Ann Bauer turns us on to this WCCO story about a garbage house in Crystal. Apparently, the city will pay the owners — whose property has filled up with raw sewage — “fair market value” in order to take over the house and clean it up (which may involve razing it to the ground). In a time of rampant foreclosure, this sounds like a dangerous practice. Trash the house you can’t sell and the city will fork over the money!
Category: Blog Post
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St. Thomas Uninvites Tutu
According to JTA Breaking News, The Anti-Defamation League is urging the University of St. Thomas to invite Archbishop Desmond Tutu to speak. Apparently, he was scheduled to come this Spring, but the university reconsidered, determining that Tutu’s comments against Israel deem him inappropriate.
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Take Your Chances
AUDITIONS
Ready to Rock!
Have you always dreamed of being a rock star, but somehow life kept getting in the way? Ready to Rock! wants to give you a second chance “to be the rock star you know you are!” I’m not a big fan of reality TV… (Actually, that’s a lie. I’m totally hooked, appalled, and mortified.) But a show with Lizz Winstead behind it is nothing to scoff at or ignore. Minnesota-born and probably one of the best political satirists out there today, Winstead has a slew of admirable credits to her name, not the least of which is co-creating The Daily Show. That’s right, the woman responsible for the original Daily Show is right here in town this evening, looking to cast a new music-oriented show for Fuse music television. (Actually, she’s in town casting two shows, but I’ll tell you about the other one later this week.) Ready 2 Rock is looking for the kind of guys we all know — over 40, probably settled into a comfortable job, but never got over having to give up the dream of being a rock star. Sound familiar? Why not give it a try? Still unsure? Watch this video: Lizz describes for us what she’s looking for. 5 p.m., Java Jack’s Coffee Shop, 818 W 46th St., Minneapolis; 612-825-2183.
MUSIC
Spoon Mixes It Up
The best pop-rock music is also the most difficult to explain. It saunters and bolts and trots along with the occasional dropkick, stub-toe, or click of the heels, instantly recognizable in its rhythms and attitudes, yet feeling so fresh it makes you giddy. After turning out a handful of very good pop-rock discs, Spoon, from Austin, Texas, has cut a great one in Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. It nods to the Beatles and Motown and Steely Dan and Dion, dapples in some ambient repetition, drum ‘n’ bass, Clash-style ragamuffin, and ’80s alterna-rock. Britt Daniel sings with a timbre of fine sandpaper, and his arch but sweet lyrics likewise leave their little abrasions. Do you still remember giddy? –Britt Robson6 p.m., First Avenue, 701 First Ave. N., Minneapolis; 612-338-8388; $22.
BOOKS & AUTHORS
The University of Minnesota Bookstore has really been doing a bang-up job maintaining a steady stream of interesting author events, and today they’ve got two — one in the afternoon, another in the evening: fire in the afternoon, Vikings at night.
Under a Flaming Sky
On Saturday, September 1, 1894, with only two inches of rainfall since May, a massive fire broke out in Hinckley, Minnesota, destroying 350,000 acres and killing more than 418 people. One life claimed by the great fire was that of writer Daniel James Brown’s great-grandfather. More than a century later, Brown set out to document the second deadliest wildfire in American history in Under a Flaming Sky: The Great Hinckley Firestorm of 1894. Head out this afternoon to hear Brown talk about the 300 people who survived the fire by crouching knee-deep in mud, and the 100 people who survived by hiding in a gravel pit. His book explains how man and nature conspired to create the nearly perfect fire conditions as he relates the experiences of ordinary citizens who, when faced with danger, performed extraordinary acts of courage and kindness.
2 p.m., University of Minnesota Bookstore, Coffman Memorial Union, 300 Washington Ave. S.E., Minneapolis; 612-626-0559; free.
No One Tells a Viking Woman What to Do
If fire is not your thing, perhaps you’d prefer a tale of a Viking woman who traveled to the New World 500 years before Columbus. This is no made-up tale, my friends. Through exhaustive research and archaeological studies, Nancy Marie Brown has managed to reconstruct the life of Viking woman Gudrid in her latest book, The Far Traveler: Voyages of a Viking Woman7 p.m., University of Minnesota Bookstore, Coffman Memorial Union, 300 Washington Ave. S.E., Minneapolis; 612-626-0559; free.
