My lovely, extraordinarily long-suffering, high school English teacher wife wrapped another school year last Friday and we’ve been feeding the finches up north for the last few days. Still are, in fact. Internet connections are funky in rural Wisconsin, which is one excuse for so little blogging. We did run around Superior and Duluth Sunday … Read more
This is just a poll — another snapshot of today’s conventional wisdom — but it rings true to me. It reaffirms a point I have made before and believe media-watchers everywhere should keep in mind as they watch big city newspapers founder. Namely, that in very short order, local TV news is going to be … Read more
BOOKS AND FOOD Raking Through Books – Writing About Food If you pay close attention to The Rake online, you’ll have already noticed the addition of at least one new voice in the vintage and victuals arena. Ann Bauer’s new wine blog, Beyond the Cask, is just one small piece of a much larger project … Read more
Doug and Jessica Anderson (formerly of Bakery on Grand, currently proprietors of A Rebours in St. Paul) plan to open Nick and Eddie on Loring Park later this summer. A combination breakfast spot, singles hangout, and rock ‘n roll bar, Doug promises this place will have the “right” music — including plenty of old Rolling … Read more
First there was Alma: Spanish for “soul.” Now, Chef Alex Roberts is opening Brasa (which means “hot coal”) at 600 E. Hennepin on the site formerly occupied by Betty’s Bikes and Buns. At Brasa, Roberts will serve soul food from Latin America, Peru, and the Caribbean — sweet potatoes, rice, beans, pork shoulder, and rotisserie … Read more
I am all a-board for this one. I have a certain attraction to the idea of floating down the river while snacking on fine foods. I think it goes to the dream of a lazy summer evening, one in which I am continually served bourbon and branch cocktails by someone I refer to as “Sugar”. … Read more
THEATER AND PERFORMANCE Gender Queercore This evening, Homocore Minneapolis presents Gender Queercore with Actor Slash Model, from Chicago. This transgendered indie-grass music and performance duo, comprised of Simon Strikeback and Madsen Minax, conveys mega-queer, trans-centric, and kink-aware music through simple melodies and witty lyrics. Their show tonight features tough tough skin, zibra zibra, and thunder … Read more
My last experience with the Riverview Theater was when my mother took my sister and me to see a movie called The Other Side of the Mountain. It was the true story of a skier who plunged off a cliff while training for the Olympics and was paralyzed from the chest down. She rode around … Read more
This here is the latest phenom to make the Twins look sick, a guy who hadn’t even made it into the fifth inning –the fifth stinking inning— in any of his previous starts. What the hell? Seriously, what the hell? Where do you want to lay the blame? At this point I can say only … Read more
Because you ask things like what the hell? and why? Because I guess you want to know. Because I joined up with the Amish after my dad decided it would make a man of me and it was either that or go to work at my grandfather’s automobile dealership and I knew damn well that … Read more