost three of Johan Santana’s last four starts, which would be disastrous were it not for the surprising performances of Ramon Ortiz and Carlos Silva. Everybody, of course, is just figuring that anything positive that Santana can give the team in April is gravy, given his slow starts in recent seasons.…

  • One Moment Sometimes Doesn't Lead To Another

    The little house with its peeling paint and mossy shingles was set well back from the street and appeared to be floating in a sea of saffron grass bleached by the sun and burnished by the fleeting sweep of twilight. It was hot. There wasn’t a shadow left in which to take refuge, and there…

  • Serious Weirdness: Wednesday Night/Thursday Afternoon

    Four runs is the magic number in baseball. If you look at the way things break down year in and year out, the team that scores four runs or more wins the vast majority of its games. The Twins have now scored three or fewer runs in four straight games (all losses), and are on…

  • The Sky Is Falling! The Sky Is Falling!

    What the hell is up with these ridiculous two-game series? And what the hell happened to that team that swept three from Seattle on the road? Beats me. After stumbling in Kansas City over the weekend the Twins came home and, facing 23-year-old Cleveland pitchers on back-to-back nights, looked anxious and undisciplined at the plate.…