SHOPPING
Storm Sister
Just under a year ago, longtime stylist and esthetician Becky Sturm opened her own hair, skin, nail, and body care business. Actually, she began the business online a couple years prior to this, but she now has her own brick-and-mortar boutique. It’s a cute little shop, and Sturm is a fascinating lady. Stop on by and have a look, peruse the products, pamper yourself a bit — winter is coming, and our skin is going to need some serious help once it falls victim to the dry heat — and get some great tips from Sturm herself. If you can’t make it in person, you can still enjoy her wisdom on her blog at StormSister Spatique.10 a.m. to 5 p.m., StormSister Spatique, 635 S. Smith Ave., St. Paul; 651-221-4668.
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John Lennon's Tower of Light
It’s John Lennon’s birthday (he would have been 67), and Yoko Ono unveiled a tower of light in his memory, calling on us all to imagine a life of peace.
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Are You Among Par's Chosen People?
Former City Pages editor, Steve Perry, has been busy tunneling through some juicy news troves as he prepares to launch his much anticipated website, The Daily Mole, (Think: A young, hip, bra-less version of MinnPost). In the process, he came across an interesting piece of Star Tribune in-house stategery, (as W* would say) that we felt needed to emerge from behind the Mole’s beta fire-wall to be shared with all of you.
I quote:"Ridder’s Star Tribune legacy: The newspaper of the very best zip codes."
By Steve Perry
October 2, 2007Par Ridder may have fallen, but his vision of the Star Tribune’s future marches on. The map shown here (click on the image for a large view) is an internally distributed Strib planning document that identifies the "key zip codes" in the paper’s primary distribution area. Think of it as a visual rendering of the paper’s latest push to shore up its collapsing profits and reshape its news coverage in the most demographically attractive corners of the metro: the affluent, mostly conservative outer-ring suburbs. And if you live in Minneapolis or St. Paul (or any first-tier suburb save Edina), think of yourself as the hole in the donut.
The red sectors on the map also help to make sense of Avista point man Chris Harte’s push for a more conservative editorial page voice in recent months, a development that Brian Lambert and Deborah Rybak have been watching closely at their Rake-hosted media news blog. (Harte’s more notorious diktats have included forced revisions of editorials calling for DOT chief Carol Molnau’s head, and championing a proposed gas tax hike.)
As one Strib veteran tells the Mole, "The right-wing blog voices that were bashing the paper a couple of years ago, Hugh Hewitt and the rest, have gotten pretty much everything they wanted. The GOP wanted the Minnesota Poll gone, and now it’s gone. They wanted to get rid of people like [editorial board members] Jim Boyd and Susan Albright and their editorial policy, and they’ve succeeded at that. Now there won’t be editorials about the war and global warming; they’ll write about local issues like zoning conflicts in Coon Rapids instead. They wanted the paper to hire a conservative columnist, and they got that. From here on out, it looks like the Strib becomes the conservative, suburbs-oriented paper, and the Pioneer Press will become the paper of the city underdogs and the blue voters. They may wind up getting pushed more to the left."
(This item is reprinted from the Daily Mole, which enters beta-testing next week. Until this Friday, you can still sign up to receive a beta invitation at www.dailymole.com)
The irony is that the Parmeister worked his magic in St. Paul before turning his talents on Minneapolis. East of the river he frankly declared his intention to turn the Pioneer Press Op-Ed section into "the conservative alternative to the Star Tribune," all while and blanding-down "news coverage" to those same mythically potent outer suburbs.
In other words, though shamed by his own malfeasance, Ridder has wrought red across the Twin Cities metro.
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Wolves News and Baseball Playoff Previews
In this morning’s conference call from London, I asked Randy Wittman to describe his optimal scenario for Randy Foye. Does he want Foye to be his rock-ribbed point guard, or does he want him to slide over and play the two occasionally, be a combo guard?
“He is going to play both,” Witt replied. “No, not all of his minutes will be at the point because of all the problems he presents [for opponents] off the ball. So he’ll do both.” The coach noted that in the first exhibition game Foye played about half and half between the guard positions and implied that he’d like to see that continue.
When I followed up asking who that would deliver minutes for, Marko Jaric of Sebastian Telfair, Wittman said, “These guys are going to dictate who plays. But the opportunities are going to be there because I don’t want 35 minutes of Randy at the point.”
