(Originally posted in TC Daily Planet and archived here)
The Replacements at Midway Stadium – that’s a classic combination!
The band came on stage in matching suits; they look weathered but good. They sounded great. The audience was also a little weathered and the audience wasn’t quite in tune but that didn’t stop everyone from singing every song. And to be fair to the audience, Westerberg doesn’t sing ‘em the same way every time. He pulled at our heart strings when we said, “Sorry it took us so long,” and brought us back to reality when added, “that’s a bold-faced lie.”
The started with “You’re My Favorite Thing” and they didn’t pause much over the next two hours. Not a lot of chit chat just a lot of fast guitars! About halfway into the show I got a little nervous that we were seeing the grand finale when they played “Maybelline.” It was hard rocking, old school and timeless –like fireworks. Luckily for us, they were just getting started. They played a few covers – “I Want You Back” the Jackson Five and Sham 69’s Borstal Breakout.
Every Minnesotan of a certain age has their favorite ‘Mats’ songs and I suspect how you felt about the show really depends on your favorite songs. If you were there for “Here Comes a Regular” or “Answering Machine,” you were out of luck. But in those two hours they were able to play a lot of songs. During the encore, Westerberg sang “Skyway”; it was a change of tempo that folks seemed to like. A special request of “Merry Go Round” went out to Mary (I assume Mary Lucia–Westerberg’s sister). They ended with “Unsatisfied,” which won me a bet with my brother. A strange note for another other band to leave on – but it made sense for them.
The Hold Steady also looked at home in the Midway Stadium–except lead singer Craig Finn welcomed Minneapolis! I decide not to take that personally because I once heard Finn say that as a kid St Paul scared him a little. Mayor Chris Coleman corrected the error when we came on stage to welcome everyone to St Paul and officially proclaim September 13 to be The Replacements Day.
It’s fun to watch Finn on stage–he’s the rock star lead singer and over-enthusiastic guy in the corner rolled into one. But like The Replacements, he’s such a good storyteller. “You’re Little Hoodrat Friend” was a crowd pleaser. There were a few people who fought their way up in front to see The Hold Steady and happily stepped back when they finished. I’d move up for both bands!
Filed under: TC Daily Planet
(Originally posted in the TC Daily Planet now archived here)
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MN Music On-A-Stick on Saturday, Aug. 30was a celebration of the great variety and quality of local music we have in Minnesota. Hosted by The Current, one of the most astute observations came from Mark Wheat when he noted that all but one of these bands (Bob Mould) has emerged since The Current went on air in 2005. The Current has been a force to promote local bands–from Americana to Hip Hop and we saw it all on stage.
Cactus Blossoms started the show. The crowd was still drifting in but there were dedicated music fans sitting and waiting under the stage for the show to start. There’s not much I can say about a band I saw two days earlier. They started with Stoplight Kissing, the played the Buffalo Song and they do a nice job with compelling song introductions. I enjoy their music and I like to see the Bluegrass, Americana sound getting a larger audience.
Best surprise of the night came when Lizzo played with Harmar Superstar. That was a match made in musical heaven. They both have powerful voices and even more powerful personalities on stage. They played off each other well. Baby You Shot me was a crowd pleaser. It was fun to see folks hear his music for the first time, with songs like DUI and Don’t Make Me Hit You. The disappointment of the night? Harmar kept his pants on!
Cloud Cult was up next. They play music that gives you goose bumps – whether you know their sad stories or not. (Losing a child and I learned last night a history of ALS.) Craig Minowa’s voice ranges from electronica sounding to soulful. The violin, the French horn, the keyboards–so many instruments that sound so crystal and pure. Going to see them is like seeing a play–from the highs of a song like Good Friend to the bittersweet sound of Pretty Voice. They have a following like no other band I’ve seen. Audience members in tears and a reverent silence usually reserved for sleeping babies or hometown free throws.
Bob Mould took the stage and played a couple of Husker Du songs – and I was there with high school friends. We would have heard I Apologize on a good Saturday night back in the day. That made my night! He just kicked it. There were touches of the fast strings and hard dancing. He has aged so well–and he drew in old folks like me and the younger crowd who were really there to see Doomtree and Brother Ali.
Doomtree Collective stormed the stage with intensity and a crazy amount of energy. I am a fan of Dessa – as much for her astute interviewing as her music; otherwise I hadn’t heard a lot of Doomtree. I like Hip Hop when I hear it but I don’t pursue it. When I hear a song like Little Mercy and I wonder why I don’t. One thing that really struck me was how well Doomtree interacts with the audience in the social media/smartphone era. The jumping, the posing, working all corners of the stage gets everyone excited and produces some great Instagram moments.
Brother Ali brought his Muslim hip hop dancers with him. I saw them first at a Lowertown Line show; they impressed me then but I think their moves are even better now. I enjoy Brother Ali as much for his interest in politics and religion as for the music. It seems odd to say I like a song like Murder, Murder, Murder, Kill, Kill, Kill but I do. I l like the heavy beats. He’s found a powerful way to bring his message to a new audience.
