Erik Moe Art & Design

Following last month’s disheartening news about Philly’s International House, an alarming note hit my inbox yesterday from SaveTheOakStreet.com in Minneapolis, and I would like to take this opportunity to ask any and all of my readers to consider their noble effort to save a remarkable repertory cinema. The Oak Street Cinema is one of my favorite institutions, and favorite film venue anywhere. It hasn’t been around since the days of French fur trappers, but it was invented at least a few years before I needed it and has been around ever since. Sometimes I wonder if I really spent an entire summer bicycling to and from Oak Street’s screenings of the complete works of Francois Truffaut or if I invented the whole thing out of some desire for the Minneapolis of my imaginary memoirs to be a little more like the Paris of Bertolucci’s The Dreamers.

I’ve always thought that in the not-too-distant future I’d be better able to repay the Oak Street for all it gave me. I can’t do much as a struggling freelancer living a thousand miles away, but maybe some of you are better positioned to help out.

Update: You’ve gotta love Minnesotans

How sad, the news of Kirby Puckett’s death at 45. Growing up in Minneapolis, Kirby was a figure of a mythical magnitude. From third or fourth grade on, everyone at school seemed to love him – even if they didn’t know what a strike or an out was. The New York Times obit alludes to “thousands and thousands of dogs and cats named after him throughout the Upper Midwest.” I know I met a few of those animals. His smile and his strange, short, chubby figure lent themselves to a cuddly teddy bear image – a summertime Santa Claus – and made his accomplishments on the field seem all the more unlikely. How did that body leap up again and again to steal those home runs?

The descent of his personal life in the years following his career-ending glaucoma seemed like a far-fetched cliche of the retired jock ala Scorsese’s Raging Bull. No one expects Santa Claus to appear in divorce court and later show up in tawdry tabloid headlines.

Here in Philly, Kirby isn’t so well known. He’s known, but not mythologized. His puppy dog appeal hasn’t totally escaped our streets though. Bizarrely, municipal recycling bins bear the image of a cartoon character named “Curby Bucket.”

My old coffee-making buddy Pete was featured in this AP story on winter bicycle commuting in Minneapolis. I wouldn’t be surprised if the story was picked up by papers in fair-weather cities and run with a the headline, “Minnesotans: Loony as Ever.” The fact of the matter is that it isn’t really a big deal to bike in the cold. Smart layers of clothing will keep you warm – even sweaty if you aren’t careful. My favorite part of the article is the talk of how cycling gets you to your destination charged up and ready for work in a way that only fellow cyclists understand.

I did my share of sub-freezing cycling when I lived in Minneapolis, but when the shoulders and bike lanes were slushy or icy, I gave myself a break and rode MetroTransit. I can deal with the cold, but the possibility of my tires slipping out from under me in heavy traffic is more of a risk than I care to take.

Still – while here in Minny for the holidays I’ve noticed plenty of cyclists on the roads, and it has me missing some of my old routes. I had forgotten just how many major streets here have lanes set aside for bicycles. It’s definitely a special thing. Philly is a good biking city, but largely by accident. The skinny streets and downtown gridlock make bike travel surprisingly safe and simple, but I understand those who are wary of biking Philly for the same reasons.

I’m going to have to see what I can do to get cycling back into my routine when I get back to Philly. The major drawback of my new work-at-home lifestyle is the lack of that pre-work adrenaline rush from a speedy two-wheeled zip across town.

…are (Minnesota) Public Radio, wikis, and music. Roll them all together and you get Minnewiki: The Minnesota Music Encyclopedia. I couldn’t resist contributing a few sentences here and there, though my knowledge of Minnesota music is lacking since coming East in 2001.

It might not be strange to feature your own face on the front page of the website you’ve been designing for years, but you’ll notice that I’m not doing it here on emopage. Then again, emopage isn’t the major web portal for the Upper Midwest. Still, it was a nice surprise to see an old friend blogging away about her suburban gardening exploits for startribune.com under the moniker of ‘GardenGirl.’

Emopage has no garden here in it’s luxurious third story offices. In fact, the un-killable aloe plants here are shriveling and in dire need of re-potting. For now, I’m living vicariously through my neighbors’ patio furniture and koi pond (for real!). The mid-block backyard gardens outside are in full bloom and are actually a nice low-labor substitute. Still, maybe GardenGirl should share the wealth with us apartment-dwellers and install a gardencam. I’ve been telling my dad to plug one in and aim it at his vast Japanese-style garden for years. Maybe I’ll just need to make another trip to Minny soon to take in all this greenery…

I’ve been listening off and on to MPR’s new new-music station, KCMP “The Current” online during it’s inaugural day. So far I’m liking this inauguration better than the (presidential) one in the news last week. My fears of a wimpy station heavy on folk or new-agey music have thankfully not come to pass. I’m actually impressed so far (aside from the odd Ani DiFranco track). They took a bold first step by playing Atmosphere’s “Shh…..” as a first track fresh out of the blocks after Classical WCAL signed off at 9AM. If you don’t know the track, it features the Minneapolis Hip-Hop maestro Slug rhyming about how amazing The Minny is (even Slug doesn’t call it “The Minny,” though). Some of the song’s lyrics sort of make me cringe because they are a bit sappy, but he is so earnest and it’s all true more or less, so I say it was a good pick. Other tracks have been very eclectic, but still mixing together well. Replacements, Frank Sinatra, Iron & Wine, plenty of Minny bands, and plenty of good-sounding stuff that I’ll be happy to get to know better.