The PiPress’s Rick Alonzo remarked that that might be news to Foye, who seemed to emphasize that he would be pretty much only a point guard at the media day interviews. But Wittman essentially replied that Foye has foreknowledge of and is on board with the combo guard plan. “He wants to play off the ball some,” Wittman flatly stated, noting that he and Foye have talked about this.
Okay, maybe this is surprising news, or maybe we should just take it with a boulder (instead of a grain) of salt, along the lines of Witt claiming that the Wolves will be a running team this season. Why am I skeptical? Because it means a much bigger role for either Jaric or Telfair, two players that have been relied upon fairly significantly to handle point guard duties in the past two years and have failed miserably. Because putting Foye at the two increases the swingman glut that continues to dog this roster. Witt today claimed that he wants Ryan Gomes to get as comfortable at the 3 as he was last year at the 4. So if you have Gomes playing some 3 and Foye playing some 2, both on a regular basis, that necessarily robs minutes from Davis/McCants/Green/Buckner.
As for the Wolves being a running team, the dirty little secret is that a transition game requires a quality ball distributor just as much as in the half-court game, and the Wolves, aside from the soon-to-be-departed Davis, are flat out of decent options there. Oh, and there is also this notion that all the Wolves’ need to crash the glass at both ends of the court, further retarding the running game. No, if the Wolves are smart, they’ll play a lot of dump and slash: Get the ball inside to Al Jefferson and otherwise rely on the slashing abilities of Foye, Davis, McCants, Green, and Brewer.
By the way, Witt also mentioned that a few players tweaked their ankles today in practice–Jefferson and Green and Telfair–and might be doubtful for the Celtic tilt tomorrow. A conspiracy theorist might opine that the Wolves don’t want the current talent differential of their big trade to be quite so obvious out on the hardwood, although you could also argue that they have nothing to lose except maybe a little face. Anyway, McCants as of now is healthy enough to play and Craig Smith might be able to go–he engaged in a full practice today–but the coach sounded dubious on that count.
On to the baseball playoffs. The first round was a real snooze. I called every series but of course was in deadline hell so nobody knew it (he mutters, kicking the ground). Now watch–I’ll blow the pick on both of these second round matchups, especially because I’m pretty confident of the winners, especially the ALCS.
The key to the Boston-Cleveland series is the lack of lefties in the Red Sox rotation. The two most influential bats in the Indians lineup, Sizemore and Hafner, are both righty mashers. Yes, I know the numbers rebut this: Hafner hit below the Mendoza line versus Boston this season (ditto Victor Martinez), and Sizemore was merely .250, with 11 Ks in 28 ABs. But I think both will come up big in the clutch. Schilling and Beckett have both proven to be big game pitchers, but Dice-K is shakey, and unless Boston can go right from Beckett-Schilling to Okajima and Papelbon, I’m not convinced that Timlin/Gagne/Delcarmen can hold down the fort. Ditto the lefty Lopez.
Meanwhile, Sabathia and Carmona are the best 1-2 in baseball right now, two bona fide aces. The only potential chink is the batting eyes of Youkilis-Ortiz-Manny-Drew: if Carmona nibbles too much and gets behind in the count, he’ll either get lucky and last only 5-6 innings because of his pitch count on the mistakes will result in runs. I also have a feeling Jake Westbrook has a hell of a game in him for this series. The guy lost quite a bit of time with injuries this season and thus should be fresher than usual, and he’s already gotten over that blip, the post-big contract jitters. Finally, Cleveland’s much maligned bullpen is better than Boston’s right now. Cleveland in six.
The other league features two very hot NL West ballclubs whose seasons are already a fabulous success regardless of whether they win another game or not. Because of that circumstance, the first game is even more important than usual, as one club may feel they remain on the side of the gods while the other shrugs and considers it a good run to get this far. This is particularly true if the Rockies snatch Game One on the road.
But I’m picking Arizona in 6 or 7 and the reason is Brandon Webb, the most unheralded great pitcher in the game today. Who knows that Webb is the reigning Cy Young Award winner? That he induces ground-outs as effectively as anyone in baseball right now? I think Webb is capable of a 3-0 series. Again, this prediction is based more on gut instinct than raw numbers. The Rockies have actually hit Webb very well this season, especially lefties Brad Hawpe and Kaz Matsui. Todd Helton less so this year, but in the past has murdered Webb. And Matt Holiday has posted decent numbers with a plus .800 OPS.