All in all a great night–worth standing on asphalt for seven hours!
Filed under: Minneapolis
Got any plans for your summer? We plan to get out to see the street art in the Twin Cities – one street or neighborhood at a time. I’m a fan of street art; I’ve been lucky enough to see Banksy in New York, murals in Belfast and Blu in Berlin. This summer, I’ll be staying home but I figured there must be some sights to see in my home town too with. So my plan for the summer is long walks with a camera.
We started with Lake Street – from the Lake Street Bridge to Lake Calhoun. We started there because my favorite street art is hidden under the Lake Street Bridge on the St Paul side. It honors a soldier; I remember when it went up two years ago around Memorial weekend. My hope this summer it to find more hidden gems like it. (If you know of any art I should check out please let me know atreacy@treacyinfo.com.)
Under the Lake Street Bridge
The street art in Lake Street is primarily paintings and murals. Some are clearly commercial, some are community-focused and a few might have been unsanctioned. Heading from St Paul, the art starts rolling with the Longfellow Artists in Lake Street (LoLA). They are sponsoring lots of opportunities for artists, such as the utility boxes along Lake Street. (The Minneapolis Public Arts Administration issues permits and supports “wrapped and painted utility boxes” around the city. )
Lake Street Utility Box: Gordon Coons
As we strolled down the avenue we found that street art increases as languages in the shop windows increase. There were a lot of scenes celebrating different ethnicities Mexican, Native American, African and Scandinavian. Some of these seemed commercial; some seemed like community projects. We saw quite a few between the train station on Minnehaha until S 1st Avenue.
Lake Street near 15th
There were some store fronts that seemed to sponsor or promote street art such as Urban Ventures, Safari Restaurant and the former Resource Center of the Americas.
Urban Ventures
There were also a lot of art that was clever or good or otherwise struck us. We were surprised at the dearth of street art on Lake Street in Uptown. Perhaps that’s because for this trip we stayed on Lake Street. We learned that sometimes the most interesting work happens off the main drag; we’re hoping to get to more of that later.
Lyndale and Lake
Originally I thought we might spend a day or two traipsing the city to uncover gems but we’ve learned you’ve really got to be walking to get the flavor of a community and it’s going to take all summer to get a decent start. If you see us out in your street, please tell us the story of your local art. (Or feel free to post a comment.)
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- Under the Lake Street Bridge
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- Lake Street Utility Box: Mary Ila Funtemann
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- Lake Street Utility Box: Gordon Coons
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- By Deals & Discounts on Lake Street
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- By Deals & Discounts on Lake Street
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- The Hub on Lake & Minnhaha
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- Mosaic Cafe
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- Under the Train Station at Lake Street
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- Across from the Lake St Cemetery: “FInd the gold bugs”
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- Los Gallos on Lake Street
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- Lake Srteet and 28th
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- Lake Street & 17th
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- Ingebretson’s on Lake Street
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- Lake Street near 15th
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- Lake and 15th
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- Heart of the Beast
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- Lake near 13th
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- Lyndale and Lake
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- Lyndale and Lake
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- Lyndale and Lake
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- Lyndale and Lake
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- Jungle Theater
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- Fujiya
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- Urban Ventures
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- Safari Restaurant
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- Ultimo mandatory de neustro venerable senor cuauhtemoc
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- Don’s Towing
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- Urban Ventures
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- Urban Ventures
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- Urban Ventures
Filed under: Belfast
Aine and I decided to take a day trip to Belfast. That way our family teenagers could enjoy a night at friends unhindered and we get out and see something fun. Belfast is about 2.5 hours away from Dublin by bus (add an extra hour to get from Cabinteely to town) so it’s a jaunt but a fun one. And the super luxury of visiting a place like Belfast again is that we didn’t feel like we had to see any of the big sights. We mostly went to have lunch with a friend and check out the Belfast Children’s Festival.
I was excited to see a special event at the festival – performers from Catalonia (past home of mine) were there doing fancy hair stuff. I know that Catalonia knows how to put on a show. And when we got to their performance I was not disappointed – there where doing hairstyles that would make Dr Seuss proud. Much to our delight – Aine was selected to be a model. So that made the event even more fun.
Also it was fun to catch up with an old friend and to hear how things in Belfast were going. I think they may be experiencing some growing pains as different cultures (and some not-so-new) cultures learn to coexist.
