rakemag You, yeah you. After we’re done with Iraq, you’re next. I don’t care if you are the U.S. Senate. Well, now we’ve entered the Bolton years. Imagine you are a country to which this guy has been sent to represent the United States. The first words out of his mouth are “We could cut off … Read more
Liberals are all “Mr. Poopy Pants” Thanks to Cheri Pierson Yecke for truly raising the level of political discourse on not just the local, but even the national scene, in today’s Strib. It seems Cheri, who undoubtedly is still smarting from being called “Yucky” when she was up for the State Education Commissioner job, takes … Read more
What comes out of the south end of a north-bound whale? The Pioneer Press (yeah we do read it occasionally, but mostly for nostalgic reasons–it used to be quite good before being taken over by the corporate creeps) had a story today about Mark Kennedy’s recent voting record. (Ok, it was from the Associated Press, … Read more
“I’ll fire anyone who doesn’t lie, cheat or steal to get whatever he wants.” There’s even more news lately from the NY Times and the Washington Post about the Rove/Plame matter. Every little bit that comes out (the Post story clearly blows one of Rove’s defenses out of the water–that Plame’s name was not secret) … Read more
The best wedding bands don’t even know the chicken dance, or anything by the Village People. In conjunction with the Minnesota History Center’s “Happily Ever After” exhibit, this year’s outdoor Nine Nights of Music series showcases dream wedding bands playing music from around the world. August’s lineup opens with Piper’s Crow (above), a local Celtic … Read more
A couple of years ago, a scorching bit of celebrity gossip shocked the MPR-listening, granola-eating, prairie grass-planting fans of the contemporary folk scene: Singer-songwriters Greg Brown and Iris DeMent had secretly married. The couple keep their relationship strictly off the record (although once when we called Brown’s Iowa farmhouse, DeMent answered the phone, and we … Read more
With his snarky stage name, a voice you’ve got to learn to love, and a maddening compulsion for jumping genres, Declan McManus has become a pop music icon almost in spite of himself. Why? Because his songcraft, when it jells just right, has yielded some of the best pop of the last several decades. From … Read more
X may have emerged from the trash-strewn bowels of L.A., but it always had its finger on America’s rural music traditions. In fact, this offshoot of the legendary punk band excavated those roots long before MTV Unplugged and O Brother Where Art Thou made it cool to strum acoustic instruments and act like a hick. … Read more
Now that even the Boundary Waters is full of cell phones and GPS units–there’s probably even a laptop in a dry bag up there somewhere–it seems there’s no escaping technology. MIT student Eric Brende started to question his addiction to this higher power source, and decided the only way to escape technology’s grip was to … Read more
Berger is on the doorstep of eighty now, and for decades he has been one of the most elegant writers in the English language. He’s a master of the elegy and the vignette, and whether in the form of fiction or essay, his work has always had the long-view precision of a satellite photo. Berger’s … Read more