No matter. It is the postseason and great pitchers rise to the occasion. Brandon Webb is a great pitcher. Meanwhile, Doug Davis (who had a nice comeback second half of the season) and Livan Hernandez should be able to pull out at least one and possible two games against the likes of Josh Fogg and Franklin Morales. Obviously, Colorado’s strength is in its offense and its bullpen, both of which are better than Arizona’s. The difference-maker will be Webb.
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Men With Baggage
Hey guys, thought I’d point to this article, by an intrepid young writer at the Minnesota Daily, that riffs off my Men With Baggage spread from this month’s magazine. But he takes the topic a step further by actually dispensing with suggestions on how to find the right murse. Have a look-see.
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In which I spaz about Yaz.
Random thought related to the plight of womanhood: While watching mindless reality television last eve, I came across an ad for Yaz, a new birth control pill that also takes care the period’s pesky side symptoms, such as bloating, moodiness, acne, and fatigue. And, by the way, it’s one of those pills that can eliminate your period. All this, and it prevents pregnancy, too (I assume – the ad didn’t specify). At this point, I turn to my boyfriend, who’d be all-too-happy to have his woman on hormones (and who, in fact, wishes like hell I’d be compliant and just swallow the damn things) and say, “That seems like an irresponsible way to market the pill.”
“Why?” he demanded. We’ve often sparred over the safety of oral contraceptives. Me, I’ve read plenty of earth-mother literature about the pill’s potential harms. And besides, I’ve tried three different types of pills in my lifetime, and I just haven’t liked how fragile I’ve felt. I much prefer my body and mind in their natural, un-medicated states even though, yes, I am prone to fits of bitchiness and bloating. (Diagnosis: Woman!) In any case, I ended up telling boyfriend that when he finally puts himself on a daily regimen of hormones (I’ll be fantasizing about his lost libido in the meanwhile), then I, too, will be happy to do so. The end.
ADDENDUM: I hope and dream of the male birth control pill, which is currently in testing, curing such pesky side symptoms as anger, unrealistically high self-esteem, and horniness.
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Red Stag: Wonder Women Rule
Imagine my surprise when I found out that the contractor who worked on my own tiny St. Louis Park house — doing everything from renovating the kitchen to replacing the automatic garage door when my teenage son backed the car through it — is also the person who’s helping Kim Bartmann — the innovative, blur-the-lines founder of Barbette and Bryant Lake Bowl — create Red Stag, soon to become the only LEED-certified restaurant in town.
Her name is Lori Reese, and she runs a funky, homegrown company called Wonderwoman Construction that specializes in flexible design and salvage. She also, I’ve recently learned, used to play rugby with Bartmann at the U of M. And let me tell you, if I saw these two women coming at me with bloodthirst in their eyes, I’d be scared. Of course, I’m about five-foot-four in heels. . . .
But I digress. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, and it’s the benchmark for the building and operation of “green” buildings. Restaurants are notorious energy hogs and wasters of everything from water to electricity to food. Red Stag is being built with features such as dual-flush toilets, LED lighting, and stove hoods that turn on only when their “sensors” detect a build-up of smoke and/or heat. They’re installing post-consumer recycled carpet that doesn’t off-gas and water heaters without tanks. Food will be locally sourced — reducing travel miles — and the plate scrapings composted.
Bartmann says she loves the contrast of opening a traditional supper club with progressive values. Also, she points out, “Supper clubs are popular in rural places where people actually do care about the environment.”
She’s been scouting a location for a third restaurant for a couple years now. Bartmann almost bought Bobino, then thought about the former Boom space (now the Bulldog-NE), but when she saw this old mechanical shop at 509 1st Avenue NE, she fell in love. “It was affordable, it had parking, and it’s a really solid-ass old building,” she says.
Reese predicts Bartmann will spend a little over 10 percent more on construction than if she were using conventional materials and methods to build Red Stag. But the cost, Reese says, may be recouped in as little as 18 months, given the savings on utility bills. “It’s a longer curve for residential,” she says. “You don’t make back your investment so fast because you’re not using so much energy. But in a restaurant, the energy bills tend to be 30 to 40 percent of your overall operating costs. So everything we’re doing should make a huge difference.”