Filed under: Dublin
The girls and I finally had a day in Dublin to do anything we wanted. (OK anything I wanted.) We started with the Fail Better exhibit at the Science Gallery. It was a collection of failed experiments. Here are explanations from my favorite two failed experiments…
- In 1965, George and Charlotte Blonsky, a married couple living in New York City, were granted US patent #3216423 for an “Apparatus for Facilitating the Birth of a Child by Centrifugal Force”. When a woman is ready to deliver her child, she lies on her back on a circular table. She is strapped down. The table is then rotated at high speed. The baby comes flying out. This is intended to “assist the under-equipped woman by creating a gentle, evenly distributed, properly directed, precision-controlled force, that acts in unison with and supplements her own efforts”.
- It was trumpeted as “the building with more up top”, a swollen pint glass of a tower that bulges out as it rises to pack in more offices at the lucrative higher levels—all topped with a Babylonian sky-garden. What the developer of 20 Fenchurch Street in the City of London had not bargained for was, that like every Bond baddie lair, the Walkie-Talkie building would also come with its own lethal death ray. In the summer of 2013, the concave south-facing facade of the 34-storey tower was found to channel the rays of the sun into a concentrated beam down on to the street below, so hot it melted the bumper of a car, scorched shop carpets and bubbled their paintwork. One passer-by even managed to fry an egg in its heat.
After that we trekked around town visit lots of shops and checking out favorite places like George’s Market. Aine and I checked out the Maker Shop, where she got to solder a homemade flashlight and we got a few minutes with the National Gallery. The older girls got in a little shopping – or maybe just hung out at a coffee shop, we’re not really sure. But everyone had a nice break from bubble wrap and each other!
So after the funeral we spent a lot of time packing up Patrick’s mom’s house with the Australian contingency. We threw out things like a broken crib in the attic that had to be 40 years old and bubble wrapped about 1000 plates and knick knacks. So my plan when I get home is to break all of the plates I own and we’ll be eating off paper for the rest of my days. To be fair, I’m not really one for knick knacks anyways but man bubble wrapping will curb any saver tendencies. The girls can just fight over the mostly modern art on the walls and the backlog of laptops from days gone by.
Between the packing we did get in a few walking trips and visits.
We went into town for the markets and cupcakes, we went to Howth to see the seals, we went to Dun Laoghaire to walk the pier, Aine and I walked from Bray to Greystones and finally we found ourselves in Powerscourt and Glendalough – where the terrible St Kevin pushed the beautiful Kathleen into the lake. Uncle Michael had a car – a car for us in Dublin is a very rare treat. It was fun to be able to get to places so easily.
Filed under: Dublin
Irish Grandma died quite suddenly. The good news is that Patrick and most of his brothers were home for Christmas. We got the call mid-February saying she was sick. She died February 20. The girls had never really been to a full funeral before. I hadn’t been to one in Ireland. The greatest difference is in the removal the night before the funeral. We went to the funeral home where we went to see the body in the open casket. The crowd is kept to pretty immediate family. Everyone prays a little and then they cover the casket (some of us left the room) and move the body from the funeral home to the church.
Then there was a nice service at the church and a small dinner, again for immediate family at a local restaurant. We rode up to the events in the limo – not the most comfortable place to be although the driver was very nice. (The limo was comfortable, just the idea of it was uncomfortable.)
The following day was the funeral. Patrick gave the eulogy. Kate and Aine brought up the gifts. Lily and I each did a prayer of the faithful. It was funny to see Patrick and his brothers squish into the front pew. Let’s just say they may have fit into one pew back in the day – they’re a little big for it now.
The burial was different from home too. First the coffin is pared down – not the huge not-coffin-shaped coffins we have back home. Second, it is lowered down (more by hand than machine like at home) during the burial. It seems a lot closer. The girls did a good job holding it together for the whole event.
After the burial was a very nice luncheon at a local hotel – no church lady hot dish deal. This was fancy. And after lunch the crowd shifted to the bar. We were there (with kids) until about 11 pm. It was the first time I had met any of Patrick’s family outside of his brothers and their families. I’m including the pictures from the luncheon so that the family can access them.
Filed under: St Paul
It was roughly 400 degrees below zero during the St Paul Winter Carnival – so I’m super proud that we made it to see the snow and ice sculptures. The Twin Cities Daily Planet was kind enough to post our review of the sculptures – but I had a few more photos to share…
Filed under: Chicago
We went to see the Chicago cousins for Thanksgiving. It’s another family tradition. We’re lucky in that my sister makes the whole meal. We just show up!
This year many of us went to visit the Chicago Institute of Art; Aine and I love that place and it was fun to see it with more people.
Filed under: California
In the fall I made a trip to San Jose. It was nice to not be cold for a while – admittedly if I knew how cold the winter was going to be I might have put off the trip a few months. I saw some fun things while I was there. I happened to be there while the Make-a-Wish Batkid events were happening. It was fun to see that – and fun to see the whole city (of San Francisco actually) turn out to see them make Batkid feel like a super hero. I also did a wine tour, visited the beach with huge seals and got to walk around San Francisco for a while. I went to one techie Meetup – lots of very focused, aggressive people from all over the world. Very interesting folks.
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