Last August, a graphic adaptation of the 9/11 Commission Report was published, and the media did what they always do when they notice cartoon artists taking on serious themes. They freaked. “Yes, that’s right, a comic about the attacks is set for publication,” gasped Bravetta Hassell of the Washington Post. “Is the most defining moment … Read more
When the A & J Gem Café of Uptown closed, I was despondent. During the hazy days of postcollegiate life, comfort food had a different meaning. What comforted me was anything but mom’s meatloaf and mashed potatoes, which haunted my youth. After college, what comforted me was food that was something I could call my … Read more
If you go down to the woods south of London, you may be in for a big surprise. Not the teddy bears’ picnic—that seems to be what a good many urban folk seem to expect in the countryside these days, as though farms were all film sets and the animals, a collection of animated stuffed … Read more
The brightness that sustains me is meant to blow away. Almost every day, I walk down to the college to watch the Buddhist nuns. The young Tibetans fold themselves crossed-legged on the wooden platform, funneling colored sand grain by grain onto a chalked pattern in the center. They wear cloth masks so their breath doesn’t … Read more
About a year ago, after Minneapolis Mayor R. T. Rybak had celebrated his rout of Peter McLaughlin by diving off the stage into the arms of his supporters, I noticed John Blackshaw wandering through the crowd of well-wishers, a slight smirk on his lips and a look of satisfied exhaustion in his eyes. Blackshaw had … Read more
Excerpted from the forthcoming memoir, Petal Pusher (Atria, June 2007). Part 1: Tired of Being a Spectator 1985—Madison, Wisconsin I’m going to start a band with my girlfriends, and we’re all planning a move to the current, or at least closest, music capital of the world, Minneapolis. About that small issue of not having spent … Read more
Chris Osgood Age: 52 Background: Formed the seminal Minneapolis punk band, The Suicide Commandos, in 1974 and then went on to serve as label manager/producer for Twin/Tone Records. Currently serves as director of artist services for Springboard for the Arts, a St. Paul-based nonprofit dedicated to helping self-employed creative folks earn a living. Name some … Read more
At times during his monthly performances at the Dakota Jazz Club & Restaurant in downtown Minneapolis, Cuban-born Nachito Herrera seems less intent on playing the piano than on consuming it—greedily, octave after octave—his thick, muscular fingers tenderizing the keys under a barrage of powerful yet precise blows, his stocky frame bouncing up and down on … Read more
For a guy who spends all year thinking about Halloween, Will Niskanen could hardly be described as scary. Slight and soft-spoken, dressed in khakis and brown loafers, and exhibiting the good manners of a Boy Scout, Niskanen greets me at one of his favorite haunts, Mill City Cafe, pulling out a chair and offering to … Read more
“Lincoln’s deathbed physician said he had the body of a Moses. What do I look like, Bill?” The doctor, who had just finished examining my father, dropped the covers. He said, “You can’t put off that quadruple forever.” “Isn’t that where you take strips from my ass and sew them to my heart? You keep … Read more