But what about the food? The actual restaurant part of things? That’s where chef Bill Baskin, formerly of the spaceship-stylish Cosmos, comes in. Here, he’s planning a menu of “contemporized comfort food:” veal casserole, chicken and dumplings, a meat plate with game cooked three different ways (e.g. fried, braised, and smoked). The bar will be all about pickles, including pickled pigs feet, which Baskin, who’s originally from Texas, says they’re going to “give a go and see what Minnesota says.”
Lunch will include a lot of quick pick-up sandwiches and salads, for the downtown working crowd. One recipe Baskin was willing to share was a “deconstructed” Waldorf salad (entirely vegan) with celeriac, julienned apples, walnuts, smoked raisins, and fried mushroom chips. He’ll be serving a brunch on Sunday that’s a bit more conventional: French toast, chicken fried steak, “and maybe” — he flashes a grin “green eggs and ham.”
Right now, the 100-seat restaurant is only a frame. But assuming Reese and Bartmann keep moving — and don’t take a break to rough it up on the rugby field — Red Stag will open to the public in early November. And I have no doubt it will happen. These wonder women seem to be able to get anything done.
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Writing Our Worlds
BOOKS & AUTHORS
Raking Through Books
Join us this evening for our happy hour book club, Raking through Books. This month, enjoy the company of a group of local mystery writers: Carl Brookins, Pat Dennis, Michael Allan Mallory, David Housewright, Judith Yates Borger, Scott Pearson, and Joel Arnold. All of these writers contributed to the recent Resort to Murder anthology. Resort to Murder continues in the same tradition as Nodin Press’s Silence of the Loons, with some of the state’s best writers delivering creepy, spine-tingling tales all of which are set at Minnesota vacation resorts. Stories far more haunting than the cry of a loon, and crimes more lethal than a lump of lutefisk.5:30 to 7 p.m., Kieran’s Irish Pub, 330 2nd Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-339-4499; free.
Outsiders Within
In all the hype about Brangelina’s many adoptive children, in all the accusations launched at Madonna for not going through the proper adoption channels, in all the righteous indignation directed to and from stars regarding trans-country adoptions, the one thing we never really hear about is the effects on the children. As the tabloids continue their long overdone jokes about Maddox’s kick-ass ways, when have they stopped to consider how this young boy will feel growing up in the upper crust of white America, under the scrutiny of the public eye? This is the subject of Outsiders Within: Writings on Trans-Racial Adoption — not Maddox, of course, but the emotional, cultural, and economic effects of trans-racial adoption. Tonight you can learn more about the matter, and the book, from co-editor Sun Yung Shin.7:30 p.m., Magers and Quinn Booksellers, 3038 Hennepin Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-822-4611; free.
Glocalism
Along a similar — though broader, yet more local — note, Here: A Global Citizen’s Journey reflects on Minnesota’s connection to the rest of the world, painting a portrait rife with foreign flavors and marked by global economic, social, and environmental trends. Nothing happens independently of the world within which it happens; not even here in Minnesota; not even in Rochester, Minnesota, home of author Douglas McGill. Former New York Times reporter and current editor of The McGill Report blog, McGill has written about human rights, genocide, immigration, and assimilation to American society. Meet him this afternoon, and have him sign your copy of his book following the discussion. 2 p.m., University of Minnesota Bookstore, Coffman Memorial Union, 300 Washington Ave. S.E., Minneapolis; 612-626-0559; free.
COMEDY
He’ll Fire You, then Make You Laugh
Although, Al Madrigal claims to have known at an early age that comedy was his calling, it took him quite some time to follow his dream and break into the business. I guess ten years at the family’s human resources business made him realize that a little spice of life might be worth the risk. So he left behind the hiring and the firing, and set out to sell himself, one joke at a time. Finally, in 2004, Madrigal got himself noticed at the Aspen Comedy Festival, winning the jury award for best stand-up performer. Something tells me he’s good for a laugh. 8 p.m., Acme Comedy Company, 708 N. First St., Minneapolis; 612-338-6393; $15.
THEATER & PERFORMANCE
Whistle Down the WindAndrew Lloyd Webber fans are in for a real treat tonight, with the opening of Whistle Down the Wind, a musical about three Louisiana orphans who find a mysterious stranger hiding in their barn. Based on the novel of the same name by Mary Hayley Bell, and set to the music of Jim Steinman, the narrative sets the three children against the townspeople, as they vow to protect the felon from the outside world. Why? Well, they think he’s Jesus, of course.
8 p.m., Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, 345 Washington St., St. Paul; 651-224-4222; $20-$55.
