Truth to tell, I’m not a big fan of these end-of-year Top Ten lists. They tend, I think, to be both subjective and showy: meaning listmakers record either what’s obscurely relevant to them or what will demonstrate their great intellect and breadth of knowledge, or both. Two years ago, for instance, every book reviewer in … Read more
MUSIC Gear Daddies Add Boxing Day Show Just for You The English might have Boxing Day, but we have the Gear Daddies. And who needs another commonwealth holiday when we can have good old American country rockers. With their shows on the 28th and 29th already sold out, the band has shown some Austin, Minnesota … Read more
More like a mea maxima culpa. In my very first guest post here, I used the Rachel Bliss show at Cliché as an illustration of art works on display in places other than galleries, something that happens more and more here in Minneapolis. And then I posted the work of the wrong Bliss. The artwork … Read more
I read this the morning of every Christmas Eve. It helps remind me of the essential importance of a humble, shared feast. I gift this to all cooks as they start their ovens. Such a bustle ensued that you might have thought a goose the rarest of all birds; a feathered phenomenon, to which a … Read more
It’s strange to me that nobody seems to expect anything in the way of an explanation these days. Nothing in the world surprises anyone anymore, unless, you know, someone decides to go all Jerry Bruckheimer with their rage. I guess I’m not a person who can live without explanations or surprise. Does the ticking of … Read more
I’ve spent only one Christmas alone — and by "alone," I mean myself and three young kids. I was recently divorced. My parents were visiting my sister’s family in Philadelphia. And my ex-husband, a "recovering" Catholic and practicing alcoholic at the time, had slid into his annual holiday slump. This is how I found myself … Read more
If you really wanted to hide a sophisticated little wine bar where nobody would find it, where would you put it? Eden Prairie? Hilltop? How about, in the back room The Newsroom on the Nicollet Mall? You could easily walk into The Newsroom., a high-decibel newspaper-themed restaurant plastered with newspaper headlines and packed with video … Read more
Game # 25, Home Game #13: Indiana 118, Minnesota 131 Season record: 4-21 I usually condense two weekend games into a single trey, but tonight’s victory over Indiana was sufficiently exciting and worthy of individual comment that I’ve decided to file this now and let you folks add comments to this and tomorrow night’s road … Read more
I had dinner with Robert Bly last week. Now you may think the biggest perks of my job involve food and wine and freebies but it’s not true. The best thing is meeting people like Bly and being able to ask anything I want. And here’s what I wanted to know: What’s up with men? … Read more
Last year, instant runoff voting was approved by an overwhelming majority of Minneapolis residents. 65 percent of voters, to be exact. Given that it’s difficult to find 65 percent of people to agree with something as uncontroversial as whether Britney Spears’ contributions to the gene pool violate environmental protection statutes and constitute illegal dumping, a … Read more