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Inside the B.T. McElrath chocolate empire
The staff takes it for granted, but there may not be a better-smelling building in Northeast Minneapolis than the tiny warehouse that houses the 19–year-old B.T. McElrath Chocolatier empire, which last...
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Purple refrain: Alan Light on Prince, 'Purple Rain' and 'Let's Go Crazy'
In the summer of 1984, there may have been no bigger Prince fan than Alan Light. That summer, Prince and “Purple Rain” were everywhere, and 18-year-old Light started keeping notes.His “Let’s Go Crazy:...
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‘Rehearsing Failure’ shines a light on the women behind Bertolt Brecht
Bertolt Brecht was Germany’s most famous poet and playwright, credited with penning some of the theater world’s most oft-produced scripts, including “The Threepenny Opera,” “Life of Galileo,” “Mother...
View ArticleTiny Desk Concerts: the Minnesota mix
Since it started in 2008, National Public Radio’s “Tiny Desk Concerts” have provided stay-at-home public radio listeners with intimate musical performances staged at, yes, musician/producer/founder and...
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Shhhh — A true music-listening scene grows In Lutsen
Last month at the Dakota jazz club, yours truly was forced to shush four chatty tables who were obviously unaware that a set of sublime acoustic music was taking place a mere 80 feet away from them in...
View ArticleWinona LaDuke to Dayton and all of Minnesota: 'Help Us'
“I just wanted to say I love your work,” the waitress at Emily’s Lebanese Deli in Northeast Minneapolis said to Winona LaDuke last week as she refilled the two-time Green Party vice presidential...
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‘Call Me Sweetheart’: a report from David Carr’s Irish wake at Liquor Lyle’s
When David Carr came to bury his cousin Tim Carr at St. John The Evangelist church in Hopkins in the spring of 2013, the eulogizing priest noted that, “The Irish have a phrase for how Tim died: He went...
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'We can create peace with hip-hop, right now': International Hip-Hop Activism...
On Saturday morning a Minneapolis police officer was shot in what police chief Janeé Harteau called a "targeted" attack. Later that day targeted was the word used by attendeees at the First Annual...
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'The best feeling in the world': a conversation with Timberwolves shooting...
Last Friday morning, during the Timberwolves shoot-around at Target Center, players and members of the press alike were quietly abuzz about the just-announced news of Kevin Garnett’s return. On the...
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Celebrating all things Somali at the U of M
On Feb. 22, CBS Evening News reporter Jeff Pegues concluded his report about East African terrorist groups and ramped-up security at the Mall of America with, “Al-Shabaab has found sympathizers in...
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Talking art and social media at the Walker Art Center
Everybody’s in show biz these days, what with the 24/7 news cycle and our Facebook/Twitter/Instagram/Vine/Snapchat selves adding to the “we live in public” ways of how we live and work nowadays....
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Meet the Mall of America 11
On Dec. 20, 2014, an estimated 3,000 people took to the Mall of America in the name of Black Lives Matter Minneapolis, as part of a nationwide wave of protests following grand jury decisions in...
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Minneapolis student in 'Miss Tibet' seeks to spread the message of oppression
Early in Norah Shapiro’s fascinating and beautiful documentary “Miss Tibet: Beauty in Exile,” a Tibetan official proclaims that Western culture-inspired beauty pageants are antithetical to Tibet’s...
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Poets, professors and publishers mingle, read and listen at AWP
The writers are coming! The writers are coming! Actually, they’re here – 12,000 poets, scribes, small-press publishers, and other various wordsmiths landed in Minneapolis Wednesday for the AWP...
View ArticleThe man who invented 30 Days of Biking
It started with a hashtag and a tweet, five years ago.Patrick Stephenson was a shy 27-year-old copywriter for a downtown Minneapolis advertising agency whose only post-work exercise regimen was to play...
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'Punk rocker's paradise' Jay's Longhorn to be focus of reunion and documentary
On May 16 at First Avenue, some of the twin towns' most influential musicians will gather for what’s being billed as a “Longhorn reunion” in honor of the long-gone but seminal music club that was Jay’s...
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Previewing 'Music & Lyrics,' a poster art show for Record Store Day
Record Store Day takes over the entire free world Saturday, and one of the more creative – if under-the-radar – events is “Music & Lyrics,” a poster art show at Hamilton Ink Spot in downtown St....
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'The best collection of misfits you’ll ever want to hang out with': scenes...
The ultimate freedom movement was moving a little slow Saturday at the Cambria Suites in Maple Grove. On a glorious sunny spring weekend, about 60 people attended the 2015 Libertarian Party of...
View ArticleVoices for 'Jessica': CD dedicated to sex-trafficking victims
In her work as a labor and delivery nurse at Regions Hospital in downtown St. Paul, Kriss Zulkosky deals with hundreds of young mothers every year. One encounter last fall with a patient she names only...
View Article'Kids …': David Letterman’s greatest Minnesota music hits
Over the years, David Letterman has featured dozens of Minnesotans as special guests, including Louie Anderson, Lea Thompson, Josh Hartnett, Larry Graham, Mitch Hedberg, Eleanor Mondale, Paul Molitor,...
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