The New York Times Magazine yesterday wrote about how powerful Santa Monica’s KCRW has become with the music industry due to the number of people who listen to it’s eclectic programming in their offices on the internet all day. In fact, much like Seattle’s KEXP, they host parties and concerts on this side of the continent for the large contingent of members they have in New York. MPR is surely eyeing that big money with this new new-music station. If you’re reading this Bill Kling, I’ll take a job as your East Coast concert planner…

Free Tech Tip: Mac people should listen to KCMP with the free VLC Media Player, since iTunes doesn’t yet support the great-sounding aacPlus stream. You can use WinAmp on Windows to access that stream. KCMP also has a less good mono Windows Media Player stream that you can use on either platform.

…but only because they have lots of money. Before and after photos of Bush-monkey Norm Coleman (Republican US Senator- MN) at his dental surgeon’s website. Clearly W’s micromanaging of Coleman’s career hasn’t been as efficient as we’ve been led to believe if these kinds of images are OK’d by his office.

Thanks, Slanderous Minneapolis for pointing out this one on your day off.

Minnesota Public Radio has announced that it is launching a music station for “listeners who have grown up in the digital generation. Whatever that means. From all appearances, this looks to be a Minnesota-flavored KEXP. The key staffers announced so far are Steve Nelson, who helped start Radio K, and Thorn, a DJ from the departed and much-loved Rev105. Yow.

“Once it debuts, the audience can expect to hear musical artists ranging from local favorites such as Mason Jennings, The Replacements, Olympic Hopefuls and The Jayhawks to modern icons such as The Postal Service, Lucinda Williams, Alejandro Escovedo, Joni Mitchell, U2 and the Arcade Fire. Artists such as Chet Baker, Johnny Cash and Ella Fitzgerald will creep in periodically.”

That language is almost exactly the way Rev105 used to be described (substituting The Jesus & Mary Chain, Morphine, Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Soul Coughing, and Soul Asylum, for the newer acts), which makes me optimistic that the station won’t be too folked out or new-agey the way some of the new music public radio stations lean.

Back in the day (the day being 1995 or so), there were adventurous commercial radio stations owned by smallish companies. In Minneapolis there was Rev105 (and KJ104 before it). These commercial stations were run by people who were deeply involved in the local music scene. Most notably, by Kevin Cole a former First Avenue DJ (Cole now is at Seattle’s KEXP). In high school and college I learned to love music throuh Kevin Cole and the other DJs on those stations. Here’s hoping the best for the new MPR service.

Related: What’s Up with 89.3

Today McSweeney’s published a brief look at the utility of Minneapolis-St. Paul as a base of operations for various well-known superheroes or super teams. Minneapolis may not be Metropolis, but I feel like it has had its share of superheroes. For one, I’m pretty sure Prince counts. After all, Purple Rain and Spider-Man follow essentially the same cinematic formulas. And if none of the various well-known superheroes will work out in the Twin Cities, there are plenty of lesser-knowns that could fight crime in Vikingland… I like the fact that Aquaman was disqualified because Garrison Keillor doesn’t like him. I’m not sure Aquaman would really dig the frozen lakes and rivers anyway.

While taking a glance at the results in the other blue state I care about, a couple of non-electoral stories distracted me… The Strib ran a story on Minneapolis bike messenger fashion, which seems to have been entirely the product of a lazy reporter hanging out too much in a certain Nicolet Mall location of a certain local chain of coffee shops that is dear to my heart. Among the findings: “The Minneapolis messengers look a little less ‘technical’ than in other cities, and a little more thrift store-y.” It’s true - Philly messengers wear a lot more black and a lot less color than the Minneapolis bikers, but then again they are inherently less crazy. Actually, the same can be said for all fashion in Minneapolis vs. Philly… The Strib’s other story distracting me from my post-election haze was the (temporary) closing of First Avenue, the house that Prince built and that gave rise to the Replacements and Hüsker Dü and a zillion other Minneapolis bands. Apparently the name “First Avenue” is tied up as a part of the Bankruptcy holdings. The bad guy owner (who is feuding with good-guy managers) is talking about opening up a different club using that name. Somewhere else. I can just see one of those suburban hair-metal clubs in Anoka being given the First Avenue “brand.”