Twelve hours before the U.S. government issued a terror alert for its citizens in India, I stopped by the Fatima Burqa Collection shop in Mumbai (officially known as Bombay until 1996). Located on Ebrahim Rahmatulla Road, a teeming shopping street in a crowded downtown Muslim district, the diminutive outlet is distinguished from its neighbors by … Read more
Shopping is supposed to be about getting stuff and the resultant happy glow of ownership. Yet how did it come to be that retail, as we know it today, is based around wanting but not necessarily getting? While it’s counterintuitive, it does explain the stacks of miserable, desperate-looking people at the mall. Jeans, perfume, boobs—there … Read more
The ancient Romans had an annual religious celebration called the Terminalia. It consisted of neighboring landowners coming together at the marker that divided their land to give thanks to Terminus, the god of boundaries. At the end of the Roman year, an altar was built, a sacrifice of a lamb or suckling pig was made, … Read more
The antique barber’s chair in Rocco Altobelli’s office—brick-red leather, brass studs, beautifully carved wood—stands as a reminder of his roots. Having just graduated from high school in Dilworth, Minnesota, the young Altobelli dreamed of becoming a photographer. But he opted for a safer bet: attending his uncle’s beauty school, Josef’s School of Hair Design, just … Read more
I used to be an overdressed runner. For example, at my first marathon, Grandma’s in 2002, I sported a pair of cropped cotton pants despite the steamy weather that day along the North Shore. The reason for this is that I, like many runners, was born bearing an extra-heavy burden, so to speak. But it’s … Read more
Boots provided courtesy of Mall of America. Left to right: spike-heeled boots by Jessica Simpson, $128.95, at Nordstrom, thigh-high boots by Aldo, $169.99, at Aldo, lace-up boots by BP. Shoes, $109.95, at Nordstrom. Anyone who likes watching women (which is pretty much everyone, including women) doesn’t like summer to end, for all the obvious reasons, … 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
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
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
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